I tend to just hide unless I need to defend my revealed hvt it the unmasking scenario. As such my aro is pretty weak, just relying on the razor with his mines and hidden deployment. Does anyone who plays vanilla do much in the ARO phase? If so what have you found effective?
Gamma with Feuerbach is a solid ARO piece for me. With their BS 14 Feuerbach they are not to be taken lightly, even at B1. They will be outshot fairly reliably by dedicated attack pieces, but they are not likely to die in their first FTF roll with ARM 9 in partial cover, so they are great at wasting orders for your opponent. If you are up against particularly bad odds, you can always decide to fail your guts roll and drop them prone or move into total cover to patch them up later. In later turns, they then transition into a solid offensive piece thanks to their B3 Feuerbach and Heavy Pistol. Other than that, I have come to appreciate riotstoppers for ARO purposes, but the only profiles I'd recognise as dedicated ARO pieces are Bluecoats. The ADHL loadout is 13 points, which makes for a solid and cost effective deployment zone guard. Team Sirius is more expensive, but brings a better deployment and additional utility. If you can place them in a way that exposes the bot to an ARO but covers the girl, that's a great situation. Depending on what is coming towards you, risking both in ARO for a more difficult decision on your opponents part is also valid, but the payoff better be good in that case.
Gamma with Feuerbach or a Kappa ML. I also have liked using Dakini snipers in Aleph and though I dislike that they are in O 12 they are still solid. Andromeda infiltration +6 with an SMG in suppression. Gang buster smg or combi in suppression if you do not care about the mad traps. I find a razor boarding shotgun is good for traps at choke points especially if you are tricky with them and let your enemy move pass you, a great way to weekend or kill a fire team is to kill the second or third guy as the team moves pass and not worry about the point man as he engages ahead (razor bs in the rear and Link SMR or plasma in the front makes a great combo for this trick).
On that point, slightly off topic I know, but do we know why there are there so many Aleph models in 0-12? It feels like they plan to merge them at some point. Not complaining as I was also considering Aleph and like buying Aleph models in addition to 0-12, adds a bit of variety.
That's because O12 is the human supervisor of Aleph, so there's a close collaboration, I guess. Back on topic, there's also the good ol' TO MSR in the Lynx which can get opportunity shots with close to total safety, the TR Bot and I also like DDO pieces like Omega or even Hyppolita in SF protecting a corner o alley.
pre-n4 days gangbuster was premiere for defense, theyve taken a bit of a nerf now only being able to lay down one mad trap.
welcome vanilla, hard aro is myth. The Gamma isn't a bad option and neither is the dakini sniper, but you need to rely on things like forward repeaters, madtraps from the gangbusters, sirius bot, flashpulse rems, mines from the Razor. The big thing vanilla o-12 does is close in point defense where they can leverage all of their templates by digging in and hiding. If you feel like making an investment things like the Lynx and armand aren't bad hiding all the way at the back of the board.
There have been similar musings among Aleph players. Most doubt it will happen since a combined O-12/Aleph vanilla faction would be absolutely bonkers powerful however.
In this order: Lynx Sniper, HI in Suppressive Fire Varangians, TR Bot, Gangbuster KHD The Lynx Sniper is by far the best option. Edit: And I just realised that I'm still stuck in my N3 ways. Add the Omega, Gamma, Beta and Bronze as Suppressive Fire units with the use of a command token on tables with rather dense terrain. I'd NEVER use an expensive unit with B1 without marker state for ARO coverage. They just die. ARM is not THAT good.
Omega FO. Always my MVP. At least he won't get hit! And when he close in, always generate a blood/glue-bath. Still never used a Bronze, but he is sure a plinth on the board. Epsilon MSR is deadly as always.
For some reason I thought Casanova was in vanilla. Checking I can only find him exclusively in Starmada which seems strange. Wonder if that is a mistake. Functionally he is alot like a Ryuken Unit-9 and not the much more expensive. But can pivot to offense and button pushing when needed.
I asked this on another thread but others say it is deliberate. However he is in code one which still makes me question if he should be in vanilla. I like cassanova so would be happy if her were added to vanilla.
Casanova is a NOC. Non Official Cover. An operative that works (worked, i suppose) like Billy Costigan (Di Caprio) in The Departed, just for reference. It is rather natural that he is only in Starmada, if his liason officer was there. He should have no official ties with O12.
Lynx Sniper have been the most effective long range ARO in Vanilla O12 for me. Sometimes he works best if you wait until turn 2 with him. He takes some practice if you are not a former NCA or OSS-player ;-) Also the Crusher with Light Rocket Launcher should be worth mentioning for deploying as reserve. Gangbusters slow down your enemy with Madtraps and Team Sirius has repeaters. Now hackers can spotlight every enemy model in their Hacking Area. Kyttä Copperbots for Flashpulse and/or Peeler Copperbots backed up by our WIP14 engineers and maybe a EVO repeater. The fact that they go prone now when they go unconcious makes them easier to repair than in N3. Varangians and now Bluecoats do a good job in protecting your deployment zone. ARO-play in N4 seems to be more about covering small firelanes and slowing down your opponent with Madtraps etc. First Turn Rambo moves might be more a thing in N4. Here is also a nice read: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/n4-aro-game-theory.38153/
Haven't played with O-12 yet, but I was thinking about Knauf as an ARO piece. I mean, he seems good from the outside: BS 13, B +1, BS Shock, stealth, Mimetism -3, MSV 1, multi sniper rifle, 32 pts, 1.5 SWC. He seems very good also in the active turn.
He actually posts very impressive numbers against mimetic targets, enough to compete with core linked HMGs that lack MSV1 or better. Pound for pound he punches well above his weight class, wouldn't waste him as an ARO piece. For example trying to take down a Dakini core link sniper, Knauf is about 9% more likely to score a wound against the Dakini than a core linked BS13 HI with an HMG. For 32pts that's pretty impressive numbers.
Ouch, I didn't know it. Could you please tell me the page number in the rulebook where it is written? I haven't found anything, but I may have missed it ^^''.
https://infinitythewiki.com/Skills_and_Equipment_in_Infinity There are some exceptions, such as Martial Arts 5 applying +1B in ARO, and Fireteam Burst bonus stacking in the active turn, but these are always explicitly called out in the relevant rule.
It's in the fundamental rules of the system: https://infinitythewiki.com/Trooper_Activation#ARO:_Automatic_Reaction_Order Just having access to an increased burst doesn't mean it naturally can be used in ARO unless the source of the burst increase say it can, e.g. Martial Arts and (Annex) Fireteam rules both have that exception while Double Shot and MODs on equipment or skills inside brackets do not. "Unless a Special Skill, Equipment or scenario rule states otherwise, AROs always have Burst B1. In such a situation, if the Reactive Trooper has a Burst value higher than one in ARO, they cannot split it amongst different targets."
