N4 Varuna for October Sattelite

From the September 18th Studio Update:


Any thoughts on how this will change list building?

 

Quite a bit. You can't just upgrade a linkteam Fusilier into a supportware monkey for 8 points. You're stuck paying the full price for EVO, which is a pretty hefty tax on getting Fairy Dust or Marksmanship Level 2. Buying EVO + Machinist to fully support your REMs adds a pretty significant cost to Bulleteer, Peacemakers, Sierra, Pathfinder, all of which have really excellent places in N3. So there's quite a lot to consider there.

 

I am an enterprising strategist from.... far away. I have created the proven, optimal list for Varuna. My friend I invite you to play this glorious list at the tournament for the glory of the hyperpower. Anything less is cowardice and an admission to our foes of the supreme inferiority of our faction and especially it's players. We can't have that!

Varuna Immediate Reaction Division
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 1
ECHO-BRAVO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
ECHO-BRAVO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
ECHO-BRAVO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
BIPANDRA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
QUINN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
WARCOR (Sixth Sense L1) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
ORC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
ORC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
ORC Lieutenant MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 40)

0 SWC | 40 Points

GROUP 2 3
HELOT MILITIAMAN MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)
HELOT MILITIAMAN MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)
HELOT MILITIAMAN MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)

6 SWC | 293 Points

Open in Infinity Army

The ORC Core is small but highly efficient. You can count on them to defend your deployment zone with burst two BS 14 attacks. Alongside this, three Helot MULTI Snipers provide a devastating field of fire to prevent the enemy attack, and they can also advance up the table to attack with a very low cost sniper (17 points!) if you have the first turn. The other alpha option is to walk on three Echo-Bravo assault hackers and coordinate order DEP attacks to destroy their order pool. And the best part is that if anything dies, Bipandra is there to patch it up again. And by playing 7 points down and with some empty slots in group one, you can trick your opponent that you have a hidden model, and thus gain advantage without spending a thing!

This list is absolutely unstoppable. I'm sure it will need some minor adjustments for N4 but the core concept is definitely something to build around.

 

Might even be worth it to take more than one, depending on how the final rules shake out. Stacked Firewalls could make it very difficult to reliably stick even a Spotlight on many HI links with only one device.

 

All Hacking defenses are Firewall now, confirmed by IJW in one of the big YJ threads. Tinbots will provide some, EVO bots can stack more.

 

Ah- I was talking about on the enemy side. 2 stacks of Firewall-3, like an ORC link with a Tinbot and under Fairy Dust would have, means a Fusilier is only landing their Hacks on 6. If Tinbot-B translates to Firewall -6, or there are means of pushing the Firewall even higher, it could become very difficult to stop, for example, a Zuyong Haris using Hacking.

 

EVO are only 15 pts so less than our fusi hacker
and with few as 15 models max it should be ok to hide him

 

Well, same as a Fusilier N4 Hacker. HDs go down to 5 points.
EVO looks like much more of a valid choice now either way. Being able to go Prone on a roof, 10 points less and no overlap in Programs is exactly what it needed.

 

EVO also brings Baggage with it, plus authorizing other REMs.

 

Fusilier N4 Hacker can't buff so anyway it's another use
I was referring to the actual tax in N3 to buff