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Are you new to Spiral Corps or new to Infinity? Looking for a new sectorial? Read here first!

Discussion in 'Spiral Corps' started by meikyoushisui, Oct 12, 2020.

  1. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    Introduction

    It seems like there's been a big up-tick in new players over the past couple of weeks. I've counted probably 8-10 new accounts posting on this subforum, and we have several threads in the past month from people who are either new to the game or new to Spiral Corps. With that in mind, I feel like a single thread to talk about the new player experience in Spiral Corps is in order. If you are an experienced player, please contribute feedback, I know I'm very opinionated and many of us are playing the army in very different ways (especially now!).

    If you are brand new, some specific examples in this post may go over your head right now – that’s okay! Instead treat this post as an outline, and once you have a bit more familiarity with the game, you’ll be more ready to assess the many strengths and weaknesses of the faction.


    What is Spiral Corps?

    Spiral Corps is a mercenary army that combines the common themes of most mercenary armies with the uniqueness of Tohaa, one of the two alien factions in Infinity. This means it inherits many of Tohaa's strengths and weaknesses, but also puts a unique spin on many of them.

    The fluff in a nutshell: Spiral Corps is the merc wing of essentially the Tohaa Illuminati. When the Daedalus Gate (the space gate that connected the Tohaa worlds to the Human Sphere) was destroyed in the events of Daedalus Falls (the final rulebook of the last edition), the Spiral Corps was left stranded in the Human Sphere, with no way to go home.


    Why Play Spiral Corps?
    (If you answer yes to all or most of these, Spiral Corps is likely a good army for you!)

    Do you like the aesthetics of Spiral Corps models? You will be fielding stuff from the Spiral Corps Army Pack pretty frequently, so if you don’t like how those models look, you may want to consider something else!

    Do you want to have weird mechanics that makes your army unlike any others? Spiral Corps has more unique mechanics than maybe any other army in the game (this is debatable, but Spiral Corps will show up towards the top of the debate). We have weird armor, weird pokemon, weird ammo that makes you stinky, weird devices that make people feel like they have two more of them, and all sorts of other weird stuff.

    Do you want to control large spaces on the table and make your opponent squirm? Pheroware Tactics (if you’re new, this is basically hacking but instead of targeting things that are hackable, it targets things with wounds – think biohacking) like Eraser and Endgame are hacking-like threats that can't be dealt with using normal hacking responses such as Killer Hacking Devices, pieces like Helot Militia provide very cheap and effective threats, and battlefield-warping Dazers can be used to generate Difficult Terrain to slow your opponent down. Add in our great access to units that deploy forward up the table out of our deployment zone or even up to the enemy's deployment zone, and you'll see why Spiral Corps is such a minefield.

    Do you want your opponent to feel like they're playing into a brick wall on their turn because everywhere they look there's someone all up in their stuff from their first move? Jumping off the first point, Spiral Corps can create a lot of indirect pressure on the opponent right way. Impersonators like the Kiuutan and Greif Operator can start right up against the opponent's deployment zone (a very uncommon skill in the game), and Helot Militia are cheap but effective ways of slowing an opponent's advance up the table.

    Do you want to feel like an army that employs a lot of tricks and deception? Spiral Corps tends to have more Private Information (information that cannot be known by your opponent until you or they take specific actions in the game that reveal it) than many other armies, and employs tricks that conceal what a unit is (Camouflage), disguise one unit as another (Holomask), make a unit be treated like an enemy model for the purposes of some rules (Impersonation), or hide units from the game table altogether (Hidden Deployment). Spiral Corps also uses a lot of close-range "mix-ups" that give enemy troops the choice of a bad option and a worse option in reaction. The mechanics of this are a bit too complex for this post, but suffice it to say Spiral Corps is an army that will constantly keep your opponent questioning what is what and where the real threats are.

    If you already play the game, do you like not needing to worry a lot about lieutenant choices and decoy lieutenants for your list? The Taagma Lt with Holomask existing and the Chain of Command Kaeltar staying an exceptionally good choice in N4 means that you will almost never be in Loss of Lieutenant. (And if you are, it will usually be because of more general mistakes you've made than lieutenant-specific mistakes, though some might disagree with me there. I will say the only time I've ever been in LoL as Spiral Corps, it was because I was getting wildly outplayed and would definitely have lost whether or not I was in LoL.)


    Why Not Play Spiral Corps?
    (Not an invitation, I just need to address our weaknesses -- if you answer yes to all or most of these, Spiral Corps may not be right for you.)

