Infinity/N4 Tactics/StarCo

StarCo is Corregidors mercenary company, and looking at their roster it shows.

Why Play StarCo?

You feel like Corregidor would be more fun if you didn't have access to some of their best tools? StarCo is your sectorial. They gain a few nice toys in return though, so don't brush StarCo off as useless- they're one of the more difficult factions but as always with mercenary troops they add in playstyle options for the more experienced player- or someone who just enjoys a good challenge. They do have a few advantages over Corregidor though; some of their tools and link-options the guys on the mothership can only dream of! They also get a bunch of very good midfield picks.

Faction Features

• The Outrage Protagonists Squad: Uhahu, Knauf and Handelman are excellent units and add extra flavor because of their roles in Outrage. While not in Outrage StarCo brings Spector, who is as good of an AD trooper as it gets.
• Vanilla Nomads but with links: While StarCos bulk is made of Corregidor units they bring some variation into the fireteams, and they get linkable Riot Grrls outside of Bakunin!
• Excellent skirmishers: One could whine for Morans not being in the roster, but Hardcases and the Al Hawwa' make up for it. If you choose StarCo you get the ability to spam the board with camo markers!
• Permanently being compared with Corregidor: If you read this far you certainly have noticed how StarCo is compared with their mothership a lot. That can be an advantage, since it's a little played faction your opponent probably hasn't seen much- hit them with something they didn't expect and make them respect the power of StarCo!

Weapons and Equipment

• Hacking Device+: Only the best Hackers get this one, and Uhahu is one of the best.
• E/M Grenade LauncherS: Multiple ones. These are rare and very potent, especially if you hit a whole link behind a building!

Units Overview

Unit Identifier StarCo

Light Infantry

• Corregidor Alguaciles: These are the most basic units in the game, they are in fact the bare chassis that all other profiles and units are derived from. They fill the line troop slot, and have a LT option which comes at 1SWC- which feels really bad but sometimes it still is something to consider. Typical for a sectorials linetrooper they get Fireteam: Core. StarCo allows them to take Mobile Brigadas, Daktaris and Senor Massacre into a link!

• Clockmakers A clockmaker is a premium engineer, able to use their WIP 15 and burst 2 gizmo kit to very easily fix models that have STR or have suffered the indignity of having states such as isolation applied to them. The clockmaker only really engineers though, so you may find the other engineers in faction more interesting for your list. She is also a devil waifu, so.

• Daktari He is a very basic doctor, only taking the bare necessities. Which makes him pretty good if you want the choice to be able to revive key models and fight a war of attrition or sustain a bout of bad luck. Being linkable with Alguaciles makes her attractive to get your ARO-piece in a defensive core back up again.

• Highlander Caterans: Caterans are irregular MIM (-3) camouflage troops with climbing plus for having a bit more flexibility in deployment. They come with either a Sniper Rifle or a T2 Sniper Rifle, enabling them to do some mean unexpected AROs.

• Corporate Security Unit: CSU have Metachemistry, which can be very good if the RNG-gods favor you. They also get sixth sense which doesn’t really matter all too much since they‘ve got a unique thing going an in StarCo: they can be included into a Brawlers-link. And since their cheapest profile comes at 11pts and the specialist trait it’s very attractive, even if it’s just to shave off a few points of your haris.

• Warcors: 3pts for an irregular Flashpulse ARO. Fit them into your list whenever you got the slot and points, they're well worth it.

• Avicenna, Mercenary Doctor: A premium doctor to bring if you really want to get your gunslingers back up again- with WIP15 and Doctor (+3) she will take care of that. NWI and Bioimmunity allow her to risk taking a hit, but neither her BS nor her PH really beg for any risky moves with her. MOV 6-2 make her more order efficient in what she's supposed to do. She can join Riot Grrls in a link.

• Emily Handelman, Intel Agent: Is a wildcard character who also can form a Duo with her best friend Uhahu. X-Visor and Dogged are great on a specialist like her, but the arguebly biggest selling point on her is the Chain of Command profile with the dreaded E/M Grenade Launcher on top of a regular Grenade Launcher!

• Knauf, Outlaw Sniper: While MSV1 snipers weren't that attractive in N3 the Outrage poster boy turned a whole lot hotter. BS (+1B) and Shock is nasty, and MIM (-3) makes using him a bit safer. Besides that he's not doing much, but that trait also keeps him at an affordable price.

