Playing Onyx for a narrative campaign. I've heard them described as bad and they don't really stand out to me that much. That said, they are by far the least explored sectorial for CA for me - this is definitely an opportunity to leave my comfort zone and I'm taking it. What does Onyx do thats good? What does Onyx do that Combined Army does not? So far, I see two Noctifiers, which is pretty damn amazing. But you could go SEF for three and a lot of profiles that I would feel more comfortable with. I see various Umbra, and the ability to make Haris or small cores with them. That seems like my go to. But do Umbra even need backup? Fireteams for CC are a little dodgy, and Legates have forward deployment and seem like lone operators. Mostly it looks like +1B for a spitfire and the ability to bring a specialist, which coming from Tohaa is ok but a little underwhelming. I see Xeo/Overdrons and the ability to haris the former. But for the life of me I can't fucking order one of these models in New Zealand at the moment and get it in less than six months. Damn Covid. I see core Unidron links. I don't particularly care for big LI cores, but this does come across as one of the better ones. How do you guys build yours? I see two Ikadrons, two Imetrons, and one R-Drone. The other sectorials be so jelly. Note - as part of this campaign, I'm forced to take a Nexus who gets LT, Strategos 1, and a small choice from booty or metachemistry charts that have lost the most powerful options. I don't want him sitting at the back of my army, strategos or not, so the core and haris options that run a Nexus get bonus weight here!
I haven't played them in N4 yet but in N3 I'd usually start with a Unidron core with a Nexus hacker and go from there. The lack of Supportware on a regular hacker probably changes that now but Unidrons are still solid even if you can't stretch to an E-drone. The ability to go prone now also removes one of their big weaknesses. Umbra have gotten better with addition of shock immunity. I've used the Samaritian and Xeodron haris a few times to varying effect. That definitely looks more appealing now with the points drops, better guns on the TAGs and improved Umbra. They are a sectorial I've never quite gotten my head around, I'll be honest.
Well, IMO, what you can get in OCF and not in the others CA sectorials is the capacity of bringing awesome solo pieces, with a great hacking coverage, excellent AROs, a good amount of orders and a lot of ways to be the superior force on the table, all this together without the need to choose one or the other. Our EVO have a smaller silhuette and a weapon, and now it's a cheap way to buff our various REMs. An Unidron core is a mean defensive core and good on offense as well. E.G. In this list we have a nice defense (Unidron with plasma sniper, Q-Drone, Noctifer, and Ikadrons), excellent offense (Greif can be pretty good in the right circumstance, Ko Dali, Q-Drone, Unidron with plasma sniper and marksmanship if needed, Kerr-Nau and Nourkias), a good repeater coverage (Kerr-Nau, Ikadrons, EVO) with 15 orders to work with =)
I'm loving OCF right now, we got a lot of options, it's hard to choose! Umbras are way better, Suryats are really useful, our TAGs are even better and cheaper... there's no "wrong way" to go with OCF, you have some of the best units from the others sectorials and some drones with link options, go ahead and have some fun!
In general in N4 I'm leaning towards aggressive haris teams - sometimes without event taking core teams! For Onyx, that means I'm likely to try out a Tac Aware Suyrat HMG with Kerr Nau and Ko Dali to form an offensive haris that really does well regardless of what it is up against.
Oh boy, Onyx have done alright out of N4 in my opinion. Big big winner is the Unidron Core: they gained +3 to discover, courage, shock immunity and a sneaky but huge buff is that they can now go prone. I rate them as one of the best LI links in the game. They kind of necessitate an E-drone for the buffs imo. Dogged with two levels of unconscious, combined with circular template attacks out the wazoo, at their price point, makes them a mean option for defense, midfield pressure or aro duty (missile launcher unidron with enhanced reaction makes this 20pt model a terror. Xeodrons have gained so much too - bioimmunity makes them effectively Arm6, K1 now gains the +1D from being a tag (huge deal), and the previously obligatory but slightly meh samaritan to form the link is now Nourkias, one of the scariest dudes in Infinity. Kerr Nau gained wildcard (see above on Zeodrons for a cheaper team), and Ko Dali FTO is an unholy point-woman, rocking as MSV2 BS14 multirifle that can wildcard <Insert "oof" here>. She also has protheion to feast on unconscious victims or cheerleaders. Grief operators just got Impersonation 2 for free (1 no longer exists) All Umbras just gained Shock Immunity, which was holding them back Imetrons now deploy in your deployment if they want, and are veteran, so give you a lil LoL-resistant pool. The only losers were Maakrep (no change from a poop profile) and Rodoks (their superjump HMG can now get a mighty clearance of 2", and they lost all but one of their mine profiles, and went up a lot in points.) You mentioned ikadrons and r-drone, but it's worth pointing out that Onyx rock a top-tier repeater net, so you can really threaten a lot of HI and TAGs with your ZoCs, and they are becoming very common elements in N4 lists. Good access to white noise too (Overdron, Kerr and Legate.) Finally the Sphinx profile has just updated and the big chonky ninja tag has gained Hidden Deployment. What the hell? Whole nother level of fun to be had with this wall-climbing monstrosity. He pairs well with a FO Malignos to throw out dazers. Onyx gained a great deal from N4, welcome to Infinity's bully sectorial.
