He is, but honestly the amount of times someone has managed to stick a repeater near my LT I can count using pinky fingers only, plus in such situations I'd value having a Firewall -6 higher because that repeater would be likely to be near my hackers in the same link.
Noticed that Qiang Gao is no longer a Wildcard in White Banner, updated OP to have a list of sectorial specific changes that I can spot.
I want to say the Guilang minelayer with the deployable repeaters has been absolutely mint. Been running it in Vanilla and it has definitely caused massive force projection for Yu Jing's hacking game and had a big effect on both wasting my opponents orders and keeping annoying models out of my face. I don't think it's quite enough to allow Yu Jing to play an aggressive hacking game, I don't think that's possible in N4 without a pitcher, but it's definitely a big factor in a defensive hacking game as well as projecting control over the midfield. Overall the profile has big synergies with the amount of hacking Yu Jing can hide behind holomask and marker state bullshit. It's very hard to determine exactly how much of a hacking threat can be projected through those repeaters and I've noticed opponents actively chasing and burning orders climbing into annoying spots just to get rid of the repeaters. I'm honestly considering occasionally putting them on the table with the repeaters deployed in annoying spots even though I don't have any hackers at all in the list, I think there's a fair chance people will still either try to avoid the repeaters or will waste orders trying to remove them for no reason.
I wonder how viable using Forward Observer with Surprise Attack is to mark targets for guided missiles. Assuming cover for both, you'll be shooting at B2, WIP-3, while your target is contesting on a likely -6 assuming no visual mods/visors. Just ran the numbers and using a Zhencha to surprise-observe a Guijia at good range for both is 62/20/18. If guided missiles are your main attack vector, might be worth considering if getting a hacker nearby is difficult?
Copypasting is the path to the dark side. Copypasting leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering I thought that Kaldstorm was just an error but I can't believe the same unchanged fluff is still in N4.
Fixed that for you :D The issue is order expenditure cost. I've ran that budget calc a few times and resolved to try and do it, but always ran into the problem that it's costly to get to a good spot to do it from and that accepting a higher gamble by simply using the Zhencha to shoot stuff has a greater potential pay off since the Zhencha can progress quicker to the next kill that way.
Against a TAG? I don't like it as much unless I'm desperate to shift them out of cover or something. That said I've got some ideas cooking over this but it needs time and I need to identify a mission archetype to build it into. I didn't feel like what I was building was suitable for supremacy today.
Given the lack of price alteration, I would assume it is not intentional, but who knows (except maybe IJW)? In either case, added it to the list of changes. I'm definitely not a fan of the lack of alteration to Daofei and Zhencha prices. I honestly felt they were somewhat overpriced, just like other Heavy Infantry, previously, and the Daofei's price just didn't add up to anything as they were already paying a rather huge premium on Infiltration+Camo. Some would say "that is a strong combo" and they would be correct, however, so is KHD/HD+ on units with Synch, Mimetism and MSV combo on core-linkable snipers, Hidden Deployment on units with impact templates, Impersonation on just about everything, or Frenzy on units that can form Fireteams, yet very few other power combos are penalized. So while other camo+infiltration units weren't increased in price and the other Marker state HI didn't seem to miss out, I do think Zhencha should've taken part in the general HI re-pricing (i.e. gotten a couple to five points cheaper) and the Daofei should probably have dropped some 5 points in addition to receiving HI re-pricing.
With Oblivion confirmed at burst 2 that's Sun1 out of the picture for good. 31% for a WIP13 hacker to put him into isolated. Probably not worth the points paying for CoC on Tai Sheng anymore unless it's leftover points either. Definitely ramps the value on Shang Ji-sus bringing his own tinbot though in Vanilla as well as having the ability to marker state your HI.
Zhencha even went up 1pt, probably to pay for the panzerfaust. It's a shame as zhencha were probably my favorite in n3, but tactical window and aggressive price drops give it a lot of competition, as well as the targets it will face being even tougher. Will probably still give him a run, but already get that dirty feeling in paying just a little too much. Daofei should probably be on the biggest loser list. Costing 55 points is absolute premium territory now. Having a NCO hac tao for 12 points more or the many hsien profiles which now cost similar is stiff competition. I thought they'd at least justify it with some stat bumps for equipment, but d-charges don't make much sense for the unit...
The Daofei is still good, but he really needs a lot more consideration at his cost. I definitely agree that he could stand to drop a bit in cost. B2 Oblivion makes the hacker a very scary aggressive piece now, at least. D-charges are super niche for him, and for the points we pay for him (and the two models wielding swords for him!), it'd be nice to get a bit more of a CC boost to actually be a real threat with them. If he got at least that, I wouldn't have doubts about his current cost. 19 with no MA still feels like a waste.
Random poorly-considered shower thought - change the Yan Huo's fireteam option to "FTOs can be part of any Fireteam of Zuyong".
Generally they could have been a LOT more liberal with Yanhuo linking without disrupting the meta. Erasing all FTOs and making the base profile count as Zuyongs for fireteam composition would be a fine change.
Apologies if this is out of place in the thread! I'm struggling to keep up with all the N4 info and YJ unit names, but all your helpful information here is greatly appreacited :) How is White Banner (or Vanilla) looking in N4? I'm taking a bit of interest in Liang Kai and Jing Qo specifically, plus I've always liked the Guilang models of old (and new) and wondered if it's in a good place to begin a small collection. Kaldstrom+Beyond is the obvious starting point - is there much more that's needed to make reasonable lists or can I limit to one or two more units and be fairly functional? Thank you!
Sooner or later you will want support pack. Yaokong Remotes of all types are also very useful. Yaoxies remotes. Rui shi used to be no brainier, it is still very good but harder to fit into lists. Lu duan on the other hand seems to way better than it used to be. Later on tigers for both vanilla and WB. If you like amazing looking models and using what's cool then YJ has 2 of the best looking TAGs in the game :)
