It'll be the perfect time for you to finally confront your obsession with Nomads and officially jump to the dark side. You ll win every game I promise...
I am waiting with baited breath for the balance update tomorrow. I hope they give Vanilla Haqqislam more flexibility in their fireteams and units like the Hazfas start to match the fluff as having leadership skills. I am loving the huge social media marketing push on Next Wave. I hope it helps promote and spread the game more. Infinity balance-wise is in its best state. I just want it to grow.
Are we really complaining that the awkward text line in fireteams composition chart has become a rule? because it was there making irregulars regulars and eating up fireteam slots is kind of an important limitation factor in list building. It has been stated that the next book brings Aleph and Haqq lore and we do know USAriadna are in the work.
Isn't the Nomad matchup against CA even worse than YJ's? It's been a while since I've gotten to play, but I recall CA actually having the tools to dismantle the Nomad soft control and exploit their relatively weak direct combat game- YJ (post-Uprising) and PanO traditionally lacking that ability is what makes Nomads so oppressive to players of those two factions.
They aren't in Research Fireteams. The master may be Achilles, Patroclus or Drakios, since they get in the Dragon, Shadow and Achilles FT... (this last one they don't count as anything, the other two they count as the fireteam...). I think the chances are... high. Previous statements point that only the Achilles team will be present in vanilla ("Next wave won't change VCA" was mentioned, I think). CA has always been the favourite child for CB, with Nomads as a second, and PanO as a hook for GW-exiles... But CA gets lots of love due to being "alone against the whole of humanity" so to speak... Yu Jing has the Korean sectorial as an opportunity, thanks also to Reinforcements and the penetration of manhwa in recent years (Solo Leveling being the most famous and recent example). Nomads have a hard cap of the three motherships, they could get Black Hand (their spec ops and spy sectorial) but I feel it's more work than reward. Haqq had the Khanate as an option, got the NA2 substitute instead (Dashat) and Hassassin got a spot in Blackwind, the last N4 Operation (then came Sandtrap and N5, and here we are), like Aleph... Nomads and Ariadna were in the previous one, and then we reach Kaldstrom with YJ and PanO, but we also got some sectorial boxes in the interim (ISS, Torchlight, Observancy...). By demand and needs, USAriadna may be next, and I'm curious to see what will happen to the Vanilla, they may be changing them along. The NW sectorial is in the army now, I see Patroclus and Drakios with FT Master, but no specific troop mentioned, so yeah, they not only turn regular, you can kill Drakios or Patroclus and the Fireteam won't break (Pandora's will)... Also I see Drakios with Vita 2, this makes more sense to me than having him with S5 and Vita1.
LOL ok this is going to take some time to go through! Most interesting thing that's popped up so far is this merc character Ruby Monday. Available to KCF, Corregidor, NW, SSS, and Shinden. I think she's a character Sacha.
Well this is very different. My goodness are there a lot of changes. Saladin getting Inspiring Leadership completely changes Vanilla Haqqislam list building. And while we lost the Odaliques spitfire, I am fine will replacing it with a Marksmanship Viral Marksman Rifle for zero SWC. It doesn't have the Mimetism or AP of the Lasiq, but it has NWI and is linkable for less SWC and another point. Hazfa getting a +1 LT order helps Sekban as well. This is a crazy time.
Ikari gained Kiiutan imposter? Why? I mean, it's welcome but why not just one of the new Shinden troops? Kurayami or Kyojin would make more sense but hey i'll take it. That is whenever i get around to playing Ikari again.
Perhaps in anticipation of the return of the Tohaa, which will eventually happen since there is a book missing, I suppose that the remains of the Spiral Corps will go to places that are not too picky, like Ikari.
I wonder why they change so many weapon loadouts and downgrade existing miniatures to proxys. Linetroopers MSR SWC went down to 1 - why remove a lot of MSR line options at all? Croissants getting HMG with MSV2 now having Spit and HMG for what reason? And BS-3 helping everyone getting better ... Teuton ML ? So e crazy updates look like they diced it out.
BS Attack (-3) is the new NBW we got when Reinforcements dropped... The new toys need to sell. And some old stock too. Scouts with Minelayer 2 means 112pts for 12 camo markers on the table and 3 troop slots... Not to mention Vystrels AP Sniper Neurocinetics with a Dozer quite cheap...
