So I've got an ITS tournament with 12XP Spec-Ops coming soon, and just pondering what to take? Before Daedalus' Fall it was pretty simple - jam in all the specialists into one, add some mines/mimetism/stats on top and you're good to go, but now it really seems to me that CA got a short end of the stick with spec-ops options? I'm mainly looking at it from vanilla standpoint, and honestly jammin' in all the specialist profiles seems like the best option still, because everything else isn't really all that good. for profiles we have nexus, vanguard and a nox, and pretty much all of them have their uses, but I cannot say that about skills and equipment, and while weapons are interresting, everything else seems to be lackluster. In equipment slot we have EI HD for 3XP, Joloprojector L1 for 3XP, MSV1 for 4XP, automedkit for 6XP and a nanoscreen for 7XP. Honestly, out of all this in a 12XP format I can't see myself picking anything but EI HD, because the rest just don't provide enough bang for the buck, you can't even get a decent weapon with it and a mimetism. As far as skills go I won't list them all, but Doctor, Engineer, Mimetism seem reasonable even with a price increase, and minelayer for 2XP is always good to protect your DZ, maybe combining it with FDL1, but that seem to be too much XP for too little utility, even in 16" deployment missions. Honorary mention goes to a Super-jump + Climbing+ for just 4X, however it is too much of a table-dependant, though picking that with an HMG seems interresting. also a cheap CoC might be nice, but isn't really worth it in vanilla imo. now with a weapons we're kinda spoild for choice, but lack of good deployment skills really kills viability of some in my eyes. Plasma rifle is a really good weapon, but it just lacks means to be delivered to it's effective range, and it's not really like we have a problem with getting a good plasma rifle in a list. Red Fury, MK12, Shock MR look good for some late game backup shooting, and pulsar seems like a good choice, also for Hunting party taking a stun pistol for just 1 XP might be worth it. I'm thinking on running a support specialist with a red fury and minlayer plus some stats or dtw, just to be a good all-rounder and shve off some points from taking Kurgat/Dr.Worm, but I'm curious if perhaps I'm missing something and someone found a better use for those 12XP specops. Oh, and missions for a tournament for which I'm building my spec-ops are Firefight, Unmasking and Hunting Party, but I don't really think there are any mission specific choices that stand out.
What about this: Combined Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 NEXUS (Infinity Spec-Ops) (12 XP) (BS:13, Multispectral Visor L1) Combi Rifle, Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) 0 SWC | 16 Points Open in Infinity Army Shootiness and a 'free' Spitfire?
I'll be honest, I'm pretty boring - the old polymath build (doctor, hacker, engineer, WIP14) is still very practical and saves a bunch of points that you can spend on more fighty stuff.
Depends on the faction and the rest of the list, after all. This has not changed at all. For Vanilla CA, I would go with Doctor and EI HD, and if you are going to deploy STR units, engineer too. The races are quite interesting on the CA: Morat are (besides Morat) PH12, Shasvastii have Stealth and Bioinmunity, and Nexus shoot better (BS12) and are more sturdy (BTS 3, plus Hyperdinamics 1). For Vanilla, the Morat Specops seems to me the least interesting (you are going to use an Aspect, so little chance of LoL). The nexus looks to me the better option for backline support, while the Shasvastii can be a candidate to go forward (thanks to the Stealth, and the combo of Bioinmunity and Shasvastii). Considering the increase in costs for Engineer and HD and Mimetism, if Nexus for back support I would go with +1WP (for 14), and the three specializations. For an advancing Shasvastii, I'd say it depends on your needs, but SuperJump + Climbing Plus (4pts) seems a good option to make sure he can reach targets, then making him get Morpho Scan (5pts) leaves you 3 pts for the monofilament blade (2pts) and D-Charges (1pt, so he can fulfill some objectives). This makes him an apprentice Speculo, frankly, and you can make Move + Morphoscan, to which the better Reset is a 6 and you can have a mini-sheskiin if the target is Achilles XD
Holoprojector can work well, disguising for example your long-range weapon or the fact you're a hacker.
Combined Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 NOX (Infinity Spec-Ops) (12 XP) (WIP:15, Engineer) Combi Rifle, Zapper, Grenade / Pistol, Knife, D-Charges. (0 | 15) 0 SWC | 15 Points Open in Infinity Army Wip 15 engineer + D-Charges and Grenades. Don't you dare to try that speculative roll on 7?
Seeing I could get Chain of Command and Minelayer in Onyx was the most exciting news since the invention of ice cream for me but I hadn't really thought about it in Vanilla. On the bright side, being a faction with not a lot of holes that need plugging with a Spec Ops isn't the worst thing is it? That said it's still a way to get a super cheap hacker or a second Doctor or somehting else unusual you might need. If there's no obvious super build that doesn't seem so bad to me.
For the Nox spec-ops I'd generally run it as a Doctor, because other kinds of specialists are very well represented but the only doc is the worm. Bump the WIP to 15 and you've got points left to give him Superjump + ClimbingPlus as well.
