Total Balance Overhaul, Tyranid Tau Compatible
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:40 am
This mod is a "realism" overhaul.
I've made thousands of small balance changes (every single unit) for multiplayer games: Units will do exactly what you feel they should do. Assault Marines will defeat guardsmen. Tyranid Warriors will defeat Marines. They will die to Terminators. Genestealers will slice Terminators apart but only if they can get close with a full unit. Infantry are useful again. Heavy weapons teams can defeat tanks but will die if unsupported. The scale of the game has been changed dramatically. The basic unit is now platoon sized. 15-25 for most infantry, 3-5 for tanks. Airplanes come in wings of 4-7. Titans come in ones or twos but have been costed appropriately. You could probably buy an entire IG infantry battalion with fire support and command structure.
I'm going to try to give you a changelog, but there are so many changes I can't mention them all. All unit stats have been changed except for spotting in a few cases.
Infantry is dramatically cheaper. Especially heavy weapons infantry which can be used to destroy armor efficiently. There are other benefits to infantry as area control and efficient artillery defense. Walkers have been improved. Sentinels and Venators are useful. Salamanders and other mid range vehicles are priced appropriately, no more building 10 200 cost salamanders. Tanks are rather expensive, exponentially so the larger you get, but they are still tough and pack great firepower.
Artillery now has longer ranges, more damage and is more fragile. Certain artillery has huge damage potential but doesn't always hit the target. There is a trade-off between reliability, range and damage. (And price). Aerial units happen to very good at reaching these distant artillery pieces. Aircraft has been fixed (maybe), there are fighter-style fighter-bombers and bombers. Bombers have low initiative and are very good against super heavy targets but will get shot down before they can damage lighter troops.
Titans are now battlefield gods, but they are priced to match. The Gargant is worth around 5000 pts. They have generally got the ability to fight both tanks and infantry. Its signature attack, the Gaze of Mork only hits 10% of the time but when it does it will bring almost anything down. i have actually tried hard to introduce an element of luck into the game. In the vanilla version there is almost no luck due to the law of large numbers. Since 45 Orks are taking 180 shots, the end result is always going to be about the same. But now we have 10 marines shooting 20 bolter shells against another 10 marines. A 5 man kill for a 3 man loss is a huge swing in favor of the attacker. I actually think adding luck to the game makes it more FUN and rewards good players who are able to make armies that reduce how much luck there is.
My favorite change is that commander units are actual badassses now. They generally have less guys but now they have large numbers of wounds to keep them going through the fight (sorta Herohammer). A space marine Chapter Commander can lead from the front, His damage out put is not that high so it presents a problem to the enemy. Do they sink enough bullets into him to kill him and not go after high value dmg targets or do they leave him be with his morale aura.
Space Marines
Space Marines have been homogenized slightly. Salamanders and Ultramarines got 10/10 accuracy buffs. Salamanders bonus armor was reduced to 5pts. Ultramarines now have two bonuses, +2 initiative and -25 cost per infantry unit -50 cost per tank unit. It may not seem like a lot but Ultramarines actually have an edge on the other two Chapters in a firefight. All tanks that are supposed to support do so now.
Also, weapons that say 2 heavy bolters are actually 2 heavy bolters now. (Except for a few exceptions where I needed to balance a unit thematically.) There is no weapon that gains power and AP but not extra shots when there are 4 of it.
I would like to highlight some specific units that I think are really cool.
Salamander Firedrakes. These guys were great before but for some reason they were a tactical squad. They are now Terminators who wield dual-heavy flamers. Anyone they attack who is made of organic material or can melt will die.
I have added Psykers to the game. Librarians, Weirdboyz and Zoanthropes now harness the warp to pop the heads of their opponents. (Mechanically this was done very strangely by giving them very weak weapons with insane armor penetration.) No matter who they are fighting they will hurt them. In a Landraider? They don't care.
Dreadnaughts don't pack too much firepower but they are built like rocks. They might not be worth targetting but they can still rip troops to shreds.
Bike squads are much more aggressively priced. Land Raiders are good at picking off damaged units now. They have very high initiative and good weaponry
Watch out for the Baal Predator.
Tyranids
I have to thank Pizza Grenadier for letting me use his Tyranid and Tau mods. I have changed a lot of the stats but the core is all his.
Tyranids are a very unique army, they are generally lacking in ranged firepower compared to the other armies (not entirely) but they have very efficiently priced ground troops. Like in tabletop, lesser creatures require a synapse creature to function. This has been accomplished by giving all non synapse creatures 0 spotting. To make up for this Synapse creatures are now Heroic, meaning the Tyranid horde is not so vulnerable to morale losses. In addition, synapse creatures have large visions ranges, with the Swarmlord being able to see 7 spaces.
