Data Sphere

Guys, N3 has my head spinning. I'm looking to simplify my life.

What do you guys reckon is the least complicated faction to play?

A faction (or maybe a certain list) that's competitive, but doesn't need a full arsenal of tricks to be so. Or, to be more specific: the least amount of special rules, things to keep track of... just a SIMPLE approach that works in a lot of situations.

It should do a few things well and handle all kinds of nastiness in its own, clear way.

Ariadna? Because no hacking?
ALEPH? Allround tough guys without a plan? (lol)
Something else completely?

What do you think?

PanO because that BS+1 really helps and you can shoot everything down.

Aleph because you get to ignore like half the rules in the game?

Yu Jing because the troopers can do more than just shoot?

Morats

No Retreat, No camo, new models most of the range.. only strength: dakka, dakka, dakka.

JSA is nice since you ignore Guts checks and don't have TOO many real tricksy tricks, outside of TO camouflage.

To play JSA, here is what you need to know on top of a no-tricks-army:
-TO Camouflage
-Infiltration (regular and Superior)
-Impact Template rules
-Martial Arts
-Stealth
-Anything pertaining to Heavy Infantry (E/M, Immobilized, etc)
-Chain of Command
-Smoke

That's really it.

Ariadna has lots of other special rules to make up for no hacking. Just Camouflage itself has four rules incorporated in it (Mimetism, Stealth, Surprise Shot, Surprise Attack). Although CHA tends to be light on tricks (limited access to camo), but you'll have to contend to Impetuous movements...

Morats sounds pretty straight forward. Given what Yu Jing has now, the Invincibles Army may be up your alley. Some HI to kick teeth, doctor, engineer, and a hacker for Fairy Dust - done.

Morats is a good one, I hadn't thought of that.

Basically, what I want is Space Marines: a forgiving faction that I can easily master. And if after that I have need of a more complicated one... I still have Nomad models lying around.

Isn't Military Orders also pretty straightforward?

Thanks for the replies guys.

Military orders can be but they have the issue that they like to be in your face and getting into CC can be tough, especially when first learning the game.

None and all. Because you will face every single special rule anyways, when gaming often enough...

I'd second Harlekin. Eventually on the table you can meet with every rule possible. And even more - with some weird rules combinations that don't have clear resolution.
If you want to be light on rules from your side I'd also advise to try Morats sectorial. Impetuous/frenzy troops are just a matter of habit. They have only Mimetism rule in CH section. MSV2 and +3 WIP for 4+ men fireteam will counter Camo shenanigans. Higher PH will help to Dodge. Entire army ignores Loss of Lieutenant. And interesting specialists will help to fulfil ITS missions. I'd say that this is sufficient to be competitive and not overloaded.

So testing the waters of Infinity again, this question still stands.

I'm tempted to try Morats, but they are not my favorite faction by far.

What about Invincibles?

Arachas wrote:So testing the waters of Infinity again, this question still stands.

I'm tempted to try Morats, but they are not my favorite faction by far.

What about Invincibles?

They suffer from limited specialists that are not FOs.

Doc and Engineer are each AVA1, and are only 1W models.

But I can build some killer curbstomp lists with the Invincibles. Zuyong LT HMG, Yan Huo HMC or twin missiles, Guilang sniper, Guilang FO or minelayer, Daofei assault hacker, Doc, engineer, Weibing FO/Sensor bot.

The least complicated army to play? I'd say Ariadna. Each model is usually single-purpose machine, cheap models make it easier to have redundancy and therefore it forgives a lot of rookie mistakes.

I play Morats and they are great for a simple yet satisying killing matches - they don't use camo, don't have some fancy skills or equipment, but also don't give a damn about retreat, Lol etc.
To be honest, it's hard to have good results with them in ITS missions - they lack versatile specialists, they have really few FOs etc.
On the other side, it's great to charge with you Suryat LT and use actively the Lieutenant Order
And they have few nice link options and will have even more after the HS:N3.

If you want simple army that can win more often - I'd go with Aleph. The problem is that they usually don't have to much orders, cause they're expensive. And I don't like them

Ariadna is great, but you have to master the camo-games, you'll propably have many units and - at least for me - playing with spam isn't what I like.


PozdRawiam / Greetings

One could say a lot about Aleph, but not that it's uncomplicated. Lack of normal light infantry troops, need for hackers to field your remotes, Posthumans with complicated proxy rules... I'd say Aleph is one of two least beginner-friendly factions.

That being said, almost every faction has a possibility to field something with very complicated rules or just difficult to use effectively.

You might consider choosing Panoceania or Nomads as they have some effective yet easy to use options.

Appreciate the replies.

I like curb stomb though. Bwuahaha!

I'm not sure I will even play ITS, it's never appealed to me. Or is required for Flamestrike?

Before I left the game some time ago, I had a NeoTerra list comprising of Fusiliers, Hexa, Aquila Guard HMG... TO camo, MSV nastiness... I think that was pretty straightforward. Too bad the Auxilia haven't been redone yet.

So Morat, Invincibles, NeoTerra... it's hard, this!