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Cracking Heavy Metal with OSS

Discussion in 'ALEPH' started by yoink101, Dec 11, 2020.

  1. yoink101

    yoink101 Chandra SpecOps Complaint Department

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    With tactical window being the standard along with the changes to crits, armor is likely going to be a more significant feature of lists that we encounter. OSS is in an interesting position. While we have high quality troops and some very potent links, we don’t possess the heavy ap weapons or the tinbots to protect our hackers that are featured in a number of other sectorials. I thought it was prudent to take a closer look at the offerings of OSS in dealing with an increased prevalence of heavy metal. I’m going to walk through the options we have access to and the tactics that might be useful for responding to heavy metal.


    I pass over most HMGs because, while they can punch through HI with weight of dice, they tend to have trouble hitting TAGs with enough force to reliably break their armor.

    Andromeda

    Andromeda features AP weaponry in the form of her SMG or boarding shotgun as well as her breaker pistol. Her DA CCW along with MA3 brings her damage up to 14, which is not insignificant as she can deny cover to any targets she attacks within 8 inches through the use of guard.


    Some challenges that I see Andromeda facing when fighting HI and TAGs are her rangebands, her low damage, and her BS 12. While mimetism is a great equalizer, there are very few heavy metal targets with less than BS 13. In fireteams they are likely to be BS 16+. Considering that just about every HI and TAG in the game either has a pistol or a direct template weapon, Andromeda will struggle to win gunfights and put damage onto her targets without dying. If you can support her with hackers, e/m weapons, or an already softened target, I think she’s a pretty good candidate to get that last wound onto a TAG or HI.

    As brought up by @RolandTHTG, I missed her d-charges. With guard, she is quite potent at delivering them with her very effective close combat attack as well.

    CSU

    I think there is actually something to be said for the breaker rifle or even the breaker combi rifle in a Dakini fireteam right now. The boarding shotgun is another option, although range can be an issue, especially considering the accessibility of pistols and high ballistics skill and/or direct template weapons on the majority of HI and TAGs. In N3 I almost exclusively turned to the specialist with the rifle+light shotgun, but breaker certainly has a place to back up the somewhat pillow fisted dakini fireteam. Dropping most HI and even some TAGs down to BTS 2 or 3 and hitting them at burst 4 can do solid damage. While BS 12 is certainly less than ideal, if you can keep the fireteam at 5 members, BS 15 can compete against most heavy metal targets, provided you are able to close the distance.

    Trisha

    Trisha fits a similar bill as CSUs for directly shooting at armor. She also brings the versatility of being an engineer in a Dakini fireteam as well as the e/m mines. While she has d-charges, I would have to be in pretty dire circumstances to need to rely on killing armor in close combat with CC 17. The e/m mines, while good as an offensive tool, are phenomenal for area denial. While most HI and TAGs will simply ignore a mine, an e/m mine will pose a significant threat, as one failed roll will result in the end of an attack run. Two rolls at half BTS, ignoring cover, and isolating and immobilizing the target on a failed save is enough to put fear in the heart of any armor. Even Morats would prefer not to be immobilized.

    Danavas

    While her breaker pistol should not be thought of as a primary source of firepower, she does bring a good suite of tools for challenging armor. Like every hacking device and hacking device plus, carbonite, oblivion (with an additional burst on offense!), and total control are all threats to armor. Even spotlight is an annoyance that can slow an attack run down. The challenge is making sure that the Danavas has the repeater network and support that she needs to be a threat and survive long enough to keep armor at bay. Thankfully, with a solid range of engineers it is pretty common to field 2-4 bots with repeaters on board. Between the Lamedh, Daleth, and Rudra, it is fairly easy to cover most of the deployment zone with repeaters. Unfortunately, OSS does not have any repeaters that can start outside of the deployment zone. Although the Rudra is likely to advance and the Danavas can use her pitcher in a pinch to extend that network to get more offensive later in the game. Most often, the Danavas’ role against armor is not to kill it, but to bog it down and potentially make it irrelevant or easier for other units to remove it from the table.

    Devas

    Deva Functionaries have a few anti armor options. They bring a linkable hacking device that has all of the same functionality of the Danavas, at least as far as armor is concerned (except for the Danavas’ bonus to oblivion). Putting the Deva hacker in a fireteam is a strong option as well because it denies stealth to some of the potent targets that would be able to slip past your repeater net otherwise. There are also boarding shotgun and multi rifle options available, including the killer hacker which brings a boarding shotgun. It’s tough to spend the points on the multi rifle or even the boarding shotgun when Trisha is in a similar points bracket and when Devas have such useful profiles as the hacker, killer hacker, sensor, and spitfire+MSV 2 profile.