    Do you want to play Hacking/Infowar games? Spiral Corps is remarkably bad at offensive and defensive hacking, with just one Killer Hacking Device, two normal Hacking Devices, and not a single repeater available to the army, and generally navigates around the issue by avoiding fielding Hackable units or counting on the innate defenses of those units to take care of themselves (Neema Saatar has the highest BTS (=armor against hacking) of any character in the game for a reason.) We don't even have an EVO Hacker. We are literally so bad at hacking we have the Taagma Hacker, who literally only knows the hacking program that prevents him from getting hacked if it succeeds. It's very not good.

    Do you dislike reading rulebooks? Spiral Corps has a lot of unique rules as an army, and you will need to be very familiar with a set of rules that your opponent may not have ever played against, or maybe even read. Rules like Symbiomates, Symbiobombs, Tricore, Pheromone ammo, Impersonation (IMP-2), Decoy, Transmutation (W), and Dazers are all rules that are either completely exclusive to Spiral Corps (the first 4) or very rare outside of Spiral Corps (the rest of them). It will be up to you to know them, know how to explain them, or at very least know where they are in the rules to reference them.

    Do you want the aesthetics of a consistent and regimented army? Being the intersection of both mercenary armies and alien armies, the average Spiral Corps list is going to be fielding a wild and weird mix of units. If you take a Kerail, a Helot, a Brawler, a Chaksa, a Reex, and the Anaconda, you could have like 6 different species and a robot in your list. Aesthetically you may actually feel more like the Combined Army than the Combined Army does.

    Do you dislike the aesthetics of the stuff in the Spiral Corps box? The introductory box to the faction is very well put-together, and you will be fielding probably at least 7 of those models in every list (the third Reex, the second Draal, and the Kiel-Saan model are probably the most likely to get benched of what's in the box, in that order). Infinity is a game where most armies do most things, so if you are just learning the game, don't feel like you should choose an army that you don't like the looks of!

    Do you want combat jump troops, remotes, lots of close combat specialists, widespread MSV, or tons of regular smoke? Spiral Corps doesn't have any of that. (To call out one point specifically, the Chaksa Auxiliars serve many of the same functions that basic remotes do in each faction, but they are not remotes and therefore cannot benefit from Supportware, and they have unique loadouts that differentiate them significantly from normal utility remotes, such as the Guided Heavy Rocket Launcher.)

    Do you like lots of options for long range heavy weapons to shoot in your active turn? Spiral Corps has a very decided lack of Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) (a total of one HMG in the army that can be used in the active turn, and it’s on our TAG, the Anaconda), few Spitfire/Red Fury options (just Neema, Reex, Rasail, and the Anaconda for Spitfires, and the only active turn Red Fury on the Kiel-Saan), and our heavy weapons tend to be on weak platforms (Reex Spitfire, Chaksa HMG, Chaksa Longarms Portable Autocannon, Brawler HRL). It is not uncommon for the heaviest weapons in a Spiral Corps list to be an AP Marksman Rifle and a Viral Sniper Rifle. While these weapons are strong in their own right, the approach you’ll see in many armies of a Fireteam Core with a Heavy Infantry with an HMG and 4 Line Troops to fill out the team is definitely not up Spiral Corps’ alley. The best shooter in Spiral Corps is far and away the Draal with an AP Marksman Rifle, who is going to count on Tricore bonuses and Mimetism(-6) to win gunfights with his low Burst (3-4) and low damage (AP, but only DAM13).

    This is probably the most up-for-debate of any of these points, but do you like having an army that has roughly consistent power levels throughout the game? Spiral Corps, in my opinion, has a very lopsided power curve, leaning heavily towards the first two player turns. In my opinion (and only my opinion), Spiral Corps can basically feel like a rush to dominate as much of the table as possible on turn one, and hold onto it as much as possible for turns two and three. The removal of the Stratuscloud mechanic (players new to the game: don't ask, it will only make you yearn for times you never lived in, and players who know the game but are new to Spiral Corps: we're sorry, we knew it was broken all along) has evened out the curve a bit, but our general reliance on pieces that offer strong lateral support to each other that can fall apart drastically as the pieces are removed is unchanged.


    What Makes Spiral Corps Unique?

    1) Aliens!
    I know this may go without saying, but Spiral Corps is an alien army! The look and feel of the army is very different from most human armies in general, and this is compounded by the unique mechanics.

