Well I used her before to good extend will use her more now that is 0SWC. too bad she lost her light shotgun but oh well.
I used to run Bipandra a lot in NCA prior to HSN3 to keep the Fusilier Hacker outside the Fireteam for supportware. Since those changes I still occasionally used her, both in and out of the Fireteam in NCA. She won me games, and often contributed even when she wasn't integral. Both as an independent Doctor and as a WP 13 Specialist and +6 F2F option (with bonus Impact Template) in the Fusilier Fireteam. But it was always hard to compare her to other Dire Foes without some bitterness. Now, I am going to miss that Shotgun a LOT (I'd rather she dropped that Combi) but the Direct Template will be nice in the Fireteam especially. I mean, she has NO weapons on the model (that's a Medkit, not even a pistol) so there was no reason not to totally revisit her armament. Boarding Shotgun and Nanopulser would have been amazing. So, in the end, without the SWC tax for nothing she will probably make it into more of my lists. BUT... She is STILL so goddamn DULL!!!
Probably same level of awesomess which Gui Feng/Leila/Yourika has. But hey I will probably hear now that overpriced Combi on Konstantinos is totally fine (as it is on Sing and Rao).
If she broke faction lines like Aelis’ KHD or brought something unique to the Fusilier link in terms of weaponry (e.g an swc free LSG) I imagine she have a much more ringing endorsement. As is she is not bad but at the same time not really much to write home about as a named character. If you told me she was a new premium LI that could mix link with Fusi’s rather than a dire foe I think most people would like her. But as is she is drawing comparisons to units like Lupe, or Kerr Nau, or Leila. Those other Dire Foes make you want to put them in a list and make your opponent change their plan a lot. Bipandra changes my opponents plan as much as a Trauma Doc, albeit a really well armored Trauma doc. I’m happy she was changed, but it feels like sort of a tone deaf change if that makes sense.
Ok this one might be a long one, sorry in advance. Leila - she's a extremly lean&mean machine. For mere 20 pts you get crazy optimized profile with BS12 medium range weapon (Shock MMR), good sidearm (Breaker Pistol) which might even hurt a heavy targets (or Ariadna), and extremaly mean specialist (KHD) on top of WIP14. Dont forget that KHD also allows nice marker state. So again, for 20 pts you get nice killing machine (primary target - LI), which can kill enemy superior pieces (for example HI hackers) quite effectively and in desperate times she has not a bad chance of wounding even TAGs (hello breaker pistol). Again her primary stats boost her equipment ( BS and WIP). She spends no points on some lose "hit&miss" stats (even increased BTS is usefull as hacker). She's one man armory (on top she synergise quite well with ghulams and their more CQQ equipment Rifles+LSG). Gui Feng - again only 20 pts decent specialist (FO nothing crazy but again Flash Pulse is good), occasional Shock immunity (meh), Number 2 (usefull), good DTW (would say better than nanopulser), and Mad Traps which really makes his link quite resistant to all kind of assasins, or which can "one-shot" some heavy targets (TAGs, Achilles etc.). Again a weapon which is not common in his sectorial, and gives nice synergy with a fireteam or even solo play. Again BS12 and WIP14 though he pays for increased ARM and BTS (less usefull ones). Yourika - this one is closer to Bipandra. "only" BS12, WIP13, but quite good backfield specialist (drones have more chance to survive and wait for repairing), with some exotic weapons (either deadly for TAGs/HI E/Mitter or Panzerfaust), with another excellent perimieter defense (mines+minelayer). Her hyperdynamics are rather situational, but dodging on 14s is really good (as I had to see it's value playing PanO HI). Oh and she comes with D-Charges, which is kinda big deal for ITS9 (it relly now makes sense for a link to advance to mid-field if primary engineer/D-Charges guy dies). How Bipandra fares in contrary to aftermentioned examples: Bipandra - Yourika level main stats BS12, WIP13. PH11 for some points bloat. Stadard combi. Doctor specialist, quite expensive specialist which on the other hand is one of the more usefull ones. Problem is that chances that your "ARO" fusilier drops "only" unconcious are rather... slim I would say. On top of that there's "only" Nanopulser. Well. Truth be told DTW is quite unique for Fusiliers thats true. But is it that well... usefull ? Both Gui Feng and Yourika gives