Almost certainly, but we haven't seen the new profiles. We're just going by the weapons listed on the GenCon box which calls her an Asura hacker with Multirifle.
Yep, it's a "template Vs..." fight. The Rudra might even have an advantage there, since a) it's a HI, not a paper-thin warband, and b) you eat 3 combi shots or I place a mine for the future... so if you dodge I can still screw you, while the Hollow Men have to shoot. Against troops you have no chance to really hit, the Rudra can drop a mine for future orders, while the Hollow Men can choose template or dodge. All in all, frankly I think the Mine Dispenser in a troop that moves a lot can be really interesting, since for example you can break a Ryuken SMG from its suppressive fire (in cover) without eating ARO (launch the mine from a corner or something, then show up with another unit... -12 does little when you eat a mine to the face if you shoot). The only problem is that it has limited uses, so unless we can link a baggage bot...
You can close of avenues of approach with a mine. There's nothing that says a mine can only be used offensively. A Hollow, or a Fireteam of Hollows, is a hammer. You point them towards the enemy and watch the carnage. As such their strategic value is high. How to use them is obvious. However improvising with them is near impossible. So their tactical value is low. A Rudras on the other hand has a low strategic value as its use is less obvious. Using it as a Sup. Fire tool? There are cheaper options. Using it as a Repeater? The alternative is cheaper, faster and have a smaller S. The Rudras on the other can be used to improvise on the fly. Need Sup. Fire? It has a decent gun. Has an opportunity showed up to use a Repeater? It got one of those as well. Is the enemy encircling and you want to close their approach? There's a Mine Dispenser on that chassis as well. A tactical multitool for the price of 39 points? That's a steal in this game and for Aleph in particular. Units have a strategic value and a tactical value. Comparing a tactical unit to a strategic is like comparing a monley's swim speed to a fish's. Sendt fra min VTR-L29 med Tapatalk
Actually that would be kind of hilarious. Just mine the entire midfield. Not really effective, true. Costs too many orders and the enemy can just trigger multiples with some cheap unit, helper bot or bring a minesweeper and turn them against you. But fun too watch
I like the mine dispenser for the one simple reason... speculative fire... It might be a little hard to pull off (9s to hit) but dropping one in front of a puppeteer would be a great way to threaten it
A Mine Dispenser has the Targetless trait. So getting a mine into optimal range is BS 15. Sendt fra min VTR-L29 med Tapatalk
Odds of a puppeteer not being in a building are small though ;) however sure... if someone wants to leave It in the open then drop the mine on 15s and then engage the puppets
I know the strarig draw of killing the puppeteer. No one seems to realise the tactical advantage of killing the. 1: Without the bot, the puppeteer is just an expensive Order monkey. 2: The puppeteer is probably in a place where the opponent to use a lot of Orders to get them back into the fight. 3: Killing the bot removes a lot of preasure. 4: The unit still costs around 30 points. By killing the bot you remove most of the unit offensive power. However you only remove about 14 points towards their Retreat. 5: By using chances to kill the puppeteer, you using a valuable ressorce, Orders, on potentially nothing. Sendt fra min VTR-L29 med Tapatalk
The puppeteer is 12 points, hardly expensive.. The puppeteer is 1 would and 1 armour... and more importantly can't aro. The bots are 2 wounds and can aro with 2! Burst
If the opponent uses an Order to do so, which directly translates into one less Order for another. I dislike this tendency to evaluate other units in their best case condition in a vacuum. Infinity is a tactical game, people want to subconsciously make it strategic as they're used to that. Murphy's first law of combat: no plan ever survives first contact the enemy. Long term analasis is strategic and thus prone to extreme failure. Sendt fra min VTR-L29 med Tapatalk
So I've been rewatching GitS:SAC while assembling the majority of my Aleph, that never got done after I got discouraged in regards to assembling after working on frakking Dakini 1.0s and taking one look at the Probot bags'o'parts and going nope. (I've been using what I had assembled as proxies and a lot of empty bases/non-Infinity models for a while now in friendly games as I learn). In the most recent episode, a big urban chase sequence involving Tachikomas occurred, leading me to realise something: we wuz robbed! Tachikomas have TO Camo and Superjump and a Heavy Grenade Launcher (at least) and a Baggage variant all in addition to their Multi Rifle, Repeater, and Climbing Plus! To say nothing of the precision they're capable of with that Multi Rifle, or what their ARM stat must be! You could probably make an argument that they don't have a Mind Dispenser, but all the aforementioned still doesn't take into account their cable launchers that could probably function as a different-mechanism ADHL as well as the possibility of being loaded with Monofilament for ranged attacks. And their WIP isn't at all bad either, considering some of the stuff they pull later in the series! Let alone what their PH must be, to dodge the things they do even with the REM -3! Rudras come out looking very poor in comparison. So to reiterate: we wuz robbed! (the fact that such a monster profile would be significantly more expensive than even an Asura, perhaps even reaching or exceeding Marut levels, and no-one would ever take it except in the most focused of lists, is beside the point!)
CB did release a major Kusanagi profile years ago, and what came out was basically a cross between Asura, Swiss Guard, Ninja and Interventor. So yeah the GitS units are all way to powerful to balance the for infinity.
It's opportunity. If your opponeny buffs the bot with an Upgrade a Full Order is used. That is one Order less to directly hammer you with. And since a G: Marionette is unable to recieve Supportware., it having B2 in ARO is impossible. Sendt fra min VTR-L29 med Tapatalk
The puppets form a pseudo link team. With three of them that's +1 burst. I'd rather try and threaten the puppeteer with a mine before taking on the puppets since if any puppet activates the puppeteer gets a mine to the face. It's a useful additional strategy that comes with mine dispenser. As you say, plans fall apart when faced with real life, so it would not be the only method of dealing with them. Just nice to have an indirect option.
