Infinity/N4 Tactics/Onyx Contact Force

An overview for faction units and tactics in N4. WIP

Why Play Onyx Contact Force?

Try to think of the OCF as like playing generic Combined Army but with a few items cut and way more options for link teams. Also, you like fielding an army of spooky flesh-metal constructs - no, I meant for aliens!

Faction Features

• From Many One: Good mix of units from the generic CA force, featuring Morats, Shasvastii, Sigmaa Triad and EI units generally.
• Hit the Links: You get the option to take two Haris teams in this sectorial along with a core and unlimited duos. Hell, part of the draw are the links that can be created here that aren't available in the CA list or the other sectorials.
• Tip of the Spear: Though you lose out on the EI cores from the CA list, you still get a lot of their finest Troopers: Nexus, Batroids, the dreaded Legates and even Ko Dali.

Special Skills

• Protheion: There are three troopers that have access to this skill and two of them are characters. Basically, you steal wounds from whatever you hit in CC and if they don't save, they restore any wounds that trooper lost to maximum of +2 over starting wounds.
• Super Jump: Quite a few strong units have this skill with MOV 6 as well. Yeet!
• Mimetism: Nearly half the list sports this at some level or another. Subtracting from your opponent's shooting attacks is good actually.

Weapons and Equipment

• Plasma: Wanna spam plasma weapons? Well you're in luck! We have plasma rifles, plasma carbines and even a plasma sniper on a variety of units in this sectorial. Comes with hit and blast modes as well as forcing rolls against both ARM and BTS.
• K1 Weapons: If the above isn't to your taste and you're looking for variety, we have a number of K1 weapons to reduce your target's ARM to 0.
• Nanoscreen: A very uncommon piece of kit, that one Nexus Operative carries around partial cover wherever he goes.

Units Overview

Unit Identifier Onyx

Light Infantry

• Bit& KISS!: The Combined Army Xzibit but with Repeaters. Deployable repeater, Minelayer, Pitcher, and a Peripheral that either IS a repeater, or has a +1B Pitcher and Deployables as well. Otherwise a fairly standard Hacker with a fairly nonstandard adhesive launching Peripheral. Either gets no HD, only Oblivion and Trinity, or a full KHD plus Oblivion, but then Kiss! loses repeater. Turns out Impersonating Repeaters were a Code Violation.

• Fraacta Drop Unit: Bit of a change to how they work coming out of N3. They start with their jump form giving them a higher PH12 to help you make those combat jump rolls. Then once they take a wound, their PH drops by two but their armour stats double - which makes them quite durable. Makes for an excellent harassment piece.

• Med-Tech Obsidon Medchanoid: AKA 'Doctor Worm', but don't let the name fool you: they're also your second engineer option. They're your only doctor model, and their price point makes them a pretty efficient specialist through a peripheral. Honestly a good choice if you want a dedicated engineer and doctor that has no reason to expose themselves. They won't be breaking any faces in, but they will be fixing them.

• Nexus Operatives: Cheap specialist that you attach to your Unidron link team. Options for a hacker, Lt or Hacker Lt as well as two NCOs. One packs a Spitfire and a nanoscreen (a rare bit of kit) while the other is an Engineer with a Vulkan Shotgun.
  • Nexus-7 Operative Kerr-Nau: As above, but a Killer Hacker with a White Noise upgrade, a plasma rifle, D-charges, a pitcher and a breaker pistol. Kinda combines a few of those profiles.

• Kurgat Regiment of Assault Engineers: Freshly ported from the Spess Monkehs, engineers with either lots of explosives or a very big gun. This time, your choice of big gun is either an AP combi-rifle with an E/Mitter and AP Mines who has BA Attack (+1 Damage) or the Portable Autocannon for only 1 SWC. Can also join an Onyx Fireteam.

• Shasvastii Noctifers: Mr Clean's Magic Core Team Eraser©. The notorious surprise Missile Launcher himself, The Noctifer. This guy has quite the reputation, and for good reason. Hidden Deployment, Mim-6 and DOGGED mean that with proper setup and timing, your opponent might get caught completely pantsless having to deal with multiple AROs. The Spitfire option is also a consideration if you're looking for 8-24" coverage, or for active turn coverage, or you can take him as a surprise Hacker. Finally he has a Lt option if you want to start the game in LoL-But is worth a serious consideration for Decapitation if deployed in camo-state. Don't forget that the Missile launcher also gets an Assault pistol.

