To the Hell's Gate: MO journey at the 2nd Merovingian Satellite

Well, I first tried with Tik but after 1 game against Arkille playing a weird IA list (could have been a Vanilla list pretty much) on the table below, I thought I needed a second MSV2 in my list by taking a second Albedo BF or Konstantinos (as the BF in my list has a tendency to try to go on a rampage first turn). The only way to free enough points without sacrificing any slot was to take a Seraph instead of Tikbalang.



I think Tikbalang is great but I'm not sure the increase in cost did any good to Tikbanlang. And Seraph HMG is just good enough in most of the case. Tik is better, but better in a way that's most of the time overkill. ARO pieces tend to have MSV nowadays while being not that much armored (there are exceptions of course) so Fat L1 is enough and AP rounds not much needed. Add to that Super Jump is less table dependant and needs less orders to get access to medium hights compared to Climbing plus, double Nanopulser for sure amount of damage and better CC combined with better CC damage and you know pretty much why I tend to favor Seraph to Tikbalang.

I think I should give to Tik a try again. Need to find out in which combo it could fit in.

EDIT: MO is "hard mode" in a way that you can't passively ask to your opponent to impal himself on your dedicated ARO pieces (even if Lakissov did it and Anaris could have ended this way too) because you don't have them in enough quantity (but you have quality instead). You have to make the show and your AROs will be good because your placement made it good. I think MO is a good sectorial to kick your ass a little in order to become a better player. But once you get the ropes, it's hard to come back as it is really thrilling to play them, being everytime on the quest of the best decision while knowing you are just limited by your brain and not that much by your troopers.

 

I will never say TO and Mimetism are bad and it is the same for link bonuses. But I'm used to play with units like ORCs, Bolts (before DF), Seraphs etc. all those units people tend to discard and I have played them a lot (and you then discover that they are basic LI fireteams by themselves), so I really know how to work with them and what are their limit. What I can say is that it takes also creativity, audacity, curiosity and time to find out how to make all this work. Time being the prime issue among a lot of players, followed by the three others. I didn't mastered my lists from the first game (and I still don't, there are options I know that exist I never dared to use yet). I made the first tries in January, playing about 1 game each week, with some weeks where I could play three games (thanks to TTS and the small really active French Infinity community around this software) and some none. All this to say that it's ok if it doesn't work at the first try but it can be difficult to endure for players who can only have one game in a month and have difficulties to improve fast. Any other PanO sectorial will surely provides a better feeling as they can have a really effective passive game.

In MO, you're going to play 1 group lists most of the time, so you can't have 5 or more troopers at the back, playing cardgames. So you have to find out which combination favors both attack and defense on more than one spot at the same time with only 10 troopers and how to do it. People say Teutons don't have their niche but I think they have one (just need to test it in order to confirm): being balanced in offensive and defensive while staying rather cheap.

How you play also depends on your table and what your opponent will field and how he will deploy (Captain Obvious has made his duty!). For example, in your case, if your opponent plays 4 Muttawiah and can place them perfectly so they can make an impenetrable line of Jammer while staying out of LoL, the thing the BF can make is to force them to run toward him while there is a Drop Bear waiting to catch a Mutt in addition to any ARO piece you may have put to cach him. This will force your opponent to choose between risking the Mutt to die while you'll lose only the DB and lose the Impetuous order and a Regular order while not solving the DB problem for the moment (there may be another Mutt willing to hug this DB). See, you have to be vicious and rigorous (in order to prevent the Mutt to Chain rifle your BF). Use your remaining orders to kill the Fidays and the infiltrators. It's an example of what you can make. Find out what is the biggest immediate threat, kill/trap it and deal with the next one etc. I know it is basics but as you need to be rigorous, it doesn't harm to repeat it (or you make too much mistakes like I did in my third game). Last thing is that the BF in FT is really something Fidays don't like if you're going to play second. Since you can see through their smokes, with SSN2 and high tier BS, it makes it hard to assassinate your HI Lt with high CC in a one go. They would even prefer to kill your support troopers and solo units rather than to try it. BF works even better against Oniwaban.

Dart and TOFOOS are good too. It's just a matter of what tool you really need. I have lists with TOFOOS I'd like to try too. I need to see how to make Dart work but I think the AP mines profile will be the one I'll try first. BF are definitely glass cannon but what counts with them is "how much or what will I kill before he get killed?". I don't expect him to survive, but I expect him to be a pain in the ass of my opponent and that he will not give his life freely (and between all his arsenal, he has tools to do so).

 

Tabletop Simulator, TTS in short. It is a game you can find on Steam for some euros/US dollars and there is a free community mod in it with which you can play Infinity (and create tables for it also). It is not as good as IRL games but you don't have to make a travel for playing. Vaulsc is gathering a little international community around this game on Discord and as we have a Discord for the French community too, we are some who tried and adopted it to play when we can't physically have a game.

 

That's a thing I can understand. It's hard to get your grasp on MO at first because you can't really dedicate only one task to one trooper. Being confident in how and when switching from a defensive stance to an offensive one is already something. Doing it effectively is a step further. So, if you really want to succeed in MO, just be patient. Try. Successes and fails are both good to notice and learn from. Always come back on how you could have been more effective and less prone to luck. Being able to know where and how to move, defend and attack with precision is something that come with experience and it is all MO needs from you. Enjoy your games above all and take your time in finding how you can make MO fit your playstyle.
Don't hesitate to give me your feedback on how you did in your games. I'd be glad to help if I can.

 

No problem. I'm curious about the combos you're thinking about.