That list looks pretty solid - ina away i don't usually use bolts. The Deva LT is a really good choice with Bolts. I can't help but feel like the BSG variant needs to be replaced with another SWC variant - ML+LSG is one I almost always take becuse the LSG lets you do the same work (more or less) as the other variants while giving the option to have a knockout ARO at deployment if the game pushes you in that direction. Of course MSR is a great option, too. Alternatively, a Bulleteer Spitfire instead of the second Sierra - simply to have more variety in attack and defense than the two TR bots provide. There are a lot of circumstance where I'd rather have Supp Fire ODD than TR. Regardless, the Bolts are expensive, and taking them usually means you have to tinker with how to squeeze in NCAs other cheap assets - and there are a lot of them.
Id rather invest my SWC in the paired TR HMGs and the TO MSR, leaving the Link with its cohesive design and roll supplied by the BS EM nade mini. The TR HMGs are there to act as back up assault pieces and AROs that require minimum order expenditure, while a SF bulleteer isnt bad I feel that it would work better in a list leveraging an EVO for the option of B2 ARO from the first turn. As to cheap assets, sure, Taking Bolts means you are leaning on them. But NCAs cheap assets are fantastic and some of the best in the Game. CSUs, Auxilia, Fusiliers are fantastic pieces, Fugazi make excellent road blocks and combo well with sensor to hamper significantly opposition camo spam. and in a list running bolts and black friars even an 8 pt baggage bot is more than just zone dominance as it resupplies the Drop bears those units use (and use fast)
At the risk of a brief tangent, what's the issue with the Locust MMR? Should Bipandra should get a new 0.5 SWC profile that allows her to form a Haris with a pair of Bolts? Brings healing and a DTW to a link that wants to be moving forward.
he pays for high CC stats without MA skills or Weaponry Shrug, its bloat, but profiles being utterly optimized is bad for the game. What it does do is let the locust fight, it might come up maybe once in 10-15 games, but it still offers options. Hell its hilarious when your opponent deploys an Im marker next to your locust, engages at your first move and takes the Shock CCW to the face immediately. And thats without leveraging his real strength, which is operating as a flanking piece/light assualt piece. MKMN locust are great when you keep em on a flank of the table (prone of a roof for example), then you peak out, cut off whatever your opponent has pushed at your lines that hasnt already died, then hide them again and dare your opponent to try and dig them out.
So i got my first game with New!Bolts in on Friday and I have to say I can’t draw any conclusions besides “I need to get better at playing non-Knight links”. I successfully pushed them into the midfield through a SinEater HMG and an Intruder MSR, but it started to fall apart. I had my EM nade Bolt spec fire over a building at 2 Hollow Men and a Clockmaker all who made their BTS rolls. A Spectre revealed and killed him during the order and I didn’t have enough orders to dig him out with a shotgun. So I entered the reactive turn down a Bolt and the Hollow Men BSGs tore up the link in its entirety. It was a rough game from there in out - my Hexa MSR revealed on his last order and glue gunned a Hollow Man (playing Hunting Party) and then proceeded to glue 3 more specialists and his Intruder LT. He glued my unconscious specialists and it was a race to the end of the game that I barely won, no thanks to the Bolts. I’ll continue to give them an honest shake, but my first impressions are that they may not match my play style, and I need a lot of practice positioning them for the reactive turn.
It sounds like you were greedy in your first turn push - kinda like one might get with a knight link. :P If I suspect there is hidden stuff, I toss drop bears everywhere and I generally avoid going too far up the board right away.
Honestly these days my first play tends to be to drop sniffers midfield. Pushing fugazi not only establishes them as my screen but they are also rarely taking orders off my hitters as they are in second combat group.
With Bolts already up the table using FD1, do you think adding a Locust my be worth now? Maybe not up to the middle of the board, but just as a first line to help protect the link team?
I dont think locust are defensive troops. Certainly not before they have a chance to SF or throw down drop bears. I think linked bolts are their own defense. With to MSRs and MLs and TR HMGs protecting them from thr heavier hitters
Locust are great bait troops to draw an advance where they think they can come mess up your 30 point infiltrator, but find they're dealing with a Hexa and a Locust suddenly instead of just the locust. They're also really good as flank/opportunity attack. I wouldn't use them alone as a speed bump. They're too costly to just let them be alone to try to hold something off. If you're looking for a forward deployed speed bump, the Peacemaker is excellent for this. so is the new Shasvasti Merc NCA gets. :D