    2) Fireteam: Triad. The Fireteam rules in Infinity allow you to move several troop of the same type together with just one order, with bonuses granted depending on the number of living members in the team. Fireteam:Triad extends this rule in two ways: 1) Normally you can only have one Fireteam: Core (with up to five members) and one Fireteam: Haris (with up to three members). Fireteam Triad allows an unlimited number of three-member fireteams. And 2) Fireteam: Triad allows you to mix and match any units with the Fireteam Triad skill. (Okay, this isn't completely true, we have a couple of units with special restrictions, but in general, think LOTS OF FREEDOM in Fireteam construction.)

    3) Tricore. The Tricore skill allows us to give a 3-member Triad the skills normally granted to 4-member and 5-member Fireteam. This is as hilariously strong as it sounds, since you get all of the benefits of having 5 members with none of the weaknesses. Tricore is (somewhat) balanced out by the fact it is limited to one per list -- not even just one active Tricore, just one single trooper with the Tricore skill.

    4) Transmutation (W). Symbiont Armor (now Transmutation (W)) is essentially Spiral Corps' version of having more than one wound (if you take a quick stroll through our army list, you'll notice all of our 2 Wound models also have Transmutation (W)!), but with a slight penalty, in that our second wound has reduced stats and often reduced skills. For example, the Draal Saboteur has Mimetism(-6), making him very hard to hit, but when he takes a wound, he Transmutes to his second profile, and loses Mim(-6), making him much easier to hit the next time. In exchange for the reduced stats, Transmutation(W) tends to cost fewer points than two full wounds.

    5) Symbiomates and Symbiobombs. Units with the Transmutation(W) skill can be assigned Symbiomates and Symbiobombs, which come as part of the Kaeltar Specialists profile (but again, can be assigned to any model with Transmutation (W).) Symbiomates are kind of like a "get out of jail free" card that grant a unit equipped with them a one-time bonus to defense, but they go away after being used. Symbiobombs allow the use of Pheroware Tactics, which is the next bullet, but also grant an additional -3 penalty to an opponent trying to avoid getting hit by the tactic!

    6) Pheroware Tactics. In short, Pheroware is like Hacking, but against any model that has Wounds and not Structure. There are only three Pheroware Tactics in the game right now, but they all have very powerful effects. Endgame does Wounds to things it hits (so essentially a Killer Hacking Program to use against living things), Eraser puts things it hits in the Isolated State, preventing them from using Regular Orders from their Order Pool, and Mirrorball creates a Zero Visibility Zone, essentially a Smoke Grenade that even units equipped with Multispectral Visors (MSV) can't see through. It's worth mentioning here that a number of Spiral Corps units have access to the Eraser and/or Mirrorball Pheroware Tactics without the need for Symbiobombs, such as the Kriigel (who has both), and the Igao (who has Mirrorball on one profile). No Spiral Corps units have access to Endgame without a Symbiobomb, which should be indicative of its strength.

    7) Exotic Weaponry. Spiral Corps has several flavors of strange and exotic weapons, like the Pherobooster, which puts models that get hit by it into the Targeted State (essentially making them easier to hit, or making them a target for units with the Guided skill). We also have high access to Viral Ammunition (which is very powerful), with Viral Pistols on our Draal, Kiuutan, Kriigel and Neema, Viral Combis on Rasails, and Viral Snipers on Taagma, as well as reasonable amounts of K1 (on Aelis Keesan, Reex, and Kosuils), which shreds high armor targets.


    What Do I Buy First?

    Buy the Spiral Corps Army Pack. (That's a link to the CB store, but consider supporting the local store where you play the game, if that's an option for you.) With few exceptions, Corvus Belli knows how to put together starters and big boxes. As I said above, you will be fielding about 7 of the models in the box (Draal, Kriigel, Two Reex, Taagma, Clipso, Kiuutan) very regularly. Of the remaining models, the Kiel-Saan is very popular, the second Draal is sometimes a choice, and the third Reex you are very unlikely to field (I tend to field the Boarding Shotgun and K1 Marksman Rifle a lot, but the Spitfire less).


    How Do I Play What's In the Box?

    Out of the box, you have 10 models that add up to about 260 army points if you match the weapon profiles exactly and take the cheapest option in each case. You can see that list here. This means you are just 40 points short of what you need for a standard 300 point game of Infinity. If you are not a new player, but new to Spiral, the box can be played with two full Triad Fireteams out of the box, one of Kriigel + 2 Reex, and one of either Two Draal and a Kiel-Saan (Special Triad) or Two Draal and a Taagma (Tricore Recommended).

