Post by nurglitch on Apr 24, 2013 18:16:20 GMT
However, the interesting thing about the Subterranean Assault is that it gives you flexible deployment so that you're not caught out with less material than your opponent. A Mycetic Spore unit has to deep-strike in every game. A unit capable of using Subterranean Assault can deploy as normal, or stay in reserves. In reserves you have the choice of deploying it through the tunnel marker, or on your home edge.
Now, before you can say this "doesn't work too well" or "too high a chance" or whatever, you need to consider what can happen before evaluating the benefits. Yes, a unit coming out of that tunnel isn't going to be able to assault until turn 4. So why send a unit that can't shoot through the tunnel? And if the odds don't work out, or your opponent attempts a reserve-based strategy, then you want a unit that can address other units from across the board.
If you're going to base your success on one contingency coming up on a regular, 'reliable' basis, then you're not only exposing yourself to losing when your luck turns, because you weren't prepared for the irregular contingency, but you're also setting yourself up for failure by telegraphing your strategy to your opponent. You need to be able to transition smoothly between strategies with the same material. Mycetic Spores mean one thing. Trygons and infantry mean three things.
Which brings me to the 'problem' of having less material than your opponent per given turn. After all, it seems worth less to have a unit of twenty Termagants in a Mycetic Spore arrive on turn 2 with a Trygon deployed on turn 1, than a unit of twenty four Termagants arrive on turn 3 after the Trygon arrives on turn 2 via Subterranean Assault. That's because instead of firepower being split between three units, it can be concentrated on one unit. You also lose out the chance of a round of shooting from the Termagants. You're just feeding meat into the grinder, if there is more than one unit available to shoot at the Trygon. But if there is, why not just deploy the Trygon on the board with the Termagants, so that they're providing more firepower?
If you're going to out-play your opponent, rather than just rely on the dice to work out for you, then that ability to switch between strategies is valuable.
Now, before you can say this "doesn't work too well" or "too high a chance" or whatever, you need to consider what can happen before evaluating the benefits. Yes, a unit coming out of that tunnel isn't going to be able to assault until turn 4. So why send a unit that can't shoot through the tunnel? And if the odds don't work out, or your opponent attempts a reserve-based strategy, then you want a unit that can address other units from across the board.
If you're going to base your success on one contingency coming up on a regular, 'reliable' basis, then you're not only exposing yourself to losing when your luck turns, because you weren't prepared for the irregular contingency, but you're also setting yourself up for failure by telegraphing your strategy to your opponent. You need to be able to transition smoothly between strategies with the same material. Mycetic Spores mean one thing. Trygons and infantry mean three things.
Which brings me to the 'problem' of having less material than your opponent per given turn. After all, it seems worth less to have a unit of twenty Termagants in a Mycetic Spore arrive on turn 2 with a Trygon deployed on turn 1, than a unit of twenty four Termagants arrive on turn 3 after the Trygon arrives on turn 2 via Subterranean Assault. That's because instead of firepower being split between three units, it can be concentrated on one unit. You also lose out the chance of a round of shooting from the Termagants. You're just feeding meat into the grinder, if there is more than one unit available to shoot at the Trygon. But if there is, why not just deploy the Trygon on the board with the Termagants, so that they're providing more firepower?
If you're going to out-play your opponent, rather than just rely on the dice to work out for you, then that ability to switch between strategies is valuable.