much better passive/active team defense (minelayer and Mad Traps). As much as Ive played NCA I've never yet advanced Fusi link midfield. Yes they have had fight in CQB (hello Sui-Juan), but even then probably lost LSG would be better (you usually want to have to F2F) for that purpose. When talking about defending your "castle" (5 man Fusilier link team) both mentioned Minelayer / Mad Traps are much much better. If there is a speculo/fiday/KoDali/VanZant they usually are quite good at slicing pie/have initiative and can leave your "Nanopulser" defense outside of ARO possibility. This cannot be done as easily versus Mad Traps / Minelayer (I'm not saying that Bipandra should enhance Fusilier resistance against dedicated assasins, mind you). For all of those you have to pay 13 pts more points, for me right now I would still just go with a standard Trauma Doc and 1-2 Palmbots as it would still be much cheaper than solo Bipandra (for only "5%" drop in heal rate). Yes you can advance Fusiliers mid field, but in NCA it usually means (at least to my experience) that your 1st wave (Swiss, Hexa), 2nd wave (Auxilia, CSU) are dead/locked down and it's bit expensive to "invest" that many points for 3rd wave backup option (not to mention that you probably won't have that many orders to rev your downed guys from Fusi link). For a price of Bipandra you can take plain Fusilier and Trauma Doc (1 pts more), or Fusilier and Auxilia (again 1 pts more) or Trauma Doc + 2 Palmbot + Warcor (or Fusilier FO, paramedic). I hope that this (quite lengthy) post give you bit more insight at least to my opinion on the Bipandra state.
What is a bit insulting is that Leila, Lupe, and Feng all have BS12 in a link of BS11 guys. So the +1 BS thing PanO does is singlehandedly undone at the LI Link level by allowing people the chance to stack their 5 man bonuses through their best guy. Not that i'm advocating Bipandra should be BS13, but she should have been as good as that would have been but in other ways. WIP12 but with doctor plus?
Go have a look at every other Dire Foes profile. I'll wait. ... ... ... Ok, now look at Bipandra. The most special thing there is a Nanopulser, which is the equivalent of a Breaker Pistol in terms of offering an interesting secondary combat capability but trivial to the point of being invisible on most profiles which wield it. Furthermore it's a DTW, which while useful are most valuable on cheap throwaway units which you can afford to "trade up" for more valuable single-wound models. How can you even ask this? It's hard to take your question in good faith.
You're talking to the guy who thinks Ninjas fulfill the same role as Kitsune. He's normally in a mixed mode between fanboi defense trolling and genuinely not actually understanding what makes a unit good or how they function. The nicest thing I can say about Bipandra is she lets you get a 6th Fusilier into NCA, which lets you move the Fusilier hacker out of the link.
BS13 would at least be a useful stats bloat, especially compared to other faction direfoes relative buff in BS. I would be jumping up and down with minelayer.
But look at the rest of PanO: Trauma Docs are the same profile as the Fusiliers, paying +4 points for Doctor and Medikit (+2 points over the Paramedic). Over them, Bipandra has +1CC, +1PH, +1 WP, +1ARM, +3BTS, Nanopulser and Courage. That is +11 points over the Trauma Doc, and makes her an on-par medic with the +14points of the Hospitaler. And the special part of Bipandra is Angus.
And who cares about that? she is a nice competent profile, gives your faction an extra doc and some extra link functionality, not every character needs to wow you. without her PanO is in two docs and one is a HI, complaining about bipandra out of context is like complaining why Ariadna HI and not the same with Yu Jing and combined HI, clearly the other factions have more impressive HI.
Apparently, everyone but you. But on the other hand, DF are unwieldy enough that not having to buy them is already something :P
No one complains about a power level. People complain about the profile being dull. Not everything needs to wow you, but everything should be interesting to play. Characters, especially Dire Foes, are a good way to give the factions something different and unusual, which doesn't mess with the balanceand since it's on a single AVA 1 and likely fragile unit. Many DFs achieve that. Bipandra and other PanO characters save Joan and De Fersen are missed opportunities. Unwieldy how? They're just additional characters, able to link with their parent units. Nothing unwieldy here.