    If you are brand new to Infinity, remember that Infinity is a game where good decision-making is far, far more important than good list-building, and it is best to tailor your selection of units to the mission. The other recommendation is that you start with much smaller games for your first several games and gradually work up the number of rules you know -- and this is even more important in Spiral Corps because you will have a lot more unusual rules to learn.

    An example of working up to a full game of N4 might look like: just three infantry with Quick Start rules, 15 points of Code One, 20 points of Code One, 30 points of Code One, 150 points of N4, 200 points of N4, 300 points of N4. Spiral Corps does not have C1 rules, so if you are very interested in Spiral, try borrowing miniatures to test out Code One rules, or alternatively you can use the fan-made Code One project, which you can find here. (Please, please talk to the other person you are playing with before using the fan rules, should you choose to do so. The fan rules are all homebrew, and you will obviously ruffle some feathers if you show up with some homebrew without warning.)

    If you are playing at 150 points out of the box, my recommendation is to toss the Kiel-Saan, Reex, one Draal, and play something like this. (If you are brand new, and you’ve already played a couple times with just the quick start rules, this might be a good way to try playing with the Spiral Corps box. Just ignore the following rules the first time: Fireteam Triad, Holomask, Hidden Deployment, Camouflage, Surprise Attack.)

    If you are playing at 200 points out of the box, my recommendation is to toss the Kiel-Saan and one Reex.

    With that said, if you are just playing Seize the Antennas or Annhilation for your first 300 point game, and you have the additional Hatail model as a Taagma, and just two extra models (borrow from a friend or pick up the Chaksa Auxiliars box), you can try something like this list, which is perfectly reasonable, avoids any unit proxying aside from the ones listed here, and makes only a single weapon proxy, the Draal with the AP Marksman Rifle being played as the Draal with a Submachine Gun. (The Kiuutan is listed as "Combi Rifle" on the box for some reason, but he's holding a Viral Pistol, and all Kiuutan loadouts include a Viral Pistol.)



    What Do I Get After the Spiral Corps Box?


    First, it's worth mentioning that Corvus Belli has very player-friendly proxy rules. If you are brand new, a "proxy" means using one model in place of another (usually because you don't own the other), and in Infinity, the only strict rule is that the miniature being used as the proxy must have the same-sized base as the unit it is representing. So don't be afraid to proxy a few things! If you found the original version of the Army Pack with the preorder model, you'll have an extra Hatail Spec-Ops that you can use to proxy for anything (because rules for spec-ops aren't due out until later this year).

    With that said, here are things most players would agree on to purchase down the line:

    Tier 1: These are things you should highly consider making your next purchases.

    1) Taagma MSV2 Viral Sniper (Blister). This is one of model that almost everyone here seems to agree is really strong. The Taagma has Holomask, meaning it can disguise itself as another model, and it can form a special triad with two Chaksa Auxiliars, meaning if it Holomasks as one of them, your opponent will be looking at three of the same model, any one of which could pop out as an MSV2 Viral Sniper (=very scary).

    2) Chaksa Auxiliars (Box). The 10 point Chaksa Auxiliar tend to be the "cheerleader" piece of Spiral Corps. 10 points for Sensor, Heavy Flamethrower (with extra damage!), and Baggage is a very good deal. The special Triad option with the Taagma is both an excellent way to hide a Taagma Lt and can lead to clever Holomask games with the MSV2 Sniper.

    Tier 2: These are things you should consider, but may want to proxy in the meantime

    1) Kaeltar Specialists (Box).
    This is a box of 6 models, two Kaeltar specialist, and two each of Symbiomates and Symbiobombs (lovingly referred to as "Pokemon" in some areas). The reason why I wouldn't put this higher is because Kaeltar are limited to AVA1, and Symbiomates and Symbiobombs are technically markers in the game, so you can actually field the content of this box by proxying a single Kaeltar and printing the relevant tokens to use as mates/bombs. You can see discussion further down this page for further argument on if they should be ranked higher.

    2) Kauuri Sentinels (Box). This is now a box of 4, originally two blisters with two Kauuri each. While the change was probably better for CB, it's worse for us, since it's very rare to be fielding more than 2 of these guys in a list. I almost always take at least one, the 12 point guy, who recently got a brand new set of E/M Mines, a Discover bonus, and the game-wide upgrade to Biometric Visor.

    3) Helot Militia (Box). A box of four (one for each weapon loadout), but you'll rarely be fielding more than 2 (and we have a hard cap of 3 per list). Since these will very likely be in Marker form (camouflage or decoy) until they reveal themselves and either do their job or are squarely removed from the table, you may not actually ever put their model on the table, even if they're in your list...

