How has everyone been making use of the new steel phalanx fire team? To be honest I have been struggling to find a place for it. If I want an assault team there are myrmidon links or solo pieces like Achilles whom seem more suited to that role. If I want some long range fire support, thorakites are much cheaper and you can still sub in a makhai for a better shooter if you're so inclined. The steel phalanx fire team just seems expensive, and like it doesn't really fulfill a role? Anyway just wondering what other people are doing and what their experiences are.
I've had some luck with a couple of configurations: Toolbox: - Hoplite engineer - Scylla's bot - Hippolyta You get reliable eclipse to move up, a repeater to deny space that comes with a heavy flamethrower (which you can trade with and then repair!), a beastly close combat specialist, lots of dangerous close range guns, some tricks with dropbears, a bucket of wounds, burst 2 eclipse on 17s on a mim-6 platform to drain a lot of orders and the hoplite can boop buttons and can challenge all the flash pulses while laughing. Not cheap, but this haris can do a lot. Defensive platform: - Makhai missile launcher - Teucer - Scylla's bot - (spare wheel) Scylla You put Teucer up to ARO. He often takes a bunch of orders to put down and often kills things. Once he bites the dust you can reform and put the Makhai up to ARO. He can also drain orders and kill things in active and reactive. Once he bites the dust you still have a great hacker and a fast repeater with a flamethrower. The bot is also great to defend the longer range guns. I do tend to play with a single order group so the cost isn't a put off for me.
That haris is a tough sell because, as you said, you can drop a Makhe into a Thorakitae team and make the whole thing cheaper. I've run a Makhe (MMR or red fury) with Scylla and her bot to some effect. I've also run Teucer+Hoplite Engineer+Scylla or Pandora or Scylla's bot. The haris ends up around 100 points, which can get you a Myrmidon team with more bodies. But, Teucer is good. He projects long ranged firepower better than a Thorakitae and in a different way than Phoenix. I don't like him over a Myrmidon team, but it is a way to change up my lists a little. Plus, Teucer's long ranged firepower means you don't need smoke as much. Just PanO your way through anything standing up. The engineer is a solid defensive piece as well. It's also a way to bring Hector in a haris with Scylla.
