Infinity/N4 Tactics/Imperial Service

An overview for faction units and tactics in N4. WIP

Why Play Imperial Service?

PROTECT YOUR HOME. SERVE YU JING. JOIN THE IMPERIAL SERVICE.

ISS is an aggressive, fast paced army with a major focus on kicking down doors and "arresting" the enemies of Yu Jing hiding inside. They're most deadly against lightly armored troops at mid-to-close range, but have to resort to indirect hacking to deal with high armor like superheavy infantry or TAGs.

The ideal ISS list forces your opponent into hiding and then blows the whole building, preferably while a few Kuang Shi are still in it. All are guilty under the eyes of the Imperial Judges and only death absolves their crimes.

Faction Features

• Kuang Shi Core: N3 ISS made good use of its Kuang Shi, and N4 is no exception. A full Core of Kuang Shi is 33 points of screaming template laying terror backed by core linked smoke grenades. If that wasn't good enough, ISS has access to true wildcards now, allowing you to fold in additional utility while keeping more Kuang to backfill the link once you start slinging blast collared criminals into enemy lines.
• No Tricks Allowed: ISS carries no less than seven troops with some form of MSV and six troopers with Sensor. Combined with templates on nearly every key trooper means your opponent's Camouflage and Mimetism will not save them.
• Templates For Days: Tired of your opponent ramming TAGs into your deployment zone? Fill it with MadTraps! These active defense bots will rush the first enemy that gets within 8" and attempt to immobilize it. Your DZ is also swarming with template weapons, making attempts to break in and scalpel out your expensive troopers a near impossibility. Impersonators and Infiltrators beware!
• Law and Order Haris: ISS has gotten a major facelift with the Raveneye update, allowing them to create up to two Haris links out of a vast assortment of previously orphan profiles. ISS is now a faction of enormous flexibility, with some exciting opportunities for creative listbuilding.

Special Skills

• Explode/Dogged: What are you gonna do with that big bat? Gonna hit me? Better make it count. Better make it hurt. Better kill me in one shot.
  • A Kuang Shi, upon taking damage that would render it unconscious, can choose to either remain active in Dogged state, allowing it to continue acting until it dies at end of turn, or Explode, erupting into a circular template. Remember the skill won't activate if a Kuang Shi is instantly killed, such as failing an armor save to Shock ammo, or if there are friendly models within the blast radius.

• Martial Arts: ISS has a higher than average number of martial artists in their army; Pheasants, Kanren, and Hsien Warriors all have enough CC to defend themselves in close combat, while Adil, Ninjas, and Cranes have the raw statistical power to make offensively closing to melee a viable option. You might wonder why Ninjas are available in an army specifically made up of Yu Jing troops when JSA is right there. It's a long story.

• Sensor: There are six troopers in ISS with Sensor; all of them are viable. In addition to adding a whopping +6 to your Discover rolls vs Camo markers, Sensor allows you to "ping" that trooper's Zone of Control, performing a WIP+6 normal roll that, upon a success, Discovers all enemy troopers or equipment in Camouflaged or Hidden Deployment states. This is the number one way to fuck up a JSA player's day. Remember that enemy troopers also can't return to Camo state while within the ZoC of a trooper with Sensor, and Sensor has no effect on Impersonation markers.

Weapons and Equipment

• Chain Rifles/Colts and Nanopulsers: Chain Rifles are scatter guns that use ammunition threaded into small chains that are ground up and fired at high velocity; Chain Colts are their handheld equivalent. They're bulky, loud, illegal, and incredibly deadly. While they're theoretically best used against lightly armored targets, all template weapons ignore cover, which means most troops with have, at best, a coin flip chance to avoid being wounded. Nanopulsers are the BTS-targeting equivalent of Chain Colts, but more compact, more dangerous, and far, far more illegal.

