21 minutes ago, Khobai said:

the problem is that vehicles just arnt very good because they cant take objectives

Vehicles can score/play the objective on Breakthrough, Bombing Run, Key Positions, and Payload. They do lose a bit on Bombing Run as they can't pick up dropped bombs, but they make up for that by being generally faster than troopers and therefore better at dropping bombs.

I have always felt that vehicles should be able to score on Intercept. The unit doesn't need to specifically interact with an objective, so why can't they? I really think FFG should change this, both because it just makes sense, and it would mean that all battle decks would contain a minimum of 1 objective that vehicles could score.

4 hours ago, Khobai said:

the problem isnt that droidekas are classified as vehicles, the problem is that vehicles just arnt very good because they cant take objectives. which is why you see nothing but trooper spam in competitive play.

vehicles not being able to take objectives in a game where winning requires taking objectives is the whole problem. they need to fix ALL vehicles. not make droidekas an exception.

Vehicles are on their all time high ATM. See

Though they will lose ground again once ARCs and BX hit the shelves ...

Also STAPs will be very good. It is mainly a problem with Droidekas being too expensive and lacking synergies.

7 hours ago, Nithorian said:

Why would you give your droid troopers blasters enemies can pick up, when you can just attach them to their body? Well they solved that with the B2s. Why have vehicles manned by droids that the clones can steal and use against us? Fixed with later Tank models, not being operated but running off of their own AI.

Why B1s don't have guns attached probably has more to do with their need to function when not in combat as well. They are the most versatile CIS droid, able to interface with a universe largely designed for creatures with at least 2 hands. Sometimes those hands need to be holding a blaster, sometimes they don't.

B2s are designed for combat, as opposed as designed with combat capability in mind.

Is there a risk of stolen weapons if they're not attached? Of course. But the materiel cost of stolen weapons is a teeny tiny fraction of the cost for a sustained war effort. And integrating the droid and weapons has drawbacks too. It's more expensive because the design is more complicated and you have to design it all. With B1s, you can just give them whatever guns you can get ahold of.

I imagine the designs of their larger combat vehicles/droids are based on the same sort of logic. If the goal is purely front line combat, then it definitely makes more sense to have it AI piloted. However, it wasn't just droids in the Separatist army. Having vehicles like the AAT allows non-droids (like Lok Durd) to participate in the war effort.

The last thing you want is for a bunch of volunteer soldiers to show up to help out and tell them to go home because all your blasters are bolted onto your droids and all your tanks are inaccessible.

Things with a specific purpose can be tailored to that role. But some things' role is to be "general purpose." B1s aren't as good at fighting as B2s, but I bet they can type more words per minute.

On 8/7/2020 at 1:49 AM, Atromix said:

It's not just that they can't climb, it's that they don't fit in with pretty much every other trooper in the game. The only thing they are capable of is combat, they can't pull boxes or fix equipment or open doors because they aren't meant to. Compare them to something like the B2, It has hands and arms and can actually manipulate things around them, which means that the trooper classification makes sense, but I just don't see the Droidekas filling that same criteria.

STAP riders are classified as "repulser vehicle" yet the have a b1 riding them that can "manipulate things around them" so wouldn't a trooper classification make sense for STAP riders? Same goes for speeder bikes.

There is not a logic that makes logical sense for medium base unit designation. Tauntan and dewbacks are troopers, while staps, at-rt's and speeder bikes are not? so don't try and assign that logic to this debate.

By your logic wouldn't the crew of an AT-ST be as capable at capturing a box or fixing something as a group of storm troopers?

2 hours ago, Icelom said:

STAP riders are classified as "repulser vehicle" yet the have a b1 riding them that can "manipulate things around them" so wouldn't a trooper classification make sense for STAP riders? Same goes for speeder bikes.

2 hours ago, Icelom said:

By your logic wouldn't the crew of an AT-ST be as capable at capturing a box or fixing something as a group of storm troopers?

No, because the game does not represent the crew of a vehicle being able to leave, and so we have to treat their capabilities based what they can do whilst piloting. (This would be cool though, like the transport x rule, and an excuse to get pilot minis.)

2 hours ago, Icelom said:

There is not a logic that makes logical sense for medium base unit designation. Tauntan and dewbacks are troopers, while staps, at-rt's and speeder bikes are not? so don't try and assign that logic to this debate.

They are creature troopers, which share many of the same rules as vehicles including the inability to interact with most objectives, the main difference being their reaction to suppression, as they are live animals.

It's not the perfect designation, I just feel its the closest we have just because when you compare the capabilities of an AT-ST to a Droideka they are pretty much the same, just move and shoot.

On 8/11/2020 at 8:48 AM, Vomikronnoxis said:

I talked about this with my third-grade son this morning and he did argue that Droidekas DO talk sometimes, supporting the idea that they are individuals and not vehicles.

However, I pointed out that they are very specialized droids to the point that they are probably more vehicle than functional individual. B-1s are ultimately really advanced troops capable of filling in for various roles that would otherwise be occupied by a living soldier. They can drive a vehicle, operate coms, communicate with captives, perform recon, etc. Magnaguards too have been known to pilot ships in addition to their specialized combat niche. I guess B2s don't do much other than their specialized function, but they seem more capable of moving within a humanoid world than Droideka -- which is ultimately more of an AI-piloted rapid-delivery gun pod IMO.

Magnaguards are going to be an instant preorder from me whether they have any synergy with anything or not. I'm hoping they will be soon after the already announced stuff.