Infinity Mechanics in Movies: TAGs and Sixth Sense

Previously, I spoke of Books Like Infinity, this time it's movies and Infinity Mechanics.  There are two Mechanics I think that confuse the most out of new players to Infinity that I would like to highlight: TAGs and Sixth Sense.  As with all Good Reads, the examples are good and the film they're taken from are also good.  If only the example is good but not the entire media, that will be mentioned.  Let's jump right in.

TAGs come straight out of the fantastic District 9 film, in which a variety of good special effects highlight alien weaponry.  With N3 introducing Breaker Ammo and tons of new Plasma weapons, I think more and more as that movie as required viewing for Infinity.  You've got your "Shasvastii" race that has all sorts of wonderful and weird weapons which explain for so much lethality in Infinity.

The reason why I point to District 9 so much is that many players assume TAG = Tank.  That's not the case.  The District 9 TAG is eventually taken down by mostly small arms fire, which is exactly what happened in Endalyon's Battle of the Century (Part 1) (Part 2).  Geckos, the pair of Nomad TAGs, are re-purposed construction units.  Reminds me of the climatic showdown of another amazing movie: Aliens.

So, while you may have been weaned on Gundam or Patlabor (why would their construction units be so big?), an Infinity TAG is small enough to provide assistance to its troop in a commercial-sized space.  You don't see Abrams Tanks waltzing into an office to provide "Tank Shock" and assisted walls to provide cover.  I'm sure the big bad Gundams exist in Infinity, but they're not going on the Black Ops that are Infinity alongside specially trained soldiers.

While not a good film, Surrogates has a brilliant scene in which they show soldiers using Air Drop Remote Presence soldiers to fight overseas.  The soldiers were treating it like a video game and that's the sort of thing I can easily see any of the Ghost TAGs being used.  Very much like how American Drone Pilots go into a shipping container, bomb terrorists and then go home to their families in a single day.

As for Sixth Sense, I think that there are two different interpretations.  The first is the very fun action film Equilibrium where specialized "Clerics" are taught "Gun Katas".  The idea is that by analyzing thousands of gun fights, they teach their soldiers where to stand to minimize being hit while maximizing their kill potential.  It's my go-to example, as Sixth Sense models may shoot behind at any attacker without turning, as depicted in this early Equilibrium scene:

With Infinity, it would be easy to stat out pre-Batman Christian Bale's Grammaton Cleric John Preston.  That's another reason for why I suggest Equilibirum for anybody who has recently been bitten by the Infinity bug.  The only problem I see with the Sixth Sense mechanics in this fashion, is the ability for the Sixth Sense model being able to Dodge explosives before they're even fired.  In N2, this was even more pronounced with out of LoF attacks being irrevocable, making Sixth Sense valuable.  The changes to N3 mean that models may Dodge with PH-3, a penalty Sixth Sense models do not share.

A Grammaton Cleric might be able to enter a room and clear it, but how can he Dodge an Explosive or Grenade? My other flavour that I like is strictly from Manga and that's Killing Intent (WARNING: TV Tropes).  Reading the TV Tropes Link on Killing Intent only mentioned two live action movies, both of which were amazing: Hero and Kung Fu Hustle.  I think the best manga I've read that conveyed Killing Intent was a brilliant comedy called Angel Densetsu.  Though this trope is common in any Martial Arts media - take your pick of any Shounen Manga. And whaddya know? Martial Arts is now useful.

Being able to sense Killing Intent is something anybody can do.  It's not some sort of psychic ability like Spider-Man but just the feeling you get when you look at something dangerous.  It's why we don't play with Spiders or Lions. A model with Sixth Sense has such a grasp on Killing Intent, they can read a situation or person and realize that they're dangerous.

They've got such honed warrior instincts that they can sense opponents by their willingness to inflict harm.  You may fire a Parabolic Weapon but the Sixth Sense model is not surprised.  This was especially flavourful in N2, when failed weapons scattered.  It was possible to catch a Sixth Sense model by surprise by firing a Parabolic Weapon, missing and having the blast scatter onto the Sixth Sense model would not get a Reaction because they were not the target of the attack.

N3 did away with that, but it's a reminder in the skeleton of the game.  While the trope itself is from Eastern media, Infinity is a game influenced by Manga and Anime.