I think this was done a long time ago. A comparison of troops and weapons. So I'm starting it again with a bit of comparison. For the under 30pts. My favorite is Lunah followed by the bounty hunter. Lunah especially is really good now. Under 40pts I like the Haidao for the MSV but with a good BS13 too wtih Mimetisim & MSV1 is Knauf. That's pretty much where I usually stop but I guess if i had a choice I'd pick Armand. ZHANSHI MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 19) BOUNTY HUNTER Sniper Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 21) CELESTIAL GUARD MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 21) BÀO TROOP (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29) MAJOR LUNAH Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29) PHEASANT IMPERIAL AGENT (Multispectral Visor L1, Marksmanship LX) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) KNAUF MULTI Sniper / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) DĀOYĪNG (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper, Antipersonnel Mines / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) GŬILÁNG MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 33) TIGER SOLDIER MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 34) HǍIDÀO (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 37) Added: NINJA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 42) ARMAND (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper, Nanopulser, Antipersonnel Mines / 2 Breaker Pistols, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (1.5 | 42) ARMAND (Multispectral Visor L1) MULTI Sniper, Nanopulser / 2 Breaker Pistols, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (1.5 | 45) SUN TZE MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 56)
I'm interested in your justification for the Guilang MSR. It always looked like an uninspiring profile compared to its other ones.
Depends on your terrain set. Low vis zones such as holo signs, or terrain like forests that provide low vis+saturation fields significantly improve the value of the Guilang MSR because of the MSV1. Makes them much more annoying to remove. Power Pack is an example of a mission that the Guilang MSR likes alot. Infiltration improves positioning and the mission comes with a saturation zone built in which improves the value of Burst 1 ARO pieces. The big drawback to the MSR profile before was it ate up an infiltrating mid field specialist/skirmisher slot. We've got the Zencha now which helps with flexibility behaving like another Guilang AVA.
Rui Shi ist one of the best beatsticks we have and in my opinion he is the top choice in the 20-60P range When comparing the options with point cost of 60 or more its not that easy and comes down to personal preference. Su Jian is one of the best attack pieces in the Game, but Hac Tao and Hac Tao are good as well.
For Spitfire, I have agree the Rui Shi leads the pack for Bang for the Buck. Good BS, Cheap pts and SWC. The thing that puts it over the top is the ability to enhance it with a hacker! The only drawback for me is the size. I can be hard to keep in cover sometimes. And maybe that in Vanilla it’s AVA 1 Next again, I think I’m one of the few that likes the bounty hunter. But BS12, spitfire for about 22pts isn’t bad. Then you still get booty on top of that! Nothing feels better than when you roll ODD! For the 30pts range I love the Tiger Soldier. He can immediately be in good range, BS13 and Mimetisim. That’s a lot of hurt! He’s also the last one to have it for 1.5 SWC. For 40 and up, It’s an easy choice for me. I LOVE the Su Jian. Second I think I’d say Crane due to his X-Visor. CELESTIAL GUARD Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19) RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20) BOUNTY HUNTER Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22) TIGER SOLDIER Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) LIÚ XĪNG Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 39) SHÀNG JÍ Spitfire / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 42) DÀOFĚI Spitfire / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 55) CRANE IMPERIAL AGENT (X Visor) Spitfire, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 54) MÓWÁNG (NCO) Spitfire, Flammenspeer / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 54) SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59)
As @Triumph says, really depends on your terrain set (or your opponent). Someone with a lot of camo/mimetism, it's always nice to strip off one layer of -3 mods while you're still at -9 or even -12 yourself. Plus, if you deploy way deep, close to the opponent's DZ, you can usually get shots into the back of his troops (this also works with Ninja and Tiger Snipers, just ask @Daemon of Razgriz about how much fun that is!). Going to be 'fun' for me to run some vanilla with Daofei, 2x Guilang, Daoying, Zhencha, and mines all in the mix. Plus maybe a Ninja KHD deployed as a camo marker, too. My favorite HI is still the Daofei. Camo Infiltrating 'skirmisher', but 2W ARM4. Surprise! Su Jian is also pretty awesome. I've had good results with the Yan Huo HRMC.
