you're wrong about the timing, AROs arent declared till after the troop rolls landing and figures out its final placement. https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/ad-combat-jump-and-valid-aros-from-hackers.25491/ This thread covers it, there is no "timing" exception. 1) Hackers are granted an ARO at declaration, use it or lose it 2) Everything else gets an ARO after and only after the final location is determined, use it or lose it.
AD itself doesn't say it; the basic ARO rules only provide for AROs after the declaration of orders. AD is the only effect I know of in the game where someone can gain an ARO essentially in the middle of an Entire Order skill. This is definitely something that needs more clarification. The two options you provided are your interpretation, certainly, but by default AD does not allow AROs in response to its declaration, period, so I think it's reasonable to assume that not using Hack Transport Aircraft's special timing doesn't preclude one from taking an ARO from AD's "normal" window to do so. The thread you linked is a lot of IJW declaring something, then citing his own declaration as proof in a circular manner. Until it shows up in something that CB actually publishes I'm not calling it legit.
Not really. Engage requires LOF and is a bit of a gamble and if you could have done it with a normal Hacker (which you can't), then it will also deny you the ability to hack which would've provided you the best odds at shutting down aggression without compromising your own unit. HTA has the advantage that it directly protects any other unit that is also in blast radius and it scatters the Liu Xing to a position that is nearly never favourable to it. Add to it that for most hackers HTA has the same odds as Dodging a Liu Xing explode that you can't see because WIP is significantly higher than PH for most hackers. However, this is hardly on topic.
So almost all Aleph units should get a point discount? They have, after all, several skills that overlap... Namely all got courage directly or nested, and high WIP, for example, so... I used the Hospitalers as an example because the other option would be going with YJ, and there we can see Krit Kokram... which would derail the conversation. Sure, the HI troopers served as grunts (only... not always. Janissaries are trained directly as HI, and I think knights could pay/earn their ingress in the HI ranks without passing through the Order Sergeant step... where a lot of poor people would remain as "enlisted" personnel until retirement). In essence, that we already had OSS, and that is a 3rd wave sectorial with few stuff on the level of the new (but started ahead, certainly). The main problem is that what OSS offers, Fireteams, is not what shines in the faction (not really, frankly, you have the Dakini and the Yadu fireteams and they have some "new" smell, but:), what defines mostly the faction is the lone wolves, and those are as effective, or more, in Vanilla. The problem with this is, of course, getting a doctor to patch them up. Some factions are spoiled for options (Haqq, Nomads...), but others are... not (YJ, for example. Or Ariadna). Bad spelling on me, I meant "so we could, then, start assuming that Infinity HI gets deployed for specialized roles". The fingers ran too fast Now, let's remember people get retrained if they change weapons... while there are overlap between the skills developed by an explorer and a light transport crewman, I doubt the career path to tank commander is explorer-TOA gunner - TOA driver - TOA commander - Tank gunner - Tank driver - Tank Commander, even if something along those lines happen in a lot of RPGs. It's a silly comparison, but I can't think of anything that gets near the mean I try to convey. Those are more like "hackable MI with NWI and means to resist things like shock", I'd say, the same way Ariadna "HI" is hackable guys with NWI and patches of tesseum... Or the Yadu are non-hackable HI. Let's call it "CB gaming their own system" and keep walking XD. Everytime you can link a hacker with a tinbot in an already hackable link, there is the opportunity. For example, AHD Deva with Lightning on a Dakini Core (no tinbot, however). Or De Fersen with a Santiago KHD. Or an Umbra/nexus hacker in a Core of remotes.
Except Hack Transport Aircraft is Face to Face that you have to win against generally a much higher number, and a dodge would be unopposed, if you could. So the dodge would have better odds.
