I've been away from the hobby for a few years because of grad school, but I'm almost finished and am interested in playing Infinity again. I stopped playing around the time of Varuna and Tuguska's release (Daedalus' Fall?), having purchased the Varuna starter set but never getting the chance to use it. N4 is still completely foreign to me, but I've gleaned from the forums that order spam is out and heavy armor is in. Since TAGS don't seem to be the huge liability they were in N3, I'd like to try making some TAG based lists (PanO being "the TAG faction" and all). I know the Cutter is good, but is the Squalo a solid TAG in Varuna? If so, what would you suggest duoing with it, and what units would you support it with? Is the NCO profile worth it, or should I stick with the grenade launcher profile?
The game itself has a 15 Trooper cap. Heavy Armor is far more viable, especially with the crit changes.
The main problem with the Squalo for me always has been the lack of utility, in his case a DTW. For the most part reason the basic Squalo is a straight downgrade from the Cutter, who lacks a DTW all the same, but gets TO Camo on your most valueable trooper and gunfighter. The Squalo has a better FTF option in 8" with his Multipistol and the Hacking ECM is nice utility defense. Markers State and Mimetism (-6) just outclass it in the end. The HGL Squalo adds something interesting, but still has a problem close up. In comes the Zapper Squalo, who is significantly more than the sum of his parts: Not only is the Zappper a DTW, it's also significantly better at stopping things in ARO than a HFT. 2x half BTS vs DAM14 or Isolated (and IMM-B if applicable) is significantly more reliable at stopping things than 1 ARM roll vs DAM15. While the HFT has a larger template and does lethal damage, that's less of a priority than making that hit stick. Combined with the Zapper the Multi Pistol gets a lot better. Having the choice between a DTW and a BS15 ARO with +3 Rangebands in 8" lets you contest a Dodge or BS Attack much, much better than when you only have one as an option. Shines the most vs Markers, since you can delay your ARO (just make sure they have to approach you frontally). A Squalo on his own is screwed vs Smoke or Ecplipse, similar to that a failed Discover can be a major problem. WIP12 Intuitive Attack isn't reliable but it's a new option you don't have without the DTW. 21 points cheaper than a Cutter. That usually allows to upgrade at least 1-2 of your slots from something baseline but useful (like a Helot) to another Kamau, Orc, Zulu Cobra, Echo Bravo etc. To make an example, your defensive Link might want to have a Kamau Sniper and an Orc Feuerbach/HMG(Lt), that's pretty much impossible to fit with a Cutter. Duo. Unlike a Cutter, the Squalo can drag around another tooper with him. The one place where Quinn fits the bill for me, MSV1/Specialist/unhackable and +3 Rangebands 8-24" (part of which the Squalo can't cover). Patsy is also an option, bringing Grenades/NCO and yet again Specialist to the party. Personally I prefer to run him solo and provide support with an Echo Bravo Paramedic. Deploying your Wildparrot against a tough target you're about to hose down with your Multi HMG is one of the nastier 1-2 combos in the game. 4 BS15 MHMG Shots and a Parrot vs a Dodge (-3) or a free Parrot hit and a FTF against your MHMG is very much in your favor.
I didn't even consider the utility of the Zapper. Thanks for the advice! I've had a Squalo model for ages, but had never found a good use for it. It always just got cut in half by a Oniwaban or something like that.
I’ve faced a Squalo in Panic Room recently, and close quarters battle is no longer insta-screwage for them. Great support options seem to make the difference. Also that ECM does make hacking them hard enough to make even Nomads question whether it is worth the orders vs. direct attack. Varuna’s got some good close support to keep warbands and skirmishers off your TAG. Zulu Cobra jammer is handy, and can shut down repeater-bearing REMs and hackers. Duoed Patsy is also super useful, she is annoyingly hard to remove from objectives when the Squalo is nearby to protect her from outranging. Haven’t seen Quinn in action with a Squalo yet, but MSV1 is very useful this edition. Speaking of support, Varuna Division Machinists are surprisingly good at staying alive and providing some flank cover too, when you put them in Suppressive Fire. Well worth the extra 2 points.
NCO is very valuable on a TAG. It lets you have all the benefits of an Lt TAG with none of the drawbacks. This is even more powerful on a TAG that is less resilient than say a Jotum or cutter. In fact because of that the Squalo is a fantastic TAG to have NCO on.
I also agree with @Teslarod that the direct template weapon is a pretty big deal. The Squalo is pretty decent in a lot of ways, and tools like MULTI ammunition options are nice, but the 15 order limit means that order losses start to add up very quickly. Any face-to-face that isn't hugely decisive can be a burden for PanO, since we usually have to shoot our way across the table if we want to get anything done. That's probably the biggest challenge with the Squalo: you need that unit to be ably to bully opponents with its speed and durability, and when you take away the direct template weapon, you lose a very useful offensive and defensive asset. With that in mind, I'd always go for the direct template weapon in Varuna, who doesn't have a lot of direct template weapons. In something like NeoTerra, I'd consider avoiding the direct template weapons, since you can usually have ~5 heavy flamethrowers on the table without having to try too hard.
