Yup, I saw that tip in your QK tactica and I tend to follow it over the order pool murdering. That's probably due to my experience mostly against the armies like Tohaa, IA, and CA many of which either have annoying-to-kill order monkeys (Ikadron, Chaksa) or have their lists set up in a way that killing an order monkey wouldn't avail much (TacAware Zuyong Core with two Haris, one HMG, and Tai Sheng is incredibly self-sufficient even without the non-linked orders). So I often opt to deal with either the ARO pieces or some obvious Lieutenants turn one – Yuan Yuans fill the boots of an assassin-type model and have moderate success at that job, turning outright stellar with an EVO hacker on board. Going back to the Avatar case: the only field of expertise where it's kinda meh is CC. Yuan Yuans can be used as a deterrent against it if nothing else. Also, YYs are cubeless, meaning no Sepsitor funzies. The tricky part is getting them into base-to-base contact, although the Airborne nature of our dear pirates kinda helps to get on target for the minimum number of orders.
Hmm, actually my only QK experience with an Avatar I can recall was solved by a Yuan Yuan. Avatar wandered too close to my al'Hawwa (hidden out of LoS) and was hacked Immobile / threatened by repeated hacking attempts. Then I started dropping my YY, and - luckily - the one closest to the avatar came in with EM CCW. The rest was history. Though a well-placed Smoke Grenade would still allow to approach the Avatar rather safely. And a sensible hacker / Repeater network would present the big juicy Avatar with a difficult decision: even at BTS 9, it will eventually fail a BTS save, if it tried to brave it one time too many.
Honestly, the best part about it all is that you can decide what to do with them on the fly. Even if you bring EVO and don't use YY to jump onto stuff, it still has uses in QK. In tournament that means carrying an entire library of courtesy lists, but oh well. Well, sometimes you will at least be able to pick your targets still, leaving tougher linked models for later, clearing singles that can get between said core and drop troops etc. Otherwise yeah, you'll take risks. He would be much more concerned with mods or mod nullification other troops provide rather than with +1 DAM which statistically matters roughly once in every 75 orders spent shooting with said HMG and does not keep wielder safer. Mods and damage boil down to the same stuff in this game - inflicted wounds, they just have different statistical weight. Basically, there are no "hard hitters", "precise hitters" or "evasive hitters" in this game as separate archetypes. There are only good shooters and bad shooters, and that's about it for overwhelming majority of cases ("scary reactive turn shooter" thingie notwithstanding). +1 DAM does not make anyone noticeably better shooter. Yes, it's me with my crusading against DAM "bonuses". Feel free to ignore it :P
Just one more reason to replace it with Marksmanship Level 2 (hell, I'd even sacrifice their Veteran L1 and X-Visors if the skill cost is too high). Imagine forcing three saves with your viral pistol.
I find it ironic that QK – one of the very first faction to introduce mixed fireteams – is now quite behind other sectorials that came out recently, like Dahshat. And I think it's mostly down not as much to the better fireteam options (linked Kamau Sniper notwithstanding) but to the availability of solo non-linked models. Take Dahshat Company. Aside from the obvious ABH wildcard goodness, it has plenty of solid lone operators: Saito, Hulang, MCM, Liberto, Zhencha. All of these models are good at what they do on their own. They can hold their ground. Even the MO that is considered to be a struggling faction still has order bearers like Sepulchres or Santiagos that can make a mess of the enemy even without a link team. Take my words with a grain of salt, but based on my experience with QK, most of its units are nothing remarkable on their own. A lone Hafza HRL, while still having benefits of Holoprojector L1, is still only one dice on 12s, so linking it with other models is an obvious choice. The same goes for many other models: we need the link teams to be able to win. If we strip away our links, the options become rather limited. The things I can bring off the top of my head are Iguana, Djanbazan HMG/Sniper, Yuan Yuan, and maybe Bashi Bazouks. All other stuff that I can think of shines as a part of a link team, and I can provide you an example of such a model. Enter Wild Bill. He's not a rambo piece in a traditional sense of the word. I remember characterizing him as being a "glass cannon" type of model, and I think that I can now specify what exactly I mean by that. He needs to be escorted to the midfield/enemy DZ in order to be at his best, and a link team provides him with that escort. On his own, he is effective up to 16". While he still shoots anything without the visual mods on 10s up to 32", it's obviously not the best way to use him. He needs those ranges covered. But once he's in the enemy DZ – just let him lose to massacre everything in his path. And you know what – I like this approach of "together we are stronger than on our own". But if you and your opponent got half of your link teams destroyed near the end of the game, it all comes down to solo pieces. Bill is actually a competent cleanup model if he survives the onslaught to see Turn 3. But aside from him, not many guys can be classified as competent solo killers. This leaves you with the need to hide your last-turn killers (mostly Haris fireteams) somewhere safe. Are you seeing the pattern yet? Fireteams, fireteams, fireteams.
