WarStrider Use in Combat

[Heaven's Thunder Hammer]

Hi Guys,


I was looking up Warstriders in my WotLA today, and taking a good look at how to use them in a combat situation. Then I realized... Even a Common Jade warstrider with say, a mundane chopping sword dishes out 30 damage on a succesfull hit... This bothers me, as the soak even for a royal jade warstrider is 24... So really, how much better is the Royal when even fighting a few commons would totally trash it? I'm guessing it also depends on the pilot... But say, an epic battle between a solar and abyssal in warstriders with artifact war strider grand daiklaives (48 damage or so) would really come down to who hits first, which is hardly epic in my mind.


So is it just me, or is high powered warstrider combat really silly? Am I missing something? Any thoughts/ ideas?

 

[Flagg]

It was always my impression that warstriders were used for devastating mortals and knocking down fortresses, etc, not fighting other warstriders.

 

[Persell]

I just think of them like tanks. Can they fight each other? Yes. But itll be over REAL quick. Course, you can use combat charms in a warstider, so the pilot will make a HUGE diffrence.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Remember that most foes a warstrider is likely to face aren't other warstriders. Their primary tactical use is traditionally against things like large Behemoths, or for shattering fortresses, or in some forms of engineering work, or simply for the purpose of intimidation. Sure, you can use them to shatter infantry formations, but for less expense and less work you could gain a more versatile Gunzosha formation or the like. As for the damage versus other warstriders, it's really not that hugely different than similar battles between characters in lesser armor. The warriors inside matter a great deal...as whomever runs out of defensive charms first is likely to be in serious trouble. In warstrider combat essence conservation is even more important than in normal combat. Both because of the considerable commitment of motes needed to wield such armor, but also because of the cost of being struck by another warstrider.

 

[Sherwood]

Dont forget that any Charm that will work in armor will work with the WS. So, if you can eliminate mobility penalties and want to up your soak, you can. In one game I had a Lunar in a Moonsilver WS use his Armor Forming Technique to extend his bony protection out into the WS suit.

 

[Kyeudo]

I've always looked at Warstriders as the Storyteller's way out of Mass Combat. Given that the average human soldier has little hope of busting through a Warstrider's Hardness and Soak, whichever side has the last remaining Warstrider is going to win.


You get the players in Warstriders and then they just have to deal with whatever on the field can actually damage them. After that, it's just a matter of the Storyteller narrating the mop-up.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

You don't try to awaken the essence of your mortal troops and put them in Gunzosha Armor with Grand Goremauls? Surely you don't then teach them Jade Mountain Style, just for the kicks and grins of watching them actually be a threat to Warstrider pilots. Even without going so far out, Gunzosha armored soldiers armed with Shock Pikes can get through the hardness of most Warstriders reliably. Further, weapons like the Fuel Bolt Launcher exist for similar purposes.


But...admittedly, such formations that can threaten Warstrider pilots are elite formations, likely lead by Exalted heroes, in conjunction with Warstrider forces of their own...and currently only really able to be fielded by the Realm, Lookshy and the Deathlords. But then, those same military organizations are the largest threats anyhow that one might be facing in mass combat.

 

[Kyeudo]

It's more fun for me to run a combat with a dozen Gunzosha armored troopers or a squad of Fuel Bolt Launcher-equipped shock troops against a couple of Warstriders than to run a mass combat with two dozen squads grinding things out across a distance of miles.

 

[Gylthinel]

I wholeheartedly agree with your concerns about the dimunitive amount of armor warstriders have. I don't think you take an epic game like Exalted, with epic war-machines like Warstriders, and then say "they shouldn't fight eachother." Warstrider vs. Warstrider, so far as I'm concerned, is the meat of a good high-fantasy war story. Besides, if Warstriders are meant to fight huge creatures like Behemoths, which certainly deal as much damage (or more) as a Warstrider.

 

[Kyeudo]

The Warstrider armor problem is probably related to the low Soak values of Core artifact armor. A Common Warstrider doesn't have much more Soak than Artifact Superheavy plate.

 

[Ncolic]

An easy solution would be adding like 10 soak to all types of Warstriders. And tune the overpowering stat of Grand Daiklaive to something like 6.


That should allow some kind of balance to warstrider combat. Because as it is even a Royal warstrider has max 30 soak (8 from spirit charm) and same strider has +40L/8 P* damage. Which means even a royal strider can be killed in one stroke which is kinna lame.

 

[Heaven's Thunder Hammer]

This makes me think of my next question: How much damage can a royal warstrider take? REally, I ask this as when hit, chances are the pilot will be missed.