Ammo Tactica: Double Action Ammunition

Double action sounds like the title for a cheesy 80’s movie, but it is actually one of the best things you’ll have the pleasure to use in Infinity.

Welcome to the third part of the Ammo Tactica, where I explain things you should know in order to harm your opponent’s toys better!

So DA. As I said it stands for Double Action Special Ammunition and it does exactly what it says on the can; double lead dose! It forces your target to roll two (2!!) armour rolls per hit. That’s right, if you hit once, that’s two rolls, if you hit twice…well you do the math. In case of  rolling a critical hit, the enemy will receive one wound directly and then will be forced to make a second roll (nice!).

Why is this so awesome and where can you find it? First off DA ammo is quite common for all the “hi-tech” factions, Pano, Yu-Jing, Nomads, Combined Army, Aleph and is available to a lesser extent for Haqqislam, while Ariadna and Tohaa have no access to it (well Ariadna has one character, within one sectorial with one DA CCW, McMurrough, but let’s not count him). Its most basic form is found in Multi Ammo weapons; Multi Combi Rifles and Multi Sniper Rifles, it comes with one limitation though, it reduces your burst down to 2, for sniper rifles that is no problem since they already have burst 2, for multi rifles it might be a disadvantage since you are losing rate of fire, hence, losing chances of winning a face off roll, but fear not! There are ways to make use of it. First is by using  link teams since all link teams provide at least +1 burst to your weapon both active and reactive. That makes your Multi Rifle a lethal three shot weapon with the potential of six armour rolls for your enemy.

If you don’t have access to link teams, you can always shoot in ARO using the special ammo you like, so remember always choose DA unless your opponent is very well protected. That makes AROing with this ammo twice as effective, especially with a sniper rifle using  a good long distance position. This ammo will cause big headaches to any enemy that is trying to move in your field of view. You can be lucky and roll one armour save without cover (very lucky against a sniper if you are not well protected) but two rolls, that’s pretty damn hard!

Also if you remember back when we talked about Shock Ammo, we discussed  some armies with the disgusting habit of not going unconscious due to their  NWI and Automedkit rules (Shasvastii, Steel Phalanx…) DA can be almost as handy as Shock. It doesn’t kill the unit straight away but if they fail both rolls they will be dead anyway. It will also stop rampaging psychos if they fail both rolls too.

We also talked about the lack of proper use for AP ammo and how it is only good against really fat targets with lots of armour.  DA is the main reason of AP being a bit of a disappointment. Unless you are firing at armour 6 in cover or more, is always better to double the odds of scoring a wound than knocking 1-2 armour points off. There is no way around it, so if you have access to DA, use DA!. Pure mathematics

Other common weapons that sport this ammo are the Contender (excellent ARO weapon, brilliant in link teams, since its low burst is compensated), DA CCW and in integrated ammo weapons like Templar CCW and one of my all time favorites the Feuerbach!

So what is integrated ammo? A multi weapon (Multi Rifle, Multi Sniper Rifle) has the option of combining both ammo types reducing their burst down to 1, in order to cause a hit that will force both effects, so once hit your enemy will have to make two armour rolls at half his natural armour. AP+DA=dead things. This can only be used in active turn, BUT you can use the advantage of link teams’ +1 Burst in order to shoot this combo ammo twice! So if you have a very hard target it is always nice to kill it this way.

The Feuerbach (God, even the name carries punch!) takes this concept to a whole new level. The Feuerbach is a low burst weapon (2) with medium high damage (14) and a strange (but good) range band, it delivers punishing blows that will benefit greatly with link team bonus. The Azra’il, Sogarat and Caliban from Qapu Khalqi, Morat and Shavastii sectorials respectively are the only current link teams with access to this piece of gear. But those aren’t the only units carrying this mighty weapon; the PanOceanian Uhlan TAG shoots the Feuerbach from camouflage, and the maneuverable Nomads Tsyklon Sputnik can shoot the weapon from weird angles using its superior mobility and climbing plus skill. You can also use synergy with other models, locking a unit into place by either hacking or using Adhesive ammuniton (we’ll talk about that later on! 😉 ) and then adding some Feuerbach’s love to the mix. The Feuerbach benefits from unopposed rolls (due to its low burst value of 2), so those tactics are a sound way of using the weapon.The Templar CCW uses the AP+DA combo too, and in Close Combat most TAGs or HI won’t be able to shoot at your own guy or the rest of the team. The destructive power of the ammo will ensure a lot of damage, if not a kill.

Another useful thing about DA ammo is that it allows you to break the crates of the Lifeblood I.T.S. mission, so make sure you’ve got some DA ammo supply before playing!

So as always let’s recap:

-DA is good for killing almost everything that crosses your sights, especially useful against multi-wound or “back from the dead targets”.

-Works great in link teams, both offensively and defensively, doubles up your odds for a kill while Burst bonus negate the downside of Burst reduction.

-Goes great in combination with AP, brings the pain but at reduced bursts.

-There are weapons that use the integrated combo and they are very destructive; the Feuerbach is a joy to use, don’t deprive yourself of such pleasures.

-It crushes Lifeblood crates, which is a neat bonus in I.T.S.

Hope you like it and if you want to comment or point out anything please do so!