    Tier 3: These tend to show up frequently, but not as frequently as any of the units above:

    1) Igao (Blister).
    The Igao is Spiral Corps’ main camouflage unit, and now can cast Mirrorball, which generates a Zero Visibility Zone (no units can see through it). This was probably a Tier 4 purchase before, but it’s definitely up here now. Depending on how people feel like Spiral Corps fits together over the next several months of tournaments, I could see this being a Tier 2 purchase.

    2) Tohaa Diplomatic Delegate (Blister). She picked up Eraser which is very strong for five points.

    3) Neema Saatar (Blister). Spiral Corps own super lieutenant, with WIP15, an extra lieutenant order (that you may not use since you'll probably want to use her in a Triad?) and an extra SWC (which Spiral can always use). Many players here will swear by her, though I will leave it to them to do the swearing. (If CB deems to grant her +1 Command Token like she had in N3, she will be finding her way into many, many of my lists.)

    4) Kumotail Bioengineers ("Tohaa Support Pack" Box). She comes in a box with two Chaksa Servants, but you're more likely to toss her in a Triad, so you may want to just proxy her.

    5) Kriigel Agent (Blister). Occasionally you'll want multiple Kriigel in a list, and this is for then.

    Tier 4: You may want to avoid these to start, more often because of the niche applications of the pieces than because of how good or bad they are:

    1) Brawlers (Box). The idea of two fireteams with FT:Core bonuses sounds good, but this doesn't actually seem to be super popular among most of the playerbase? Brawlers are fine, but their applications are limited.

    2) Kerail Preceptors (Box). Kerails are fantastic, but also expensive (in real world money) for the amount of your list they will be able to fill. I recall this box being a little more expensive than most boxes due to how big the Symbiobeasts are – they’re massive and beautiful!

    3) Rasail Boarding Team (Box). Rasails are also fantastic, but I feel that their applications in Spiral Corps are a bit niche, and I would never field more than one Rasail (with one Chaksa Peripheral) in a list, so the second one will feel a little meh.

    4) Aelis Keesan (Dire Foes Box). If you have someone to split this box with, it may be worth it, but otherwise you can proxy Aelis. The Hatail in the Spiral Corps box is great fox this, but literally pick anything.

    5) Warcor (Blister). Warcors are great, but they're also the price of a blister for 3 points. Generally, when we’re considering a warcor in Spiral Corps, it is because we didn’t have room for the Diplomatic Delegate.

    Tier 5: Rarely, if ever taken in Spiral Corps

    1) Cube Jager (Blister).

    2) Wardrivers (IIRC this was only available as a Limited Edition preorder bonus?). If someone shows me a list for any ITS mission with a Wardriver that can't be improved by taking out the Wardriver, I will eat my own shoe.

    Tier ?: I'm refusing to make a judgement on:

    The Anaconda, Kosuil, Armand, Greif Operator, and Monstrucker. Of these, I have only ever seriously fielded the Kosuil, and I find them confusing, as you can see in another thread I have made. The Anaconda (our TAG) received some excellent buffs (13 points cheaper on the HMG and 10 points cheaper on the Spitfire, which also gained Armor Piercing rounds, and 6-2 Movement) but having never fielded it myself, I am cautiously optimistic.

    Chaksa Longarms do not have a model yet, so if you are playing them, it will be with proxies.

    Jaan Staar
    , the Kiuutan character, has so far only been released through the Infinity Defiance Kickstarter. You are safe to proxy him with a normal Kiuutan, since his profile is essentially a slightly upgraded Kiuutan with a different loadout. (He may eventually see a general release, but this is baseless speculation.)


    That’s it!

    I hope you have at least a slightly better understanding of the army now! If you are a Spiral vet, I would love your feedback on how to improve this, and if you’re new to the game/faction and there was something that was unclear for reasons other than you not knowing unit names/skill effects, please let me know and I will try my best to improve it! Thank you!
     
    #1 meikyoushisui, Oct 12, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2020
    Arkaon1125, Wizzy, infyrana and 14 others like this.
  2. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    Reserving this post for future additions and a changelog.

    Changelog:
    1.0.0 - Initial Post
    1.0.1 - Minor spacing and grammatical fixes.
    1.0.2 - Added a callout in the infowar section that Spiral Corps does not have any repeaters.
    1.0.3 - Added a blurb for Kaeltar in Tier 2.
    1.0.4 - Minor fixes to phrasing and improved clarity in the "What Makes Spiral Corps Unique" section.
    1.0.5 - Added note that the Kumotail Bioengineers came in a box labeled "Tohaa Support Pack". Added a short blurb about J(onath)aan (Joe)Staar in "Tier ?" section.
     
