A Swiss guard beats a kriza by 4 percentage points vs linked msv2, as I mentioned. He is better by 17% against core linked msv1. The Swiss creams linked HI by a large margin, and those are very common now too. The kriza simply does not outperform the Swiss guard. This is before we discuss the implications of having stealth and Camo... Nomads in regards to shooting are definitally on the level of ariadna or haqqislsm. I would place those two above them honestly, they hit much harder. The Salamander and geckos are excellent though.
Think you accidentally let the Orc shoot with a +6 range band. Most of the others are worse than the Swiss. Aside from the Avatar, you picked out the best pure gun fighter. Units that are cheaper or more expensive or significantly more expensive have been marked with emphasis. Swiss: 69% (56% vs MSV2 Orc a.k.a. Hsien) Kriza: 64% (55% vs MSV2 Orc a.k.a. Hsien) Sepulchre: 59% Hac Tao: 66% Omega: 66% Achilles (ARM 6 AP Spitfire): 68% Sphinx: 66% Avatar(!): 80% So yeah, without mentioning several units that are noticeable more expensive it looks correct, but aside from the Avatar that costs about twice as much as the Kriza, the Kriza is pulling its weight in shooting. There's further analysis to be had with these numbers, of course, among others how Hac Tao, Sphinx, and Swiss can extract further utility by using Hidden Deployment and Camouflage so that their numbers start representing their costs compared to the Kriza, how the Sepulchre in spite of having the lowest numbers have a very high resistance to all alternative forms of attacks belying the low number, and how the Omega is pulling its weight well in spite of being so cheap. Additionally we've got the extra orders that the TAGs and Sepulchre get through NCO/TAcaware and the extra wounds that Achilles, Sphinx and Avatar have. Just to get even remotely close to exhausting the list I also note that Hac Tao and Achilles have minor DTWs while the TAGs and the Omega have some pretty major DTWs. Oh and I also note that the three possibly closest comparisons were left out; Gamma HMG, Böjg Mk12 and Mowang Spitfire. It's a really complex comparison, to be honest. I do stand by with my single contribution to the Tunguska thread that I think the Kriza is a bit too expensive, but the Kriza is no slouch, that is for sure. Taken as a whole I'd give the win to the Sepulchre with Sphinx as a close second. I'm dreading the Avatar, but I have a feeling my fear is misplaced - I seem to be good at dodging facing it.
66% using the same basic settings as I used for the others. (Some further comparisons: Mobile Brigada and Taskmaster 48%, Evader AP Spitfire 52%, Yan Huo MHMG 59%, Shang-Jesus 55%, Kriza in a Core link 40 points more expensive than an Avatar 74%)
You are quoting the same person who suggested making a play with defensive hackers with about a 5% success rate was a tactically sound move because he doesn't believe in mathematics.
I guess its more an issue of "I have to take Krieza every time" and less of "all Nomad gunfighters are crap". Been playing Nomads without a Krieza and agree that their shooting feels pretty bleh
The ability of the Kriza to win firefights is not in question, it's the fact that an HMG just cannot reliably kill an armored ARO target anymore due to lack of AP on the HMG. This is particular relevant in the world of N4 where armour actually matters and a fully linked HI ARO piece with ARM 7-8 in cover is something that the Kriza can easily struggle against.
Unlinked Kriza is 41% to wound a fully linked Orc Feuerbach. There's not much in the game that will do better, unlinked. Some TAGs. Like for example the Szalamandra. You can do better with a linked attack piece, but then, or course, the Kriza can be linked too...
Better shot, has a gun that can actually damage stuff, cheaper providing you are looking at a KB haris package, Slightly more resistant to getting carpet bombed off the table. However still not too hard to steal it or brick it, but if youre somewhere that doesn't leverage offensive hacking you're fine in that regard.
This might have come off as a weirder flex than you intended it to. For visibility, though - I've had it possessed once and had to ward off possession a couple other times with the usual countermeasures (counter-hacking, deploying models in base contact, etc). It requires some thought to mitigate but has never cost me a game, and the overall benefits of the big girl over the Kriza feel very worthwhile - at least in vanilla, where the Kriza doesn't have access to link bonuses, and I have access to better and more varied support.
Wasn't Intending to be any kind of flex, just pointing out how it has an easier time in some metas than others. For example in mine hacking very quickly became dominant and very quickly hunted all but the usual suspects of TAG (read avatar) out of the game with in the first few months of N4, and when ever one turns up it very quickly ends up being someone else's. As for the mitigating tactics you mentioned, defensive counter hacking is really only viable with a handful of profiles (of which nomads has one of them) or can be detrimental if you counter with your own TC as that is how shots in the back from across the table happen. Putting models base to base is pretty much a death sentence for the TAG, as they will just spotlight the thing B2B and drop a missile on that bypassing the ECM (providing I'm not misreading that interaction in that the tag isn't being directly targeted by the GML therefore the ECM doesn't kick in), in vanilla however I do find putting a reasonably high phys model with dodge +X" (like a morlock or pupnik) to achieve a similar effect with less risk to the tag.
I've only had someone try to spotlight a zondbot to launch a missile hit on a TAG once so far and as soon as I got spotlit I elected to fail my guts against the attack and move 2" out of their repeater area and directly away from the TAG so it couldn't be caught in the blast zone. But they might have gotten a zondbot kill and a wound or two on the TAG if they'd been able to press the repeater a bit further forward (but I'd cut them off from easy advance and they had to take what they could get). As someone who's been playing TAGs in about half my lists on average in N4, I'd say that even in a hacking-heavy meta, ultimately TAG possession as an active attack is really just another variant on the guided strategy: low risk, but also generally low efficiency (which is still good! Low risk attacks are very valuable in Infinity). Even if it catches a player by surprise (and it usually shouldn't), triaging an attack by a 4-4MOV BS12 model operating in bad range bands is eminently manageable. TAG possession is only disastrous when it arises as a result of ARO by enemy hackers, which is much more controllable and usually avoidable when using a TAG as a fire support piece and not an assault piece.
Funnily enough that's when I've found it less disastrous in that scenario, as odds are it's either operating close to a friendly hacker or repeater at which point you can counter TC to remove the possessed state in addition to removing the enemy hacker/repeater providing you are running the TAG in a separate group. But I do agree with holding them back for fire support as opposed to assault in most cases, though that was more or less the same for them last edition.
