Not you, but the post I replied to first. With my question if Nomads will now take over the world. You answered to that one and critized my comparisions. And the reason for These comparisions is the choice of words in the posting I replied to. Cause and effect. So it was: "game-warpingly strong" "Nomads taking over the world?" "Please stop with this nonsens logic." "Choice of words is important."
That was me, and I used the term in relation to the fact that few factions have ready answers to a Moran on a roof and therefore people will have to adapt listbuilding and play techniques, in much the same effect as the Kamau Sniper Wildcard had. It's something that people must have an answer for in competitive play or almost certainly lose, and raises the skill floor of competitive Infinity accordingly.
I agree that when something creates "questions" from a faction, it needs "answers" from others and then it can bend the meta. Sometimes that is not bad for the game (in nomads the "questions" we can bring usually have the same "answers" from the other factions). But this situation is not the same as the kamau sniper wildcard. This creates questions for some units, and only a few heavy HI-focused lists, not to the entire game. Ironically, those kind of lists should have allready build in them the ways to deal with hacking, because it should be by dessign their main weakness. PS: I like the terms "questions" and "answers" for those situations, but it can be a bit confusing, can't it?
I like the idea that things will shift the meta a bit and ask some interesting new questions. There are answers to the Moran which have been said above. If nomads become the army which use spotlight and missile bots, maybe the answer is in neutralising the bot. I have had major faction envy over a lot of things in other factions for a long time but it's neat that other people are having to build lists around us now. Good players will adapt like they always do.
I recommend taking a look at WiseKensei's newest battle report- he does a good job showing exactly how good an easy source of Spotlight is when combined with the very affordable Vertigo Zond. HI are quite heavily affected, but so are Hackers, REMs and TAGs- a very large number of the game's units, including many key scoring Specialists. Even normal units that aren't protected by Stealth or a Marker will find themselves at a -3 disadvantage against a Heckler's Jammer or a hard ARO piece's gun- hardly debilititating, but still equivalent to giving your whole force +3BS. The other difficulty is that the most usual counter to heavy Hacking, the KHD, isn't effective against Interventors due to how good BTS9 is in this edition. Tools do exist to mitigate this issue, but they did for the Kamau too- the problem is that those answers are often inconvenient, unintuitive or just plain feel bad so people don't like them much. Ultimately we might disagree on the exact power level of the almighty Roof Moran, but I think we can agree that he's bending the game without breaking it. Proactive problem solving time: Big obvious counters are Dart, Antipodes and mobile Warbands. Standard Markers can bypass a Moran and hit its support, although it will probably be a one-way trip due to the order inefficiency of footslogging. Anything that can completely bypass the midfield is as strong as ever. Semi-safe Turn 3 scoring is still possible for things like Hidden Deployed specialists, or Sombras/Zhencha on a roof. Super Jump could allow angles for a Discover over roof railings. Mary Problems can actually take a fight through a Moran's Repeater, even against an Interventor, though it isn't exactly a sure bet. A really good standard Hacker like the Danavas (or a Coordinated Hack) might be able to take on an Interventor with its Oblivion if it can deny the Nomad its Firewall while retaining its own; Deployable Repeaters or Pitchers are useful for this. Actually taking the Infiltration roll could allow a player to steal all the best roof deployment spots, but this is risky. Anything I'm missing?
fast remotes (pulsebots for example) that could get near the misile launcher and use hacking yourself, vertigo has no repeater on it to deffend, so it is an alternative instead of going for the hacker (if they are far apart, if they are near, one repeater might have the chance to deal with both). An AD can hunt also the remote. Also, there is the joke option if the moran is in a corner, move towards the moran after doing the work and getting targetted... if he don't reveal him, get in a possition, almost cc, so he cannot shot because of the template. Usually this will not work, but if it works...
Nomads: is our broken unit bothering you? Here are some easy counters that you can whip up in your kitchen with a few common ingredients.
B-but what if I don't wanna learn new ways or change my tactics? Why can't I deal with them like I used to? I can't be wrong, you are wrong! Change your ways so I can play like I did!
Moran Maasai: Surprise Attack, Camouflage (1 use) and Repeater retired from general equipment and skills. Forward Observer added as a general skill. New loadouts, 2 with Surprise Attack & Camouflage (1 Use) skills & 2 with Repeater as a equipment. Revised point costs. From the bug threads courtesy of Koni.
Is 5 days a new record for nerfing a profile because PanO is whining about it? The old camo repeater Moran was no bug because the Points Costs were revised as well, so … 5 days of "mi mi mi …" from other factions seems to be enough. Edit: I don't mind the change, I'll gladly take the 17 points Moran ...
Yea, I think they got better. Played with them a couple times, don't really need Camo on them to do the same job, and with lower points costs that opens me up a little bit for upgrading to heavier stuff elsewhere.
Nah, doesn't count. No nerf. It clearly wasn't intended that way. The Moran had it's points revised, so was intended to be a Camo Repeater because it paid the costs to do so.
Didn't it also get dropped to Limited Camo, which would honestly explain the cost a lot more? (They're still on the short list of relatively cheap units that dropped in points when not HI/REM)
Maybe? All I know is 17pts for a midfield infiltrator with mimetism, koalas, and a repeater is still gold.
