StarCo Lists for Satellite

Hey guys,

I am currently preparing for a large tournament (German Satellite) and I am 100% set on using StarCo simply for the novelty factor.

We'll be playing:
Supremacy
Rescue
Highly Classified
Transmission Matrix
Acquisition

It's still about three weeks until the tournament, so I expect to get about two more training games in before that. This means I'd like to figure out my lists over the next week so that I get to play test both of my final lists.

In terms of models I have the following limitations:
- no Anacondas
- only 3 Riot Grrls
Everything else is available in full AVA.
This leaves me with the following link choices:
Core: Alguaciles, Brigadas
Harris: Riot Grrls, Brawler

To figure out what kind of units I definitely want to have in my lists, I went through the missions.

Highly Classified:

Highly Classified is usually won by having redundant specialists, enough orders to fuel them, good assassins to take out enemy key specialists, good protection of the HVT, smoke and/or brute force to access the enemy HVT, STR units with weapons that the opponent can not afford not to shoot at, servant bots, cubes, tactical use of shock and NWI.
For StarCo this seems fairly straight forward as most lists should end up with a fair amount of tools for this missions. I think its best to look at the final lists made by considering the other missions and then tweak them a bit to ensure a good blend of redundant specialists is present so that either one of the lists should work well here depending on what kind of classifieds will be drawn. Only thing to maybe keep in mind while building the other lists is that having a remote with a weapon would be cool.

Supremacy / Transmission Matrix / Acquisition:

These missions all play a bit differently, but in sum they mean that the most important thing in this tournament is to be good at dominating zones.
In principle this would call for expensive stuff like HI links, but with Transmission Matrix in the mix bringing HIs without dominating the hacking game seems a tad risky. I'd want at least one of my lists to not rely on HIs too much because of this. I feel an Alguaciles Core with a Riot Grrl Harris including Avicenna may be a good compromise here.
It good to keep in mind that some points can be scored by getting consoles (hacker or hacker and engineer bonus) and that some points are awarded for data tracker stuff. We should have enough specialists in mobile links as well as camo infiltrators to get enough consoles in any list. When it comes to taking out the enemy HVT in Transmission Matrix, Id like to do use Emily and spec. fire. In Acquisition, any HI will do fine as the data tracker.

Rescue:

Rescue is all about protecting civies and getting to them. The saturation zone heavily punishes defensive link teams and the difficult terrain punishes Avicenna quite hard.
I'd like to use Jaguars and a Cateran for guarding my civies here. An Alguaciles Core with Emily should be able to remove enemy guards and attack with an HMG at burst 4 if necessary. Later in game Emily can take out enemies, who managed to synchronize a civie. I see a use case for Raoul here to take some civies.

My first list idea:
Sattelite A
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
ALGUACIL Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
ALGUACIL HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 18)
EMILY (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and E/M), Nanopulser / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35)
RIOT GRRL (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Blitzen, Stun Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
RIOT GRRL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 34)
AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)

GROUP 2 4 3 1
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
CATERAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 21)
BANDIT Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 25)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

This list falls short on bringing a remote with a weapon, doesn't have a second doc or engineer, but I think I feel very comfortable in Supremacy, Acquisition. In Highly Classified it depends on the classifieds drawn and as long as I am not facing a very hacking oriented faction, I'd also be fine playing Transmission Matrix with the list. Even in Rescue I could see this work if I link Emily with the Alguaciles first for long range spec. fire and then link her with the Riot Grrls later in game to advance and synchronize civies.

So for the second list the main goals would be to include more doc / eng specialists and to maybe bring a combat type remote. Bringing REMs works best with having hackers to support them, which may not be ideal in Transmission Matrix.

This is my first guess for a second list, but I am far from convinced:

Sattelite B
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
ALGUACIL Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
ALGUACIL Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
ALGUACIL HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 18)
EMILY (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and E/M), Nanopulser / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35)
HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
TSYKLON Spitfire, Pitcher / Electric Pulse. (1 | 31)

GROUP 2 6 1 1
BRAWLER (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

5.5 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Do you guys have any suggestions on this? I'd greatly appreciate some input!

 

Thanks for the feedback:

About list 1: funny coincidence, I actually had Raoul in the list and then switched him for the Salyut and Bandit. My main reasoning was that baggage might come in handy in the domination missions and that an additional hacker is much better than a specialist operative in the context of highly classified and the other missions either giving hacker bonuses for consoles or providing a repeater network for free.
But there is definitely no right answer. Maybe Raoul is even better in terms of dominating zones with AD. Also he adds a lot to the list in case its used in Rescue.

List 2: I see your point, but changing the list as you suggest would make the list a lot less useful in Rescue with the saturation zone debuffing the ML and having only one smoke thrower for the MSV2 Brawler seems like a bad choice. Maybe there is a way to rework the list into having a defensive Alguaciles Core and a Brawler Harris including Raoul as an attack piece. Couldn't figure out a good way to do this right now though.

 

Thank you guys for the feedback!

In the meantime, I can up with an additional build. The minimal MB special Core along with the Riot Grrl Harris might be a pretty good option considering the missions played:

Starco. Free Company of the Star
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

6
MOBILE BRIGADA HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 42)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
SEÑOR MASSACRE Boarding Shotgun, E/M Grenades, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, E/M CCW. (0 | 26)
RIOT GRRL (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Blitzen, Stun Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
RIOT GRRL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 34)
AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)

4.5 SWC | 173 Points

Open in Infinity Army

In Supremacy and Acquisition this setup will be great independent of what the rest of the list looks like.
In Transmission Matrix this can still work really well against opponents with a weak hacking game.

For highly classified this is also a good start as we have a veteran troop for abduction, redundant doctors and plenty of points for other specialists.

Rescue can still work pretty well if we add a Cateran and some Jaguars. The linked high burst weapons will make for a pretty good offense.

Here is an idea how to turn this into a list capable of doing all the missions:

Starco. Free Company of the Star
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9 1 1
MOBILE BRIGADA HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 42)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
SEÑOR MASSACRE Boarding Shotgun, E/M Grenades, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, E/M CCW. (0 | 26)
RIOT GRRL (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Blitzen, Stun Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
RIOT GRRL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 34)
AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
STEMPLER ZOND Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 17)
HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2 3 2
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
CATERAN T2 Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 24)
WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

This one is capable of doing all possible classifieds and can protect the civies in Rescue quite well.
Looks like a pretty good all comers list to me.
Only weakness is the obvious LT in case the opponent counts SWC.

 

Hehe, you are right about few people using Stemplers in most of the German metas. But to me this is a great unit: specialist, good range bands, fast, sensor and most important its a cheap REM with a gun for highly classified.

On the obvious LT:
I wouldn't want to give up the Cateran as I consider him my key ARO piece in Rescue and hope to hold one of the zones in Transmission Matrix with him while he is still in camo. I'd be willing make this change: Alguacil + Zondbot + Warcor = Brawler LT, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

Edit: for SWC count purposes, this setup would also be possible:

2
CATERAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 21)
BANDIT Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 25)

0.5 SWC | 46 Points

And I think I am fine with the LT possibly being obvious later in game. Worst case I feel completely free to use the LT order to enter suppressive fire. When facing an army with impersonators, I'd most likely use the (not yet finalized) list with Emily CoC and more bodies.