For the following reasons, I personally think Aleph’s current situation is not very optimistic, and I hope CB can show it a bit more love. Reduction in unit options Aleph lost several iconic choices, such as Achilles and the Posthuman Proxy Mk.3. Conservative adjustments compared to other factions Aleph’s changes are extremely mild—almost nonexistent—compared to other factions. Take the Combined Army, another “high-tech” faction, for example: The Charontid in N5 gained ECM: Hacker (-3), an X-Visor, its Nanopulser was upgraded to a Pulzar (+1B), its Heavy Pistol became an AP Heavy Pistol, and its Move changed from 4-4 to 6-2, all while its cost dropped by about 2 points. In contrast, the Asura only got a boring ~5-point cost reduction, with no other changes. It’s not that Aleph must receive the same upgrades, but it’s disappointing that the pinnacle of AI technology in the Human Sphere is still using a Nanopulser instead of a Pulzar or other impactful template weapons—and that its Spitfire still lacks AP. Posthumans saw almost no changes except for the removal of the Proxy Mk.3 profile. The Hacker/BSG configuration had its cost slightly reduced (due to the removal of DTW), but all other profiles remain unchanged, with no new skills. Even though they’re still strong units, in an edition where many things got cheaper, that effectively makes them weaker. RemDriver remains a rare skill that should highlight Aleph’s support for REMs, but the Apsara, even after a 1-point drop, is still barely usable—nobody’s paying 21 points for a RemDriver that can’t switch targets. Danavas received no changes at all. Dasyus’s HD profile swapped its Combi Rifle for an SMG, and its Pistol for a Silenced Pistol, with no cost drop. The BSG profile lost its DTW and also got the Silenced Pistol, but only dropped by 1 point. The Silenced Pistol is nowhere near as useful as a Combi Rifle. Myrmidons, due to the Frenzy rework, became less reliable than in N4, but their cost barely dropped (most by 0–1 points, except the BSG profile which dropped 3 but lost its DTW). Lack of defensive strength In N5, most factions’ hacking capabilities have skyrocketed—some have built-in upgraded firewalls, others have excellent Pitchers. Aleph, however, lacks strong Firewall options, which makes them heavily disadvantaged on defense. Even the Asura can end up in a losing face-to-face roll if the opponent has Firewall (-3). This applies to both vanilla Aleph and OSS. As for midfield presence, other factions gained tools like Decoy, Minelayer (2), Minelayer + Deployable Repeater, Pitcher, or enhanced Firewalls. Aleph’s midfield units—Nagas and Dasyus—received almost no meaningful upgrades and only minor point reductions. Dart did improve slightly, but that was more of a side effect of the PanO rework. Overall, getting a solid midfield presence costs Aleph significantly more than it does for other factions. Falling behind in technological edge Aleph’s once-leading tech is being caught up by others, yet it has received no new tools. Old “special techs” like Eclipse, Pitcher, and E/M weapons are now far more common, and advanced hacking upgrades are everywhere. Meanwhile, Aleph still lacks key technologies like Firewall (-6), HRMC, Fastpanda, and WildParrot. Overall: Aleph is thematically a high-tech faction, but in N5 it’s severely lacking in any loadouts or tools that feel innovative or impressive. Everything that stands out is old content with no progress—and in some cases, fewer choices than before.
