Points cost vs power rating

[Bmseifer]

Anyone seeing the conversion ratio here?

 

I'm hoping power level/rating is a viable way to play balanced enough casual games but when I'm checking out the point/power ratio it just seem off in some cases. Lets look at some fixed point value units:

 

Guilliman, power 18, points 360. Thats an easy 20pts per power

 

Then we have Intercessors, power 6, points 100. Thats 16,7 pts/power. Why aren't they power 5 and have the same ratio as Guilliman?

 

Hellblasters are 15,8pts/power., They could be power 10 instead of 12 and have pts/power closer too 20

 

Imp Space Marine is 20

 

 

Of course points/power will vary on units with variable wargear options. But its odd they didn't set a standard coversion ratio between the different systems

Edited June 7, 2017 by Bmseifer

[Ishagu]

Power Levels don't impress me at all.

Points on the other hand seem to balance very well.

[Brother Casman]

So, according to this video here:

 

The power levels seem to be related to the average between a barebones squad and a fully tricked out squad. Maybe that helps?

Edited June 7, 2017 by Brother Casman

[Bmseifer]

So, according to this video here:

 

The power levels seem to be related to the average between a barebones squad and a fully tricked out squad. Maybe that helps?

 

Power levels in regards to units with varied load outs and points costs is not my issue.

 

Its the difference in pts/power level on units that have a fixed point cost like those I mentioned when they could have been more balanced.

 

 

Seeing as the point costs for units is the balancing factor, the power level should be following those values to make power level as balanced as possible. And to do that they should have implemented a conversion system where x points equals 1 power rating.

 

My way of doing it would have been to set 1 power rating to a value of 20 points (as this seem to be more or less they way they did it) making a unit that cost 100 points to have a power rating of 5. And for varying cost units, say a unit that lands between 100-150points, set an average of 140points to get a power rating of 7.

 

But right now, the numbers are all over the place. I found an even better example of two fixed cost units:

 

Intercessor Squad is 100pts. Equates to 6 Power Rating

Inquisitor Coetaz is 100pts. Equates to 4 Power Rating

 

This tells me one of two things. Either the Power Rating values are taken out of thin air, or the non Match Play system is made to allow players to field more 'cool' units, more characters and so on

[Brother Casman]

Well, it suggests that there probably isn't a perfect conversion ratio between points costs and power levels. So you're probably right, power levels are, to some degree, "taken out of thin air".

[FlamingWalnut]

I think the power level also takes into account their uses. Intercessors will probably have multiple units, but Coteaz will be only 1. In addition, Coteaz is more of a force multiplier, which are key this edition, so to reward/encourage adding in useful characters, they give Coteaz a discount.

 

Overall, I think battlefield role helps. If a unit has a more unique role, give it a discount to make up for it not needing or able to be spammed, while regular bodies will be spammed, so no such discount.

[Bmseifer]

I appreciate your thoughts but the same would be just as true for their points cost. I just don't see any reason as to why there is a deviation on internal balance between units in the two systems. Unit A and Unit B are the same in comparison to each other regardless if they're taken for points or power level.

[Eternal Warrior]

Also keep in mind. The points in the starter box are different from the big book. I guess the wanted to balance the Ultra and Deathguard.

[Colonel Bindoff]

I've written out my marine list with points vs power level. My army average (4000pts marines) is 19.52, which seems like a fairly good match. Now, I'm not an 'optimise everything' sort of player, but most of my units look to be within a reasonable few points of a 20pt/power lvl benchmark: its close enough that I reckon you could play pick up power level games and be fairly confident of getting a reasonable degree of fairness if you took the lists and micro analysed them for points.

 

Intercessors would work out as 16.6pts/lvl, which would be lower efficiency than other units (my VVs are c.24, for example) but it's not so far off 20 that it'd throw a whole list out of whack unless you had a ton of them in a power level game.

 

I reckon points levels look great for quick club games, where you might not have bucket loads of time to craft a list between games.