Infinity/N3 Tactics/Operations Subsection

The unit overview and tactica for ALEPH's Operations Subsection of the S.S.S. (OSS)

Why play Operations Subsection

• Versatility: OSS units are generally well equipped and can handle most situations.
• Line troopers that don't suck: The basic infantry is fast enough to get work done without being particularly expensive.
• Resistant to crits: If you hate it when your best trooper is stopped in its track because of a lucky crit, then the OSS have you covered with above average durability on most units that expect to see action, besides the remotes.
• Theme (Of course!): If you like an AI faction that plays like an AI.

Faction features

• Elite and Dangerous: OSS Soldiers are some of the most well equipped and high tech soldiers in the game. This is however reflected in their costs and they will often be outnumbered by less elite armies.

• Fireteams/Special Fireteams: There are multiple mixed fireteam options to add to the team's versatility. Core, Haris, and Duo are present in this army.
  • REMs in Fireteams: Dakini can form a Core team, and Rudras and Samekh can join other teams. These REMs benefit from any Fireteam bonuses as well as any Supportware from Hackers.

Special Skills

• Counterintelligence: Being an elite army with multiple Combat Groups -but also lower model count- can be harsh due to Command Token Strategic Use to reduce an Order Pool by 2 Regular Orders. Counterintelligence is a very situational skill, but can but very useful when going first.

• G: Jumper L1 and Jumper LZ: Jumper L1 is still a very strong trooper. Jumper LZ is an a very interesting trooper that boosts REMs in a single Fireteam.

• Valor: Going with the elite and robotic theme, almost all troop profiles have some form of Valor, meaning that your troops only ever flinch if you want them to. Many have advanced forms of Valor such as No Wound Incapacitation, giving them essentially an extra wound!

Weapons and Equipment

• Netrods: Netrods are an easy 4pt Order to include in your list. These are especially useful if your list includes Jumpers.

• No Smoke/ Eclipse Grenades: Unlike the Steel Phalanx which has plenty of units with Smoke/Eclipse Grendes, the OSS lack both. Very as much of the table to your advantage.

• Multi Rifles: Several units have access to Multi Rifles as their basic ranged weapon, making AP and Shock ubiquitous while DA makes AROs extra deadly.

Units

Light Infantry

• Deva Functionaries: The most normal trooper in OS is still a force to be reckoned with as they are Light Infantry with the stat-line of a decent Medium Infantry as well as NWI that makes them far tougher than they look.
  • Core: Probably not worth investing is a core team of them though. Put them into a Dakini link if you want to boost their performance.
  • Haris/Special Haris: A Haris however is more reasonable and even allows an Asura, letting you advance with your assault piece of choice while bringing specialists and useful tools along.
  • Duo/Special Duo: They can also Duo with CSUs, DUOs are for redundancy or order efficiency only so it will probably be most useful as a means to bring a cheap specialist along.

• Apsaras: These funky troopers possess your own remotes within a fireteam and grants them improved BS and WIP (and CC but who cares) as well as the Number 2 Rule. Thus making the Dakini Core significantly more deadly as well as resilient! The buff to BS is almost as potent as the Assisted Fire supportware, but it does not require an order or any hacking coverage to set up, and applies to all members of the team. Not quite a bargain but not a bad deal either.

• Shukra Consultants: These are boring but useful troopers that will hide prone on a rooftop or behind a building for the entire game. You play them either as a Chain of Command, allowing you to play more recklessly with your Lieutenant. Or in OS you can let them be your Lieutenant in which case they have Strategos L1 so you can spend the Lieutenant Special Order on any trooper. They come with Counterintelligence which most of the time will only save you an order if you have multiple combat groups and you are going first. They also have Biometric Visor L2, which mostly will serve to give them a slightly better chance of fending off an impersonator.

• Danavas: They are basic WIP15 Hackers with HD+ or AHD options. They also bring their own Pitchers. They are also the cheapest HD+ option in OSS. They'll do well to avoid firefights, but are very strong hackers.

• Sophotects: Still one of the best specialists in the game, and still very expensive. She's both Doctor AND Engineer, and a single Sophotect will be very useful in any OSS list. Unlike most Doctors or Engineers from other armies, the Sophotect is no pushover and is nearly equal to a Deva in terms of combat power, keep this in mind for emergencies. Use Yudbots to extend the Sophotects' influence and move them towards your fallen remotes while you move the Sophotect towards the objective.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.1: The cheapest Hacker, Doctor or Engineer option, they are basically Devas but with Mimetism and are much more expendable thanks to the rules for Jumper L1.

