My Love (Hate) Affair with E/M
I love the idea of E/M weapons. I love the way they're supposed to work, shutting down advanced systems all over the place. I love the thematic "anti-tech" warfare that E/M weaponry implies. I love the idea that they can wreck anybody's day, and - as an Ariadna player - I love thinking that I'm 95% immune to E/M.
The problem is that the idea of E/M does not match up with reality.
For starters, E/M weapons have low burst, so they just don't seem like they're worth firing 9/10ths of the time. Just look at Total Reaction remotes. I don't know about you, but every time I've used a TR remote with an E/M launcher, I've always felt that the full burst of an HMG was more worth it than the measly single launcher shot. In all but the most extreme cases, the simple adage "more dice is better" rings so very true when it comes to E/M.
If you think about it, E/M weapons are also ridiculously expensive for what you get. The most common source of E/M is the E/M Light Grenade Launcher, and this little beauty sets you back 7 points and 2 SWC (in the case of regular troops) and 6 points/0swc (not to mention Mines) for Total Reaction remotes. Now, I don't want to speak ill of certain weapons, but the Light Grenade Launcher is kind of sub-par. It's a single-shot Damage 13 weapon with no special ammo, and its ranges are sort of crummy.
Sticking E/M on this weapon is, in my opinion, like putting a slightly harder piece of potato than usual into a potato gun. No matter what ammunition you're using, you're still not going to bring a potato gun to a real fight.
After all this, though, assume you're one of those models that carries an E/M weapon. In order to hit, you're probably shooting/striking with only 1d20, so luck has to be on your side more than usual. Let's assume, though, that it hits. Yay E/M! Everything is shutting down!
...or is it?
If you hit with an E/M weapon, your opponent is entitled to an armour roll based on his/her BTS and Cover. Lots of models seem vulnerable because of low BTS, but a large number of them don't even care if they're hit with it (other than the Guts roll that comes with it). Other models just have a reasonably high defensive stat, since BTS goes up in increments of 3.
The biggest kick in the groin, though, is that E/M ammunition is - in almost every case - Damage 13. This means that targets you'll actually want to nail with E/M - multi-wound targets with complex equipment - will probably have BTS (and Cover?) high enough to resist your attack. Sure, E/M could work wonderfully on TAGs or really Heavy Infantry...if my opponents left their TAGs and Heavy Infantry out in the open, relying only on their BTS to save them. The truth of the matter, though, is that people protect their investments, and making E/M work takes a significant order investment.
I want to love E/M. In fact, I'd love to love E/M. I see too many pitfalls, though, to seriously consider letting E/M into my heart along with its siblings Fire and T2. I hope this will change with the release of the new book, but with the way that E/M has been distributed so far (with the possible exception of the Blizten), I'm not holding my breath.
The problem is that the idea of E/M does not match up with reality.
For starters, E/M weapons have low burst, so they just don't seem like they're worth firing 9/10ths of the time. Just look at Total Reaction remotes. I don't know about you, but every time I've used a TR remote with an E/M launcher, I've always felt that the full burst of an HMG was more worth it than the measly single launcher shot. In all but the most extreme cases, the simple adage "more dice is better" rings so very true when it comes to E/M.
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| Dear ALEPH: thank you for giving me a weapon I will never use. |
If you think about it, E/M weapons are also ridiculously expensive for what you get. The most common source of E/M is the E/M Light Grenade Launcher, and this little beauty sets you back 7 points and 2 SWC (in the case of regular troops) and 6 points/0swc (not to mention Mines) for Total Reaction remotes. Now, I don't want to speak ill of certain weapons, but the Light Grenade Launcher is kind of sub-par. It's a single-shot Damage 13 weapon with no special ammo, and its ranges are sort of crummy.
Sticking E/M on this weapon is, in my opinion, like putting a slightly harder piece of potato than usual into a potato gun. No matter what ammunition you're using, you're still not going to bring a potato gun to a real fight.
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| I don't have only one loadout, you know... |
After all this, though, assume you're one of those models that carries an E/M weapon. In order to hit, you're probably shooting/striking with only 1d20, so luck has to be on your side more than usual. Let's assume, though, that it hits. Yay E/M! Everything is shutting down!
...or is it?
If you hit with an E/M weapon, your opponent is entitled to an armour roll based on his/her BTS and Cover. Lots of models seem vulnerable because of low BTS, but a large number of them don't even care if they're hit with it (other than the Guts roll that comes with it). Other models just have a reasonably high defensive stat, since BTS goes up in increments of 3.
The biggest kick in the groin, though, is that E/M ammunition is - in almost every case - Damage 13. This means that targets you'll actually want to nail with E/M - multi-wound targets with complex equipment - will probably have BTS (and Cover?) high enough to resist your attack. Sure, E/M could work wonderfully on TAGs or really Heavy Infantry...if my opponents left their TAGs and Heavy Infantry out in the open, relying only on their BTS to save them. The truth of the matter, though, is that people protect their investments, and making E/M work takes a significant order investment.
I want to love E/M. In fact, I'd love to love E/M. I see too many pitfalls, though, to seriously consider letting E/M into my heart along with its siblings Fire and T2. I hope this will change with the release of the new book, but with the way that E/M has been distributed so far (with the possible exception of the Blizten), I'm not holding my breath.
There's actually a lot of E/M weapons out there, it's just that they're rarely on a unit that can use it well. The factions you don't play have some decent ones.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the E/M Launcher's potato is hard as rock, but it definitely has no place on a Total Reaction Remote.
Human Sphere did a fantastic job of evening things out, so I'm definitely eager to see the next books.
There are a lot, but they're generally confined to Burst 1 - Blitzen, Grenades, CCW, and so on. Actually, I was half-tempted to write the closing of this post with a "Human Sphere makes me have hope for the future!", because it actually *has* made E/M more accessible. It still has the same problems, though, besides perhaps pricing.
ReplyDelete