PanOceaniac Hacking Specialist Sergeant
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(Repost from the old Official Forums. This thread seemed very popular, and had 70+ likes. It's my advice to most new players trying to 'understand' Infinity, beyond unit tactics or anything like that, to an understanding of the base game mechanics. Of course, some of this may change come N3, but most of it I suspect will remain very relevant.)
Hello folks.
I'd like to talk today about tactics in Infinity. And not of the standard type you generally see, including those 'unit tacticas' and similar breakdowns of faction specific tricks and ideas. But of fundamentals. There's a lot of vets who would I'm sure nod to what I'm saying, but I wanted to break things down into a few simple truths that aren't entirely evident without a quantified analysis of the game's design points. I want to dispel a number of misconceptions, and speak to techniques and analytical approaches one can take to improve their game in both casual and competitive environments.
In no particular order...
1. More Dice = More Better
Simple as that. Almost nothing increases your chances of succeeding in a face to face roll than throwing more dice at your opponent. An HMG firing with 4 dice will overwhelm even a substantially superior BS'ed single die much of the time. Likewise, that mighty HMG single shot ARO you're tossing out is probably going to get you hit against a normal combi rifle, if you aren't at least 6 effective BS higher after mods for cover, camo and range.
Even then nothing is assured, as a B3 shot has a 14.2 percent chance of at least one crit at any time. A B4 shot has 18.5 percent chance of crit. Assuming of course that you don't crit back, but the chances of you critting to counter their crit is less than 1 percent of the time.
This is also why mighty CCs of 20 aren't as amazing as you may think. Since in CC it's always one die vs another, you're not exactly unlikely to roll poorly with your one die and have Joe Agucile take out that Speculo Killer. The margins on a superior melee unit (without MA, we'll get to that) beating an inferior one is rarely greater than a 2/3rds split.
2. It's always your turn, but you want it to be YOUR TURN.
A common early mistake is to position every trooper in an ARO position, expecting counter fire to defeat the enemy. A similar situation is to avoid attacking an enemy position, for fear of AROs with your own troops.
This is not a path to success. On your turn, because of the immense advantage of higher Burst (see point 1), you want to be pressing your attack as hard as possible. And as the turn ends, you want to duck these units into safety, out of LoS and thus entirely immune to enemy counter attack. This is especially true of models with Spitfires and HMGs, which are disproportionately powerful in the active turn, but often no better than a normal combi rifle in the reactive turn.
Likewise, think of the power of camo troops. Their power however, is almost entirely on the active turn. The surprise attack from combat camo does not work in ARO, wasting their most potent weapon. There's lots of subcategories of cases where you want to make the most of your active turn for advantage, such as with MSV2, but you should look to attacking on the active turn, and being INVULNERABLE on the reactive, as opposed to actively fighting back.
This in many ways is even true for Total Reaction and Neurocinetics units. They may equal the enemy in their burst value, but are vulnerable to other types of active turn advantage, the most common of which is Camo Attack.
3. Look for Capabilities, not Stats.
It's a common misconception that is occasionally still tossed around by even experienced players that higher stats are far more valuable than they really are. This is especially evident by the occasional assertion that PanO is at an advantage for having 1 higher BS than every other faction, in a game where the majority of rolls are shooting related.
This is not the case. Not by itself at least. Having a point higher BS is an advantage, but it's not a particularly powerful one by itself because it doesn't grant you any additional capability. I'll get into that.
What good is having BS14 when your opponent dropped out of camo, and has an extremely high chance of killing you with a measly BS11 B3 shot? Likewise, having a high CC value in no way makes you a better melee combatant than someone with Martial Arts 3, which allows the immensely useful first strike ability. Laying mines around a corner and command detonating them is far more valuable than charging around the corner and shooting at times, because it's a new capability that not everyone has.
A BS12 Fusilier or BS13 Kamau is not going to have much success fighting against a Heavy Infantryman in most head-on forms of combat. A BS11 Chasseur just may however, as it's camo attack, template weapon and mines give it a number of options that can even the playing field. Likewise, anything with MA3 or berserk is almost automatically better than any unit without it in melee, because it provides a new capability.
This is why although ODD is nasty, Basic Camo is even nastier. One provides a stat. The other provides a capability. Hell, Holoprojector 2 is one of the most secretly overpowered abilities in the whole game, and it doesn't provide a single stat.
4. Cheerleaders win games.
Get 10 orders. I don't care how, get as close as possible. Any list less than 8 orders is effectively useless, as many basic types of attack often involve 3 or 4 orders just to set up. Plus, those little chumps can watch your backfield and make air drop riskier than it could be.
Worst case scenario, it eats up your opponent's orders in positioning and attack just to kill the little twerps. See Imetrons and Netrods for a grand example of this sort of thing.
5. Flexibility over specialization
Having more different capabilities is better than overindulging in one. For example, one or two AD3 Droppers grants an immense level of threat and positioning flexibility for a player. Having those as the 'hammer', and 2 Camo infiltrators as an 'anvil' presents even more, than having 4 AD3 Troopers would.
