Seems like cancelling the first IO is the way to go. Its that first order where you cannot deal with the MLs, because you have to move the bikes before you could take the ML down.
Things like moving a huge base in a straight line to your opponent's DZ can be tough on the first order of a game. They have every trick in their list left to counter what you have, full agency and no exhaustion.
At the same time, a bike can be devastating if they're not prepared for it. The Spitfire Aragoto can afford to take a longer path to avoid a particularly pesky ARO since he moves 14 inches per regular order.
Yes just don't be disapointed if you can't devastate your opponent first turn that often. It doesn't mean the unit isn't working. This is Infinity, your opponent can always learn to be prepared.
One thing I always wanted to ask concerning bikes : Couldn't you just choose to dismount and move only 4 inches in your impetious order if else you would run into deadly AROs? I guess in the first it does not make much sense as you could just choose to not use the impetious order if driving out into the open would put you in a bad position. but in a later turn when your biked have already moved up midfield this could be an option. And also for extremely impetious , so yujimbo in first turn. He could even use that effectively, moving 4 and throwing smoke grenades at ph 13. Later with his normal irregular order he just moves back to the bike and mounts again and drives where ever needed. Or does this not work due to the limitrd skills you can use in the impetious order?
But then, mount /dismount is not a skill per se but part of the generell movement rules and just declared at the beginning of the move skill. Similar to prone, which you are forced to cancel if you use the impetious order
Dismount is a legal action as it is completed as part of a general movement short skill. It would be legal, and mandatory, if there was a gap the S4 bike couldn't fit through but an S2 trooper could, and taking that route would result in fewer orders required to reach B2B with the enemy model - or if jumping or climbing could net you a similar result.
No, you cannot avoid deadly AROs during your Impetuous move. But remember that the bikes are not Extremely Impetuous, so they can simply cancel their Impetuous order at no cost. Even Celty.
Aragoto were one of the things that drew me to JSA, they truly embody the idea of Feast or Famine in Infinity, normally I find that a single Aragoto (Spitfire, KHD or Kuro) makes a good value buy. And I like some of the ideas in this thread. Bikes! ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 3 KUROSHI RIDER Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Breaker Pistol, AP + Shock CCW. (0 | 33) ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26) ARAGOTO Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14) KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14) KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 6 2 3 YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21) ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26) ARAGOTO (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) PANGGULING (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army This is my general go to list when I want to run more bikes than are sensible. Works pretty nicely on missions where you need to push a lot of buttons.
Which will cover most of the options. Not BSG, of course, but how often do you take the BSG? Hopefully there's a hacker visor bit in there (that you could stick onto a plain helmet), because I sure don't take anything but 2x hacker and 2x Spitfires!
Some time ago it took me an hour or so to find the correct answer in the rules for that so I'll just share it. Impetuous Movement forces you to do this: When a trooper declares Move as part of an Impetuous Order, he always moves the entirety of his corresponding MOV value. The thing here is that Bikes do not have to seperate Profiles for mounted and dismounted. They have only one Profile that changes MOV and S if you dismount (unlike TAGs who have two different ones) which happens while declaring a Move. If you would dismount you'd usually violate the requirement that you are forced to try and reach an enemy with the least amount of Orders possible. However that is not always the case. If you can reach the closest enemy in the same amount or less Orders on foot, you are allowed to dismount with your Impetuous Order as all requirements are still met. That happens quite often in the 2nd and 3rd turn. Something else to mention is that it is often worth spending the Regular Order to safe Yojimbo from an ARO. If his huge base is touching Total Cover, he can safely dismount in btb with the S4 silhouette behind a corner or even Prone in Total Cover behind his own Bike. Then chugg a Smoke so it touches the the Bike's base without getting shot. Then can mount his bike again (which is now touching a Smoke Template and is in a Zero Vis Zone) to clear a gap of roughly 8 inches without having to fear AROs. The "free Sidestep" from mounting and dismounting is actually a nasty trick. With Smoke template+Bike base+Dismount you can enter Engaged State directly while effectively leaving the Smoke and gaining an extra inch of "safezone". You can be in plain sight of a nasty ARO piece and just dismount into safety behind a wall or - Prone behind your own Bike. As an extention to that you can also Smoke, drive to the Edge of the Smoke, dismount Prone outside of LOF, chugg another Smoke on a 17 touching the Bike without having to use Spec Fire, mount again and move through the secondary Smoke. This way you can bunnyhop along a large open space without triggering AROs (that aren't Perimeter, MSV2+ or Mines). I am pretty sure this is hardcore abuse of the rules, but it is legal.
Your bike marker doesn't provide cover. You'd have to dismount into Total Cover, throw smoke, and then remount to move on the bike. Which only applies to Yojimbo, anyway, as the Aragoto don't have smoke grenades.
When a trooper on a Motorcycle declares the Short Skill Move and announces he will Dismount, replace the mounted figure by a Motorcycle Marker (MOTORCYCLE) or a piece of scenery of similar diameter. Scenery provides Cover, using the Marker would also do that. Motorcycle Marker Profile ARM BTS STR S 0 0 1 4 They're not seethrough and S4.
Keep it mind Mount and Dismount are only when you declare MOV as the first skill in an order per the new FAQ.
Scenery provides cover. Markers do not provide cover, unless there was a rules change I missed. @ijw , a little help here? The 'Marker' link in the wiki goes to the damn 'pitcher' page.
From LoF: Unless otherwise indicated for specific purposes, Markers do not obstruct LoF. What is the piece of scenery doing in this case? Acting as a Marker because players generally don't have a 55mm marker hanging around.
