In counterpoint, most of the rest of the army is a little cheaper. I'm wanting the Shang Ji to be about 3pts more than they are now, while Zuyong are 3pts less.
I like the idea of making Shang Ji move 6-2, is in keeping with their fluff; though does make the Wildcard a bit more awkward with mismatched moves. Also giving them V:Courage would make it clearer they're the more elite troops to the Zuyong line troops and also let them hold the ground they advanced into without jacking their points up too hard. Honestly I'd like something a bit different for the Guija. Keep the Tag as average, slightly outdated tech: give it Escape System and stick the pilot in own of the new "Light HI" armors (with some other things to make it a semi-capable unit in its own right) Worst case it's a one-time smoke when the pilot ejects dead, but NWI improves it's chances of survival. Opens up slightly more aggressive play with a side-order of potential dismounted shenanigans. Also all for making Liu Xing a more elite unit that works alongside Tiger Soldiers (ie. Tiger Soldiers in IA) and anything that reduces it's vulnerability to the hacker factions at least marginally. Not played with Zencha yet, so can't say how they compare in actual play with Daofei and/or how much room one would leave for the other. Edit: Just realised I apparently want to turn the Guija into an arguably worse Iguana.
This kills the Zuyong Core. Without significant order advantage you're taking average HIs with no skills, no courage, and slightly-better-than-MI defensive stats. You could argue that Tai Sheng is meant to be your Zuyong's spearhead, but now you're taking a ~120pt tax on what is effectively a buffed Shang Ji with slighly above average guns. In your example, there's really no reason to take a Zuyong Core over a mixed Zhanshi link with Haidao and Shang Ji. You get more and cheaper orders, you get more flexibility with specialists, and less weakness to hacking overall. With the possible exception of a Zhanshi character to help fill out to a full Core, I don't think IA needs "fixing" and, to be honest, a lot of the examples in this thread end up making the army play worse.