Did you actually review the numbers? For Ghulam or Celestial Guard, the numbers are the same. PH 7 for Dodge and WIP 8 for HTA. For the others it's very narrowly in favour of Dodge/CF but on the other hand if you succeed that one you're sitting there staring at a Liu Xing while if you succeed the HTA the Liu Xing gets put 16" or 24+" away, possibly eating multiple lethal AROs. Since Explode X is only DAM 12, the likelihood of surviving is high and the biggest concern is the Liu Xing landing where it wants. Again, HTA is usually preferable and concern over Explode X is irrational.
No, that would be your argument, not mine. I was referring to that WIP represents courage/bravery btw, not Valor L1. Small c. *shrug* making all specialists in the same spirit as Krit or Tai is what you're advocating. I'm just saying that this should be an exception, not a rule, and that ultra-specialisation is both inappropriate to apply on a large scale and still working around the system's faults instead of fixing the faults.
Unless you are in a Fireteam and are toying with the "I fail this roll, several troopers roll ARM directly" or break the Fireteam... Also a compaint back in the day was precisely the Dakini link (-3 dodge because REM: 7... goes down to 4 if it has 3 members only)...
I rarely see people ending their turns with the Hackers being the leaders, meaning that you don't break the Fireteam by declaring HTA and failing. If you gamble on the Hacker succeeding their ARM roll, then maybe you're gambling on the significantly more expensive Liu Xing failing a significantly higher amount of higher DAM ARO attacks? In either case, the IA player is taking a very high stakes gamble at odds that aren't as great as having their Zuyong HMG go face to face with a Kamau sniper. Dakini link? Sounds to me the concern has moved far afield and what you're really concerned with here is the template and not the landing itself. How on earth do you handle a Tiger, Crusader MRifle or Hellcat HMG who'll probably have even better odds at putting even more dangerous templates on 'ya? Again, this is off topic. This isn't even about heavy infantry. (Well, the Hellcat HMG is, but for completely different reasons)
This thread started exactly because there are (many) models in this game now that have either 1w+NWI+shock immunity or 2 wounds and are NOT hackable. To the point these guys are almost as common as Heavy Infantry. And there's the whole can of worms of about 40% of IA's heavy infantry just being flat out less resistant than models which aren't hackable from other factions. I do think Heavy Infantry as a classification has more problems than advantages. Being Heavy Infantry only makes you more vulnerable to E/M (I agree isolation is a problem for anyone, but being isolated AND IMM2ed is worse) and vulnerable to hacking, it doesn't really guarantee higher stats or better defenses. I remember an old discussion about buffing the Sogarat where someone asked "So, you want your sogarat to cost as much as Achilles?" and a few players (myself included) answered "Yes, if he is as strong as Achilles". And this is the crux of the deal. You can say a 28 point Zuyong is cool and useful and I agree, but other armies are paying those same 28 points, or maybe just 5 points more for a model that shoots better, moves better and is only marginally less resistant. We can keep crying about 'redoing the formula' and I sure hope CB will listen eventually, but other than that I just don't know what to do here. I don't want even more rules added to this game.
If you have Sixth Sense you're Dodging or Engaging on flat PH, and it's a normal roll. It also prevents the Liu Xing from following up with a boarding shotgun blast on your fireteam, and it's shit at melee. Having a bunch of Grunts hug the boy when he hits dirt is something I've found to be an effective defense for my fireteam.
Could you a) get back on topic b) quote the post you're actually responding to c) seriously, though, get back on topic. My response hasn't changed.
Yeah, that's the biggest problem - There are now plenty of troopers who even have 2W and aren't heavy Infantry (new Sheskiin, Shakti, etc) when it used to just be werewolves and TAGs. So the only thing that seems to define HI is having a high ARM stat - which is often overcosted relative to its utility. This is a problem.
As you can see the icon is not the invincible army sectorial icon, now if you believe a unit can only appear in one sectorial, this is not always the case.
True and I would really like Daofei in the IA and Tigers are still one of the overall best units in the game, unfortunately they are not there. That been said Invincible Army is not the white banner and the "white faceplate" units were rumoured for the white banner and not the invincible army.
Probably because the design team felt it fitted the desired IA play-style and it would not compete with the other unit options like for example a Daofei would.