    #2 meikyoushisui, Oct 12, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2020
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  3. Delta57Dash

    Delta57Dash Well-Known Member

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    Awesome write-up!

    As you left the Greif untiered, I’ll take the opportunity to hype up one of my favorite units:

    First, the model. Badass as hell. Dual pistol alien assassin looking for a fight. Even if you don’t field him he’s a 10/10 proxy. Get one.

    Second, the loadouts. BS 11 doesn’t sound good, but with MSV1 he’s actually one of our better models at shooting Mimetism troops (like the infiltrators he’ll often be fighting with his forward deployment), and bringing Mim3 himself can be surprisingly effective. Alternatively, his Impersonator profile drops the Mimetism, but can inflict a similar penalty with surprise attack, and can often catch people out of cover. Dual Breaker pistols are effectively an SMG that hits BTS, and can they’re burst 2 in melee on active turn! Meanwhile his humble combi rifle means he can be effective at longer ranges than either Jaan or an SMG Kiiutan (and lets him Suppressive Fire), while D-charges let him blow up objectives or surprise-attack CC a TAG. Essentially, he’s good against all the things that Jaan Star isn’t, which makes them a really fun Impersonator tag-team.

    Thirdly, the price. 20 points and 0.5 SWC? That’s the cheapest impersonator in the game. Sure, he’s not as durable as a Kiiutan and can’t stab people like a Fiday or Speculo, but he’s still a decent shot with a versatile loadout and a premier marker state. Meanwhile the forward deployment loadouts come in at only 21 or 24 points with 0 SWC, and are better midfield gunfighters than clipsos (though without hidden deployment, camo, or mines). Starting one in SF with a command token is a pretty great roadblock early on, imposing -9 to attackers whilst denying smoke and Mimetism with his MSV.

    Overall, they’re one of my favorite troops. Sure, they aren’t quite as good at their role as our other options, but they have an absolutely amazingly low price and can often easily make those points back.
     
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  4. Monster

    Monster Well-Known Member

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    I was thinking if seasoned spiral players could add to this ? To help new players out . Stuff like tactics , rules interactions , and unit reviews
     
  5. FinalNemesis

    FinalNemesis Member

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    Great work putting this together. Overall I agree with most of it, a few comments of my own to add below. For reference, I now have 4 N4 games under my belt with spiral, which while not many has given me a chance to put my theory crafting into some action.

    • I agree with Delta57Dash the the Grief is excellent, I take it more often than Kiutaan, due to many of the reasons mentioned above.
    • The Diplomatic Delegate is excellent! The eraser on a cheap disposable model I have found has great applications. For example in my last game I was able to set up my Igao in b2b with a powerful opponent model and have my Diplomatic delegate within 8 inches. Come their turn they have their work cut out to do anything with their attack piece. Alternatively it can stop a dz rush if your opponent gets first turn.
    • Speaking of Igao, they are now the ultimate assassin piece if you have enough orders to pump into them. Between excellent CC and Mirrorball the Igao can more reliably do its dirty work than the impersonators in my experience so far. In one of my games the Igao out my opponents tag without much hassle. Just drop a couple of well placed mirrorball templates and waltz right up there.
    • Personally I would move Neema up a tier but it's neither here nor there really. What is relevant though is that she is an excellent holoprojector choice to play mind games with your opponent so I would suggest it is a great model to get early on.
    • In N4 Brawlers gained fire team Haris which I feel gives them a better chance of seeing the table. Having a missile launcher that could be a msv2 viral sniper looks like fun. Note I'm theory crafting this one at the moment, and am planning on giving this a go next game I play.
    • I have fielded the Anaconda in N4 and while it is solid for it's price, I found it needs some help clearing out defensive links before it can come out to play. I'm just trying really hard not to compare it to Geckos as that will only make me jealous.
    I also agree with your comment re power levels, most of our units are fragile and you can get yourself in trouble late game if you haven't been aggressive enough early on. The impersonators rarely survive past turn 1, the Draal lose ODD if they take a single wound and that MSV2 viral sniper may get some opponents but again rarely survives later in the game (in my experience).
     
