Returning to CJC

I haven't played as much as I'd like.

I still like intruder MSRs, but you need a plan for them. 40 points for a single wound is risky, especially with all the mid 20 HI running around. It's not so bad when you consider the camo state as something similar to a second wound (it's an extra failure point you opponent needs to hit for you to get hit ). You live and die by smart use of camo state and range. MSRs still have high dam and AP, they don't hit as hard as a fuerbach, but you still can punch through armor given the right set up.

I think Sombra are a little niche. I like them, but you can almost get two bandits for the same cost. If you can really leverage climbing plus I think they're easier to justify. The SO profile is probably your best bet, breaker is excellent ammo. I want to like the KHD, but being hackable always seems to hurt me when I run it, at 40 points it's going to want to kill stuff with it's gun, which breaks stealth and opens you up to having your brain melted.

 

I think the Intruder MSR got lapped by snipers/missiles/HMGs in links. BS13 is a lot less shiny when you're F2F'ing a 5-man linked sniper. And it suffers from being a "great N3 profile" that didn't care about 4-2 movement, but DID care about losing 4" forward deployment...

And it's just got a lot of gear that it's paying for. Most equivalent models have MSV2 -OR- Mim -6 -OR- MSV1 & Mim -3:
- having MSV2 means you can target your opponent's Mimetism models efficiently
- having Mim -3 or -6 means you can target your opponent's MSV models efficiently
- Having MSV2 AND Mim -3 means you have to track down opponents that ALSO have MSV AND Mim to be efficient, which is a much smaller cross-section

 

I think all the talk of the Intruder's demise is a little premature! I've found HMG to be a more useful gun again of late. A lot of the biggest threats in the game at the moment really don't want to be shot by an active-turn intruder hmg! Bears, Taighas, unknown ranger, Andromeda, McMurder, Eudoros, etc. Even limit cases like tr bots and tutons, while not ideal, are still worth a pop if you can get an active turn surprise attack.

Almost useless against armoured targets, though, but luckily CJC has one of the game's best hacking setups.

 

On one hand Intruders have lost their shine, new units and tactical challenges have taken the spotlight from them, after all it is a unit that has not seen much change since its introduction in first edition, on the other hand Intruders are the same reliable workhorses they always were since first edition, a (mostly) solitary hunter than takes down isolated high priority targets and they excel at this position, add smoke for additional effect.

 

The highest Time of Intruder (right after N2´s "I shoot you first and if you survived you ar allowed to react") was the jaguar release, which brought the smoke-trick to CJC. From that day on Intruder lost some of their value compared to other releases, like Bandits, and the N4 releases / Changes. Especially the high cost for a 1 wound unit combined with the new renaissance of MSV1 units makes him more fragile.
Imho his most value does he bring to vanilla nomads, where there is no linkteam to compete with.
The Intruder MSR is niche. For ARO-duty very expensive and fragile, can be outbursted or hit with DTW. In active round is he a beast when far away and behind a smokescreen vs. most of the units without MSV. Especially Units relying on their Mimetism fall to him like flies. I always prefered the HMG because higher Burst means more to me than better ammo types, but thats personal flavor. He trades his worth in ARO for a more active duty role. And thats where i would place the Intruder as a unit overall. Keep him safe from unwanted attention in your reactive turn and hit like a train in active. Without white noise/eclipse/Albedo or Sixth sense there is nothing able to match him when set up properly (means: good range, cover, smoke, camo state). Like @theomc already mentioned: the combination of MSV2 and Camo/mimetism/surprise is very unique and feels like abuse when brought to shine. But thats what an Intruder stands for.