• Andromeda, Sophistes of the Steel Phalanx: Even despite gaining extra options, Andromeda is pretty useless in this sectorial. She competes with Nagas, Dasyus, Proxy Mk2, Proxy Mk5, and even Dart - all of which does anything Andromeda does, but better. Her large S4 value made her a wider target than she needs to be which is completely in opposition to her role as an infiltrating specialist.

• Authorized Bounty Hunters: There isn't much use for ABHs in this sectorial except for possibly adding cheap orders, but even then there are more useful troopers in the OSS. The Booty table allows them to roll up some sweet gear, but roughly half the results are not worth it, and since you roll after deployment you don't know if you get that Sniper Rifle or Motorcycle until it is too late.
  • Duo: They can Duo up if you every take 2 for whatever reason.

• CSU, Corporate Security Unit: CSUs are cheaper than ABHs and are mostly better since the Meta Chemistry, even at Level 1, provides more useful bonuses than Booty does, and they do not make you regret your deployment. They can serve as nice escorts or order fillers. There are even a couple of Specialist Operative options as well as being able to bring Breaker Rifles for when you face armies with low BTS.
  • Duo/Special Duo: Though they can Duo together, the more interesting option is being able to Duo up with a Deva. A CSU can also join a Dakini Core, however, the CSU may slow the team down with only 4-4MOV.

• Father Lucien Sforza, Registered Bounty Hunter: A troubleshooter unit in OSS, the big appeal here is the holoechoes that can be used to sweep mines as well as the powerful Viral Rifle to deal with heavy targets. If you are into mind games you can also disguise him as an unassuming and exposed short range trooper like a Shotgun CSU only to reveal a Viral Rifle or Adhesive Launcher with X-Visor!

• Warcors, War Corespondents: If you have 3pts left over, pop in a Warcor. Do not underestimate how useful her Flash Pulse is in ARO. OSS is also very command token efficient, so a Warcor can be a more effective choice than a second (or missing third) netrod.

Medium Infantry

• Arjuna Troops: A new unit for OSS. Mimetism and Specialist Operative are ok, but compete with other forward deploying specialists you have available (like the FO proxy). Spitfire is ok, but it's on a more fragile platform than anywhere else in the faction (where you're already crunched for SWC); shock marksman is also ok, but you have multiple other options in that price bracket (like a Rudras, that is more survivable, can be buffed, and has a repeater). Potentially, the boarding shotgun is your best bet with 2 kiran bots for a potent ARO threat against HI (like Military Orders and Invincible Army) and TAGs that want to get close. Overall though, it's still a unit looking for a niche in a sectorial with some fantastic options.
  • Kiranbots: great little 4 point roadblocks for HI and TAGs hoping to stomp into the midfield. The main reason to take Arjuna troopers.
  • Consider Arjunas as a stopgap problem-solver for OSS's lack of easy repeater coverage if you need good ARO coverage against hackable threats.

