Sometimes yes - the points are reaching the limit before swc. I experinced that in my first list tryouts too. But not so much, that I will put in a 1,5 SWC Lt.2 for some situational opportunites. The BSG option is normaly the more useful on the Daoying. At least the starter-box seems to be a good 200 pts. list.
MSR in camo is a reliable way of taking out totes remotes left in long firelanes at the very least. Kinda works like Lunah or the Cateran, but with better ARM, Bioimmunity, Minelayer, and the ability to go back into Marker State.
probably it was already been said, but I'd like to point out that I really like these "pop culture" references. Raul Spector is Mark Spector AKA the moon knight.
Kinda surprised that the Mowang, Yan Huo MHMG, and/or Hulang aren't included. Though it does make it more reasonable to buy multiple starters.
Actually it is my standard LT choice, for exactly the reasons you said as why not take them, it comes with a mine to defend itself, has two extra orders to snipe and chain of command is quite plentiful in the list that losing the LT is not that grave, definitely more useful that the plain version and less killable than the hacker version. Sure you can play with cheapest LT L2 if you plan on siphoning all orders to NCO, but IA lists can play withotu the NCO and the Sniper is a good choice for these lists.
Not a massive fan of the IA starter contents. The Daoying MSR isn't bad (and I quite like to take it as *gasp* not the Lieutenant and actually use the mine to make my Daoying LT not so easy to spot) but the BS/Hacker would have been more versatile, the Zuyong Combi is necessary and the box should have contained two. The Zuyong ML is... borderline (no Tactical Awareness, so taking an ARO weapon in an offensive link is a rarity). The Liu Xing Hacker instead of a Zhencha SMG is probably the most egregious choice since the Liu Xing hacker is probably the worst AHD platform in the list that doesn't really care about fielding AHDs in the first place. The Haidao honestly should have been one of those generic every-proxy sculpts considering how versatile it is. Either way, it feels like a lot of proxy units and only one real staple that will see table time as itself. Hopefully they're at least pretty proxies.
Keeping in mind that I don’t know exactly what’s going to be in it, I’m really interested in seeing the Ariadna support pack as the Dozers and Kazak Doktor need an update; I think the 112 is fine as he is. I am curious about the 112 being on a motorcycle. The IA starter has me drooling on my keyboard. I really want those Zuyongs and Haidao, but I would have preferred a BS Daoying and the Liu Xing doesn’t interest me much. But the starter still looks decent to me. I think that the aliens are supposed to be later in the year, but maybe they’ll start making appearances in February or March. When was everything supposed to blow up in the HS, again?
In different places people are complaining that this profile is locked to the box when they wanted to use it in vanilla. It's basically a Raiden replacement. Yu Jing's sniper game was always kinda subpar, so this Camo Sniper is always welcome. And his Lt Orders are going to power a Mowang or Tai Sheng anyway.
I'm a little underwhelmed at the choices in the IA starter. The combi Zu Yong and combi Haido are cool, but all the other profiles seem too, niche/specific for my tastes. I would have though a general approach to starters would be better, as it would make the models easier to use over multiple situations, therefore more approachable to new players...
Its going to be funny, with 112 getting a bike version (explains that last sniper shot) if carmen-dynamos-montessa-112 bikes all come out before tunguska bike I think daoying sniper is a fine choice if you want the NCO but not be at risk from killer hackers and also have CoC somewhere in the force.
I actually hope the Liu Xing gets a Zero Hacker-style sculpt in the starter, no weapons visible. Easier to paint, easier to proxy, easier to balance on a base since AD3+ troops in this game are allergic to having both feet on the ground.
I actually do think that NauticalZonds are the best bikes around because they are fast attack guys that double as piece trading auxbot guys, and they can protect themselves really well with smoke and such.
Special mention has to go to Montesa bikers for making YJ incredibly salty (even though I find the unit mediocre myself).