• Multispectral Visor: Predator Thermal Vision. Comes in two levels in ISS: MSV1 reduces Mimetism and visual penalties by 3, MSV2 removes all Mimetism and visual penalties. Both versions can draw line of fire through Smoke, although MSV1 takes a -6 penalty on all Attacks through it. Remember that nothing can draw line of fire through Eclipse Zones, and White Noise specifically blocks MSV from drawing line of fire through it.

• Holoprojector: You think this is the real Quaid? It is. Holoprojector allows you to deploy three Holoechoes; two false Echoes and the real trooper. These Echoes have identical stats and loadout of their originating trooper, and share all states such as Prone or Isolated. Each Echo must be within 8" of either another Echo or the real trooper, and you do not have to declare the trooper is in Holoecho state until you activate them with a regular order. Functionally, the Echoes are real troopers; they can trigger mines and deployables, provoke AROs, and be the target of Attacks; upon taking a hit that would force an armor or BTS save, or the real trooper reveals themselves, the Echo vanishes. Remember that Holoecho state is form of Marker state, which means your opponent can Delay their ARO until you reveal.

• Holomask: allows you to deploy a trooper as though it were a completely different unit in your army list of the same Silhouette value; the trooper retains all of their own attributes, but to your opponent, they'll appear to be what they're masking as. Remember that Holomask can't replicate deployable equipment nor camouflage; a hackable troop does not suddenly become an invalid target for an enemy hacker, but the inverse is not true; a trooper masking as a heavy infantry, for example, appears to be hackable right up until your opponent declares a hacking attack on them.
  • You can combine Holomask and Holoprojector, allowing you to deploy three Holoechoes of any trooper in your army. You decide how you want to engage with this fascinating tactical option.

• Breaker Combis: ISS makes up for their shortage of AP weapons by putting BTS-targeting rifles on a handful of their most common troops. Despite their average damage, Breaker weapons attack what is generally the lowest defensive stat on most troopers, then halves it for good measure. In addition to being a massive headache for Ariadna, it also serves to make most TAG sized targets easier to deal with. Just be aware that some troops might be lightly armored but packing massive BTS, so vary your weapons and try not to rely on it too much.

