It's a really, really nice tool on a TAG. Very good for a high-tech faction, especially on a TAG that's designed to operate defensively in built-up, friendly urban areas like NeoTerra and Varuna. If IA's focus is combat on Paradiso though, the flamethrower makes a lot more sense. E/M isn't too good for jungle fighting. It makes me wonder too actually if E/M will come back to Yu Jing in any particular way. Yu Jing were E/M experts, but mostly through Japanese R&D (hence Blitzens, E/M Grenades, E/Mitters on JSA troops.) It would be interesting to see E/M make a return.
Nah, the one about Dart which said, in the very briefest detail, why they didn't give her specialist. I'm not talking about a dissertation, just a clue!
You're assuming it goes on that profile and not the other one - the other one which never sees use ;)
Yeah, let's not go there. Considering that the Daofei is going to show up in White Banner? I really hope not! Yeah, that one really confuses me! Like 8-6 is much better. 7-7 is just about useless.
I suppose I meant in a sectorial that already has a strong HI presence. With White Banner, the issue is kicked down the road a while, anyway.
The Daofeì is kinda kept in check by its price and its limitations anyway (only specialist profile is 59pts, and it's a hacker), as well as its ava in vanilla, but keep in mind that white banner is a completly different context: IA is mostly made-of beastick who starts in your DZ, the camoed-infiltrated daofeì is simply more order efficient than anything the sectorial could make, and would therefore completly steal the show. However White banner will be the complete opposite, with a lots of infiltrated troops like guilangs and (probably) zhenchas whose sole purpose will be to push buttons and support the daofeì while he does his beatstick job. Again, i'm absolutely convinced that the main issue with the Daofeì and the zhencha is first and foremost an internal-balance one.
Sorry if this detracts from the current convo, but after looking at the sectorial chart again... IA seems ridiculously mechanized. AVA2 for the rui shi (can never have enough of those) AND Lu Duan (great for clearing mines and heavy flamethrower fun), AVA 2 weibings for sensor and speedy FO specialists, and AVA 2 flash pulse bots for sniifers (We might need these for our anti-camo duties). Oh yeah, and we have AVA 3 TR HMG bots... I know it's probably a terrible idea to bring anymore than 2, but holy crap do I wanna make some gimmick lists. 3 TR HMGs with the 2 TR combi panggulings and a hacker or two for supportware. EDIT: just realized this is in ISS too. I'm stooooooooopid
ISS is about as mechanized as IA, more if you count Dakinis and Garudas. It seems to be a standard design choice for YJ sectorials, because our remotes don't have ho pay silly taxes over minor cc bumps. And the Special ones are on the holy trinity of best remotes with the bulleteer.
Just realized that and edited my post, thanks for the correction. I now feel stupid XD I'm still slightly amused, though that the ISS, which is all about counter-insurgency and flushing out sneaky guys only, has 1 sniffer bot vs. IA having 2. Seems a little goofy to me, but whatevs. IA's probably gonna need it if they wanna bulk up on orders for whatever reason. 4 Zhanshi + 2 sniffer bots + 2 FO bots comes out to 92 points for 8 orders without taking into account higher-priced zhanshi options. Not bad, imo, and that's a lot of sensor coverage. Throw those 4 zhanshi into a core link with a wildcard shang ji HRL and you've got a good defensive core and decent order-base. It's not stellar and definitely doesn't even come close to things like kuang-shi spam, AI beacons + ikadrons in CA, or inspiring leadership shenanigans with PanO and Ariadna, but it's among the lines of what other factions and sectorials are capable of.
ISS has the Kanren Minelayer for Sniffers, though. It's an interesting profile, give it a spin. Here's a basic group made for punishing anything that tries to set up in camo too close to the middle line: Imperial Service ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 PANGGULING Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25) WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) KǍNRÈN Minelayer Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt, Sniffer / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 27) SON-BAE Yaókòng Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18) 2 SWC | 86 Points Open in Infinity Army Add another Weibing and a Chaiyi and then move the Kanren and the sniffer-equipped REMs using a coordinated order to set up one godly sniffer net. Similar effect can be done in IA, but you'll be needing to use more Chaiyi and probably an extra CT. Whether it can be done in relative safety or not is up to whether Mowang or Hulang has smoke I'd say.
