For ten points though? Not that I'd want to waste the Zhencha's camo, either. That said, it's looking pretty certain at this point that the Hulang's kit will see some sort of price kit going into N4. CB's been introducing so many similar profiles at such cheaper prices.
I see it as a defensive move to protect the unit in question in this case. If you were to use it on something more disposable like a Bulleteer (or a Long Ya perhaps) it'd be an area denial move. In the Zencha's case he already has one of the better pieces of defensive tech available, a marker state. Dropping out of it doesn't really improve his situation, really it just makes it actively worse by attracting things that are good at killing him. The big complaint forward deploying units that have vis MODs but no marker states like the Locust, Zerats, and to an extent the Hulang have had surrounding them is that deploying forward gets them isolated and picked off quickly. For them being able to start the game in SF is self defense tech and makes them hopefully more difficult or at least costly for an opponent to rambo at right off the bat.
Was looking through the hot-cold thread HellLois put up, there's a hot answer for a Hsien MULTI Marksman Rifle. So there's that to look forward to.
Indeed. Considering Hsien Multi Rifle is completely missing from CodeOne, while Multi Rifles in general aren't, I do think Hsien will have their rifles upgraded.
I think enemy troops put into SF we need to watch out for are going to be cheap troops that we need to spend orders to get rid of. Daylami, Liberto, etc.
I think the biggest value of suppressive fire, considering how expensive it is, will be for vanilla or vanilla style armies. The most noxious Daylami to deal with is the LSG+Panzerfaust IMO, and I doubt anyone will want to surrender the advantage of camouflage on Liberto etc. Instead I think we'll see it on units that either have a strong positional advantage to be SF first turn (and can't wait for a Coordinated Order) such as a Thorakitai or two, or the strong hitters that need to survive first reactive turn such as HRMC Yan Huo or HMG Hsien whom are going to otherwise be weak versus units that get within 16". Hulang is probably going to be the one that benefits the most among Yu Jing troops from this. By far. But we'll see if it is enough. Other than that, yes, absolutely just about anything with Mimetism or ODD, but not camouflage, nor anything with alternate heavy hitting weapons like a Long Ya's Panzerfaust.
I would totally do it on the Liberto. Especially on certain missions. At 8pts, I don't mind loosing the camo. He's there to act as a speed bump and nothing more. I'd rather not loose camo on Zhencha, Guilang. The Long Ya is cheap enough I wouldn't mind it either. Against other armies I think these troops are going to be used a lot: Morans, Halqa, Grief, Ryuken.
Pre-game SF is a great way not only to create roadblocks in midfield but to protect units that have a big target painted on them: TAGs, squishy Attack Remotes (Bulleteer, Rui Shi), expensive HIs. Usually Hsien is placed faced down on the rooftop, with that option you can turn him into a nasty turret that is very difficult to deal with in 0-16 range (for fans of attacking with skirmishers and warbands on turn 1)
It's also a big deal for Sappers with automatics. MRRF will be liking this if it remains in its current form into N4.
Don't underestimate a Liberto, they're really good attack pieces for group 2 and mind game pieces as long as they're in camo. I don't think this is a strong option, it's not an obviously extremely good one like "I will rob 2 orders from you derpderp", it's something you're going to have to use very tactically in order to get millage out of and just dumping stuff into Suppressive Fire is probably a waste of resources
Let's look at some of the stats from O-12 and what they say about Yu Jing units... First is the Bluecoats. Solid profile, but also, kind of, a mash up between Zhanying and Bao Troops (BioV), taking the best from both units yet being cheaper than either while still having higher CC. It's going to be very interesting to see what this means for those two troops, indeed. Bronzes is just... okay let's note that it's there and confirm that this is basically a Achilles-level heavy infantry. What we can see here though has some consequences for Hac Tao and Hsien, whom might see a stats hike or see a strong points discount. Last but not least is Saladin whom here can be seen being a Sun Tze v2 Lite. So, what does this mean for Sun Tze? Hopefully we'll see an extremely cheaper Sun Tze, particularly the v2 version, beyond even what seems to be happening to other similarly expensive units. I.e. I'm expecting Hsien to drop from low 60 to low 50, while Sun Tze might drop from low 60 to mid 40 even... exciting.
The V2 shitshow not withstanding, personally I think V1 Sun is actually already worth his points, possibly because he already gets a discount in the form of Total Immunity for free. Particularly given that many attack units are moving towards cheap, light weaponry like the Red Fury and light Multi weaponry Sun V1 is a hell of a road block. This is an accurate representation of O-12 bouncing off Sun Tze tonight who was holding a table quarter and keeping them out of my lines While he might get cheaper in N4 I think mid 40 points is highly unlikely just looking at the Saladin comparison. Sun Tze is carrying better stats, mimetism, better Immunity, and way better Strategos. In other slightly salty news: Hey look! Another unhackable pseudo 2W AD trooper that might get its job done unlike the Poo Xing Just to further rub it in he's better in CC than our hackable shitstain, actually carrying a real CC weapon and +2 CC. Also better at shooting with the same BS and built in Mimetism, and every single profile is an FO to boot.
Nah, it's lacking proper weaponry to accomplish that. It's getting close though. BTW, what's up with "Combat Jump, Parachutist"? Is Combat Jump the new name for AD?
Combat jump and Parachutist are now separate skills. So theoretically, you can have Yuan Yuans with only Combat jump. Combat jump also does not require a scatter marker either. So if you fail your PH role, you land on your table board edge. I can possibly see the development of "Combat Jump:+3" for Hellcats.
With the little we have seen so far, it'd better be a huge overhaul for YuJing in N4. Right now the other factions always have a superior version of a YJ unit. Casanova makes Memut Adil look like a meme Crushers make Liu Xing look like a complete joke and bully Tiger soldiers YJ is the only human faction in the Sphere that can't have bikes Full cores of Betas, full cores of Hollowmen, ... if the other factions can make better cores of superior HI, how can we even consider YJ a faction specialist in HI? O12 full of CC monsters, PanO receiving another , meanwhile the best CC unit YJ has to offer other than Liang Kai who is shared between other factions because reasons, Memuth Adil? And the list of grudges against this faction goes on ...
Nah, Tigers are going to be a lot cheaper and have more varied weapons. It really does look like the costs in CodeOne are fairly close to N4, unless there's abilities missing, so the Tiger seems to be around 25 points without SWC weapons. So, provided that is true, we're looking at a huge price drop on our expensive HI as well as Jujak. So what? Bikes aren't anywhere near a mandatory asset. They're difficult to use, easy to kill, and we've got Su-Jian.
