Units the Republic doesn't need.
With the official release of the Clone Wars Core Set this week, the Republic has been on my mind. While I'm sure most people are excited to finally get the long-awaited troopers put together and painted, and play Obi's "Hello There!" card, I've been looking more to the future of the faction. I'm sure Master Yoda would hit me with his cane for not having patience and keeping my mind on what I'm doing, but I thought I'd share some of the thoughts I've had on what future expansions and units for the Republic could look like, and a few examples of what I hope they don't look like. |
| How most of us will be playing the Republic for the immediate future: Kenobi leading from the front. |
What shouldn't be added to the game
Though unpopular, this seems to be the place to say what I don't think should be added to the game. These are here for a variety of reasons, be it balancing issues, their size, or simply that I don't really know what role they would fill that wouldn't be redundant. I've argued some of these points before, but I'll argue them again here. Feel free to disagree with me, I just think these units don't fit the game, or simply shouldn't be out anytime soon.
Jedi Knight Squad
This seems to be a popular idea for a variety of reasons, and I have to say, I think it is one of the worst ideas for a unit I've ever heard. Jedi are supposed to be extremely powerful; even the much-maligned Clone Wars-era Jedi Order had some of the best-trained warriors, I mean, keepers of the peace, the galaxy has ever seen. To have a unit feel like a Jedi in the game, they would need to have a pretty solid attack, Pierce, be immune to pierce, have deflect, and a Force upgrade slot. That's fine for a single mini-unit, but when you start to add in other minis, it gets ridiculous. Even if you only have pierce 1 on the lightsaber (which is horribly low), that stacks, and you'd end up with a relatively high Pierce value. I've yet to hear a way to introduce this into the game that wouldn't leave your characters as glorified Wookiees or Royal Guardsmen, and yet be balanced.
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| "Hey, Obi, you hear they want a full squad of Jedi?" "No, Mace, I haven't. That would be silly." |
Large vehicles
This one is pretty obvious; large vehicles shouldn't be in the game. As cool as they could be, the practicalities of having them on the table would be problematic, and balancing them would be a nightmare. In that category, I'll include the AT-TE, the Juggernaut, and large fighters like the V-19 Torrent, the Y-Wing, and the ARC-170. While cool as terrain pieces, they simply don't fit the scale of Legion as units, and shouldn't be brought in. A sliding scale could make them work, but it's far from ideal. If these vehicles must be included, doing so as terrain pieces work better, and could be done as either wrecks or as complete vehicles.
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| As cool as the Turtle walker is, it just doesn't fit the scale of a movable unit. |
Medic Droids
This one is a bit nit-picky, as I really do want the Republic to have access to medics. Instead of surgical droids like they did with the GCW factions, I really hope they give us honest to goodness combat medics. At the very least, the image of a surgical droid rolling across the battlefield is a bit ridiculous; more importantly, the Republic is the only faction that has on-screen medics, both in Episode III, and in the TCW show. More interestingly, I think that Republic medics shouldn't have the noncombatant limitation. Republic forces are likely going to be outnumbered on almost every game they play; it doesn't make sense they would have guys that can't really contribute besides handing out motrin and bandaids. As such, their medics should be able to fight as well as heal, though they would have to be priced accordingly.
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| I'm not a droid! And I will shoot you! |
Palpatine/Sidious
Another unit I've seen tossed around a lot is the idea that the Senate needs to be brought into the game, either as an alternate Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, or some sort of anti-Jedi character. I have to ask, why? Darth Sidious wouldn't be all that different than Emperor Palpatine, and he never led troops into battle for either side. Chancellor Palpatine could be an interesting support unit, but the same problem remains: he was a politician, not a commander, and shouldn't be shoehorned into the game. The only way to bring ole Sparky into the game would be as an objective (capture the Chancellor, anyone?) and even then, its a stretch.
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| The Senate when he finds out you want him to go fix a Moisture Vaporator. |
Qui-Gon Jinn
If you're like me, you thoroughly enjoyed Qui-Gon in Episode I. He, more so than Obi-Wan or Yoda, was our first real taste of what a Jedi Knight was. That said, we need to remember that Qui-Gon didn't fight for the Republic in the Clone Wars because of a little problem: he was dead. Whoops. As iconic as he is, there are dozens of other Jedi that would work so much better than him and should be brought into the game well before him. I can see a time when Qui-Gon would fit in the game, but its well down the road.
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| Sorry, Qui-Gon, being alive is a prereq for being in the Clone Wars. |
ARC Trooper Squad
This is another one I've argued about many, many times. If you can't tell by my username, I'm quite fond of ARC troopers. I really like them as a concept, and most of their original appearances were awesome. That said, I really don't want to see a full squad of ARCs in the game in the same manner as Death Troopers or other SF teams. That role can be reserved for Clone Commandos or other units. ARC troopers should be something different; ideally Operatives. I could see them operating solo or in two-man teams. (which is how they were used the majority of the time in both the EU and Canon) They would also be a great upgrade, though the recently revealed Captain and the older Officer upgrade takes the majority of that role now. I'm likely as not going to be disappointed with the direction FFG takes with these, but it was worth including now just so I can complain later.
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| ARC Troopers, so badass they don't need a squad to wreck shop. |
Swamp Speeder/Infantry Support Platform
I'll admit, I'm incredibly biased on this one. I just hate how the ISP looks. It's an uparmored airboat, and not something that makes sense to me considering the other vehicles in the Republic's inventory. In Legion, I'm not quite sure how it will find its own niche; its too big to be a heavier BARC speeder, and the Saber Tank is better as a repulsor tank. Though it could be shoehorned in as an analog for the Landspeeder, Naboo security units have a variety of offerings in that area that would serve the role better. The Swamp Speeder is often forgotten, and I for one hope that Legion forgets it as well.
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| "This thing sucks, let's get a cooler ride." |
OK, OK, this one is a joke. I really don't expect we'll ever see Darth Jar Jar in the game. But that's not a bad thing. The theory is a funny one that makes you think for half a second, but that's it. It shouldn't be taken too seriously, and those that do need to lay off the death sticks.
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| "Messa a funny joke, but shouldn't be taken seriously." |
Final Thoughts
While there are certainly others I'd rather not see, those are the big units that I think the Republic would be better off without, at least for the time being. What do you think? Anything I missed, or are you absolutely convinced that the game needs a squad of ARC trooper Jedi Knight Darth Jar Jars? Let us know!
Stay tuned for part II on Friday, units that I think the Republic does need!
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