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

ALEPH is the AI that controls all the information networks in the Human Sphere. The Operations Subsection is the defensive wing of ALEPH while the Steel Phalanx is the offensive against the Combined Army. The OperationS Subsection are elite cybernetic operators with the best equipment and weapons. Being an expensive elite army, OSS will often find themselves outnumbered, but each trooper is very hard to remove and is more than capable of holding their own. It also has the biggest combination of official names, short-hands, and acronyms of any Sectorial in the game.

Play OSS if you like an elite army of sexy cybernetic waifus.

Faction features

• Elite and Dangerous: O.S.S. 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 Devas, Rudras and Samekh are wildcards allowing for very flexible teams. The REMs in a Fireteam can benefit from any Fireteam bonuses as well as RemDrivers and Supportware from Hackers at the same time.

• Removing Enemy Mods: O.S.3 excels in removing enemy mods and never suffering under the element of surprise. Sensor, MSV, hacking, special ammo, and good range bands give you plenty of tools to play with.

• Multi-tools: The more expensive the profile, the more likely it is a toolbox. The Asura LT2, HD+, Multi-rifle, MSV3 is a prime example of this template's logical extreme.

Special Skills

• G: Jumper: Jumper is unique to Aleph and makes a single trooper with many bodies, very difficult to remove and with a huge discount.

• Courage: Going with the elite and robotic theme, almost all troop profiles have Courage, meaning that your troops only ever flinch if you want them to.

• No Wound Incapacitation: Many of your units have thism, essentially granting them an extra wound as long as the enemy isn't using Shock. Some of them also have Shock immunity, basically turning them into Heavy Infantry without the drawbacks.

Weapons and Equipment

• Netrods: Despite being a high-cost faction, Aleph has the cheapest cheerleaders in the Netrods. They are 4 points each and litreally do nothing but sit there and generate an order for you.

• 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.

Drawbacks

• No Smoke/ Eclipse Grenades: Unlike the Steel Phalanx which has plenty of units with Smoke/Eclipse Grendes, the OSS lack both. Use as much of the table as you can.

• Hackable: Your line infantry are REMs, that means that more than half of your army will typically be hackable! Be sure to dominate the hacking game!

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. They have a wide range of loadouts meaning there is one for every role besides sneaking.
  • Core: You could take their Wildcard status to the extreme to make a Core Fireteam of only these dudes, but it's probably not worth it. Individyal durability is a redundancy in a large fireteam.
  • Haris/Special Haris: A Haris however is more reasonable, letting you pull special equipment and specialists along when you advance with your assault piece.
  • Wildcard: They can also join a fireteam of Dakinis, Yadus or Asuras, offering their suite of tools for those links. Especially a Dakini link would benefit from a Deva since the Number 2 rule keeps the link from falling apart when the team leader dies.

• Apsaras: These funky troopers lost a lot of utility in N4, but on the other hand it can stack with Supportware now. Now they possess a single remote at the start of the game and never switches. They also do not provide Number 2 anymore (but the Deva does). It grants a single remote improved BS and WIP (and CC but who cares). Use it to boost the Dakini HMG in your Core fireteam.

• 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 OperationS 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: Strong hackers with WIP15 and HD+. They also bring their own Pitchers. They are the cheapest HD+ option in OS.S. While Pitchers allow them to operate from a safe distance, they lack the kit to survive at the front of your DZ or in the midfield, they also no longer provide supportware the way they used to, so to get any value off them you must make use of the pitchers to deny areas to your opponent or make use of White noise.

• 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 O.S.2 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: Got a new overhaul and small boost with N4 and is still questionable. Either you use the Forward Deployment variant which still competes with Nagas, Dasyus, Proxy Mk2, Proxy Mk5, and Dart for the midfield, they can do all that Andromeda does, but better. Or you are gambling on 1. Getting the first turn and 2. nailing a 75% infiltration roll so as to not make her into an expensive cheerleader. If you do pull it off then she has the kit to do a lot of damage during an alpha strike, but her large S4 value makes her a clumsy piece and a large target, 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 O.Subsection. The Booty table allows them to roll up some sweet gear but you don't know what you are going to get until after deployment.
  • 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 provides many useful bonuses than Booty does, and they never 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: They can form a duo, there is little reason to do this however as there is little that two CSUs can bring to the table that a lone one doesn't already offer. A CSU can also join a Dakini Core, however, the CSU may slow the team down with only 4-4MOV.
  • Special Fireteam: A single CSU can join a team of Dakini, this is a cheap specialist option as well as a way to add a breaker weapon, shotgun and or nanopulsers to the team.