Some of my favorite Tyranid units are the spore mines which are cheap and easy to kill, but even if just a few make it into your troop line, you'll regret it. I also like the raveners who ignore terrain and are not visible to units until they move next to them (actually a lot of Tyranid units have some ability to hide).
Tau
The Tau have, as you would expect, massive ranged potential but are very vulnerable in an assault. Their crisis suits can be used as a buffer for your fire warriors and path finders. Sadly there are no Kroot as of now.
Orks
Ork key changes are their tanks are better and their infantry have more variety now. Warbosses and Nobz are viable heavy infantry, Mega Armored Nobz can face off with Terminators and hordes of termagants. Stormboys now have jet packs. The biggest change is probably tankbustas, whose rockits are a little worse than they used to be. They are just an annoyance if you attack them with armor. But they are monsters if you manage to get them to plant the bombs on the tank. Ork units are also very unusual in that their shootiness is disproportional to their armor and points cost. The Trukks can be blown up almost as easily as they can blow you up. Generally Ork Gargants are better value than their tanks. Squiggoths are not to be underestimated. Lootaz are also key fire support, they have high initiative but bulky weapons so make sure you get them before they get you, Ork weapons are generally stronger than Imperial weapons but much less reliable. Overall Zap Guns and Kanons will perform worse than Lascannons and Missile Launchers but you might just get lucky.
There are two files attached. The redux file is if you have already got the Tyranid and Tau graphics files, the large file is if you are installing onto Vanilla. I have done all the hard work for you, the mod is plug&play, just extract to the WH40KArmageddon directory.
Please try it and give me feedback. If the balancing is fun it will be easy to add new races/units. I'd love to add Chaos and Eldar. The Tau balancing is a little rough because I have never read the codex except this week and the super heavy tanks might be overcosted but otherwise it is solid.
It's not balanced for single player. But if it's too hard or easy, just change the difficulty.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oedljndahfmzd ... x.rar?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gb5n4jvjhjsm5 ... s.rar?dl=0
If you don't want the tyranids or tau you can just download the redux file by itself.
I just realised I posted an old version of this, so the new one has replaced it.
I've made thousands of small balance changes (every single unit) for multiplayer games: Units will do exactly what you feel they should do. Assault Marines will defeat guardsmen. Tyranid Warriors will defeat Marines. They will die to Terminators. Genestealers will slice Terminators apart but only if they can get close with a full unit. Infantry are useful again. Heavy weapons teams can defeat tanks but will die if unsupported. The scale of the game has been changed dramatically. The basic unit is now platoon sized. 15-25 for most infantry, 3-5 for tanks. Airplanes come in wings of 4-7. Titans come in ones or twos but have been costed appropriately. You could probably buy an entire IG infantry battalion with fire support and command structure.
I'm going to try to give you a changelog, but there are so many changes I can't mention them all. All unit stats have been changed except for spotting in a few cases.
Infantry is dramatically cheaper. Especially heavy weapons infantry which can be used to destroy armor efficiently. There are other benefits to infantry as area control and efficient artillery defense. Walkers have been improved. Sentinels and Venators are useful. Salamanders and other mid range vehicles are priced appropriately, no more building 10 200 cost salamanders. Tanks are rather expensive, exponentially so the larger you get, but they are still tough and pack great firepower.
Artillery now has longer ranges, more damage and is more fragile. Certain artillery has huge damage potential but doesn't always hit the target. There is a trade-off between reliability, range and damage. (And price). Aerial units happen to very good at reaching these distant artillery pieces. Aircraft has been fixed (maybe), there are fighter-style fighter-bombers and bombers. Bombers have low initiative and are very good against super heavy targets but will get shot down before they can damage lighter troops.
Titans are now battlefield gods, but they are priced to match. The Gargant is worth around 5000 pts. They have generally got the ability to fight both tanks and infantry. Its signature attack, the Gaze of Mork only hits 10% of the time but when it does it will bring almost anything down. i have actually tried hard to introduce an element of luck into the game. In the vanilla version there is almost no luck due to the law of large numbers. Since 45 Orks are taking 180 shots, the end result is always going to be about the same. But now we have 10 marines shooting 20 bolter shells against another 10 marines. A 5 man kill for a 3 man loss is a huge swing in favor of the attacker. I actually think adding luck to the game makes it more FUN and rewards good players who are able to make armies that reduce how much luck there is.