• Uhahu, Hacker for Hire: Is a wildcard character who also can form a Duo with her best friend Emily. At 18pts for a WIP14 hacker option with NWI with a Pitcher she's a very solid pick. Total Control (+2Damage) let's her take control of an enemy TAG a bit more easily, but that's more of a gimmick.

• Raoul Spector: NWI, Martial Arts L2 plus Natural Born Warrior plus E/M and DA CC weapons, Mimetism -6, Courage and stealth. Oh yeah, AND he's a Specialist! He comes with two vastly different profiles; the Combat Jump/Parachutist option is irregular at 33 pts, which is expensive but he's quite the package. Drop him at the right spot and watch your opponent despair. The FTO profile trades the BSG for a MULTI Rifle and a Nanopulser and is way more versatile, since Raoul is a wildcard.

Medium Infantry

• Brawlers, Mercenary Enforcers: Brawlers don't bring a single skill, and they aren't exactly built for a specific task. Kinda generic listfiller options on this unit, and one of the LT choices of StarCo. But they can take CSU in their links to shave of a few points for a cheap Haris.

• Hellcats: ARM 2, BTS 3, Courage and Combat Jump +3. Can be taken as a either a short or medium gun fighter. Due to the +3 mod they get to combat jump they're the best unit at hot dropping in the game , if you use support ware you get to drop on a 18. On the off chance that you do fail, having a Spitfire or hacker profile, landing in your Deployment Zone is not as bad. The deployable repeater profile is worth mentioning as you can very easily get repeaters in position in your opponents DZ to cause massive issues. Even though they have AVA 4, you should not be taking more than 2, as they can be order hungry.

Heavy Infantry

• Mobile Brigada: They're also able to form a core-link and bring Senor Massacre and a Daktaris with them, and they can join an Alguaciles core or an Anaconda Duo. The basic Heavy Infantry option. What sets these apart from other factions basic HI is that they have arm 5 and Courage which is an important perk, since Heavy Infantry are likely to roll Guts a lot. Can take both long and medium range weaponry and the basic MULTI Rifle option also has the ever present Light Flamethrower. These are one of the more durable LT choices in StarCo.

• Riot Grrls: The bane of shitlords everywhere, the Grrls are a cheap Frenzy HI unit with some cracking close range guns and the spicy missile launcher. What makes them is that MSV1 is very useful at wiping enemy skirmishers and warbands out of existence. They have +1 damage on all their weapons which makes them just that bit more likely to terminate whatever they're shooting at. The missile launcher is a interesting ARO piece due to its low cost, durability and the ability of MSV1 to see through smoke and it can be used well in coordinated orders to break especially difficult hard AROs. They have Fireteam: Haris, Core and Duo and can take Avicenna with them to be picked up again on a fricking 18.

Tactical Armor Gear

• Anaconda: The toughest fire support you can field in the army and a decent, cheap light TAG. The +1 to their BS Attack damage makes their AP Spitfire hit as hard as a normal HMG, and the Anaconda still has a Panzerfaust for more hardened targets. They can also still take an actual HMG and chain colt which replaces the AP Spitfire and light flamethrower respectively. Fireteam: Duo allows them to take either a Mobile Brigada or an Irmandinho with them.
  • Pilot: She has a decent BS and retrains the spitfire (albeit not an AP one) after bailing out of her TAG... which she might actually do thanks to her Escape System.

Remotes

• Zond Remotes: Standard issue S3 Remotes, but with a twist here and there.
  • Reaktion: The HMG Total Reaction Remote. A good ARO piece and cheerleader for your aggressive troops. Climbing plus lets you reposition it easier.
  • Stempler: The Forward Observer Remote. A fast and cheap specialist and a mobile Repeater. Sensor makes for a good alternative to Intruder for Camo hunting. Also Climbing plus. Not essential, but not bad.
  • Transductor: The Repeater/Flash Pulse Remote. Very good to have in vanilla Nomads for increasing your hacking area. An absolute bargain at 7 points. For some bullshit reason StarCo only gets AVA1.
  • Vertigo: This thing can be very strong in a list that utilizes the faction strengths in spreading repeaters and taking good hackers. By threatening a guided missile strike after spotlighting a enemy model that wonders through your repeater area you can discourage them from passing through that area, denying it to the enemy. Furthermore in the active turn you can get a repeater within range of a target, spotlight them and then destroy them with the missiles. The missile launcher in direct fire can be a good hard aro denying areas parallel with your table edge, or later in the game watching your opponents models.
  • Meteor: Unique to Nomads, a Forward Observer Remote like the Stempler, but with AD: Combat Jump. This is awesome and hilarious.