• 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!
  • Special Fireteam: Father Lucien Sforza can Duo with an orized Bounty Hunter, but why would you want to?

• Warcors, War Corespondents: If you have 3pts left over, pop in a Warcor. Do not underestimate how useful her Flash Pulse is in ARO. SSS is also very command token efficient, so a Warcor can be your "third" netrod.

• Parvati, Circle League Star: Fast moving doctor/engineer, similar to the Sophotect, but with a wider kit, she swaps the Combi for a SMG, but also gets Flash Pulse, Deactivator, Super-Jump, Shock Immunity and a bonus to Engineer, all this for 7 points over the Sophotect.
  • Wildcard: In addition, Parvati is a Wildcard Trooper, making her a huge boon to any fireteam she joins, whether that be an Asura or a team of Dakinis.

• Chandra Specialist Operative Trisha N33: A fast moving Engineer with Shock Immunity and Dogged. Comes with a Breaker Rifle and E/M Mines. On her own she's a cheaper Sophotect with better weapons.
  • Wildcard: But like Parvati, Trisha is also a Wildcard Trooper, making her super useful in a Dakini linkteam.

Medium Infantry

• Arjuna Troops: 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; shock marksman is also ok, but you have multiple other options in that price bracket. Potentially, the boarding shotgun is your best bet with 2 Kiranbots 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, TAGs and linkteams 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 a sweet 6-2MOV. They are a very well equipped toolbox unit. All Yadu have Number 2 as well so teams based around them are unlikely to ever break.
  • Shakti, Yadu Officier: Shakti is a Yadu but equipped with a Mk12, a 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 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. Beware of enemy Killer Hackers!
  • Core: A Yadu Core will be very expensive, especially the redundancy i durability will cost you and this sectorial has plenty more to offer. A Core Fireteam will often be saved for the cheaper Dakini team while Yadu form a Haris.
  • Haris/Special Haris: Fireteam Haris will be the common team choice. 3 Yadu can be pretty pricey but you will mostly subsistute at least two of them with either Devas, Asuras, Shakti, Rudras or Asuras. Since the generic Yadu lack mid ranged guns, a Deva with MSV2 and Spitfire can be a good fit for a small fireteam on budget, or you can go big with the Asura in the same role. If Shakti is in team already, then a Deva with Sensor can help sweep for Camo. If you're feeling extra aggressive (and have the points). Rudras bring powerful mid-to-long range weapons with it, a repeater, mines and a survivable platform.
  • Duo: Fireteam: Duo si another attractive 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. Remember, all options available to the Haris (except Asura) are available to the Duo as well!

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.5: The Forward Observer is an excellent cheap 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. The Mk12 is also a sweet option for this mostly short-mid range army.

Heavy Infantry

• Asuras: Got a big price-drop in N4 without really losing anything. Skip the blank Multi-rifle profile, if you are shelling out around 60 points you need her to dominate her role or at least do two roles decently, so go for the Spitfire or the Hacker. The hacker plus comes with a buffed up Trinity program, making it a killer hacker in the active turn as well as a specialistin that respect. Each of the loadouts is also available as a Lieutenant, and not only that but she grants an extra Lieutenant special order, and the Asura can really make use of these! If you go for a lieutenant Asura, make sure not to lose her, or make sure to have a chain-of-command Shukra ready.
  • 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, unless you use one of your Wildcard options to slot in here instead, a Duo with a Deva or a Rudras would bring plenty of utility to whatever role you picked for Asura.
  • Haris/Special Haris: 3 Asuras in a Haris is a Joke, but having a single Asura lead Special Haris of 2 Yadus (with one or two wildcards) has a lot of promise, see Yadu above for more details.

• Post-Humans: Proxy Mk.3: The Mk3 is a cheap Heavy Infantry with no special tools up her sleeve. She's cheap only in points however, her SWC is quite high despite getting cheaper in N4, 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 in points but expensive in SWC at the same time. Mk.4 comes with either a HMG for active turn or Suppressive Fire, or it comes with a HRL for ARO duties. It is a sturdy yet expendable platform to hold a flank.