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  6. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    Whoops! I knew I would miss one or two. I'm pretty cold on the Greif Operator in Spiral Corps personally -- in vanilla Tohaa, he was a very solid competitor to the Kiuutan, since vanilla didn't get the E/Mitter / E/Mauler Kiuutan profiles, but in Spiral, it's hard for me not to spend the 7 points for the extra wound, or the 8/0.5 to put E/M Mines in my opponent's DZ.

    I'm actually a bit surprised that there isn't a Spiral Tactica yet. It's definitely something we are in need of, but I don't think I have enough experience on my own to write it -- as you can see by the number of units I feel like I haven't played enough to make judgments on.

    Brawler core is something I think I've only played once, and I'm curious to revisit it while I'm figuring out some of the new tools in the army. I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.
     
  7. Delta57Dash

    Delta57Dash Well-Known Member

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    Technically you didn’t forget it, you put it in “Tier ???”, hence my post haha.

    For me, it gets to be an SWC issue. 1 point Draal, .5 Tri Core, 1.5 Sniper, .5 CoC Kaeltar, 1 point Jaan Staar (or EM Kiiutan), .5 Mirrorball Igao and you’re already at 5! Taking a smoke Kriigel as your LT can save you half a point, but both points and SWC are starting to get tight.

    The E/M Kiiutan is great, but my post was mostly to point out that there are things the Greif can do that the Kiiutan can’t, like burst 3 vs. BTS for Bearpodes, see through smoke, engage targets at range 16 with burst 3, be burst 2 in CC, and D-charges. How useful is all that? That’s up for discussion, but when it’s at least 33% more expensive to upgrade to the standard SMG Kiiutan (and twice the SWC for the Mines) I often find myself reaching for the Greif as my second Impersonator after Jaan or an E/M Mine dude.

    Also the model is damn cool and I refuse to leave it on my shelf.
     
  8. Pippolele

    Pippolele Member

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    As one of the "8-10 new accounts posting on this subforum" I throughly appreciate the beginning of this tactica/review!

    You mentioned Kaeltars as being very good profiles.
    Would you rank one as tier 1?
     
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  9. OrderMonkey

    OrderMonkey Well-Known Member

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    The Kaeltar CoC is as close to an auto include as you'll ever get in this army. Not only does it bring either two symbiomates or a one mate and one bomb, it also allows you to make use of your Lieutenant Orders and put your Lieutenant in harms way without risking LoL, all while protecting your best unit with symbiont armor and granting you access to another angle of attack with symbiobombs.

    It makes Lieutnants like Neema or the Rasail Boarding team playable in the first place.
     
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  10. blackyujiro

    blackyujiro Member

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    Great write-up. I’m not new to the game(I’ve played off and in since 1st ed, last playing in early HS N2) or Tohaa, but Spiral Corps will be new to me. I’m really looking forward to learning these guys. They seem similar enough to regular Tohaa, but different enough that I won’t be at a complete loss.
     
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  11. Delta57Dash

    Delta57Dash Well-Known Member

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    Also worth noting that he has a WIP 17 flash pulse for ARO's (in good range), the most popular profile has a light shotgun (which can now direct template!) which is BS 20 in a Tri-Core, and Chain of Command also means that he's a WIP 14 Specialist (which ties for highest in-faction).

    Honestly the question isn't if Kaeltar's are Tier 1, it's if they should be added to the "What should I buy first?" section. I have never, EVER, seen a spiral list without one unless someone doesn't own the box and refuses to proxy.
     
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  12. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    Oh shoot, I didn't realize I had left Kaeltar out! He is probably the top of Tier 2 for me. Remember these are purchase tiers, and given that you're only fielding half of the box at most due to AVA restrictions, and that half of the box is actually models that represent in-game markers (Symbiomates/Bombs aren't real troops that block LoF or whatever).

    My tiers are based more on "how many models in this box are you going to field on average" rather than "will you field one of these models every game". That's why the MSV2 Sniper and Chaksas are at the top, because the Sniper is in basically every Spiral list, and 2-4 Chaksa Auxiliars seems pretty standard.

    For the Kaeltar, you will definitely field him, but as above 2/3 of the box exists as markers, so you can make a marker for the Mate and the Bomb and proxy the single Kaeltar you need. At least with most other boxes, you can field everything in them at once. With the Kaeltar, you can never be fielding more than half of the box at once.

    I have definitely fielded no-Kaeltar Spiral lists before, but I would be less likely to do so now that the new CoC profile exists. Before, I would often have only one unit in a list that would really want a mate/bomb (a Draal), and the other would have to get tossed, or I would be relying on a Kiuutan to get the second bomb, which is a much worse strategy if you go second, or a non-option if you end up needing to reserve the Kiuutan.
     
