Feature Friday - the N3 Crane

N3 has brought a tonne of excitement to the Yu Jing community.  Things became more viable, things became more than inferior carbon-copies of PanO units, and things became more beautiful.  Among all of these exciting changes sits the Crane Agent, a much-maligned N2 profile that has suddenly become deadly.  We used to dream of an Agent that could stride through the enemy, meting out justice either up close or from afar.  Now, we don't need to dream.  Now, we have the elite HI we deserve.

The fiercest new link team in Yu Jing?

Let's start by looking at some direct changes from N2 to N3.

• CC shot up from 17 to 22;
• Arm got a slight bump from 3 to 4;
• BTS got a big buff, from 3 to 6;
• The Crane gained Kinematika L2, making Dodges equivalent to full moves;
• Almost all Crane retained their X-Visors;
• Stealth (from Martial Arts) means the Crane can't be hacked out of Line of Sight of an enemy hacker while he's in their Zone of Control;
• Hefty points drops across the board.

In short, the Crane's survivability and close quarters power went up, and it became a lot easier to fit into lists.  That's all general talk, though.  Let's take a direct look at the new Crane profiles.

(Sensor, X-Visor) MULTI Rifle, 2 Nanopulsars, DA CCW (53 points) - a real jack of all trades unit.  This particular profile does what the N2 Crane could not: it brings CQC (Close Quarters Combat) pain while still packing a major punch at range.  The X-Visor, combined with the new generous Rifle range-bands, means that the Crane is firing without penalty all the way out to 32", and only at a -3 penalty up to 48".  2 Nanopulsars mean that it is dangerous to assault up-close unless the enemy is packing some serious BTS, and CC becomes a dream with CC22, all the options of MA3, and a DA CCW.  Don't forget that Martial Arts confers Stealth, so the Crane can walk around freely in your enemy's rear arc until deciding to make the kill with Burst 3 Shock ammo or a DA swing to the back of the head.

(Sensor, X-Visor) Boarding Shotgun, 2 Nanopulsars, DA CCW (48 points) - holy discount, Batman.  The Boarding Shotgun isn't nearly as intimidating at range, but what it loses in distance it makes up for in close quarters.  This loadout synergizes less with the Crane's Sensor (Triangulated Fire) and X-Visor (lack of range penalties is nice, but they don't make up for being in +6 bonus range), but the price discount may make up for it.  In addition, Stealth (from Martial Arts) allows the Crane to sneak around in an enemy's Zone of Control without allowing AROs, letting you set up the ideal +6 shot.  It's just up to you if you want to trade some ranged efficacy for increased CQC power.

(X-Visor) Spitfire, 2 Nanopulsars, DA CCW (55/2) - the X-Visor gives this Spitfire absolutely no penalty to fire up to 32", and only a -3 up to 48" - just like the MULTI Rifle.  It loses the Camo hunting aspect of the Sensor, along with modified-cancelling Triangulated Fire, so you need to make sure you leverage the superior burst of this weapon.  This loadout retains 2 Nanopulsars and a DA CCW to threaten the enemy in close quarters, keeping up the Crane's reputation of "ready for all comers".

(Assault Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle, 2 Nanopulsars, DA CCW (51) - you are trading away the Sensor and X-Visor for an Assault Hacking Device, so you'd better make sure that you have a plan for it.  Assault Hacking Devices aren't really for opposing your enemy's hacking net, but more for capitalizing on the Crane's ability to execute immobilized/crippled models.  If you take this loadout, you'll need another Hacker to defend your hyper-offensive Crane.  As an added bonus, though, the Crane's Stealth means that he cannot be counter-hacked in Zone of Control until you decide to initiate a hacking battle.

You can select the Sensor/X-Visor/MULTI Rifle OR X-Visor Spitfire loadout as a Lieutenant, but the offensive nature of the Crane means that you need a backup plan for when it dies.  There's an added bonus for ISS players here, though: Cranes can link with Celestial Guard (as they could in N2) only if they're Lieutenants, but now they're allowed to take Spitfires rather than just the basic loadout.  As long as you have a contingency plan for the Crane's possible (likely?) death, that means you can pack a BS 16 B5 Spitfire for as low as 107 points (4xCG + Crane Spitfire).  That's the cheapest linked Spitfire on a HI in the entire game!

So now that we've seen all the profiles, how has the Crane improved in practice?

1) Better At Range

Crane and Sniper Rifle not sold together in stores

Even though the N2 Crane didn't suck at shooting, the N3 Crane is still a vast improvement over its older version.  The Rifle range increases have made the Crane more threatening at longer distances, and the X-Visor gives it a serious edge over other Rifle-toting models firing in the same range-bands.

The buff to MULTI Rifles also directly helps the Crane's ranged game, as it can now fire full-burst AP or Shock ammo to take down a wider variety of targets.  It's unfortunate that you can no longer fire off Burst 2 DA, but that's the trade-off for a more versatile weapon.

Last but definitely not least, the Crane's Sensor allows it to take advantage of Triangulated Fire.  Yes, you have to already be in position to take advantage of TF because it takes an Entire Order, but the benefits can be tremendous depending on your target.  Basically, this equipment lets the Crane fire at models with defensive modifiers (Mimetism, ODD, etc.) without caring too much, especially if they're at longer ranges.  Triangulated Fire levies a -3 flat penalty regardless of range, defensive ability, or Cover, so it allows you to get into a protracted firefight with models carrying "better" guns - as long as you can get into position in the first place.

2) Better Up Close

Martial Arts - Level "See ya later"

The Crane is a far more dangerous CQC model than it used to be.  2 Nanopulsars help it to hose down tough-to-crack models in Cover (remember, templates ignore Cover!), especially if those models have lower BTS.  The Crane's CC capabilities have shot up, and it is a lot more reliable with its new DA CCW.  Lacking a Monofilament weapon means that the Crane can no longer outright slice a TAG in two, but full-burst AP ammunition on its MULTI helps make up for that a little bit.  The old Mono weapon made CC really swingy, though, and the new DA weapon helps the Crane be supremely confident in close combat.

While we're on the topic of CC, though, let's break down what Martial Arts L3 can do for it.  The Crane has an impressive CC score of 22 (meaning you add +2 to all its rolls) and a PH13 (Damage 13) DA CCW.

Martial Arts 1 - this subtracts -3 from the opponent's roll while increasing the Crane's Damage to 14.

Martial Arts 2 - this straight-up increases the Crane's Damage to 16.

Martial Arts 3 - this adds +3 to the Crane's roll while penalizing the opponent's roll by 3.

It's ultimately your choice in the end, of course, and it depends completely on what you expect to achieve in CC.  If you simply want to beat your opponent (make them spend extra orders, waste time, slow the pain train), Martial Arts 3 is clearly the way to go.  If you are confident of your abilities and want to inflict maximum damage, Martial Arts 2 - combined with DA ammo - will help you batter down an opponent's defenses and utterly destroy 1W models, while still having the power to incapacitate 2W models (at least until a Doctor shows up...and then you can kill the Doctor too).  The utility of Martial Arts 1 is a bit questionable, but if you want a general buff to both winning the roll and causing damage, it might be worth considering.

In N2, the Crane was hard to justify.  Now that he's gone back to school and actually learned how to do the things he was supposed to do, though, he's a beast.  All hail the new Crane!