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[Infinity] N3 out: Only in USAriadna can you find a Coke Bottling Plant in the year 2185

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Posts

  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    I have miniatures now! I'm generally pretty happy and impressed with the Infinity miniatures. I do think their engineering on contact points etc is nowhere near as good as their rivals (Warmachine and Warhammer), but they make up for it in model detail + quality. Now to assemble and paint all of them before the open learn to play on the 26th.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • Redcoat-13Redcoat-13 Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    I have miniatures now! I'm generally pretty happy and impressed with the Infinity miniatures. I do think their engineering on contact points etc is nowhere near as good as their rivals (Warmachine and Warhammer), but they make up for it in model detail + quality. Now to assemble and paint all of them before the open learn to play on the 26th.

    I don't know if it is worth pointing out, but Beasts of War have done a bunch of videos that (I think anyway) are worth watching. They did videos for when Icestorm, Red Veil and their Beyond packs, but they also did some videos talking about USAriadna, which I think is the stuff you've gotten?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmqirOZlZOo&index=5&list=PLiqW3i2L-21VYYBXCowCv2lFt4H_1fUxa

    Some of the videos are about how to play, so might be worth your while tracking them down (a simple search on youtube of Beasts of War Operation Icestorm should give you a bunch of things to watch).

    PSN Fleety2009
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    I took the Red Veil starter in the end actually. I'll then get the Beyond Red Veil on top and go from there. This gives the store two comparable armies in points for customers (and me) to use. Especially because I've decided to get the full on poddy tank for my Haqqislam army. My enthusiasm for this game is great and I'm seriously going to champion it as much as I can to build a community for it here.

    If you're wondering, a customer pretty much straight up bought the USAdriana army before I even had a chance to look at it.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Corvus Belli are definitely doing a great job at making a quite complex and tough game very accessible, I must say

    Good on them

  • Redcoat-13Redcoat-13 Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    I took the Red Veil starter in the end actually. I'll then get the Beyond Red Veil on top and go from there. This gives the store two comparable armies in points for customers (and me) to use. Especially because I've decided to get the full on poddy tank for my Haqqislam army. My enthusiasm for this game is great and I'm seriously going to champion it as much as I can to build a community for it here.

    If you're wondering, a customer pretty much straight up bought the USAdriana army before I even had a chance to look at it.

    They did a series of Red Veil videos as well (please tell me if I should stop linking stuff), which involves the final mission being played by Carlos from Corvus Belli and Killian who does a pretty good job explaining things.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxCZ16IOrCA

    PSN Fleety2009
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Just be careful with how much you internalize the rules that Beast of War play (when CB isn't there, obviously) because they are terrible at rules.

  • mr_michmr_mich Mmmmagic. MDRegistered User regular
    I'm excited for @Aegeri mostly because he gets to explore the wonderful world of Infinity youtubers.

    BoW is great (as mentioned, when CB is around) because Carlos is a dreamboat and hilarious. He also makes great effort (as you'd expect) to teach viewers rather than entertain them. I also like Guerilla Mini Games for the sheer volume of content, although I'll warn you that they focus on streamlining their vids so there's less discussion on rules and less clear walk-throughs of maths/mods. Still, they pump out tons of batreps so you can usually get a lot of how your particular armies/units play, especially Haqq and Yu Jing. You just have to be willing to deal with Ash's thumb ring in every shot.

  • ChrysisChrysis Registered User regular
    GMG stuff is good. They still have problems with rules but they acknowledge them and will point them out if they notice in the video.

    Tri-Optimum reminds you that there are only one-hundred-sixty-three shopping days until Christmas. Just 1 extra work cycle twice a week will give you the spending money you need to make this holiday a very special one.
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    I'm pretty good at mastering rules and I've got a good grasp on the game now. I'm currently up to painting my models.

    Ironically, the model everyone spoke about the Taureg did give me trouble - but only because of human error. I accidentally cut off too much from the hand and left a gap between the sniper rifle and where it was supposed to connect. One day and some greenstuff later, I fixed it.