Before Knauf, he was the only source of having both camo & msv1. So he could do surprise shot and negate opponents own camo as well. Lunah doesn't have the MSV but she can negate the minus with Marksman LX. Now there's even more competition with the Daoying. I'd maybe be more likely to take him if his BS was better but just like the Guilang to be up close using minelayer, boarding shotgun, or pushing buttons.
For the HMG, the TR bot is still the work horse. I'd really like to try out the Zhanying HMG more too. 1 SWC and Sixth Sense is pretty good. for the 30-40pts. group I think the Zuyong with TA wins out. It's just worth the points to have that extra order he can use. Over 50pts. hard to say for me. Daofei has the ability to deploy in good spots but you want him forward which can hurt him. Hac Tao has BS and ODD but at a premium cost. Hsien are great too with MSV and can take a hit back. GROUP 1 12 ZHANSHI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19) HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) ZHÀNYING HMG / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1 | 30) ZÚYǑNG HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 35) ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Duo, Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38) ZÚYǑNG (AutomediKit) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (2 | 39) WÚ MÍNG HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 39) YĀN HUǑ (FTO) MULTI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) DÀOFĚI HMG / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 57) HAC TAO HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 68) HSIEN HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 61) GŪIJIĂ MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / AP CCW. (2 | 88)
I'm not overly impressed with the HMG Zhanying; they're cheap, but TR bots are cheaper, and similarly as effective. SSL2 is a strong reactive skill, so I feel like if you were going to take a Zhanying, the Missile Launcher is the better call. I always have a harder time deciding whether I like a Hsien or Hac Tao better. Hsien needs a Monk buddy with smoke to do his best work, but Hac Tao has that tasty marker state. Trying to decide which high-end attacker to take feels like a First World Problem, but man, Yu Jing is so spoiled for choice in that 50+ range.
It's for a cheap backup attack piece with a Haris in ISS. You run the budget Crane core with a Zhanying Haris backup in a second group. Can get a decent chunk of firepower downrange. Something like this: Imperial Service ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 5 XI ZHUANG Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, MadTraps / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13) CELESTIAL GUARD Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) CELESTIAL GUARD Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) CRANE IMPERIAL AGENT Lieutenant (X Visor) Spitfire, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 54) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) GROUP 2 7 1 ZHÀNYING (Fireteam: Haris, Sensor) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nimbus Grenades / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 27) ZHÀNYING HMG / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1 | 30) ZHÀNYING Hacker (Hacking Device) Breaker Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 32) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) SOPHOTECT Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) PANGGULING (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army It's not a piece for Vanilla, you want to be abusing link teams to get the most out of the SWC discounts in this profile.
Well here's the biggest bang if not the best. I've included the Smart missile even though it's a little different. I'm not a big fan of the ML due to the low burst. Something I noticed doing this is that the Zhanying has Nimbus along with his ML. So he could actually throw down a Nimbus and then shoot through that. I actually think the Smart Missile is my favorite. It's ranges are better by being 0 instead where the ML is -3. Also, It's always a blast template with AP+DA. The missile is blast with Exp OR no blast with AP+Exp. Also, Cheap! 18pts for that destruction is not bad. ZHANSHI Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 16) SON-BAE Yaókòng Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 17) SON-BAE Yaókòng Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18) ZHÀNYING Missile Launcher, Nanopulser, Nimbus Grenades / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 28) ZÚYǑNG Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (2 | 36) YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52) HAC TAO Missile Launcher, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 65)
Its a blast template which is avoidable, because the enemy sees it. It can also be cancelled if the Xenotech is attached. My favorite will always be the Missile Launcher that cannot be seen until the template (hopefully) hits. -- Edit: I'm talking about the HacTao ML.
Not sure what you mean. Talking about the Smart Missile? Blast templates can be dodged just like anything else. But at least with the template there's the chance of getting some else in it as well. There's also no cover save to ARM like you get if using the MSL on Anti-tank mode. Plus it's still AP+DA with a Template. Meaning No cover bonus and half your ARM! An ARM4 figure in cover against MSL using AT will need to make 3 armor saves needing 7+ (14-4ARM-3Cover=7) The same figure in cover vs. SML will need to make 2 saves at 12+ (14-2ARM-no cover=12) The ML one Blast is still great as well. I always do blast unless the ARM is 6 or more. If I catch them in the open and not one close by to get in blast, fine i'll do the AT mode.
