In addition to the layered defenses others have mentioned above (AROs at long range, AROs at short range/horizontal, mines and deployables), it's useful to use: - Hidden Deployment plus Misdirection. Lay traps with 2x HD troops together, when you can. This usually means one infiltrated and one sitting back in the DZ or near to it. A 1-2 punch of a close-range reply like an HD hacker inside/atop a building, paired with a ranged HD trooper with a template. Sometimes having the ranged guy be basic Camo without HD is fine: it's the close-up unit catching the advancers in a ZoC ARO which really needs to be hidden. Sometimes that means floor-level deployment for that Infiltrated guy too, because Stealth is all over the place. Your Infiltrators will die a lot. Putting an EVO hacker on the table at the same time tends to lull opponents into thinking your missing points are in AD, well worth the small investment (and even better if you have a TR bot to buff). That can also affect their deployment to cover their rear better, which is nice when you actually plan a frontal advance. I do the overlapping HD or HD/camo thing with vanilla Nomads mostly, usually in whatever approach lane isn't protected by more-obvious things like Puppets etc. TJC can also do it but the lack of AD makes the EVO fakeout less effective. Shasvastii can do it even better, but everyone also expects it from the Predator-frogs. JSA can do it too, if you don't mind losing those Ninjas like half the time. The other upside is that doing this against regular opponents then creates psychological effects in future games. HD gives players pause, -layered- HD is actually terrifying. - Imposing different types of ARO on something: obvious maybe but saying it for thoroughness' sake. The hacker-shooter combo above is a good example. A Su-Jian can't Reset and Dodge at the same time, and you've got a decent chance of taking it down a peg or Isolating it. - Holoecho misdirection of capabilities. Another thread going right now mentions the Tian Gou being able to mask as a Kanren if you are playing vanilla YJ, and placing the "Kanren" with its back to a nice walk-on point for a Paratrooper. The Tian Gou has a 360 visor though... gotcha on whatever Paratrooper tries to flank him. This is a very specific example, but misleading about ranges, hacking capabilites, etc. can often slow down an opposing advance. - Cheapo dodging engagers.
RTF has access to 360° Vision Maggie, Minelayers, MSVs, DZ repeaters and decent hackers to Oblivion/Carbonite/Spotlight aggressors. Also, as a Haqqislam Sectorial, we have templates for days. The BIG problem is, most of those counters are not cheap. Even our Panzerfausts are in the range of 13pts, so we most likely won't have access to them all with enough redundancy at 300pt games. It's a question of prioritizing and carefully planned positioning, to get the most form what we bring to the table..
If I go into a tournament I do two lists, one to play "regular" and other keeping in mind If "will I face an Avatar?" While it is hard to find a "base" which can be applied every time, I have tendency to: Do use and abuse of camo markers if I can. Left as many cheap disposable ARO pieces as I can. Hide all I can the expensive units. Try to not left people in "template distance", so only one can be "templated" at same time. Keep an eye on ... I try always to have people looking to other people, if someone try to catch any other, at least it should be done rolling dices for smoke or dodges. For example: Haqquislam or Hassasin relay a lot on cheap profiles: ghazi, daylami, kum. Acontecimento deploys as many mines as it can be deployed. Winterforce I do use of pulse flash rems and forget about half table. If you want to catch me, come until my deployment zone.
