I had thought the Deva's were SUPPOSED to be generalists. They are Alephs face with the people, why would they need to be focused? Danavas is the focused Hackers, Asura, the focused aggressors, Shukra, the focused commanders. Devas are there as an upgraded Line Trooper above Dakinis but not better than the counterparts made for their roles.
Except Devas are not generalists. As I explained, generalists should be able to do everything a bit. Devas, beside the Spitfire, can't do anything except provide an order, and they're too expensive for just doing that. Besides, where did you get that Devas are supposed to be generalists? :-O Also, Shukras are not commanders. They're investigators.
The problem with most deva profiles is that they pay for things they won't use. Like their WIP 15. Appart from the HD, and eventually for the Lt (through it's not that useful), no deva will be able to use that outstanding WIP. But they still pay for it. They also pay for a slightly superior fighting profile (CC14, BS12, ARM2, BTS3 ...) but they don't really perform better than any standard infantry in fights. Every troop with mimetism would be better, yet cheaper.
Well I am cautiously excited. I am definitely planning on trying out a Deva Core Link. Despite all the negativity, I think a Deva link could be a good utility box, to control a section of the table. I am a bit disappointed that a Sectorial that allows 2 Maruts, or 4 Asuras only has availability of 2 on Netrods.
@Nemo No Name you're a Riot man. Yadu suck, Machaon isn't good at combat (considering he is a Specialist Lt) but Devas are "good cheap attack pieces"? Don't mind the Devas too much, but they're easily outshone by pretty much everything when you don't need them for the 'cheap Lt option' in Aleph.
Errr, what do you mean? I think you misunderstood my Machaon and Deva comments. On Machaon, he's freaking amazing. He's a staple of my Asura lists (Machaon as Lt, Asura Spitfire). And he's decent at combat but he's not the best thing ever. And that is fine. My point was that he is the prime example of a good generalist - decent at most things (+ excellent at being specialist). On Deva, specifically, Deva MSV2 + Spitfire is a good, cheap attack piece. They don't cost an arm and a leg but provide a very stable and decent hitting platform if you need to hunt things, especially if you can deploy Smoke for them. Also, I agree they're outshone by pretty much everything.
@Nemo No Name So your talking about a generalist per model, not unit? Because a Generalist model if you consider machaon a generalist, your essentially looking for a single model that does a little of everything (Specialist, defensive mods, offensive mods, special abilities) which is a bit extreme to look for. Those are expensive units (aka Machaon at 40 points and .5 swc). I was going off Deva's being generalists because they do not excel at any one thing. They have a specialist, they have an attacker, they have an lt. They can get a job done, and have good all around stats (minus WIP being higher than normal). That to me is a generalist. Machaon in Infinity is an abnormality, no other trooper in other factions really come close to what he can do. The point of building a list is the combined skills of the troopers you take to get a job done. If everyone were a generalist model, what would be the point of different units? Just play an entire list of spec ops. I do agree that DEVA need a couple new profiles (paramedic, FO, engineer, AHD, KHD) but they do their job. Also it is true Shukra are investigators but seeing their profiles on paper (they will have strategos LT profiles) they definitely fulfill the cheap, strong LT role. StrategosL1 and Counterintelligence on a LT is absolutely bonkers and I cannot wait.
I was talking per model, of course. That's what discussion was about before. Devas as a Fireteam or Unit are worse than crap. There is one good profile, couple of kinda acceptable (Sensor and Devabot), and an overpriced N2-remnant Hacker. But that's point. Army full of Machaons would lose. Generalists are just kinda good at things. You can still specialise. It's a classic dilemma in many games - do you go multiples of units that are good at different stuff, or do you take 1 excellent at doing A but crap at B and C, 1 excellent at doing B but crap at A and C, and one that's kinda decent for A and B and cannot even attempt C? Please, no. Devas are not your cheap line infantry. AHD would be too expensive, KHD could work but should get a more dangerous weapon, and just adding FO and Engineer would be fine but just lame. We already have Dakinis and Yadus to be the boring line infantry kind of stuff. Give us interesting profiles for Devas. Yes and no. I mean, Counterintelligence is great, and Strategos is also okay, but that's just a unit you stick in the corner to pretend it's not there. I strongly dislike that kind of units, they make for boring play. Chain of Command is slightly better. The Boarding Shotgun is gonna see play I think. Although I'm not too enthused by it.
I am very confused at what @Nemo No Name wants in a faction then...if the only good unit is Machaon...how do you ever play with any enjoyment besides resentment of your own units? But you do you. I personally find Yadu great, I love their profiles, Danavas are awesome, I have used her a lot to shadow Achilles, and I never use Deva anyways. I was just trying to see if there was a way to make Deva a profile worth taking outside the Spitfire.
Deva Spitfire, Sensor, and Devabot options are awesome. The unit itself isn't pimped up like the Yadu, but it's a solid workhorse. NWI is countered easier than before, but not that easy to disregard it. And we still don't know what will be the exact fireteam compositions.
Deva Sensor, Devabot and Spitfire are all good profiles. That the Sensor and Devabot can be your LT is ace! Wip 15 is really useful for dealing with camo (discover and intuitive shot) and the statline is pretty elite overall.
ahh ok thanks.. this is my first jump into aleph and i was a little.... confused as to why they were ava two, thought it may have been a typo. considering 4 asura and double marut ava 3 made more sense.. its all good
@Nemo No Name Kinda feels like even if you disagree with certain points you agree overall with me on what's wrong with Devas. They're not really very good at anything, with their NWI and very slightly bumped stats and WIP15 (without the tools to really use that WIP15 very well) raising their price beyond what's viable for what they are. They should be tweaked into a more command & control type unit. Anyway, I'm also a little confused by the AVA4 Asuras. I'm not sure how you'd go about that. I feel like there might be some mistakes here and maybe that's one of them, since Shakti has Fireteam Haris on her profile yet it's not listed here. Speaking of fireteams, any speculation about what goes where? It seems likely to me that with their similar movement Sophotects may slot into Dakini links. Given what has been said about Yadu I'm getting the feeling that they may form a lot of special Haris teams, probably with Asuras at least.
*thinks this sectorial looks cool and the unit ava and linked teams are about what I expected from it. *notices all the salt I am confused.
You expected 2 maruts/ 4 Asuras / 2 netrods / 1 zayin ? :P I really dont know what to think of this sector. Im missing some heavy hitter. And I want to test. CB just release already. I DONT want to wait until november!
