Custom Forge World

With Engine War, we now have the ability to give our Adeptus Mechanicus custom forge world dogmas. Obviously I'm sinking my mechadendrites deep into this. Now the question is...which is the best or most suitable forge world dogma for my Forge World, Draconis IV?

As you probably know, Draconis IV is pretty much a hotbed of rogue, radical and ostracized Tech-priests who flee from other forge worlds to seek refuge here. As long as you don't go full-blown Dark Mechanicum or create an actual AI., all sorts of research are permissible (though we obviously wouldn't call them "innovation" lest we bring the wrath of Mars - see what I did there? - and other forge worlds down on us). We are most well known for recruiting Tech-priests from Ryza to manufacture plasma weaponry. Hence all the Leman Russ tanks produced on Draconis IV are exclusively Leman Russ Executioner variants, and the super-heavy tanks are exclusively Stormblades. Yeah, I'll get a Stormblade soon. Not sure when, but definitely sometime soon. When I have money (obviously).

What about the Skitarii themselves? Or the Mechanicus priesthood on Draconis IV? The Skitarii are armed with more specialized weaponry than the Skitarii legions of other forge worlds, so we have more arc weapons and plasma weapons. The Skitarii Vanguard have an unusually high concentration of plasma calivers while the Skitarii Rangers are always almost armed with arc rifles and arc mauls. Also, Draconis IV has an enormous Cybernetica contingent, much larger than other forge worlds. We have lots of robots. Yeah, I'm a big fan of robots, so obviously my forge world will also have a lot of them. I wish we have more variants than just the Kastelan robots, though. Forge World, please give us rules for Mechanicum battle-automata. With the aggressive recruitment of rogue Ryza Tech-priests and manufacture of so much specialized weaponry such as plasma or arc weapons as well as battle robots, it's pretty obvious that Draconis IV fits the Data-hoard forge world most. The Tech-priests of Draconis IV are always on the lookout for STCs (which is one of the narrative campaigns I hope to play out one day, the Knight STCs are waiting for my forces to claim them!), theft of personnel and Tech-priests from other forge worlds, especially Ryza, and even their lack of qualms with dealing with xenos and obtaining their technology, put them firmly in this category.

So that's the primary forge world dogma for Draconis IV. Magnabonded alloys. Our vehicles have Feel No Pain. Funnily enough, I don't have that many vehicles, only a couple of Skorpius vehicles, which I can switch between Duneriders and Disintegrators, but hey, I don't care. Oh, and Kastelan robots. I have plenty of Castellax battle-automata, which I can't use in 40K for some reason, so they are all Kastelan robots for now unless Forge World produces new rules for them in their upcoming books. Can't wait for that.

So what should be the secondary forge world dogma for my Skitarii? We have Omnitrac Impellors, which is cool...except that there are no Kataphron battle-servitors or Onager Dunecrawlers in my army. Whoops. So that one is out. It doesn't really appeal to me that much anyway.

Then you have Servo-Focused Auguries, which benefits cognis weapons. I do have plenty of cognis weapons on my Skorpius vehicles, and I plan to get the Archaeopters, which means I'll have even more cognis weapons, but...nah. I'm not a big fan of this.

Now we have Autosavant Spirits, which appeal to me the most. Funnily enough, I only have 2 Skorpius vehicles in my entire army - the rest are infantry. Well, mostly. Oh, and my Kastelan robots. Now this actually provides a lot of potential. If I plan on going the Legio Cybernetica route, I can actually benefit a lot from this dogma. Can you imagine having an army of robots that not only have a 6+++ Feel No Pain, but also the ability to regain a wound at the start of each of my turns? That will be awesome. I will have a resilient Legio Cybernetica army reinforced by vehicles. This will also benefit my Skorpius vehicles and Archaeopters. It will be very thematic!

On the other hand, I also like Trans-node Power Cores as well. I have a lot of arc weapons, whether it's the Serberys Sulfurhounds (okay, Sulphurhounds...my American spelling always kicks in at the worst times), or Skitarii Rangers. If I go down this route, I might have to grab a few Kataphron Breachers with heavy arc rifles, otherwise it will be a huge waste. Again, very thematic. Damn it, I find it absurd that my Secutarii Hoplites don't get forge world dogmas, because their arc lances will benefit a lot from this, and I have 20 of them! WHY?! Come on, Forge World. In your update, please allow the Secutarii to benefit from forge world dogmas too. Sigh. But yeah, I like this - it's thematic and I can imagine an entire army of Skitarii equipped with arc weaponry, all running around with their arc rifles or arc mauls. I'll need to get Kataphron Breachers too if that's the case, but we will see.

Right now, I'm leaning toward Autosavant Spirits. I want my Legio Cybernetica! Heh.

Oh, and speaking of this, I think the Holy Order of Artisans will benefit me the most. Whether it's Mastery of the Motive Force for my Skitarii with arc weapons or Enhanced Engine Interfaces for my Skorpius tanks or Kastelan Robots (not sure if I want them to fall back, though), they fit in with my playstyle and focus on vehicles and arc weaponry. However, the Holy Order of Magi also appeal to me, because the Aggressive Subroutines will help benefit my Kastelan Robots when they charge into the enemy and crush them with their fists. I doubt it, though. Well, we'll see...

Anyway, I'm leaning more toward Autosavant Spirits for now, to create a Legio Cybernetica army! That means I'll need to get more robots. Well, for now I'll just run my Castellax robots as Kastelan robots, and if they get their own rules in a new Forge World update, then I'll buy a couple of Kastelan robots. That should work. I hope.

Till then!