    #12 meikyoushisui, Oct 14, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2020
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  13. Delta57Dash

    Delta57Dash Well-Known Member

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    Yes, you could...but that would require NOT fielding the Symbiomate/bomb miniatures.

    [​IMG]

    LOOK AT THEM. How can you tell them to stay in that box?!?! Tell them that they've been replaced by a PAPER MARKER?!?

    You MONSTER.
     
    #13 Delta57Dash, Oct 14, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2020
  14. Leviathan

    Leviathan Hungry Caliban

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    Everyone around here (my meta) is fairly convinced that SC are terrible - or at least lame by comparison to the OG Tohaa. So now they're my 2021 project army, based around the main box and the defiance reinforcements pack. Those, plus im thinking some chaksa and the support pack - should have me covered for most things yeah?
     
  15. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    To be fair, most of the game is lame compared to OG Tohaa. It was consistently one of the top three factions in the game. We'll see how N4 plays out, but Spiral Corps was squarely top 10 in N3, and I have a feeling it will probably remain so.

    The Defiance reinforcement pack is Neema, the Igao blister, the Kerail box, and one half of the Kaeltar box (which is fortunate since you only need half of that box anyway), so you definitely have enough for 300 point lists right away. The tiers pretty much stay the same for you though, I think. I put the Support Pack down lower (I have it under Kumotail Bioengineer, since that's the main model), since you're generally not taking the peripherals. You can't Doctor/Engineer units back to their pre-Transmutation state, so the value of doctors is pretty low in Spiral Corps, imo. At best you're rescuing a unit into an already much weaker state than it started the game in.
     
    #15 meikyoushisui, Oct 14, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2020
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  16. Vocenoctum

    Vocenoctum Well-Known Member

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    I was planning on starting up Infinity this year, then the EndTimes kicked that plan aside and laughed. Primarily ALEPH/O12 for me, but I've of course amassed a lot of Shas with Wildfire+Defiance coming and such...

    That said, I've also been collecting a bunch of Spiral, most of them assembled but not painted. I wanted a large selection of aliens and got some good ebay deals on stuff. I got a deal with a Tohaa box + Chaksa Aux+the support lady with Chaksa and sold the Tohaa box to cover a good portion of it. I found a good price on an Anaconda and Kaeltars, I don't even remember where the Rasail box was from... and I bought some Helots cuz they're cool.

    So that said, I never did get the core box. I don't like the look of Reex anyway. If I ever actually try to field an army, it'll probably be proxies for them.
     
  17. BlackCadian

    BlackCadian Well-Known Member

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    So what do I do if I have been digging the looks of most Spiral Corps models for ages, in theory like the cool gameplay and head canon of a cut off but highly effective special forces corps without a ton of heavy weapons, but am a little worried that SC might not have the oomph to hang with all the sweet new stuff a lot of armies have gotten?

    Awesome writeup btw, very helpful in my opinion, thanks!
     
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  18. Delta57Dash

    Delta57Dash Well-Known Member

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    Run more Impersonators.

    On a more serious note, no, Spiral cannot take on things like HI core links face-to-face and expect to come out on top with any sort of reliability. However, with Mirrorball Igao, Kiiutan w/ E/M Mines, Jaan Staar, etc... you really shouldn't have to. Total Reaction bot sitting on a building? Have an Igao drop a Mirrorball on it from 8" away out of LoF, then stroll up and murder it. Or sneak up with an Impersonator. Or use a Kriigel to launch smoke, then snipe it with your MSV2 Taagma. If all else fails, use a Draal in a Tri-Core with a Symbiomate and force it to try and hit you through the Mimetism(-6). What the faction lacks in straight-up power it brings in versatility and adaptability.

    You also (generally) don't have to worry about all the new cool hacking buffs, as you can quite comfortably run a list with 0 hackable models, whilst throwing around your own version in Pheroware (which no one else can interact with).

    They don't seem outclassed to me. Just different.
     
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  19. Rezin8r

    Rezin8r New Member

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    Great write up!

    I'm one of the new players. Wish I saw this before I bought some stuff.

    Looking forward to learning all this stuff.
     
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  20. Fed4ykin

    Fed4ykin Well-Known Member

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    This write up is responsible for me getting a spiral Corp box. So shame on you mister!
    Well maybe the cool miniatures did their part too.

    On a more serious note: thanks for the Write up: it was informative and a fun read too.
     
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