• Yadu Troopers: Tactical Assault Teams: Yadu Troopers are about as resilient as most Heavy Infantry since they basically have two wounds with NWI + Shock Immunity. They carry far more options than most units since the basic profile has a Multi Rifle, an E/Marat and Drop Bears. Yadu has an assortment of weapons, has a great BS13, and even though they're MI they have 4-4MOV. They are a very well equipped toolbox unit.
  • Shakti, Yadu Officier: Shakti is a basic Yadu but equipped with a Mk12, Killer Hacking Device, and E/Marat. Her Mk12 provides an excellent mid ranged weapon which the Yadu lack making her an attractive option for Fireteams. She comes standard with Core, Haris, Duo, and counts as a Yadu for Fireteam Composition. She is also a specialist thanks to her Killer Hacking Device. Unlike the other Yadu, she has 2 full Wounds. Be careful or other Killer Hackers!
  • Core: A Yadu Core will be very expensive and this sectorial has plenty more to offer. A Core Fireteam will often be saved for the cheaper Dakini team. Yadu are pretty strong in a 5-man team however.
  • Haris/Special Haris: Fireteam Haris will be the common team choice. 3 Yadu can be pretty pricey, however, a Deva can be taken for more options. Since the generic Yadu lack mid ranged guns, a Deva with MSV2 and Spitfire can be a good addition this small fireteam. If Shakti is in team already, then a Deva with Sensor can offer some protection from Camo. If you're feeling extra aggressive (and have the points), the Yadu can also form a Haris with the deadly Asura. Don't forget the Rudras as an option as well: it brings a powerful mid-to-long range weapon with it, a repeater, and a survivable platform. A Rudras can also support Shakti effectively and set up dangerous ARO threats against hackers.
  • Duo: Fireteam: Duo will be another common team option. The Yadu already has a great BS13 with a nice array of weapon options. A small Duo will can provide some fire support or specialist escort with a very small footprint.
  • Special Fireteam rules: Rudras GunBots: The Rudras Gunbot can join any Yadu Fireteam. The Rudras offers redundancy with the short ranged weapons like the MULTI Rifle and K1 Rifle offers anti-ARM. The Red Fury can give the Yadu team a mid range gun. Yadu can already come with Drop Bears, and the Rudras can launch additional mines using its' Mine Dispenser. The Repeater means it can benefit from supportware and even extend your Hackers' influence including Shakti if she's in the team. Rudras are expensive, but can be a great addition to a Haris or Duo team.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.5: Always bring the Forward Observer. It is cheaper, is a specialist, has a Flash Pulse for ARO, and is a threat to HI, REMs, Tags, or anything without Veteran L1 or 2 with the E/M Grenades - all this for a mere 10 points!

Heavy Infantry

• Asuras: Still a bit expensive and is still either an undergunned specialist or a killing machine that can't grab objectives and either way they are starved for orders to really do their thing. The big news is that be best loadouts are now available not only as Lieutenant but as Level 2, granting two additional orders to kill stuff and claim objectives. And with the new Chain of Command option available in Aleph and OS you need not fear reavealing your LT.
  • Duo: This is a lot of wounds that you move with a single order, but it is also 136 points minimum and does not synergize as well. A Novelty.
  • Haris/Special Haris: 3 Asuras in a Haris is a Joke, but having a single Asura lead a Haris of either Yadus or Devas is quite appealing. This allows the Asura to focus on what she does best, killing things. While a Deva or Yadu can act as a specialist or give hacking support.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.3: The Mk3 is a cheap Heavy Infantry with no special tools up her sleeve. She's cheap in points but expensive in SWC, but with 6-2 move she can be surprisingly fast and makes for a good backup assault piece, and thanks to Jumper she is expendable.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.4: The Mk4 resembles the Mk3 in that is is cheap and expensive at the same time. It provides a sturdy yet expendable platform for a heavy weapon like an HMG or Heavy Rocket Launcher. The HRL makes an excellent ARO piece.

TAGs

• Maruts: A mainline battle TAG with MSV2 and Strategos lvl3. You pay ~30 points more than other mainline TAGs for the pleasure of a bit more armor and BTS than is standard, along with the lieutenant skills and visor. Taking a Marut will seriously limit you at 300 points, but you can still fit in a handful of things. A Dakini link and proxies are good backups, but everything will be built around the Marut even more than a standard TAG list.
  • The Marut is frankly too expensive. It has MSV2 so it essentially does the same thing as the Spitfire Asura or Deva only with a better gun and even more armor, but also at a much higher cost and a much clunkier silhouette. It's distinguishing feature is the ability to play it as a Strategos L3 Lieutenant, meaning that you get an extra unit in reserve during deployment and your opponent gets none. The effects of Strategos L1 can be covered by the Shukra. So instead of spending 120 points and 3 SWC on a single model that is difficult to hide, instead get an Asura Spitfire for 70/2 and a Shukra Lieutenant CoC for 27/0, save 23 points and 1 SWC, get an extra order and don't skip a turn when your assault piece goes down.
  • do remember that it doesn't have a cube (meaning Sepsitor doesn't work on it), and is an ultimate counter to the Avatar. If you have a buddy that brings an Avatar around regularly, bring the Marut and turn the battle into a blunt slug-fest.
  • An additional counterargument is that the Marut has the only long-range, high burst, anti-armor weapon in the sectorial. You pay out the nose for it, but otherwise you'll be limited to MSRs, Rudras k1, and a Smaekh missile launcher.
  • Karkata Ancillary Remote Unit: Allows the Marut to act as a Specialist.

