This isn't really a SS 1.2 specific issue but I can't remember having seen this dicussion before. People used to whine about Posessed a lot in DC but that was mostly because of how quickly they came out. What concerns me is their wierdly high damage to buildings, which results in extremely fast destruction of bases, particularly when combined with other elements of chaos army (such as the daemon prince which also rips through buildings very quickly).
The actual stats don't sound all that impressive, it goes:
18.8 16.4 14.1 for building low, med, high respectively. This actually isn't as much damage as obliterators, man for man. But given that Oblits are slow moving and have half the squad size, and are much more expensive, AND can be tied up in melee, I believe posessed are still better vs buildings in practise.
Comparing the posessed building damage stats to their Assault Terminator nemesis, again they don't seem too impressive. But in practise, I think its because of possessed marine's relatively small size and blinding speed, they can surround a building very efficiently and bring it down in less time it would take the assault marines to take the shrink wrap off their thunder hammers.
Because the stats don't sound all that high, I think this has been over looked. But in my opinion it is their performance in practise that makes their building damage a little OP. They are already anti everything and a great t3 unit. No other race (except for DE Warp beasts - but at least they also have a weakness) - can just build 1 squad and go rape everything.
In a close game with fighting elsewhere on map, a loose possessed squad in a base can bring down buildngs quickly, easily taking out any repairer units in the process. A few buildings will be lost in the time it takes a player to send a couple of squads back to defend. Its a bit rough because unlike fragons or dread drop or whatever other dirty base rape tricks there are in the game, you cannot send one specific unit to counter the possessed. You have to send half your army, or atleast a walker unit + ranged squad.
As part of a Chaos T3 army, of say oblits, deamon prince and 2 squads of infitlrated CSM - I think the possessed are just the icing on the cake in terms of base pawnage. If chaos can't beat your army in his base, he need only send a few units including possessed to your base, with a speed advantage, and probably beat you in a base rape race. Its just too much destruction for a relatively low tech army. I.e. - no vehicles required (Hell Talon is a seperate issue that can certainly contribute to fast base rape). Space marines can pawn a HQ quickly using dreadnaught drop but I believe this has higher requirements in terms of tech and cost.
Nerfing the posessed marine's building damage about 5 points wouldn't hurt Chaos' army in combat, just in base rape. They did this to Nobz who probably didn't need it as badly as posessed. Anyone who has seen a relatively small Chaos T3 army take down 7 wagh banners and their Rax in the time it takes to say "get out ya freeloaders!" will appreciate what a difference this would make.
I don't really expect anything to be done about balance this late in the day but I was wondering if people feel the same way about possessed, and what counter measures are effective vs chaos base rape.
Originally Posted by Weavern
