Editing Grimdark Future/Tactics/TAO Coalition (section)

==Unit Analysis==
===Heroes===
* '''Battlesuit Captain:''' A flexible tough combat hero who can function pretty well either on his own or with a unit of Battlesuits. He has a ridiculous number of weapon upgrades, so let's cover them one by one. Unlike normal suits, Captains can take up to four of these guns in any combination. In addition there are the typical drone upgrades. Gun Drones are an option in larger games where you really want ''even more dakka'', while a Mini-Shield Drone is a good choice for a Solo Captain. Spotter Drones on the other hand are only good if you're really desperate for more lasers. You're taking this Hero because of his shooting, why take that away?
** Shooting: The big focus of the commander. You get a literal trove of guns you can pick up. Flamethrowers give you a bunch of shots at short range. Plasma rifles and ion carbines lack shots, but they give high AP and the carbine gives Blast 3 as well. The burst carbine and rapid burst carbine give a bunch of shots at a pretty good range. The frag pod is indierect but also lets you mount Blast 6. The fusion carbine giving a really powerful shot, perhaps more than you really need.
** Melee upgrades: Here you have two choices, you can add Rending to your melee for 5pts, or add Rending and Tough +3 for 85pts. If you're planning on Ambushing, the Rending upgrade might be handy, while the Tough +3 is mostly only worth it if you plan on running your Captain solo.

* '''Grunt Captain:''' A support Hero intended for Grunt units, this Captain doesn’t have much actual power. He shoots as well as a standard Grunt, with the same armor, and much of the same weapon choices. What he adds, besides a morale boost, is the possibility to add two extra drones to a Grunt squad, and the Volley Fire ability (thus granting the unit's pulse shotgun/carbine/rifle another shot) for an extra 25pts. He also has some melee upgrades if that’s a thing you want to do. Generally speaking, the only way you will want to run him is with Volley Fire in a 10-man Grunt Squad with rifles, as with rifles you have the range to Hold most often and get the benefit from his ability. Otherwise, take a Sage instead.

* '''Jackal Veteran:''' A cheap Hero for your Jackal units, this one is mostly there to add a little extra firepower and boost morale. He can take all the usual Pulse weapons, as well as a Sniper rifle or a couple small melee upgrades. Keep him cheap, with maybe a Pulse Carbine and/or a melee upgrade and stick him in a unit of Jackals if you want them to hit a little harder. The Sniper is a bit wasted on him since you're already paying more for the Quality upgrade, but on the other hand he is likely to be the last one alive so it keeps it protected.

* '''Sage:''' The TAO’s only access to Psychic, as well as a very useful support ability. For 10pts cheaper than the Grunt Captain’s Volley Fire, Sages can take Elemental Power which has more flexibility (allies within 12" get either +3" movement, +! to melee or shooting, or +3" to shooting), on top of granting an even greater morale boost due to Q4+ with Fearless. Sages are squishy, but if you put them in a 10-man unit you’ll have a fair amount of protection for them, and you’ll get the most utility from Elemental Power. They can also take Psychic - most of the TAO powers have only a 12” range, so Psychic 2 is only really worth it when facing armies that are likely to get close or in a shotgun squad. Against shooty armies Psychic 1 can be useful though, since it means you can get temporary Stealth each turn on a 3+.

===Infantry===
* '''Grunt:''' Your core shooty infantry, these guys hit hard no matter what you give them. By default they have Pulse Shotguns, which are great weapons if you plan on putting them in a transport. Otherwise, it's worth giving them Carbines for an all-rounder unit or Rifles for a support unit. One of them can be upgraded with some melee weapons, but even still they're pretty pathetic in melee. They can also be given a Spotter Drone, a Gun Drone, or a Shield Drone. With a Shield Drone their price starts to go up, but it does make them surprisingly tough with D4+ and Regeneration.