    Also I highly, highly recommend greenstuff for these models. I decided to switch from just glue to a tiny bit of greenstuff + glue and didn't regret it. I also posed my models a bit more to my liking and then filled in the gaps with greenstuff. It's not at all bad and I really love the look. Plus having the miniatures in store and fiddling with them in front of everyone was really good - because it generated a ton of interest in the game. I've already sold the USAdriana + Antipode assault pack, with about 4-5 people picking up starters tomorrow.

    Now I just need to find a way to keep the community engaged and coming back (which is the most essential part of any miniatures game).

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • Dr_KeenbeanDr_Keenbean Dumb as a butt Planet Express ShipRegistered User regular
    Escalation. Start with starters (around 120-130pts, usually) and build up to 300. Add in rules as you build up. That's how I'd do it.

    I find that Infinity's low model count is a huge factor in keeping me engaged, personally. My love of Warhammer/Dropxxx Commander/etc wanes given how daunting it is to get the models done. But Infinity? Always ready to go because I've only ever got 1 or 2 models on my desk.

    PSN/NNID/Steam: Dr_Keenbean
    3DS: 1650-8480-6786
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  • mr_michmr_mich Mmmmagic. MDRegistered User regular
    +1 for escalation, for the reasons mentioned. The starter boxes are roughly around the same points cost in that 120ish range, and are viable enough at that level. Then you can add a blister or a box at a time to hit the new point thresholds. This allows everyone to paint at a more reasonable pace (you may be talking about 1-3 models for 50 points, depending on army/model choices) and helps to trickle feed additional rules and special abilities into it.

    There's also a campaign progression system I've never used that came out in the Paradiso book (specops) which allows you to add abilities to a vanilla line trooper as you play through. It was written for 2nd edition and some parts of it reportedly don't fit great into 3rd edition, but depending on how much narrative you want in a campaign it's a consideration. Especially if you're trying to kickstart a community; adding something like 1XP for your specops each week just for showing up can help to encourage some regular attendance.

  • psycojesterpsycojester Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    Aegeri wrote: »

    Now I just need to find a way to keep the community engaged and coming back (which is the most essential part of any miniatures game).

    Infinity tends to involve a lot of cool MDF terrain kits. Getting enough for a store table and having a community build & paint day for them can be pretty cool. Since building lasercut MDF terrain is basically grown up Lego that smells like awesome burnt wood.

    If you're using the Spec-Ops rules i'd suggest a couple of tweaks that will make them a lot better. Don't let people take options that turn the Spec-Ops into specialists and don't allow Spec-Ops to be included in link teams. As it stands there's basically two optimal ways to build a spec-ops and they're both boring as shit and bad for the game. WIP 15 Doctor, Engineer, Hacker who lays down at the back of your board and plays super doctor, or cranking their BS as high as they can go and giving them a machine gun and installing them into a link team as a super accurate 0 SWC machine gun.

    Removing those two options opens up a ton of cool and crazy things you can do with the profiles and force people to experiment since the easy choices aren't there anymore. I'm going to a tournament using those restrictions on the weekend and my plan is to give my Spec-Ops PHYS 15 and Hyperdynamics level 3. Basically make Jackie Chan in Drunken Master, a dude who automatically dodges mines and template weapons and is essentially PHYS 24 for rolling dodge.

    psycojester on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    Could you explain what you just said more clearly?

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    Could you explain what you just said more clearly?

    Don't use the Spec-Ops rules. They're poorly designed.

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Yeah I feel like the spec-ops rules are some sort of playtest more than anything else

  • Redcoat-13Redcoat-13 Registered User regular
    I'd just stick to starter packs and have people build on from there.

    It should be noted that there are some oddities when it comes to some of the starter packs.

    For instance, the Acontecimento Shock Army (PanOceania Sectorial Starter Pack), while coming in at just under 140 points, also has a cost of 5 SWC (this is Support Weapon Cost), which is illegal for that level of gaming (you get 1 SWC per 50). I'm sure people wouldn't have a problem in prox'ing some stuff, but if you're starting out, then that could lead to a sour taste that you don't get to play with all your new toys straight away.

