ITS v1.3 is live

[Kremmet]

http://assets.infinitythegame.net/downloads/itsrules/season8/en/v1.3/itsrules.pdf

 

The exciting stuff is between pages 7-14. Szalamandra pilots are killer hackers, Maggie has a doctor inside, remote presence has...well, a piece of garbage, and many more interesting specialist options for TAG pilots.

 

What I'm really interested by is the removal of strategic use for Command Tokens in sex pun which should make the format a lot more interesting. The new hacker mercs might also interest non-CA players as they bring decent stat lines to the table.

[rudra34]

Oh goodie, my TAGs now have a WIP 10 specialist inside...lol

[Don't Panic]

im kinda saddened by it initially.  id say, imo, it promotes more predictable lists.  can you imagine going second against an avatar or marut or heck 'anything with strategos' list in LI let alone not being able to use strategic use?  hector and friends *shiver*.  11 orders of death, coming right up!  ill have to play it before i judge it too hard(although by my words it sounds like i already have lol), but im a little skeptical that this might make first turn too good... which is a direction i dont want to see this game going as i liked the strategy between the choices available.   

 

as for the pilots.  some are awesome, some are 'why on earth would i waste an order to place a wip 10 specialist outside this killing machine'.  yes thats an exaggeration, there are uses but wip 10 is literally a coin flip which with 10 orders to start with is not something id preferably ever do... i can barely make wip 15 rolls ha.

 

yup negative nancy over here lol.

[Justjokin]

So, newbie here, do these rules go away after the season ends?  Is this a supplement that I have to keep with me for all time?  Seems like a ploy to sell big models.  

 

Edit:

Also, I'm sure it's my inexperience that causes me to have no idea what this means:

 

"I'm really interested by is the removal of strategic use for Command Tokens in sex pun"

 

I guessing we just didn't cover it in the escalation league.  :)

[Exile]

Sex pun = Just the tip = Limited Insertion, a ITS optional rule this year limiting you to one combat group of ten models.

 

The 'strategic' use of command tokens is when the player going second spends a command token to either:

A) reduce an order pool by two regular orders

B) limit the enemy to spending one command token in the first turn

[Justjokin]

Oh, ok!  Thanks Ex!  

 

Funny thing is, I played the whole escalation league "with just the tip".  :) 

 

 

"This Extra does not allow the Strategic Use of Command Tokens." Ah, one line on page 9.  I missed this on my read through.  

 

Kremmet, I really appreciate the knowledge you drop here, I just don't have the experience to follow sometimes.  My Googlefu is strong, but I am "le Tired".  

 

Thanks for posting this, it helped me to even think to ask the questions.   

[Kremmet]

@Justjokin: Yeah, I think we all started out with LI lists given how complex the game is, but I probably should've been more exact in my wording. Only talking to a very small group about anything tends to leave you trapped in jargon land!

 

As for DP's point about command tokens in LI, I'm not sure I agree. The shift definitely makes it so Avatar/Marut lists are more powerful, but that can be adjusted through clever terrain setup to incentivize aggressive players to choose side (and therefore lose initiative) or give "lesser" lists an advantage through interdiction and objective control. The thing is that the command token usage already does little to slow down such lists as nine orders on an Avatar against one possible combat group is already a pretty daunting concept. While this doesn't really adjust things for the kings of the heap in the format it does make it go a lot more smoothly for weaker lists especially when they're forced into going first against those types of lists. I know from personal experience that knocking two orders off Marut/Acon lists did very little to adjust their alpha strike while it made me pretty much always shoot for going second with my Onyx as those two orders were needed for setup.

 

TLDR: The command change doesn't adjust the top rankings, but it does bring the middle closer together.

 

On the issue of the pilots, yeah, I probably also won't be giving up my RP TAG to go for a 50/50 shot on an objective unless I'm truly desperate, but RP TAGs already have enough benefits simply through being immune to Eject and getting a reroll on the repair rolls. I think it's nice that the piloted TAGs finally gained some sort of upper hand even if it's not always that great (lol WIP 12 Raicho).