This is the Wartrader, rambling on about random Remotes…

Remotes for Newbies

'Remotes' in Infinity are semi-autonomous telepresence drones. All of the factions with the exception of Arianda and Tohaa have a set of four 'standard' Remotes with similar capabilities.

They are generally very fast and often have abilities that you can't get on normal troopers but suffer several penalties to balance this:

• They generally have a lower PHysique attribute for Dodging and for dealing damage in combat.
• On top of this they suffer a penalty to Dodge.
• They cannot use the Cautious Movement skill to sneak across narrow fire corridors.
• They cannot go Prone so a Remote on an open flat roof is not going to be able to claim cover and they can't duck down behind walls etc.

Overall Changes to Remotes in N3

The basic PH for Remotes has increased from 8 to 10 and the Dodge penalty has dropped from -6 to -3. So where a Remote in N2 would be Dodging on a modified PH2 (on a d20 so 10% chance of a success) in N3 they're on PH7. Still not amazing but an awful lot better. Where this really kicks in is for Direct Template Weapons like flamethrowers - in N2 the additional -6 penalty to Dodge made it impossible for Remotes to ever Dodge while in N3 they're still on PH7 if they can see the firer.

All troopers with the Ghost: Remote Presence skill (the telepresence bit) get two levels of Unconscious state before they reach the Dead state. A single successful Engineer roll is required to get them back into action and a failed roll can be re-rolled by burning a Command Token. So Remotes are as easy to put out of action as in N2 but getting them back in the game is much easier.

The standard Remotes have all gained BTS3 instead of BTS0 making them slightly harder to hack and slightly more resistant to high-tech ammo types.

Sensorbots

For example the Pathfinder Dronbots in PanOceania and Stemplar Zonds in Nomads. Sensorbots are general utility robots which are particularly good at sniffing out enemy camouflage troops and also have the ability to laser-paint enemy targets in direct line of sight or close by without LoF.

In N3 these have seen a big 5pt drop, mostly from 21 to 16. They have gained a Deactivator to shut down enemy deployable weapons such as Mines and a Sniffer which is a deployable area extender for their Sensor skill.

Sensor has changed substantially in N3 - apart from being able to extend the usable area via Sniffers, the trooper gains +6 to their WIP attribute when detecting all enemy camo in the area, generally taking it up to 19 or less on a d20. The trooper also gets a +6 bonus on normal Discover rolls against camo. However there is a downside, the area effect effect no longer works in reaction, so you can't reveal camo markers from outside LoF!

Sensor also allows the Triangulated Fire skill which lets the trooper shoot as an Entire Order skill (so no movement during that Order) with a flat -3 modifier regardless of all other modifiers. This can be exceptionally powerful but often needs a couple of Orders to set up the right position.

The new Sat-Lock equipment takes the place of the old ability to mark targets within the 8" Zone of Control even outside LoF. On the one hand it's less powerful because instead of an unopposed WIP roll it's now a WIP-6 roll and will usually be against the target's unopposed WIP making it very hard to pull off - but it can now be used against Camo and TO Camo markers without needing to reveal them first.

Overall these have seen a substantial drop in price and a big increase in utility, they're truly the Swiss Army Knives of the game in N3.

Notable faction-specific variants are the Nomad and ALEPH versions having Climbing Plus for +1pt letting them do Spiderman stuff on walls.

N2 Profile:

N3 Profile:

Reactionbots

Reactionbots are basically mobile gun turrets - armed with an HMG they can be nasty in the active turn but the Total Reaction skill lets them use their full Burst 4 in reaction - truly horrifying to face with the wrong units and tactics.

In N3 the Reactionbots have lost their Mines and and Light Grenade Launcher options but have dropped in points. They've also lost their Repeaters (effectively WIFI extenders for your Hackers) which means that some of the Hacking Programs that buff Remotes are going to require having the Hacker or a Repeater close to the Reactionbot to start running the Program.

Overall, Reactionbots are cheaper, worse at short range due to the HMG range band changes, more resilient to attacks from Camouflage (as they can't get Combat Camoed before they get to shoot back) and are more focussed on point defence.

Notable faction-specific variants are the Nomad and ALEPH versions again having Climbing Plus while the Combined Army Q-Drones have Mimetism (-3BS to shoot them) and the fearsome Plasma Rifle option as well as an HMG.

N2 Profile:

N3 Profile:

To be continued...