The fireteam changes were quite a shakeup for Spiral Corps, and I think it's fair to say that things like the Chaksa-Taagma triad change, the weakening of Tricore, and the replacement of Diggers for Beasthunters were not exactly celebrated round here. But I'm interested to hear what people have come to appreciate more since the changes; what units are you having more fun/success with these days that you rarely ran before? For me it's the Kiel-Saan Fireteam. The KS has always been a great-looking and really fun piece, but the Triad was a little awkward and I often struggled with making the whole package work. Always felt bad taking my least favourite Draal profile for the Triad only to be in a matchup where the Kiel-Saan wants to run off and do its own thing, and I was never super keen on two Paramedics. But it feels much more flexible now that it's any Draal profile and Taagma are Wildcards. My lists often contain an AP Draal and a Taagma somewhere, and a single Kaauri is no trouble to squeeze in. So if the Kiel-Saan wants to be in a Fireteam I've got it covered, but if not then the Draal and Taagma can easily Haris up somewhere else. The Kaauri is fine solo but can Duo with the Kiel-Saan if I need the order efficiency to shift them upfield, or even just to throw down a cheeky mine/medkit while I reposition the Kiel Saan. Whilst the Tricore definitely isn't an automatic pick any more, the Kiel-Saan can make decent use of it if the need arises. Essentially, the opportunity cost of having the Special Triad pieces in your list feels much, much lower. Plus, we actually have Fairy Dust now... although paying a full SWC just to give one model Firewall isn't something I've been able to justify yet! Only tried it in Panic Room because of the EVO bonus, and I was against Ariadna anyway... How about all of you? What's got a new lease of life for you in the last year?
I decided to play Haqqislam. Before quitting, I was using Longarm PAC + 2x Chaksas instead of Brawler HRL + 2x Diggers. But you need at least 1 Longarm to make a tean so It is bit awkward to put Taagma there to bait opponent's smoke. I still love Spiral Corps but this army need some updates. I still can't find a good reason to justify Draal minelayer SMG's hefty SWC cost. And also can't see any good reason to play this faction over Tohaa.
Haha, quitters! But fair enough if you're not enjoying them. I couldn't do the Tohaa switch myself; all the talk of list building being 'solved' really puts me off. (Yes, I realise it's probably not strictly true). @KoG Longarms are another one that definitely got a boost, but I think the PAC was my least favourite loadout. Maybe it's just bad luck but I really struggled to win F2F reliably against harder targets, and it feels like absolute overkill against softer targets. I've got time for all the others, though. I think the longer rangeband helps the Missile Launcher and the extra burst helps the Combi and MK12 in F2F. The Combi in particular feels like it's got tools for a lot of different problems. I don't really worry about using the Chaksa fireteam for the Viral Sniper any more; after all, they're a wildcard now. When the special triad was 15 points fewer than the cheapest two full Triad options (Kriigel + Kaeltar at 35pts) it felt pretty mandatory, especially as the Chaksa FTO are well worth their points on their own. But now that gap is 12 points smaller I'll just take the Chaksa as cheerleaders and plonk the Sniper somewhere else. Hah, I remember when I first joined there was a thread about Longarms containing statements like 'Oh, if only they could Triad with Chaksa and Taagma'... Well, now they can! They still don't make it into all (or even most) of my lists but they've reached the point where I consider them. How are others finding the Longarms?
I've been sorely tempted to trial the PAC, the mk12 and a taagma tricore as an aro threat. The extra pip of burst, BS and sixth sense makes it more lethal but it's a good chunk of swc gone and remains vulnerable to mimetism
After playing with Longarms several times now, i still don't think they are worth it. Super expensive with one wound and still struggle to win a FtF roll.
My idea for PAC longarm was straight replacement for brawler team. Brawler HRL 16 + Digger 14 + Digger 14 = 1.5 SWC, 44 pts, 3 order Brawler HRL 16 + Brawler 19 + Brawler 15(15 Cheapest but no reason to take. practically, 17pts + 0.5SWC or 19 pts) = same HRL, hefty points, 3 order PAC Longarm 30 + Chaksa 10 + Chaksa 10 = 1.5 SWC, 50 pts, 3 order So PAC longarm team trades 6 points for PAC. I just run them just like a HRL brawler digger haris even if they have PAC. No CC capability but still got large template for zone control, got 32'' band weaponery. And it is efficient way to bring sensor to midfield. But I love Mk12 loadout too.
