Satrah are elite, in the same boat as Arjuna. Also Arjuna (thank god it's FTO...) is not even linkable in vAleph. Heck there's not even a wildcard list in vAleph outside of reinforcements. The one sensible team in vAleph is Maximus and Artalis K1 combi engineer (not saying there aren't any other, just that it's the most sensible. For example Riksha/Artalis is another one, but then you've run out of Artalis). In this example, in order to keep the eyes off Maximus, one can pick an Asura, but only with spitfire because there's no hacker/Lt option. Hidden in a manner of speaking, because a keen eye will spot the lack of 2Lt orders (Asura) vs. the 1Lt orders (Maximus)... so no: you're not hiding it this way. An alternative could be Deva Triang.fire/sensor/Lt (combi rifle... in the aforementioned elite faction, not even a MULTI rifle) which could hide Maximus as Lt. Still I don't understand how it is possible that a Yadu(MI) has ARM3 and a Deva(MI) ARM2...
In vAleph my favorite team is a Sophie and Dawon haris. They work fantastic together. Both move 6-4, Sophie fixes Dawon if needed, they protect her. They run around doing missions. For the few times I played him I ran Max on his own but wished I had the Artalis near by. But he would also be good with a TA Daleth. The Daleth gives him repeater coverage, a specialist, Sensor of course. It gives so much for so little of a price. A Deva hacker would be good but I think might as well do the hacking through a Daleth. Yadu is not bad but expensive. BTW I think there should be more HD+. Only two in vAleph and OSS is not enough. They could give one to the Deva for vAleph and OSS only. This way it doesn’t show up in ISS or Neoterra. Satrah would be another good one. If not that, then an upgrade of White Noise would be good. I think they should have an Uber Killer Hacker (character?) too. One who's job it is to take down troops like Charontid, Anathematics, and Interventors. WIP15, BTS9, Trinity +1 B or SD, and SR -1, Sixth Sense and Combat Instinct. But little to no ARM and Weapons. Essentially a better version of the Danavas.
Daleth&Max is interesting, but you can still have the repeater of a Danavas (pitcher) and an Artalis in DUO. Probably not as point efficient as the Daleth that also brings +1 order effetively. I see you too @Space Ranger are dipping your toe in the pool of what's missing. Still I think we are also missing some cheap impetuous (I suggested Furies for SP in another forum that can have some vengeance mechanism too) that could justify the vCA strategy of 2 big pieces and a bunch of orders... at the moment this is hindered by the lack of cheap orders.
I’ve busted pitcher rolls with my Cyberghost who has the same BS. The Daleth is fast, reliable, efficient and can do more. I always forget they have Climb+ too. I’m not sure on cheap orders though. We do have Netrods AVA3, which I wish I had in O12 or YJ. I’d rather the expensive stuff just be better. Like a 2 Vita, NWI heavy infantry. Or better yet, a 3 Vita HI that’s only S2 (Aleph answer to Mobile Brigada and Gamma). Or bring the Hoplites into vAleph but I’d want something that can go into OSSS. I’m pretty positive Aleph will get a flyer at some point. How could they not?
A name pops to mind: Tohaa aka "how to make a bad choice to justify a bad strategy with a good tool". Now let's see if it's true that the lightning doesn't strike twice in the same spot... Fair point on the Daleth and the rest, still I wouldn't mind an impetuous smoke tosser for below 15 so that one can choose between a Myrmidon and the aforementioned, changing the surrounding list to taste.
I doubt Aleph would get a smoke thrower under 15pts that’s not irregular and/or impetuous. Pretty much like all other factions. I think Aleph is doing fine by having 16pt Myrm who’s regular, Mim -6, and Frenzy. My Varangian are 3pts cheaper but vastly inferior to a Myrm. The only one that’s as good is the Daturazi at 14pts but they are mim -3, Impetuous, and No Cover. Other than the Dat is Denma Connolly who’s AVA1. Aleph is also lucky enough to have it on Penny and Hippo.
Don't ask for the same capabilities that other factions have, executed in the same way. This will end with factions being reskins instead of an actual choice. Ask for having those capabilities either being substituted with something else, or provided in a different way. Case in point, PanO. Which still has no Smoke, exactly one source of Eclipse - 40 pts cheapest - and if not for the Fennec available in Kestrel and Vanilla it'd have no Disco Ball cheaper than 20-something points. And it functions just fine, and would do so even without Fennecs. What I think is that Aleph should lean into its elite side and faction strengths and get its ability to counter assymetrical plays bolstered. Some ideas: New sectorial With EI dominion getting a place in Human Sphere I can see two possible and not mutually exclusive ways to go about it. 1) A joint Aleph-CA sectorial, falling under Aleph control, with both sides being perfectly aware that this is a way for both of them to spy on each other (I also expect some unwritten agreement made behind the scenes that Aleph and HS being used as a control group instead of just another conquered processing node is better aligned with EI ultimate goal). This would allow some space for Aleph to get a bit freaky and have some really unique stuff contained here, with some of these making their way into vanilla. 2) A NA2 of hardcore Aleph/HS puritans stating that they didn't fight and die for this, possibly led by Odysseus (whom I fully expect to resurface at some point). There could be some hints that Aleph actually supports them in a deniable way, treating this as another string to her bow should things go sideways. It'd be a space where Aleph, human, and hijacked CA tech could mix, and where some SP personalities, both current and lost (like Diomedes) could show up. As a side note, continued existence of SP is a non-issue, Humans going "sure, we're buddies now, but we're keeping this as an insurance policy", and CA going "k, fair (just as I predicted)". Total awareness: A good theme when it comes to AI in fiction is the ability to gather and process data in quantity and with speed unmatched by any other entity, especially human one. In gameplay terms it could be represented by increased availability of Combat Instinct, Sixth Sense, and 360v, making it harder to outflank and surprise the usually outnumbered Aleph assets (part of what I've stated earlier about it having the tools to combat assymetric warfare). Additional Sensor options could be a part of this, too. Always connected: Aleph has a number of good hackers, but always lacked a good Repeater coverage, this being their weakness compared to Nomads, who excel at hacking area projection. But while Nomads project it as intruders - at range, with Pitchers - Aleph units should have that capability built in, more of a defensive tool. There should be more units, both as a whole or as a single loadout option, equipped with Repeaters, carrying the net and defense capability of their hackers with them. Units like K2 or Devas could get such option, for example. I'd even put it on Netrods, opening some interesting tactical choices there, or give some infiltrators, like Nagas, such an option. As part of the same, I'd expand Aleph's EVO depth and width. Aleph, together with CA and PanO, should really have increased access and capabilities here. And finally, there should certainly be more cases of Firewall/ECM (Hacker) on Aleph units, not widespread, but strategically placed on several assets. CC defense: As part of that ability of defending itself against assymetrical warfare I'd expand Aleph's access to Para CCWs (anywhere from -3 to -9 on more expensive and valuable units), making it much less attractive an option to try and tie them down in CC with a cheap warband. I'd throw NBW on several units as well, for the same reason. Actual MA I'd keep largely contained in SP. ------------------------------ The desired effect would be keeping Aleph an elite-style force, but making its units better able to defend and support each other, forcing opposing players to either choose their attack vectors more carefully to isolate and defeat Aleph's units in detail, or to look for ways to go after its backline and order pool.
