thought I'd bring the NPE of MSD abuse to it's own thread(goes back to beating unconscious, but not dead, horse)
jak wrote:
re: mouse droppings
I don't think cost is the major issue.
It's mice being used/abused in way not intended in their original design.

classifying them as tiny,they neither provide cover, or impede movement, is the best answer.

ATM said:
I am glad you liked this suggestion jak! :) It is more direct than reclassifying all small pieces and could be used in future designs. It may be better for Competitive play to have them still provide cover though(can be pretty helpful for melee squads... Just not impede movement.

Jak,
thanks for discussing this, and having the daring to discuss it
As a long time Clone Wars era player, and with my soft spot for droids aside (it is a bias) -
I have to admit - it boggles the mind that R2 Units, Yoda, Mouse Droids, those small probe droids, and any object under 1.5m, 'obstructs line of sight'. or 'impedes movement' (maybe, in yoda's or yaddle's, or kazdan paratus' exceptional cases...)

further, over the years, I've seen a lot of TKO play styles, and small figures like the Mouse droid have been abused
(especially by Sep players, with Gha Nackht).

We have had a standing houserule and informal understanding locally for a long time -
small objects (including green border small objects), don't prevent line of sight, or add cover amount +4.
for characters small base or smaller, or small figures on any sized base around that 1.5m or smaller,
no impeding of movement (but, no minis may end there turn on a square which is occupied with another character, and Attack of Opportunity works as normal).

It's a matter of time before that is resolved - it's a simple change, which wouldn't have too much of an impact.
It would prevent a couple of avenues for the Seps/Droid builds... but, they're already able to use a load of other options, it won't hurt them to lose that minor change. Very few other builds outside a droid/sep centric build need em.

Another thing, could be to restrict the Mousedroid to Imperial faction (just as the Caamasi noble is Rebel, yet was erata'd fringe).
As, maybe the mousedroid was only a 'thing' in the Imperial era?
That would nerf the mousedroid's more prolific and abusive combos...

This. +1

Cant you just throw some grenades or force lightning to take a bunch of them out?

Lilly had to do that in our match, but it wastes force you need to kill pieces that are actually important.

Thank you for carrying on my coined phrase of "mouse droppings".

The intent of mouse droids was to provide a cheap extension of range 6 CE's for factions without booming voice. The purpose of its high defense was to give it survive-ability and reflect the difficulty of hitting a "tiny" target, as used in the D20 RPG system.

However, it has become a method for; increasing activation's, controlling initiative automatically and without penalty, absorbing shots, negating double/triple shooters by basing, walling off doors/pathways to protect against melee and creating a shooting barrier.

Eliminating 2 point mouse droppings will decrease the free activation's from 10 to 6. You will only have 4 mice and a MTB instead of 6 and now each mouse droid will be worth 1 more point when you kill it. I feel this is the first change that needs to be made. However it is not going to eliminate the activation, cover creator, door jammer etc abuse.

I feel the most important change would be for mice to not impede movement. That diminishes the appeal of using mice to hamper melee pieces from engaging. Also, it makes shooting barriers much weaker. Therefore, I would argue that shooters shouldn't be penalized here. A mouse barrier that my opponent can move through should not provide them with cover as well. Not allowing mice to provide cover will also diminish the appeal of spamming them.

The final outcome then would be mouse droids being used to actually extend CE's! Also, If it is not providing cover, impeding movement, only worth 3 points and has such a high defense then why would you generally even bother with killing it? It will become even better at what it was originally designed to do...

They can still be used for similar cover scenarios by keeping them in front of covered allies, although accurate counters that(although that would negate the mouse wall either way) although this whole debate reminds me of my diplomat wall move i made a while back

those diplomats will be out in set 10

What? I do not understand what you are trying to say...

I also dont think it should get around Adjacency.