* '''Spotter:''' At first glance they're just Grunts with Scout and Carbines, but their upgrades are what make them unique. Besides the normal Drone upgrades, they can get a Spotting Laser, special weapons, and one special drone type, either Inhibitor, Accelerator, or Recon (which gives Beacon and an extra 4 AP(1) attacks at 18").
** Scoped Rifle: A very long (30") range Sniper.
** Ion Rifle: 30" AP(2) Blast(3) for 15pts. A little risky with only a 4+ to hit, but you can't argue with the range.
** Rail Rifle: Probably the most useful of the three, a 30" AP(4) Deadly(3) gun. Still only hitting on a 4+, but this will scare any vehicles on the table. Even if you don't hit, it gives you table control which can be quite valuable. If you take these an Inhibitor Drone may be a good investment, because your opponent will want to take this squad out.

* '''Stealth Suit:''' Though they are essentially grunt-sized suits, they're still fairly tough with Tough 3. Stealth and Ambush allows them to strike wherever they want with some protection. However, they have some pretty short-ranged guns, with the only upgrades being fusion carbines (for Deadly 6 and higher AP), a Spotting Laser, or a beacon if you plan on throwing in other suits.

* '''Battle Suit:''' Ambushing, flying, tough as nails gun-toting mechas. They're not cheap, but they're hard to put down (arguably harder to kill than vehicles even due to Deadly(6) weapons being less effective against them). They start out without any real weapons, but they're able to pick up up to 3 guns in any combination, melee upgrades if you should so wish, and a buttload of Drones. Their Drone options are the typical ones (including Shield Drones for 80pts if you want them to be absurdly tough), and their melee upgrades basically boil down to adding Rending or AP(2) to their base A2 AP(1) weapons. Their guns on the other hand include a lot of options.
** Plasma Rifle: Cheap filler, works okay against any target.
** Flamethrower: Horde-killer, filler for short-range builds.
** Burst Carbine: A good all-round gun, especially for shooting infantry.
** Ion Carbine: An alright choice, basically equivalent to 3 Plasma Rifles but riskier to shoot. It won't be as reliable as on the Captain, so this is more of one to take if you're almost full up on slots already.
** Frag Pod: Again, a weird situational one due to Indirect. It's really only useful against hordes which you cannot see.
** Missile Pod: Nice for backline support or board control, but not very cost effective.
** Fusion Carbine: An expensive vehicle killer, it will melt if it hits but again it's more reliable on a Captain.

* '''Sniper Drone:''' You've got a flying pulse rifle for a cost cheaper than equipping grunts with them. Since they are incredibly flimsy to the point that combat is a literal death sentence for them, they'll definitely be making good on that range. The only way to make that better is if you slap on a drone controller and grant those flying rifles Sniper, thus making them even more scary.

* '''Gun Drone:''' Sniper drones are for precision, gun drones are for heavy fire. Sadly, these drones lack any upgrades and suck super-bad in melee, so you'll absolutely be needing someone to block off any potential aggressors.

* '''Jackal:''' Cheap chaff if unupgraded, although also unremarkable. One model can get some extra melee upgrades and a Pulse weapon, although Pulse guns are probably not worth it with only Q5+. What they are nice for though, beyond being chaff, is the possibility of cheap Snipers. 

* '''Jackal Hound:''' Pure melee chaff, they're cheap, can move through terrain, and have Scout so turn 1 charges are easy to get. They don't do much though, so they're mostly there to distract or hit squishy units. They can get Poison and Furious for 5 pts each, with Poison being almost an auto-take due to their A3.

* '''Jackal Cavalry:''' Wow, a melee unit that can actually do some damage! While they only have Q5+, they're actually decently tough and have lots of attacks on top of Impact 3 in addition to Fast, Scout, and Strider. They can also take some heavy weapons, but that's not the main utility of this unit.

* '''Locusts''' These little flyers are about as accurate as most heroes while also being super mobile with Ambush. This makes them quite adept at either melee or short-ranged firefights, though their base neutron carbines leave a bit to be desired. Fortunately you can buy a special weapon for the sake of it.