NWI+Bio doesn't really matter at all if they can take out your Lt or hit most of your link. Even if you can kill it, they don't care since damage will have been done.
Ditto, it's preventing the continuing rampage after your squishy Lt goes splat. It's still two wounds that Viral & Shock can't help mitigate against.
Its funny. Against squishy spammy meta it will be great damage dealer dropping from sky with this shock template, killing stuff. Against HI/TAG listrs with HI link... Yeah, not so good, because they can take hit while it lands and kill him in ARO. VERY interesting.
I'm of the opinion (because what else do we peddle on this site?) that D13shock is the bare minimum to be useful (do note that whether LT is dead or unconscious doesn't matter for LOL and there aren't many non-immune NWI LTs besides Willy). Anything beyond that would have to be evaluated in game and potentially even a one-shot Missile Launcher would be fair. I don't think it's comparable to a Caskuda simply because the Caskuda was an AD Guijia (!) so the big danger there was having the equivalent of a multi Spitfire TAG in today's terms run around your back field - which is significantly more dangerous than a one-shot handgrenade shot by a unit that could take a lot more AROs than a basic Heavy Infantry can.
I'm reserving full judgment until we know the full rules, but unless Explode LX requires a drop zone free of scenery, this trooper is going to be insanely powerful.
Non-newbie terrain should be enough to strongly mitigate or eliminate LT or key-model explosion assassinations. Even our unusually sparse boards from this weekend's tournament would have resulted in a dead, jammed and disappointed Liu Xing if I had tried to kill more than 1 trooper with the drop. And that's assuming they set up like they did against me when I was playing a faction without AD this weekend.
So we finally get a LT-assassin back after losing Oniwaban/Shinobu. Too bad that the Liu Xing isn't equipped to murder heavy rambos like the gardeners were... Neither was I. I wouldn't expect a new FAQ/updated Wiki for a couple months after the book drops at the very least.
Is it really that much worse than any number of spec shot capable units? Particularly linked ones. Emily Handelmann or Wu Ming or Dog Warriors are all unmercilessly chucking grenades at you on 13s, for order after order, and a lot of things only get a single dodge at -3 against it. Compared to a one off chance to jump on the target on a 15 (assuming you invested an order or an evo into the jumping) and a multitude of enemy hackers can try to face to face, and you can't crit the target like a spec shot can, and the enemy may well still get to dodge the attack separately depending on wording etc. Don't try to tell me shock makes it better, I don't believe for a second he'll be shocking people. If I had to choose between facing a Liu Xing or facing a list with really powerful spec shot tools, I choose the Liu Xing every time. Wiki should get up to date pretty quick, I'm pretty sure IJW has advance access to the rules to prep them for going live there.
If it can be dodged it has mediocre chance of killing, well, anything. We are talking fractions of fractions, roll to jump where you want, roll to dodge, roll to save.
A model dodging is a model not shooting at your drop troop appearing in their dz. Think of those times where you will see an amazing Rambo opportunity if not for that one model who will get a free shot. Liu xing cares not.
If they're rolling to dodge though, they aren't AROing, so you'd get a chance to just shoot them in FtF after that. edit: Ninja'd!
Except, that one guy who opts to dodge instead of shooting your liu xing is consigning himself to death when you unleash B3 shock ammo into his chest on the following order anyway, it's not like it's really that significant a choice except in very niche circumstances of multiple trooper positions. You aren't dropping your 32-39 point AD trooper without a plan to invest further orders in it. And besides, the real reason you can afford to take those risks is the pseudo second wound.
What if we thought of him like a Fiday? Drop and take out an important soft target, then stick around being a roadblock. I mean, he's a fair bit more expensive and can't bring mines or smoke, but he can bring a much bigger gun and also accomplish objectives. Couldn't he also drop on markers, force them to dodge/ARO? Agreed. Heh, I was wondering how Explode would work fluff-wise, and I couldn't help but imagine the Liu Xing just faceplanting at terminal velocity. This makes way more sense.
Another good use of the second wound would be to simply engage whatever survived the landing in CC. As long as you didn't drop on a Warband for some reason, the Liu Xing has fair odds of surviving the order. This means that as long as the target lacks SSL2 and you don't activate the Liu Xing again, it's effectively useless for the rest of the player turn and beyond, allowing your links and rambos to ignore the threat. I would absolutely risk a 40 point airdrop troop to make sure that a Swiss Guard Missile Launcher or Interventor with a good repeater network can't ARO for a whole turn while my links advance to midfield.
After checking the ITS 10 rules, Landing Assistance implies that the Drop Zone is effectively the entire flat surface of the table, unless that's been FAQ'd. The Coordinated Drop against multiple targets may be legal until halfway through next year. And I'm still keeping it in my own interpretation that retro-rockets aren't involved in the explosion, the missing true second wound is. Edit: Coordinated Combat Jump has been FAQ'd in the ITS X rules thread, still requires a Drop Zone Circular Template.
