Needless to say, the reason why I'm making this post is Corbeau on the Infinity Forums wrote about Haqq's previously maligned Rifle + LSG. He hits right upon my own sentiments and that's why I'm preserving this. Reposted with permission:
Every time I look at list building in N3 I am struck by the Rifle + LSG loadout. It used to be such a drag in N2, an incredibly situational tool that cost extra points on almost every unit in Haqq. Oh how the times have changed! N3 has been a massive (and needed) buff to all shotguns. While the obvious beneficiary is the Boarding Shotgun, an underslung Light Shotgun performs almost identically in practice. Rifle + LSG also comes at bargain bin prices, because unlike higher tech factions Haqq never has to pay extra for semi-redundant Combi + LSG combinations. It's straight-up fantastic to have as a widely available weapon option.
The two obvious shotgun buffs are the new +6 range bracket and the changes to terminal template weapons. The extra bonus to hit mathematically compensates for the shotgun's lower burst, while terminal templates are now nastier against even single targets. In Infinity, most (though admittedly not all) targets will have cover when you're shooting at them. Terminal templates ignore the ARM bonus from cover, effectively granting them a +3 to their DAM stat under most circumstances. This is a big deal: being more likely to kill your target means greater order efficiency - not to mention the ARO threat! Combined with the to-hit bonus of shotguns, provoking a short range ARO from a shotgun-toting trooper is a much more dangerous prospect than it was a month ago! This huge increase in shotgun hitting power makes me more than happy to field them now.
There's been a lot of talk about Boarding Shotguns ever since N3 dropped, and rightfully so, but I've quickly come to prefer the Light Shotgun over the Boarding Shotgun. Boarding Shotguns are sizable weapons, usually the primary firearm of the trooper carrying it. Light Shotguns are small enough that they frequently come packaged with Rifles or Combi Rifles. While a Boarding Shotgun has serious range limitations, a Rifle + LSG loadout has almost twice the effective range bracket coverage. The only things that a Boarding Shotgun brings - aside from a roughly 1 point discount compared to Rifle + LSG - are +1 damage and the ability to fire AP. The former is a nice but rather small bonus; the latter feels outright lackluster to me with the new terminal template rules. AP slugs aren't terminal templates, remember, so they don't ignore the ARM bonus from cover. Firing AP from a Boarding Shotgun is going to be strictly inferior to normal flechettes unless the target is caught in the open and/or is a TAG. In short, it's an option I can live without.
I find myself wanting the Rifle + LSG loadout on every single trooper who isn't a very specifically dedicated long range combatant. Haqq has access to Boarding Shotguns, but I can't really imagine taking them unless required for a different part of their kit (hello Govad Hacker!) when the Rifle + LSG is available as our basic infantry armament. Not only does it turn the Ghulam into quite possibly the best line infantry unit in the game, but it does wonders for our infiltrators, impersonators, and drop troops. For example: the Ragik Rifle + LSG is downright absurd now and the WIP 15 Ragik Hacker comes with that same armament. Similarly, the Hunzakut and Tuareg specialist profiles both come with Rifle + LSG loadouts. It's extremely deadly compared to a Combi Rifle, extremely versatile compared to a Boarding Shotgun, extremely competitively priced compared to either, and comes as standard issue on almost all of our specialists. It's nothing short of fantastic, and I marvel a little every time I look at Haqq unit profiles in N3.
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