I'm used to leaning heavily on the Barid hacker, partly because of linked pitchers in HB. So it took me a while to notice that the Ghulam hacker is actually really really good. Compared to other factions: Fusilier hacker is 1 point cheaper, but WIP 12 (!) and no shotgun. Zanshi hacker is the same price, but WIP 13 and no shotgun. Arianda has no line infantry hacker. Alguacile hacker is 1 point cheaper, but WIP 13 and no shotgun. Moderator hacker is pretty good - 2 points cheaper, WIP 13, no shotgun. Securitate hacker is incomprehensibly expensive. Combined army has effectively no line infantry hacker. Aleph has no line infantry hacker. Tohaa has no line infantry hacker. Kappa hacker is, at 12 points and WIP 13, incredible. In short, the Ghulam hacker is the second-best line infantry hacker in the game, after the Kappa. Only the Moderator comes close.
Probably because they're immune to one of the most powerful hacking programs, Oblivion, along with the other benefits of veteran.
Unfortunately, when overshadowed by the Barid, the ghulam is actually one of the worst hacker in the game in the sense that it's the least desirable. At least the other ones don't compete with a much better version on the same cost in their own sectorial.
Oof, poor Kamael. The amount of disrespect torward them is justified though. They get a Nox for 14 points with SMG / Zapper
In HB, I agree with you. In Vanilla, I'm not so sure. The pitchers lose value when unliked, and being able to spread shotguns over the DZ is pretty great. I haven't reached the point of choosing a Ghulam over a Barid, all else being equal, but it's starting to look like a good way to save a point or two when I need them elsewhere - and feeling ok about still having taken a really top-notch option. 19 points. The Vanguard hacker is also 19. Technically line infantry hackers, but not for line infantry prices. And you're right, I should have classified Tohaa as "effectively no line infantry hacker," not "no line infantry hacker." I forgot there's a Kamael hacker now. Likewise, the Wardriver actually would rank as a pretty good line infantry hacker for Ariadna. Except that without repeaters they can't really use them properly, so they still don't really qualify. That must be it, yeah, although I'd thought that the points formula didn't account for the interactions between skills.
Huh, interesting. I'll downgrade the Ghulam hacker to third-best, then. 14 points for a hacker with a zapper is pretty sweet.
I'm not actually sure that a pitcher loses value when unlinked - at least, not relative to the total investment. I take two barids in most vanilla and HB lists and even in HB usually have one of them unlinked so I can cover a larger total amount of ground if I need to. You can't reasonably take shots outside good range band with an unlinked pitcher, but the Barid KHD has an innate gap-closing tool, so you don't need to. That said I don't mind ghulam hackers in either vanilla or HB to give a second hacking ARO dice roll, since I usually split the barids 1x KHD, 1xHD and it's good to have redundancy. Like you said, they're cheap and WIP14. The biggest obstacle to including them is mostly just group slots, especially in vanilla in ITS13 with how obscenely good Kum riders are for cost, which has me really struggling to fit all the amazing things I want.
You're overlooking several factors in general and just focusing on WIP and points cost when BTS, Veteran, and Firewall access are all significant factors in N4 hacking. Morat Vanguard are actually fairly excellent as a deterrent line infantry hacker. 19pts gives you WIP13, BTS3, and Veteran, and they more or less exclusively are found linking with a tinbot. Oblivion doesn't work on them and Trinity is like shooting a basic bitch pistol at an ARM3 guy, feels like shit. Moderators are considerably better than Ghulam for a similar reason. They're cheaper, sure, but that's not the point they come with BTS3 and they link with firewalls. Ghulam are better than Aggie hackers who are WIP13 and BTS0, right? Wrong. Aggies almost always wind up linked with -6 or -3 Tinbots which completely eliminates any WIP advantage the Ghulam might've had. Aggies will never be taken though because Jazz is costed like a Line Infantry hacker but that's another discussion entirely.