    Meanwhile, the Neoterran Capitaline Army (PanOceania Sectorial Starter Pack) comes in at nearly 230 points.

    That said, my knowledge is relatively limited, so I'm unsure if there are any others that are not balanced compared to others, in terms of points, SWC or power.

    PSN Fleety2009
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    None of the starters are balanced against any of the other starters.

    I would start with list building but allow unlimited proxies as long as they're proxying with Infinity models. Infinity is theoretically a low-investment game to get started in, but that quickly disappears as you notice the massive variety of profiles and the inconsistent availability and accessibility of models that match those profiles. Even tournament Infinity play isn't super strict on what models you're using.

    I should also clarify my position on the Spec-Ops rules: they're perfectly fine for campaigns or narrative tournaments with experienced players, but they are not balanced and are not newbie-friendly.

  • psycojesterpsycojester Registered User regular
    I think they're even worse with experienced players, at least newbies don't immediately spot the two obviously broken options for Spec-Ops.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    Anzekay wrote: »
    Yeah I feel like the spec-ops rules are some sort of playtest more than anything else

    No, they're from second edition and weren't even intended for competitive play. People just shoehorned them into competitive play because they're a cool idea and the original way to use them didn't really work, and CB added it to Infinity Army which legitimised the type of play.

    In the original Campaign Paradiso, you played through a set of structured missions and got experience for winning. You could spend that experience to boost up your Spec Op, or spend it on bonuses for your army. It was a cool but ultimately terribly balanced system where you were better off not having a Spec Op at all and just spending the experience on your army. For example, one of the army bonuses when maxing out one of the experience trees was 'a free mercenary unit'. You picked one profile from any mercenary unit and paid no points or SWC for it. It basically read 'you get McMorrough for free now'.

    So people took the idea of a customise-able Spec Op to competitive play where it was a fun option. Except the options for them are still based on the really terribly balanced options from Campaign Paradiso, so while they're fun, they're not, and never were, balanced for competitive play. They're now used to give yourself a cheap Doctor+Engineer+Hacker with D-Charges.

    For tweaking them, I wouldn't rule out Specialists entirely, but I'd limit them to Specialist Operative. These guys are the best of the best spec ops each faction can produce, so being able to push buttons seems logical. For balance reasons, keeping them from being Doctors, Engineers and Hackers helps. It lets you set up a badass, but quite fragile model customised to whatever type of combat you want them to do that can also push buttons. In a way, what you'd do to make a Shikami or an Ayyar.

    The main problem with Spec Ops is that not all Spec Ops were created equal. Just looking at Haqqislam, you can take Ghulam, Muyib or Hafza Spec Ops. You get everything that base profile had, plus any bonuses in sectorials for them.

    The Ghulam is a basic line infantry. In QK and HB it can Core link with Ghulam. But Ghulam get the useful Specialist stuff from being a Spec Op already, and aren't really worth boosting up. Give is a Hacking Device? Ghulam have one. Doctor? They have a Doctor Plus. Engineer? That's a Najjarun. The only benefit here is being able to link. All three? More skills and equipment? It's still a Ghulam, in a Ghulam link. This used to be a fun option before Leila was released to bring Ghulam links to 5 models in Bahram, but Leila fills that void excellently now.

    The Hafza carried with it a Holoprojector L1 (which the Ghulam needs to pay XP to get) and the ability to be inserted into Haris and Core links in QK. Suddenly you can stick an Engineer, Hacker or Doctor in an Odalisque Haris. That's powerful, as the absence of those specialist types is a deliberate exclusion from Odalisques.

    A Muyib is the most expensive and comes with a Panzerfaust. As a Muyib, he also comes with Number 2 and V: Dogged. Number 2 can't even be bought for XP. He is also a Muyib, so he can link with the games only unbreakable light infantry link of ultimate badasses. It lets you give them an Engineer (Bahram only has access to the Najjarun) and basic Hacking Device (only available in Bahram on Ghulam, Govads and Barids, and Govads and Barids have access to a Killer Hacking Device which might take priority). On top of that the Muyb has a pretty good overall profile as well.

