Hassassin TAG (postponed until N4)

I think you have an interesting idea for a unit, but not necessarily something I would call a TAG or even really something HB would be able to manage. Haqqislam as a whole barely has access to even the currently out of date TAG in the Maghariba Guard. The technology, research and development, logistics and funding required to design, build, sustain, maintain and deploy modern TAGs is currently outside the capabilities of the Haqqislam and would be far outside of the realm of possibility for the Hassassin Bahram as we know it today. If there is a jump in capabilities afforded to the Haqqislam in the time skip for N4, something like this may be possible. Maybe even in some kind of Haqq-Nomads joint project could see something like this come to fruition. At that point it would perhaps not bee too much of a stretch to see the Hassassin Bahram somehow get their hands on it.

 

HB have a TAG: A Barid AHD plus someone else's TAG

 

Oh, but Hassassins could absolutely hire a mercenary TAG and use it as a deniable or disposable asset. I'm sure the Old Man's operations budget could handle that, at least time to time (well-represented by AVA 1 and adequate SWC tax).

It would make much more sense to use a locally available asset than construct, deploy and maintain a "secret spy tank (I mean, TAG) of the Haqq Intelligence Service".
They're Hassassins. They infiltrate, do their job, and vanish. A proper TAG is a real hindrance under such operational requirements.Unless it is considered disposable, and is damn difficult to link back to you, I guess (hence the mercenary TAG idea).

 

The much touted "time skip" appears to be two years.

 

I think having an engineer as a TAG pilot would be a bit much - that’s a ridiculous degree of order efficiency for getting them back in action. It’s even stronger to my mind than the Scarface/Cordelia Duo in DBS since Cordelia is vulnerable to being sniped before Scarface is incapacitated.

Having the engineer pilot also be a hacker just seems greedy to me.

 

I'd like to point out that briefly after Ramah was released, Hassassin Bahram has the Rafiq with red fury profile available.

Then it was removed.

 

Same as QK.
And some Fireteam: Duo shenanigans with these, too. Apparently they were in the Army by mistake (having been blanket-applied to the Haqq, despite not being intended for HB or QK, apparently).
They were removed after the community started asking questions.

 

An Anaconda would be the TAG that would make the most sense in HB: mercenary and literally disposable.

Even Nomad mercs seem a bit too well-established for a strike-and-disappear army like HB.

 

The model for the Anaconda is great and I was happy when it was available to Haqqislam for the TAGLINE event. Here is hoping that N4 provides a few more changes to the profile!

 

To be honest, I don’t think Hassassins need TAG.
Look at Yu Jing’s Imperial Service!
They are not military force, but special police. So it is understandable that they have no TAG.
And with hassassin it is the same thing. They are more like hidden agents and so on.

(I’ve just remembered the story about armoured personnel carrier. The soldier burnt one by accidentally flaming machine’s camo cover. That was funny.)

So, I won’t be angry or sad, if hassassins would get their TAG, but it’s not important question for them.

 

Su Jian, however, performs neatly as a light TAG-equivalent. ARM 5, STR 2 (& NWI!) makes it close to a Gecko or Anaconda, same with weapons (Spitfire or Heavy Shotgun, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust), while having superior mobility in its Mobility Form. Plus, it can Dodge and go Prone, being a "remotely operated Heavy Infantry" and thus exempt from rules that limit TAGs.

This is not to say I'm asking for a Su Jian for the Bahram: we don't have the technical resources for that in Haqqislam.
But IMO it makes the Imperial Service argument invalid. Su Jian might not be a TAG in name, but it has the resilience and firepower to do the heavy lifting usually associated with TAGs.
Hassassins have no tool in the same general class. No big, centerpiece model, either.

And I'm of the opinion they should have one. Be it a TAG, a "superheavy infantry", a bioengineered (khem...) creature like Dogwarriors who perform the same role in Ariadna, or something yet different we haven't yet seen in Infinity.

