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So I've been looking through some review/tactics articles for the new 40k-era Skitarii Codex, and I've seen a lot of people regard the Onager Dunecrawler with an Icarus Array quite highly as an Anti-air platform. But looking at its stats, its 125 points of dedicated anti-air that I'm not convinced as anywhere near as good as the 2 hydras you can get for 15 points more. Yes, it can have better BS, but...

Anyway, let's break it down by the numbers against aircraft, as both platforms tend to shred FMCs.

Daedalus Missile: ~22% chance of damage against AV 12, just like everything else, but with a better chance of causing explosions. Total damage is .11 glances and .11 pens per shot.

Gatling Rocket Launcher: Despite the cool name, with the 4 hits you're getting without a Doctrina active work out to 66% of a glance. Yay. Total damage is .77 (.11+.66) glances and .11 pens per shot.

Twin Icarus Autocannon: Half of a Hydra. ~88% chance of damage, split evenly between glances and pens, but no AP bonus to damage. Final total is 1.21 glances and .55 penetrating hits, for 1.76 HP off and half a roll on the vehicle damage chart.

Obviously, it gets better with Protector Imperative to boost BS, but the Onager is already fairly accurate, so the benefit from this is minimal.

Oh the other hand, a Hydra only has its autocannons so:

BS 3 x 4 TL shoots = 3 hits per turn. 3 hits x 1/3 chance of damage split between glances and pens means an average of .5 glances and .5 pens per shot. Multiply by two hydras and you have one glance and 1 penetration per turn, for 2 HP off and an unmodified roll on the damage table.

Against AV 12, the Hydra wins by a moderate margin, 24% of a hull point and twice the chance of causing vehicle damage shenanigans. Now, obviously both platforms will get better against lower AVs and most FMCs, but what the deciding factor for me is that the Hydra has 50% greater range meaning that it can be camped in cover in your backfield and still reach practically all of most battlefields. The Onager has to be deployed considerably further forward to cover forward units/deepstrikers and threaten flyers across the board. While the Onager has its Invulnerable save from grouping up, it will be needing that to survive, but you need 3 of them to make the most of it, and sinking 375 points into a single anti-air unit is a lot for most games.

The only area I can think of where the Icarus Onager wins outright is that, while both are Heavy Support choices, there is much less competition in the Skitarii HS section that the IG HS section, which is very arguably the best section of the army, especially since Vendettas got nerfed. However, the HQ + 2 Troops tax for isn't particularly bad for the IG, as more bodies are cheep for the guard, and an extra CCS to camp behind your line and give orders rarely goes amiss in most lists, except the ones that are so tank-happy that you should be playing Armored Battlegroup.

So, what's the draw for the Onager?

Gatling rocket ignores cover, Daedalus AP2 threatens 3+ Sv FMCs, and the thing can actually fight in CC (if in a limited capacity) while housing a Data Tether for army Ld buffs and the capacity for a bubble of defensive grenades. It's far more than a gun, which is all the Hydra is.

Onager kicks it, it has great rules that support it in play while still making it useful when no Flyers are in play.

SJ

The Onager has Interceptor on its ACs, Ignores Cover on the Gatling Rockets, and AP2 on the Daedalus.

It can fire all three weapons simultaneously, or Intercept something with the ACs and shoot something else with the GRL/Daedalus.

There's also the issue that even deploying on the short edges of a 6x4' board, it's going to be really hard for an Onager to be out of range. There's also the fact that Onagers are AV12 sides, have a built-in 6++, and can even get IWND.

Simply put, an Onager is more likely to be difficult to shift from wherever you stick it, and can reasonably be expected to take shots at any kind of Skimmer/Flyer/FMC and produce some kind of result. Oh, and it's pretty much the only Imperial unit in the game with Interceptor.

Heir of the Void wrote:
Anyway, let's break it down by the numbers against aircraft, as both platforms tend to shred FMCs.

This is not a true assumption. The hydra is essentially worthless against FMC as the most important ones have a 3+ save (flyrant) and often times have a 2+ cover save at least part of the time.

The other parts of your analysis you might want to rethink are;
1) AV12 is the best flyer AV for the hydra. The icarus is better against AV11 and Av10 which both have good flyers in those groups.
2) Both platforms are likely to only get an intercept and 1 turn of fire if they will matter. They are both relatively fragile and the hydra doesn't get intercept to hopefully cause the flyer to jink when it comes on thus saving the AA from the flyer killing it. This is why the icarus should be calculated with BS5-7 as the Skitarii player would be foolish not too assuming killing the flyer matters.
3) You don't consider jink or cover. This is a pretty big mistake as if you are shooting either of these units at a flyer it is likely to jink.

Probably the biggest reason the icarus is getting a lot of praise is an AP2 skyfire weapon and there is no competition for the slot. The hydra is AP4 and takes up a HS slot in IG, the most valuable slot in the army.

BTW the most valuable flyers in the current game are; Flyrant, Crimson Hunter - Crimson Death Formation, Vulture, Fire Raptor, and heldrake.

Of these flyers the icarus is better against most of them except for the heldrake.

Whiskey144 wrote:
The Onager has Interceptor on its ACs, Ignores Cover on the Gatling Rockets, and AP2 on the Daedalus.

It can fire all three weapons simultaneously, or Intercept something with the ACs and shoot something else with the GRL/Daedalus.

There's also the issue that even deploying on the short edges of a 6x4' board, it's going to be really hard for an Onager to be out of range. There's also the fact that Onagers are AV12 sides, have a built-in 6++, and can even get IWND.

Simply put, an Onager is more likely to be difficult to shift from wherever you stick it, and can reasonably be expected to take shots at any kind of Skimmer/Flyer/FMC and produce some kind of result. Oh, and it's pretty much the only Imperial unit in the game with Interceptor.

surviability. even if 2 hydras have 6 hullpoints, AV12 on the sides with a 6++ (that can become a 4++) is much better. A lot of flyers are going to come into the game at an angle and blow a hydra or two up before they even get to shoot. Onagers are difficult to shift as the previous poster mentions.

Against AV10 and 11 flyers and MCs the Onager is also much better, as those gattling rockets get more and more effective.