    My ideal solution would be to overhaul the system, and get rid of the base profile nonsense. Have a specific profile for each factions Spec Op. Have a list of skills, weapons and equipment per faction. Give them Specialist Operative as the only specialist option. Keep the ability to use XP to boost stats. So rather than being taken to plug holes in your list that CB have intentionally built into the list, it lets you customise your own badass soldier, keeping to the theme of the faction, to go about pushing buttons in their own way, or not have that ability and be a bit more badass, and leave the classified objectives to the factions built in strengths and weaknesses.

    -Loki- on
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited August 2017
    I don't think it's fair to say that vague "people" were at fault when CB themselves shoved them into competitive play, but I agree with the rest.

    admanb on
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    CB followed suit with them. They were being included in tournaments before CB created ITS (which was based heavily on YAMS, which was the system of choice before ITS).

    -Loki- on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    What are official tournament rules for Infinity?

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    Aegeri wrote: »
    What are official tournament rules for Infinity?

    On the download page listed as 'Season 8 Tagline'.

  • mr_michmr_mich Mmmmagic. MDRegistered User regular
    Looks like I opened a big ol' can of worms with specops talk. I think the tl;dr for Aegeris is that it's not really noob friendly and not well balanced, so I probably shouldn't have even brought it up.

    That being said, me and @Dr_Keenbean have discussed an XCOM-like skill tree that forces you to pick from among certain specops upgrades, using most of the same earning/costs established in Paradiso. At this point it'd basically be a homebrew, but there's something there if you want the XCOM shudder moment of your Col. Specops Bro taking a stray crit to the face and watching his build evaporate before you.

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    mr_mich wrote: »
    That being said, me and @Dr_Keenbean have discussed an XCOM-like skill tree that forces you to pick from among certain specops upgrades, using most of the same earning/costs established in Paradiso. At this point it'd basically be a homebrew, but there's something there if you want the XCOM shudder moment of your Col. Specops Bro taking a stray crit to the face and watching his build evaporate before you.

    There's myriad ways you could do it on the table, and the fluff has built in ways to do it.

    Casevac was introduced for the Paradiso campaign to get unconscious Spec Ops off the field. IIRC Baggage remotes were the best at doing it (turning them into little Ambulances). Casevac is already in N3, so it's easy to do something like, if you manage to get the Spec Op back to your DZ in Casevac state they don't lose their experience.

    Off the table, that's what Cubes are for. In Paradiso Aleph had Cube+, which was better than a normal Cube as it was constantly connected to Aleph via wifi. Normal Cubes, from memory, rolled to see if they were damaged. EMP would shut them off totally.

    There's even more 'archaic' ways to do it in the fluff. Yasbir is a Hassassin Fiday, so he has no cube, so his memory is recorded via an old method before each mission in case he dies. I like to think it's like the 'syncording' from The Sixth Day.

    So using that, Aleph Spec Ops would only lose their experience for that battle if they're hit by an EMP weapon. But there's always constant updates so it can always roll back to the previous games experience. Being hit by a Sepsitor is an immediate erasure of the backup and termination of said wifi connection, as per Paradios rules. Aleph wasn't no contamination.

    Normal Spec Ops with Cubes would need to be Casevac'd to the deployment zone to keep their experience. A hit by an EMP will make them lose all experience if they're put unconscious. You could build in rules to make it easier to Casevac by a baggage remote.

    Models with no cube could do it via the 'old ways', but build in a roll, like WIP or PH to see if it's successful between games. Even do the roll prior to the game so the player knows to be more careful or not. This would have the benefit of not needing to Casevac to keep it and not needing to worry about EMP, so a roll to see if it's successful is fair.

    -Loki- on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    My infinity stock arrived and did very well immediately. Helping several customers put their models together.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Anyone got some good recommendations for custom bases? Mostly looking for interior stuff, so anything tech-y or metal would be ideal!

