I still fail to understand why they had to give that profile Marksmanship Lv1 instead of just giving him a Shock Marksman Rifle, UNLESS they wanted him to have a Shock Pistol too... The faction know for being good at solving problems by shooting them is good at bringing weapons to shoot people with? Imagine my shock! Nah, but seriously, bringing good weapons in PanO isn't difficult, I agree. And at the same time, I'd dare even say that you don't even have to bring SWC weapons all the time. Plenty of good non-SWC guns out there: Marksman Rifles, Breaker Combi Rifle, MULTI-Rifles, a well-placed BSG or two... and even then stuff like LGLs and Red Furies exist that are cheap on the SWC and good on the results ( Red Furies are just great. A Shock Spitfire for less SWC and only one less damage? Yes please. )
I don't think Vanilla PanO will ever catch on with me, they just seem so.... unkempt. The lack of Warband/ a decent DZ or corner guard just always feels wrong.
Well you can turn off Marksmanship Lv1 (hint: Bioimmunity, or classifieds). You cannot do such thing with shock ammo.
both of these are only AVA 2 and cost 10+ points. They're a great way to fill gaps but not good enough to rely on imo. All of these things are great, I agree with you. Theyre just better in a sectorial is what it usually boils down to.
And about what would you rely on to guard your flanks? Auxilias are one of the best corner guards of the game along with Regular Minelayers. CSUs aren't near them except if you're lucky with your Metachem roll. You have also Krakots if you really want something close to WB. But I don't think Vanilla is weak. To much profiles if you're not used to and overwhelming? Certainly but being able to take the best from all of our sectorials is something great. You just sacrifice some firepower to diversity and flexibility. I think that worths it.
A recent game of Quadrant Control had me looking at generic PanO. It performed well so I ran it for Rescue where I was also happy with it. It was still the Swiss Guard Show but the Nisse did plenty of work, in fact nabbing the only civilian on either side thanks to multiterrain. As much as I'd like to keep using it, the next mission is Safe Area and I'm really hot to play the Aquila/Bolt haris. Army's busted so here's the list in text: Group 1 Swiss Guard HMG Nisse HMG Fusilier Fusilier LT Fusilier Hacker Knight Hospitaler Doc Multirifle -palbot Aida Swanson Krakot 2 Chainrifles Auxilia Machinist -palbot Group 2 Kamau MSR Mulebot minesweeper Fugazi
You don't even nescessarily sacrifice firepower, depending on what sectorials we're talking about. And yeah, Vanilla diversity is pretty darn great.
Im trying to figure out MO with a solid forward deployment element. But the sepulcher feels kinda lacking. At least for his cost.
Well that's because he is. You're much much better off with the TO OS. Theyre pretty great tbh – probably the best infiltrator in PanO.
While we’re on the subject of Special weapons, thoughts on the Spitfire? Sometimes I feel like it’s underpowered, especially for its SWC. This is highlighted strongly in Military Orders.
Yea, but then you lack pts to fortify your DZ (and TOFOOS do not make by themselvs great raodblocks).
Personally, the ability to fight in that mid-range of 8''-16'' and not having a penalty in the 8'' range is pretty great in my books and does make it on par with an HMG IMO. They have different roles ultimately: the HMG is a dedicated high-burst long range gun, whilst the Spitfire is a more jack-of-all-trades high burst gun. I personally tend to prefer the Spitfire in general due to it's more forgiving range bands, but both guns are great IMO. Though I do think the Red Fury might be a bit better than it, due to the innate SWC discount...
Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 3 SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration, Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration, Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration, Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) KNIGHT OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE (Forward Deployment L2) Spitfire / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 57) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 43) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38) MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 22) MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 22) MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 22) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) 4.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Hope phone code doesnt mess it up, but ive bee tossing this idea around.. kinda wish i could turn that hrl order sgt into a 4th tofoos , but alas it is not to be.
You could drop one of the Magister Knights for a Peacemaker or HRL+Auxbot Sarge, you can still make a full Core with the 2xSantiagos, 2xMagisters and the existing HRL Sarge.
I like the flexibility of being able to reform specially if i go second and im leaving hrl as part of aro duty Peace maker might be nice however
Another option might be to swap a Magister for a plain MSR Sarge, gives you a wide variety of ARO options, a long range attack (Burst 3 DA at BS15 isn't terrible) and uses that spare SWC.