I'm very happy somebody brought it up because it's the Emperor class titan in the room. What you say Angus is correct in many things and in my specific case brings up also the worst of all aspects: almost complete lack of replayability due to severely limited choices. What I mean is not just loadouts (that indeed did not get a significant update to N5, especially in weapon options), but straight down new models and possibilities to change play style. Which includes a promise: 3 sectorials... which has been scrapped completely like your run-of-the-mill Italian PM would do. OSS and vAleph are still too much dependent on Proxies. Don't get me wrong: it is the single most interesting unit in the whole game with their unique ability. Still I would like to focus lists on something else also. Hackers are tigers and no claws. StellPhalanx is too much herohammer: most lists are [input name character] and his/her friends which makes too much a style of play I didn't like in some hammer from the past (hint: they don't like sunlight and have armies of good-for-nothing chaff they can raise at any time). Also a melee faction (which SP mostly is) needs delivery mechanisms (and in this JSA misses it too). Also the high tech brain fart is a lie: at this stage anything outclassed and outgunned Aleph. This brings me to a sore spot: background. Aleph is supposed to be an AI. Nowadays an AI (which isn't actually an AI by a long shot) is capable of finding patterns in people's behavior on social media and anticipate even, to some extent, to the level the target is unaware of. Fast forward to a Conscious AI that monitors and manages communication in the human sphere and the result is a faction that, at best, is a barely adequate reaction to whatever the enemies are fielding. This is unacceptable. No prediction, no adjustment of strategy for a faction that embodies THE future. Also now that CA has been incorporated this should be on steroids for the same "communication monitoring" reason just mentioned AND because bringing CA in is like letting a thief into your house wearing a blindfold. There is also the point of: wait, don't complain about your elite faction, the restyling of Aleph is coming. This, for those that know what I mean, is like the revolution for the Fabian society. This means: in the absence of teasers (resculpt and new isolated models in each release and also PAINTS for peep's sake) and discussions about what might happen rhymes disgustingly with: it ain't gonna happen, buckle up for a Tohaa treatment! Obviously then there is a balancing issue: a faction that on total can count on 100 models (and relative loadouts) will always be ahead of any faction with less. If your opponent knows how to play against Aleph he'll find Lieutenant in an instant, anticipate HD and Paratroopers and most importantly can anticipate any play you may want to bring to the table. How do you mean? vCA is the same? Not really, I can already see at least 3 different build-ups (Charontit, Anatematic and Nourkias) in that case which need adjustment sometimes complex to put in place (because yeah, the mission matters, but it matters surviving in the process as well YMMV). So the lack of options of play results in a heated up soup that on the beer-and-pretzel game equals to "You shall not pass!!!" condition on turn 1, on the tournament side of business may actually give you more fighting chance, but not by much. This led me to... disaffectioning to the game. Do I have expectations for the future? Not really, I may have hopes (remember what was the final plague in Pandora's box? Ancient greeks believed that hope was a curse), but at the moment I'm standing on the threshold waiting to pick which way to go.
With the start of N5 - Aleph (more) and Haq (less) are under the radar. We wait for the new book focusing of both (and will contain Next Wave, I guess). Ideed Alephs look like it get not so much nice little things, like other factions. Instead loose some Heros (still a bad plot I think) and the not so often taken MK3 (I liked her very much, a very nice flank or third turn gunner). So hopyfully Aleph will recive a more intense rework. I never understand, why Aleph had no good repeater network. There are two or three (two in SP!) units with Pitchers, no fast Pandas, only one unit (that you rarley take) with deployable repeater. Apart from this you had to use Lamehd. Aleph should be a strong hacking faction with its AI background. Nomads are gamewise the kings of hacking and network - which is fine - but now where even Yu Jing and Pan O gets pitchers (which I like in the case of YJ ;-) Alpeh hacking looks weak. MO has now a charcter with SD on Trinity, which is huge. Where are the cool upgrades for Aleph? SP was designed as the herohammer. But now it lacks some of its heros and the most iconic one (I never liked him so much, but story like it feels unnecsessary). So now we have herohammer in CA with the Next Wave that gives Archilles and his renegades a new home. Indeed it could - Technodinos aside - an Aleph sectorial. Optimised elite troops with no cheap fillers. So more or less it is SP II now.
