Just roll Discover AROs with expendable Warcors/Helots/Techbees until you nail them. Layering the Jammer on top to make things more difficult definitely helps.
Run the Zulu Cobra Lt. They can't kill it without revealing it, and can't reveal it without revealing themselves. Combined with Helots you can turn any attempt at assassination into certain death for the Impersonator. Basically everything else in Varuna you can trade for killing an Impersonator, it's a sectorial which encourages redundancy. So just make sure that you are overlapping your lanes of fire so that whatever it kills is instantly avenged by the Impersonator turning into a fine red mist and you'll be golden.
Link teams are good for denying area too. 6th Sense and linked BS means they have a good chance at matching or even beating an attacking shotgunner, and the +3 to Discover helps too. You can use Links to create high-risk zones where an impersonator is reluctant to operate in. Pair them with the aforementioned Helots and Jammer to create big area denial zones.
I can tell you this much, Impersonators or Superior Infiltrators have never worked against Wildcat Core and Intruder Lt. Unfortunately we don't get template spam here but Impersonators don't have any ability to get around link BS/SS2, and like they said Camo Lt. totally negates assassinations.
I think the best defense against impersonators, no matter in which sectorial you are, is the "fireteams". A four members fireteam with SSL2 is a really big trouble for most of the impersonators. With five it is really hard for him and the price against the risk isn't so clear as in other situations. Still in Varuna you have some tools. 1. Jammer, is always welcomme because a Impersonator without orders isn't a really hard risk. You can "easily deny a zone" 2. Access to a MVL2, so "no smoke" for the impersonator. 3. Ilots, well placed are a big trouble for the impersonators. 4. As basic and not only in Varunas, place your troups with LoS between them, at least 1 to 1. At least you force the impersonator to launch smoke. This could be a fail and force the rival to loose a lot of orders. Which is, in the end, the best way to confront this kind of troups, make his main target really expensive in orders words.
Link teams and Helot doesnt stop the impersonators from deploying in a point without LOF, throwing smoke and getting into melee. Maybe too order intensive?
Right. The best you can do is limit the Impersonators ability to operate. It will pretty much always get at least one CC swing, one shotgun blast, etc. The idea is to make that one attempt into a suicide mission, so that you're instantly getting shoot/jam AROs if the Impersonator tries to operate nearby. Jammer is particularly helpful here, because you can deny big areas of your DZ, and get AROs if the Impersonator tries to throw smoke from Total Cover, or make a CC attack while in Smoke. Jammer still gives you an ARO vs both those things, if you've positioned correctly.
Throwing smoke would cancel their impersonation. So, yes it would be fairly order intensive for them. Link teams along with a layered defense (helots and jammer armed zulu cobras) will make it very difficult for an impersonator to deal serious damage.
This. Your cheapest link team option (Fusiliers + a Kamau ARO piece) has a pretty good chance of winning the FTF roll even if the target model is out of cover. VS a Fusilier, the Fiday is rolling 2 on 17s versus 2 on 15s if the Fiday is in cover. Pretty much a tossup. Vs the Kamau, the Fiday is rolling 2 14s versus 2 on 16s if the Fiday is in cover. Better odds for the Kamau. VIRD is one of the few armies that can basically just ignore the impersonator. If the impersonator drops a mine and shotguns, the odds tilt in his favor but you should be able to mitigate that via deployment in most cases.
Impersonators can be a cost and order waste for the user if you soften their blow enough. People don't consider them worth it in my meta because of the risk of good deployment.
Like others says before me, don't exists the perfect counter, but most of the times an impersonator is more dangerous deployed outside your deployment zone because the rival don't need to make any kind of roll, so he can place him really save, and later he can expend two orders, 40cm about 16'' without you can do nothing, if he don't reveal himself. So, yes, i is almost impossible to avoid the impersonator go whatever he wants to go, but you can do his way really really hard. If the disposition of the buildings and scenery in your deployment area allow you to place the most vulnerable or important troup inside a corner, you can place anoter miniature in front of this "VIP", prone, or not if the Siluette of the VIP is higher than the "no VIP" (for example one Lt Fusiler and a Palbot) This left to the impersonator only bad chcoices. Shoot the palbot or directely against the fusiler, if the "Pano Lt" is in a Link in the best cases is 2 rolls to 15 against 2 rolls to 17, maybe 18 if we are talking about an Speculokiller... Not really good chances to put down the target, and the "non vip" could do dodge or even engage. Too many orders. And probably in this way you can place troups like helots to shoot any who tries to shoot your "poor" and "coward" Lt. :D For an impersonator not have the chance to get into CC is a really big trouble. The "palbot shield" isn't always the best option, but its help. And as a Hassasin player I'shouldn't share this wisdow pearls XD
Smart impersonator can place a mine near your link. Then Djanbazan or other person will ask ARO from your kamau-sniper, etc. Because of fireteam ARO shoot from kamau(other guys idle), mine will explode and kill fusiliers on bottom floor.
Of course, but for the moment only exists one profile with mines+impersonator (Killer Hacking Devices apart) and in the end, if the impersonator places a mine reveals himself. It's the same effect if he has to launch smoke: expediture of orders and the loose the impersonator state... You can place troups around the "VIPS" in order to prevent that or at least trying to make his last action. It don't exists the perfect deployment defense in order to avoid an impersonator, but it is the same against ADs or infiltrators with CO or TO. I don't know why but impersonators make a more phsicological effect than others options. As a hassasin player most of the times the fiday do the work in the deployment phase, later, in game usually he dies in a terrible way doing almost really really clos to nothing.
There is no defense. Cower in fear and repent for your sins. Nobody will halt the search for Knowledge.
This. Impersonator is quite order intensive to handle, even on favorable conditions. Your best possible bet withouth a biovisor is a discover on -3, then a discover on +3 and shooting. Minimum 2 orders, considering that you started with it in plain view and withouth cover. More likely you won't be within 8" of range and with it in plain view, making it both riskier to fail the discovers and requiring more orders to get to a decent position.
Layered marker is a nice perk in the active turn, but when it comes to people bringing up necessity of biovisors and other stuff to handle impersonators in their active turn, I'd like to say that there are more reliable order wasters you can buy for ~30 points than an impersonator*, especially when the latter plays against something like Varuna with some access to irregular orders to discover with which are hard to use productively otherwise. As such, counters to impersonation are mostly those that work in your reactive turn rather than biovisors to discover them with in your active. * - although for CA armies that may be pretty good, considering they also don't lack other attack vectors and their chaff is a bit more pricey than Haqq chaff on average.
