Hellcats

The Spitfire, every time. High burst, good range.

 

Spitfire really, really stands out... deployable repeater is also a possibility (especially if there's other AD troops coming on... i miss my Meteor Zond ;_; ), or one of the two specialist options for some missions sure, but that Spitfire is very juicy.

 

Don't we get 2 Hellcats?

 

The HMG is somewhat of a hidden gem.

Being able to redeploy into the DZ means that even if you miss your scatter you've still got a weapon that can reach out and touch someone. The addition of the EMaulers also means that you can bunker up behind enemy lines with both a "mine" and Suppressive Fire.

Dropping him in just over 16" away from his intended target, blowing the away, then being a massive thorn in their side with Maulers and suppression is great when it works, and when it doesn't you've got a semi-elite HMG in your DZ!

 

You might not want Spektor. We don't need to analyze it much, when there is a 12 point difference you sometimes take the cheap one.

The question is do you want an AD shotgun or are you just taking Spektor. Because if you just want an AD shotgun low cost is a skill of its own in that role.


Probably my second most used is the HMG. Good for aggressive players that pressure your DZ and can usually kill that one guy that really needs to die. A lot of the power comes from being difficult to prepare for because of AD and long range. People tend to mostly cover their rear up to mid range only. It's turned a lot of impossible situations for me.


The ADHL has worked out pretty well. The benefits of dropping a OHKO weapon out of LoS of the target are pretty obvious I think. I don't use it a ton. Probably will without access to Tomcat E/mitter.


AHD has also been pretty good for me. Good for anti-tank tactics. Unlike the ADHL though it adds a vulnerability to hacking making it tough to navigate some areas without stealth. It can save games with the ability to freeze tough guys or even possess TAGs unexpectedly. One of the few ways to actually possess a TAG and have enough orders to use it. I don't play them much but some day I'd like to Aloha Strike by using AD5 to Possess their TAG in their DZ and use the remaining 6-8 orders on the TAG.


If you just want a guy to start up the board the Spitfire is the strongest choice. I don't use it that much because unlike an HMG or a BSG it doesn't do something new, it does something anyone can do but from a stronger angle in fewer orders. It is really good, just doesn't add a new tool.


To keep comparing to HMG think of how much more area there is in the 16-32" (2413" squared) than 8-24" (1609" squared). That is where you need to drop and find cover.

However, the HMG has a problem of secondary targets being too close. The Spitfire tends to do better at racking up multiple kills like that because it can flow between getting under HMG range or over Combi between one target and the next.

So HMG is a weapon that can reliably (and it is reliable) to put one or a few specific enemies in a situation with nearly 0% chance of success. Really useful tool that way.

But if you are trying to kill indescriminently the Spitfire is more likely to get better numbers after the first target(s), it just has a harder time finding a safe drop to get out of their range and LoS while maintaining cover, a lot of times you end up in a shared rangeband both in cover which can be dangerous especially if they out BS you.


My troops have been accused of being craven but us Corregidorians just lack social skills. Things feel easier when we aren't being watched.


I don't use any others because if I just want a drop Combi I take a Tomcat. Might use some other profiles here but I don't know yet.

 

I'd counter that Spector is almost always worth the points if you're going to take a BSG Hellcat. That bring said, sometimes you're on a budget

I'm not huge on the HMG as the 16-32" engagement is harder to engineer and generally prompts more than one ARO. As loricus said, the Spitfire does a mean job of racking up kills. E/Maulers are pretty great, tho, and something to consider with the HMG.

 

4-4 movement versus 4-2, Drop Bears which can be hilarious when you are behind somebody, Stealth, and CC ability make Spector worth the points. I've never been a fan of the Hellcat BSG. I almost always took Tomcats instead. I usually take Hellcats when I need a heavy weapon. I favor the Spitfire for that role, but the HMG can be good too. Without access to Tomcats I'd probably take the Combi or Paramedic sometimes as well.

The thing about taking Spector and two Hellcats is that your opponent will never expect that third drop and they may leave some spaces open after the first two come in. It's also a good way to stay in control of the game and keep your opponent reacting to you.

 

AD troops are great to field in pairs. With Hellcats, an AHD and a Spitfire make a good team that an opponent -cannot- ignore. The Spitfire threatens cheerleaders and Lt.s well, the AHD threatens heavy troops well, and the two of them together in Suppression Fire are deeply annoying to dig out.

If you throw in a Tomcat Doc too, it can be your main attack vector. You might need smoke to get a decent DZ, in which case having a smoke trooper in a second order group is helpful. Enter the Irmandinhos and Jaguars!

It's an even better combo with Tiger Soldiers (because with Mimetism in Suppressive Fire they are UGLY), but that's tangential.

 

Expensive is the trouble

I'd definitely consider Spector and a HMGcat though. Spector clears the drop area and then Hellcat circles at range, or Hellcat takes out overwatch troops and then Spector guts the order pool.

 

That's really smart

 

I most frequently use the BSG, although my experience is limited because I'm not a fan of AD troops in Nomads overall. Having said that, when I have the budget I will take the Spektr BSG over that every time.

I think I have used the paramedic in the past for Highly Classified. I wanna try out the spitfire, it seems like it could be brutal if you get it in the right spot.

 

This!

I think one of the biggest advantages of the HMG is that it can walk in from the side and still be a threat to something on the other side of the table, thus you can strike from angles that other weapons wouldn't risk. The spitfire could almost do that too, but there's that 8" difference between the spitfire max range and the hmg max range

 

Wat? Tomcats are amazeballs and the Meteor can set up some straight up nasty shenanigans. You should try them out sometime. The Spitfire Hellcat is good, but I feel like most factions have some MI Spitfire AD troop and the Hellcat isn't really that much different than the others (which are also good).

 

The Hellcat HMG requires a bit of a separate mindset from other HD troops but if you use it cleverly it absolutely destroys armies.

 

what the hell! they let MI AD hellcat have HMG but they removed it from MI AD Tigers ! i know, that was a long time ago, but i just learned it now.

 

Yeah, HMG hellcat is a go to for me. The biggest reasons are the e/maulers and the fact that if he does botch the combat jump, he's still an effective fire support platform from your DZ.

However, I'm absolutely loving Spector and all his ridiculous kit. I've been finding I'm using him most of the time, with a hellcat in addition ~50% of the time.

 

Ragik, Sikhs, and Tigers all swapped their HMGs for Spitfires in N3, and all Iskallers succumbed to sweet oblivion.

I do usually prefer a Spitfire over an HMG on an AD trooper, but the E/Maulers and AD:5 make the Hellcat HMG a really viable option.

 

I have tried them out, a lot when I started playing. These are from the perspective of vanilla, if I played Corr I would probably have different opinions.

I will run a tomcat every single time I play Highly Classified, because they make that demolition objective free. Otherwise I don't really see their value over a clock or Zoe.

With a Meteor Zond, I want to love it so much (and I used to run it every game). My reason for decreased use is that much like the Hellcat BSG, it competes with something else that doesn't have to AD (Pi-Well) and unfortunately just loses out in my lists. I agree though, it can do some dirty stuff. I think if it was either more expensive and got climbing plus or got it's SWC dropped to 0,5 or lower, I would probably take it again.

My issue with AD overall is that so much of it's success is predicated on A) a deployment roll and B) your opponents inability to plan for or stop it. I just found that as I started playing better players, I was just better off with "in the hand" options on the table to start.

AD definitely has it's place, I just don't like using it very often.