PAC doesn't have an Impact Template though; you need to take the ML Longarm for that. Which also has the benefit of being 5 points cheaper.
ML has different rangeband(awful for advancing haris) and B1. And yes unlike HRL, PAC don't have impact template. But almost every player cares each fireteam member's distance to avoid multiple impact hits when they see you having HRL or such impace weaponery. Since Brawler was not Noctifier or Hundun, opponent can prepare for impacat template. So main benefit of it is ignoring cover. HRL : Practically DAM 17, Continuous PAC(Longarm DAM+1) : DAM 16, AP+EXP So I thought it could work.
Oh it certainly works! I just usually don't have my Defensive ARO pieces live long enough to worry about having to advance. To be fair I also tend to view the ML as a replacement for the old Taagma Sniper when I run it, so if it's usually pretty far back on the table; most of the time the only action the other 2 dudes get is guarding the DZ.
I like the combination of one Longarm with Mk 12 and two Auxilliars. It is cheap (45 Points) and a nice triad to hunt down Camomarkers and big things.
There's something deeply satisfying about the Auxiliars rolling Discover on 22s against camo markers.
Just a heads up - I played at the St Albans Satellite last week and the event was won by spiral! I didn't play the guy but he's a lovely chap. Beat a great Ariadna player in the final round.
Highly Classified Acquisition Capture & Protect I chatted with him about spiral before the start but don't know his lists.
Aside from test run, spiral have good options for highly classified, acquisition is very doable and capture and protect plays into impersonators perfectly. That's a favourable mission set for spiral
I think that's the first time I've heard anyone say Highly Classified is a good mission for Spiral! I always feel like I have an incredibly limited pool of options for that and Countermeasures.
There's a spread of characters that are veteran, we've got HI, loads of FO, good paramedics, doctors, engineers. Multiple options for repairing STR and norml troops for healing. Advance units with d-charges and linkable veteran character hacker with sensor. Plenty of msv options on stuff you were gonna take anyway etc. I think spiral are good for those missions and the best bit is easy access to eclipse effects to make getting to place d-charges, hvts or downed troopers completely safe for the specialist
Spiral are both inherently good at Countermeasures / Highly Classified - and trash at the missions. If you build specifically FOR those two missions Spiral have good quality specialists that fit into flexible and functional links - they're better suited than pure tohaa thanks to the existence of the cheap Brawler hacker compared to Ms. Keesan. Alternatively, if you're not playing either of those classified deck missions, generally Spiral doesn't find much cohesion in taking hackers, doctors or engineers. There's nothing really worth fixing that has structure; our best gunfighters lose effectiveness with their symbioarmor and that can't be engineered or doctored; and hacking... yeah we can do it... Spiral's strong specialists all come with "specialist operative" - whether it is chain of command on your Kaeltar, or specialist operative on your Draal or the diplomatic delegate. Unless you really bank on getting the mission specialist bonus I find that I rarely have cause to spend for a particular specialist. That is why the classified deck missions can be hard for Spiral. I took Spiral into a satellite the other weekend and scored 8/10 objective points in Countermeasures with a list I had built for it, supplies, and Unmasking. I had made sure to include at least one model that could do each objective in the deck. Nearly 40% of the Satellite's potential OP came from completing classifieds so I made the conscious decision to build one list that could potentially run the spread. The other list was for Power Pack and Firefight and contained just the bare minimum specialist models.
Spiral Corps is in a terrible spot atm. The (very few) things that made Spiral stand out from Tohaa are gone. Tri-core is a joke of a skill. Diggers are gone. You're essentially playing Tohaa, minus what makes Tohaa good. It's incredibly hard to make a Spiral Corps list that isn't just a bad Tohaa list. Meanwhile, Tohaa is in the best spot they've ever been. The faction is super fun, unique and powerful.