While not the Cream of the Crop, A Janissary can hold its own alone. Same for Scarface, however the Druze profile is a lot better.
They are very powerful IMHO. Jannisaries are one of the few HI teams that can have a Doctor in the team. An Akbar doc at that. I’ve gone from solidly winning a game to completely loosing because of the doctor being able to bring all of the guys I put into unconscious back up. I’d love to have a doctor in my Zuyong teams. My friend used Wild Bill in a link against me the other day and he was murder. He was using RTF though with some Hortlak Jans. He took out my Hac Tao pretty easily.
@Space Ranger my Bill who killed linked Phoenix in one order on his first game high fives the RTF Bill with deep respect!
It is true that everyone else has cribbed the QK's style of multiple and mixed fireteams. Dashat and StarCo are getting at the same concept of the more merc side of Haqq. @Errhile would probably know best about how to get their groove back, especially if they're going to be second-stringers in N4. In my view, Hassassin Bahram are the asymmetrical trade aspect of Haqq taken to the extreme. Religious, Dogged, Impersonation, Ghazi, and general lack of Mimetism or camo mean these are your guys that will do what needs to be done, but with a high likelihood of dying to themselves to do it. They also have what I think is the best cyberwarfare suite between Barids and Ghazis and the general lack of hackable things themselves. Ramah are also glass hammers despite their technology and skills. They lean on the Haqq specialties of light infantry and bio-augmentation. The Khanate seems like it'll be irregulars, bikes, I don't know what else. So where does that leave the QK to specialize? They are the caravan guards, and perhaps most at the fore of Haqq interests when it comes to the rest of the Human Sphere. But having more bodies is hardly inspiring. Maybe better armor, between Janissaries, Djanbazans, Druze, Azra'il, and Sekbans? Or cheap AD?
I believe we already have as much armor as we are going to get, @vorthain Azra'il got to ARM 5, which is really decent for a S5 HI in a faction who don't shine in their personal armor technology. Janissaries, with ARM 4, are pretty standard in that aspect, too. Perhaps - just perhaps - one could slap another pseudo-Wound on them (in the form of Dogged, though in N3 that comes with Courage attached, kinda making no sense with Jannissary Religious ability. Still, N4 may separate these skills. And Dogged would, IMO, represent the relentless spirit of the Janissary Corps well. Especially given the Hortlak Janissaries of the RTF have NWI already). Djanbazan, Druze and Sekban have ARM 3, which again is respectable for Medium Infantry, and getting them any more would put them into HI rate of ARM. Pseudo-Wounds don't seem to fit there, fluff-wise. And Djanbazan Regenerratino is pretty iconic to them. Cheap AD? Effendi, we do have these already. They're called Bashi Bazouk and Yuan Yuan. We can't go much cheaper... Still, I don't play the speculation game. Therefore, I'm going to wait and see...
Honestly, between Janissary and Azra'il it's the latter that could get Dogged. Right now when comparing them Azra'ils don't have much of an advantage going for them. Of course we don't know if/how SHI will change in N4...
Oh, I disagree. The difference is small but distinct: For a lone, mainly stationary, defender - go for an Azra'il. He gets an edge in long-ranged AP weapon, and an extra point of ARM. Especially if you have an Akbar Doc to hold his back (either by himself, or via Nasmat). For a versatile, mobile fighter - go for Janissary, or perhaps a Fireteam of them. Nb. Janissaries could be given a Haris option, if you ask me.
Muyibs have both Religious and Dogged too, so that's not an unprecedented set of abilities. I would also love Janissaries to have Dogged on top of their 2 wounds.
@Errhile Sorry, I wasn't clear - I meant QK has those things already (many bodies, more high armor units, and cheap AD). But together those don't thematically mean much. IMO linkable Azra'il would be huge, even if just duo or haris with something like Hafza, Odalisque, or Sekban. Fasids no, since they are marked by having a dark reputation. After all, other big guys can link with something more useful than missile bot (see Kriza, Mowang, Sogarat).
