kappa vs dakini which is better?

Not sure why you would take a non-specialist option of either, but Dakini is better. Mimetism + 6-4 mov makes him a superior gunfighter and/or specialist. Not to mention the capability of Supportware.

I would stick to the HMG/sniper platform of the Dakini though

 

Unless you really need am FO as a liason officer the Dakini is faster, Mimetic, and can be buffed.

It has it's downsides (no prone, lousy dodge, hackable), but for a late game hail Mary run to an Objective the Dakini Paramedic gets my vote.

 

Pretty much the above, though I see little value in the Dakini Combi - I'd rather have a Kappa Hacker or Varangian LSG for a similar price. With the exception of the Kappa Hacker, the Kappa as a unit is squeezed hard between Varangian and Dakini.
Dakini HMG is usually a brutal mid-game piece that can typically prevent your opponent from making a come-back if you have an advantage, and sometimes allow you to come back if on the back foot.

 

Regular Dakini can make for a tastey suppressive fire zoning piece depending on how you set up your list. I regularly bring 2-3 in Aleph for specifically that reason. How much mileage O-12 gets out of that is up in the air though.

 

I am going to say an unpopular opinion, Kappa is better then a dakini for 2 reasons.
First is dakini are rems and there for have the limitations and vulnerability of being such. To bring a Dakini is going to cost you about 28 points and most often .5 swc because of having to bring a hacker as well. Then as you move up the board you have to be aware of assault hackers. This now become a question of composition over roll.
Next and possibly more important is feel. I play Aleph as my primary force, it frames my thoughts about all other factions, I do not want to make O-12 feel the same as Aleph and I see the Dakini and Deva as mostly place holders for what is coming down the pipeline I do not know about. This is not true about Kappa, they are O-12 basic guys and there for maintain the feel and look of the faction.

 

It's only going to cost 28/.5 if the Dakini is the only rem in the army more often then not it's going to be 16/.125 when the cost is spread across an army that contains 4 REMs, and thats if you only take the HD for the singular purpose of authorising them in which case you are still picking up another order. A normal HD can provide support in other areas such as with fairy dust or the AD buff, along with REM support ware. This also implies that there isn't any form a hacking device in the army already.

As for the AHD problem O12 have a bunch of KHDs to clear to them out, not a huge issue.

 

Most lists will have a Gangbuster KHD and/or Cyberghost so enabling remotes isn't really a tax on O-12

 

Though this may be true looking at it from perspective of what is necessary and how it effects your composition is different from the rest of the conversation.
I normally run either no hackers or just a cybergost because white noise is that good.

 

I think a lot of it is meta dependent as well. Taking KHD gangbusters against my usual opponent is just a really easy way to get them killed. Though I do agree it's a lot more complicated than saying that Dakini implies 15/.5 "tax". Keep in mind 15/.5 is still another order and a specialist on top of that.

I also really wouldn't worry about AHDs bothering my Dakini. an AHD exposing himself to me in that way is a huge misplay on my opponent's side.

 

This is what makes 15 troopers lists almost always better than LI lists...

Sry for the off-topic!

 

Dakini probably.

At least until we get sectorials. It's unfortunate as the Kappa would be pretty darn neat in any other context, but their competition is cost effective rear guards in the form of Varangians or cost effective fast moving last ditch mimetic specialist dakini.

 

Even with the absence of Varangians in the army, Kappas still probably wouldn't be used outside of the Hacker. The issue is more inherent to line troops in a vanilla army that lack a template and are >10 points.

kind of like seeing Fusiliers in Vanilla PanO