    Lucien Sforza

    The good (bad?) father brings a burst two adhesive launcher, which is potentially a phenomenal tool for shutting down armored targets. While BS 13 and the x-visor are both good, he will have trouble beating most HI, especially linked HI, or TAGs in a straight face to face roll. As part of a coordinated order, he could certainly surprise an armored target if he were disguised as something else. You might be able to lull a TAG into shooting at something else in the coordinated order and have a chance to hit it unopposed with a single die of adhesive launcher.

    Authorized Bounty Hunter

    Similar to Sforza, although without the holomask or echo. Coordinated Akrylat-Kanone from two 12 point bounty hunters is solid. The fact that it just takes a penalized physique roll (or an engineer) to get out of the immobilized state does mean that you still need something to put the armor down after you’ve immobilized it. But the option is a good way to fill out your order pool if you have the room for them.

    Parvati

    Parvati technically has AP ammo in her SMG. If you’re relying on her to crack hard targets, you’re likely to be in a very desperate situation. I wouldn’t rely on her for this.

    Post Humans

    There are a few options here, so I’ll break them down specifically and individually.

    Mark I Hacker

    Similar to the Deva and Danavas. Not linkable and reliant on a solid repeater network to be effective. Individually cheap, but you won’t be able to bring the mk I engineer if you bring the hacker.

    Mark II

    Both the sniper and the hacker can be solid threats to armor. The sniper can outrange and plink away at most armored targets with solid returns, although it will typically take a couple of orders to deal multiple wounds. It is worth noting that you’ll want to maneuver so that you can see where the prone body of an HI would fall if enemy doctors are accessible.

    The hacker is designed to be an anti armor hunter. I think it does the job well, although it is sad to see the loss of hidden deployment. Immobilizing a HI and then hitting it with a shotgun to strip away wounds is an effective tactic. BS 13 plus mimetism -6 also means that the mk II can go toe to toe with a lot of its targets as well. NWI certainly helps with survival against direct templates, although I don’t recommend getting hit by flamethrowers.

    Mark III

    The AP spitfire came out of nowhere. But oh boy is it the armor cracking gunfighter I never thought I’d see! While she is BS 13 with no modifiers, she can use her 6 inch move to close the distance quickly, and as long as your target isn’t armed with positive range bands from 8-16 and 26-24, she can out range rifles or under range HMGs. Burst four with damage 14 AP is enough to frighten just about anything. To really hurt those arm 9-10 tags, you will want to flank and get them out of cover though.

    Mark IV HRL

    The mk IV with the rocket launcher has an SMG. I wouldn’t put this at the front of my list for anti armor, but the rocket launcher can deny cover and the SMG has AP ammo. It’s certainly not bad and can definitely be a threat to linked HI with that template. His range bands will make it difficult to contend with linked feuerbachs and HMGs which are both common on HI, however.

    Mark V Forward Observer

    The proxy mark V has a lot of potential. Burst 4 SMGs and e/m grenades are both strong options for putting damage on HI. Much like a couple of examples above, however, the 0-8 inch rangeband is a tough one in which to fight HI targets. Even if you can deny cover to an HI model, it’s likely shooting you back with two dice on 16s or 17s to your four dice on 16s. While you’ll likely win, odds are that the HI will prevent some of your hits. If you can knock it down to a 4 member fireteam, then you may be able to get the traction you need to put some wounds on.

    Shukra

    While equipped with a multi rifle or a boarding shotgun, I don’t recommend relegating the Shukra to frontline combat. It’s a good option to keep in mind if your opponent ends their turn with armor in your deployment zone though.

    Arjuna

    I’m a little underwhelmed by the Arjuna in N4. It seems to be a little too expensive for what it does. But, the Arjuna does have some serious potential for taking down heavy metal. The boarding shotgun picked up an Akrylat-Kanone (or maybe it already had one and I just didn’t notice) which is solid. The Kiran-bots with their e/m templates are good for keeping armor at a distance and threatening everything, especially fireteams on offense. Unfortunately most HI targets tend to have high physique, so they may be able to avoid your templates with dodge rolls. Backing those templates up with shotguns at close range could eviscerate fireteams of heavy infantry pretty handily if you can close the distance.

    Yadu

    Yadu present some very interesting options. They are OSS’ entry in the heavy infantry fireteam, though their status as veteran medium infantry means that they can neither be isolated or immobilized by enemy hackers...unless you bring a hacker of your own.