    I had a look around at some online retailers but there's a huge amount of stuff out there and I've no idea what the quality of them are like.

  • Redcoat-13Redcoat-13 Registered User regular
    I've been using Antenociti's Workshop bases, which are resin and are of good quality (they seem quite popular with the infinity crowd). They've in fact got a set called Tech Bases.

    Giraldez (the chap who paints the models for Infinity), I believe uses Customeeple's base tops ; i.e. you glue them on to the top of the regular plastic bases. I've not tried them myself so can't speak to their quality, but if Giraldez is using them, they can't be that bad.

    PSN Fleety2009
  • Dr_KeenbeanDr_Keenbean Dumb as a butt Planet Express ShipRegistered User regular
    Are you located in the US? Because Warsenal.

    PSN/NNID/Steam: Dr_Keenbean
    3DS: 1650-8480-6786
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  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Australia I'm afraid

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    I use Secret Weapon and Microart Studios bases. They've got a pretty huge amount of variety. The Combat Company fully stocks both.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Antenocitis workshop are good

    In other news bought my Kriza today!

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Thanks for the suggestions folks!

    Been getting busy putting my new minis together. Just finished Yojimbo (holy fuck he had a lot of tedious little bits) and now working on some remotes. I ended up magnetising the REM body onto their legs to make them easier to transport, but they also can swivel a little bit making them even cuter than they already were. Should also make it way easier to paint them when I can pull them in half.

  • AsherAsher Registered User regular
    Where are you in Australia? Because we have a thriving scene an our own super secret club house (Facebook Group).

    I think the thing that really cemented Corvus Belli being "cool dudes" was Carlos loving the Infinity Australia Logo so much it got added to the game.

    I put models on Instagram now: asher_paints
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    I'm over in Perth and I've yet to see any games played in any stores here but maybe I need to look harder. I mostly play with friends so far.

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    Anzekay wrote: »
    I'm over in Perth and I've yet to see any games played in any stores here but maybe I need to look harder. I mostly play with friends so far.

    The thing is, gaming in stores isn't that big in Australia. Like your and your friends, people play at home (or their friends houses). They're around though, everywhere, but you just don't know. Personally myself, my brother and a friend played Infinity at the local store for over 2 years. We never saw another person playing, but people did talk to us about playing the game, so we knew people were around.

    My nephew signed up to be a Warcor, and asked the store if we could host a slow grow. We advertised it, put prizes on the line, and had over 10 people sign up. Each week the store was full of people playing Infinity. Some of those are now in our regular Infinity and Malifaux group. Makes me sad the store decided to turn its back on community driven events like this for exclusively store driven events. Now I don't see many people playing Infinity again because no staff at the store care enough to try running them, and they've gotten rid of most of their tables (they at one point had about 5 full tables worth of Infinity terrain, which the X-Wing community destroyed) for card tables.

    But my suggestion would be, ask a few stores if they've be okay with you advertising a slow grow. Stores like slow grows because people buy stuff each week to grow their list. You might not get any bites, but you might get a lot from people hiding away playing in garages.

    -Loki- on
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    Trying to get some stores interested in organising stuff (which would probably involve me helping organise stuff) is far from my agenda right now I'm afraid. I already do that for several stores in the city for Netrunner and that's been pretty tiring of late. I'm also not sure if any stores with actual play space for tabletop stuff here even sell Infinity stuff in the first place!

    Maybe I'll look into it sometime next year once stuff cools down for me irl.

    Anzekay on
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    @asher what's the aus FB group called?

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited August 2017
    Anzekay wrote: »
    @asher what's the aus FB group called?

    Infinity Australia.

    Tends to be more talk of strange differences between what states call fried potato products than Infinity though.

    -Loki- on
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    -Loki- wrote: »
    Anzekay wrote: »
    @asher what's the aus FB group called?

    Infinity Australia.

    Tends to be more talk of strange differences between what states call fried potato products than Infinity though.

    sounds about right from my experiences with Netrunner community chats haha

This discussion has been closed.