• Umbra Legates: the OG race of spooky bag men for the EI. They have very good stats and a shitload of special rules including MA4, Courage, Mims -3, NWI, shock immunity and NCO. On top of that, they get weapon options of a K1 combi rifle, spitfire or a boarding shotgun for the hacker profile with a hacking device plus; these are on top of the flash pulse and DA CCW. There are also two Lt profiles although there's 0.5 SWC tax for just the basic K1 combi-rifle. What's more is that these can be attached to Unidron or Onyx teams. Or you can forward deploy them 8" if you don't want to... or you forward deploy a Legate Haris team.

• Umbra Samaritans: the Sams have ostensibly more offensive firepower compared to their Legate brethren. They trade Forward Deployment, Mims and NCO for enhanced dodge shenanigans (+2" and a +3 bonus), super jump and Protheion; they otherwise share the remainder of the special rules with Legates. For weapon options, they get a Breaker combi-rifle instead of the K1 the legate gets and the spitfire they get costs 0.5 SWC less than the Legate's and their hacker gets a plasma carbine and a regular hacking device with a Trinity upgrade; they pack the same flash and DA CCW as do Legates, but the big draw of the Sams is access to the Vorpal CCW, which will basically one-hit kill anything that doesn't have Total Immunity in CC or within an 8" throw. They can join more fireteams than Legates, which is necessary because they don't have mims.
  • Umbra Samaritan Nourikias, Kai'l Rank: A jacked-up Sam that's a combo of Samaritan and Legate. On top of the rules for Sams, they pack an extra attack in CC, bio-immunity and NCO. This one only sports a breaker combi-rifle and flash pulse (along with a Vorpal CCW), but trades the DA CCW for an E/M CCW. Also has options to be a killer hacker with a Total Control upgrade that also does +1 damage.

• Ímetron: These things are 4pts regular orders! They're basically just order generating S2 units that can't do shit (but got the Veteran Trait). They deploy by combat jump. Just like Netrods for Aleph, these had the screws put to them, raising their size and restricting their AVA.

Medium Infantry

• Maakrep Trackers Unit: MSV2 MI with Sixth Sense and Courage, those first two practically make her an auto-take. Has some heavy weapon options in either HMG or Multi Sniper. Potentially some good value if she's able to Regenerate, but with only PH 11. She can also join one of the Onyx teams where her ranged weaponry will prove invaluable.

• Rodok, Morat Armed Imposition Detachment: A classic staple in Morats, they have a decent statline, great mobility, and 4-4 movement owing to the N4 Medium Infantry buff. Slightly more vulnerable at Arm 2 and still a little bit fragile, they nonetheless get good use out of their mobility and visibility modifiers. No longer as 'must-take' in N4, Rodoks got their Fireteams reduced down to Haris and Duo; only Wildcards like Samaritans can join their link, too. However, they have one trick up their sleeves: for 23 points is one guy with strategic deployment. That plus another gun and a Sam or Ko Dali makes for a nasty surprise.

• Special Operative Ko Dali: There once was a time when it was controversial that Ko Dali got sepsitorized, trading her allegiance from Yu Jing to Combined Army. Now it's just accepted that she's here to stay. She's the other source of MSV2 in this list along with courage, shock immunity, protheion and MA2. She brings with her an AP CCW and D-charges but the rest of her loadout is different depending on how you want to deploy her:
  • Combat Jump/Parachutist: she brings a combi-rifle, nanopulser and her old favourite, the assault pistol +1B. A more aggressive, solo close assault build. Drop her where she can cause the most problems. Note, you get a choice of whether you want to hit with AP in CC or get an extra attack thanks to her load out here.
  • Mims -3/Forward Deployment 4": her assault pistol loses a B, but she upgrades her combi-rifle to a MULTI-rifle and her nanopulser to a Pulzar. You would be forgiven for thinking that adding her to a link of forward deploying Legates would slow them down but she brings superior shooting and can help take out enemies in CC that the Legate's blades can't crack.
  • Mims -3/Infiltration: this one has a bit more tactical flexibility. She keeps the MULTI-rifle but the Pulzar is back to a nanopulser. She does however get her +1B back on her assault pistol. Now she can keep pace with those legates or leave them behind entirely.

