Nice analysis. It would seem that stacking ARO, and especially template TO AROs (some normal ARO plus TO shotgun surprise) is a new name of the game. Dropping TO guy into SF at the end of deployment might also be (sometimes) a vialable option to block particular part of the board, or force an enemy's primary Rambo to detour from his intended path. Also: seems that TO MSR will be more and more used as an actual DZ defense, rather than an offensive piece.
Pretty stoked for November and the return of NCA. Bolts, Aquila, Swiss and Hexa are already out so all that's really missing are Auxilia, Uhlan and Link Options. With how little forward presence we have the added Garuda Specialist bridges an important gap. Remotes that can go Prone, Firewalled an potentially linked Devas on top of Sixth Sense Fusiliers covered by TO. NCA is going to be pretty hard to crack. There's very little that could go wrong here, but a lot to be gained. Scarcity of C+/Superjump or forward Marker States, finally could give the cheaper Uma a reason to exist as well. Don't think I'll be running a lot of Swiss HMGs anymore. TAGs, Aquila and Bolts are likely taking over for Active Turn duty and the Swiss shifts more towards the ML for what's likely still one of the scariest surprise roadblocks in existence. No expectations for yet another MO rework, but I'll take any changes and see what sticks. Hoping my homeboy's in Shock Army can bring in a few nice updates.
Two of those hills literally block entire halves of the table for a trooper running at ground level from a DZ sniper. If you can't figure out how to use that to approach the enemy and avoid rooftop snipers I don't know how to help you. The first picture you linked literally has that, just not in my DZ. I don't make them equal on purpose to place more value on choosing deployment. The roads also have a deep bunker in them that goes into the ground although that can be difficult to see in the pictures as I haven't finished painting them and the camera is cheap garbage. They still functioned against superior hacking forces in N3. When the standard KHD was more lethal it wasn't absolute garbage in ARO and was an actual threat, and they stood a far better chance of just trading themselves for a problem hacker to try to help hackable units operate, this was back when there was far less Oblivion/Total Control running around and Carbonite was alot less punishing so eliminating a particular hacker was often all that was required to remove most of the pressure. That's because you still don't understand the core issue with the argument and keep getting your shit mixed up entirely. I think KHDs are fine when you're only hacking against relatively weaker hacking factions, which tend to be ones right now that can't easily place up heavy repeater networks as opposed to N3 which had a far bigger emphasis on who had the most retard strength tier programs like Maestro, Exile etc. Now the easiest way to get a big advantage in a hacking fight is spamming the table with repeaters and ensuring you fight with the repeater debuff on your opponent combined with a focus on finding hacker options with a big BTS stat. So if you play into an opponent who's light on the hacking game either because their faction isn't particularly well supported in N4, or they just didn't take much hacking stuff, your basic KHDs with limited/non existent support function fine. You can move up and zap the one/two equally poorly supported hackers just fine. But if you play into an opponent who is geared to infowar you're running dead points with hamstrung units. They don't threaten to ARO very well, they don't provide alternative utility, and their ability to operate offensively with their guns, mines, skills, objectives whatever you wanted to spend orders on in any capacity is now actively hindered by them getting bullied by repeater networks which are the big deal in N4. So this goes back to the very original discussion in which the points was being made in the interest of building a well rounded list into N4 for factions that are not particularly high up on the infowar totem pole. It is more important to take skirmishers that can help remove the repeater networks. Hunting pitcher carriers, units carrying repeaters, destroying deployed repeaters, FD REMs etc is a more important task to making it easier for your hackable hitters to move about the table. KHD ninjas, Kanren etc do not help in this regard and actively get worse at the job because they struggle to be aggressive in this scenario, they do not have the in faction support to simply dump a repeater on a far back offending hacker from a distance and then attack them. I cannot stress that enough to make a well rounded list you need to be prepared to eliminate the hacking network. The hacking network is the key, an infowar oriented opponent will literally turn the table into something that resembles Transmission Matrix if you let them. If you are not prepared to deal with it you will find yourself like one of @Tourniquet's opponents and your entire list is covered in so much hacking related bullshit that he physically runs out of spotlight tokens. That is simply untrue. A HD can more easily find an alternative use for themselves because they have a greater spread of targets as opposed to only being able to target hackers. The reality is they're not top tier, their pitcher and repeater options are weaker than others who are top tier right now. With the difference between hacking programs being flattened compared to N3 there's a bigger focus on the repeater network. They have some repeater access but it's not as good as core linked pitchers and fast pandas farting out repeaters out with relative ease. Their repeaters are stuck on unlinked BS11 platforms which is definitely better than factions with none but still not top tier. They also don't get access to other types of deployable repeaters and no native carriers that FD/Infiltrate/AD with them so that's what makes them slide down the tier list. That doesn't make them suck though, I didn't say that at all you're just failing at reading again.
A riot of an oppinion as usual mate, bravo. Lets let it rest before I fall out of my chair laughing, wouldn't even know where to start after those mental hops. Enjopy your meta, have a blast with N4!
Nah given the relative agreement on our respective points in forum currency by the popcorn crunching audience, I think I got across what I wanted anyone who cared for an actual discussion to know. Given history you're not one to win over to begin with. At this point, I feel your last post speaks for itself and continuing this would be certified madness. Can't save them all. G'day to you Sir.
I mean if you want to fail at making a sound argument then declare a personal victory... ok then? I won't stop you.
Yea, NCA won't be that much affected by TW. And all those additional bodies (auxbots) will only make them better. I still hope that Uhlan will get something making him more vialable option against Swiss but we will see. The link options for NCA will be crazy, I'm kinda really interested in things you can do with Buleeter's DUO in NCA, especially with support from Hidden Deployment KHD, EVO's (with Garuda in stand-by). Bolts's MSV sniper suddenly is tons better, and if stars align we might see NCA's version of ORC. Interesting times for NCA. Lets be crazy, lets dream about new Auxbot type for Auxilia!
Has this been confirmed to be legal? I remember musings about it, but haven't been following the rules forum very closely yet.
Dunno, frankly speaking. We will see: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/hidden-deployment-and-sf-during-deployment.38280/#post-374142
I think where the USARF ARO game gained a lot is that is can now merge the ARO defense and offense. I used to have to take a sniper grunt link and a marauder Haris. Grunts defend Marauders go fight for the midfield. Now, I can make a five man Marauder link with dual snipers, Rosie, and The Unknown Ranger. The Snipers are now MSV1 Sixth Sense B2 hitting on 18s ARM 6 and Dogged. Even if both snipers die, it’s going to take a hefty amount of work to pull them down. Even if they both die, I’m left with a three man core or Haris that can now go up field and handle it’s business and cap objectives. By combining those two rolls, I now have points to spend on additional deterrents.
