Well, unless you have playable building interiors it'll be hard to stop totally. It's not like they can dodge the Explosion...
It very much depends on how ELX works. It's entirely possible (though debatable how likely) that ELX will trigger a F2F with any ARO (ARO vs Jump), and winning that F2F will cancel the effect of ELX if they're in the area - Combat Jump vs Hack Transport Aircraft already has a funny interaction so it's not entirely outside the realms of possibility!
But a Puppetmaster hacker might be able to declare Hack Transport Aircraft. Again, depends on how exactly Explode LX is written. I'm expecting it to work just like the old Caskuda.
? *reads wiki* Ouch, that's nasty! Guess there's no real reason to ever take the Puppetmaster hacker, then...
Played my game with the Liu Xing, learned some interesting things. Ran a single combat group in Quadrant Control, with two Zhanshi Hackers, Doctor and Engineer, Yan Huo HRMC because I felt mean, Shang Ji HRL because there's nothing better for ARO in the known IA list and I wanted to hurt link teams, and three Zuyongs, one of whom was the HMG Lieutenant. My opponent brought an OSS list with Dakini core with Deva Hacker, Apsara, Sophotect, Asura HD+ and a Chain of Command Shukra. Didn't have warbands or TR bots, but was about the worst case scenario for a Liu Xing since they'd always be facing Hack Transport Aircraft and if they tried to drop on a Hacker they'd eat AROs. Plus, Lieutenant sniping wouldn't work because of Chain of Command! I deployed conservatively, since I lacked real ARO staying power. Survived enemy first turn with no losses. I then tried to clear the Asura HD+ with the Shang Ji and Lieutenant, but couldn't get an angle and just dropped the Liu Xing MULTI Rifle on the Shukra and Sophotect. And flubbed the roll before Hack Transport Aircraft got involved. Had I landed, I would have cleared two expensive and crucial specialists. The Liu Xing deviated onto a nearby sniper tower, surviving a DA shot from the Shukra's MULTI rifle and dropping into NWI. Thanks to a bookkeeping error, I used it as a Boarding Shotgun on the first Order. Turns out Boarding Shotguns from the centre of a Deployment Zone are terrifying, as they can hit most of it on at least straight dice between denying cover and close range, and then hit any troops looking the other way. After realising the Liu Xing had a rifle, we rolled back the order and the Liu Xing blew away the Shukra with Shock. At this point, as it turned out, I could have had a clear shot at my opponent's Deva Lieutenant, if I'd remembered they could be Lieutenants, and left him in Loss of Lieutenant for Turn Two, which would have been devastating for a force as reliant on its link as that one. But I'm an idiot and instead blasted the Apsara off the table, weakening the link. Turn ended with the Liu Xing safe on the roof and one Dakini downed by a desparation move from my Lieutenant. My opponent spent most of his turn moving troops forward, healing the downed Dakini with the Sophotect to complete the link, and climbing the Liu Xing's sniper tower with his Lieutenant's Devabot. Forgetting that climb is an entire order action and fearing a Heavy Flamethrower, I Engaged with the Liu Xing as a Zuyong in my backline landed a Hail Mary combi shot from long range, but the Devabot passed ARM. The upshot of this is that I got a chance to test out the Liu Xing's CC skills. Turn passed to me, and I burned three orders kicking the damn Devabot off my Liu Xing. Its CCW hits barely harder than its pistol without the benefit of the Knife's Shock ammo, and the 'bot kept passing ARM like a champ. CC 15 is actually really bad against Electric Pulse, as you only have a 40% chance of not eating IMM and wasting the model's whole turn every time you try to attack. After downing the bot after getting lucky, I then attempted to shoot the Asura in the back, but my dice failed me and after wasting about four orders and the Asura passing an improbable number of armour saves, the Liu Xing went down to a crit after tanking another DA round. For those who care, the game ended 3-2 in my favour as the Liu Xing drained enough orders and capability, and caused enough damage to the Asura, that my opponent