Giving my Hsien bodyguards SS2, a discover bonus, a pair of Madtraps, and 2 B Breaker Rifle AROs makes a pretty good defense. As a solo troop I typically have Mad Traps on a Pheasant already, but if you didn't want Pheasant or want the Red Fury I could see it used.
Triangulation fire into melee is for special occasions. The mains reasons for using it are setting a key opponent piece up for removal and/or delousing something important. The former is for making unopposed shots and the latter is to free up the engaged model. The chance of damaging your model in melee runs counter to either of those purposes.
But as mentioned above, unlike the other troops that have madtrap but not TF, you can force an opponent to decide on an ARO against the Madtrap first and then move into position with the second half. Even if they shoot and destroy the Madtrap, you can then move right into position. Next order: Triangulate Fire.
Thank you @KestrelM1 ! Success! Last I did it exactly as you guys mentioned. I moved the madtrap out getting a reaction from the Intruder sniper to shoot the Madtrap. I then moved my Zhanying out in line of sight of him. He of course destroyed the mad trap (actually two birds, one madtrap. the madtrap got rid of a mine as well!). The next order I declared Triangulate fire. Normally it would have been a -9 shot, Camo, cover, range. I had three shots to his one and got one hit. Love that he had to make a BTS roll! I still lost the game but I feel good I got this off. I only wish I did it earlier because that Intruder was literally murder.
Triangulated fire is a *great* thing to consider when placing your reserve model and going first. You can easily use it to take out a bulleteer or overconfident ODD ARO piece if you drop the Zhanying down last. I also used this trick with forward observer bots - you can often target the model of your choice going first and start raining guided missiles on it.
Did the same against that Steal Phallanx Heavy Rocket Launcher in ODD behind cover. Problem was he still has its plain BS (-3 for my cover vs +3 for range) and a link team vs my three shots BS-3 on a nine. I should better have calculated my odds, but I wanted to try that trick, so I lost a Zhanying and earned experiance. :-) The idea is good though, but the target must still be viable.
Try having a different Zhanying toss a Nimbus zone on top of your Triangulator. You're still at a disadvantage, but it goes from 23% vs 45% to 20% vs 25%. Trick is to set up at sniper rifle distance when dealing with Phony the Pony (25% vs 10% (1,5% dead) with Nimbus, 38% vs 18% (7% dead) without Nimbus) - which may force your opponent to opt for Dodge (roughly 38% chance both with and without Nimbus)
I've yet to see any value in the Nimbus. It takes an order to to put down something that will make both the enemy and MY shots worse going through it. Even if I could triangulate through it, negating the -3, I loose a burst. Even if the math is good, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. Playing ISS or Vanilla I don't have the orders to waste on throwing Nimbus.
Yeah, Nimbus does feel rather questionable since it, at best, just makes it safer to tank AROs from what I can gather. Since using it as a screen to shoot at your enemy kinda actually seems to worsen your odds if you aren't shooting at an ARO piece that has a burst better than 1.
Nimbus would be alot more viable if they were also allowed to create F2F rolls, would make a decent defensive ARO option for alot of bearers and create more opportunities to get Nimbus AOEs down defensively, particularly for Vanilla lists that tend to have fewer higher burst options for ARO.
Another way to make nimbus more attractive would be to have it persist into the following turn so it’s something you’d set up in the active turn to prepare for the reactive turn like suppression or mines. That might verse on too much of a buff, though.
Maybe have Nimbus zones deal some light damage at the end of the turn too? Like a weak Nanotech ammo attack? Might be too much of a buff though, still.
I think that it's funny that a Forward Observe attack can negate a shot but throwing a Nimbus Grenade doesn't! Funny in a crying sort of way.
Yeah, if Nimbus Grenades had Special Dodge it'd be kinda-sorta-useful a lot more often. If Zhanying had PH to speak of, that'd also be great :p Keep in mind that Nimbus Grenade can provide your Knauf, Lunah, Guilang, etc snipers the MOD required to shoot at a TR HMG REM uncontested - hitting a TR HMG REM on 8's (9's Lunah*, 10's Knauf) can be worth it, if a bit costly. Also, should you ever switch sides to Tohaa, you'll probably learn to respect Nimbus Plus. * Obligatory reminder that English rules on Marksmanship LX is different than Spanish. If you're playing in Spanish this increases to 15, while in English the forum argument increase to 15 pages.
Yeah, makes it really damned nasty in combination with throwaway Direct Template Weapons. Incidentally Tohaa has access to a LOT of cheap, throwaway, Heavy Flamethrowers.
Lunah already can get the -12 required through surprise shot though. Interesting idea for Knauf I guess.
One thing to add about Zhanying. They are Veteran Troops! Good to know for Hunting Party. A ZY with Madtraps and Adhesive Launcher would be fantastic!
Only if you opponent is exposing his LT/Specialists to your Zhanying. Otherwise you would have to run across the field with a 1W model without any protection.
