Yes, but also no. It is better to drop in your ADs once it's a bit safer to do so ( Although sometimes it is safe to do right off the bat. These cases exist. ), but... There is also the case of depending on how you achieve said defense softening, there will be no job left for the AD troop to accomplish anymore. Which is often a case not in favor of the Liu Xing, since the methods that best counter it's greatest obstacle, one small hacker boi and his bootleg modem routers, tend to, at least in the Invincible Army, also end up in the perfect position to do the Liu Xings job for him. How do you clear way for the Liu Xing past some pesky Hackers in IA? Infiltrators can't do so, they suffer the same obstacles there. So the best bet often is marching a Haris, Core or even a meager Duo with a Hai Dao KHD and TinBot B up to the hacker or his repeater... At which point you did just march an HI unit(s) up to or near the enemy DZ, in a prime position to do the job you brought the Liu Xing for, an HI to go deep into the enemy DZ... Probably less of an issue in Vanilla though, they have an infiltrating non-HI KHD there, so the Liu Xing has more merit there, I'd assume. Same goes for ISS with the Garuda.
Why do you speak entirely in Strawman? Also, no... It's a Fusilier AND a WIP15 Deva with Oblivion, don't undersell that. Heck, Oblivion was almost solely the reason for why KHD was introduced in this game.
You'll probably get the response that Garuda are cheaper on both points and SWC, get bigger guns, and if they can't penetrate a DZ they double as an effective BS15 Mimetic gun fighter that moves 6-4. You know the exact same reasons we use Garudas in ISS. It's a gun fighter that punches way above its weight class for cost. The Liu Xing is not that. If the Liu Xing was a 30pt 1.5SWC HMG toting shooter with Mimetism I guarantee you there would be no complaints about its effectiveness because you'd basically have a discounted more effective Tiger instead of what we have right now which is a more expensive, shittier Tiger. You know, the complete opposite of what anybody actually wanted when it became apparent the Liu Xing had deleted the Tiger from IA's roster.
Almost always better to drop after you've reduced the defenses a bit. But anything capable of reducing the defenses in IA is also going to do the Liu Xing's job for it! Exactly. The Garuda is a very good attack piece, even if you don't drop it in at all. It moves 6-4, it has Mimetism, you can give it Marksmanship Supportware, it only costs 28pts for the Spitfire (and 21pts for the BSG). The Liu Xing has most of the same vulnerabilities, but is 11pts more expensive in a sectorial that doesn't have the same kinds of 'clear the defenses' tools as Aleph or IA.
I couldn't not point that out. Top reason why I'd actually want to try OSS at all someday. 21 point 6-4 Moving BSG droppy boye.
Don't blame you, it is a rather critical point! They're a lot of fun. I played a little Imperial SS in N2 and before HSN3, the Garuda is a very useful toolbox to have! Now, though, I'm not going to play the models I have, or buy new models, until CB addresses the fluff.
I think the ability to put marksmanship on it is a non-thing, unless you don't drop it. How often are you going to have that in hacking range to even put it on it? But ya a Mimetisim HMG with it is fantastic!
Chaiyi and Weibing REMs. Lu Duans and Rui Shis too, technically. Using everyones favorite disposable order chain rifle to spare some literal brainpower for a Repeater battery also works. Then ofcourse a Hsien Haris or a Wu Ming Core has tendencies to carry a Hacker. All that's missing now is a Deployable Repeater. T:
Along with the many other options people have pointed out, with 6-4 movement and a 32" range band you can quite happily bring it in next to your backline repeaters and push out from there. If you're playing into say Nomads or something you're clearly unable to drop into you can just deploy it normally and say fuck it here's my 30pt Mimetic effective BS15 HMG and murder stuff with it. It's a significant jump in percentages, 23% swing overall between dealing/taking a wound from a line infantry defensive link.
All good points i'll keep in mind. Going to be a while before I play ISS again though. Too much fun with Dahshat, Ikari, and Shasvastii ..oh and YJ
Well, since we already know that Krit Kokram is set to be another impotent and overpriced shelf piece, I'm ready to throw around a potential fix before he's even out. MOV 4-4, CC 16, BS 13, PH 12, WIP 14, ARM 3, W 2, S2, AVA 1 Skills: Engineer, V: Courage, Fireteam: Duo Kokram (Forward Deployment L2, Minelayer) - Combi Rifle, Chain Colt, E/Mauler - 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife Kokram - Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher, Chain Colt - 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife Kokram - Feuerbach, Chain Colt - 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife Kokram counts as a Zuyong for fireteam composition. Special fireteam: Kokram and Guijia I still don't feel the feuerbach version would be worth taking, since the Zuyong ML (which already isn't that great) and Haidao Sniper still outclass it, but at least the bloat is cut. I think feuerbach Kokram needs something to make him worth taking. But this is just a simple cleanup that should make his other variants worth taking.
The Guijia fireteam is still no good because we can't reroll on it to try to safely top it off. The Guijia isn't a good enough model to play 30% waste my order and hurt/kill my TAG gambling games. Easiest way to keep Kokram's theme and make him at least a competitive option is to shave all the bullshit off him, demote him to a regular Zuyong with +1WIP. Give him Number 2 and Engineer, and now he exists in your link so you can run someone around the corner to clear e/marats without the link busting and he doesn't break the bank points wise because he's only gonna cost like 30-32 points. If you want to keep one of his pieces of gear, put an optional e/mauler profile.
Huh? Care to explain? I mean, how would IA be ruined by Krit having E/Maulers with Minelayer on both loadouts?
