PanO N4 Thread

There is still guard sergeants auxbots in vanilla Pano. 3 more points is a bit hard to swallow but its an option.

 

AVA 1, though. But I agree with @daboarder, Auxbots aren't the only things we can use to guard our backs.

 

One of the only Regular ones though, which is an especially big deal in a single-combat-group list, and the Auxilia FO is a good attack piece and Specialist to boot. I'm going to really miss it until November, especially since for the short time it was available the LT profile was untaxed- I vastly prefer Auxilia to Fusiliers for the LT spot, since they're a bit safer and can use the LT Order much more productively.

With Auxilia out, I don't think I'll be playing this faction again until November. I picked up my Neoterra for the promise of strong shooting and high technology over cheap skills or spam, and I don't think PanO delivers on that at all for now since we lost our fun Warband-analogue. +1 BS over a Hac Tao just isn't worth the tradeoffs in competency in all other areas, with the faction's shooting strength seemingly only expressed in mixed Fusilier Fireteams anymore, and we haven't got any big technological advantages since... TO Camo, maybe? I don't really blame CB for taking PanO in this direction, it's just about the only distinct one left due to faction bloat, but I don't think N4 PanOceania will hold my interest unless they do something crazy with NCA when it comes back.

 

@SpectralOwl PanO ranged proficiency is nicely shown by linkable Karhu with Feuerbach, but I know what you mean. And that's my main problem with the faction.

Back in N2, higher stats were tiebreakers - which meant PanO was winning shootouts more often. It was gone in N3, but our average higher BS still gave us an edge. But the downside was that CB overly restricted our other options, which meant that all we really had was a lot of units doing the same thing very well (Acon was slightly different, with a bit lower tech and a bit more uniqueness, like GdA, or Regulars with their non-standard loadouts). In short the faction was overly defined by its image as shooters only - which was what the famous "PanO was a mistake" comment was about. And now we're losing even that slight BS advantage, aside from TAGs and the most elite HI, as there's more and more BS13/14 units in other factions, while some of ours got their BS reduced (Teutons and Montesa, for example, though I'm not complaining in Montesa's case). And for now I really don't see where CB wants to take us in N4.

 

PanO vanilla is unplayable atm, everybody hope for november with NCA and acon return (tbh it's not that far)
in N4 we have finally the proof that CB hate PanO (Bostria did himself the reworks ? xD) the amount of nerf is quite funny, maybe we're supposed to play only TAG ? Take back your prices reductions ! we want real sectorials not cheap target practices

On the sunny part: we can still play tunguska with PanO minis proxy, after all tunguska is the new Alpha shooty sectorial xD

 

You arent and shouldnt be limited to a single combat group.

I run 1 group MO as thats the style I feel its strongest with, maximising HI.

But my VIRD lists are rocking 15 troops including a cutter and my SWF is 14 with a Jotum.

Both of which make copious use of regular and irregular ARO potential.

To be perfectly honest I havent run auxilia as a "defensive piece" in years, not with the alternatives available too us such as fugazi

 

To be fair, without N3 EVO Supportware Fugazi aren't as solid a defence as they were.

 

It's not a limit in my case, just a preference. The Auxilia's ability to carry out so many duties (defense, button-pushing, close-quarters attack) at such a low price lends itself well to my typical list archetype with several elite, specialised units and a selection of more versatile cheap choices to act as backup and secure ground. I even still prefer them in more serious competitive lists alongside Fugazis, because of their DTW trade ability without risking a valuable order. Perhaps I'm a bit out of touch with what to do in Vanilla though; I'm used to NCA where keeping a large order supply is critical due to the lack of forward deployment options.

 

It would be a steal for the price if we were allowed to do that. It does a fair amount of things right now.

I am using it along with a bulleteer and a peacemaker in almost all my VIRD lists. Bulleteer ignoring cover and peacemaker having burst2 in ARO feels really strong.

