I can’t imagine feeling any more indifferent to an aesthetic than Ratlings. I just don’t get it I guess.
“Accompanied by a loyal Battlemutt , the Ratlings are experts at repositioning themselves on the battlefield. They use their ability to Scarper , allowing them to stay agile and out of harm’s way while lining up devastating shots. Despite their frailty, their agility and unpredictability make them a difficult force to anticipate.”.
So agility, speed of foot and large stamina could be the pay off for lower toughness/hp. Throw in some high power but slow fire rate weapons, and satchel of mines and/or explosives and you have a fun and different twitch style of gameplay to compliment the polar opposite seen in the Oggy. Fast as heck but whatever you do don’t get hit or cornered.
I’ll say it again but try not to get hung up on mechanics or specifics much. That’s the job of the designers and they’d do it well for any archetype. It’s just the flavour we should consider at this stage. I just want a very different flavour to what exists. I don’t see the flavour of tech adept etc to be different enough for my taste. I don’t want another human with different attacks. I want something as different as an Ogryn. Really different, where you have to think completely differently to how the other archetypes play.
And if we’re going to go down the “realism” path then it’s already unrealistic for a group of 4 operatives killing over 4000 enemies in a single mission. If excon humies and oggies can be insanely OP then any species can be in DT.
Yeah and that’s fine. It’s a matter of preference. I feel the same about anything mechanicus related. It’s just not very interesting to me. I want something as different as an Ogryn. Truly different. Something that requires a whole different approach to what we have already.
Also, the humour it would bring to this often-hilarious game would be pretty fantastic.
It would be fun.
But I can’t really see how a Ratling would feel very different from Veterans.
Veterans have sniperey abilities and a sneaky abilities and scavenger abilities already covered.
And I’m not convinced a short shooty character would fit well into the levels.
I would love to see a long-las and needle sniper rifle added.
you realize you’re asking for this on a guy that’s eye level with everyone else’s kneecaps, right.
Ratling ends up accidently being the best tank for the same reason Bardin was in VT, even if it’s skill tree and weapon selection doesn’t encourage it.
+10 Strength for a kneecap hit. Stacks 10 times.
The demolitions expert Ratling wears a bomb vest in the new kill team too! Extra tank lol
Tankling? 
ERA - Explosive Ratling Armour.