Okay, so I have a couple of new players here and they picked up the YJ and ISS starter respectively (there was a sale), so assuming they want to expand what should I suggest them? I kind of want to avoid dead purchases. Also preferably cheap upgrades. The ISS starter seems easy enough: Either use the pistol Celestial Guard as a Hacker and add Ashcroft Hunting party or Sophotect + helperbots. Slightly more expensive money-wise, either but instead of the hacker bring a Kuang Shi control device and two of meaty cruise missiles as well? YJ I am less sure of, mainly because there's a ton of things to pick. I guess it depends on what he wants as there is a lot of breadth to pick from. Liekwise seems like it could use a button-pusher although the starter comes in at a rather beefy 160+ points or so so there isn't a whole lot of room it seems.
Kuang Shi are never a poor choice. The Beyond Red Veil box also boasts some incredibly useful units for vanilla in the Daofei and Guilang. The Zhanying isn't a super optimized unit, but provides a suite of tools that can be useful for both vanilla and ISS (he can also proxy for a second Guilang in a pinch). It never hurts to go after a drone box. They're versatile too, since drones can usually be pretty easily substituted for one another. I'd recommend getting at least 2 boxes (4 bots total). The Rui Shi is of particular note, being an extremely cost-efficient secondary offensive piece. The Daoying BSG hacker is also easy to recommend for vanilla lists. The best lieutenant in the game, boasting a boatload of utility, incredible order efficiency, and the toolkit to make it a strong late game sweeper.
For Vanilla, I'd pick the Daoying LT, he's used in 95% of all Invincilble or Vanilla lists. And then either the Utility Drone Box where I magnetised the loadout, so I could potentially field 2 of any bots. Alternatively you're never wrong with the YJ support box. YJ Starter Expansion to 200 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 6 HSIEN HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 61) ZÚYǑNG MULTI Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0 | 31) TIGER SOLDIER Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29) ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) GROUP 2 3 DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29) MECH-ENGINEER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) GROUP 3 4 HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) SON-BAE Yaókòng Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 17) WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5 SWC | 279 Points Open in Infinity Army
As for ISS, it's tough. But as said above, it never hurts to have at least 4 KuangShi. Even for vanilla. The Sophotect is only usable in ISS, so I'd prefer the utility bots or the box with the RuiShi here. There is also the Dire Foes box with Xi Zhuang. Its expensive and you want to sell the Haqq model, but Xi itself is good and the box is the only source of Mad Traps at the moment. Xi would complement a fireteam with the CGs and the Crane very well. You also get a HVT you would need in many ITS games. Imperial Service ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 5 CRANE IMPERIAL AGENT (X Visor) Spitfire, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 54) CELESTIAL GUARD Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) CELESTIAL GUARD Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) CELESTIAL GUARD Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) XI ZHUANG Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, MadTraps / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) 2 SWC | 113 Points Open in Infinity Army
There is a huuuuge overlap between the two: Kuang Shi box, Yaoxie box, Yaokong box, Mayor Lunah, Ninja blister, Su-Jian box, Sun Tze V1 blister, and Dire Foes 6 if they can get their hands on one cheap or can find a Haqq player to purchase the Haqq trooper off them (they want to keep Dragon Lady). Plus, anything that looks like an Authorized Bounty Hunter will be at least decent for both of them. Zhanshi support blister for vanilla and Sophotect for ISS (unless they are cool with running the Zhanshi models as Sophotects), I wouldn't call this mandatory, but it's as close to mandatory as you can get without looking at units that are so stupidly good that they are auto-includes. Vanilla player should be able to find cheap Guilang Combis, either discounted or that they can strip paint from. These models will likely be re-sculpted within 2 years, but for now they rank among vanilla's most useful WYSIWYG.
