THE INSTITUTE TACTICS & OVERVIEW

v4.0

The Institute is SPECIAL in several unique ways. Their models are very schizophrenic: either really, really good, or really, really bad and super cheap. All the Synth models, as well as Conrad and the Coursers, are Immune to Battle Cry, which gives you an edge when fighting against models such as Super Mutants.

What are they not SPECIAL at? Well, aside from Coursers, they really have little uniqueness to offer as of yet (with only one Wave). They're highly predictable, with only two really reliable builds that leap out: massing Coursers to leverage their Stealth Boys and waste your actions, or Kellogg (and possibly A-2018 or the Sole Survivor if points allow) leading a squad of Patrollers, Troopers, and Engineers who toss Synth Relay Grenades to amass a huge force while still keeping a solid core of competent models. That's... not exactly a great variety, and both strategies could be very strong negative play experiences on the other side, even if they're fairly costed and very flavorful.

 

Last, they're also hilariously incompetent at close combat - you thought Survivors were bad? HAH.

COMMON

BATTERED GEN 1 SYNTH

At 25 Caps, these are currently the cheapest models in the game, barring Creatures like Radroaches and Mole Rats, and it shows with only AGI 3 and STR 3 as their combat stats.

The main problems are that they only have a 40% chance to hit with their guns (lower than their newer brothers), they only have Advanced Items, AND they drop to Health 4. That's a big thing. It means they only take two Actions on average to remove, instead of three. Every Action that Super Mutants spend beating on your Gen 1s is a Action they aren't beating on your Engineers.

Do note, though, that no Gen 1 Synth can use APs. At all. Those little gears are dead to them, absent a Leader card that's situational and not as good as other options.

COURSER

First, their stats are superb; with AGI 7 for Throwing, Pistols, and Rifles, PER 8 for Search, and Int 5 for Computers and Lockpick, they're impressive and can do pretty much anything you need. While they only have STR 5 for Melee, they get access to Stun Batons and Batons, which have Green dice. Also, they're immune to Battle Cry, which makes Super Mutants sad.

But that's not why you take them. You take them for permanent Stealth Boys. An Action which targets them HAS to make a PER Test at -4 to succeed; if it fails, the Action is wasted. This means a significant percentage of models in the game only have a 25% of actually succeeding. Now, Actions are the heart of the game. Making your opponent waste actions, or debate whether he wants to waste actions, is a brutal, BRUTAL choice. This also balances out their weaker defensive stats; while they have 6 HP they only have 2/1/1 for Armor. Note, though, they're expensive, at 138 points per. This means that the moment you drop them you need to know what they're doing and how they're doing it, and if you're only getting one you'd probably want to reach for Z2-47 for his reduced cost.

How to equip them? There are basically three options: Cheap Laser or Plasma Pistols (leveraging their Stealth Boys to stay in close), going for a more middle-range option with Plasma Rifles, or springing for Gauss Rifles - while the last brings up their cost to a whopping 180 Caps, they're worth every one. SRGs are a possibility, but if you're massing Coursers you may not have the extra Caps to spend on enough of them to actually swing the battle.

ENGINEER

Engineers do two things: cheap objective runners - with INT 6 for all three Expertise checks, they have a reasonable chance of succeeding - and carry Synth Relay Grenades. I lie, it's three things they can do: an INT test and Action to heal Synths is non-negligible and can help either with the SRG Gen 1s or Patrollers/Troopers/A-2018 (learn from this, BoS Scribe Shields!). They also get a Cleanroom Suit for free, which makes them very resistant to Radiation and puts them at 7 Health; so they're quite durable for their cost.

For weaponry, they have very limited options - off STR 4 they can swing Power Fists, and off PER 3 they can shoot ILPs. Of those, the ILP is oddly the better option - the added dice give it a better chance of hitting.

GEN 1 SYNTH

A Gen 1 Synth with an ILP is 35 points. That's quite a lot of model for fairly cheap, as with Health 5 they'll usually take 3 Actions to remove. The best option is the ILP, which is surprisingly good for the price; the ILR is just to expensive. The ILP includes enough dice to up their chances of hitting each shot to a bare 50%(ish), along with other possible benefits. Just remember that anything with Strong Armor is going to sneer at them unless you get lucky with the Damage and AP die.

But you shouldn't be buying them this way. You should be bringing them with Synth Relay Grenades. 

 

Essentially, you're trading one Action for buying a Gen 1 Synth with ILP for -17 Caps of discount. This sounds like a bad bargain (Actions are the very vital fuel of the game!), but they'll do two things for you: Let you place them in a location of your choice, and artificially lower your model count so you can count on getting the Advantage marker first turn. Two Patrollers, Kellogg, and two Engineers can suddenly go from five models to ten; and in many scenarios placement is important - suddenly putting two Gen 1s where they can contest an objective, regardless of whether they're Used or not, gives your opponent bad choices: turn and kill the Synths, or try and fight your actual combatants. If a Patroller moves 4" turn 1 and tosses an SRG as far up as it can, that's 12" of movement in a single turn - not counting scatter, which might send it even farther!

PATROLLER

Patrollers actually have some decent stats. With Health 8 they can take a beating, even with lousy Armor. Their AGI 6 governs their Pistols and Rifles, which isn't stellar, but can get the job done. They also have INT 4 for Computers (meh) and PER 7 for Search (whooo!)

They do have access to the High Tech Items, which includes such goodies as Lasers, Plasma, and Institute Lasers. Honestly, I'd go with either Laser Pistols or ILRs; they'll want the extra Accuracy to improve their shots. They can also emulate the Laser Rifle firebase tactic that the BoS use so well with Lancers, but their lower Rifles skill and lack of Lancer-Captain Kells make it not as good for quite a bit more expensive. While it also includes Power Fists and Stun Batons... their STR 5 is not the best bet for this.

