Helot red fury is 14 points. Chaksa hmg is 24 points. Chaksa hmg and chaksa guided hrl still looks unuseful.
Yeah, chaksa are mor expensive but I suppose that's because of longer range and higher damage code. Whether you want to pay the points or not is debatable but there is a difference there I guess
It's two 'similar' profiles built under differing design philosophies at very different times in Infinity's history. Chaksa is from when TR was seen as a good ARO piece. He was originally a discounted TR bot, but when TR got a discount he stayed the same for some reason. He was always mediocre at best but these days he's honestly pretty fucking bad. Helot acknowledges the reality of ARO pieces. Minimize cost via irregular and weapon choices, and lean on marker state as much as the actual weapon to be a hassle. And it turns out, when you build them right, ARO pieces can be pretty damn good. I can't see the Chaksa HMG ever being a meaningful pick over a Helot, or a decent pick in general. He'd need a steep cost cut or a rule change to get on my table. That said, I even bought a second one as they do make great helot proxies.
If they gave the Chaksa Total Reaction instead of neurocinetics he'd still be bad but at least he'd be usable. He'd still be missing many abilities that normal TR bots get, like 2 unconscious states, Immunity (Shock), access to Marksmanship via EVO-HD, and 6-4 movement. But at least he would perform the same basic role. As it stands I can't ever imagine a scenario where I'd take him, even if I was playing the Helot-less Tohaa.
I honestly don't think hrl Chaksa is a total write-off for us - Clipsos FO is a great unit to target with. It's the prohibitive swc cost that stops me from running it, because everything good in SC has to cost sweet swc for some reason!
It's not really order efficient though, guided only really works via spotlight and repeater nets in aro
The idea to use clipsos fo to mark enemy to hit with a rocket launcher. Againt any high arm unit is just wasting of time and orders. Rocket hits normal ammo. Even the worst case ariadna has ap shock. And strangely clipso fo is only forward observer in whole spiral corps. This is era of spotlight. Your opponents can mark units which they dont have lof. You will spend 40pts for a hope which hardly make u happy.
I have taken that profile just to mark something. Cant do it in 5 games though. I cant even win face to face rolls. :P
