there is the unknow you know and the unknow unknow after so many times it will be quite a surprise if the didnt reserve a model hahahahahaha
At this point, Shukra is the ALEPH choice I really want (besides obviously good, nonsensical stuff like Netrods or Posthumans.) Counter Intel and either Strategos L1 or Chain of Command would be a lot of fun for Varuna, and thematically the Shukra is a nice fit. What else? I'm going to exclude REMs from the dialog, except when they serve a very Sectorial-specific role. So far we know about: Fusiliers Zulu Cobra Echo Bravo Kamau ORCs ORC character Helot Crocmen Cutter Squalo Montessa Trauma Doc Machinist That's 13 units (12, excluding characters.) Looking at some others this year. Tunguska Jurisdictional Command is at 17 (13, excluding common REMs and characters.) Securitate Grenzer Zondnautica Hollow Men Kriza Borac Szalamandra Heckler Spektr Interventor Puppetactica Company Mary Problems Spector Perseus Miranda Ashcroft ABH Daktari Clockmaker Vedic is 16 (20 with characters) but they're tougher to evaluate because many of their units are REMs, and Posthumans are more like 2-5 units depending on how you want to categorize them. Dakini Garuda Deva Apsara Danavas Shukra Arjuna Yadu Asura Marut Naga Dasyu Sophotect Posthuman Shakti Dart Andromeda ABH CSU Sforza Rudra Both TAK and JSA are hard to evaluate too. TAK has a horde of different units and characters, but this is offset by the fact that they only have two REMs. JSA is packed full of characters, which skews things a bit also. Just estimating, I think we have a pretty complete picture of PanO units in Varuna. Maybe 1-2 units we don't know about (ALEPH?) and possibly some new REM loadouts or linkability, which wouldn't increase the unit count but has a dramatic effect on how the list plays.
Apsara KHD maybe? Andromeda seems obvious to me but surely not the SI ones. Maybe a third HI choice we haven't yet anticipated (one of our already existing troops I think) or a regular MI (maybe BF)? ABH or CSU too?
@barakiel Personally I'd like to see at least 2-3 Helot choices. Just wasting a whole alien species to get unquie DZ hugging Auxiliar Troops seems like a massive waste. No one outside of Ariadna is missing a KHD, unless Crocs and ZCs are gonna cover that, best bet is unfortunately Aleph. We're pretty light on heavy gear for PanO. Even ASA has 3 HI and 2 TAGs. A Varuna specific Guard troop would be great. With Aleph clearing the way new combat remotes are also a possibility (although I'd really like to pass on getting the Rudras as loaner). With the whole Clandestine SWAT team theme I wouldn't be surprised if Hexas, Black Friar or Locust would make an appearance. More Characters are pretty much guaranteed as well. Vedic has 4 including Sforza and that appears to be the bare minimum I could find. Maybe Atalanta makes an appearance after all. Given the choice I'd prefer a named Helot, Montesa, or Kamau. Preference is a Helot, but especially a Kamau Wildcard Specialist Character with toolkit would be strong.
Outside of the ORCs and Montesas, I doubt we'll get more HI. There're already Cutters and Lancers from what was described in the trade magazine, so that's probably it for heavies. It seems more like an LI, control the midfield type army, with likely some new weapons and tricks to make that happen. I expect some creativity in the Zulu Cobras and Echo Bravos, personally.
No complaints about multiple Helot choices, or at least one unit that has multiple roles in it's profiles. We've speculated about it's fire superiority role, but a Camo Infiltrator with Combi + LSG or Combi + mines sure would be welcome too.
I bet they get one when the 300pts box drops, it's one of the configurations that remains WYSIWYG and hits 300pts exactly, assuming the price of the khd is indeed about 5 cheaper than a reg hacker based on units like Hexas that have both.
A five point reduction would make an order sergeant khd 16 points... Feels a bit too cheap to me. Also, I don't really want it on an order sergeant. Black friar maybe? Or a spec sergeant with infiltrate or to camo. I dunno. Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
A Heckler(LTD Camo, Mimetism, Forward Deploy L1, and Cybermines) with KHD is 24pts...an Interventor with KHD plus an Upgrade is 20 pts. I'm pretty sure 16 pts for an Order Sergeant isn't too far off the mark.
Hmm, that is a good point. It would basically just be a profile with nothing on it apart from the KHD.
Yup, a KHD on a basic profile is +3pts. So you would be looking at a 16pt OS KHD. That's actually one of the problems, Killer Hacking Devices are stupidly cheap for allowing drones and being a specialist.
Which is good enough. I'd still take a 16 point OS KHD. Better to have a KHD than not when running HI links.
Other hacking devices do have access to far more than the ability to kill other hackers. Though hilariously most KHDs get used against other KHDs, I guess...
