Draal Saboteurs in N4

The main downside of a Draal with SMG is range; only having a good range band out to 8" is less than ideal for your main offensive gunner. This can be solved easily by upgrading them to the AP Marksman rifle, but this runs into the second main downside: price.

Yes, Draal have an incredibly diverse set of skills, but 40 points and 1 SWC is far from spamable, especially if you want to give each Draal a triad and retain some points for pieces like Clipsos, Kiiutan Imposters, Taagma w/ Tri-Core/Viral Sniper, or an Igao.

As far as Neema goes, the Spitfire is superior against pretty much anything that isn't a TAG, as the extra damage and +1 Burst it offers will outperform the AP Marksman Rifles at the same ranges, and she is vastly superior in melee where her Viral Pistol, high CC, and Martial Arts will make short work of most opponents. While she is hackable, her WIP 15 Reset combined with BTS 9 make her incredibly resilient to such attacks, and the inclusion of a Kosuil in her Triad is often sufficient insurance should she manage to get herself Immobilized.

The Draal is a strong piece to be sure, and the AP Marksman profile is a top contender for a Tri-Core, but given the efficiency of the Taagma Sniper + 2 Chaksa Triad and the Kriigel + 2 Reex Triad, I'm not sure if spamming them is worth it.

 

I just ran some numbers against a linked Wu Ming HRL and the Draal comes out ahead. Just as a point of fact though, the extra damage of a Spitfire is irrelevant equal against anything with ARM2-3, and actually worse against ARM4+, and the extra Burst is worse than a -6 MOD. (1 Burst on average is about the same as a mod of 3.6).

Even with Neema being significantly tankier, she's more than twice as likely to take a wound, and about twice as likely to die to the continuous fire damage, despite having an extra wound. Even against some of the softest targets in the game (against a single, unlinked Fusilier for example), Neema's performance is barely better than the Draal (we're talking fractions of a percent per order).

This is another one among the reasons that I can't see a place for Neema in Spiral Corps without Advanced Command.

 

Cost, mostly. I can see an argument for two Draal -- one AP MMR in a Tricore link and one SMG/Dazer or SMG/Minelayer in the midfield (being able to start in Suppressive Fire is a huge defensive advantage), but any more and you can't support the order economy that Spiral likes. Like, if this is a list I am building, I'm still going to need my Kriigel triad, my Tricore + Filler for the AP MMR Triad, my MSV2 Triad, a Kiuutan, a Clipso, a Diplomatic Delegate, a Kaeltar, and a Helot before I even get to Draal #2.

Points about what Draal #2 fights with are important. For roughly the same cost as a the Minelayer, you can get Jaan, a Kiuutan, an Igao and some filler, a Viral Combi Rasail, and a plenty of other units.

 

Huh, fair enough, though I wonder how the presence of MSV 1 or 2 would change the odds (such as vs. a Riot Grrl or Kamau).

I definitely agree with you about the list building priority, although for me the Kaeltar can fill the role of "Tri-Core Filler" decently enough and sometimes I take Jaan without another Kiiutan (Direct Templates from IMP state are mean). Definitely a lot of options to choose from to fill out the rest of the list.

 

I find I'm taking Draal in most of my lists now and agree re your comment on mimetism -6 (as nice as Stratus Cloud was). The ability to continue to be a powerful offensive piece in turns 2 and 3 makes a big difference to this faction and pulls me across the line in liking the change.

I did find though that being too heavily reliant on them can be a mistake as MSV2 makes them pretty ordinary. This week I was up against Starmada and found it hard work to deal with an Epsilon starting the game in Suppressive as I had taken two Draal as my major attack pieces.

 

I am with @meikyoushisui

During the game, what I usually need are profiles / units that adapt to my way of playing and that I can count on as a response to any complicated situation that the opponent puts on me, i don't trust on "Move+Shoot" to solve every situaton in this game

A 2nd Draal doesn't offer me that adaptability, and neither Neema

 

Yeah sorry the Kamau was just the first unit I thought of with MSV2 (given it's notoriety), didn't mean to imply that either had a decent chance of beating one in a Core link.

Anyways I ran some of the math myself and even against MSV1 the Draal still slightly comes out on top, with Neema's spitfire of course being better against MSV2. With the relative rarity of MSV2/3 and our many options to take them out with an Impersonator or Infiltrator the Draal is overall a much better choice for the Tri-Core gunner.

I still agree with @meikyoushisui that while I could see taking a second one, it would have to be after including a lot of other tools in my list. Kiiutan's, Jaan Staar, Greif Operators, Igao, and Clipsos are all great and I would much rather have one more of them than a second Draal.

 

What's in your Kriigel triad? Two reex with boarding shotguns? And what are you mainly using this triad for?

 

Usually the Shotgun and the K1 combi, but two shotguns if I don't have the points. Mostly this triad sits in group 2 to move around the table dropping smoke and white noise.

 

Quick note, but it’s actually a K1 Marksman Rifle, and the Kriigel now has Eclipse instead of white noise

 

Oh, that's two brain farts in a row, it definitely is and always has been a K1 marksman and "white noise" is still going to be in my brain as Mirrorball for basically the rest of eternity. I wrote that half asleep before even getting out of bed this morning.