Unit Description

Unit Identifier ISS

Light Infantry

• Authorized Bounty Hunters: ISS puts up bounties, Authorized Bounty Hunters show up and claim them. Solid stats, and occasionally come up huge with Booty. The Submachine Gun/Akrylat-Kanone profile is a very cheap, expendable ARO trooper who can participate in Coordinated Orders. A useful way to get inexpensive SWC into your Zhain.
  • Fireteams: Zhian.
• Father Lucien Sforza: The AI-hunting legend himself, Sforza comes with two flavours; a Holoprojector solo and a linkable FTO without. Both profiles have Holomask, allowing him to take on the appearance of any Silhouette 2 trooper in your army. He's a crack shot, and his X-visor pushes the lethality of his weapons to outrageous ranges. His Viral rifle will flatten anything with low BTS, and his +1b ADHL will deal with anything else.
  • Fireteams: FTO Sforza fits into a Zhian.
• Miranda Ashcroft, Authorized Bounty Hunter: A former rich girl turned bounty hunting thrill-seeker, Miranda comes loaded with the best gear money can buy. Don't sleep on her Combi+E/Mitter profile: her Mim-6 and the bonus burst on that E/mitter tilts the combat math massively in her favour against heavy armor without MSV.
  • Fireteams: Zhian.
• Bao Troops: The leopard troopers got massively pruned down in N4, losing their X-visor and consolidating their profiles down to three different loadouts. They're cheap, linkable MSV2, but mind that they're low armor with no shock immunity, so don't plant the sniper in front of an HMG and expect him to last long.
  • Fireteams: Zhian.
• Celestial Guard: The regiment tasked with guarding the Imperial Palace grounds, Celestial Guards make excellent hackers, and the Monitor is required to deploy Kuang Shi.
  • Fireteams: Celestial Guard; one CG is required at minimum, but can form a mixed fireteam with Dakinis, Devas, and Tao Wu. A Celestial Guard Monitor forms a pure Core with Kuang Shi.
• Gui Feng Xi Zhuang: The Celestial Guard character and Yu Jing special operative. Now a true wildcard, Xi is absolutely loaded with gear and makes a compact, useful addition to any link team. A flexible source of Number 2, Xi can maintain link integrity if the leader goes down, allowing you to retain your bonuses without expending command tokens to reform.
  • Fireteams: Wildcard, counts as a Celestial Guard for composition bonuses.
• CSU, Corporate Security Unit: Corporate security representing the interests of Yu Jing state corporations. CSUs are flexible troops who occasionally come up big with Metachemistry. They contribute cheap link bonuses to your Zhian, and a variety of weapons with a large number of templates mean they'll trade extremely well.
  • Fireteams: Zhian.
• Deva Functionaries: New in N4, Deva Functionaries are auxiliary troops provided to the Imperial Service to keep the peace and foster goodwill towards Aleph. Outrageously high stats and enough profiles to solve any number of problems, Devas make both great backline Lts or frontline combatants.
  • Fireteams: Celestial Guard, and ALEPH Support where they count as Dakinis.
• Imperial Agents, Pheasant Rank: ISS leans on its offensive Lts to get work done and provide SWC discounts, so it's important to have a good command structure in case the worst happens. Thankfully, Pheasants are more than capable of picking up the slack. Featuring Chain of Command at baseline, Pheasants fulfil an important backline specialist role, with a variety of support loadouts such as hackers or Madtrap minelayers. Notably, the Tactical Awareness Red Fury Pheasant is one of the few high burst specialists, making her ideal for a late turn 3 objective run.
  • Fireteams: Zhian. May join ALEPH Support fireteams.
• Kuang Shi: Made up of dissenters, traitors, and criminals too heinous to be rehabilitated, Kuang Shi are how ISS can afford all of its high value troops. Aggressively costed, Dogged, and linkable, Kuang Shi are designed to scream across the table and trade life for life with enemy troops. Keep in mind a Celestial Guard Monitor allows you to deploy up to 4 Kuang Shi, and they must be in the same group.
  • Fireteams: Kuang Shi Fireteam with a Celestial Guard Monitor.
• Major Lunah, ex-Aristeia! Sniper: A former bloodsport superstar who publicly renounced her Haqqislam citizenship to join Yu Jing, Lunah brings her expert marksmanship to ISS. Already quite good in N3, She was massively buffed in N4, and now demands attention on the battlefield. Bear in mind she's ISS's only Mim-3 Camouflage troop, so she's quite telegraphed to an informed opponent.
• Motorized Bounty Hunter: Irregular, fast-attack troops speeding down the highways on supercharged bikes, Motos give ISS a much-needed way to punish opponents hiding behind "null deployment" tactics. The SMG chain colts trade extremely well with cheap infantry or remotes, and the Red Fury is a reliable, cheap gun that can quickly get within its positive threat range. Special in ISS, the Moto BH can duo with a Su Jian, providing the hackable catbot an effective vanguard to clear repeaters and enemy hackers.
  • Fireteams: Fast Attack.
• Sophotects: Another auxiliary troop provided by Aleph, Sophotects maintain ISS's equipment. A combination Doctor/Engineer, she's a one-troop-solves-all troubleshooter for non-combat related issues. Fast, massive WIP, and with NWI, she's an effective, if expensive, support trooper.
• Taowu, Mastermind and Schemer: Another former A! superstar, Taowu is if you gave the phrase "All according to plan" a profile. Holomask encourages misdirection, and his skills turn him into a walking time bomb that explodes into templates and viral ammo if anything gets close. Also, his model is dope as hell.
  • Fireteams: Celestial Guard.
• Warcors, War Correspondents: WarCors are embedded journalists looking to get the real story from the frontlines -- or in this case, bootlicking hacks spreading copaganda. Show them the respect they deserve and post them on a building to get shot. As an alternative, the 360 visor WarCor makes a nice defensive trooper who can keep watch for potential parachutists walking in on your DZ's back edge.
• Zhanying Imperial Agents: The first tier of Imperial Service Agents (Pheasants are the second), Zhanying are the beat cops and detectives that make up the majority of the ISS police force. Their years on the force have given them an uncanny knack for detecting trouble, giving them Sixth Sense on all profiles. Also they have Bioimmunity. Most Zhanying have Sensor, making them excellent at dealing with enemy camo, and Breaker Combi Rifles are effective against almost everything in the game. The Zhanying Hacker is a Classified Objective powerhouse, completing well over half the deck herself.
  • Fireteams: Zhian, and Wu Ming where they count as Wu Ming.

