The other problem with Explode LX, at least if your target is a Fireteam, is if your opponent goes for the engage. Suddenly, that 10 point link filler has a 50% chance of locking poor Louie in a slap fight for the rest of the game. Or even outright killing him if he's got friends.
IMO Explode LX is a trap/bloat. Why give people the chance to reposition (or Engage!) when you drop? At least in N2 you could kill Impersonators with the Cascuda's explosion.
It's a bit of hyperbole, but not without a grain of truth. The very few (as in, counted on one hand) times it did land it either made no significant difference to the game, or the explosion was bounced. I did have one game where I managed to land one in the middle of a mixed Dakini fireteam and KO 2 of the bots, but that was a gimmick brute force list where I took four LXs, two of which scattered anyway. One of them scattered right in front of a Yadu which just felt exceptionally bad. I ended up losing that game, btw.
Yeah... IMO, Liu Xing should have somewhere close to Hac Tao or Hsien level CC - it would be appropriate for the faction. Zuyong level just doesn't cut it. It would be decent spent points in this case. It is a trap, but I really needed to kill that Sniper Proxy high in a tower. (The one that did succeed ended up trapped without cover near the Deva, but got gunned down pretty easily by the Dakini HMG)
Sucks a little. I must have been quite lucky with mine. But I'm not always going for the explode. Often its the BS16 shock/AP rounds that do most of the talking. Times to use explode - when you can get back arc, maximum of 1 other ARO that you can facetank. - the regular hacker who has to declare HTA. - Lts on roof - Sniper on roof - doctors/engineers are great targets of opportunity Otherwise look at walking on / dropping around a corner. Or even waiting longer. I sometimes only drop on T2/T3. This has still been enough to turn a game on its head. One game I managed to the BSG to nail most of a link. That was devastating. But definitely less reliable I find, so I tend towards the Multi.
Would be fun if Liu Xing gets a mimetism, along with Haidao non-MSV versions. I always wondered why Mowang, Haidao and Liu shares the striped plates; maybe its because they were initially holding CH:something, deleted aside from Mowang bro afterward due to 'balance' issues. If they got one - although Haidaos are very frequently picked thanks to their minmax- I could see fielding him more convinced way. Such is wishlisting, riight?
I don't think theres a single profile in the game (excluding those with vis mods already) that wouldn't benefit from having mimetism, and at 1 point you'd barely notice.
With the Haidao being a take-all-corners special support regiment, it'd be cool to see them get different profiles for future sectorials. A limited camo model with panzerfaust and light shotgun or HRL and light shotgun would be a pretty awesome fit for White Banner. But once again, wishlisting. Liu Xing getting mimetism would help it a lot, but the last thing we need is more overlaps with Tigers. The plates could totally be some advanced form of ablative armour, which would justify the NWI aspect of the troopers.
Skills in infinity reflect contribution from both training and equipment. Or did you think TO camo models were just really really good at hiding?
I think it requires a lot of training to use properly in universe, despite being a technological device. ODD is the idiot proof version.
The distinction between skills and equipment in this game is very arbitrary, and distinctions in-fluff are likely to vary depending on the individual trooper. I wouldn't think too much on it.
The Liu Xing is definitely very meta but also player dependant. Juste like @Miraclebutt my Liu Xings don't care about probabilities, they just can't stick the landing, and even if it's completely irrationnal it'll definitely affect my view of the unit and the strategy I plan around it. @Alphz says to only consider the doomdrop if there's a good opportunity, personnaly I now only view it as an "if all else fails" button. It means that, ultimately, I'd like to keep it in reserve as long as possible just in case I'd need to push this button, but this doesn't mesh well with the classic IA style where solo operatives like the liu xing are expected to be the first wave and clean-up the way for the zuyong if they can't alpha strike properly. Of course I could disregard Explode Lx entirely, but I value zhencha's stealth, camo and climbing plus higher than the liu xing's 2nd wound and ability to stay safe off the board, though it probably wouldn't be the case if my meta was more hostile to zhenchas. I might still give him a spot in my zhanshi/haidao team though, where I can easily have a bunch of zhenchas and a mowang to get the work done while the Liu Xing wait for an opening.
Even if they did, we still would have it. The Guijia is at a design crossroad of being the "standard" manned S7 Heavy Tag just like the nomad Lizard (with the difference that they have other Tag options) and is a clear symptom of the current general TAG Mechanics in the game. Hopefully theyll be revised for next edition. Edit: Taking the oportunity to expand on Guijia wishlist ideas I would like each of the 4 fluff guijia regiments based on chinas mithological beasts to have a variant of their own. East Azure Dragon- Command Variant. (Lt2, advanced command, Strategos, ETC) South Vermillion Bird- Incendiary Variant (Fire Ammunition, vulkan shotgun, Hvy rockets, ETC) West White Tiger- Hunter Variant (Higher movement, MSV, Sensor, melee skills, Etc) North Black Tortiose - Super Armoured Variant (limited inmunities, higher armour, NWI, ETC)
From the fluff: "The Qílín (Unicorn) Regiment is deployed in the continental West […] The Fènghuáng (Phoenix) Regiment protects the fertile South. […] The Gui-Xian (Immortal Turtle) Regiment covers the North, our cultural bastion. […] And the Lóng (Dragon) Regiment defends the industrious East and our beloved capital." (Those are Yutang regiments)
The Lizard has the HGL same as the Squalo. I'm fairly sure after the Raicho and Maggie buffs the Guijia is actually the last remaining "standard" TAG with the naked Multi HMG primary. Unless we're counting the +1 CC tax and useless APCCW as it's special loadout, which I'm fairly sure we're all on the same page with how vomit inducing that is.
