A hypothetical treachery - leftover XV8 loadouts?

[HighMarshalAmp]

If, hypothetically, somebody was to just buy 4 Commanders to get the top cheese build (XV85 with 3-4x CIB) out of the way, there's still three Commanders left to be equipped.

 

One might reasonably just be turned into a XV86 with 4 Fusion Blasters.

 

But what about the remaining two?

Is the additional range on Missile Pods not as useful as more shots sometimes?

Can a Coldstar with the equivalent of [Edit: 4 Burst Cannons and some Missiles] not mulch something as well?

In brief, how far behind are all the ladouts you never see really?

 

Now, again, this is purely hypothetical since some CIBs are bound to pop up somewhere before I actually spring for more Commanders than I need.

But I find the non-top tier weapon options to be discussed very little and I'd just like to hear if anyone has had success with them.

I've only ever come up against fire-and-forget XV86s and counts-as CIB XV85s...

Edited July 15, 2020 by HighMarshalAmp

[Panzer]

The Fusion Blaster loadout is prefered because of the accuracy of the Commander. Every other loadout has enough shots to not worry too much about hitting only on 4+ or 3+ from regular Crisis suits, not to mention that S5 shots aren't exactly rare in our army with Firewarriors, Stealth Suits, Crisis Suits, Gun Drones etc. Missile Pods are a decent option because they have similarly few shots, however for that kind of shooting we usually already have HYMP Broadsides or Crisis Suits in our army.

 

In short: it depends on your list and what else you are missing.

 

As for the other rarely seen weapons ... Flamers are a complete waste on a Commander since his big advantage is the BS2+. AFP are simply bad unless you take one for the signature sytem or prototype weaponry. Plasma is okay but a bit underwhelming imo.

 

A Commander I personally like would be with Iridium armour (I use a converted Broadside model for that one though) with 3 Fusion Blasters, the AFP prototype weapon (or a Shield gen if there's already a Crisis unit using it) and two Shield Drones. It drops somewhere and is just a pain in the butt for your opponent. :P

 

 

 

Can a Coldstar with the equivalent of 5 Burst Cannons not mulch something as well?

That's not a thing. Either you take 4 Burst Cannons or a HO Burst Cannon + Missile Pod and then two other weapons of your choice. So never more than the equivalent of 4 Burst Cannons.