Well considering the units fluff as a crime fighting consultant, should he be included in the imperial service aleph component? On the one hand I would like a counterintelligence unit but on the other it would completely take over the pheasant agent niche with chain of command. Thoughts?
I think it's both a too high profile model and that it is going to negate the usefulness of Pheasant. There's no room for it in ISS. Hell, considering the chaotic mess of profiles that makes up ISS these days, there's no room for anything else in ISS.
In my opinion, counterintelligence should be "the" special skill for ISS by name and every lt. profile should have it. But i understand that we don't have it (jet?) and that this skill is meant to be for low order sectorials and armys... thanks to Kuang Shi, the ISS don't need Counterintelligance. Just my two cents
Army seems to have already been updated with the profiles for models in Coldfront... And Dart has already been added to Shock Army. Given Shukra hasn't appeared in IS, I'm pretty confident it won't be moving across... BUT I'm interested to see if some of the other Vedic stuff gets shared. I mean, IS has Dakinis and Garudas - maybe the Rudras is more in line with the current sharing of tech?
Agreed. Uprising showed a catastrophic failure to see what was happening. Maybe if the SS hadn't been blindsided by the Uprising I could justify it in fluff. But not with Uprising as-written.
Let me turn it around. It is exactly the reason - as to not repeat the mistakes made during Uprising. Live, learn, adapt...?
I think literally everyone wants the best new ALEPH release to be retrofitted into their favorite sectorial and will find some excuse for it to "fit". Hopefully the answer to "who gets it" will be ALEPH, and only ALEPH.
Except we already know Dart is in Shock Army. And that IS, NCA, and SAA will benefit from any reworks to existing profiles as well...
Dart in Shock Army is the thing that really opens up the floor from pining for the new-cool-thing to actually considering if units legitimately fit into existing sectorials (though it also seems to tell us that CB didnt think so). I like the Shukra model so I'd be all for it, and from a setting perspective the idea of the ISS pulling in Aleph consultants with Counterintelligence is perfect... they've failed spectacularly with Uprising, someone is getting pulled in to fix the problem. But that Chain of Command and what it does to the poor Pheasant... at the moment taking a Pheasant Agent seems like a tax paid to get CoC, Shukra delivers it in a far more cost-effective way so there'd be no contest. But I can't help recalling the Kempeitai and how CB views Chain of Command... a Shukra is there consulting with the ISS, but unlike in Operations they aren't necessarily as integrated, one can envision a no-CoC Shukra profile in ISS as a niche option for limited insertion lists loaded up with Hsien/Crane/heavily-kitted WuMing.
I'm guessing the Kanren, who were created to infiltrate and counter insurgency groups, either failed spectacularly or were created too little, too late. But I think by their fluff alone, they should be the ones to have Counter Intelligence. Hell, Counter Insurgency is in their name.
Well, on one hand I'm glad the new units and gear / skills / weapons sneak into the old sectorials. On the other, I'd love to see equivalent entries in some of mine :/
We have been getting a few "X sectorial only" profiles of late. I'm still on the "Rudras for IS" train though :P
A Shukra in ISS would invalidate the Pheasant. Aleph units on loan are supposed to enhance a sectorial not invalidate profiles that already exist. Also, ISS doesn't need the help. They're fine as a sectorial competitively and thematically. We just don't talk about them being complete idiots and the second coming of the SS though...
I dunno. I feel they could do with a TAG. If only so that they don't haemorrhage OP in Show of Force ;) Something small and police-y, like a YJ version of a Gecko. Or just ley them take the Guija like the CBL does.
In addition to what they have now, I could maybe see ISS getting a hacker on loan from OSS - to go with the REMs. A Danavas perhaps.