EDIT: Never mind, I was wrong. She doesn't get Veteran status as she is Merc. Trooper, not Character. I was thinking that having a name would be enough to classify one as Character but apparently not... For the mini I'm thinking of using Miranda Ashcroft (the one without gun) to represent her. I think that wouldn't be too confusing.
I reckon Aida is actually pretty bangin She's got Viral Mines, and Viral is shit hot. She's got a B4 weapon in CQB and that's also shit hot, especially as it's got decent damage with AP or the Shock option, way better than an Assault Pistol. She can nick heavier stuff, and that's a skill which is cheap, doesn't come up all that often... but when it does? Hot damn, a free BS 12 Mimetism HMG is something sexy to behold, just check out how much people love Bandits! CC 19 and MA2 isn't great but when you want to kill a cheeky Ryuken or Spektr it does the job pretty well, better than trying to shoot it anyway, means you can run around the corner and shove a viral pistol in their face. She's not that expensive either. I think she's a decent option.
Given the current model is pistol + ccw, its highly likely the general version will have her brandishing her SMGs
So after agonizing a bit over the "new and improved" Highly Classified, there are a few things about her that are interesting. She has a lot in common with the Locust BSG, those two might actually pair well. Scanvenger doesn't just let you loot weapons, but also Hacking Devices and Medkits to become a Specialist. While that is far from reliable, NCA has a bit of a problem to get Specialists up the field. We might be looking at a pretty good chance most opponents are unaware she can loot a Zero for his KHD and can start pushing buttons and blasting brains. There are a lot of things that could potentially be useful: - Hacking Devices - Medkits for obvious reasons -Visors (MSV, X, 360) - ODD - Holoprojector - Deployables (Repeater, Sniffer, Perimeter, more Mines) - Repeaters (actually pretty common) - Bikes - Smoke Grenades/Launchers So far so good, there is more, but you should get what I'm poking at. Mimetic Dual SMGs are already nice and are decent up the the middle line with FDL1. She is not amazing at taking out Camo Skirmishers, but still doesn't have much issues here thanks to weight of dice. She clears Warbands very well and can drop Mines on them in case they Smoke into safety. There are a couple issues with loads of Shock/Viral Weapons and wanting to use Scavenger, overall a deadly weapon kit is good to have and you can always go for AP Mode on the SMGs and hope not to kill with it. But then again she is only a 24 point affordable troop, there will be bodies lying around from the Orders the rest of your list spends on doing #justPanOthings. Overall she feels like one piece of the puzzle is missing to make her really shine. Minelayer, a DTW, Sensor, Dogged or something along the lines. Planning around her feels rather weird as well, she might just drop early on, like the Locust she can trade her life to drop a Mine and that's about it defensively. But taking her into account as potential force multiplier in high Order count NCA lists seems worthwhile. Probably important to mention we're not exactly blessed with unhackable troops for 0SWC that actually can do some work in the midfield. Neoterran Capitaline Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 HEXA Spitfire / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 30) BOLT Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 24) AÏDA SWANSON 2 Submachine Gun, Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 24) CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) MULEBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) AUXILIA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle + AUXBOT_1 / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) GROUP 2 8 HEXA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 32) GARUDA Tacbot Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 28) HEXA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 27) PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Looks interesting to explore. Don't even miss the Swiss with this much fun (read as TO/AD) on the table.
The trivial answer here is yes it's good vs Mutts and I hate Mutts. Long one is I hit full AVA on Hexas and wanted another gun hanging out in my DZ to do the job a Fusilier HMG would usually do, something that was Hacking Immune. Might still drop an Order and make that a Deva, but for now I am happy with it.
Fair enough. I'd usually run the Deva because MSV and NWI end up being more useful most of the time. But I do agree that fuck Mutts is a worthwhile list building consideration.
I find NCA by far the hardest to build lists for. I think it's because there's not a lot that stands out in the mid 20s or 40s cost-wise and I pretty much stick to single combat group. I don't want to field 18-20 orders of combi toting grunts, and I also don't tend to skew my lists towards single power pieces like Swiss or Aquila that need a lot of cheap stuff to go with it. At 24 and reasonably useful I'm looking forward to giving her a go in a list that looks something like this: Neoterran Capitaline Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 ORC Lieutenant HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 44) BLACK FRIAR (Albedo, Biometric Visor L1) MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser, Drop Bears / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28) AÏDA SWANSON 2 Submachine Gun, Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 24) DEVA (Multispectral Visor L2) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 33) BOLT Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27) BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23) HEXA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 27) HEXA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 32) LOCUST Boarding Shotgun, Grenades, Drop Bears / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 30) LOCUST Breaker Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 32) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army I'm not really pro-Bolt or pro-ORC person but I ended up with about 70pts and 2 orders to fill and couldn't find a better combination seeing as I still needed a Lt and to buff the Bulleteer. I did want a Locust Marksman but can't find the point anywhere. I suppose I might not need the Hexa sniper if I had one and could go Hexa spitfire instead as backup if the Bulleteer dies or is hemmed in by hackers.