My favorite change is that commander units are actual badassses now. They generally have less guys but now they have large numbers of wounds to keep them going through the fight (sorta Herohammer). A space marine Chapter Commander can lead from the front, His damage out put is not that high so it presents a problem to the enemy. Do they sink enough bullets into him to kill him and not go after high value dmg targets or do they leave him be with his morale aura.
Space Marines
Space Marines have been homogenized slightly. Salamanders and Ultramarines got 10/10 accuracy buffs. Salamanders bonus armor was reduced to 5pts. Ultramarines now have two bonuses, +2 initiative and -25 cost per infantry unit -50 cost per tank unit. It may not seem like a lot but Ultramarines actually have an edge on the other two Chapters in a firefight. All tanks that are supposed to support do so now.
Also, weapons that say 2 heavy bolters are actually 2 heavy bolters now. (Except for a few exceptions where I needed to balance a unit thematically.) There is no weapon that gains power and AP but not extra shots when there are 4 of it.
I would like to highlight some specific units that I think are really cool.
Salamander Firedrakes. These guys were great before but for some reason they were a tactical squad. They are now Terminators who wield dual-heavy flamers. Anyone they attack who is made of organic material or can melt will die.
I have added Psykers to the game. Librarians, Weirdboyz and Zoanthropes now harness the warp to pop the heads of their opponents. (Mechanically this was done very strangely by giving them very weak weapons with insane armor penetration.) No matter who they are fighting they will hurt them. In a Landraider? They don't care.
Dreadnaughts don't pack too much firepower but they are built like rocks. They might not be worth targetting but they can still rip troops to shreds.
Bike squads are much more aggressively priced. Land Raiders are good at picking off damaged units now. They have very high initiative and good weaponry
Watch out for the Baal Predator.
Tyranids
I have to thank Pizza Grenadier for letting me use his Tyranid and Tau mods. I have changed a lot of the stats but the core is all his.
Tyranids are a very unique army, they are generally lacking in ranged firepower compared to the other armies (not entirely) but they have very efficiently priced ground troops. Like in tabletop, lesser creatures require a synapse creature to function. This has been accomplished by giving all non synapse creatures 0 spotting. To make up for this Synapse creatures are now Heroic, meaning the Tyranid horde is not so vulnerable to morale losses. In addition, synapse creatures have large visions ranges, with the Swarmlord being able to see 7 spaces.
Some of my favorite Tyranid units are the spore mines which are cheap and easy to kill, but even if just a few make it into your troop line, you'll regret it. I also like the raveners who ignore terrain and are not visible to units until they move next to them (actually a lot of Tyranid units have some ability to hide).
Tau
The Tau have, as you would expect, massive ranged potential but are very vulnerable in an assault. Their crisis suits can be used as a buffer for your fire warriors and path finders. Sadly there are no Kroot as of now.
Orks
Ork key changes are their tanks are better and their infantry have more variety now. Warbosses and Nobz are viable heavy infantry, Mega Armored Nobz can face off with Terminators and hordes of termagants. Stormboys now have jet packs. The biggest change is probably tankbustas, whose rockits are a little worse than they used to be. They are just an annoyance if you attack them with armor. But they are monsters if you manage to get them to plant the bombs on the tank. Ork units are also very unusual in that their shootiness is disproportional to their armor and points cost. The Trukks can be blown up almost as easily as they can blow you up. Generally Ork Gargants are better value than their tanks. Squiggoths are not to be underestimated. Lootaz are also key fire support, they have high initiative but bulky weapons so make sure you get them before they get you, Ork weapons are generally stronger than Imperial weapons but much less reliable. Overall Zap Guns and Kanons will perform worse than Lascannons and Missile Launchers but you might just get lucky.
There are two files attached. The redux file is if you have already got the Tyranid and Tau graphics files, the large file is if you are installing onto Vanilla. I have done all the hard work for you, the mod is plug&play, just extract to the WH40KArmageddon directory.
Please try it and give me feedback. If the balancing is fun it will be easy to add new races/units. I'd love to add Chaos and Eldar. The Tau balancing is a little rough because I have never read the codex except this week and the super heavy tanks might be overcosted but otherwise it is solid.
It's not balanced for single player. But if it's too hard or easy, just change the difficulty.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oedljndahfmzd ... x.rar?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gb5n4jvjhjsm5 ... s.rar?dl=0
If you don't want the tyranids or tau you can just download the redux file by itself.
I just realised I posted an old version of this, so the new one has replaced it.