REM

• Dakini Tacbots: Dakinis are the line infantry of OS, besides the CSU they are your cheapest troopers and come with the distinct advantage of having 6-4 move and mimetism in their base profile. Dakinis are quite powerful for their cost and can contend with stronger units in the active turn, they are however quite vulnerable in the reactive since they are subject to hacking, E/M, weak against templates and have no template weapons of their own. Lone Dakinis make for good budget raiders on a flank but can't be depended upon to hold the line.
  • Core/Special Core: Dakinis can form a Core team. This makes for a crazy fast team with a surprising punch for such cheap troopers. They can be enhanced even further if you bring an Apsara in the same combat group or bring a hacker to put Assisted Fire on the lead bot to effectively grant them and extra 2-3 BS. The Core Fireteam can also bring along up to one CSU as a cheap filler with a Breaker Rifle, Shotgun, Nanopulser and/or specialist. Up to two Devas can also join in, most likely to be the Link Leader with a Multi Rifle or a Spitfire, or to provide specialist, Sensor or Hacking duties.

• Garuda Tacbots: Garudas are essentially Dakinis but with Airborne Deployment: Combat jump. AD is a powerful trick to have that punishes an enemy that does not deploy smartly, thus you should always bring one unless you always bring one and your opponent is expecting one, then don't bring one just once. Don't forget that you can bring it in on your turn 2 if there were no opportunities earlier, and if it has to sit out the game because you have other better opportunities then it is not a big deal for the Garuda is cheap, very cheap. The Shotgun variant is excellent as it starts up close to the enemy and can leverage that template to clear out several enemies at once. do not forget that you can use a lower version of the AD skill to walk in from the table edge instead, this circumvents the fairly low PH and still lands you close to the enemy.

• Rudras GunBots: It is essentially a Heavy Infantry in REM form. All loadouts bring the Mine Dispenser, which is an excellent tool for blocking enemy camo markers or to lock down groups of enemies from advancing or even reacting. The Rudras gets your choice of Multi Rifle, K1 Marksman Rifle or for one SWC you get the Red Fury. Do not forget that the Rudras bring their own Repeater coverage and for a single order you can give them assisted fire, essentially giving them an effective BS of 15! They also have Climbing Plus and 6-4 move so they can get wherever they want fast but since they are REMs they cannot go prone and easily take advantage of high ground.
  • Special Fireteam Rules: The Rudras can join any Fireteam that could have a Yadu.

• Rebots: OS have the same general REMs as everybody else.
  • Daleth: The toobox remote. For 17 points this nets you a fast specialist with plenty of tools for solving many kinds of problems that the enemy throws at you. It also comes with Climbing Plus for an extra bit of mobility.
  • Zayin: The Total Reaction HMG bot, its only special feature is that it has Climbing Plus, this comes up far less than one would think. It is only AVA 1 in OS.
  • Samehk: Is also only AVA 1. Either it is a stationary Guided Missile Launcher as we are used to, or...
    • Special Fireteam Rules: In OSS you can play it as a regular Missile Launcher, in which case is costs four additional points but has the option to joins ANY fireteam. This makes it into a cheap filler for Deva and especially Yadu fireteams and serves as quite the menacing ARO weapon.
  • Lamedh: It's the cheap Flash Pulse bot, just as you know them from other factions. It generates cheap orders but don't risk scattering like the Netrod and can provide surprisingly effective AROs with the Flash Pulse. Also provides hacking coverage with the built in Repeater.

• Yudbots: Take Yudbots to keep your Doctor or Engineer's safe and/or extend their influence.

• Probots: Same ones that everyone gets. Baggage on all of them, one Minesweeper repeater with no weapons for cheap, one EVO hacker and one poor mans Zayin, a Total Reaction bot with a Combi Rifle and Repeater.

Skirmishers

• Nagas: OS have some pretty strong Skirmishers and one should not underestimate the power of the Naga. Sure, it does not have the TO or NWI of the Dasyus, but is it cheap and when up against Shock ammo or when LoF does not matter (such as with hacking) then the advantages of the Dasyus don't matter and the cheaper option is better because of it. It also has a few powerful loadouts that the Dasyus cannot replicate such as the Minelayer that can alter the flow of the enemies first turn or the Monofilament Mines.

