Are the Restrictive Link Teams a Design Mistake?

Not a mistake, just a trap!

My buddy and I have been pouring over ForCo this weekend. In the end they seem fun, but we both think that the character death star is a big trap. The Hannibal + Massacre + Bolt Spitfire haris may be the most playable of the bunch, pending testing.

 

I liked Valkyrie+Avicenna+3 ORCs (HMG+Feuerbach+Tinbot) as a pain train alternative to the Character Deathstar. Much more resilient AND packs a bigger punch.

 

I must say, I consider "trap" options to be a design error.

 

Just because they give you an option doesn't mean it always has to be a good one. You can make an army with over 40 galwegians, that doesn't make it a good idea. They put in the option for people who want to do the silly fun thing, if they didn't have the option, people would complain that it was missing.

 

I agree with @TheDiceAbide on this. However, I would like to see juust a little less restriction on the fireteams.

Stuff like being able to do 4 ORCS+ 1 SoF or doing an SoF haris. It would be prettty great.

 

Yeah, but the exact same goal would be achieved with a version of the same Fireteam allowing any-to-all of the Soldiers of Fortune "core 4" with up to 4 Bolts or Orcs.

And THAT wouldn't be a trap.

 

It seems like they didn't want you always just taking Hannibal and 4 Bolts to give them all FD2 and delay their deployment. :P

 

Yeah, because in the current Meta that would be SO game breaking!

 

If we’re going to go that route, I think AVA T is a design error in most current list building contexts. It should be in the 6-8 range which is still a lot of bodies, but heads off more extreme spam lists.

 

AVA Total is more of a fluff decision. Not really relevant at 300 points except for very rare occasions. Same as AVA2 on big TAGs in Secotrials.

A dedicated Fireteam option also has roots in fluff, but should do something interesting. Then again Hannibal and Valkyre don't have Duo, something you wouldn't run either, but would be very very much fluff relevant.

The Special Link options in FC are mostly crap. Compared to their sibling Sectorials and anything released in the last 4 books it doesn't make much sense.
How is the most professional Merc Sectorial with Regular troops and Veterans everywhere somehow poorly trained to work in squads?

 

I kinda get the feeling this 'special link options in FC is crap' thing wasn't tested enough by the players. I mean, yes, they are restrictive, but I wouldn't call them crap.

I tested:
Avicenna+Kaplans haris;
Hannibal Deathball with Orc;
Hannibal Deathball with Bolt;

And I enjoyed the first and the last (although that was when winning initiative, so I think that link wouldn't be so great if I lost initiative). However, I strongly disagree these links are bad. Odd? Yes. Could be better? yes. Bad? No.

 

Foreign Company
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5
HANNIBAL Lieutenant (Strategic Deployment, Strategos L1) MULTI Marksman Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 41)
LAXMEE Hacker (UPGRADE: Maestro) Submachine Gun + Pitcher, Cybermines, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
SEÑOR MASSACRE Breaker Combi Rifle, E/M Grenades, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, E/M CCW. (0 | 29)
VALKYRIE Heavy Shotgun, Grenades / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 35)
BOLT Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)

1 SWC | 161 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I think this fireteam is sooooo good. Between deployables, shotguns, grenades, and DTWs, this link can clear the midfield fast and set up defensively very easily. Add some Zero minelayers to the list and you can setup a strong castle right in the middle of where the action happens. Oh, and in Decapitation, Valkyrie is spec firing grenades on the DT on 17's, first order of the game.

Combi+LSG Bolt is there for drop bears and and another B4 gun. I don't see the spitfire as necessary for this link to succeed, and the drop bears are better in a full core. But he can be swapped out for a BSG or killer hacker to fit mission/taste.

 

I think my biggest issue with the sectorial is the lack of any notable MSV. The lone brawler MSR is pretty weak (only if he could link!). The bolt MSR is playing the opposite of where that haris wants to be. the spitfire should have gotten the visor :(

 

The Tohaa experiment I think shows the potential of what mixed links could be.

I don't think it's a bad thing though balancing the current power difference in link teams is going to be a task. The more diversity we get in mixed links/wildcards the harder it will be to find maintain a centre/balance from which to compare which can make it hard to manage a level where you have a range of link teams that are still competitive.

It's a balancing act though. You want new releases to drive sale but also wouldn't want to see a kind of proliferation that only rewards the latest releases and leaves factions at different tiers.

 

They should have made it work based around triads, because really what you want to take is loads of Haris teams in FC from what I can see

Laxmee and Kaplans seems like an ace combo though. I'm tempted to swap the Securitate HMG for another feueueueuerbach since if I use them as purely an ARO force (and that's probably what will happen, as I find that core fireteams are messy to use aggressively) that'd be very nasty.

Foreign Company
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GROUP 1 10
LAXMEE Hacker (UPGRADE: Maestro) Submachine Gun + Pitcher, Cybermines, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
KAPLAN Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28)
KAPLAN Engineer Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
CROC MAN MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
SECURITATE HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21)
SECURITATE Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22)
SECURITATE (Repeater) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
SECURITATE Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

GROUP 2 4
ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

 

I'm less worried about the lack of MSV specifically, and more that there's also a lack of Sensor.

With only one Pathfinder and Fugazi each AND the dearth of MSV (and no linkable MSV 2+) I have a hard time seeing how Foreign will succeed against Ariadna or Shasvastii... hell even some Nomad and Yu Jing builds will be hard for them to deal with!

 

Still got sensor, template weapons, deployables etc which all work great vs camo. You don't need msv to beat camo at all, and in fact practically it basically makes somewhat of a difference essentially in the discover roll and that's about it, active turn burst advantage plus a proliferation of Shotguns and strong BS options will mean that part will be easy.

 

Not to mention the advantage of having Smoke, White Noise, and Eclipse options to get into close range.