Just thought I'd open up the discussion of ITS lists in general for SC. For reference, here are our specialists: FO: Clipsos CoC: Kaeltar Engineer: Kosuil, Kumotail, Brawler, Monstrucker Doctor: Kumotail, Brawler Hacker: Taagma(W), Wardriver(D,H), Brawler(A), Aelis(K) SpecOp: Draal, Delegate and for Classifieds Elite: none Veteran: Kiel-Saan, Neema, Aelis, Armand MI/HI: Kiel-Saan, Neema, Armand Visor/sensor: Kaauri, Greif Op, Armand, Taagma, Brawler, Chaksa Aux, Aelis and the Kriigel can do at least one FO classified with phero booster Looks like we're spoiled for choice in some areas and pretty hard up in others. I think I will be taking a clips FO in pretty much every list as well as Aelis, not only can she cover a lot of missions, but her K1 or Viral combi are excellent for a tri-core. For combat missions, our heavy weapons leave something to be desired. 2 HMGs on sub optimal chassis, and only a couple really good spitfires. I'm just not sure how to make a really aggressive list that can take and hold, what do you guys think?
I'm short on time so I'll be quick. (Said the bishop to the actress.) Most missions are very, very light on classifieds. More than half of the missions has 1 classified maximum. (Roughly a month ago I did the calculation for some PanO dude, but I had forgotten the exact numbers. Should look It up again...) You don't really need specialists for these missions (except for pushing buttons, but that's a different story), because you can swap the classified for secure the HVT. Highly Classified is a whole different story, though. To make things worse, in ITS10 classifieds are much more diverse. Relative to ITS9 you need much more troopers (CoC, veteran, visor etc.) to cover all fields. Unless you go for Highly Classified, you should... Ahem... Go light on specialists and hope that you can drop the ones you can't accomplish. (OK this one kinda risky.) For combat missions re-member, you have access to smoke and white noise. White noise for the visor guys, smoke for everyone else. Needs more cerberal capacity than Eclipse, but we do have the shiny toys to force firefights that go our way and avoid those that are not desirable for us. I hope this helps. Addition: Out of the 26 missions 5 has no classifieds at all and another 16 has only one. Three (Firefight, Hunting Party, Supplies) has 2 (You draw a grand total of four and only have to be able to accomplish just one of them!), one (Biotechvore) has 3 and Highly Clasified is in a league of his own. In 21 out of 26 misisons, you shouldn't worry for classifieds. Of the 20 classifieds, 4 has no requirements at all, Neema can accomplish 4 (for being a HI and characters get the veteran trait), 2 needs D-Charges or visors (we have both in abundance) and 9 is accomplishabel with the normal doc/engie/FO/hacker quartett - the only one I view as problematic is test run, but we have access to Anaconda. Except for Highly Classified and Biotechvore, you can simply bank on the odds, Neema will do one of the classifieds and go for Secure the HVT.
I guess I'm also pretty disapointed I have to rely on old models to do all of my specialist actions. Of everything new in spiral, only the Draal are specialists.
Thanks for the breakdown list. Nice to see it organized like that give me and instant reference point to jump to.
You should double check your list, then. I see plenty of new Hackers and Engineers. We lost some really good FOs, though. Poor Sukeul. :(
Whats the plan when Neema gets killed? The limitations on specialsts kinda makes me sad when highly classified is one of my favorite missions. This is not a complaint, just more of a I don't know enough to see the solutions within Spiral yet so hear me out. But coming from all the high WIP specialists in OSS, spiral is a bit lacking. They definitely traded heavy weapons platforms for more area of effect from things like dazers, pulzar, pheroware etc. The downside of this is you have to survive to use some of them. Anyway I will be playing Spiral to make heads or tails of construction of lists for various missions, but it's not terribly obvious what will work the best. I don't want to take Brawlers much initially because I want to stick to tohaa themes, but if that's the way it has to be played, then so be it.
