Hey there, Now I know this isn't exactly a popular topic, and that some people REALLY don't want there to be ANY ALEPH units in Invincible Army. Ok, that's fine. Maybe just know that I know that and sit on that opinion for a bit. But it seems pretty likely that there will be some ALEPH units in Invincible Army, and now that we've seen the awesome range of Heavy Infantry options which will be available it's made me think more on what those might be. Now this feels like somewhere where there might well be a need for a reliable and cheap CoC, but CB may not want that flowing back into Vanilla Yu Jing so the Shukra Consultant may well appear. Solid infiltration options are likely few and far between (if there even are any) which makes the Dasyu a possibility as well. But the one which I think Invincible Army REALLY needs, but which would be far too strong for Vanilla Yu Jing, is a true Maya dominance piece. So I think the most likely ALEPH loaner is actually the Danavas What do you guys think might make an appearance?
Everybody wants the Shukra as the Aleph unit on their sectorial, but for me it would be mightily strange to see an Aleph unit taking charge of a YJ team. And if Shukra were to turn up in a sectorial, ISS is much more suitable (with a non CoC profile)
In all honesty, I think this has some merit. Yu Jing currently lacks any kind of low-end troops that thematically fit the IA and with Zhanshi all but confirmed in the sectorial, my hopes of a specifically built in-faction solution are dashed. So short of them giving Zhanshi an upgrade (Securitate-style) to get them to the 6-9 point range, we don't have a lot of options that will make the sheer number of 27+ point models in IA easy to field. The reason Aleph and CA can get away with uber-expensive stuff is they have access to efficient low-end orders in the form of things like cheap REM troops, efficient stuff like Thorakitai, and yes, AI Beacons. So short of CB giving the IA something zany like a twin flamethrower baggage remote at 8 points, I think AI beacons sound pretty damn good about now.
The danavas would work really well for an HI sectorial, and as you said it's a good way to give them a WIP 15 hacker without impacting vanilla (hacking device plus + hac tao + guilang's repeater net would just be insane IMO). The shukra consultant (and when i say shukra i mean counterintel) would also be a really good addition since the sectorial will probably have a hard time going above 13 orders and might have enough off-the-table unit to be crippled really hard if it gets first turn and lose 2 orders. Last but not least, a sophotect could be a decent addition if CB doesn't want any kind of zhanshi in the sectorial but still want some diversity when it comes to doc/engie. Unlikely imo, but who knows? light infantry is soooo outdated!
Netrods are an interesting argument. Personally I expect increased access to the Chaiyi and Weibing to offer some of the cut price orders that will be needed. But there's an interesting challenge, for those who hate the idea of remotes having an important part in IA, what is worse? Borrowed units from ALEPH? Or Yu Jing remotes?
Dasyi or more likely Naga. Yu Jing isn't likely going to get a troop that's too close to the Guilang and a Naga would fill boots that doesn't currently seem intentionally empty for IA. As for counterintelligence I'm almost expecting a troop with this. Maybe on Sun Tze v2.3?
I've noticed that there are several undercurrents swirling beneath the IA discussions. Some players don't want ANY light infanty. Some players don't want ANY remotes. Some players don't want ANY ALEPH loaners. And there are many more who will concede to a couple of these, but who still don't want them to play any kind of significant role in the faction. That's all fair... But... Where the hell are the orders supposed to come from?
I don't care about REMs in the sectorial, LI I can go either way, but IA should be yu king standing on its own two feet after uprising. Fuck aleph loaners.
Sure, but are you arguing that you haven't noticed others who are equally strongly against Remotes and Light Infantry (or even Medium Infantry)?
No I just don't want aleph. I accept that a pure hi sectorial isn't super viable and that cb probs want to sell some zhanshi swc boxes
Not from REMs and not from Aleph loans. Both are going to be too blunt tools with too much footprint or too high cost with Aleph also coming with too low AVA. The former will be there, the latter if a slot needs filling. As for Light Infantry, OSS, ASS and USARF manages to do this without Light Infantry, though it sadly seems like Zhanshi is confirmed for IA. I'm not averse to LI so much as I'm averse to LI being the main source of cheap orders and them being Zhanshi.
Im not entirely sure what Im looking at but that art in the OP looks to me like a zhanshi gongcheng doing diagnostics on a pair of hai dao whilst a probably empty zuyong suit looks on, this has invincible army splashed across it, that image would look daft if the tech was in power armour... Imo all branches of yu jing could have zhanshi access whether they suit the playstyle and see play or not: how many millions of zhanshi are there? They are probably the most numerous regiment in the sphere, low on supplies? need some bodies at short notice for your blackops? Guess what? zhanshi is what you have... Im biased, I really want to actually play zhanshi, but damn are they mediocre, something should be done about that: pretending they dont exist and banning them from sectorials because they are unpopular is not a solution, these guys have nice new models they should be on the table IA is a good opportunity to make that happen. As for aleph, yu jing funds it and should get a return on that investment, the return is military assistance unavailable in the yu jing core military, Im sure you could justify hector and cyberdancers if you really tried. 2-3 units in low AVA for flavour and balance is not a bad thing, if its not there no big deal so long as the faction can run a variety of missions types with some chance of success. On a grander scale of conflict conceptually IA is regiments of power armour with very little else and thats cool, but infinity is not that.
HI averaging 30pts a model, duh! Gives you an all-HI, 300pt force with 10 orders. (Which is why I was harping on how the Zuyongs are about 2-3pts too expensive per model, to get the link team cost down 10-15 pts) You don't wear power armor in the repair bay, unless you need the extra muscle to carry stuff (a jet engine is usually 2000lbs or more, and other big parts aren't any lighter). And even then, it's more likely to be a bare exoskeleton, since the armor is unneeded weight in the repair bay. In fact, the armor reduces how heavy a part you could carry! You wear power armor where people will be shooting at you.
To be fair, it'd be quite good to see both armoured and unarmoured Doctor and Engineer options. Not just because it'd give Invincible Army more than one option for each, but also because it makes sense that there would be some of both in the field. I do hope we see some really cut-price Zuyong options 'though. A SMG would be nearly ideal.
Their own kind of Netrod would be even better. I'd be willing to pay more for a Netrod-like thing that is constantly broadcasting Fairy Dust, Team Pro, or Reboot.
Of course but how about an EVO hacker doing Fairy Dust while a "Netrod" also does Reboot! Without the cost of a second EVO.
It's not a case of banning Zhanshi from sectorials because they're unpopular. The White Banner sectorial would be the Zhanshi's home (well, the Banner Armies in general, but WB is the one were getting). I don't like the idea of Zhanshi in IA, because fluffwise the whole point of the Invincible Army is to move away from the Zhanshi/Banner Army model. But it looks like we're getting them in IA anyway.