Muyibs are Light Infantry, having super cool light infantry that sometimes even overcomes the MIs of other factions is what Haqqislam does. On the other hand Heavy Infantry is the specialty of other factions. There's no interest by part of developers to promote Heavy Infantry gameplay in Haqqislam because the funds are already spent in programs for genetically modified super soldiers. Haqqislam is good as they are at current and not everybody is entitled to be running links of Heavy Infantry. Haqqislam have a minimum of HI units, players are free to field them if they want. If you prefer to run other things like bioenhanced troops, annoying warbands or hassassin troops then it's working as intended! Haqqislam HI don't need to have appeal, special skills nor be optimized because that's not what designers want Haqq players to be playing mainly.
I think that really only applies to Janissaries, which are designed to be the standard HI of the faction. I don't think most people would say Haqq HI don't have appeal or special skills when the Fasid and Ayyar exist, for example.
I’ve always thought QK was kind of dumb, because it’s biggest innovation when it was initially released was the chance to play another factions troops. And “it’s like Haqq, but for people who don’t like Haqq!” was not a sell for me. If I were in charge of a QK rework, I’d go all in on the idea that it’s a naval (space naval) escort unit. Thematically I would divide it up into “brutal guys with AD and zero g or multi terrain” versus “nice guys who escort the passengers and or staff.” On the brutal zero g assault squad side I would give it nearly all our AD units, even the ones that were for other factions. And the yuan yuan. Plus Djanbazan and Sekhban. And Halqa. And maybe Azra’il, with a QK variant with multi terrain just for flavor. Plus whatever mercs are appropriate. On the nice escort side I would include resculpted Odalisques, Fiday (to mix among the crew like murderous Air Marshals), and the “nice” mercenaries. And maybe a new unit or two to flesh this out. I would want these troops to be the sorts of soldiers you wouldn’t mind clients meeting. Unlike, you know, Yuan yuan or djans. If it was decided that there needed to be some Nomad presence to represent Nomad contractors on an interstellar venture, I’d put in something that actually adds something new instead of just basic trooper stuff. Maybe something specifically Corregidor themed. Maybe Bandits or Jaguars. I don’t know the lore but they fill a hole and feel scrappy like hired muscle should. I’m not in charge of anything but this is what I’d do.
I think this is a nice way of thinking about it, though I think I'd put Sekbans on the nice escort side with Odalisques and Kaplans rather than the scary "get off my plane!" side with Djanbazans and Azra'il.
You might be right. I don’t know unit by unit lore very well. I modeled the idea after US secret service tactics. There are the nice secret service guys in suits near the President. And there’s an assault team a little bit away, where you can’t see them, with body armor and big guns. In theory you never meet those guys because nothing ever goes wrong enough to require them.
Haqq "Air Marshals"? They do exist. They're called the al'Hawwa, "the Snake Charmers". The unit fluff describes them as the Navy's scout unit that often operates undercover on civillian vessels as pirate deterrent. The Sekban, oh man... you couldn't be further from the truth calling them brutal, and yet at the very same time they can be as brutal as it needs to be. While they fulfill the role of Marine force for the Haqq Space Force, they track their roots to the volunteer, irregular, somewhat haphazard troops that defended Haqq space stations during the Silk Revolts. The men and women who did draw their line and stood it - to the last one, if needed be. While the Sekban Corps took heavy losses (and suffered a number of defeats, trying to defend remote stations weeks away from any reinforcements), they stood tall, and in time the Navy decided to reinstate them as a professional, elite unit. To a Haqq citizen, they are the stalwart protectors of the Caravansarai. You see them, and you do know they will do everything to defend you. No citizen of the Sphere needs to fear the Sekban, unless he's a pirate or other up-to-no-good type. You want nasty? Oh yes, we have nasty: the Djanbazan. Muhafiz, the Security & Counterintelligence Service of the Funduq Sultanate, aren't nice guys (then again show me a counterintelligence & internal security agency who are!), and Djanbazan are Muhafiz's stromtroopers. Door breakers & name-takers, well-known for going over the top, and for doing small jobs for various Silk tycoons on the side from time to time, too. And that's only the Haqq-specific QK own troops. Remember we employ the Druze Shock Teams - folks whose offcial motto is "We are bad people - but we could be worse"...
