I'm currently very interested in hacking heavy WB lists. Yeah our boy Guilang got super buff of laying repeaters mid-field, and now jack and jill hackers are pretty much threatening with their hacking toy, do you guys think it is plausible to put a hacking core with super Shang Ji for WB, dress it with Guilangs and put a Daofei or sth else?
I think it's plausible but I need to put it on the table to figure out the balance needed to make it work. I think White Banner is probably going to be the best option for a hacking intensive force between the Guilang and being able to firewall up your hackers with the Shang Ji's tinbot. I am envisioning the Shang Ji being the president of the nerd club where he links for 3 HD Zhanshi and a KHD Tian Gou. My biggest issue has been figuring out what the fuck to do about an LT in that list as the Zhanshi are taken up.
Woah, nice time to get back into the game! ;) So no more sniffers and the minelayer guilang getting repeaters (and bs) instead of the FO one screws my usual list building...hehe...time to change...and figure out what units I can represent with my current minies...guess the old chain domaru will be a wu ming and the old starte shang ji will count as a jujak. Besides... silhoutte value for perimeter weapons? Mines are SX ok, but crazy koala/madtraps etc? and no more fireteams in vanilla if I get it correctly. Ok, will make do!
Perimeter weapons are S1 unless they changed things drastically. I have a feeling that when they update the Fireteam rules we'll be seeing Duo in vanilla again, but that's at least a few months away.
I can't see it in the rulebook though...the S of them...uhm...will check again... ;) thanks! We'll see...actually curios of tohaa...have *lots* of unbuild tohaa lying around...all purchased through sales...might as well dust them off...
It's understandable that comparison between similar unit profiles across factions is not right, because of internal balance and play style and other many reasons. Still there's one thing I don't understand up until now. Wasn't there any Yu Jing detachment that met a Dashat company force to get the idea of linking Zuyongs with Rui Shi? Someone please tell our invincible guys that Son Bae are not the only REM that can be programmed to work in a team! ---------------- I haven't read the entire ruleset yet, but looking at profiles so far, here's my list: the good: a lot of stuff really, but I'll say MadTraps! Ok, I know they are made reasonable due to the many reset/dodge possibilities after Immobilized state, but I love them and we can field them in more and cheaper ways than before! Zhanying, Pheasant and Xi Zhuang have cheap profiles using them, and also providing useful tools (chain of command, sensor, etc). Plus I've read good things about Baggage, if you really want to flood the field, but need to check if Madtraps are affected by that, as always. the bad: Madtraps aside, Pheasant seems like an everlasting loser, but it looks useful in some missions; apart from him, Zuyong and Wu Ming really profiles really lack something that I hope fireteam rules will make up for. the ugly: Yan Huo has always been my favorite models and designs, but their presence on the field has always ended up badly. I see some improvements in their profile, but what I see doesn't really make me play them over a lot of other profiles. A 4-4 HRMC platform though needs to be tried!
Given that Killer Hacking Devices aren't the magic bullets of Hacking, I would rather have Liu Xing over that. Liu Xing is functionally similar enough, more reliable, and has Parachutist with more weapon options. I do find it interesting how CB's solution to heavy infantry in factions not dedicated to it is to make all their heavy infantry special and super-powerful, while Yu Jing get lots of variations on mediocre and mundane. It's like if Yu Jing had the Cutter, Haqq the Jotums, Nomads the Uhlan and Tik while Pan-O had 10 variations of Gecko, and the Szally. Or everyone's Doctors were Doctor +3/+6 while Haqq just had Doctor+0 everywhere. It's certainly an interesting design decision if nothing else. Ditto MI and Nomads versus Ye Mao, Bolts and Nisse. Well... until they made Sombras, of course.
I think the Liu Xing is a better combat jump HI than the Santiago. Not sarcasm, I'm actually optimistic that it's a solid option in N4.
Not a big fan, feel like it's adding more vulnerabilities and making the unit less reliable. His biggest value in change is the PH17 drop and the hacking changes meaning there's no F2F to contest the drop, he can reliably be an existensial threat of landing behind something and fucking its shit royally, shooting things in the back, picking off the mixed link shitkicker fusiliers etc and I really like that. Adding the HD to the Liu Xing just means he might need to spend time fucking around fending off KHDs before he can do the job he was (re)born to do. On a tangent the Kinematica2 upgrade and the MOV upgrade to 6-2 also raise his skill ceiling. If you get good at judging ZOCs it's entirely plausible for him to move to the edge of a hacking zone, dodge 4" into it, then activate again and move 6". That gives you 10" to race into an entrenched hacker's face on a roof or around a corner or something and contest some nerd's hacking with bullets. Same for dropping behind a high value, tough target. You can do the same 10" dash before they turn around and crash tackle them. With the D-Charges no longer giving you a -3 for swinging in CC and the improved CC of 20 you can make a decent crack at C4ing the shit out of something expensive like a TAG.
Prowlers got HD, Grenzer got a Marksmanship sniper, Intruders are still all stars, etc... I'd say Nomads still rule the MI world amongst other worlds
When even Yu Jing has strong contenders in MI, you know that any form of MI supremacy is in doubt, but you are right the Nomads have a serious range of quality MI and that no faction can match other than be on par with a unit or two.
And I'm actually ok with other factions getting single great HI as long as YJ gets some too and keeps the HI fireteam supremacy, which I think it does at the moment until I see the new Riot and Hollowmen links in the table because it also seems like Nomads can do everything great. Our -6 Tinbots are strong tho.
Nomads have discovered this technology and it exists on some of their units now. It's a difficult thing to judge. I do agree that IA have the best HI link combos, which is a good development. Much of my optimism there is due in no small part to the Shang-Ji monster.
I have already got a game in with my Shang-Ji and I was pretty happy with it. Using AP HMG+HRL Shangers, Zhanshi Paramedic, Zhanshi, and KHD Tian Gou. IA can do the same replacing Tian Gou with a Haido.