As much as I’d love to run a Haris of Nourkias and two Xeodrons, he doesn’t have the Fireteam: Haris Skill, so this would be an illegal Fireteam. :-(
Counting as a Samaritan means he can be in the Haris (but can’t fulfill the requirement that someone have the Skill), and can be in a Core of Rodoks.
I agree it does feel like a bit of an oversight, especially since they seem to be universally getting rid of haris-specific profiles.
A couple of points of contention with the details (though not your overall assessment): - Unidrons already had courage and shock immunity in N3 by way of remote presence and having structure instead of wounds. - Sphinx had hidden deployment as well.
Ah nuts. Thanks for pointing out my errors iwj & Sabin. Nourkias in the xeo team was the dream. Ran him solo last night and he did massive damage on a rambo run, so I was excited to see him in a haris. Maybe a pair of Rodoks is worth a spin, but I guess you know how I feel about those loveable murdermonkeys.
Nourkias counts as a Samaritan for being in a Fireteam. But he’s NOT a Samaritan, he’s a Ka’il rank, which incorporates both Samaritan and Legate.
That is a really cool piece of fluff! Regarding the question at hand, I‘m glad to see a lot of folks jumping to the defense of Onyx! Personally I‘ve never been a fan of the Unidron Core - they just always underperformed for me. Dogged on a 2 unconscious state model seems weird to me. Then I discovered the OSS Dakini Core and was even more disappointed. 4-4 MOV with Dogged or 6-4 MOV with Mim-3? Not a difficult decision for me at least. With that out of the way I can’t agree enough on the Sphinx. It’s such a sweet TAG. Not super easy to pilot but once you get the hang of it and learn not to overextend it’s pure gold. The Malignos w Dazer idea seems pretty cool, too! I also still like the Rodok core. Idk they’ve always done well for me, and 2“ is still enough to shoot over a wall. I just think you don’t want to jump too high anyway as to not catch ALL the AROs. Just my 2c.
I think its fantastic. It makes you able to stay in the fight that much longer when you really need to - either to delay the enemy further, which is nothing to scoff at if you're a Marksmanship-boosted Plasma sniper with full link bonuses, or to press an advantage that you might have gotten. Of course, it's crucial to be able to decide when it would be better to leave the unidron unsconscious and engineer it back up, but I find Infinity is full of cases where you'd rather have it able to ARO or rampage on. It's also very easy for Onyx to cram 6 or 7 models being able to join the link into a list, so that you can pad it if you actually sacrifice a unidron. Also, a plasma sniper rifle is one of the most brutal weapons in the game - especially at effective BS 14 Burst 3...
Ok, but then why can’t he join a core of unidrons as per a legate? His fireteam rules just feel a little awkward to me is all.
Well, the way ijw worded it, it sounds like the troopers themselves are not both, but can come from either background. So, Nourkias was a Samaritan (which is why he counts as one) that joined the ranks of a different unit that also includes ex-Lagates. I also feel like not giving him "Haris" was definitely a deliberate choice since the Nourkias + Xeo Haris would be even more powerful than the Sammy + Xeo one. Betrayal is slated to arrive on my doorstep tomorrow, so I'll see if that clears anything up for me.
That's another topic, but Betrayal just seems to me like a "intro" story to another story, Outrage was better in that regard. BUT, it's not bad, i just wanted to see more OCF