Tactical marines sergeant

[Crewfinity]

I've always been a fan of treating squad leaders like the Lord General retinue members, with an up front cost and then a seperate, cheaper, buyback cost.

so for example an SM sergeant could cost 75/25 to buy initially. then if he dies he could be repurchased for 70/10 or something like that

[Black Relic]

Well then how about this...once the sergeant is purchased that damage that is absorbed is not lost when he dies and the ability doesn't charge up unless he is present. Because that is possible.

[Arekusu]

Why don't just make him the last one to die kind of model? It seems only natural for a leader to be protected by simple troops, isn't it?

[Sturnn]

I would take it even if sergeant would have no abilities in exchange

[Nurland]

Then again Apo is a support commander so it makes sense that he can get more mileage out of other squads since he lacks the damage and durability of FC/TM.

I honestly don't see Tac sarge underperforming much. The ability is very, very strong and his basic stats are solid.

[saltychipmunk]

I dont think anyone is saying that the tac sarge is under performing so much that it is clearly inferior to other sarges . Only that he is just kind of mediocre on his own . Too dependent on outside circumstances for my liking.

[Sub_Zero]

Well then how about this...once the sergeant is purchased that damage that is absorbed is not lost when he dies and the ability doesn't charge up unless he is present. Because that is possible.

Not only possible but it is how it is in the game right now. You lose him but you don't lose the amount of absorbed damage. When you purchase a new one you just continue charging up the ability. If it wasn't like that it would be completely infuriating!

[Sub_Zero]

EXPLANATIONS
Had a 27 minutes long game. Won it. My hero was Apo. My tactical marines reached level 4. And used their ability only once to win a battle... Activated it, buffed them with veil of time and they charged down 2x plasma gm squads. Due to that penalty lost the sergeant on the way. It is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G to have some penalties for something that you use just once per game, isn't it? Then I had moments when I needed that ability badly but it wasn't ready. For example, I was engaging a baneblade and the ability became ready only when my tacs got their health halved, awesome!

If anyone provides a replay where tactical marines use their ability thrice and each usage wins an important battle, I will admit that no change is needed (nobody will, it is impossible to activate it 3 times and with each activation achieve a decisive victory). As of now this bad mechanic just needs to go or the penalty needs to disappear.

Someone (saltychipmunk) said here that 40% damage reduction is a lot. What if I tell you that tactical marines get owned by power melee and by ranged inferno or plasma or just any artillery? When those damage sources are present (and they are present if your opponent wants to win) this damage reduction just removes these extra modifiers tactical marines suffer from. And they don't seem tanky like at all.

But what about knockback in melee they can cause and suppression immunity? Once again I want to repeat that such a situation where you need all those benefits is very rare and you almost never need all those 3 to be active. You always benefit from the damage reduction (be that a melee fight or a ranged fight), so this one is a must have. You rarely need that suppression immunity and when you do it is not worth it to waste so hard acquired ability on something insignificant like a suppression team or as a counter-measure to shoota boyz' ability or farseer's mind war or something along those lines. And now that melee knockback. Once again it doesn't come into play when you are engaged in a firefight. That is a surprise that most of the time tactical marines exchange fire with enemy's ranged unit, isn't it? And when you find yourself using this ability in melee combat most of the time (I am pretty sure that is true for every player), then what does it say about? I know, it says about a glaring weakness of SM in melee combat. Then why if there is a weakness we cannot have this ability more often?

THE IMPORTANT PART - new proposition
I want to propose something else. If we want to make the ability more reliable (in the sense that it is used more often), then why don't we split all these 3 benefits in different categories (read abilities)? Like this:
1a) Suppression immunity - 180 seconds cooldown and with the same drawback, 15 seconds instead of 20
1b) Breaks suppression and grants 200 courage - 60 seconds cooldown, the same drawback
2) Knockback in melee - 180 seconds cooldown and with the same drawback, 15 seconds instead of 20
3) 40% damage reduction - the same 1200 damage requirement, 80 seconds cooldown, no drawback
All these abilities could use fluffy names. And the 1st one and 2nd one share the cooldown, so you can't use either one at the same time.
What we achieve? Now the sergeant provides a reliable bonus - you can either excel in melee (that is needed, if you ask me) or can counter some abilities/help a little bit against setup teams. And the mechanic stays the same for the third one, the ability it gives is the most beneficial and is free of any imperfection. So now you can just wait 180 seconds and use whatever you like or combine it with the ability you acquire by taking damage. From whatever angle you look at this concept, it seems way better than what we have now.