vPanO also has Zulu-Cobras as well. Like @Lady Numiria stated elsewhere,vPanO will have all the skirmshers.
But Zulu Cobra is a Camo trooper with KHD or a Jammer. They are there to get rid of hackers or to Isolate a fireteam leader and break the FT... That has nothing to do with a super agressive Nokken aimed at taking down isolated Mimetism medium infantry... And again it's nowhere comparable to a Crocman that is set as an ARO piece / to surprise in active turn your opponent if they overextended. Please tell me when have you used a Croc man the same way you use a Nokken or a Locust. Guys wtf... Are we now putting all advance deployments units in the same bucket now?
The last Nokk I actually saw in gameplay was a KHD in WhiteCo, Cybermasking immediately and trying to counter-punch my own advancing Hackers. I always used a Hexa for that. Slightly cheaper. Main use I used to have for TO Camo Skirmishers was leaving them Hidden until Turn 3 for last-minute objective scoring, which wasn't a luxury I had as PanO- we were too vulnerable to getting tabled if we couldn't counter-punch any enemies that dared stage for a Rambo run. Funnily enough, most factions are so damned fast these days I usually do the surprise HD counterpunch with a Swiss Guard. Between all the Impersonators, Superior Infiltration and Van Zants, I actually went several games without my opponents even bothering to bring a HMG.
And for me, Zulu-Cobra spitfire is a stronger piece than a Nokken Spitfire. Camo really helps move into a better position to gunfight. The point I was trying to make is while there is nuance, as @Bignoob mentions, Forward deploying camo markers generally work the same. In N5, there will be at least three separate variants of that (Crocman, Zulu-Cobras, and Scarecrows) in Vanilla PanO all in a relatively similar price range. The other issue is that it is very hard to make forward deploying models without camo attractive. Camo is one of the games most powerful rules. Looking at the current Locust and Nokken profiles, what can they do better than the three camo units I listed above? Hopefully N5 does make Nokken and Locust have viable niches.
Certainly. Then again, CB was never particularly good at that aspect of marketing. Or maybe they found it is not their style. Bottom line - never in my memory did they tick the way you're asking them to. And I certainly don't expect them to start now, inconvenient for us as it is.
Beyond the disappointment of having my favorite faction, FRRM, squatted, is the recognition that this leaves only Russian and American sectorials for Ariadna. And not only that, but *two* Russian factions. Really?? In 2024? Lame.
I was trying not to contribute to the salt mines here, however I will say my take on the situation. I started early N3 - been a PanO player since the release of Operation Ice Storm. I knew back then that NCA and SAA were risky picks due to the age of their models and apparent lack of support especially by the end of edition. I bought into Varuna heavily back then and had many great games with both them and MO. I feel Corvus Belli communicated NCA/S.A.A. properly in the edition change and decided to pick up the Bagh Mari box at the end of N3 with the full knowledge they'll eventually go away since they were effectively OOP at that point. Just loved the models and figured I could proxy when they went the way of the dodo. Fast forward to now, I'm happy with the inclusion of the "staple" units of NCA making their way into vanilla, with the reinforcements box very heavily NCA themed. At least in my opinion, now would be the natural time to "legends" those older unsupported factions. Varuna, though? I was one of the unfortunate souls that purchased the Varuna starter a few weeks ago. After the announcement of the Zulu Cobra, Cutter, Croc Man into Vanilla I thought it was a safe pick to reinforce my PanOceania Varuna collection. Varuna should have been OOP long before this point or at the very least include anything in print (and not "last chance") in the release. Why sell a brand new box to someone only for 50% of it not to be included mainline in the new edition? I honestly think including a Kamau profile in Vanilla on launch would be the bare minimum. Sure, it may show up in a few months but seems like unnecessary conflict with the community where there should be a big hype train for N5.
It would be funny if they paywalled the rules and made it so you have to buy access to some sectorials like Varuna on the app xD
I guess I'm the lucky one. I lost one army. My NCA, which I've had since N2 (about 2010 or so, when I expanded my "vanilla" from N2 launch into the direction of NCA). Maybe 2 if you count nothing really new for my QK, but at least they are still there. I'll just have to go through the Kestrel stuff to see what can be ported across. I already have fusiliers with caps on (I did headswaps years ago) rather than berets. Bonus, one of my minor forces got bumped into a major faction update (JSA).
What excuse? Detecting sarcasm doesn't seem to be your strong point. Calling him a douche or an idiot would be an insult. Calling him a whiner is not, especially with his pedigree. I won't apologize for stating a fact. Next.