I’m intrigued by the idea of using Forward Observers in my TAK army to create BS Attack (Guided) opportunities for Traktor Muls - feels fun and flavorful, but the FO skill’s seemingly narrow window of usability has always felt a bit middling to me. Hypothetically if I’m using a Line Kazak as a Forward Observer, it’s WIP 13 instead of BS 11; this most effectively trumps the Kazak’s default Rifle at between 16 and 24 inches of range, where the rifle is -3 and the Forward Observer MOD remains +0. In the active turn that’s about an 88% of at least one hit with Forward Observer (with B2) and the rifle is 78% (with B3). Combine that with the fact that a successful hit automatically imposes the Targeted state (as opposed to needing to make an additional save roll for the rifle) and Forward Observer seems decent. In the reactive turn with B1, it’s 65% vs 40%. Downside is that FO doesn’t have particularly great range or burst value compared to the better weapons loadouts that some higher quality troops have, Technical weapons don’t gain any benefit from Link Teams, and you’re spending orders and/or need to get a vulnerable unit pretty close to danger for an effective ARO or Active Turn shot just to achieve a Targeted state, AND you still need to do the actual Guided Attack afterwards (in your active turn only), and hope that your opponent doesn’t successfully Reset in the meantime. You also need to be fairly choosy about your target(s) to ensure it’s worth such a roundabout method vs just shooting them. I realize the degree of subtlety in the game and situational importance may make it hard to give specific answers for this, but I’m trying to figure out: How much should I be actively trying to achieve Targeted/Guided? Is it supposed to be a bit of a gambit or are there regular/reliable ways to pull it off every game? Should FO be primarily reserved for ARO OR is it okay for Active Turn use Are Forward Observers for this purpose better off as a cheaper mono-purpose unit that is just trying to achieve Targeted OR is it better to have a more independent higher quality unit that is focused on being a Specialist going after objectives, who also just happens to have the ability to use the FO skill if the opportunity arises? Am I better off trying to achieve Targeted with a Wardriver Hacker if I'm bringing one along already?
I’m not sure actively going for a target is ever worth it. Except for the rare occasion you absolutely have nothing else to deal with a threat. that said most of the time being targeted comes from aro. And mostly from hackers. I guess I don’t have much positive to say about it for Ariadna. But I could see myself attempting it in active turn if I was using something like a strelok FO for the surprise.
Thing to do is remember that you can target dead bodies. If you knock a link team member unconscious, those are viable targets for targeting and then splashing the suckers nearby with templates
I've tried. Oh how I've tried. I've tried in TAK. I've tried in USAriadna. Unfortunately as said above you're spending 2 orders and still risking a miniature to target and fire. Flankers like a well placed infiltrator can help make this less lethal, as can US's parachuting options. But it's difficult for it to go off. I've yet to try the wardriver as they're packing actual hacking devices now, so can target through walls, but it's with an 8 inch range. That said when it does, you can spend orders and roll to see if a model dies and takes his friend down with him. This said, there is one situation where taking a Mul with a weapon over a simple 8 pt order is worth it (if you can spare the swc). Order farms. If your opponet has a core sitting in the back, or runs old school cheer leaders. Long bombing a FO at them can work, since some combi rifle fire in return isn't too bad. Once you do target an order farm, you can start to make that model a liability as you can pick them off across the map to bleed enemy orders, and possible get 2 for one. Most line infantry don't want to get hit by double action anything.
If you want to get the job done, you could use Strelok FO coordinated orders. A single enemy can only ARO one of them.
There as a gimmick list posted way back where you'd take 2 mul and 2 kuryers and coordinated order to lob rounds at whatever unfortunate got spotted. Rate of fire 1 doesn't matter with guided. Never saw the table though, anyone ever try that?
I finally got this to sort of work the other day, though incidentally I pulled it off with the Wardriver creating the Spotlight rather than the FO. Unfortunately I got my Line Kazak Link bombed to hell by a Yaokong using the exact same strategy in response with a Missile Launcher - with EXP it created a much more effective result than my wimpy Katyusha
That is true, wardrivers aren't condemned to the defensive hacking device anymore which means they can spotlight people through walls. That said, there was a joke list here on the forums awhile back. 2 traktur muls + 2 kuryers and you'd spend special order tokens to coordinated action and fire 4 missiles onto a single target. Seems like a lot of investment, a lot of setup, but god help anything that gets spotted.
The way you want to be using forward observers in Ariadna is not typically to make opposed face to face rolls with the forward observer skill. Instead, take your shotgun or melee-capable skirmishers (like a Strelok in TAK) and push it toward the enemy aggressively with the intention of putting say shotgun templates into an enemy link team. If your opponent elects to try to make discover rolls against you, then you forward observe - otherwise, just proceed with the attack run. It will typically be an unopposed two dice on 10s affair which isn't too bad. Basically, guided in Ariadna is best for presenting your opponent with a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' choice when engaging with short-ranged skirmishers.
