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Problem with shastastii's aro

Discussion in 'Combined Army' started by Doa, Jan 26, 2020.

  1. Doa

    Doa Well-Known Member

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    Hi guys, playing a couple of gmes with shasvastii i saw that i have a problem with my aro pieces...
    I use haiduk and q and r drone but having only 3 pieces seems to few to stop or give some problems to my opponent.
    What do you use as aro pieces? Shas haven't a lot of aro pieces and maybe they use a lot of camo marker to defend field and/or try to slow down my opponent?
    Thanks for answer
     
  2. Diphoration

    Diphoration Well-Known Member
    Warcor

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    I usually run this as my "ARO" package...

    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
    SPECULO KILLER (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
    SHROUDED (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Dazer / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
    NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
    NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
    IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
    IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    Very little pieces, but high impact. The dazer slows the advance quite a bit and the Noctifer can get some game winning shots.

    The Speculo usually does a really good job at forcing the opponent to sink a bunch of orders to deal with it.

    I tend to run lists that have 2-3 more camo marker mid-fields.

    I'm also a big fan of running 4-5 Taighas. Getting them midfield on your first turn goes a long way in making your opponent waste orders.

    Otherwise, I hide most thing in total cover. The idea with that and the ARO piece I choose is that you deny them good shots at your troopers and essentially make their turn very low impact.

    Ikadrons and Taighas are excellent at protecting the troopers that you keep in total cover.
     
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  3. Stiopa

    Stiopa Trust The Fuckhead

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    A combination of direct ARO troops (Q-Drone, Haiduk, Noctifier ML, linked MSR or T-Drone, R-Drone, etc), camo screen (Minelayers, hidden troops revealing themselves to ARO in the worst moment - for example when opponent lines up a shot at Q-Drone, simple fact that there's a Camo trooper in a good position), other distractions (Speculos, Cadmus dropped on a roof near enemy backfield, Taigha screen).

    Straightforward ARO units can be overcome because it's always opponent's choice how to approach them, though I'd argue that a well placed Q-Drone or Haiduk can withstand a lot, unless opponent gets lucky. But Shas are fiendishly effective at slowing opponent down in different ways.

    • Dazers will make any assault by non-Multiterrain troopers stop in its tracks. Even if there's an infiltrator nearby who could deal with the device, it'll still cost him at least 2-3 orders to reach and destroy it, and that's if you don't have other units or mines guarding the approach paths.
    • Speculo works awesome as a distraction. It simply can't be ignored lest it raids opponent's DZ, but taking it out is easier said than done. And thanks to Medikit it needs to be reduced to actual Dead state, which isn't that easy if it gets a wound and falls down behind cover. Again, it costs orders.
    • Taighas are cheap, small, and can wreck havoc if they can catch 2-3 models under small template. Let them go forward to form another layer of the screen, and make enemy lose regular orders to kill your irregular ones. Just be careful of AROs, no point in killing your units with their own orders.
    • Seed Soldiers' new version is another good example. They're cheep, in first round they're usually hidden behind various barriers, and then you can have them automatically rise and form a decent midfield D.E.P.-using obstacles. This is not an order, so it doesn't provoke AROs. They're also good in Coordinated Orders against tough AROs, like TR remotes or Kamau sniper.
    • Noctifier ML is one of the iconic ARO units for us. Think of evil ways to use it. Deploy it hidden nearby your Q-Drone, and when enemy gets in position to shoot at it force him to make a decision whether to eat an unexpected missile, or split fire. Whatever he decides, you win. Or try to predict if/how will he advance with his fireteam, and cover their approach, possibly catching multiple units under the template and out of cover.
    • Similar tactics work with hidden Malignos sniper; hide him on one flank in a way that will allow you to shoot at enemy units advancing on the other side of the field. It's unexpected and can be deadly.
    Bottom line is that you don't need to kill enemy units outright (though it's of course the preferable outcome). All you need to do is to slow them down, making them achieve little for all the orders spent on them, and leaving them out of position and unprepared for your counterattack.
     
  4. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
    Warcor

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    One cool thing is that Dazer+Malignos or Noctifer is a harder to shift combo.

    Dazers reduce enemy burst by 1, but that doesn't affect your busr 1 Missile or Sniper in ARO. It is a really powerful combination as you drop your enemies from Burst 4 with an HMG to burst 3, and that's on top of all the other penalties.
     
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  5. WarHound

    WarHound Well-Known Member

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    Shasvastii AROs lack the durability that other factions can bring to that particular aspect of the game, so the player needs to really understand what kind of ARO any given piece is going to try and bring.

    Delaying/Disruption: Malignos Assault Hacker, Shrouded Dazer Minelayer, Shrouded Minelayer, Speculo Minelayer.
    Lockdown/Area Denial: Any Minelayer, Noctifer ML, TR Bot, Taighas.

    It's very difficult in Shasvastii to find an ARO piece specifically designed to kill the enemy (in fact, it's hard to find that in any faction in th game i'd wager). Let me explain.
    Any reactive piece can be mitigated, nullified or worked around. That's the nature of being reactive rather than active.
    Mines can be discovered and destroyed, or tanked by tough units, or triggered by chaff.
    Hackers only work against their selected targets.
    TO ARO pieces can be nullified by MSV2, especially in links (THANKS Kamau Sniper!).
    And lockdown piece can be ignored if they're placed incorrectly.

    So my advice would be:
    1) Look to what reactive pieces you want.
    2) Think about how you want to use them to disrupt your enemy.
    3) Place them in such a way that you can do that.
    4) Don't expect them to survive. Leave important active-turn stuff to other models just in case.
     
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  6. Azuset

    Azuset Well-Known Member

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    This is great information! Thanks everyone.
     
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