 

I think HB could have some news units, like an improved asawira but not too much, but neither a TAG or something like the SuJian, that kind of pieces have nothing to do with HB style and in my opinion, not every faction has to have the same "toys", if I go further, in actual "n3" one of the problems I see is the line between factions is really difuse. Most of armies had same tools as others, so "is not big differences between play Pano or haqquis or YuJing... So, please, not the same for every one. TAG, stay where you are. New TAGs in game, yes, but not where they don't should be. :)

 

I'm afraid that the Faction Identity people will denounce such things as a Negative Play Experience.

My personal opinion is that the Bahram is what happens when they are fielded as the Bahram. That when TAGs and other things are the obstacles that they choose other methods for handling the situation which don't get represented on the table. As such I don't feel that the Hassassin need a TAG. What they need is ITS to stop configuring scenarios that actively punish players for not possessing particular option(s). Of course, this will need the community to stop weeping if an option isn't as good as anyone/everyone else's option in every conceivable angle of analysis.

 

Myself, I'd like to have an option for a heavy lifting piece for those times when I play Bahram and feel one would be a good idea. Neither of these conditions happens all the time.

Apart from that, @Papa Bey is right: writing scenarios that require a specific piece - one your faction is denied-by-design - to score points is bad scenario design.

 

Isnt a Asawira just that, a heavy lifting piece? They are one of the best HI in Infinity imho, and definitely in Bahram.
Or is it the lack of heavy weaponry, that disqualifies them for you in this role?

On topic, while I used to want a light and fast TAG in HB, I changed my mind about that. RTF really opened my eyes how much I value faction idendity, and a TAG just wouldnt fit HB. Imho HB is close to being perfect right now. There is still potential for improvement, but nothing critical.

I hope it will be the same in N4.

 

In Bahram, they don't see much competition in the HI role, you know. Hassassin Ayyar is a different beast altogether.

But apart from that - Asawira has a Spitfire option and BS 14, so it can hit almost like a TAG, albeit a lightweight one (if we skip the +1 DAM from the all-TAG Fatality L1). However, at ARM 3 and W 2, it comes nowhere near the staying power of even a light TAG (ARM 5+, STR typicaly 3, save for Anacondas and Iguanas, who work in a bit different way due to their Operator evacuation systems). Regeneration, being dependent on spending Orders, doesn't really balance that out.
In fact, lack of staying power is one of my major pet peeves with Bahram.

Sure, you can buff an Asawira with a Fireteam behind it, something you aren't, in general, able to do with a TAG. But this makes you rely on a team of relatively easy to kill models (ARM 2 W 1 Light Infantry, maybe with another Asawira in the mix), and pay as many points as ity would take to field a major-league MBT (122pts for a nonsense layout of 4 BSG Govads, which is the cheapest option) - more than a Jotum, Cutter, and even marginally more than a Marut (only an Avatar comes more expensive). So, an Asawira falls short when it comes to staying power.

Sure, Asawiras are natural born killers on their own - but they don't do the heavy lifting like a TAG does.

 

Maybe that's the point?

 

You mean, the design idea behind the Hassassin Bahram?
Or behind Asawira regiment?

I guess it may be the point indeed. But at the end of the day, ARM 3 W 2 Heavy Infantry with a Spitfire - even if it has BS of 14 - isn't something other factions haven't heard of. Or haven't been able to easily - in some cases - top.

While, in general, still having their TAGs. N3 Asawira simply don't compare as centerpiece heavy lifters.
Will N4 Asawira do? This is yet to be seen. However, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that.
Which is why I'm missing a TAG-role model in my Bahram.

 

Didnt feel that point that HB needs a TAG, they got a lot of other gadgets to get em over, my problem with HB everytime was the MSV2 problematic, that would help a lot but dont know if it would be to strong with the lot of smoke they have.. still love to play em but that was often the neckbreaker in my games