I was playing with infinity dice calculator and suprised by kaauri sniper although they arey are not suprised at all. i was expecting better results. Lets start with intruder. Kaauri doesnt care mimetism plus doesnt care suprise attacks.They are in their best ranges and both are in cover. But... Intruders - HMG vs. Kaauri Sentinels - Sniper Rifle Active Player 72.03% Intruders inflicts 1 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Unconscious) 37.52% Intruders inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Dead) Failures 20.50% Neither player succeeds Reactive Player 7.47% Kaauri Sentinels inflicts 2 or more wounds on Intruders (Dead) lets come to Kazak spetnaz. They are in their best ranges and both are in cover. Face to Face Roll Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) - Sniper Rifle vs. Kaauri Sentinels - Sniper Rifle Active Player 57.84% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 1 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Unconscious) 14.96% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Dead) Failures 31.49% Neither player succeeds Reactive Player 10.67% Kaauri Sentinels inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) (Dead) situation is worse with hmg. Face to Face Roll Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) - HMG vs. Kaauri Sentinels - Sniper Rifle Active Player 78.70% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 1 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Unconscious) 46.86% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kaauri Sentinels (Dead) Failures 15.24% Neither player succeeds Reactive Player 6.06% Kaauri Sentinels inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) (Dead) I was not happy. Kazakh spetnaz is a real killer and wanted to test it against one of our best aro man available. Gaoreel sniper sees mimetism. linked, both are in cover and in their best range. i was hoping for logical response. ( i maximised result by giving suprise mod -3 to gaoreel. ) Face to Face Roll Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) - HMG vs. Gao-Rael - Sniper Rifle Active Player 69.50% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 1 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Symbiont Disabled) 34.67% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 2 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Unconscious) 9.90% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 3 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Dead) Failures 20.87% Neither player succeeds Reactive Player 9.64% Gao-Rael inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) (Dead) lets say that Gaoreel eliminated the first attacks by using a mate. Lets have a look at the normal round. without any suprises. Face to Face Roll Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) - HMG vs. Gao-Rael - Sniper Rifle Active Player 60.75% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 1 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Symbiont Disabled) 26.12% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 2 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Unconscious) 6.70% Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) inflicts 3 or more wounds on Gao-Rael (Dead) Failures 26.39% Neither player succeeds Reactive Player 12.86% Gao-Rael inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kazak Spetsnazs (Camo) (Dead) Spetnaz kills gaoreel in a link easily. what are your opinions about these calcualtions ?
Snipers don't win gunfights by being in the enemy's good range band, and in the active turn any HMG will likely wreck you in F2F because burst is king. For the sentinel, do you really expect a 19 point sniper to hold its own against two of the best attack pieces in the game? They certainly have some nice bonuses to help improve their odds, but I wouldn't expect them to do well in these kinds of situations. Want to improve your odds? Stick them as far back as possible so even an HMG has trouble closing in on you. The Gao-Rael has a better chance because of it's +1 burst (in a triad), higher bs, and much higher resiliency. Again, the main problem is that you're expecting them to excel in a situation that is stacked against them. Burst 2 doesn't look great compared to 4, and even with MSV2 you are going to be hitting lower than a Spetz who gets surprise and ignores your cover. Even the best ARO pieces in the game are likely to be outclassed in the opponent's active turn, so never expect to get much killing done that way. Instead think of them as roadblocks, and set them up in places where they can safely watch long lanes and drain orders from your opponent.
Whenever I deploy a Gao-Rael Sniper in overwatch duty, I don't expect it to see the end of the game: I attach a Symbiomate to him and pray that he makes the enemy spend at least three orders or that the enemy decides to avoid him. If he survives the turn (or if he's just knocked unconscious) that's a pleasant surprise. But, somehow, many times he gets a lucky crit against the enemy and wreck their plans. I love him.
Remember, sniper rifle does not automatically equals ARO trooper. You're losing fully half your burst and giving up control of the best feature of sniper rifles: Range. Kaauri are dirt cheap, the sniper is the same price as a USARF Grunt sniper, expecting them to go toe-to-toe with some of the best active turn killers in the game seems hella optimistic. 6th Sense actually feels more useful for the SMG profile, park him near an objective with controlled fire lanes and drop into suppression fire. Now you have a speedbump that can't be flanked and has great ammo types and plus a DTW. Use the sniper to pick off exposed camo skirmishers, outrange mimetic HMGs, and punish exposed warbands in the Active, use it as a speedbump in the Reactive turn. If you can destroy your opponent's long range weapons then it becomes a candidate for defensive duty, but a competent HMG is the natural predator of an overwatching sniper.
