The point he's trying to make is that the IG will just be more oriented towards combined arms tactics, the primary benefit of which lies in ranged combat.

Is this going to be Movie Marines versus Movie Guardsmen? No, this isn't a movie or a novel. This is a game, so logically we're looking at Tabletop/Videogame Marines versus Tabletop/Videogame Guardsmen, which is a much closer match and can be asymmetrically balanced with a little creativity.

Force composition is more important to IG than it is to other factions, a good force comp gives them a much larger benefit, a bad force comp punishes them more. If your entire force consists of nothing but lasgun conscripts, yeah you're going to get your ass kicked because that's a horrible force comp.

Space Marines can kind of just get away with spamming a single unit, because each of their units is stupidly strong and versatile. A force consisting of nothing but tacs will have a little trouble against armor and in melee, but not much. Space Marines don't have much in the way of support classes because they don't need them.

The flipside to this is that they don't benefit as much from a good force comp. Their one or two support classes won't be nearly the same level of force multiplier as the IG support classes. The Predator isn't nearly as awesome as the Russ, and so on.

So basically think of it this way: let's say Space Marines have a baseline power of 3 Guardsmen (just throwing numbers out there).

Obviously, if you only compare baseline power and ignore force composition it looks like a curb stomp. But both sides have force multipliers, and some multiply more than others.

Let's say both sides have good force comps though, meaning they both are using their force multipliers in their proper proportions. We'll say having the right number (whatever that is) of Apothecaries multiplies the effective strength of an SM force by 1.5, Predators by 2, Librarians by 2, Terminators by 3, Assaults by 1.5, Devastators by 1.5 (also assuming a well-rounded mix of equipment), Rhinos 2. Again, just random numbers for the sake of example. If you're wondering why the Rhino is worth as much as the Predator: spawn point.

This gives a "proper" SM force a strength factor of 3*1.5*2*2*3*1.5*1.5*2=243.

Now for the Guardsman side, let's say they have the following force multipliers: Medics 2, Commissars 1.5, Officers 1.5, Leman Russ 4, Heavy Weapons 2, Storm Troopers 2, Ogryns 2, Chimera 3.

This gives the "proper" IG force a strength factor of 1*2*1.5*1.5*4*2*2*2*3=432.

Obviously these are just made-up numbers for the purpose of illustration, but it's basically meant to show that a force with a weaker baseline can be made competitive through stronger scaling. They have a lower floor, but a higher ceiling basically.

Of course, that does mean that IG isn't very strong at solo-play, because a lone Guardsman crawling around in the bushes doesn't have all those force multipliers in his pocket. But that's kind of the point, IG is supposed to be zergy. Blob up and steamroll.

+1 for one of the better explanations I've seen of how the Guard should work.

I think you've got the right of it, here. Implementing the Guard would be, in a lot of ways I think, very similar to the way that the Eldar are getting implemented. It's about working with all your options, carefully, to get the most out of what would otherwise appear to be a force that simply isn't as outright strong as Space Marines. It really is all about supporting each other and wise use of force multipliers.

Imho, a well-implemented representation of the Guard would be THE premier example of the intelligent, teamwork-dependent sort of gameplay that the dev team is trying to steer EC towards.

now Im new to 40k but from what I have read here and seen is basically the guards men need more people. Now correct me if I'm wrong but is that not also what the orcs need? bE is making free to play players be orcs to bolster the orc ranks so they can match up to the other factions... why not do the same with the guard? it gives free to play people more choice and (hopefully) fixes this 1 guardsman vs 1 space marine problem.

Honestly I don't necessarily see a problem with IG being a second trial faction per se, so long as it's not used as an excuse to be lazy about balancing. The Orks will be in the same boat as far as that goes though.

Some people would say doing that would be a drain on Ork population, but I believe that would be offset by the more attractive trial package (ie two factions instead of one, one of which is the hugely popular Guard) drawing in more total players. Additionally, it is likely that if someone chooses to remain in trial mode indefinitely they would roll a character on both trial factions to get some variety.

I think one additional thing that is often overlooked is that although lasguns lack in raw power, they are very user friendly (in terms of recoil, CoF, magazine capacity, reload speed). That's something that people used to small, competitive arenas often underestimate, partially because they're not used to these kinds of massive games where a lot of firepower is in the hands of people in the bottom 2/3ds of the skill distribution (roughly 2/3ds of the firepower in fact).

I actually suspect this might be a factor in why the Vanu Sovereignty has consistently performed so well historically despite players complaining about their weapons being "weak", and why small buffs to them have often produced massive balance swings in their favor.

Their weapons were generally low-ish on both DPS and alpha damage (TR being the DPS faction, NC being the alpha strike faction), but were very easy to control, very forgiving of spray 'n pray, and had short reloads. VS weapons that did have identical damage profiles to another faction's weapon (such as the Orion vs the TR's CARV, both LMGs) of course significantly outperformed their counterparts due to this. The lack of bullet drop also helps slightly despite VS players' denials, by turning some body shots into headshots.

Of course with all infantry weapons already being hitscan, reload speeds already being short, and recoil already seeming to be negligible there may not be much room for lasguns to improve on those stats. Lore does give lasguns a potential for absolutely ridiculous magazine capacity though, which might be an interesting angle to take.

Honestly, if they implement all the Imperial Factions AND they decide to keep them all in the same boat, they'd have to give Chaos the same option with Traitor Guard and Daemons as we all know those two will most likely have the most players who stick to the game.

Having the option if you join the game to choose from three-four branches in the Imperial side helps balance the overall weight of distribution as even though you're on the same side, you can only choose one of the sub factions to play at a time.

We also need to keep in mind that the Imperial factions won't be implemented for at least another year, maybe more depending on how well the game goes and the fact that popularity puts Tau before them. We've yet to see actual proof of play that supports whether you have symmetrical balancing between weapons and troop types because think of one thing....height. Astartes and Orks tower over most other races and this also means for cover purposes...well, you're a pretty big target. Do Orks have larger health capacities to show their toughness? Do Eldar have the fastest infantry movement speeds without buffs to support their lithe agility? Do Astartes have an equal balance of higher than average health/speed/strength augmentations to show their buffs by power armour? We've yet to see how these small factors can affect the game as a whole and if you add say the Imperial Guard in. They'll be one of the slowest, smallest (in height), and lowest health factions ever.