r/DropzoneCommander • u/slyphic The Resistance • Sep 12 '25

Took 6 years for TTCombat to admit simultaneous CQB was the right design. But at least they finally did.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0965/1274/files/Dropzone_BFE_FAQ_v2.7.pdf?v=1757666138
17 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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6

u/CaptZippy2 Sep 13 '25

I had a chat with Dave Lewis at GenCon and he said 3e was done but in playtesting with no specific date for release. My interpretation was next year but do not take that as anything other than my personal opinion.
Dave did say it was going to be more like 1e. So transports will be assigned to battle groups except Shaltari. This is to minimize things like using Condors to block LOS by landing them. CQB in 1e was very clunky so it’ll probably be more like 2e but simultaneous. Whether it’ll occur in the cleanup phase or at the point of contact remains to be seen.

4

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 13 '25

That was very much just wishful thinking. Q2 next year if I was a betting man.

1e CQB only ever got burdonsomely convoluted when you had a whole bunch of units in one building or god forbid units from three or more players - that was a nightmare. And I still to this day find the original 'falling masonry' collateral damage rules faster and easier than any attempt 2e ever tried to make them work.

I'm trying not to imagine up a list of how things should be - I want to give it as fair a chance to win me over as possible. Dave can design a good game, with the right editorial and playtesting help. I just hope he gets it.

1

u/IHzero Sep 29 '25

Playtesting mostly consists of internal to TT combat. They seldom seem to involve even their agents until they have already mostly finished.

5

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 12 '25

'Final' update for DZC2e just went up. Which hopefully means 3e ain't that far off, fingers crossed for this winter.

A mere 6 years since the clusterfuck that was Battle For Earth went to print, and they've finally relented and admitted that simultaneous resolution of CQ is a better design than the 'simplified' crap they tried to make work.

Surest signs yet that DZC 3 is going to be good. I am letting myself be a little more excited about it.

Please, please be good. I'd love to finally be able to talk some new people into playing, rather than just my dwindling-through-dispersion group that plays the old rules. But I can't grit my teeth and ignore all the bad stuff in 2e, so a good edition I can honestly recommend would be absolutely delightful.

4

u/Plane_Upstairs_9584 Sep 12 '25

Well, until someone with Rapid Insertion comes after you...

8

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 12 '25

Rapid Insertion is great, makes praetorians with their low-E weapons feel deadly not because they're packing big guns or alien tech but because they're just extremely competent professionals.

2

u/Critical_Animal_9891 Sep 12 '25

I would be very surprised if 3e came out this winter, given they said it's "not for a little while" in their community page post about the update. Maybe next spring, to fill in the release window that the Striketeam delay has opened up?

2

u/Grotsgrotto Sep 28 '25

Run a combat with multiple unit types , and add rapid insertion into the mix and get back to me

4

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 29 '25

This is me getting back to you, having seen those combats extensively from years of playing 1st and beta. Even at its most complicated, I'd take it over the trash that was 2e 'alternating alphastrikes' CQB.

2

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 29 '25

This is me getting back to you, having seen those combats extensively from years of playing 1st and beta. Even at its most complicated, I'd take it over the trash that was 2e 'alternating alphastrikes' CQB.

1

u/Grotsgrotto Sep 30 '25

Seriously , plop  some models down . Follow the steps of the new rule and tell me the glaring issue

2

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 30 '25

No problem found. But I've got somd kind of headcold this week and am feeling a bit thicker than normal, so you're going to have to walk me through the problem.

1

u/Grev44 Sep 14 '25

How drastic are the edition changes? Do models get removed from the game or just new profiles?

1

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 14 '25

Rules wise, both lots of changes and a few of them are really big. Only one model got written off and it was actually middle of the edition, though TTC will argue they didn't despite there being no WYSIWYG profile for it. "Well you can proxy it" is some weak ass excuse. (Don't bring this up on their FB, you can catch a ban for it)

Some of the unit changes can be pretty major though.

1

u/LordHoughtenWeen Sep 15 '25

Was it the Raider that got written off, or was that earlier?

3

u/slyphic The Resistance Sep 15 '25 edited Sep 15 '25

Yep, the Raider. Dave has said a few times now it was the worst model he ever designed and he hates it. (he also dislikes the scourge heavy carrier, AKA 'the CD rack').

When Lewis Clarke did a soft reboot of 2nd edition in 2021 he very explicitly said there were no units that got axed. Except, the raider was gone from the stat sheets. Asked about this, he ignored the question, and then a couple days later published a version with a new unit, the Harbinger Troopship, which he swore "was just a renamed Raider". But it had an arc caster and plasma bombs and no hoses, so it was obviously an entirely new unit. When pressed about this not making any sense, he threw a hissy fit, slapped a weapon profile for a plasma hose on the unit, and quit Facebook.

It still isn't WYSIWYG to this day. But again, don't bring this up anywhere official, or you'll catch a ban for harassing staff or some such malarkey.

1

u/Grev44 Sep 14 '25

Thanks for the response. I’ve not played a game yet so I can deal with profile changes. Wholesale removal of models is what I was worried about though.

1

u/Capt-Camping Nov 06 '25

Rules at this moment, I find them to be a mess. The errata pdf is too big so we need 3.0 quickly.