So, assuming you could design a new NCA starter what would it contain? My starter for ten: Aquila Guard with MR Neoterra Bolt with BSG Neoterra Bolt with BSG Garuda Tacbot with (PanO) HMG Locust with MMR (***Trigger Warning***) Black Friar MSR Brucie Bonus: The set would come with 2 Drop Bears Brucie Bonus #2: The Locust and one of the Bolts would have interchangeable arms
Neoterran Capitaline Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6 BOLT Boarding Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) BOLT (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) HEXA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 27) AQUILA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 58) SWISS GUARD Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 69) LOCUST (Marksmanship L1) Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 33) 2 SWC | 232 Points Neoterran Capitaline Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6 BOLT Boarding Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) BOLT (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) BOLT Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) AQUILA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 58) LOCUST Boarding Shotgun, Grenades, Drop Bears / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 30) SWISS GUARD Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 70) 0.5 SWC | 225 Points Those are my two non-negotiable contributions. We don't need a Black Friar model or an ALEPH one in the NCA set. There's enough profiles for NCA that need resculpts or even first sculpts to draw from. Also, if they do this? They need to rerelease the three Bolts from the current NCA set as a triple blister. AND NEW FRICKING AUXILIAS AND DAMN UHLAN RELEASED BY ITSELF!
We're not getting Auxilias in the box unless it only contains two other models, because screw extending starter sets beyond 6 models amirite? Also, before the obligatory "bUt tHe cOsTs!1!! yOu dOn'T kNoW aNyThInG kAn!!!" posts... If CB wanted to, they could easily start doing larger starter sets and making it profitable. Look at the Army Packs(JSA, Spiral Corps, USARF) they have done. Part of the cost for that is stuff they can't do in-house(the mats, templates, and booklets). Do something like the Army Packs minus that extra stuff and it addresses the cost argument.
I like how a lot of our wish lists went from the NCA starter having too much SWC to having almost no SWC. I might be the only one that doesn't want the Auxilia, I have so many spare auxbots and Fusiliers make fine proxies
Aquila MR Swiss Hacker Hexa Hacker Bolt BSG x2 Bolt CoC (some kind of pointing commander-arm maybe?) Throw in some Drop Bears models to boot. If two HI is good much some kind of Locust then to replace Swiss. The one missing then should be published as a blister pack. Auxbots are fine and dandy, it's the drives that are very ugly, but easily replaced. I use PanO CEO and Emily as mine.
To be fair, a lot of that might simply have to do with the fact that the NCA starter we have now is a collection of old sculpts thrown in and surprisingly many of the missing/nonexistent profiles for NCA that people want...have almost no SWC! :P Which is part of the problem with Auxilia. They've been overshadowed by Fusiliers for ridiculous reasons of late. My only hope is that the reason we haven't seen a resculpt is because they're planning something big. Like making Auxilia into PanO's S5 HI...
Very true I know you'll die on this hill Kan, but to be honest I feel if we were to get a theoretical N4, I could see Auxilia getting left behind. Unless they get something new or made into something totally new, they kind of feel like old game design and ethos.
Truthfully? I could see them just ditching NCA entirely. They seem to just want every faction to be the same trash of "mIxEd LiNkS mAkE yoU gReAt!!!11", rather than actually just moving forward with the game as it's become and doing away with the nonsense of "ONE LINK TEAM PERIOD! EXCEPT FOR HARIS, TOHAA, OR GREEKS!".
Hexas feel like old game design; compare their profiles, 2 useful (MSR, KHD), 1 so-so (Spitfire) and 2 crap (combi and HD), with a "modern" unit like the Zulu Cobra (6 useful profiles) or Echo Bravo (4 useful profiles). The Locust looks almost as dated. Auxilia could use a hacker + repeater Auxbot, a few heavy weapons, a Feuerbach with Tinbot E, Sensor Auxbot profile or MSV Auxbot profile (really lean into the REM tied to a generic trooper). Hexas could use a Counterintelligence profile, as well as a Holo 1 profile. And I still want a CQB TAG; Stingray chassis with HSG, Eclipse LGL and Full Auto 2.
That's true – though to me NCA always had that feel of "Vanilla: The Sectorial" that each faction more or less has that I think each faction needs. Its a shame too because I think they could branch NCA out into really cool places (Hexahedron focus) but sadly I think they'll just be content with the unfocused buffet of units they have now. I doubt we'll see it going away anytime soon, theres just too many units that are in the sectorial that are still in production. If we are to get any more updates I think NCA would adapt more to the changing meta than to go away entirely
We've literally given them enough Auxbot ideas over the years that it is downright idiotic that they haven't even done one of them. I personally don't think Hexahedron focus would have been beneficial(it would have had the same issues as Black Hand focus--too limited without going into the now NA2 territory), but it's asinine that they chose to ignore expanding the opportunity that Red-K opened for them to do more with Australians/New Zealand.
Neoterran Capitaline Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6 BOLT Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) BOLT Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) BOLT Boarding Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) AQUILA MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 58) LOCUST (Marksmanship L1) Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 33) HEXA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 32) 1.5 SWC | 183 Points Open in Infinity Army Definitely NOT another Swiss Guard in a box. And not just because I have the ML from Shae-Konnit. Two big-ass HI and Bolts in the same starter is still a bloat problem (even my choices break 150pts still, but it's no longer over 200pts). Also retiring old Hexa Sniper model (even though it's pretty nice, though I don't like the look of Hexas in general) and have Hexa Hacker in a blister sounds like it would be a popular choice. Generic PanO players already have a good sniper in form of Nisses and Croc available without buying a whole box for it, but KHD Hexa is useful to both generic and NCA, while NCA players will want that sniper Hexa so it would be great to put her directly in the starter. Not to mention NCA starter is the only PanO one without a sniper in it. And yes, I expect a dedicated Drop Bears Bolt model at some point. Not because it would make great sense, but because there hasn't been one yet and I would expect CB to pull something like this :P
The Drop Bear on her is a separate model. I was thinking more like holding it in hand or in a discus throw pose. Or attached to belt. In a perfect world that Bolt would also hold a pistol in the other hand, rather than a Combi or a BSG. I also noticed that if you add Machinist NCA and play Aquilla as FTO in my proposed starter you get 200pts exactly – perfect for someone who just got into the game and needs something to learn with. I hold an old-fashioned view that a starter should be something for new players, not an expansion box like Varuna one – and thus should be below 200pts.
As I see it NCA as a sectorial has three main "flavours": Neoterra/Aquila Garrison Neovatican Assault Hexahedron Strike team These are represented by Aquila Guard, Orcs, Fusiliers, Neoterra Bolts, Clausewitz Uhlan, Squalo Swiss Guard, Black Friars Hexas, Locusts, CSU With the remainder being either common across PanO (REMs, doc, engineer etc.) or Aleph loan troopers. Since all of the fireteams are focused around the military units, I'd like to see some expansion of both the Hexahedron and Neovatican options, specifically more solo/rambo units (I've mentioned elsewhere I'd like to see some corporate black-ops HI/TAG hybrid), maybe some more characters (like Aida).
Black Friars and Swiss Guard really shouldn't be lumped together despite what some might think. Blackfriars are more Military Orders than Neovatican. CSUs have not a damn thing to do with the Hexahedron.