 

Fugazi are utterly buffed compared to before with regards to how I personally used to use them. 2 rolls per hit is a straight buff and I rarely bothered to make the b2 (though obviously that worked great as well)

@SpectralOwl point was just to highlight that while 1 unit and style may be currently unavailable, there are others out there that are also competitive

 

True, two rolls are a good buff, though I'll miss the burst bonus. Oh well, things to re-learn and rework.

 

Wait what?? But WHY?! Why removing them this way when they were there in the first place? :O

 

We can hope it's to re-work them into virtually any of the improved versions that have been suggested over the years.

 

Tooling around on Army, trying to make a decent Hacking list. Any thoughts on the following? The plan is to just maximise Hacking Area with a few basic Hackers and a really heavy gun to carry the active turn fighting, slapping Spotlight or worse on everything trying to move in the midfield. Coordinated Hacking looks to be really strong too, especially with a Stealth hacker like the Hexa since they won't draw an ARO and will force the opponent to react to something else- such as the offensively-useless EVO Hacker activated at the same time! I've thought about downgrading the Squalo to a Swiss Guard or even an ORC or KoJ just to get some extra points to turn those schlub HDs into stealthy, high-BTS Kamau that can pull the same trick.

 

Well, updating doesn't need removing first...

 

Being a primarily NCA unit does, though...

 

Hexa too, in that case...

 

it's a primary vanilla unit ...

 

Got in a game with the above list, against a very new player bringing a meme of a Kosmoflot list with 10 Warbands. Went first and had my Squalo's alpha strike completely blunted by Smoke dodges; I have never seen so many 20s from one unit and my opponent rolled quite well, though I did manage to plink a wound off Wallace and kill Uxia. Turns out a Squalo on the highest piece of terrain on the board in Suppressive Fire is very difficult to shift though, with only my awful ARM rolls and the unexpected revelation that a Bearpode's Berserk works with Climbing Plus allowing the opponent to kill it. My Hackers went above and beyond, a refreshing change from N3 considering this was a game against Ariadna, with Spotlight support making the difference in several battles- including against Mirage 5, with Margot going down in one order to the awesome power of the Clipper and the Fusilier Hacker dropping Duroc thanks to the Targeting he inflicted earlier- all in Loss of LT! Peacemakers with Enhanced Reaction are evil, with the Peacemaker able to fire over his Auxbot buddy you can force an enemy to either Dodge face-to-face with a Heavy Shotgun, or eat four DTWs if they do anything else. The Sierra is as good as ever, holding a flank by itself and taking down a badly-positioned Volkolak ML.

If I ran this list again I'd swap the Squalo for an Aquila HMG, since Mimetism and Smoke are being bigger pains than the armour- I have hacking and artillery for that. Not sure though; the extra Order efficiency from the TacAware and LT orders, plus the Squalo's high speed and tough armour, really make it worth the points now. The point savings are enough to fund swapping the Tech-Bee for a Fusilier LT, and upgrading both Hackers to Kamau for a little more survivability and the Stealth+Coordinated Order trick.

 

Flexible? Tentatively yes, I think due to the nature of their Wildcards you can build more flexibly in that sense and the LT is much easier to sort out.

Diverse? I don't think so. IA is more specialised but that comes with the cost of diversity. Want to ram orders through a pain train? IA is good at that to the point where they're probably the best in the business at it. Shang Ji-sus with 4 Zhanshi behind him is probably one of the most digustingly streamlined and cost effective things you shoot things with at the moment for under 100pts.

MO on the other hand has alot of different pies they stick their fingers in. Close Combat? Pick any knight. Want to do some hacking? De Fersen is one of the best hackers in the game right now (seriously, he's the kind of profile Nomads have wet dreams over). Want to do midfield skirmishing? Dart and TO Minelayer specialists are on hand. Want to play hidden deployment traps? You have access to hidden deployment MSRs. Want fast HI? Montessa is on a bike. Want to copy the Liu Xing? Santiago has an AD profile. Want to do TAGs? MO has a very cost effective Tikbalang that can duo with tinbots.