Medium Infantry

• Imperial Agent Adil Mehmut, Special Division: Adil is an upgraded Zhanying with the martial skills of a Crane. He's quite a toolbox, and doesn't lack for ways to deal damage up close; he slots in well to any fireteam that wants to be up the board, where he can leverage his powerful close-range skill. Be aware that despite NWI, he lacks Shock Immunity, so keep him away from mines.
  • Fireteams: Wildcard, counts as a Celestial Guard.
• Sun Tze v.2 (Marksman Leader): Poor Sun Tze v.2. A weak niche in N3 and an even weaker niche in N4. While some players might rarely claim to have won with him, it's probably in spite of, not because of, this profile. Best keep him as a display piece.

Heavy Infantry

• Hsien Warriors: Hsien warriors are the Yu Jing Emperor's personal guard and are pulled from the finest elite troops the Judicial Branch has to offer. Driven and dedicated, Hsien are imbued with the authority to execute His will across the Human Sphere, and this is shown in their stats: they are fast, have excellent CC, 14s across the board, and sport MSV2. In addition, several profiles actually grant you SWC, allowing ISS lists to truly outgun their opponents. The HMG is a classic, but the Multi-Marksman Rifle carries a Tinbot to support his fireteam while the Multirifle variant grants SWC and is a specialist on top of being an Lt+1 Order
  • Fireteams: Zhian. Note that Hsien cannot inherently form a Zhian fireteam, so they require at least one enabler.

• Imperial Agents, Crane Rank: Cranes are the elites, the echelon below the Hsiens but above the common ISS rank and file. They are the most likely to take command in situations that do not require the Emperor's direct intervention, performing their duties with almost homicidal glee. Statistically, they're door kickers; outstanding in close combat, loaded with a pair of nanopulsers and mid-range weapons, with an X-visor to give them an edge beyond standard ranges. They also make strong hackers, as their superior resilience and wildcarding into a link with a Tinbot gives them a significant edge against enemy infowar.
  • Fireteams: Zhian. Wildcard, counts as Crane Agents.

• Imperial Agent Adil Mehmut (Crane Rank Armor): Before humiliating himself as a result of the events of the Betrayal manga, Adil was a bird boy himself, although not a particularly outstanding one. He retains the skills of a standard Crane; Sensor, Triangulated Fire, Stealth, Courage, but in exchange for weaker CC and WIP, he gains a Monofilament CCW and Number 2. He's also notably a Veteran Lt, and his loadout encourages you to take advantage of this by pushing him into close ranges where his Breaker Combi and Mono CCW can do their best work.
  • Fireteams: Wildcard, counts as a Crane Agent.

• Sun Tze: N4's changes to Strategos notwithstanding, Sun Tze remains an incredibly difficult to kill character in an army that does VIP protection remarkably well. The positives end there: despite Total Immunity, he's still wearing heavy armor and isn't a Veteran, making him vulnerable to Isolation and completely circumventing his resilience. In addition, Strategos no longer prevents your opponent from retaining additional units during deployment, preventing you from counterdeploying. The bottom line: he doesn't provide enough benefit to justify his cost.