The elephant in the room is even larger than you think, and CB has painted themselves into a narrow corner willingly. Let's start with the background: 1) Aleph is the "caretaker" made by Humanity to manage infrastructure, the only "free" big information nodes are the Nomad Motherships, specially Tunguska with their data vaults know to host all kind of black info nobody wants anybody else to know or access. 2) the Evolved Intelligence is the tyrant mind overseeing the CA, with thousands upon thousands of years of experience into conquering other races. Thus far, Humanity had not been wiped out thanks to a combination of primary directive derived impulse (ascend to a highe plane of existence, derived into "observe other AI's developed prior to CA's interference to ascend, so as to figure something out"), extremely limited resources (besides "obliterate everything"), and another way to the primary directive (the Tzechi Digester found in Paradiso, then moved to Concilium). 3) Any and all of Aleph's "Aspects" (AI's derived from the main one, and always connected to it) carry a Cube 2.0 (aside from strange cases like Trisha for some reason, or Hawkwood if he was "made" by Aleph). Cube 2.0 was described in the lore as "always connected to Aleph's main systems", while other people's cubes were backed up before going out in the field for the war. This was the cause for the old Campaign Rules, where every hero that had died in the battle had to make one PH roll (with a bonus if a Doctor had survived the fight, and I think an extra bonus for Ariadnans), and if they failed a Cubevac roll (if they had a cube); this Cubevac Roll was autosuccess for Aleph only... unless the enemy was the CA (or any CA sectorial), in which case it was an autofail, and the hero was lost for the whole campaign. This was because fluff-wise all Aspects have a suicide directive they are forced to take if they lose contact with Aleph, the alternative being, well, getting shot at like an enemy agent. It is the reason Perseus is a Rogue Myrmidon. Yet Achilles & friends still carry a Cube 2.0. Item #3 means the EI had access to the encrypted channels used by Aspects (and Achilles was a really, really priority one) to connect to the main AI. Sure, CB can claim Aleph was quicker or that the channels had been severed beforehand, etc..., but this means the absolute, total and irrevocable branding of Achilles & co as enemies of Aleph to be disposed of by any means necessary. I suppose they can sell this as the reason for the Steel Phalanx still existing, despite having been approved only as armed forces against the CA... 4) Yes, Steel Phalanx is now officially without a reason to be allowed to exists. Existing lore states their creation was authorized only for open battle against the CA... which are now allies and part of the Human Sphere, making it necessary for the Phalanx to either disband or justify its existend somewhat. As for Aleph's status in the game, OSS is in need of a revamp, but got the Reinforcements pack... but so is ASS because of the removal of iconic pieces. Also, vAleph is lacking in units. An amount kinda the size of a new sectorial. For the moment, we can only wait for the new book.
I think every faction has some auto-include units, and given the unique nature of the Proxies, it’s quite normal for them to fall into that category. However, their high cost does make list-building harder to adjust, which is indeed one of the issues they bring. They’re practically N4-level units, and the fact that they remain auto-includes in N5 shows that at least 26–71 points of any Aleph list are still operating at N4 power levels. As for hackers, aside from having high WIP, there’s really nothing that justifies calling Aleph an outstanding hacking faction. When it comes to Pitchers, PanO has BS14 Pitchers, and even ones with BS Attack (+1B) combined with an X-Visor; Yu Jing, on the other hand, has VH units with BS Attack (+1SD) carrying Pitchers. Within the Zero Turn Hacking Area, the lack of a Mine Layer + Repeater setup means deployment must always rely on the unit itself pushing forward. Not to mention, the absence of Firewalls puts Aleph at a passive disadvantage during reactive turns. I don’t believe a melee faction needs more delivery mechanisms. Because Infinity uses a Face-to-Face roll system, and Close Combat almost always wins the roll, having too many delivery tools would only make the game boring. Also, since mission objectives in Infinity are usually located in the midfield, units with Infiltration and Hidden Deployment generally don’t need to worry about finding targets to engage in melee combat. As a side note: JSA already has units with Infiltration (PH=19), Hidden Deployment, Climbing Plus, and Smoke, so it’s clearly not lacking melee delivery tools—just that their efficiency varies. Nowadays, with Discoball (White Noise) available to block multiple visors, what I’ve actually seen in Chinese discussion groups is people complaining that JSA can reach close combat too easily. Steel Phalanx (SP), on the other hand, has a very different style from JSA. SP plays more like a midfield brawler, not a faction that uses Close Combat assassinations. However, this brings up the main issue: many SP units are still MOV 4-4, and a lot of them lack Infiltration or Forward Deployment (+8") options. This often forces them to struggle moving out of the Deployment Zone—similar to how Military Orders (MO) used to be in N4—though SP is slightly better since it has Smoke. But in N5, MO completely fixed that problem: many Knights are now 6-2, and they also gained Discoball. SP, however, still suffers from low mobility (4-4) and hasn’t improved in other directions either, such as gaining more survival tools. Some profiles even look like they were never seriously considered— for example, Ajax’s FD+8 profile is practically unusable. When going second, a Hack unit can completely shut down your 45-point model for the whole game. MO’s Mendoza has a similar issue, but at least he received Decoy(1). It still might not be enough, but at least it shows that CB thought about ways to make him easier to deploy. And with the latest Fireteam rules, the best Fireteam type right now is Duo. SP’s “unlimited Core Fireteam” is actually not a significant advantage anymore—and in fact, their point costs don’t even allow for it effectively.
