Well, I'm questioning your sources. Sorry, that's exceptionally rude, even for me. As you note, most of the references don't mention any negative traits to the various colors and directions. This is mostly because of Buddhist influences on thought, that suffering in this life is caused by actions of a previous life. But when most sources on a subject don't include something, it's very questionable scholarship to include that stuff without a note about how few sources mention it.
Yes, it would be rude when not providing sources for your own claim, or and if you are a scholar on the topic you forgot to say, in which case I am not and bow to your knowledge.
Honestly, you're probably better read on the subject than me. Nothing I'd seen in a quick check mentioned negative connotations at all. But when you call someone a 'Dark Lord' in English, it gets a negative connotation (example, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, etc). Even though there's no such connotation in the original Chinese.
I did spend an unreasonable time during breakfast the other day re-checking (and thus ended up getting to work late, but luckily I've got an employer where this is fine with) and the results I got at home were vastly different from those at work (go figure when my IP isn't polluted with thousands of others searching for entirely different subjects). Those mentioning the strictly negative terms when I searched at work didn't mention them in connotations with the northern lord, and the exact connotations seem to be dependent on which philosophy your search result is looking at (who'd have thunk with a population of over a billion and a multi-thousand year old recorded history). From my reinforced lazy Googling, I can only conclude that negative connotations are few, but most colours have some. "Black society" is the rough translation for Mafia and green is associated with infidelity (JSA = Green Banner? :p ) while white is the colour of mourning. Also, there's a concept of generating and overcoming interaction between colours. One source (http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/colours.htm) does mention that modern China yellow is still reserved for the Emperor and Black is associated with winter. I can only conclude that either White Banner is a nod towards the unlucky stationing and the constant threat of death on Svalarheima or the CB did a western take on which is the wintery/cold colour. Yellow Banner seems fairly likely candidate for the Emperor's troops on the simple and direct association with the Emperor, but it's also the colour most associated with power and you betcha that the Party will want to hog that one, right?
I’ll admit I didn’t do too much actual research on it. I only got it from the few Chinese people I know. Most of them don’t believe in the things associated with color any more than westerners believe Green is lucky or Red is for anger. Back to the Shang Ji. I think everyone has some great ideas of how to “improve them” but I want to encourage some to try taking them in a few games to see how they work as they are as of now. Then come back and let everyone know how worked out. I’ve got a tournament coming up in a few weeks so I’m going to put my figure where my mouth is and use one. Not sure which one yet but I will use one.
Yeah, I'd bet that The Party would want the Yellow Banner for itself. But it really seems that the various Banners are going with the predominant local color. Earth got yellow (and the soil around Beijing is yellowish), but Mars hosts the Red Banner, etc. I'm quite fond of the Multirifle version (so much so that I converted one, but I also converted a Spitfire).
Anecdotal, but I've got fond memories of Shang-Ji from one of my first games where a Shang-Ji got into a position where it stared down a group of Morats who were hiding behind a wall. That's when both me and my opponent learned what happens when the active player gets a group of models hosed down by a flamethrower. Unfortunately, this experience I think formed a negative opinion about Infinity with my opponent and as far as I know he's put his CA on ice. I'm unfortunately not in a situation where experimental games can be held. Stockholm meta is choked with tournaments and leagues and I don't have much time or opportunity for purely casual play, so the room to try stuff that's outside official rules is very limited.
I get you on not as much casual games but if you are doing a tournament, what are you there for? To win? or to have fun? Ideally both but I'll choose the fun every time. For myself, my next escalation is 300pts. Not sure what mission but I think I'll take the Spitfire no matter what.
Spitfire Shang Ji should be pretty solid, though I think it's still a bit too expensive for what it is now (despite a ~5pt drop in N3)
I know but gotta try it out! I was also thinking of the Assault Hacker. The BTS 6 could really come in handy there.
I know, but that's not what i am looking for. I did give it a try and it failed me big. 100p for two combi+lft and a evo didn't pulled its weight. They where save from hackers at least(until the evo bot got himself killed by a stray bullet) :( I would love to see him/her as an Support Specialist with multiple types of Limited use Tinbot he can assign to HI (just like symbiomates). Albedo, Deflector, Spotter, Auto-Medkit Tinbot, Smoke-Dodge Tinbot ... just for example. Two of any kind. Yes, I know it would ne difficult to balance... Spotter Su-Jian...
Well, I don't think there's a hacker with a Tinbot of their own in this game. Not even CA gets a profile like that... I'm semi looking forward to see what Shang-Ji can do with Duo in sectorial, but I also think it's way too expensive for vanilla.
This is what I have so far. No idea on mission yet. But since it's escalation it's probably more shooty. Edit: At first I had the Spitfire Shang-Ji and then realized I wasn't playing to his strengths by having BTS 6. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 SHÀNG JÍ Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0.5 | 43) SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59) RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20) LÙ DUĀN Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) HAC TAO HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 68) ZHANSHI Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19) ZHANSHI Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) MECH-ENGINEER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) GŬILÁNG Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) 6 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army
Well it looks like the Hollow Men got just about everything I wanted to Shang Ji and cheaper I guess they didn't get the CC I wanted but still, they have it where it counts.