• Salyut Zonds: Standard issue S4 Baggage Remotes. Come with Deactivator, EVO Hacker and TR Combi profiles. EVO Hacker is for Hellcats lists or putting supportware on remotes.

• Lunokhod Sputniks: Nomad-specific, come with Heavy Shotguns, D-Charges and Crazy Koalas, as well as Minesweeper, with a Repeater on top. Lunokhods guard your Deployment Zone from enemy infiltrators, clear out mines and can make a good push to mid-field if needed thanks to their high speed. Unlike most remotes they have both high ARM and BTS values. Mostly a board control unit.

• Tsyklon Sputniks: Also Nomad-specific, these are long range combat Remotes for both offense and defense. The X-Visor is mostly useful at long bomb pitchers into the enemy. These have a spitfire for medium range gunfighting, or a fuerbach for long range. Unlike most remotes they have both high ARM and BTS.

Warband

• Jaguars: Come with Dogged and MA L2. 10-11pts is a steal for these guys. All of the profiles get smoke, which is great for moving your gunfighters into their favorable rangebands. Unfortunately they aren't linkable in StarCo, making them quite a bit less attractive compared to Corregidor, but still very hot.

• Senor Massacre: Totally-not-Deadpool is made for throwing eclipse grenades, and shank basically anything. Regeneration is really nice and gives him even more flavor. E/M CC Weapons are scary. E/M grenades in a link can be wicked. He's able to link with Alguaciles or Mobile Brigadas, but having him run solo isn't a bad idea either. Just make sure to keep those terrible jokes coming whenever you run him.

• Irmandinhos: The cheap, irregular and impetuous engineers from Ariadna come in handy as both smoke throwers and specialists. Booty can give them a nice boost if you're lucky, but they're solid anyways. Linking them with an Anaconda makes them lose impetuous and you're losing the ability to use their irregular order without breaking the link- but having a cheap linkable engineer is good enough for that. They make StarCo the only sectorial in the game being able to have impetuous Palbots on their engineers!

Skirmishers

• Al Hawwa' Unit: For the same price as Bandits you get regular infiltrating specialists with a great WIP14. You can pick between FO, Minelayer (with a Sniper) and a Hacker. Great for having an efficient button pusher.

• Corregidor Bandits: Bandits have an unusual set of skills, which makes the the most toolboxy of the infiltrators. An FO/AHD/KD Bandit for example is a quick specialist, ADHL troop and a close combat killer, thanks to Martial Arts 2 and DA CCW. Or you can take a Combi Rifle + Mines+Repeater option for more traditional area denial. Booty can be very funny, the value of getting a HMG or 8-4 movement on these is crazy.

• Hardcases, 2nd Irregular Frontiersmen Battalion: Cheap irregular infiltrators with Decoy, which turns up the mindgame a notch. Tactical Bow is situational, but either the Rifle or the light Shotgun can do some work.

Building Your Army

There’s a lot of potence hidden in the Riot Grrls paintrain core: Avicenna can get unconscious members up on an 18, Uhahu gives hackable units a threat and protects the link, Handelman just tags along for the sole reason of launching E/M grenades! The spitfire Riot Grrl probably makes the most potent gunfighter here, and since there’s still a lot open there is at least some flexibility- something like the tinbot BSG or the missile launcher shout get a close consideration here! If you’re going that route the Brawler probably is your most attractive LT option (but a lone offensive Mobile Brigada is also sweet if your points allow it), and gives you a suggestion to a defensive haris. Fill the rest of the list with whatever you feel worth playing (most likely a few skirmishers) and BOOM- that’s an actually potent list baby!

Obviously that’s just one list suggestion, and there’s multiple approaches to the StarCo roster.

Tactics

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