• Sù-Jiàn Immediate Action Unit: Yu Jing's Transformer and the peak of YJ engineering, the dreaded Su Jian is the most conceptually frightening heavy infantry in ISS, and probably all of Yu Jing. You only need to look at the statline to realize the Su Jian is a cut above anything else; the fastest, most resilient unit available, loaded with weapons for all ranges. When piloted properly, a Su Jian will be able to find your opponent's weakest line and punch right through it without mercy. Its main weakness, like all of YJ's HI, is hacking; keep it away from enemy infowar and it will win your games outright. The Spitfire is a classic, but the Heavy Shotgun gives an enormous amount of short-ranged anti-armor power.
  • Fireteams: Fast Attack.

• Wú Míng Assault Corps: Relatively cheap and simple HI, Wu Ming have a number of unusual and cost-efficient profiles. They can bring Zhànying Imperial Agents into their links to shore up their weaknesses and provide specialists or utility. The TinBot (-6) profile gives you extra protection from hackers, and the MULTI Rifle comes with the nasty combination of E/M and regular Grenade Launcher. They're also the only pure Core linked HMG in ISS, a role they perform well.
  • Fireteams: Wu Ming.

Tactical Armor Gear

The ISS has no access to TAGs. Sadly, Su Jian doesn't count.

Remotes

• Yaokong: Standard issue Yu Jing S3 utility remotes, useful for many situations.
  • Chaiyi: Colloquially known as a Flash Bot, losing Sniffers affected ISS more than most other factions. It remains a cheap, effective deterrent and grants easy access to repeater coverage to protect your deployment zone.
  • Husong: The TR Bot, ISS has enhanced availability and can take up to three. Because ISS has relatively weak ARO but a bounty of SWC, they make good use of TR bots for defense.
  • Son-Bae: The guided-missile bot. ISS lacks the turn-0 Repeater net of other Yu Jing factions, but has access to hidden deployment Hacking Devices. ISS struggles against heavy armor, so guided missile strategies make an effective way to deal with troops ISS cannot directly outfight.
  • Weibing: Lovingly known as the FO Bot, ISS has plenty of Sensor but hurts for good, cheap specialists. The FO bot fills that role in this army as it does in many others.

• Yaopu Pangguling: The S4 baggage bots, come in the usual four varieties: EVO HD, TR bot with a combi rifle, plain baggage bot and FTO with light shotgun. ISS gets good use out of its remotes, particularly Dakini and Rui Shi, making EVOs a viable investment if one leans into mechanized warfare. Note the FTO baggage bot cannot join a fireteam in ISS.

• Yaoxie Remotes: Yu Jing's attack remotes, they fulfil an important role in Yu Jing lists: mid-range, low cost troops who can punch far above their weight.
  • Lu Duan: Holomask and Holoprojector attack remote. Carries MSV1, a heavy flamethrower(+1B), and a Mk12. In the days since N4's release, also gained a deployable repeater and minelayer, allowing it to start the game with a repeater deployed within 8". Fast, reliable, and can set things on fire through smoke, Lu Duan are extremely good at applying pressure and holding an area. Remember that Holoechoes can detonate mines and activate perimeter weapons.
  • Rui Shi: The classic Rui Shi remains the gold standard for MSV2 Spitfires, and even with a minor price bump in N4 is still one of Yu Jing's most efficient gunfighters. Rui Shi benefit strongly from smoke and Assisted Fire, but they're still so good they can do without.

• Dakini Tacbots: On loan from ALEPH, Dakinis bring cheap HMGs, MSRs, and the army's only Paramedic. With Assisted Fire they are on par with most core linked troopers, but are individually strong enough on their own.
  • Fireteams: Celestial Guard. ALEPH Support, where they count as Dakinis.

• Garuda Tacbots: Efficient and very cheap drop troops, PH11 is unreliable, so either use Parachutist or an EVO to give them the best chance to land where they'll be most dangerous. The Spitfire is a powerful combat trooper, but the trooper needs a little practice to safely avoid enemy hacking zones.

