Haqqislam's background fluff emphasizes how Sufism is a major part of it. That's something that some of today's real life Islamic governments consider sketchy, discourage, heresy, or straight up pagan infiltration. There's research papers on how Sufism is treated like that IRL because it's surviving pre-Islamic shamanism/animism and got integrated as "actually they were Jinn and Jinn are in the holy book...". The kind of syncretic beliefs that already exist in real life Islam and Infinity's Haqqislam is what I'm talking about. https://www.avesta.org/antia/Sufism_as_a_continuation_of_pre-Islamic_paganism.pdf So that's why I brought up how Infinity Space Malays would bring their own historic elements, like the way the turban wearing Khawarij, kum bikers that are from some separate Khanate not ruled by Islamic teachings, invisible assassins, armored guys named after real world ethnicities, all bring something different to the Haqqislam faction umbrella. Yeah smoke grenades are mostly for shaolin monks in the far future of Infinity, I purposefully chose something unusual because there's already a lot of MI profiles that blend together. Tthe other lowish-tech faction, Ariadna, has smoke grenade tossing armored machine gun toting tactical operators. I'm fine with using the excellent Kaplan models as some other MI LI if they stay overpriced in N5.
Without talking about religion, Malay Archipelago is part of PanOceania. People from this region were amongst the first settlers on Varuna. Nothing prevent Malay traditions to be used in Haqqislam (the Huriyyah Archipelago on Bourak is populated by Javanese and Malay descendants), but I think that would be more prevalent in a PanOceanian unit.
It feels like with the MA and shotgun changes, the Fiday will be stabbing more often. I also wonder if Al-Djabel will keep BS Attack(Continuous Damage) in N5 as his Viral CCW and MA4 distinguish him more from a normal Fiday now. I would love for it to change to CC attack (Continuous Damage) as that seems more fluffy.
Stabbing more often, but I guess making a blast with the Terminal Template shotgun. Because now it is no longer "I shoot at you, cover several of you, and die to unopposed return fire", and more "I put a blast on you with a Face-to-Face roll that I have a good chance of winning" (due to advantageous range and Surprise Attack a Fireteam's 6th Sense will no longer negate). Then again, with new fireteam rules I guess we'll be seeing less big Fireteams, and more smaller ones. Making "I stab you" more relevang.
In both cases, it's a positive change anyway! It always bothered me that these highly trained assassins were often used as expendable troops. Sure, they'll still die eventually, that's Infinity, but if it can be in another fashion than "I blast my shotgun at you and die in return", it's great.
I am coming to terms on what the shotgun changes will mean for Haqqislam. They mentioned during the N5 Infinity Week videos that shotguns have gotten cheaper due to the loss of templates. But I can't imagine them making Ghulams cheaper. I wonder if they will change?
They absolutely can make Ghulams cheaper, it has happened before. Heck, IIRC a N1/N2 basic Ghulam was 13 or 14pts if I recall correctly. Compared to the standard common point - being an Alguacile w/Combi at 10pts, and Line Kazak w/Rifle at 9pts since times immemorial, we could expect something to change. Whether it'll be cutting the price on Ghulams, or seeing it balanced out with some small stat change / getting soem new skill to outweight the decreased cost of a shotgun, we are yet to see.
See, I felt that CB actively did not want cheap Ghulams for that reason. The N3 to N4 price cut was totally unexpected for me. In N4, Ghulams felt like the best, most rounded Line Infantry in the game. 11 points seem like a steal for all they got, especially if you compare them to Alguaciles, Zhansis, and Kappas. Even more compared to Celestial Guard or Securitate. Their options make them feel like a toolbox. If they dropped to 10 points, they would stand out even more. EDIT: To be clear, I feel that CB is hesitant to make a WIP 14 Line trooper cheap. And I feel they have good reason.
In that case, I'd expect them to be kept in price, but slapped some extra skill. Probably something very situational, to keep it form being overpowered. Still, when I recall the "Haqq shotgun tax" from the days bygone...
So all of the drawbacks with none of the benefits? Hopefully this change is not for all frenzy, but just the JSA model you were referring to.
It's literally the same it was except hopefully fireteams don't null it. The only thing Bostria says in the video is Impetuous is now linked to Limited Cover, Impetuous, not Frenzy.
You mean November 17th, right? Edit: I would really like the Paradise Lost Farzan to be a new profile. Not a new character, but he would be representative of a Close Combat Farzan profile (kinda like the Swiss Guard CC Reinforcement profile). But i would take a character too.
