Hey people, the rumoured Liu Xing (Shooting Star) dossier make us really HYPED. Decent options he got there, and I want to start a Happy thread about this AD HI. Anything will be welcome, speculation, ranting, HYPE, simulation.. Whatever! Lets enjoy this new toy. For me Liu Xing seems to be a decent killer-saboteur with D-Charges(YES!), which seems to be more cost heavy than Tigers but more durable, around ARM 3. Flying Zuyong perhaps?
I wonder what skills he will have apart from being fat. Will it have the subpar HI ph12 of the zhuyong or higher of the more elite HI and thus being more reliable to land. Ph14 would almost beworth him having fuck all else but his gun since with an EVO he lands on a 17 exactly where he's needed.
Having an AD unit you might actually seriously consider using the template mode on with some supportware would be a cool adjustment for AD as a rule. Here's hoping.
Tiger is a 13 isn't it? I wouldn't expect the upgraded troop to be worse. Speaking of... Wasn't IA supposed to have Tigers as well?
The best PH found on an AD trooper is 13. I can see the Liu xing matching that. I hope it's more interesting then just an up gunned/up armored Tiger Soldier.
I like the multi-rifle option. Shock/AP with decent range is pretty good. I hope it has 4-4 like most HI. That would be great. Your definitely confusing BS and PH. Tigers are BS 13 and PH 12.
I would hope that the Liu Xing are PH13 or even 14. PH12 would make them Zuyong/Tigers (not bad, but not enough better to be worth taking over Tigers). I'm still expecting them to be ARM3 and probably Mimetism, not ARM4. The problem is that a second wound is expensive, ~8pts or so. So we're probably looking at +10pts over the equivalent Tiger profiles.
Until further notice, I remain thoroughly un-hyped about Liu Xing. As of the information we have right now, they are merely costly and glorified Crusader Brethren.
Yeah I'm looking forward to it, I hope it's not too similar to the tiger as that is not a thing you want to try and compete with... PH13 is about as good as we can hope for, in YJ 14 is rare indeed. I think if we are to invest 40pts or more into a HI with AD we will need superior combat jump to even risk dropping in, an executive order profile probably, stealth, BS6 maybe a dtw or smoke? Some version of albedo could be outstanding in the right circumstances.
I would like to point out that actually 2nd wound for AD is quite huge as you can safely land in LoF of single cheerleader and be sure that you will be able to shoot him. Crusader problem is that he overpays for "medicore" stats like ARM/BTS (especially ARM3 ;/), while having no specialist (though the spitfire might be a good option on him).
Well yeah, but until further notice, I'm expecting Liu Xing to be as expensive as two Crusaders where W is the only stat expected to be significantly different. What makes Tigers good and what Crusaders are missing is Mimetism (and a point of PH), but Crusaders haven't really got a lot of stuff that's overly expensive (we're talking 2 points at most for that ARM, which isn't all that bloody). You still don't really want to take normal rolled AROs regardless of your wounds, though, so walking in might still be what Liu Xing will do most of the time
Crusader pays 4 pts over Akali for +1 ARM and +3 BTS minus E/M CCW (unless Zero-G which excludes use of AD costs for some reason many points). Yes, I'm just saying that sometimes it might be a really "good" gamble (AD Jump) and 2nd wound makes that gamble that less risky (ruling out 1 point of failure from equation).
I hope it does not invalidate the Tiger Soldier. It must be distinct enough for both profiles to be worthwhile. There is also the issue that IA could have a problem with the missing order until this trooper is on the board. IA presumably does not have access to cheap orders that can compensate the missing order of the AD troop. I recently played a Limited Insertion Tournament with a Tiger in my list and I must admit that I missed the order more than I had hoped for. If you don't have first turn, there might be more orders missing than just the AD one. If you have first turn, you sometimes don't want to spring the trap too early because your opponent has still a well defended DZ / Board Edge.
I think messing with the PH too much might make the unit too good with things such as dodging as well. Might be better to just give it Superior Combat Jump. Always how I saw those rules, such as Hyper Dynamics as well. You want the model to be good at the one thing, but you don't want the associated stat to throw everything else off.
Peraphs if he don't have stealth, i don't run him. As a HI against no hacking games, probably be a must AD troop, but against repeaters ZC and some hacking, maybe you need a great net to counter that for 1 only AD profile: EVO +3PHY free jump + Kalidoscope, Fairy dust with normal hacker (if you run with a lot HI list are worth it), to play safe with that HI AD... very expensive changes to playing safe... just only run with tiger soldier or... play CA they have the best AD like the Fraacta (transmutation)/KoDali (D-charges and protheinon+steatlh)/Rasyat (natural born warrior/stealth + eclipse grenade + d-charge) for that or the Rasail (symbiont armour) from Tohaa :/ But, i can't say if he are do the best way, bcs he don't have profile yet. But i can expect my opinion for him only that reason to don't go with HI AD in terms of hacking games be a worng way to using him, apart for that, yea as a HI to tank the free chain rifles/mines on landing be are very good.
