Hey, I was one of the guys hyped for IS release and being playing it for approximately half a year now. A lot of tournaments big and small included. It feels like the faction has some great pieces, but overall performance is underwhelming (we do not see many IS winners in large tournaments). It's very sad since I've both had some great miniatures of old in my collection and bought lots of new stuff and expected a bit more from this army update. Mahtamori at IGL discord said it best IMO "The feeling I have playing ISS is that of a GM deploying a boss encounter on the players. It's tough and scary, but the design is to challenge the players in a serious way, not beat them" What are your thoughts on this sectorial and what would you change in the army to make it more meta relevant these days?
I like IS but it is middle of the road. It's not OP and it's not bad. It's just going to take a bit more of the users effort I think. We now have many good specialists to get the job done, plenty of MSV, good if not great hackers, good mid-field, a good TAG, and many good fireteams. I really can't complain about them. I complain about others (cough KCF/CA) being a bit too powerful.
I think that if your measuring stick is that ISS is good and balanced, and that a subset of other factions are too good and need to be brought in line, that then you are looking at a large and increasing number of factions to complain about. E.g. ISS is fine and balanced, but they could really bring TAK, KCF, NCA, Shinden, Oban, MO, Next Wave, WhiteCo, and probably Morats in line... Maybe the issue isn't those factions, but that the bar is set too low. The number of ailing factions are outnumbered, after all. Yu Jing, Haqq, Aleph, Nomads, and O-12 are yet to get N5 balance attention. Not in that order. USARF is expecting a full rework. Hopefully CB won't rest on their laurels and think that ISS has no problems because it's new. As more than one person (that aren't me) have put it on Discord; the biggest issue is that ISS doesn't seem to have any strengths.
Well, i personally have not had problems with all of those. Only CA and KCF. I disagree a bit about strengths. They may not have as many as others but they do have them. For instance a Crane Hacker is already good but then teamed up with a Wu Ming Tinbot puts it top teir. if you think 2 wound hacker with Tinbot -6, Combat Instinct, Stealth, CC24, WIP14 and BTS6, and then good weapons is top teir. The Long Wang by it itself is good but combined with a Shenji with Deployable cover he's fantastic. Vanguard are very good so far. A troop that can accomplish most classifieds. My only disappointment is the Feiquan. Even after it gained pitcher and +1SD it's still meh at best. Ok one more disappointment is all of the Non-Lethal. But I think it would be fine if any troops at the end of a game that are immobilized, counted as dead for the purpose of victory points.
The amount of non lethal would be my biggest criticism. That being said, they are fun to play and I've enjoyed the lists I've played so far.
But they are of good use. You can bring down the order efficence of your opponent and make it harder for them to go a certain route, while you block it with overwatching E-Mitters or Mad Traps. I like this style and do not go out without my Jinwei. You also have a lot of killy options like Hsien, Long Wan, Su Jian …
The overabundance of E/mitter and E/Marat did make it easier for me to take down the Red Eye. Having those weapons allows light infantry to punch up in ARO against harder targets and as archon mentioned provide good road blocks.
They ARE good but just not in missions that need dead bodies on the ground. It takes more orders to kill something after it's been immobilized and for some, Isolation is a mere inconvenience. I played a lot of O12 the year before and while the riotstopper can take down almost anything, it sucked to then need to use more orders to kill. Or the enemy just does ARO (with luck) to get out of a state.
BTW ISS has some of the lowest SWC cost heavy weapons in the game with many 1 or 0 SWC weapons. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 20 2 BOUNTY HUNTER Sniper Rifle / Breaker Pistol(+1B), PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0.5 | 19) BOUNTY HUNTER Spitfire / Boarding Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (1 | 21) ZHÀNYING Heavy Machine Gun / Boarding Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (1 | 26) DEVA (Multispectral Visor L2) Spitfire, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 29) PHEASANT IMPERIAL AGENT (Tactical Awareness) Red Fury / Breaker Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (1 | 28) HSIEN (Lieutenant) Heavy Machine Gun, Nanopulser(+1B) / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=6). (1 | 49) CRANE AGENT (Lieutenant) AP Spitfire, Pulzar(+1B) / MULTI Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 47) CRANE AGENT (Lieutenant) AP Heavy Machine Gun, Pulzar(+1B) / MULTI Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1 | 49) CRANE AGENT AP Spitfire, Pulzar(+1B) / MULTI Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1 | 47) LÓNGWÁNG (BS Attack [+1B]) Mk12, Adhesive Launcher Rifle, Heavy Riotstopper / PARA CC Weapon(-6). (1 | 72) SHÀNGDIÀO . (- | 3) DAKINI Combi Rifle, Grenade Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 15) DAKINI Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 21) DAKINI MULTI Sniper Rifle / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 19) HÙSÒNG Yaókòng Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 23) HÙSÒNG Yaókòng Thunderbolt(+1B) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 18) JĪNYÀO Red Fury, Heavy Riotstopper / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24) RUI SHI (Multispectral Visor L2) Spitfire ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 23) RUI SHI (Multispectral Visor L1) Red Fury, Mine Dispenser(Shock) ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 21) LÙ DUĀN Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower, E/M Mine / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 24) LÙ DUĀN Thunderbolt, E/M Carbine, E/M Mine / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 20) 15 SWC | 595 Points Open in Infinity Army
Yeah they are wasted. Meanwhile, IA and WB has no Lt. that give a plus to SWC and they all don't have as much 0-1 SWC weapons.
