Hello Everyone, With the new ITS Season 10 upon us I wonder what your thoughts on it are. Personally I didn't have time to check the individual missions out yet, but the overall "bonuses" seem like a bit of a kick in the nuts for JSA. Medium Infantry get Forward Deployment, JSA doesn't have a single Medium Infantry Unit. Air Deployment Units get to land without their circular template needed, JSA doesn't have a single Air Deployment Unit. Elite and Veteran Troopers can achieve some Objectives.....JSA has not a single Veteran Trooper and our Elite Units are Daiyokai and Oniwaban.... Characters become Veteran Troopers, which might be our only saving grace with 4 Characters at least, but Yojimbo is no damn Character...CURSE YOU CB! :-P The only good thing I hear about so far is that apparently some missions benefit melee units, so maybe we can benefit from that a little, but other than that this Season seems to be almost useless for us, while making other factions almost bonkers broken (USAriadna get to place whole Core Fireteams in Forward Deployment Level 2 apparently...) What do you think?
Wait for someone to come into this thread and tell you how great the predator classified is for JSA, then remind them your odds of pulling it are close to 10% in a mission with two classifieds, and that even if you pull it it's incredibly hard to do without spending a huge number of orders. I will probably not be playing JSA for this season of ITS. Partially because of this, but also because I have played nothing but JSA for a year now and I'm ready for something new. Character buff is nice. Someone did point out FD2 on MI means they are closer to an Oniwaban, which is true. Eating a whole MI link on turn one could basically end a game.
Yeah, beyond some classifieds, doesn't seem like the new ITS10 rules benefit any of the asian factions in any really spectacular way.
I'm glad to see ISS not getting any stronger, it's already plenty good. Tiger Soldiers in vanilla are going to be a lot scarier though, and they're already probably the best gunfighters of any drop troop...
Where JSA has a bunch of characters to become veterans, YJ get a Tiger improvement, neither has as many benefits from this as most others do.
Yeah, a buff to MI does seem weird, really weird, given that Nomads and USAriadna are the two factions that benefit from that upgrade the most. And I would not have said that those two factions are particularly underpowered. This may be a sign of one of the November changes.
Meh, just be glad we don't have MI. Most MI you'll see even with the buff were good enough to run before, the bad ones are probably still bad. There are a few niche cases where something was lurking on the edge of usefulness or has a weapon kit that really likes FWDL1, Black Friar and Yadu come to mind. If nothing else you get easier matchups in general since poeple will try running MI which JSA has no problem disposing of. Personally I'd consider facing a 5 man Marauder Link a gifted win anyway.
I agree with @Teslarod ... The hype about Medium Infantry links makes me laugh. Medium Infantry starting closer to the enemy is simply dangerous. They can't withstand antipersonnel mines and direct template weapons... Two of the game's most common tools... So I think this update is a huge trap for Medium Infantry links, but is highly beneficial for lone Medium Infantry gunners who can still maintain distance from the enemy and aren't worth spending 5 or 6 Orders to Chain Rifle by themselves. The notion that this season benefits us by bringing our targets closer for CC is a good one. If Saito can spend 1-2 fewer Orders maneuvering, and apply those Orders to chopping things up instead, I'd consider that a significant season-specific buff for JSA. Kind of funny though... The old Raiden would have loved deploying further up the field.
I think JSA will be a lot of fun to play in Frostbyte, lots of heavy infantry that will want to get into the middle zone, and a lot of anti material CC options.
Thinking a bit more about the mission lineup, I think JSA is pretty well poised for this season. The decent cross-section of Speialist and troop types we have is quite decent. Having complete classified coverage in this season is really challenging without building some really strange lists, but we can pretty naturally cover some of the more incidental ones: Capture Req: Vet, Elite, Chain of Command. Be in base contact with an enemy in a null state? Not too bad. We have some decent Elite and Chain of Command options. This isn't the most fluid one, but with Oniwaban or Kempetai, it's going to be achievable frequently. Gives some life to the Shikami too. Data Scan: Req: Hacker Typically an easy one for JSA. Scanning an enemy isn't tough, especially if they're Unconscious. Experimental Drug: Req: Doc or Paramedic Bringing someone back to life? That's going to varry from list to list.Probably easier for Heavy Infantry lists, rather than lists that load up on Keisotsu. I've stopped Doctoring in my JSA lists. But the option is there. Extreme Prejudice Req: Anybody Yeah, Coup de Gracing is easy. Follow-up Req: MI or HI No MI, but plenty of HI to be had. Get within ZoC of the enemy HVT and pass a WIP check. Certainly easier for some lists than others, but players running a big HI presence or a Shikami won't object to doing this one. HVT: Designation Req: Forward Observer or Spotlight Not too bad. Keisotsu FOs are cheap. HVT: Espionage Req: Hacker Yeah, fairly standard. Ninja KHD or Aragoto KHD are pretty natural choices that can get it done. HVT: Identity Check Req: Biometric Visor, MSV or Sensor Do WIP stuff close to the enemy HVT. I use the Kempetai MSV2 all the time, so this isn't bad if I'm willing to spend the orders to trek up the field. The Rui Shi and sensor bot are best here, of course. HVT:Inoculation Req: Doctor or Paramedic I always try to ditch this one, but the potential still exists to do it. We'll never be as good at this as Haqq or Nomads though. HVT: Kidnapping Req: Veteran, Elite or Chain of Command Not a bad one for an Oniwaban or Kempetai to attempt,and pretty thematic too. We're better off than a lot of factions/sectorials for getting this one done. HVT: Retroengineering Req: Engineer I always try to ditch this one too, but at least we have a couple of Engineer choices available. In Extremis Recovery: Req: Engaged with an Unconscious trooper. Yeah, this we can easily do. We're likely to be engaged with plenty of Unconscious troopers. Just be careful swinging that Monofilament or Shock... You want there to still be Unconscious troopers around when the dust clears. Use AP on those Ryuken-9, and tell your Kempetai Marksman to hold her fire. Mapping: Req: FO or Hacker Ninja KHD to the rescue again, passing a WIP check while in B2B with a terrain piece in the opponent's DZ. Not an easy one, but doable if the game's on the line due to Classifieds. Nanoespionage: Req: Engineer, Doc, Paramedic or Datatracker. Be engaged with an enemy Specialist and pass a normal WIP roll. If you have a great durable CC-oriented Datatracker, this one's going tobe easier than in some other missions. Net-Undermine: Req: Veteran, Elite or Chain of Command. Easy Mode. Pass a WIP roll in the opponent's table half? An Oniwaban can get this done on the first Order of the game. Predator: Req: Anyone Kill at least two enemy troopers in Close Combat? JSA is the envy of everyone who draws this card. Impossible for many factions, pretty easy for us. Rescue Req: Anyone Casevac an ally in your own half of the game table, outside your DZ. Yeah that's pretty easy as a Sectorial. Have a link guy pick up his fallen buddy. Sabotage Req: D-Charges With Ryuken-9, this has become a very easy Classified for us. Easy for us, very hard for others. Telemetry: Req: Forward Observer or Spotlight Another easy one. We have FOs available. Test Run: Req: Engineer Some JSA lists will have an easier time with this than others. If you have REMs, Karakuri, etc. then you'll probably find a time to prepare them, and have an engineer to do so. This is a tough one for me, because I field a lot of meatbags.