• Dasyus: These guys are actually good, but they suffer from some serious competition from all the other Skirmishers in OSS. Essentially they are Nagas that have the option to do Hidden Deployment, have the TO modifier instead of regular Camo, carry a Nanopulser and have No Wound Incapacitation instead of Dogged while costing only roughly 8 points more. However, there is nothing you could do with a Dasyus that you could not do more cheaply with a Naga (except Hidden Deployment) so only take these if you expect any of their advantages to make the difference, and even then they also suffer competition from the Proxy Mk.2 and Dart.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.2: These are ridiculously good. They have all the advantages of the Dasyus but with fewer drawbacks, an extra point of BS and WIP and a drastically lower cost. The only limitation is that you can only take one of them and they can only be taken as either a Multi Sniper or as an Assault Hacker with a Boarding Shotgun. The don't suffer the drawback that deploying in hidden deployment removes an order from your pool and they have the added advantage that when they inevitably die you still get to keep the order as long as you have at least one Proxy or Netrod still alive!

• Dart, Optimate Huntress: She's got a kitchen sink full of skills and equipment, but in short, she starts almost halfway up the board, is camouflaged and can walk on walls. Has practically two wounds, an excellent active turn and reactive turn weapon, has the best (for its cost) level of Multispectral Visor and gets your choice of Mines to slow down your opponent or E/M Grenades to disable heavy targets. All this for the cost of the basic Dasyus.

Warbands

None

Building Your Army

First off keep in mind that the only practical reasons to ever play a sectorial army instead of the corresponding Vanilla faction is to make use of fireteams, or to use the increased AVA of your favorite units. OSS is blessed with several options for flexible and powerful fireteams, it is certainly not unreasonable to field a Core, a Haris and one or more Duos in the same list for that insane order efficiency! When it comes to Core fireteams the Dakinis are a standout in being good in relation to their cost. Devas and Yadus can also make Core teams but have too many redundancies that bloat their cost and don't make any compelling arguments for why you would build a team of 4 or more instead of having the Dakini as your Core. Playing Devas or Yadu in smaller teams and as Duos however may be viable

So a Dakini Core makes for a good foundation. Your next consideration should be whether you keep the team cheap by letting it be only Dakinis, or if you slot in any Devas and/or a CSU. Adding another unit to the mix makes the team far more versatile but has the serious drawback of reducing the effective speed of the team from 6-4 to 4-4. Either way, make sure you bring at least one Dakini with an HMG and one that is a paramedic so the team has some firepower and can act as a specialist.

Another consideration for your Core Dakinis is whether you want to buff them, and if so do you rely on a Hacking Device (such as a Deva moving with the team) to provide Assisted Fire or do you invest in an Apsara to boost the team's BS and WIP passively. Both are good options but the Apsara costs you fewer orders to use and provides Number 2, making the team more resistant to casualties, the Apsara is recommended for Dakini teams with few other extras.

Dakinis are Remotes so you will need at least one hacker or an engineer in your list, fortunately OSS is spoiled for choice with no real terrible options, in fact, you are likely to include one anyway so you can push this consideration off for now.

Always assume that Plan A fails, that Dakini team will not win you the game alone. A choice that will nearly always pay it's points back is the Posthuman. Especially Mk.2 Sniper and Mk.5 FO are such incredible value. Mk.1 can be a cheap specialist or your mandatory hacker, or Mk.4 can be a good speed-bump on one of your flanks.

Beyond that, take whatever you want to try out, maybe add more specialists to fit the mission. Don't neglect the excellent selection of mid-field camo available!

Hints and Tactics

• Deathball Haris: A devastating Haris for alpha Striking consisting of two Yadus and an Asura. Try Shakti (Counts as Yadu) with an Asura Spitfire and either a regular Yadu or a Rudras (Can join any Yadu team). Let Asura lead and plow through, Shakti can claim objectives along the way and deal with hackable threats to your Asura, and when it comes time to hand over the turn, spend your last two orders on setting up mines around the team, that's seven wounds in a fortified position giving them a decent chance of enduring the enemy turn to resume their bloody business. A variant includes using the Asura Spitfire Lieutenant and the Yadu HMG NCO. The NCO can use the two lieutenant special orders without breaking the fireteam. Or you could skip the NCO and just have the Asura leave the fireteam behind when they have been moved sufficiently far up the board.