Im not sure whether it was @Ioricus who did the math regarding Knauf, but apparently he does hold up rather well if not better compared to the Brawler MSR, contrary to my expectation. I'll see if I can find the right post. EDIT: here you go
I'll admit that I am not a big Sniper rifle guy to begin with, and generally only taking them when I can impose a solid -9 to -12 on my target shooting back (without range). Knauf can only get a -6 (without range). If I was to take the Brawler, it would be primarily to shoot through smoke, and it would be linked, where the extra shot would more than compensate for +1 BS. There are going to be edge cases where Knauf will be the better choice, but in general I'd rather take other Sniper options (probabbly Al Hawwa) or none at all. IMO, Knauf needs just a tiny bit more love to be more attractive. Stealth seems entirely wasted on him. ML2 would probably do the trick, and with an HD+ available with Uhahu, I'd be happy to trade MSV1 for ML2.
The discussion came up in the same context: A Haris Brawler with MSV 2 and smoke support. It seemed counterintuitive to me as well, but apparently Knauf has some merit after all. You'd also save 0.5 SWC compared to the haris. Anwyay, my initial impression was more or less the same as yours, so I can totally understand where you are coming from.
In my favourite StarCo list (no HI links) so far I was thinking of fielding both a Brawler Haris with MSV2 and Knauf. He isn't my favourite choice either, but since that list has the SWC and points to spare, I am rather confident it's a worthy choice.
In the few games I have played with StarCo, the T2 cateran has done a good job. In the first one he did 2 wounds aroing a su-jian, and in another he instakilled a shavastii TO sniper (don't know his name, sorry). T2 ammunition is a frightening thing for the enemy. But I want to try both the brawler haris and Knauff.
Anaconda and Mobile Brigada could see some use from me. TAGs can be rather vulnerable to Hacking, but a Deflector in the team would make that very tough. Alternatively MULTI Rifle? Boarding Shotgun? Anything CQB to take over at close range would work IMO. Starco. Free Company of the Star────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 ANACONDA (Fireteam: Duo) HMG + Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / CCW. (2 | 64) OPERATOR Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (- | 0) MOBILE BRIGADA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 39) EMILY (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and E/M), Nanopulser / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) ALGUACIL HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 18) ALGUACIL Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) BRAWLER (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) GROUP 2 3 1 1 UHAHU Hacker (Hacking Device Plus. UPGRADE: Icebreaker) Pitcher, D-Charges / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25) DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8) SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 6 SWC | 300 PointsOpen in Infinity Army
My first choice is MULTI because I'm swapping my Fireteam Leader to get good rangebands and the MULTI adds a lot of power, is really strong in suppressive, and gets the DTW. BSG lools pretty nice though because of the cost and it protects him without spending other orders. The Tinbot looks good but you need to remain linked so I can't break off in to Suppression without losing it. Also hacking is mostly something I do not something done to me.
I would take the Tinbot in Transmission Matrix or a mission that requires the TAG be mobile, otherwise I try to keep my TAGs about 16 inches from my board edge. Away from hackers and in the HMG's positive band. unfortunately, this limits the utility of Duo. If I was going to link the Anaconda to save an order or two, it would probably be with the MULTI.
Why not the brigada hacker? Gives some active protection to the TAG and also totes along a durable specialist.
The abundance of KHDs worries me too much to feel comfortable taking her. Some of that probably isn't rational, and Fairy Dust is still a thing. However, moving a hacker around that isn't in a marker state makes me nervous.
I find the fear of KHDs that people have to be blown way out of proportion. Are they a threat? Sure. But no more a threat than the TO camo skirmisher that could also be lurking around the corner, or the AD troop that could be walking on behind you. The KHD still has to hit (it is still gonna be ftf) and if you use Blackout and are successful, they can't threaten you anymore via hacking. Plus being a 2w hacker is going to increase your survivability drastically.
I think the problem is that they're so potent and you can never get cover from them, and its near impossible to escape them once it starts happening.
As I mentioned, Blackout is a great way to shake them, and while you won't get cover from them, it's very easy to avoid situations where they would have firewalls, so most of the time you won't be dealing with those penalties either. The other aspect is engaging them on your active turn, burst is still King and you're still dealing with a ftf roll and subsequent BTS rolls if you fail, and the second wound on the brigada will help you shake a bad roll. Really, it's just like shooting at a model with marksmanship lvl2, and yet people aren't anywhere near as afraid of doing that.
You're right, it's similar, KHD also have awesome DMG types with high dmgs. which is problematic for most things. The problem about engaging them on active turn is that unless you're a killer hacker yourself - you don't have many programs that can hit them back effectively. if they manage to pile firewall on top of all this your chances of surviving become slim to none
Like I said, it's usually very easy to avoid engagements where they will have a firewall. Secondly, if you're that concerned about them, bring an EVO for Keliedascope and the ability to reroll with a command token. The situations you're talking about are worst case scenario types of engagements, which again, aren't any worse that similar situations with non-hackers.
An active turn brigada hacker using brain blast would have ~40% chance of wounding a Kanren KHD, with ~30% chance of nothing happening, ~36% chance of the Kanren putting one+ wound on the brigada with redrum, and ~18% chance of two+ wounds. Meaning, ~82% of the time, the brigada doesn't die and ~64% of the time it doesn't even get hurt. That's not including any potential EVO benefits.