Heavy Infantry

• Suryats: AP-immune Armor 4. They're somewhat standard heavy infantry, with some decent weapon profiles. There isn't a lot to say here. Notably resilient, only BS13, a decent price range. Consider the MSV1 for some overwatch or cheeky through-smoke shots. They get to form a Haris or Duo in Onyx.

Tactical Armor Gear

• Batroid TAGs: remote presence TAGS that come in two flavours for either firepower or escort. Both pack a shock CCW and an ECM -6 against guided attacks. Both feature the Staldron Pilot REM that doubles as a spec op with a WIP 13. They're also cheaper than the Sphinx below.
  • Overdron Batroids: The light gun TAG - that is, the TAG is light but the guns it packs are not. This one has some Tinbots that provide an Albedo and a -3 Firewall, which will help keep it somewhat safe to shoot its big guns. Speaking of, the cheapest is an HRL with +1B and an SMG just in case - don't scoff at it, because this one undercuts every other TAG except one in this sectorial. Next are a Plasma Sniper also with +1B, the trade off with the previous option being a longer range for more points and hitting ARM and BTS vs continuous damage. Lastly for the most points, an HMC for shredding fools. These can also be taken in Duos.
  • Xeodron Batroids: super-jumping bio-immune escort TAGs. They all bring a heavy pistol and Blitzen to the party with options for a Multi-Marksman rifle for the least points but 0.5 SWC, a K1 Marksman rifle for the most point but the least SWC or a Red Fury for 1 SWC. Again, these are escort TAGs and to that effect, they can form a Duo or Haris with a Samaritan, giving the little Sam a big robot to hide behind.

• Shasvastii Special Armoured Corp SPHINX: Everyone's favorite giant invisible robot (yeah that's right, suck it up Cutter!). With the Hidden Deployment, Mim-6 and Camouflage, when the Sphinx shows up, he becomes a huge threat. That coupled with a blisteringly fast MOV 6-6 with Terrain Total and Climbing Plus means that if there exists any weakness in your opponent's deployment, the Sphinx CAN get there, and he WILL exploit it with either Spitfire or +1B Heavy Flamethrower. A relatively low ARM/BTS 6 means the Sphinx can be fragile for his cost, so look out for MSV and Hackers. The real weakness of the Sphinx, however, is tunnel vision. Save your orders to retreat and re-camo.
  • Scindron Ancillary Remote Unit: Special mention here for the Pilot(Remote) ability. He may not be a great Specialist at WIP 11, but with a small S1, he can still dismount and hide behind the giant S6 Soda Can profile of the sphinx to push buttons.

Remotes

• Ikadron Batroids: 9pts for MOV 6-2, Baggage, Repeaters with +1B Flamethrowers and Flash Pulse. These guys are super efficient, just like in Vanilla.

• Unidron Batroids: Don't be distracted by only 1 ARM; Shock Immunity+Dogged+Remote Presence makes these guys ludicrously difficult to put down, and plasma carbines tear ass. If plasma isn't your thing, Unidrons also have ready access to K1 rifles for a few points more. Compared to their ALEPH contemporaries, the Dakini, Unidrons are both tougher and hit harder. Like everything else in OCF they are expensive af and don't have access to many specialist profiles, but they can make a core link and can take a Nexus operative or Umbra Legate to lead them.

• Alphabet Soup Remotes: There's not a lot to be said about the standard CA options:
  • E-Drone: E stands for EVO-HD.
  • M-Drone: Triangulated Fire/Sensor bot.
  • Q-Drone: The Combined army Total Reaction bot. Mim-3 makes them a bit stronger than most other faction's TR bots.
  • R-Drone: Is the Flashpulse remote.
  • T-Drone: Standard Guided Missile Drone

Warband

Onyx don't get any warbands :(

Skirmishers

• Greif Operators: These MSV1 wielding guys have Impersonation on one of their profiles- and Forward Deployment (8") MIM (-3) on the other two. Pretty useful to take out specific targets with Mimetism.

• Malignos: In many ways, a Luxury version of the Shrouded. You pay between 6-12 points more for Hidden Deployment, WIP14, Mim-6 and ARM1/BTS3 on mostly identical loadouts. No Minelayer option, but can take Monofilament Mines. The KHD has both Shock Mines AND a Dazer so you get to choose your own adventure when it comes to board control.

Building Your Army

One to two short paragraphs on list building.

Tactics

• Shoot Enemy, Don't Die:
• Don't Die:
• Play the Objective: