It doesnt decrease skill gap either - I understand the nature of something being random. But you are acting as if the whole game is random - your trrops move to random locations on the map, attack on their own, random units come from off map to help the war effort... For the most part you are 100% in control of your forces and your choices, so no this does not promote bad play.
Can sometimes things happen not like you intended? yes of course but thats the nature of the game, and in life all things need a bit of luck. You over come this by being prepared and doing everything you can to get the outcome you want.
False.
It absolutely does lowers to skill cap. As it is an intended part of the fundamental design of the game and its concept and how it works, it's deemed acceptable, but it lowers the skill cap regardless of that fact.
You seem not to be aware of what a skill cap is. Essentially, it is the maximum potential of what a player can achieve with the things he has within his control. Every single random number generator in this game is lowering the skill cap because by definition a random number generator is taking things out of the player's control.
Your(terrible) argument is essentially that "It is not lowering the skill cap because you can still place your units right". Horrible, horrible argument. I could still place my units right before AND not have a number generator.
If I could target models individually as opposed to having a dice roll when an engagement starts, that would be higher skill cap because it adds more tactical complexity.
If I could place specific models and have them move in such a way, that would be a higher skill cap because it adds more nuances to squad control.
I am not arguing for these. I am stating simple fact.
That simple, irrefutable, unarguable, fact, is that when you add a % modifier for something to fail, a random generator, or anything of that sort, you are lowering the skill cap. This is fact. Undeniable. Every time you deny it you are a blatant liar.
You can make other arguments pertaining to balance, unit design, or any of that in order to attempt to justify the changes made. But my point is unshakable. The skill cap has been lowered. Simple fact.
Telling me to simply "adapt" is not the issue. I will adapt to a balance change. I will adapt to a unit design change. I refuse to adapt to lowering the fundamental level of skill required to play the game in the first place.
If you're a bad player you will like this change because it rewards your bad play because you were too bad before to not overextend your vehicles. You are the crowd Relic is catering to.
If you are a player with a modicum of sense(Being good is not a prerequisite), you will see the fundamental issue this raises, the design flaws this causes, the balance issues it creates, and say without compromise that not only was the decision to add a random element to a fundamentally important ability integral to faction design was a bad idea even in concept, but that the balance chain effects as a result are also clearly a negative and bad idea in a metagame already dominated by late game tanks.