Sounds like something Invincible Army should have. We could call it something cool like... Hulang! ;) (as a side note, I wished ALL Yu Jing S5 were Ghost: Remote Presence) What would be the transformation? Would the travel form be at all competent in melee? Personally, I'd say being stupid-fast together with high ARM and multiple wounds like the Su-Jian has qualifies greatly for being survivable. Clearly KHD on the BSG Bao profiles! I think no on Red Fury or HMG, though, as that's what you use Rui Shi for. CoC should be removed from the Red Fury Pheasant, though. Keeps it leaner.
I like this line of thinking as it keeps the thematic elements, Wildcard Pheasant and Bao able to join any Fireteam with a Pheasant or Crane (Maaaybe Hsien but not as necessary as Hsien is a Bao+) would be both useful and very thematic.
The Su-Jian is more likely to make it into contact with the enemy than the Hulang :( If we wanted a new Su-Jian-like profile, Since we have the Fu Lion, how about a Fu Dog!
Wildcards would get tricky to balance in ISS because of the Kuang Shi core, especially when you start getting msv2 troops that can join that team because of the built in smoke. I don't know that a true wildcard is in the cards (yeah, I said it :p), but increasing the Pheasant fireteam options and then allowing a Bao to tag along would be great.
I would say something that goes beyond 150 pts to make it more restrictive. Maybe something like Hsien + High Rank Agent + Low Rank Agent + Fillers (Something like "Special Fireteam Core: Hsien + Crane + Zhanying + Up to 2 Celestial Guards" or something. That would cost arround 160+ points). I wouldn't like to have even more of a focus on mercenaries in ISS, specially now that NA2 has so many options and cool stuff. But that is just a personal preference.
You could easily add the caveat that wild cards can't join Kuang Shi. They're already a special core with formation rules.
While my personal preference is they become Synch to their Celestial Guard controller, I do think high level agents shouldn't link with explosives on legs, either :p
It's yet to be seen if anyone outside O-12 gets Riotstoppers. Bao would probably "forget" them though, or "accidentally" load them with flamethrower ammo.
"They are a bunch of thugs with a badge who disdain the barriers between good and evil and who are faithful only to their own code. Their main motivations are their unconditional loyalty towards the Emperor and their visceral hatred towards any enemy of the Dragon. These two regimental directives make the Bao Troops as recklessly brave as they are insensitive towards human life" Nah, Riotstoppers don't fit. Fatality however.....
Very much agreed on Kanren, but the others are mostly supportive role to actual police force or in the case of Celestial Guards are part of the Bao Admirers International
No, it makes sense for the Kanren to be very interested in using Riotstoppers to make detentions easier. Most other ISS units it doesn't because they're more about making a hard immediate statement.
Said it in other threads, but my favoured fix for the Bao would be a new skill allowing them to cancel enemy Templates if they successfully hit the enemy firing it. The Bao are supposed to kick down doors and lay waste at close range, but the way DTWs work and the proliferation of Chain Rifle chaff makes them awful at this. Being the one troop in the game that can just walk at a Chain Smoker Warband in tight quarters and kill it without having to tank an ARM save would definitely revitalise the Bao, in Fireteam or by itself.
Yep! The Kanren's job is to chase down all the funders,etc, so having live bodies to interrogate is very useful prior to throwing down on the final destruction of the insurgents. That would be really cool! Kinda breaks the standing template rules, but is very thematic. I don't know if that is something CB would be considering for N4 or not, though.