CA Well looks like CA got minimal nerfs. I think it gained more than it lost. Lost a few character but nothing anyone was using anyway. The should have lost the Dartok all-together but still have one of two versions. Still an take-in-every-list troop. They gained Sartroids. Umbra become MI even though only ARM1. It's mainly so they can now do MI/HI objective cards I think. I mean what's the point other than that. Norkias is ARM2 and still LI. The only negative thing i've seen is Ikadron is now 11pts. PanO Geez can they gain anymore stuff? Yeah MO needed some things but nothing else did! WTF? Did they really need to make the Red Eye better? Yu JIng Got a few nice things but nothing amazing. At least the Silver Snake is usable now. The Pitcher on the Feiquan is nice but it's still meh. O12 Got less than most and it's all meh. Aleph Again very few changes and nothing too exciting. The made the Satrah almost useful. Making it MI gave it a few more cards it can do. Nomads Not much but made things better. Ariadna Wow a lot and I haven't gone through it all. NA2 A few nice things but nothing that would make them suddenly be great. Tao Wu gaining CoC is nice in Ikari. Kiiutan addition to Ikari is good if a bit strange. Not complaining about it. Haqqislam I think got some nice stuff. Especially the Al Faseed who then is good in Ikari and Dashat for me. Overall I think the winners here are PanO and Combined. Losers O-12 and Aleph. Yes I heard some new thing with Aleph might be coming next year but that's cold comfort when you need something NOW.
Depends. Dukash is gone, outside of Achilles all greek heroes are gone. CoC Caliban is also gone and it was for some builds important and many CA players are mad, because of this change. Also Mentor Lt loudouts are gone. Nourkias was again nerfed, Taighas are gone and still bad. Samaritans are gone. R-drone AVA dropped to 1. So some these changes hurt and probably change vCA list building and CA will propably drop in win rate.
Start dusting off Sensor units, people. CamoSpam is back. Also, why not changing the Tactical Bow to Burst 1+1SD and price it accordingly instead of giving +1SD to almost all of the troops using it? Now it's not a disposable assaulter, but a defensive castle. It got Dogged in exchange for the Flash Pulse, and it still has double flamethrowers and Remote presence, so they are quite OP as defensive pieces, a role that doesn't suffer the change from 6-2 move to 4-4. The main nerf is the 2pts increase per, coupled with an extra "nerf" to the avatar of +2pts... but it got a TacAware order it had been removed, so it's again a Lt with TacAware because Combined Tears I suppose. Maybe in March we'll see the Lt+1order back so it can have again 4 orders for itself... Anathematic lost Hidden Deployment for Lt profiles, yet vCA wants an Aspect as Lt now that Achilles cannot be one, despite that the blondie is now cheaper than ever despite being as lethal as ever... The new puppets with autonomous option, the Sartroids, have a profile with Infiltration and Hidden Deployment (puzzlers, 12pts) that Dr Worm can use as a conduit for Engineer and Doctor duties, so midfield support is back like when the Caliban Engineer was in vCA in N4. More expensive, gives no order, and doesn't allow for the usage of wormettes... but it's there. Yes, because they wanted the CA's flyer to be above it regardless! And with Mimetism-6 too! Also, new skill because of Juana, she is either the Lt, or the sole bearer of the Chain of Command [No Specialist] skill... It matters not. De Fersen KHD + Trinitarian minelayer with Deployable Repeater means you have to get ready for midfield repeaters in non-accesible positions... unless flyer, Speculative fire, or climbing plus in camo or with stealth... depending on the table's setup. Silver snake losing sapper took a novelty, and got back a subpar sniper... meh. Scouts Ava 4 minelayer (2) with EM mines. 112pts 2SWC, TWELVE camo markers. Also the Vystrid Neurokinetic AP sniper... cheap, hard, and a Dozer can link in a Haris or Duo with them for the bonuses... Also again Bearpode shenanigans, CB has removed the separated bearpode and made Polaris Team Ava 2. At least the Heavy Shotgun bearpode has BS=11 instead of BS+6, so it won't apply to the smoke grenades anymore. Not to mention other changes. TAK definitely will be back with a vengeance, but with less fireteams and more camospam. Saladin. Inspiring Leadership. This meager change opens up new listbuilding, Wallace has come to the desert XD Aleph has been in need of something since It.Was.Decided that Aleph.Is.OP despite losing Interplanetario against Nomads with Guided Missile... but CA is never "a problem" funny enough. Now Next Wave intends to be what Steel Phalanx used to in N3 (or could have been with more restraint). Frankly, I haven't felt comfortable playing any Aleph list (vanilla, OSS or ASS) since N5 dropped.
The Anathematic Lt. already couldn't use Hidden Deployment so it just got cheaper for something you already had to do. At least the Silver Snake sniper can now fireteam and counts as a Ye Mao. I wouldn't say anything with Marksmanship is subpar. Not it can hit what it's shooting at. Jeez Haqq now making all those Irregular Regular is going to be a nightmare! He's cheap enough that he's an auto-include.
39 points is not cheap. But he is definitely a very good consideration. Regular Yuan Yuans, Daylami, Hunzakuts, Warcors, and Mutts are a big deal. Fitting guns with that is harder. But maybe it would be best to lean into a low SWC list.
