Whilst I wish for something less like planetside I agree with you that the Astartes will be functioning a lot like IG normally would. My point being that if that's how Space Marines are gonna fight then the IG are going to have it so much worse. It takes several hundred years to cross from the eastern rim to Terra, on average, let alone one side of the Galaxy to the other. Even with warp travel. My point was that they would physically die of old age, let alone conflict before they could reach their destination. Good ideas, still not convinced about tank spam though. Regardless I will let it rest. I am personally an IG player. Normally battle results- victory with a 70%+ casualty rate. I know the IG can win and win well but they don't fit. No matter how much gear you give a guardsman he isn't going to become as effective as a Space Marine. My point being that people aren't going to want to play a race that , by it's very nature, makes them inferior to every other player of a different race out there.
Then have them be other things. Have them pilot vehicles, give them huge artillery, make them perform light infantry duty, have players be Sergeants who bolster the efficiency of nearby troopers and give them the ability to command them. Or allow players to control multiple of them. Fill a CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT with redshirts and have the player control an entire platoon. One lasgun doesn't do diddely? I'll bet you four dozen of them do a whole lot of diddely.
Who wants to play as regular humans? Giant mutated humans are much much cooler to work with. Though most of the people I play with have Imperial Guard armies locked away, mostly Death Korps. I think they should make the Imperial Guard Playable at some point, but somehow fit it into the game. Right now the game is about all out war on four fronts. The addition of a Fifth on the same side of the Space Marines would start to get weirder. Though that just my opinion on how to appeal to a fanbase more because of popularity. If anything, the addition of the Tau would have the same effect seeing as how they're the golden child of 6th edition. Just make them blueberry woman look good or you got angry people on your hands, haha!
Squad, commanding? Doubtful, plus it's unnecessary. Guardsmen are already supposed to have a role as NPC base guards. There's your volley of lasgun fire, they're meant to stop or delay ghost capping and provide a little extra resistance, nothing more. Huge artillery, yes but we already have some of that, plus there's little need for it. Scouts can be used for light infantry duty. You can do all the things you just suggested without actually having to use IG. Also a Crassus Armoured Assault Transport is a super heavy vehicle and will therefore be unlikely to be featured in the game.
They said that there would likely be guards and automated defenses, but they never said they would be IG. It would be hugely, immensely disappointing if all the IG ended up being in this game was a handful of computer-controlled, lasgun-toting speed bumps. That doesn't give them nearly the respect they deserve, and deprives all the players from being able to experience the full wonder if the Imperial Guard arsenal. Can you really say the Imperial Guard is adequately represented if we never see a Leman Russ or a Chimera? If there's never more than four or five Guardsmen in a fight, and they're all handicapped NPCs? If we never see a Hellhound, or a Hydra, or even a Commissar? It would be pathetic. A full faction is the only way to do the Imperial Guard justice.
I think you guys also underestimate Lasguns... From a lore point of view they are supposed to cut off limbs and such easily. A lasgun shot on your arm, that thing darn falls off. The Lasguns have explosive projectiles just as the bolters, just that the bolters first penetrate the armor / body and then explode in the inside. While Lasguns are just exploding on the outside. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Lasgun#.UtW3H9KpR9U The lasgun uses the same basic technology and operates along the same lines as other laser weapons, emitting a beam of focused light. The high amount of energy in the beam causes the immediate surface area of a target to be vaporized in a small explosion[1]. It is a relatively unimpressive weapon when compared to other weapons in the Imperium, but is still capable of cleanly severing limbs or piercing the power armour of a Space Marine (but only through a vulnerable spot in the armour). In other words, the IG certainly would be easy to make playable as their guns are for example good enough. Tactics, survial skills, etc. is then all player related, just as it will be for the other Factions. So the only concern I really see is how to fragile or not fragile make an IG in-game. But to be honest, just put them on same or a bit higher than Orks in "durability". And when you guys start talking about the Tau, in basic the classic Fire Warrior is right between IG and Astartes. They are superior to a Guardsman, but below an Astartes. At least if it comes to durability. In mobility and tactics I would even dare to say the Tau are superior to the Astartes. But to be honest I understand the IG hatred, I was kinda same till a few people took the time to enlighten me that the IG is truly not as crappy as the most people think. As Rasczak said before: "Space Marine players, as a rule, severely underestimate the Imperial Guard and what it is capable of. Yes, an Imperial Guard that is remotely competitive with any faction in 40k in any setting would be a horrible shock to them, but it would NOT break lore, it would only offend certain players' incorrect perceptions."
I agree with you I really do but they need their own game. Perhaps a part of this game but a separate gamemode or expansion. Fighting NPC 'nids or a small number of CSM or Eldar players or something. To try and implement them in the game wouldn't do them justice, not properly. It's just that it's a business operation as well and they wouldn't exactly be popular with the masses (for reasons stated earlier). To pit them wholesale against the other factions would be suicide. If they're not popular to play they're not a reason to buy the game so they don't have a reason to be added. I would love to see them in the game but I don't think it's practical. You wouldn't see them in all their full glory, not the companies of tanks advancing or the mighty artillery barrages, just handfuls of weaker soldiers getting lobbed at the enemy and dying.
Not sure what you mean by this. Lasguns don't have projectiles, the entirety of the killing factor with a las-weapon is the heat. You take a lasround to the just the heat dispersal cooks your organs and you die. Even if it hits your limbs that's what kills you, it travels through your body. That limbs thing applies only to the higher power las-weapons, that's from Forge World IA anyway. They are not good enough, it is barely able to pierce power armour, only on the joints at that. It is utterly ineffective on almost every point on the armour (the exception being the eye lenses). So you would have to hit the joints on a moving target that is coming towards you? Even with a dozen people the damage to the marine is negligible. Just because it will breach the weak points on power armour doens't mean it will down a marine. Sams as or higher than orks on durability? Are you mad? No, that would severely damage the lore. Orks are the race that can get their heads chopped off and have them stitched onto a new body and be fine. Humans are ridiculously fragile compared to orks. Yes, yes they are. I've played them and god help you if you leave them exposed. Ah wait, I understand the confusion. I'm talking about individually, as a whole they're the mightiest force in the galaxy but one on one? They don't stand a chance, but the fact is, in game, that's how people will play them. As one poor bloody guardsman. Not the have the might regimental commanders overview of thousands of men and hundreds of tanks advancing. No. They won't have that, they'll see more of a respawn timer than any action. I'm a guard player, I've already said. This is not hate but the IG cannot be fully and wholly integrated into this game. It would not be fair on them or IG players like myself. They need a separate game or preferably a separate dlc or expansion for this one that allows Guard to be used but not in the open world. Against instaced NPCs or CSM or Eldar players etc. I want to see the tanks advancing and the men charging in their thousands but that isn't going to happen, not in this game. It's just not designed for it.
