Now that would signify the end of the universe. When JES's become viable in a normal game, the end is nigh.

Perhaps I'm just not as good at seeing the worst case scenerio as I thought, but I don't see TSEMP being primarily used against mechs and I don't see it as being a game breaker. The biggest issue I see with TSEMP would the the SC Tank being tank dropped at which point it's more of an issue with the transport mechanic than TSEMP.

A light or medium mech will be hit with not too much trouble. And they'll be even harder tu use.

At least there sholdn't be a single unit with long range attack that carry this kind of equipment. Any TSEMP unit has to pay the price (shorter ranges) for using their equipment.

WK made a big mistake with TSEMP.

No one save for the playtesters have seen TSEMP in use. To call it a "big mistake" seems pre-mature at best.
Sure there is a possibility for abuse, but lets wait till we can play the pieces before we pass judgement.

Step 1. Move-n-drop TSEMP armed tank
Step 2. Zap with said tank, target shuts down.
Step 3. Move-n-zap with your Donar or use your cruisemissle-mech (Mjolnirs, PHawks, Arnis, or whatever you have on hand).

= Dead target.

When (or if) that mechs gets its next turn yes it comes up with no tokens ... but now has an 8 attack by that point most likely. You can guess the outcome from there.

Sorry, thanks for playin ... please come again.

TSEMP in general I think was a bad idea for a SEC. But TSEMP on a tank was a REALLY bad idea.

There are only 2 units with TSEMP in FP. I hope for WKs sake they had enough sanity to give that tank a VERY short range.

Current Tankdrop

Step 1: Move and drop you DI Schitt.
Step 2: Blast Target with said tank.

= dead or dying target

The old method can do the same thing with one less order and no charge.

The only way TSEMP could be better than the old drop is if it has a super high attack and damage. And we won't know this until the units are released.

Tsemp can shut down a mech, allowing you to base it without it getting a free spin, great if you have a melee mech.

Other than that I don't see much of a use for it, unless the Tsemp unit has a REALLY high attack, so it has 50%+ change of hitting a 23 def unit. allowing you to follow up with low attack unit on the 19 def shut down.

So flank your big mech with two of the TSEMP Skadi's and TSEMP him back!

I can imagine.....Shutdown-Warrior, where everybody spends 50 minutes doing nothing...

Not THAT is funny....and sadly possible.

But really, when you look at what units get TSEMP, it won't be abused. The units in question will get--at best--10 attacks, but I'm thinking more along the lines of 9 or 8. Will it be devestating if you get hit at a critical moment? Yup, but many other attacks are just as debilitating.

I'm not at all worried about TSEMP. I'm worried that the overall quality of unit design will continue to slide.

So I'm curious, even if the SC tank has an attack of 10 (I tried not to laugh while I typed that ;) ) and a TSEMP tank drop is a serious threat, is this SE something to be genuinely feared outside of that scenerio? Lets just play pretend for a moment and say that transports can only carry infantry or vehicles with "Towed" in their name and tank drop is no longer an issue. Would people still be throwing this much of a fit about TSEMP? My guess is no.

Oddly enough, I actually see TSEMP as a more effective anti-VTOL ability than an anti-mech one.

If I mech gets hit, it shuts down for the remainder of the current player's turn (at most, two more orders, barring Command, which can't be relied upon), but restarts with no tokens on the owner's turn (ie, the following turn in a two-player game). Obviously, being shut down hurts, but starting with no tokens the following turn is very strong.

For a VTOL that gets hit, it gets a token and drops to NOE. Essentially, this forces the owner's hand to move it next turn (if possible), thus taking pushing damage. VTOLs need evasion to survive effectively, and TSEMP attacks that ability to avoid being cornered.

Again, as many people have said, we really should wait and see what the actual units look like. Right now it's all spectulation, but I don't see this being nearly as deadly to mechs as tank drop currently is (which someone else also mentioned before)

As someone who played the old Battletech, I have to say that it doesn't sound nearly as unbalanced as the "EMP Warheads" from the Battletech Tactical Handbook...

To take it one step further, a VTOL hit with that SE while over hindering or blocking terrain is automatically killed...now THAT is powerful AA.