Steel Phalanx's advantage of unlimited Core fireteams started its decline when Haris fireteams were released from being a QK exclusive to all factions. This advantage grew even smaller in N4 when factions like Morat got a second Haris fireteam AVA, but was compensated with a +1BS because it was hard to make a non-pure greek fireteam anyways. However, in N5 not only did the special dice got available at Duo level, and SP is activelly forbidden from making Duos and Haris with their core units (Myrmidons and Thorakitai), but two critical tools were removed, one almost entirely and the other absolutely. First, the removal of Eclipse Grenades from every loadout but the 25-31 AVA 3 Myrmidon Officer, getting in exchange a Disco Baller for Alke (27-31 character piece...). Additionally, some regular Smoke throwers lost such grenades entirely. Plus, rangebands were nerfed so smoke is no longer +3 in ZoC, but +0, so smoke dodge is now done at basic PH, nerfing ALL units depending on that (Myrmidons for example). On the other hand, units from other factions get Dodge (+3), Gangbomb (+4) and other dodge-helping bonuses. Second, the change to Fireteams not only has given the bonus before exclusive to Haris and Core (the +1 burst) in a downgraded version (+1k0 as old RPG players from L5A and 7th Sea know it, or "special dice" as CB markets it) to the all-available, almost no-limited Duo, it also removed Sixth Sense from the 4man bonus to a 5man bonus, making it impossible to achieve for the Greeks. This changes moved the difficulty of playing a mostly-melee faction like Steel Phalanx from "easy to play, but careful since you have almost no 2W units" to "you better be a virtuoso" because of the following consequences: The table is back to being really important. Before, using Eclipse you could ignore a lot of problems due to long corridors and enemy firelanes, this is now only possible against enemies without MSV, or paying an extra tax of Myrmidon Officer (currently either without miniature, or one of the 4 models in the Myrmidon box). You are much more vulnerable to Hidden deployment and AD Troops than before, and will most likely lose one or more units to enemy attacks from directions none or only one of your troops is looking at. You want to reach melee, but no longer have any defense against being surrounded. We are talking about a -3 to dodge here, so Myrmidons go to 10, a 50% chance... unless we stack it with Surprise Attack, going to 7 (35%), forcing you to trade inmediately with one of your myrms with LoS if possible to prevent further casualties if possible. Fireteams Core must have 3 to 5 members, so two casualties means no more Fireteam option for those troops (haris must have 3, but all haris options in SP can also become duos, so while you have to pay the Command Token, the option is there). Points one and 2 make it so open tables are bad, since SP hat is close range assault (despite having some long range snipers. The question is what are you doing playing SP as if it was PanOceania?) and has lost many tools to get closer other than to "shoot and pray", but also dense tables are bad since enemy ambushers can get close without getting into LoF or even ZoC before engaging in an attack vector to their advantage.
I honestly think the concept for Next Wave started out as a new Aleph sectoral. But then they thought they were being clever and edgy by making them traitors to CA. I was going to start doing more Aleph but now I'm going to wait until next year and see if they really do something with them and Haqqislam. I'll try playing them in missions I think they can do well but right now I feel most of them are a challenge. Almost all of them need speed and be efficient. SP can be efficient with teams but not the others as much. Though I will say in vAleph i'm loving a haris of 2 Dawon and a Sophotech. They have fantastic synergy and I wish they could do the same team in OSS. But I'm not sure about classified card missions. There's not that many elite and veterans now.