Very good point. Forgot about the kanren sniffer. He definitely has the advantage of deploying one with minelayer halfway up the board, holo for protection/shenanigans, and can actually fight... with a gun... Can't say I've ever used the smart missile launcher bots, though. He's gonna be in a special link for IA, but we'll see whether he can go with the smart launcher or standard missile launcher. I might prefer the standard missile launcher for link-purposes, but the smart can still wreck face. In terms of smoke, I'm not sure if I'm gonna count on it. Hulang might, but I don't think Mowang will. Wasn't on the dossier, but those don't contain every weapon the trooper uses so we might be pleasantly surprised. Overall, I'm guessing the playstyle will be somewhat similar to NCA with even more armor. We're gonna be leveraging high tech except instead of MSV3 HMGs, TO HMGs (although we have the Hac Tao), and auxbots everywhere, we'll be YJ's version of high tech: HI amped up by link teams and comparable solo centerpiece units like guijia, mowang, hac tao, hulang, and liu xing. Heck, I think the boys in blue are as disappointed in the locust as we are in the zhencha (no camo state, pays points for something it doesn't use, in this case a CCW and high CC with no CC skills).
No need for sniffers when everyone has a sensor - suppose it does make the sensor area a little less efficient, but again being able to sensor a wide area for one order is perhaps a little excessive, and most fireteams will bring one with them.
Anyone else hoping the Haidao is gonna be some kind operator HI/sapper and not a dedicated Engineer/Doc support? All that gear and weapons makes me think he is supposed to be some kind of veteran troop and not an auxiliary.
Why not both? Many engineers in this game are sappers (in the demolition sense, not just hang in a foxhole). I'm just hoping for an engineer because we can certainly use them.
I mean that you can't sweep around all of your fireteams for 1 order, because I know the utility of sensors!
So, not sure how much it'll help, but I messed around with some prototype Invincible Army today in Frostbyte against Hassassin Bahram. This was my list: Faux IA2 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 SHÀNG JÍ Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 39) ZHANSHI Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 16) ZHANSHI Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) HAC TAO (Executive Order) HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 69) ZHENCHA (Forward Observer) SMG, DEP / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 34) ZHENCHA Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife (0.5 | 41) PANGGULING Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25) LIU XING (Specialist Operative) MULTI-Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 38) 6.5 SWC | 297 Points Open in Infinity Army I realize after going over it that it's illegal since I went over my SWC limits, but that Zhencha being an assault hacker had little-to-no effect to the game. Long-story-short, I had to deal with 2 fidays and a bunch of camo markers alongside a ghulam link team and TR-bot for AROs. Despite that, while the link team didn't get many kills (1 ghazi...), they locked down the mid-field with ARO threats. I forwent the liu-xing's blast template (believe me... it was tempting since I knew his LT was a barid hacker who could've been deleted off the table...) and instead chose to drop behind a wall which let me slice the pie and eviscerate his link team from behind. He got crit once, but kept going 'cause of his NWI. If it was a tiger, that would've stopped his run, but Liu-Xing kept going... and going... He got isolated and immobilized by a ghazi, but I think he more than made his cost back by crippling my opponent's regular order base (he had loads of daylami and ghazi) and ARO presence. From there, the Hac Tao did what Hac Tao does: tear things to shreds. Zhencha assault hacker shotgunned a camo units to death while the Zhencha SMG got within 8" of his overextended TR drone and blasted it to pieces. By the end of the game, the Hac Tao was dead, but I had both Zhencha in the exclusion zone securing that and the HVT. I hadn't activated any heaters, but since they were HI they would have secured it regardless. Overall, I hope to see more of future link options (the Shang-ji + zhanshi link team was cool and held the board before getting crit to pieces by my opponent's TR bot, but I'm excited for more). In the two games I've used the Liu Xing, I've absolutely loved him. The fact that he can take an unlucky crit and keep going makes him a much safer pick to tear up an opponent's deployment zone compared to a tiger. If I could have my cake and eat it too, I'd like a list with 2 tigers and 1 liu xing with the liu xing bombing someone and tanking while the tigers engage in gunfights and set things on fire. In vanilla, you CAN :D My opponent didn't throw around mines and shock ammo everywhere, so the zhencha had a good time. Like my last game, having zhencha in the last turn feels amazing. They seem especially awesome for Frostbyte because they can secure the exclusion zone without needing to activate the heater. Why waste orders doing that when you force your opponent to in order to keep his LI, MI, or SK alive? I turned on a heater anyways with my last order to get the point, but would have won regardless. So far, I kinda like the Zhencha as a unit. He may die to shock, but when not facing it, he's got double the wounds of any other skirmisher and more armor. I realize I'm lucky in that my opponent's skirmishers didn't have mines (farzan FOs and fiday BSGs). Maybe I just really want IA to be awesome, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.
I'm assuming the Shanger was your Datatracker? What did your opponent's Fiday do and how did you deal with the somewhat obvious LT?
Just couple of things: you can secure the Exclusion Zone with your Datatracker only; "usual" troops won't do; Any Datatracker is immune to Killer Cold special scenario rule, HI, LI, SK – it does not matter; By declaring Zhencha a Datatracker you deny him of entering a Camo state. So it looks like Zhencha is still has pluses as Datatracker with NWI and -3 vision mod, but not so great ;-)
