Has anyone had any luck with the hulang. I keep trying to make a list with a duo of these but just find it a little to expensive to play. The lack of camo or smoke seems like they will just be targets.
Specifically in IA? I haven't played them in it. If I was going to slot one in though it'd before missions like Armoury, Acquisition or Show of Force. Gives you a model that can threaten to stab and clean a durable high point target off the main game winning objective. They're also IA's only real option to do Looting and Sabotaging.
Run Dashat and use Saito instead. Problem solved. The Hulang doesn't really have a purpose in IA. It exists to supplement vanilla and to be outclassed in Dashat.
Tried it, but no luck sadly. Even in mission where he is supposed to shine, like looting and sabotaging, he won't do much because without smoke or camo you'll have to kill a lot of stuff before he can get to the objectives, and your opponent will focus him really hard. It's much easier to just murder your way to the console with zuyongs then use the D-charges you grabbed in the panoplies on your way there. Overall, he doesn't bring anything essential in a sectorial who can't really afford non-essential stuff, and the zhencha is a better midfield skirmisher with a less situationnal toolkit. edit: Actually, I think he could shine in missions where the ennemi has to expose some of his models in order to score points, like the armory or acquisition. Opportunity cost to field him is still too big, but that's a start i guess...
Right now it's too difficult to make this unit work in IA. Many players think it would help giving Hulang access to eclipse grenades or at least limited camo.
I don't get why they lack frenzy given they're batshit crazy tunnel fighters. You'd figure it'd be kinda their thing.
If they really don't want to give smoke or Camo, they should at least get Assault. Although a CC 25 Monofilimant 2B Dam13 assault is a bit scary. An alternative could be full mov on cautious movements. HI armor gives the speed boost with sound dampening.
It depends on the terrain density. I've had a bit of luck with my Asawira duo, but I admit its not plan A.
It's not even plan D. I'd rather a points break than a shitty skill that practically never gets used, same as MMLX before the rework.
I have had great sucess with them but they are a difficult unit to use aside of particular missions or situations. That said i havent found a good reason to use the duo yet. As most cc units hulangs tend to do better in tables with limited firelanes. The best missions to deploy a hulang are those that require you to secure a midtable zone where the enemy is forced to move to midtable closing the distance for you. Allowing you to spec grenade and destroy the high value targets your enemy will use to try and control the zones. This of course requires you to find a difficult to reach spot where the hulang awaits its prey. I have also had sucess pairing it with a Yan huo. The yan huo clears a path for the hulang who then goes to flush out enemies that the yan huo cant target. They have also done well in limited insertion suicide misions.
In Dahshat, if i use him, it will be along with McMurder. He's good reliable smoke. Also, in one move he's pretty much right next to the Hulang that can start up to 8 in forward. I never thought he'd be good in IA. Vanilla maybe. Certainly not two of them.
I like the Hulang, but it is very situational IMO (in IA at least). I think about him as a specialist that no one wants to get close to. It pushes the button and then threatens the area.
I had no luck with him either. Even with the Armory he failed me, because he's hackable. (Enemy Hacker with SSL2 in the Box). He might shine in missions without exclusion zones when you have he first turn, but thats too many "might and if" for a 41-44 points model and you always could solve the problem with other options.
I've had one success with him where my opponent had not read about the new IA profiles and was more worried about the Zuyong pain train than the weirdo creepin' through the shrubbery. The battle was a slaughter, but also useless as far as actually evaluating the real value of the unit. In every single game since then my Hulang have been shut down with E/M before doing anything, forced to simply yell curses as the opposing force strolled past and covered him in graffiti. I'd be in love with him if he just wasn't classified as HI. I'll try to keep bringing him to more games and experimenting, but it's getting a bit ridiculous. But really, given how he operates, he either needs to be much cheaper, or needs a marker state to accomplish the job he's so clearly designed to do (a KHD option could give Impersonation Lite). The distant last place option to make him deliverable as a CC weapon is smoke cover... which is also the only thing that is even possible, though not in IA (unless your opponent gives it to you as a gift).
I think fundamentally the problem is there is no longer any real benefit to being a heavy infantry. Stats, move value, armour and wounds are all available to chassis that don't drag all of the inherent disadvantages along with them. I'm not quite sure how to fix that as giving heavy a discount feels weird and wrong. But that's how backwards things have got in terms of profiles.
Giving "Heavy"(weight) a discount is why the Maghariba is the best standard MBT bar none, and why the Daiyokai and Ariadnan power armour are playable and affordable. At the cost of not being able to fit through Gates, which has been relevant precisely never in my playing career. Hacking is a serious vulnerability, as is the opportunity cost of missing out on Regular Orders outside of kill missions and (rare) scenarios that lack a turn limit. If not being able to benefit from Cover (with Fury) is worth such a massive amount of savings and comes with free Orders when well planned, how is being targeted by attacks that don't require Line of Sight and pack modifiers usually reserved for top-end SWC weapons worth exactly jack?