Warband

The ISS has no access to warbands.

Skirmishers

• Kunai Solutions Ninjas: Somewhat maligned, the Kunai has an important role in ISS: dealing with Fort Asshole link teams. Marker state and climbing plus allows it to maneuver into their negative ranges, or possibly even close to CC. March up the table: if they discover, shoot them. If they delay, keep moving and get stabbing.

• Kanrèn Counter-insurgency Group: ISS's primary upfield unit, they carry holomask and holoprojectors, although their conspicuous deployment presages masking as anything other than another type of Kanren. Good at CC, with Mono CCWs and template weapons across all profiles make them reliable problem solvers and low cost makes them good at trading. Holoechoes allow them to detonate deployables to clear the way to an objective as well. Remember that the KHD Kanren can benefit from Surprise Attack if she's using Cybermask.

• Ninjas: Hidden deployment infiltrators with MIM (-6). They've got hackers with either HD or KHD, or a FO option as specialists. The tactical bow KHD is a classic Ninja specialist, but don't sleep on the SMG hacker: It's only marginally more expensive and gives ISS a desperately needed upfield hacker who can deal with enemy heavy armor.

Building Your Army

ISS is a complex army; it's extremely likely that you'll have 11 of your 15 slots filled almost before you start building your list -- 5 for your Kuang Core, and 6 for your two Zhians. This wide selection of linkable troops means that, despite ISS not having ways to cheat the order cap with G:Sync, Tactical Awareness, or NCO like other armies, they're still extraordinarily efficient about moving around troopers. The downside is the majority of these troops are single wound, low armor, without shock immunity, so if they take a hit it's extremely unlikely they'll be getting back up. Luckily, most of these very same troops are carrying template weapons, so if positioned correctly they'll be able to trade wounds with whatever's shooting them.

ISS has no impetuous smoke throwers, but despite that our smoke grenade launchers are quite reliable once they're linked, and their extended range is important for moving around enemy AROs. We're one of the few armies capable of linking MSV2 with smoke launchers, so make good use of your Celestial Guards and turn the table into a vape convention.

Defensively, we've got very weak ARO presence. We have MSV snipers; both Lunah and Bao are good deterrents against impetuous warbands, but neither can stand up against a dedicated shooter. Instead, we rely on TR bots and a DZ filled with template weapons to keep us safe on the first turn. Take note of the pathways into your DZ and post CSUs or Kuang Shi to watch them, tucked far enough away to avoid getting shot by long range guns.

Tactics

• Kuang Shi Slingshot: Adil and Xi both have Number 2, which allows them to gain link lead if the original leader becomes incapacitated. What's normally a nice quality of life skill in other armies is a keystone ability in ISS. The concept is simple: put an No2 in your Kuang Shi link, march it upfield, then start slinging Kuang Shi into enemy troops. When the first Kuang Shi dies, send in another. Then another. Until you or your opponent run out of troops. Backfill your link with freeroaming Kuang Shi that impetuously moved up field.
• Kanren Games: Kanren can mask as other Kanren. This will allow you to protect your hacking Kanren from enemy hackers by simply pretending to be unhackable. This works in reverse: your opponent might see a lone Kanren hacker in the midfield and be tempted to score an easy kill with their killer hacker. Orders spent trying to hack her fizzle when you declare your Kanren unhackable. Kanrens with Madtraps can also use them as powerful offensive tools. Deploy a Madtrap next to your opponent, then give them an ARO: either they shoot you and risk getting glued, or are forced to dodge, allowing you an unopposed shot.
• Lunah Through Smoke: Lunah's MSV1 allows her to shoot through smoke at -6. Triangulated Fire allows you to make a BS Attack without any other modifiers other than the -3 imposed by Triangulated Fire. This allows her to easily dispatch TR bots and unlinked ARO pieces with minimal risk.