[PvK]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... No, I stand by my statement that the Moloch is useless as an SC. He's still useful as a general pretender chassis....but useless as an SC: If you actually attempt to use him as such, the imps get him every time. Sure, you can send him in with a ton of rabble, but then you've undermined his usage as an SC. ...

They only make him rout if he enters combat alone, which he does not have to do to be considered a SC. This is a buggy weakness which detracts from his value, and prevents him from being used effectively in the one specific way of being sent in alone, but it does not make him useless as a SC. It doesn't even make him useless as a solo fire brigade SC, because you can have minor forces all over the map, and he just needs to coordinate his moves with theirs to have the necessary "cheerleaders" present. Having him lead a bunch of devils though is one obvious, simple and effective thing to do.

I agree the imp/rout thing is a silly bug that cripples one specific way he might be used otherwise. I just object to your over-use and abuse of the term "useless" and related expressions, as in:

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... As it stands, the Moloch is only useful for his cheap fire blessing ...

Exaggeration. There are other very useful uses, and even some efficient ones, even on the battlefield, as long as someone besides the Moloch and his Imps are present.

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... His cowardice renders him useless as an SC despite his otherwise impressive stats.
...

Only if you insist that the only "SC" use is by strict definition without any accompanying units. Since you responded to Truper's "not in the 'Lone Ranger' mode" point in practical rather than semantic terms, it seems you accept that this is a way the Moloch can be used - you simply find it sub-optimal, because you would prefer to be able to fly in alone without the imp/rout problem, as a PoD can.

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... the only reason to take him at all is for the Fire-9 bless" ...

Exaggeration/wrong. You could take him to get cheap higher fire, for magic or for the blessing you yourself mentioned. You could also use him as a flying army commander/combattant.

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... These certainly account for his 25 extra points in cost, but Imps make this little edge useless, since all you have to do is kill the stupid imps, and they practically beg for it, flinging themselves into the enemy like that, and the Moloch is gone, possibly dead, if you planned it. ...

Exaggeration/wrong. It won't happen if there are other friendly units present.

Originally posted by Norfleet:
... Fire certainly has excellent artillery spells, but this is useless for an SC, unless your intent is to use the Moloch as an artillery caster, which is something he can do well, but makes his combat stats mostly irrelevant in that case. ...

Exaggeration/wrong. It's not "useless" to be able to cast, say, Fire Shield on yourself before flying into combat, or Heat From Hell, or some arty spells with very low fatigue cost and very high penetration, before jumping into combat.

PvK