Honestly the biggest vibes I get off Varuna are PanO vibes. It's a Sectoral which feels really, well, PanO-y. Great firepower, high-tech, professional, tropical and very slick.
And yet, it feels more like YJ to me, since the troops are not just single-use optimized (like PanO troops usually are).
They're different but still good, which is appropriate. Hecklers are more stripped down, but are obviously cheaper and can almost fulfill the role as well.
In the Zulu i see the hand of whoever designed the Streloks, which is also a very optimized unit. Lets put it like this, in a technical sense, on paper, all 3 units are kind of downgrades of the tech we use, FD1 instead of infiltration, regular Camo instead of TO, irregular, AD2 instead of 3 and with the expensive combi+lsg of all things, we got only 1 visor in the whole sectoral (we are PanO!! this things dont happen to us!!) and no elite HI or aleph loans. Yet we all agree, this is strong, like REAL strong. We got a fun and different approach without loosing the "shoot everything" PanO theme and everyone took it with a good attitude. I got AVA 4 Crocman, my wet dream since i came out of "strictly NCA player", and i´m yet to do a list with more than 2, thats how good the options are here.
Zulu Cobra's are genuinely an amazing troop. With the faction has Croc Men, I'm genuinely spoilt for choice here. Just wow.
Every time I look at that profile I get a bit more excited for Varuna. It’s worth saying that the Spitfire is the least exciting load out for that profile and I’m still jazzed about it! I’m virtually guaranteed to fill the AVA3 in Varuna and if I ever go back to playing Vanilla after Varuna drops (not sure why I would tho) I’ll be taking one in nearly every list.
Does anyone else feel like the Zulu and infiltration Konstantine are 2 sides of the same coin? like new and old PanO both outside of DZ anti-skrimisher units and good at it, but both go about it in completely different ways (yea, Koni is more expensive, but he has anti-material, special operative and counts as veteran) now i´m tempted to build a real Commando Vainilla list, with Koni, Zulu, Crocman, DB Locust, a Gotcha MSR Hexa...... Joan coordinated re-camo never looked better, dont expect this to be that effective, but man it will be fun
If anything, Zulu compared to Koni is a good way to see how the game/rules progress. We have a relatively unoptimized but flavorful piece and CB goes "I don't know, you figure out how to use it cause we're not changing him" to a super lean knows-what-the-job-is-and-how-to-get-it-done type piece where the intention and play style is pretty clear
“Super-lean-mean-killing-machine” seems to be the Varuna flavor. I’m really digging the high speed low drag aspect of the sectorial so far.
Assault Pistol sniper. In general VIRD looks really hilarious with all those non-SWC snipers like: X Visor CrocMen Combi Sniper X Visor Zulu Cobra Spitfire Sniper Triangulated Fire Assault Pistol Zulu Cobra
absolutely, there is very little "fat" on our units. especially the echo-bravo. They have a specialized role and the tools to do it, nothing more. there's really nothing like the Arjuna in our sectorial that makes us go "wtf do I do with this"? Maybe the montessa, but even then, he's pretty focused as far as 40 point 8-4 HI goes. It's not a bad design philosophy to have tbh.
Yeah, the Zulu Cobra's a really obvious example of higher AVA in a Sectorial being a really helpful, useful advantage. I can easily see myself using 3 of them. Been thinking about Varuna lists since we saw this information get released, and I'm still debating which loadouts I want to use that precious AVA3 for.
Sensor is sure. Now depending on SWC (spent elsewhere) either Spitfire or Shock MMR. Then again sensor or if facing Ariadna/HI Breaker Combi ?
Triangulated Fire Ass Pistols are something need to be genuinely looking out for, B4 on 10's~24" is really, really good.
What is extremaly sweet is that you get FD1 with that. And marker state is crucial as you can safely walk into enemy LoF, and not die, then on next order use Triangulated Fire (as it is long skill). That's super amazing!
Definitely Sensor/Jammer. The question after that is taking two of them, for better DZ defense coverage? Or KHD to authorize REMs, since that Sensor is a lot easier to use with Fugazi? Or FO to keep it cheap? Definitely a Marksman Rifle somewhere...
XVisor Marksman is tasty, but I think he may get cut in favour of double Sensor/Jammers with Helots to support.