Everything dies if outmaneuvered in Infinity. Having different types of maneuver help you more than specializing. This is also why I often see Nomads and Ariadna as being the two most powerful factions in many ways. They have more options. More troopers have special purpose weapons (flamethrower, ADHL, disposable missiles) and more plentiful cheaper versions of special abilities (camo, AD, infiltrate).
They're a lot scarier when properly employed than a faction with overtly scary toys, such as nonsectorial Aleph, or Morats.
6. Position and Efficiency
Although you shouldn't rely on AROs to stop your opponent, your positioning sure can discourage them. Camo Markers above all else hemm enemy movement, as they need to move up, detect the marker, then take steps to remove it. This cuts into the enemy's battleplan efficiency, as they're wasting orders doing things that are getting in the way of them tearing up your army list's most visibly effective pieces, or pushing to the objective.
You meanwhile, should attempt to be as order efficient as possible. Position troops to have striking opportunities during 'slow' turns where nobody's got good attacks on each other. Keep models forward, but tucked away safe so that they can make an end run once a flank collapsed.
This is the 'actual' cost of doctors for example. A doctor is a cheap as hell investment. Why wouldn't anybody pay just 4-8 points over a regular cheerleader for a chance to resurrect 40+ point models? Simple. You'd probably have to blow 4 or 5 orders to do it. Even with a near assured chance with some of the high WIP Doctors, it's often just not worth it, as you've got better things to do unless the doctor is already in a good position.
The less orders you spend moving to attack, or moving to doctor or whatever, the more orders you're spending with a chance to kill the enemy.
7. The less opposition the better
Whenever possible, deny a roll that can hurt you.
Hack enemies out of their LoS. Shoot people in the back. Combat Camo attack your enemies. Force enemies to dodge when your Holoprojector 2 guy walks in the way. Use Marker + GML tricks. If the enemy can't oppose you with a chance of reversing the odds, you've got a better chance of harming them.
8. It's not your list, but your list sure can help
There aren't any wonder lists that'll win every game in Infinity. But there sure are terrible lists that'll do their best to make you lose. You can't really just put what looks cool usually in a list with an optimal chance of winning. You really do need to have a purpose for most of what you include. Even if it's something as simple as spending most or all your SWC.
Seriously, I want to cringe every time I see a list without all SWC spent. For little or no points increase, an SWC weapon is so much deadlier than a stock rifle or shotgun, it's not even funny. An HI with a multirifle is rather quaint. An HI with an HMG is a deadly threat that must be killed before it tears you apart.
Some units are especially nightmarish foes for opponents to deal with and cost effective to boot. They're rarely a poor choice, such as Zeroes, Swiss Guard, most cheap Warbands, or the Vector Operator.
A sad few others are somewhat overpriced and don't do anything that couldn't be done by a similar alternative. Poor Kawarjis, Rev Moiras, and Ariadnan Scouts. There's always an opportunity cost when you build something into a list, which should be kept in mind.
9. The best stat is Wounds
Finally, one of the most powerful properties a unit can have is a margin of error. Anything that can take two wounds, or has no wound incapacitation is disproportionately powerful. Suddenly, you can weather freak poor luck, or deliver a lucky blow to your opponent.
You even can deny enemy capability in a way no other stat could. Did I just get combat camo Chainrifled? If you're a 1W trooper, you may just have died. A substantial chance, in fact. If you're a 2W trooper however, you are guarenteed survival and a counterattack! One that can't be opposed, and is almost as likely to kill your enemy as what they tried to do to you. This is similar to Martial Arts 3 attacks. Unless they're sure they're going to kill you (Like with a high strength EXP weapon), you just may cap them instead.
This is one of the most major selling points of Tohaa even. It often takes nearly twice as much effort to kill a guy with 2 wounds than it does to kill a guy with 1, just by virtue of requiring more successful hit rolls, and your enemy to fail more armor rolls. It more than makes up for deficiencies in most other stats and capabilities, just by allowing you to weather poor luck or a mistake.
10. Remember opportunity costs
Not every purchase is made equal. One needs to keep in mind the sacrifice of what you did NOT get. For example, everyone can agree that upgrading a Zhanshi from his combi rifle to a multi sniper rifle is in general, getting a superior weapon. However, that 1.5 SWC is a cost that could have gone into making a far more capable model even better. Such as perhaps going towards a 2 SWC upgrade of a Hac Tao from multirifle to HMG.
Likewise, whenever possible look at what something offers you. A Riot Grrl with a Multirifle sure is a superior weapon than a Riot Grrl with a Combirifle. But it costs 6 points more and you lose a few other items! Is the added ability to fire B2 DA really worth that cost, when most of the time you're firing standard rounds? Always question why you upgrade.
Even the upgrade from a regular rifle line trooper to a doctor or slightly superior trooper has an opportunity cost. You may get a marginal increase in abilities, but you lose a deceptive factor in hiding what may have been a potential Lieutenant. Keep this sort of thing in mind when making a list.
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Well. That ran on for a bit. But these are what I've seen as fundamentals of Infinity, more important than specific factional or model tricks. They speak to the foundations of the game mechanics and how you can leverage them to your advantage in competitive play.
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