Another shower thought is maybe the Shang Ji are switching over to chain colts from light flamethrowers which I believe will bring their cost down, perhaps to differentiate them from the burnyboi Jujaks.
Gaining access to hacking device utility beyond the limited kit of the AHD might also be quite a boon for the ol' Shanger'n mash. Especially with the potential for new options N4 might bring. Between the DTW and his solid body, if we can get a little readjustment for multi-rifles too, he could be a decent midfield threat and button pusher, especially in a haris. It might be asking for quite a bit, but all things considered, whatever revamping they do for hacking, it's not like YJ can get any worse at it.
Referring back to what I wrote in the PanO thread. Equipment and Abilities don't currently show, it's all in unit name atm, so that's where it came from. @Weathercock YJ can only get a bit worse, but the risk is that Haqq, CA, Nomads and Aleph get significantly better.
Code One doesn't seem to have variant hacking devices, the Croc Man and ORC hackers were both listed with just "Hacking Device" it might still have a variant in full fat N4.
PanO would like a word. In all seriousness, I find Yu Jing to be one of the better factions of those I play for Hacking. Good choices for running Supportware, some forward DepRep access, excellent AHDs, options with WIP 14 or BTS 6, Tinbots in Sectorials and the ever-popular Daoying Hacker LT2. Its weaknesses are mediocre and/or expensive KHDs and a frequent lack of EVO synergy that would make the Panggoling a better choice. In general I find Nomads are typically better at hacking, but ALEPH doesn't seem to have too much of an edge. Take out the Danavas and you're on a level playing field, or even ahead since ALEPH needs its REMs so much. I can agree with @Mahtamori that there's a not insignificant danger of this changing in N4, judging by how enormously one-sided CC seems to be designed in C1. If they take the same approach to Hacking it will feel like half the board is Jammers when facing Nomads, and that won't be much fun.
Aleph is hands down superior due to having HD+ opening up anti MSV tech, also proxy hackers of both varieties are retarded in value vs effect. It's not even close. YJ is better than Pan-O at hacking but they are very close to bottom tier when it comes to factions that actually have hacking options available in terms of depth and support of hacking oriented gameplay, they are far behind Nomads, Aleph, Druze, CA, and Haqqislam when it comes to hacking capability and support, all of the other factions bar one have access to superior and improved hacking programs, and all of them have access to pitchers which are extremely important to force projection for hacking oriented lists. EDIT: O-12 are also on that list of factions with better hacking equipment and units. Forgot about them.
Not sure how you have Druze in there. They have only 3 troops with hacking ability. True they have pitchers, but Druze themselves are, ok, with WIP13 and BTS3 but Brawlers are WIP12. And only one HD with Gromoz who is a Ghulam with a little extra. I can agree with almost everything else. Even a Deva HD is no joke with WIP15, BTS3 and NWI.
They have dirt cheap hackers with SSL2 which is a fairly significant deal and an incredibly expansive and pervasive repeater network thanks to mechanised deploying repeaters and pitchers plus a heavy REM repeater presence in their own deployment zone and their skirmishing specialists carrying deployable repeaters. I have watched HI links get bogged down trying to penetrate the mass repeaters. Being able to start with repeater coverage on objectives for multiple hackers including core linked ones despite going second is very useful to hackers, one of the reasons why Morans for Nomads are awesome. They're not as good as the top 3 factions but they're no slouch at it and because their hackers are incredibly cheap and build into an amorphous singular LI/MI link that constantly refills they show up in alot of lists for Druze. If you play into Druze it basically goes without saying you should expect to need to deal with both E/M specfire and Hacking attacks which is frankly a fucking nightmare for stuff like IA.
The paintjobs do a lot of good for the models in Beyond. Shangers looks especially incredible, but I'm surprised and extremely happy how the Ye Mao came out, I had some serious doubts there. Jing Qo isn't great, but at least she's not ass. But man, I love that Shang Ji. Give me more variants CB, now.
Well, we've seen the new C1 statline, probably not a lot going to be changing from that (except for the icon, funny that they forgot to use the new one for C1...). Any new equipment and skills we'd be getting would be something not already included in C1. And C1 already covers a far broader range of rules than it should have. So I doubt we'll be getting much, if anything there. At that point, it comes down to the equipment and potential fireteam options. It could end up seeing Sensor or an X-visor, being the same model of armour as the Crane, but I won't hold my breath. TA being spread to more profiles is our most realistic hope. So that takes us to loadouts. DTWs on ALL profiles is already a nice addition. Not being a flamethrower sucks, but I guess it's an okay sacrifice to make to be ubiquitous to all profiles. A marksman rifle of some sort would have been nice, but once again, clearly not getting that. A grenadier of some sort is a possibility, I'm assuming the inclusion of Sargosh's is a mistake, so I won't rule that out entirely. The hacker profile is going to live and die by what changes to hacking N4 brings us. If he gets good hacking tools, he's got a solid body and good equipment to be a decent midfield threat with the right fireteam support. As for everything else? Well, that remains to be seen. The TA HRL is alright as it is in its sectorials, but is too steep a price hike from the Wu Ming HRL for what it offers to survive in vanilla. Qiang Gao outclasses the HMG in every facet currently (outside of IA's weird as hell fireteam allowances, obviously), so I can't speak much for that. I dunno. We're doing better than the ORC in this regard, but I really can't see much being done.
Regarding the HMG role. I spotted a new profile has been added to CodeOne army recently: Shang Ji AP HMG with regeneration. Which in the case it makes its way into N4 it could be something worth to consider and set distances with Qiang Gao. Edit: Ninja'ed by Huanglong
Regen not requiring an order is awesome, damage on failure is point and laugh silly though. At least the 2 points of PH over a Zuyong feel like an actual investment. If this profile also has tactical awareness...