You're doomed. First things first: you do your best that she will not get killed. She comes in a fireteam that means two escort ladies to protect her stock. You field enough heavy hitters in addition to her that your opponent will be too busy fighting them instead of Neema. (Especially if you field the Breaker CombiRifle variant. The SWC bonus is very attractive, because SC is loaded with troopers that are inexpensive pointswise but expensive SWC-wise and hit like a ton of bricks, e.g. Rasail Boarding Team.) You have access to smoke and white noise, you can keep the enemy from shooting your valuable troopers. Neema is a capable gunfighter herself. BS13, ARM3 and BTS6 make her a hard target, the Burst bonus and the BS bonus (for TriCore) make her an even harder target, and she has effectively 3 wounds. She is pretty darn good in melee, too. If things go tits up, you can heal her back with either WIP14 Kumotail (either fireteam member, or park a servant nearby - Neema has a cube, so pare a Command Token, just in case) or using a SymbioBomb for FirstAid. A SymbioMate is effectively still a 'Get out of jail for free!' card. If she does get killed not being able to accomplish one of the classifieds will be categorised as 'Least Concern'... LoL, losing a capable gunfighter and more than 40 points, and probably the whole fireteam at once is a huge blow to your army. If your opponent can kill her, your opponent deserved victory. But as I mentioned: In most cases (21 out of 26 missions) the classified can be swapped for Secure the HVT... For Highly Classified, you bring a boatload of secialists, and SC is not handicapped in this regard (doc, engie, FO, hacker are all readily available, CoC comes with SymbioBombs, MSV2 visor and D-Charges are a-plenty), with maybe the only classified that can be labelled problematic is the one that requires a REM or TAG, but as I mentioned, we have a TAG - and not a bad one. HMG after all is the best weapon in Infinity. I hope, this helps.
I think you are the first and only mate here who does not consider Brawlers a waste of points. I would love to bring them (Hey, I CHOOSE not playing Tohaa!), but the profiles I find rather lackluster. What makes you think you should take them?
IMO Nema with Tri-Core and without Spitfire is a little bit wasted. She's the only model who is comparable to the Gao Rael Spitfire and Sukeul HMG slot wise. But I didn't digging into Spiral very deep or I have to change my point of view how to build a Spiral list compared to a Tohaa list.
AVA 6 Kaauri and AVA 4 Reex are also good options. The Anaconda is actually terrible for Test Run due to the fact it self destructs.
Neema with TriCore and a Spitfire is jolly good. Too bad she makes a huge fire magnet. And Spitfire is not a weapon good enough to risk her fighting against HMGs and other… ahem… proper weapons. Range of 24 really hurts. Smoke helps, but still...
In Highly Classified (the mission in question) the classifieds are open information. A smart opponent will either destroy Kaauri and Reex completely or just ignore them. The TAG is a good candidate, because It's too good a gunfighter to be ignored and tough enough not to lose the secound STR. Far from ideal, but viable. (Obviously you also shoot your opponent's REMs to shreds or leave them be.)
I don't want to take them and feel that they just don't belong in the sectorial. They aren't worth the points in my opinion, but maybe they are nice to get a full core link for a Taagma msv2? WIP 12 just leaves a lot to be desired and I wish we had options for 4 kamael instead of Brawlers. But alas... Not an option. I guess the HRL and Multi sniper rifle MSV2 is nice enough... thanks
What do you think about this list for Highly Classified? Highly Classified ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 BRAWLER Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) BRAWLER Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) BRAWLER Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) TAAGMA (Multispectral Visor L2) Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25) NEEMA Lieutenant (Advanced Command) Breaker Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust, Nanopulser / Viral Pistol, Shock CCW. (+1 | 46) KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioBombs / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15) TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) KERAIL PRECEPTOR Submachine Gun, Smoke Grenades + 2 Surda SymbioBeasts / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 28) SURDA SYMBIOBEAST Pulzar / Viral CCW. (0 | 8) KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 2 4 CLIPSOS (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) DIPLOMATIC DELEGATE (iKohl L1, Specialist Operative) Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Covered all bases. Lots of ARO to protect your HVT for HVT-related classifieds, all kind of specialists to do the missions, Preceptor to hunt down enemy specialists (bringing his own smoke), bit light on firepower, though...