    As far as hitting armor goes, Yadu can bring it, but they don’t crack armor from range as well as missile launchers and feuerbachs. The heavy rocket launcher can deny the cover bonus to the armor roll. Against most heavy infantry, this is pretty good, as it leaves them with a 50% chance to fail the roll and catch fire. It’s less potent against TAGs which typically have higher armor. The point where it becomes less effective than AP ammo against a target in cover is arm 7. So this means that even against light TAGs it is just as potent as AP and even more effective than AP against the majority of HI. It is only burst 3, which can work against it winning face to face rolls, but still a solid option.

    At close range, a Yadu fireteam can bring e/marats and multi rifles, which present significant threats to armor, especially when paired with fireteam bonuses. These are made more effective with the fact that Yadu are resistant to most of the tools that can be used to slow HI, e/m weapons and hackers.

    Asura

    I would have loved to see the Asura spitfire get AP ammo. Alack, alas. The Asura hacker, however, is positively deadly at close range. Sticking her in a haris is a good option to add burst bonuses. I tend to prefer the lieutenant profile personally, and don’t usually want to put her into a fireteam unless I’ve brought the Yadu HMG with NCO along. The Asura’s multi rifle can punch through armor fairly effectively, but it is the support of her hacking device that makes her a real threat to armor. She can lock them down and then get them off the table while they try to recover.

    Obviously the multi rifle isn’t ideal as far as range is concerned, but I find that the use of cybermask and holding her back until later in the game means that she will be a potent threat.

    Marut

    The Marut is death incarnate and will destroy anything it shoots at. High armor and BTS means that she can resist bad rolls fairly well. Some of the best engineers in the game means she’s easy to bring back, unless your opponent manages to remove her from the table, she will keep going. Arguably she is better supported with Myrmidons and their officers in vanilla ALEPH, but that doesn’t stop her from being incredible.

    Dakini

    The sniper is the only Dakini worth bringing up in its capacity to crack armor. In a full core team, depending on the support you provide, the Dakini can hit something with damage 15 AP at BS 14, 16, or effective 17 or 19. While it doesn’t have the damage output of a linked feuerbach, it does present a significant threat to most targets. While Dakinis have armor 0, they are cheap and with two levels of unconscious and the ability to fall prone, it is surprisingly hard to remove them from the table with one volley. While the Dakini can’t kill a TAG outright in the reactive turn, it has a reasonable chance for a low cost to put damage on a TAG as it advances up the table.

    Rudra

    The multi rifle at damage 14 has the potential to be a significant threat, more so when linked. The k1 marksman rifle has the potential to threaten anything. Linking the Rudra and giving it supportware means that it can present a serious threat to any armor. The mine dispenser can help to protect itself and its fireteam against lighter threats.

    Samekh

    A BS 12 linked missile launcher seems like less of a potent threat than it was two years ago, but it shouldn’t be ignored. Burst two AP+EXP ammo is a serious threat to anything.

    Dasyu

    The hacker and the boarding shotgun loadouts can certainly present threats to armor. I don’t see them as the most cost effective way to threaten armor. Typically I find that they are best as last second objective grabbers or to hunt lighter targets.

    Naga

    Nagas aren’t particularly better at hunting armor, although the monomines profile is worth mentioning. While monofilament mines are really good on paper, the challenge is that models you want to target with them typically have high physique. Along with the armor roll, one monomine only has about a 25-30% chance to actually kill most HI or TAGs. If you can drop a mine on a fireteam and hit several targets, it becomes a more interesting proposition. When they do work, it’s magical to watch 70+ points simply disappear.

    Dart

    Dart is something special. While her e/m grenades and SMG both require that she engages targets at close range, which is exactly where you don’t want to engage most HI or TAGs, she brings a few tools that give her an edge. Climbing plus allows an incredible level of mobility. She can get close and evade defenses to gain a position where she can select her targets. If you can get a fireteam down to four or fewer members, she can use mimetism and attempt to gain a position to deny cover. In which case, she might be able to stack mods heavily in her favor with AP ammunition.
     
    #1 yoink101, Dec 11, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2020
    Methuselah and Iver like this.
  2. RolandTHTG

    RolandTHTG Still wandering through the Night

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    Good rundown, though don't forget that Andromeda has D-charges too. With them being deliverable through guard, and gaining a damage bonus when she melees them, she's the best D-charge delivery system in the game.
     
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  3. Iver

    Iver Human Plus

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    The Rudra will remain my baby for dealing with armor. Either linked in OSS or REM driven in vanilla it's an absolute gem.
     
    #3 Iver, Dec 11, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2020
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  4. kinginyellow

    kinginyellow Well-Known Member

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    andromeda also has a zapper on her smg profile so if she walks within 8" of an enemy hi or tag, if they shoot at her, she can either bite back at dam 15 ap+exp or just hit them with her zapper and just trade for that model.
     
    yoink101 likes this.
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