Season 10 and StarCo

AD change is actually huge for us - mainly because Raoul is such a beast. But it helps the Hellcats a ton as well; AD-heavy Starco is a huge threat in season 10.

Starco will continue to excel in Hunting Party, Decap, and Unmasking thanks to Emily.

Frostbyte should actually be a decent Starco mission with lots of HI running around in links, and Bandits to go after heaters with DA CCWs. EVO Teampro might be a big help though to keep links together in case the LI link members do take a hit from the cold.

I was going to play Starco almost exclusively, but the MI change means I'll be doing a mix between Starco and CJC. Still, there are some missions I'll definitely choose Starco over CJC.

 

The AD changes certainly boost Raoul's ability as a backfield assassin and to a lesser extent, Hellcats in general. I would be more inclined to include Raoul in a StarCo list, with potentially Uhahu as well for guide combat jump if she also has the potential to offer any other list synergies. I've never had much success with Hellcats, so I'm still probably not going to include any.

I don't think StarCo gets quite the boost that the other Nomad flavors get, though, since they also have tons of MI that would benefit from starting 4" closer as well as the AD boost.

 

Honestly feels like a lot of it passes StarCo by. There's greater incentive to take Brigada and Hellcats (for Veteran and Elite classifieds) and the ability to drop Spector even closer to the action is nice, for sure. But it seems like the other factions I play got a far bigger boost and its hard to resist the allure

 

How about deploying the Hellcat with FD1? imho this will give Spitfire/CombiRifle/BoardingShotgun-loadouts a huge advantage for better use of range bands and boosts midfield domination. For 24pts you even get a Specialist closer to objectives.

 

AD: Combat jump is still inherently risky and I hate any list build around delivering a 25+ point model as a "do or die" thing that can effectively lose me the game if I roll high on a die, as there is not way to mitigate it beyond a +3. And it can be F2F-d against. Honestly, the mixed brigada core and emily being emily keep starCo interesting, but I will likely make Ikari my main NA2 faction this season

 

Who builds a list around a 25 point model?

Almost any model can die to rolling too high right off the bat. It's happened to my Intruders enough.

 

Your intruder doesnt have a chance to die in the simple act of getting to the board. Not to mention StarCo lacks those ;)

Each combat jumper is 1 less order in a group for a turn. Add the removal of 2 orders, and +1 for assisted jump, and still have a chance to fail/be beaten in F2F and you see my point, I presume?

 

Why does it matter if I lose from rolling a high shot or a high AD?

Ballpark the chances on consecutive shots. If you can take 4 amazing shots the combined success chances can be higher even with the AD bottleneck compared to taking those 4 shots coming from the expected direction.

Getting upwards in the 80% wound chance on multiple targets with no shots back after making a 60% or 75% drop is worth it, you are more likely to both kill your targets and survive than a standard trooper not using AD3.
Not only that but this tactic takes fewer orders when successful, wastes no orders when unsuccessful, and is far less likely to leave guys gutsing behind walls and surviving.

Also, many failed drops have partial success, especially Hellcats with AD5. I've failed many jumps and still completed my intentions. If you measure sometimes over half of your failed rolls end up in a less good but still useable positions.


If there are a lot of AROs sticking around making most failed drops stray in to enemy LoS invest in better long range presence. Not to facilitate AD, but because that is the counter behavior to high coverage AROs.

 

Our thoughts obviously differ, and that's fine. I simply do not like having a chance of an inherent built in failure in getting to the board. So my AD3 stuff almost always uses AD2 as it removes the risk, and still allows flexible deployment onto flanks/rear.

I wont get into how your AD unit can just as easily also get critted, so that's a wash and not a plus for AD units.The scatter is also random, and expecting to catch multiple enemies with your attack also suggests poor deployment from your opponent, which admittedly can happen. However in my meta people know how to prepare for aerial troops (to be fair not needing the template will add to the fun, but I'd rather use actual throwaway models like Yuan Yuans that do the same just better and cheaper).

Sure, hellcats CAN work, but I see other approaches that I find far superior.

 

Can't get critted with no shots back.

You suggest your enemies deploy so that you can't get 3 or 4 guys consecutively out of cover- from literally every point on the map at all distances. Doubt. You just don't see it because you don't have AD sight, or you're trying to do it with turn 1.

Yuan Yuan can't mow down multiple troops from a distance, they can only proc a dodge. They can hardly shoot their pistols. Plus neither of us have teleporting warbands, they need to come from the DZ.

 

Personally don't think that StarCo is really hurtin with the coming of the new season. Closer MI means better targets for Emily specfire and we have 2 of the best drop troopers in the game in our faction in hellcats and raoul. I think that personally we're in a decent spot going into the new season but, it does suck to get less benefit from the new rules than some other factions.

 

the veteran classification on characters is relevant considering the amount of characters we have,

 

Unfortunately the Starco characters are classed as mercs, not characters.

 

Raoul in HP with an ADHL would be absurd. Emily and Uahu could afford to pick up Long Service though: it wouldn't really change much for Emily, but would help Uahu.

Honestly, if Brawlers were Veterans I think StarCo would be fine. MB or Hellcats is touch limiting.

 

Yep, can't really add to that. Raoul not getting it makes sense. Especially when we have ADHL Hellcat getting a second already anyway (quite nice!).

Any one extra unit getting Veteran or character status would be a very helpful boost. While I like Starco this season, it's become harder and harder to justify my favorite goody-two-shoes mercs instead of using Corregidor for most ITS missions.

 

TBH, it's kind of put me off of StarCo since ITS 10 now that veteran/elite/chars is not only a thing for certain missions but for multiple classifieds as well. Since our characters don't get it, and I don't use Brigada or Hellcats, I'm pretty much excluded from completing those things. I think I will play another faction instead.

 

I have a MB list for StarCo I want to try. This gives me more reason to run that. It also gives me more reason to run Hellcats over Raoul. I like those facts... I just think it's a touch too limited. Brawlers would fix that.

 

MB links are my main reason to play Starco, they're a ton of fun. The link has options like nothing else thanks to Massacre, dak, and the MB statlines. They always have an answer to a problem, it just may not be the answer you'd first think to use.

That said, MB link does seem to more or less be the most effective way to run Starco Season X, so if that's not your vibe, Starco might not be the best choice. I do think Alg core + Hellcat spam could be a really effective option, because Starco gets Raoul and a few other options CJC doesn't if you want to go drop-heavy.

 

I could see both of those lists being viable in season 10. Unfortunately, what drew me to StarCo was Riots+Avicenna/Emily and the Emily Alguacil core, both of which seem to be hamstrung by the season 10/classified changes. Brigadas seems criminally overpriced to me relative to what they bring to the table (and especially compared to the Grrls), and I just can't seem to find any success using Hellcats.

To be honest, I don't think giving Brawlers veteran would be a very good solution, because my Brawler haris is always in my DZ with an MSV2 sniper, so they're not going to move up the board to do any of the classifieds. I would prefer it was solved simply by giving the StarCo characters the same veteran bonus that the other factions' characters get. If Raoul, Emily, Uhahu, and Avicenna got the designation, I think we would be in great shape.