So, while I hope the Ayyar gets more tweaks and the holoprojector rule gets looked at, with the Fireteam changes, what do you think of the Surprise Attack (-6) rule? Do you think that the Ayyar will be more usable in N5? I am assuming a N5 point cut as it really pales in comparison to other HI like the Griffin or Hatamato Guard (not to mention the other Haqqislam HI which all each have a niche).
Ayyar has always been in a weird place for me. It is a solo hunter. It is fairly lightly armored (ARM 3), not a great hand-to-hand fighter, with maximum of Burst 3 on his guns (save for the basic Rifle with +1 B), and at that, Marksman Rifle-ranged at best. At BS 13, he's a decent shot, but not outstanding, either. His only unique ability being the Holomask / Holoprojector / Surprise attack -6 combo, but like every Surprise Attack, it is good for one use only, then it stops to apply. Sure, changes to 6th Sense will make it more useful, but still not great. Holomasking... I really don't see as whom he could Holomask in three in the Bahram. Especially in a Limited Insertion list. And then there's the pricing. In low 40s, Ayyar doesn't compare favourably to Asawira - a tough gunfighter and competent CC fighter, who can also work in a fireteam. The newer HI, Bokhtar and Sunduqbut, are even more expensive in their 50-ish point range, but they seem to be much better suited for their roles. So, Ayyar is a very rare choice for me. True, I took him last game - for the holoechos, intending to use it for mine rolling against TAK. But that's an extremally niche application. I think he needs to be seriously rewritten to become actually useful.
Holoprojector does allow surprise attack, if holoprojector gets reworked, with the N5 fireteams Ayyar will become a significant threat.
The problem here being - we don't have any clues whether N5 holomask / holoprojector rules are going to be any different from N4. Or how will be the Ayyar lineup reworked, including the price (I assume it'll get cheaper if the writeup remains the same. HI see to be dropping in price again, judging by the published N5 profiles, so far, and apart form the Holo, Ayyar isn't anything special, really). Therefore, I'm applying the existing profile and rules for it to the rules we know to exist in N5. Kinda N4/N5 hybrid, and deeply flawed as such. With the abovementioned caveat, yes, you are right - given Fireteams no longer get protection from Surprise Attacks (unless they get native Combat Instinct), a Surprise attack -6 is likely to be very useful agaisnt them. The problem being - it is still one-time advantage. You use it, you lose it. Whether you have failed in your attack, or you succeeded and want to engage another target, your holos are gone, and you need to work without that advantage - with a profile that, to use a balanced term, just isn't stellar on its own. Your typical Camo Infiltrator - in a comparable situation - loses the -3 of the Surprise attack, but keeps their Mimetism. And that definitely helps keeping the chances on your side.
My issue has been while Suprise Attack (-6) sounds cool, the majority of the time it is the same mod as Surprise Attack (-3) and Minimism (-3). Maybe I rely on the Farzan too much, but the FO profile is nearly as good as a gunfighter for nearly half the cost. (@Errhile Fiday'ed and said it better) Holoprojector is a cool tool, but the Ayyar in N4 is both too expensive and not threatening enough to leverage it. Maybe in N5 it will be able to use it's Pistols more with the lack of direct templates? I don't know, but when I look at most of Haqqislam HI, I see niches: Al Fasid: Sturdy Long Range shooter that is a toolbox. Asawira: Short Range CQB Attack unit. Can shoot and CC. Burkut: Super Engineers with powerful multi burst templates. Bokhtar: Mobile Hunters who are great gunfighters and have Tac Aware for efficiency. Ayyar: Short Range CQB Specialist unit. Jannisaries/Hortlak Janissaries: Long Range Accurate Firepower. Azra'il: Resilient Long Range firepower that obliterates IF it hits. The N4 Ayyar, even with Forward Deployment or Hidden Deployment, mostly competes in role against one of the best HI of N4, the Asawira, who is cheaper and better in so many cases. Jannisaries, somewhat suffers similarly against the Al Fasid or Azra'il. But at least they get the benefits of S2 versus S5. I am looking forward to N5 and I hope they revisit both Ayyars and Jannisaries to make them more attractive. But even if Jannisaries and RTF get no changes in N5, the Hortlak AP Sniper + Jannisary ML + Rouhani Haris in RTF has a place. I have no idea what can be done with Ayyars. Hopefully CB does.