Sombra is a great unit, a amazing working horse. It lacks the raw kill-power of the Intruder, ofc, but deploying outside DZ plus climbing+ plus NWI plus able to hit buttons makes a incredible solid profile. And thats even without the weapons mentioned: Multirifles for the range you need in midfield, LSG on each rifle loadout andHacking devices on a stealth camo unit with BTS 6.... and even the non-hacking option is viable for it has a Breaker combi and AP mines, which can give heavy armored troops a run for their money.
Sorry for fanboying here, but this unit was always worth the points i invested in her. She comes at a price, especially when compared to bandits (again), but basicly 2 wounds (NWI + Immu: shock), high ARM and BTS,.... makes her amazing for area control, where also her high cost comes in handy. And she looks amazing. And thats whats most important, isn´t it?

edit:
Long story short; i would not run sombra and intruder in one list. Both of them have to rival each other for their equal high points cost. The big advantage you have with nomads: you have comparable cheap units doing amazing jobs to support this 2 options: the often mentioned bandits are amazing units, morans come without saying, Jaguars/McMurder for the smoke-support, Tomcats for flanking-duty and Jazz with white noise. all this units come to a cheap price below 30. The rest can be filled with cheap orders like Alguaciles or REMs.
Big point of both of the Units is their positioning and the fights you pick.

 

Take what I say with a grain of salt as my meta plays at 400pts.

I played CJC a bunch just before the fireteam update (so no Diablos, Gator, Lobos or new teams), but found it played like it in N3 with the exception that it could take a few more direct firefights and increased durability. You still dont want to contest long fire lines unless its absolutely necessary, but is great at defending short lines with great short and point plank defensive pieces and even better area denial with repeaters, crazy koalas and mines. Some stand out pieces were;

Wolfgang fireteams, coupled with something dirt cheap to back him up he would often become a proper menace to your opponent.
Geckos - In short ranged firefights when properly supported so as to not get bricked by enemy hackers they will shred most things especially when in a fireteam (give them an engineer and a buddy with a tinbot).
Vostok - Go brrrr and profit
Sombras - when leveraged properly win games though you need to be real confident in your camo play.
EVAders and Brigada - Along with Wildcats are great utility pieces especially the engineers and hackers and always worth plugging into a fireteam.
Jazz - A terror that will win games when backed up by the proper bots (none of whom are Billie)

Going into late N3 and through the entire life cycle of N4 (especially after losing a couple of the useful profiles) so far I have found the Intruder to either be sub par at best or outright bad, it's too fragile too expensive, out performed by pretty much every other gunfighter in the army and isn't good at knocking down anything that isn't a TR bot or can't be easily be taken down by a better piece like a Sombra.

Bandits are harder to justify these days due to the inherent tax of being irregular, Morans now having a marker state and filling the same role, the sombra in general existing, the shotgun DTW change, and KHD becoming a waste of text killing what was the bandits best profile. However, they can still be an impactful piece when used right.
Iguana - Better luck next edition

 

I watched a battle report recently that used the killer hacker/SMR Intruder that got me thinking about it:
- it's cheaper than the other options, and 0 SWC (CJC can get SWC-starved pretty quick)
- has a good mid-field gun for taking out line troops
- WIP 14 killer hacker that can surprise attack
- a profile that people don't take, so can actually surprise your opponent
- since he'll be "punching down" a lot (looking to gun down scrubs) having 1 W isn't as much of a determent (you'll be hunting guys with combis, not trying to take down that linked HMG...)
- SMR has +3 from 8" to 24", so that, combined with Camo/Mim/Stealth lets him "go hunting" more than the other profiles (that have to stay way back to optimize range)

Worth a look anyway (and you/I can say that cool mini with the sniper rifle is actually a SMR, so I can use it again...)

 

I figured out the issue with the Intruder killer hacker... and it's the Sombra.
Just comparing the two... there is no comparison. Sure you lose a little bit of skill and MSV2, but the toolbox on the Sombra is overwhelming... then add NWI and BTS6 (vs. BTS0 for the Intruder?!?) and it's just more proof that the Intruder is a great N3 profile that never got a proper update to N4... :(

 

MSV2 is really really useful, and I find the KHD/SMR Intruder very useful so far, personally. The fact that so few people rate it or use it plays in one's favor IMO as opponents are usually perplexed about what it is and can do. It's worth the extra order required to move it up IMO. Pairs very well with a nearby Jaguar haris.

The Sombra is fun if you have other forward units to defend it, useful forward specialist. The mobility is nice. It's just a tougher camo specialist.

They're kind of apples and oranges really.