TAGs

• Maruts: She got a huge cost break in N4, 21 points and an SWC were freed up at no drawback. She's a mainline battle TAG with MSV2 and Strategos L2. You pay more than most do for their 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 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.
  • Note that the Marut has the only long-range, high burst, anti-armor weapon in the sectorial. Besides her there is onlu the MSRs, Rudras k1, and a Samekh missile launcher.
  • Karkata Ancillary Remote Unit: Allows the Marut to act as a Specialist.

REM

• Dakini Tacbots: Dakinis are the line infantry of OSS, 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. This makes them quite powerful for their cost and they 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 to boost one of the team members, or if you bring an EVO hacker to put supportware on them, if you can pull both off at the same time in a five man team then this can stack to an effective total bonus of +8 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. Devas, Rudras and Samekh are Wildcards and can also join a Dakini fireteam, most likely to be the Link Leader with a better gun, 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, and the Garuda is so cheap that 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 here as the Garuda starts up close to the enemy anyway and can potentially leverage that template to clear out several enemies at once.

• Rudras GunBots: It is 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 too and for a single order if you have an EVO hacker you can give them assisted fire to give them an effective BS of 15! They also have Climbing Plus and 6-4 move so they can get wherever they want fast.
  • Special Fireteam Rules: The Rudras can join any Fireteam!

• 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 OSS.
  • Samehk: Is also only AVA 1. Either it is a normal Guided Missile Launcher as we are used to, or...
    • Special Fireteam Rules: In OSS you can play it as a Wildcard, in which case is costs an extra point and gets a flash pulse, it can still launch guided missiles. This makes it into a cheap filler for Deva or Yadu fireteams, it is quite the menacing ARO weapon and since you bring it along anyway you might end up launching som guided ammo, who knows!
  • Lamedh: It's the cheap Flash Pulse bot, just as you know them from other factions. It generates cheap orders 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 -6 Mimetism or NWI of the Dasyus, but it is 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 or the Monofilament Mines that can alter the flow of the enemies first turn.

• 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 -6 Mimetism, 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 or with a Proxy Mk.2 (except Hidden Deployment), so only take these if you expect any of their advantages to make the difference.

• 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 limitations are that 1. 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 and 2. As of N4 they cannot do Hidden Deployment, yielding that niche to the Dasuys. 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 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 effectively two wounds (Shock-Immunity and NWI), has an excellent active turn and reactive turn weapon, has Multispectral Visor and gets your choice of Mines to slow down your opponent or E/M Grenades to disable heavy targets. All this just short of 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. Or any of the Wildcards such as Rudras, Parvati or Trisha. Adding another unit to the mix makes the team far more versatile, Devas for instance contribute with Number 2, preventing the team from breaking when the teamleader goes down, whereas Parvati and Trisha are engineers that can fix up members in the team if they fall. Nothing stops you from adding multiple Wildcards. Bear in mind that adding a unit with 4-4 move (Deva, CSU) has the 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 for long range firepower, and if there is no other specialist then bring a paramedic so the team has a specialist.

Another consideration for your Core Dakinis is whether you want to buff them, and if so do you rely on a Evo Hacking Device (A Probot) to provide Assisted Fire or do you invest in an Apsara to boost one of the bots in the team. Both are good options and can be combined if you want to go deep. The Apsara costs you fewer orders to use but Assisted fire has the bigger effect.

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, even now after N4 increased their costs. 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, a Garuda so you are ready to punish the enemy if the give you an opening. Don't neglect the excellent selection of mid-field camo available!

Things to buy:

• Coldfront
• Dakini SWC box
• Posthumans box
• Asura of your choice

Fun Toys to add on:

• Aleph Support Box
• Rebot box
• Yadu box

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 Fireteam). 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 one of the Asura Lieutenant profiles 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.

• Support your Dakini: Your Dakini core fireteam might be cheap line-infantry equivalents, but OSS brings a lot of tools to the table for buffing and expanding their abilities. Samekh missile launcher, Devas, Apsara, Naga KHD, proxy Engineer, Sophotect, Danavas HD+ will create a potent shield around otherwise fragile units. Swap units in and out as needed, and show them how powerful a 20 point SWC weapon can be.