https://assets.infinitythegame.net/downloads/yuandun/en/v1.0/yuandun.pdf What's the verdict? Is it time to put the squeeze on the Japanese?
I'll comment once I manage to read the incredibly tiny fucking text holy shit man. I've got it zoomed into 150% and I can barely read it.
Some interesting fireteam options, but losts of profiles we don't have models for, like Zhanying HMG and CG BSG.
Bao marksman rifle looks cool. I espescially like the ability to take a bao in a core without the tax of other bao. Full 10 orders in each list. My only complaint is not enough SuJian lists.
Only the list with heavy pain train is somewhat interesting (d?) but I'm not impressed. They are viable in limited insertion but otherwise, you can have much better lists. Does old logos indicate that they were made long time ago?
They're very light on KHD, I only saw one in List E. Over all they present interesting Fireteams, but the lack of a team for Crane in C is a bit confusing. Those are the old Bao logos, not the new one. The FP on the Baggage bot is really welcome to see. Also, Duo on those Zuyong
Initial reaction is above expectations. Interesting stuff in there, the odd thing I'm hoping will carry over (like the flash pulse or the Bao MMRifle) I'd definitely run these lists. Their design is right up my valley (if a bit light on the "screw you and your hackers" department). I love me my 10-order lists.
I'll be running the Hsien Fireteam Core list at least once, but the lack of ISS' lovable political prisoners is a bit of a shame, I don't think these will be very competitive or used that much.
Yeah these are definitely above my expectations, which were firmly at zero. They don't reach their full potential but I am glad these exist.
First up. These lists all have a massive glaring weakness in that everyone knows who your LT is. CoC helps but these lists are not exactly strong on the ARO front. Putting that aside though. A) Playable but not very good. That Kanren should be a Ninja KHD though. Everyone will know it's a KHD Kanren because of the list, it can't pretend to be stuff, and it can't protect itself with a camo state or hidden deployment. The Duo is the most interesting facet of this list allowing the Rui Shi to go HAM and still tag a specialist along with him... yet we neglect to bring a hacker to buff the Rui Shi or an Engineer to protect them against random crits. What a let down. B) Garbage. No KHDs to protect the Guija, it's a friggin liability. On top of that what are AROs even? Your only ARO worthy piece is your 1 wound LT Zhanying. You can't have him ARO and then expect to even do anything with your Pheasant Duo. The Kanren are just so wasted here too, could've brought Mad Traps or something interesting but no. C) Ugh. So close to being good. Su Jian+Specialist Duo is really neat, and we don't have list A's problem of we didn't bring the bloody buff we wanted for the attack piece, instead now we weigh it down with a Zuyong duo (why???) and we don't bring what the list really wants which is a some more ARO pieces and an engineer to look after the really cool Su Jian duo. D) Big bad HI link, then wrecked by being forced to include a hacker with no Tinbot for people to snipe out and mess up the link. Yeah, great design here. E) Let's put the mediocre TAG in again, at least this time they've given it Engineer and KHD back up. Let's also dump a LI link in with an upgraded rifle with MSV2. Let's not give them a smoke source though, lul. Ok then. Also let's make that a 4 man Core link, not a 5, because screw you YJ. Overall these are a mess largely inhibited by being made by some fluff bunny with a hard on for limited insertion. A and C are close to being actually a competitive option, but they just need to have some of the crap dumped and an extra combat group for some basic support stuff to be opened up instead of being shackled to 10 orders for whatever brain dead reason someone feels that's a good idea for. End of the day, stick to your Kuang Shi spam it'll do better.
In the end, it's how close they come to being good that makes this sting. One or two bad choices away from being tuned. More than anything though, it's made me more excited to play Vanilla as something other than proto WB or proto IA.
I judge that, as Aleph, I want my linked sophotect so she can reach targets safely... XD Fluff: More mustache-twirling. Oh, look, a unit that enjoys hunting japanese. No mercy. No respect for rules. "Duty" over morale sense. Tactics of dubious morality. Approved by the emperor, the only authority they answer to (I hope the Hsien warrior count as "the emperor's authority", btw). So. Should we call them "SS Corps" now, or just wait for the formal indictment from the international community? And I am not talking about O-12, which seems to look to the other side wherever PanO or YJ are involved, I'm talking about real world consequences. VERY nauseated by the fluff. Crunch: 3 Celestial guards on all lists, but the D (only uses one) Guijia TAG on 3/5 lists Ruishi + Specialist remote duo on one list 1 baggage bot 1 engineer 1-2 Kanren 1 pheasant 1 Su Jian 1 Bao 2 Terracotta 2 Wu Ming Crane, Zhanying, Hsien... Sophotect and dakini Frankly, I was expecting something else, right now you need the ISS starter (crane, zhanying, 3 celestials, pheasant), hsien blister, no Terractoa box/blister (the only one is in the YJ starter, with a Tiger and 3 Zanshi you don't use here, but on the bright side there is a Hsien there), Dakini blister, Aleph support pack (and forget the servitors), Wu ming box, Bao box (there is no blister), the three remotes box, Su Jian box, Guijia box, support box... All over the place, not very new player-friendly. So why not change the 8 points baggage bot for an 8 points flash pulse bot? Why not change the Bao for another troop (yeah, I know, MSV2...) or make room for 2-3 on a list? And the biggest critic: no ninja. Yeah, "japanese scum". Because the ninja are so honourable they would never train a non-japanese as a ninja. Or because YJ would never train his own chinese ninja. I can see those maybe for missions that discourage infiltration, but despite being more optimized than PanO's, something feels off to me. And of course, the fluff. Getting tired of that "YJ is evuuuuuuuulz!!!!".
I'll take Yu Jing is evil over Yu Jing is stupid any day of the week. The most exciting thing here is the Rui Shi Weibing duo but probably not worth the rest of the list.
Only thing I really liked was the Bao Shock Marksman Rifle. But then this is all temporary, so the only lasting thing is the negative fluff. Yay...
The problem is that War has rules that not following lead to disasters. Giving a proud display of "we get the job done no matter what, the Emperor approves our actions" coasts VERY much in the direction of "incoming more war atrocities" (probably in the name of military "victories" that politically will cost more to YJ). The more I see here, fluff-wise, the more I want to flee from Infinity.
Well unless they can come up with something not totally garbage, I'm still sitting the campaign out. These are hardly an incentive to get involved.
