Do you use riotgirls in vanilla ? which profiles ? with n4 i use less aro piece each day and missile launcher seems less strong to me nowadays. and in a meta with puppetmaster and other new stuffs, cant find any slot for these girls.
Can't say I have ever really used a Riot Grrl in Vanilla apart from the Spitfire which has diminished in N4 due to armour being more prevalent.
I think for many people, losing cover because of Frenzy is the reason many people don't play Riot Grrls in Vanilla. They are much better linked.
Pretty much, running a combat REM instead is usually better as you can that 3 point bs swing thanks to supportware.
The missile launcher as a solo piece is still great. The reason is the combo of MSV1 and Hyperdynamics. You can see almost anything, and whatever you don't shoot well you can dodge. The point with the Riot ML is not just to shoot stuff in ARO, it is to suck down opposing orders to deal with them. And they're really good at that. It takes a lot of shots to get 2 wounds on a Riot Grrl in cover. After that, the Spitfire's also a good option. Again, very hard to kill so you can leave them fairly forwards after attack, ideally on Supp Fire but that takes an order.
Also board control isn't either/or. You need a mix of long-range ARO shooter, some mines, and/or some nasty warbands to keep opponents from alpha-striking you. Puppets fulfill a different need from the Riot ML.
Since they've got Dam +1 of their guns, a Spitfire could be a choice when you need some special type of attack piece(swift, durable, MSV1).. but as mentioned above, the fact that Frenzy could deteriorate their durability keeps me away from hiring them in vanilla.
I used to run the Spitfire in vanilla last edition. A cheap and decent gunfighter when you are pushing 20+ orders. Now? Nah.
Ages ago when I was playing Bakunin in mid-N3 I used to rate a solo Specialist Operative Grrl quite highly as a late-game scoring option. Sitting on an Objective Marker wouldn't give them Cover anyway and between the MSV, Suppressive Fire, decent durability and very good Dodge they could be made into more of a pain to remove than the usual Skirmisher cleanup crew could handle. Haven't pulled out my Nomads in a long, long time though.
