Xi Zhuang's mad traps are a great bit of kit for keeping hackers off your Crane agent in your enemy's turn. His shock immunity is a bit bloaty considering IS typically has very poor healer coverage, and I've never used his flamer because the crane's double nanopulsers are better. If he was in a pure CG link, I think his number 2 and flamer would get a much bigger workout, and he madtraps are still valuable for keeping away the DTWs and KHDs that would upset the squishy link. I'm surprised people would think the Crane + CG link is not optimised though. Being able to put a HI big gun in a LI link is already in the high-tier of optimization. A 5-linked CG FO is one of the better tuned close in ARO defense in the game, putting out 2 BSG shots at BS 17 against targets in cover up to 8 inches, and then 2 flash pulses at WIP 17 from 8 to 24 inches. Also doing objectives at WIP14. The basic link filler mook is only 12 points, same as a ghulam. What's really killing celestial guard links for me is lack of models!
Yep, I can't wait. Hacker and KSCD have been mentioned as the most used profiles in two different seminars in which players have asked about the box, so we can assume they are in the box. There's serious competition for the other two slots, the BSG, MSR and SF are all very useful profiles. I'm probably going to have to buy two boxes.
My experience with the Crane link compared to Wu Ming link is that a Crane link tends to perform slightly worse with regards to heavy weapons (Spitfire is lighter than HMG) for a similar price but unlike Wu Ming, the Crane link has a soft underbelly that'll mean bonuses gets removed really quick. I've had better luck with having Celestial Guards escort a single Crane (the dog standard MR and sensor Crane is lethal at surprising ranges) and putting more points elsewhere. Also gives more space for Xi and smoke redundancy.
Comparibly, the Wu Ming link is a sledgehammer; the Crane link is a scalpel. The CG/Crane link has extra utility, because it packs the power of (1-3) HI with their toolkits and (1-4) CG, with their vastly cheaper toolkits, together. Wu Ming have some great tools, but they're still mid-range HI, and that cost attack up. 5 Wu Ming, with a healthy dose of specialists and a variety of weapons, will run in the 150-200/2-4 range; 1 Crane/4 CG will run in the 100-160/1-3 range. The latter allows for a bunch of extra tools brought outside of the link (which is both good and bad) that can support or roam independent. Hell, you can get a CG/Crane link plus a Pheasant Duo for roughly the same cost as the Wu Ming link. They're different tools.