couldn't press into my table half, and the Apsara was his Datatracker while mine, the Lieutenant, survived to contest a nearby quadrant. Lessons learned about the Liu Xing: -Linked Hackers, or those with multiple wounds, are a real threat to your carefully-planned landings. -A guaranteed wound before it goes down and ARM 6 in cover gives the Liu Xing surprising staying power against the rifles it will likely be facing. -Up close, the non-SWC weapons can wreak havoc. My opponent made note of the fact that he'd never realised how much damage a MULTI Rifle could actually do, because they'd never really gotten close enough before. -Don't punch robots. Just don't. You'll look silly, and probably waste your turn, but it is still probably better then eating an uncontested flamethrower from an Auxbot or Devabot. -With a bit more knowledge of my enemy's faction, I could have very easily put him in Loss of Lieutenant before he'd killed even one of my models. A Tiger wouldn't have survived the landing in that exposed space, and would have easily gone down to the unopposed rifle shot. -Stealing enemy sniper towers is really strong. Bunkering on the roof means they have to send someone up to deal with the Liu Xing, or move every unit in the Deployment Zone, unless they want their cheerleaders shot. All options consume a mountain of orders. -The classifieds that require HI, D-Charges or Veteran are a cinch with the Liu Xing. Vanilla already has Tigers for most of this, but it's going to be significant for IA. -Even the strongest, luckiest Liu Xing won't save your game if your deployment is garbage and you don't have enough orders to move your troops out of the DZ despite only losing one AD troop by order count, Turn 3.
Tbh, there's no reason not to take the cheapest one unless you can afford the mine. Puppet Troupe is good, but they have a very big weakness.
I've faced them twice so far: once as Hacker and once as Puppetcommander. The Hacker was just sitting pretty commanding no Puppets being a Hacker. Counter Intelligence on your Supportware mook isn't too bad.
The new pinpoint Combat Jump rules make it possible to do this once you've cleared out the sniper - will it become a wider tactic? Wonder how well the Zencha could also do this, or indeed defend against it?
Love this idea. You start on the middle of the table as a camo marker, you then move up to the snipers building and climb it, with stealth, so you can take it out from behind with your SMG/BSG. Maybe you place some mines on the way, right in front of the enemy DZ? ... I’m so pumped right now. Edit: maybe I should post this on the Zhencha thread instead of the Shooting Star one? Oops.
Yes, but a 17 on the AD roll doesn't cut it even if Hack Transport Aircraft isn't used against it. While list-building for the game, I realised IA will probably see the standard Hacking Device on either Zuyong or Shang Ji, it was really hard to efficiently include Zhanshi for Hacking in the intended small list. If I played that game again, I'd swap one of the Zuyongs and make a few points for a Liu Xing Boarding Shotgun. Liu Xings seem most effective when dropped early, and eat a ton of orders to remove, so having another one down to surround the enemy's midfielders would have been useful for cutting off support.
I think the EVO bot will be a thing in IA LI and especially if an Liu Xing is present. In my opinion, every order counts and with the passive effect of the EVO bot i dont need to spend an order for Controlled Jump. Furthermore if you go second, you can activate reboot to be a bit mor safe agains pitcher+hack shenanigans. Just my two cents, im very fond of the Pangguling even if the model itself is crap (i use the Haqq EVO, love his coolie hat antenna :D )
The Shang Ji used to have a standard Hacking Device, it got swapped to an AHD about the time HSN3 dropped (IIRC). Based on that, I'm expecting the EVObot to be an Invincible Army staple, and Zanshi to be the only source of standard Hacking Device.
I like the Pangguling model. Looks like a strange cybernized stag or rhinoceros beetle :) Haven't tried to assemble one yet though :)
Yeah, adding a regular HD option back into the unit is one of the first ways I'd be trying to keep it relevant in IA.