It's a good unit though not invulnerable. 19pts and .5swc is pretty good for an active turn kill piece. If i were to use one I'd probably keep it prone as a sweeper/hunter unit rather than a dedicated aro piece. It will shrek impersonating troops. SMG or nimbus zone profiles for me though most of the time.
As a Tohaa, you actually should expect your Kaauri to die, since they were designed for that sole purpose (remember, we let others fight our wars for us). If your opponent spends his orders killing your Kaauri ==> they are 1) wasting orders to kill a cheap troop 2) not fulfilling objectives 3) not killing your more important troops Also, I heavily recommend reading this.
Kaauri SMG profile is really the way to go with this model in most situations (at least for me). Colbrook nailed it on the head what the Kaauri is great for, but the real "ace in the hole" for me is the ability to absolutely screw Haqq and Combine with their Impersonation game. Park the Kaauri close to your opponent's probable targets and his/her game plan dramatically changes. Sniper profile won't help you too much in this situation. The Kaauri really are more up close and personal.
Yes, the Double-Nanopulser + SMG + MSV + Biometric means it can deal with anything in close quarters (except a ninja Surprise Attacking you): Shock for light Infantry, AP for Heavy armour, Teamplate for intuitive Attack (if you fail Discover), Double-Teamplate for groups... The 12 point Kawaii Sentinels even bring "Utility" to the List thanks to the Nullifier!
Well, maybe, but the Ninja's high CC means that you'll likely loose the FtF roll anyway (you're still getting a -6 between MA3 and TO). In those situations I use Nanopulser so both troopers may die together.
umm...you lost me for a moment Abrilete, how exactly is 6th sense not helpfull? As far as I see the ninja still needs to engage in its reactive turn in which case MA doesn't work, meaning 3 dice on 11 vs 1 dice on 12. similarly, a ninja that uses both its first and second short order to reach base to base is easy victim to a electric pulse rendering it useless for that turn and a easy cleanup for the kawaii sentinel during your own turn. all by all I think the Kaauri is bad news to initially cc and a bad point trade regardless.
Surprise Attack can only be done in Active Turn, I don't know why are you talking about the Reactive Turn (would be a horrible move to ARO-Engage a Kawaai Sentinel with a Ninja, what a waste of a TO killer). Although SSLv2 negates the -6 from Surprise Attack, if the enemy chooses to "Move + CC Attack" (why the hell would somebody "Move + Move" with a Ninja?), you are still eating a -6 from TO (down to -3 because of MSV1), and a -3 from MA3. If you choose to shoot with the SMG things get bad, as you are going for an 8 and the Ninja only needs to roll a 3 or higher to beat you (CC 26 thanks to MA3). If you use the Electric Pulse in the CC fight the Ninja´s CC would stay at 23, meaning that as long as it rolls a 5 or more in the dice it would beat the 7 from the Kawaii Sentinel´s Electric Pulse. Not looking good either. That's why I said the Kawaii Sentilel can deal with anything exept a Ninja Surprise Attacking you.
I'm pretty sure electric pulse is automatic. So MA wouldn't really matter. So both I guess technically would get smashed?
No, you just don't roll the dice and get an automatic 7. And the oponent can't use CC modifiers, but with the Ninja´s high CC (23), he adds 3 to whatever he rolls. http://infinitythewiki.com/en/Electric_Pulse
You get to delay with SSL2 so Kaauri SMG vs a Ninja has some okay options. If it's a straight up trade like Abrilete said you're better of nanopulsing. The sniper might not have such good options however if for some reason the Ninja dodges you're actually at great odds to electric pulse which I think is hilarious.
Now, I'm no Tohaa player, but 12 points for an SMG, two Nanopulsers, a Nullifier and Sixth Sense Lv2 with MSV1 and BMV2 seems like a pretty damn good deal. Same for the sniper profile ( And maybe the BSG profile. ). Just tossing a pair of cents into this discussion.
Actually, now that I gave it some thought, if I were to start playing Tohaa ( Which isn't unfathomable... I've already been dragged into Haqq and Ikari, Haqq being a faction I was even less likely to get into than Tohaa or Shasvastii... ), alongside Chaksas, Kaauris would be among my first purchases.