Been waiting for Tunguska for so long! Hollow Men will be Remote Presence maybe? I like the design cues they share with the Szalamandra. Heckler looks cool also, I wonder what they will have to distinguish them from Interventors. I imagine the Securitate will be getting changes to fill the Line Troops role?
If the starter box drops June, does anyone know if they'll release the full sectorial army/profiles around the same time?
Like puppets, but painted black, tan, or in a digital camo pattern. Tactical, see? :D In all seriousness, maybe something along the lines of the Scout units from Chappie, or more likely, something like the Appleseed character (For it is CB's favourite source of ideas) that apparently also inspired said Scouts, Briareos, but spindly?
From a gameplay POV MI G:RP is really interesting (2 levels of Unc but only 1W, ARM2-3). Ties in really well to a STR focussed list. So I hope they went that way. Or a Proxy LX that functions pretty much the same as G:RP. You can then give them "High Tech" as a discount (IIRC HI get a couple of points discount for being Hackable) and make them a HI for the purposes of hacking. REM is unlikely because it would give them MML2 Breaker Pistols (which is hilarious [emoji23]). There's also a weird interaction with Supportware and markerstates.... I'm not sure how that would work, so I think CB will have just avoided it (I'm assuming TO). It also doesn't really fit the fluff. They're actually extremely interesting, particularly if they get a specialist option (TO Multi+Pitcher FO: DoWant!). I wouldnt be surprised with 6:2 Move (no Multiterrain) to really exploit their close range guns. I expect a price point somewhere between Moiras and Karakuri.
Honestly those images are a closer inspiration for Hollowmen. So for Combat Puppets I'm expecting combat servant bots. I kinda expect that they'll be a 5-10pt Kuang Shi analogue controlled either by a Securitae or Heckler Hacker: this will provide the cheap orders Tunguska needs. But potentially they'll actually be Servant bots that you can add to any Hacker (but AVA1 in Vanilla). This will cause much rage in PanO given how limited Auxbots are comparatively, if anything this makes this outcome more likely.
For tactical puppets I'm still thinking g:Jumper. Kinda fits the security/expensive tech side of things. I'm most curious about the nautical zond. Is it artillery? A heavy armored assault leader (Gecko fluff mentions naval combat)? A capital weapon like multi hmg or HRC on an expensive and slow zond?
TAG weapons on a Zond would be cool. The issue is that S8 is a touch too big, but there's no room to fit a smaller size in. A 80mm base at 2/3rds the height of S8 would be ideal. But given this isn't easy to achieve, I doubt we'd see it. So instead I expect to see a Meteor crossed with a Tsyklon either with AD or with Super Jump. Quite possibly Impetuous. A REM with Super Jump + Impetuous with a Spitfire + Repeater would be a Nomad Aragato/Maverick.
Maybe Hollowmen would be Remote Presence HI like Karakuri, they have those power armor vents (?) on their back.
They could but it would be the first Rem Pres troop that isn't remotely controlled AFAIK. At what point is a man machine enough to be Remote Presence? An arm? Both legs? Does it need to be the head? Why is replacing our scalp and face special?
Functionally it's 'the point enough is replaced to generate 2 Unconscious states and no/reduced fear of physical injury'.
Their standards arent exactly clear, look at the various EI aspects. Then there is the odd ball Chimera, which has STR but no Remote Presence.
NWI is another good option for it: and more obviously reflective of the fluff. But G:RP is more Nomads IMO: if it was Aleph I wouldn't even be having this conversation, I would have just assumed it'd be NWI. Personally I'm hoping for a bespoke 'brain in a box' skill that is V:Courage + 2 Unc states + Hackable like a REM. Ie they're effectively a REM who can't use Supportware but can dodge. MI with STR + NWI is probably the strongest from a gameplay POV. Expensive though: it's Dasyu price range without the midfield deployment. I'd be hoping for 6-2 Mov.
I'm crossing my fingers for both. I do think that would be the most unique since I don't think there is anything in the game with just 1 structure G:RP and NWI although Unidrons are pretty close. The Hollow Men could get a discount from being hackable and possibly irregular. Someone with their brain in a jar might not be the most well adjusted individual. The Heckler seems like a cool mix between Interventor, Grenzers, and Securitate. It be neat if it could link with the latter two options and brought along some extra tricks while costing in-between the two. Maybe assault, regular and white hacking. They've got both assault and regular pistols on their dossier which is a little odd considering the other weapons. Could be a new combo BS and assault pistol? The Securitate doesn't have an antenna like the moran but has a weird looking thing on their thigh. I wonder if that means they're keeping or losing repeaters. I hope the spitfire isn't going to replace the HMG profile on the Kriza because it's too good. Maybe it's just a typo or maybe they think he needs that too. I wish it was that missile launcher instead.