 

As mentioned under the Gen 1 Synth note, they can carry SRGs and are a solid bet to do so if you can't afford Troopers - or want someone with decent ranged attacks.

SCIENTIST

The comparison here is surprising: not to the Engineer, but to the Gen 1 Synth. Gen 1 Synths cost 38 points with ILPs and have AGI 4 to shoot with, Scientists cost 33 Points with ILPs and have PER 5. This actually puts them at a 57% to hit with the guns versus 50% - breaking 50% baby! On top of that, Scientists have absolutely amazing INT 8 for Computers, and their PER 5 also has Search.

In Health, the Scientist also beats them as well, with 6 versus 5 - the armor is essentially meaningless, as 1 ARM only kicks in 25% of the time (and can get reduced to nothing with the commonplace AP dice), and the free Cleanroom Suit basically renders them basically immune to Radiation. Plus the extra point of Health means they can soak an incidental Damage die and still take three Actions to remove.

 

The catch is, of course, that SRGs are cheaper than both, and Scientists don't have the Lockpick or the Engineering skill to compensate. I say leave Scientists in the lab and bring Engineers for your field work.

TROOPER

For +11 Caps over a Patroller, these guys add +1 STR, +1 Health, +1 INT for Computers, and have 2/1/x Armor instead of 1/0/x. Yeah, that's worth the points. They add Heavy Weapons - making them one of two models in the faction which can take Heavy Weapons. But don't do that. A-2018 does it so much better.

What should you do?

The closest thing that the Institute has to competent close combat models are Troopers running Stun Batons or Power Fists. The problem is that you have a choice between a reasonable chance to hit but expensive with the Stun Baton, or a much lower chance to hit but much cheaper with the Power Fist.

UNIQUES

A-2018

What A-2018 does is carry a Heavy Weapon. STR 7 makes him quite accurate with it, and unique among all models in the game is his ability to test LUC to flip a used Slow Firing token. Yes, he only has a 30% of triggering this, but that by itself is very threatening - moving into range of a Heavy Weapons guy is manageable if you think he'll only hit you once, but TWICE?

He should use a Missile Launcher or Heavy Incinerator. While he can carry a Gatling Laser (and put out 10 shots with it a turn!), there's lots of options in faction for cheap pewpewpew. With his high STR, he's also one of two models in the faction who can hit STR 7 for that sweet bonus die in close combat, so giving him a Power Fist (especially if you go the Heavy Incinerator route!) is nice. 

He also appreciates a fleshbag carrying a Synthbooster nearby; with his chance to fire twice in one turn, he'll appreciate being repositioned without spending his own Actions to do so.

CONRAD KELLOG

Conrad is a cheap model for how effective he is. His PER 7 drives Pistols, Rifles, and Search, with Int 6 for Computers and AGI 5 for Lockpick. He's also fairly tough at 7 Health, with an actually respectable 3/2/0 Armor statline. Last, he also gets Kellogg's Pistol for free, which is worth 10 Caps at least for giving him access to Criticals and being a solid gun with 12" and 2 Damage backed up by Black and Yellow dice.

His other special abilities are situational but solid. After he takes damage he gets an AP or Accuracy die to use on his next attack, but he can only hold one at a time. He gets a +2 for Climbing, helpful in built up maps. He's immune to Battle Cry, and he can also spend Action Points on Pistols. While the last one may only have a 15% of kicking in (absent Heroic), it's still really good to have.

All this, at less cost than a naked Trooper model.

Yes, absolutely worth it. Team him up with some Patrollers and Engineeers, and he'll form a very threatening team indeed - cruel enough to rip an infant from a parent's hands and shoot them in the face.

 

SOLE SURVIVOR

Father is right: The Institute needs the Sole Survivor. Not so much the SST or SS, but the SSL gives something that the Institute is sorely lacking: Close combat skills, especially in Power Armor. While he's a bit expensive because you won't benefit from either free Dog Handler or Lone Wanderer, it's potentially worth it - either on a budget with a Huge Club and not much else or with an added T-45 for bulk and more STR. 

While the SS is 19 Caps cheaper, most of what she does is covered by Coursers or Kellogg; that makes it harder to make her a unique add to the actual force list.

X6-88

What made X6-88 unique among the Survivors is commonplace in the Institute. So why should you pay 14 more Caps for him than a standard Courser with the same statline?

Energy Shield, that's why. Almost all the Institute models have ridiculously low Armor values, and there's no limit to how many models it can spread to as long as they're close enough to him - and at 8" that's pretty far away. While this is not always useful, BoS Laser Rifle bricks and Minutemen firing squads are common and successful tactics who definitely do not want to see X6-88 on the table. In a mirror match, too, it makes ILRs and ILPs much less likely to hurt your models.

 

He also has access to Power Armor, and you could make him into a middling-good close combatant with it that hits STR 7; certainly nothing says he can't use his Stealth Boy inside the armor, and this gives an all-Courser group some recourse in CQC. But he can get expensive fast this way in a faction filled with already expensive models.

Where it does not help is against anything else, but fortunately X6-88 loses nothing to other Coursers, so paying a little extra for an often-useful ability is not bad at all.

Z2-47

Z2-47 is honestly the first Courser you should reach for, unless you want X6-88's Energy Shield. At 20 Caps cheaper than a standard Courser he loses -2 PER, -1 AGI, and Rifles in exchange for improved STR 6 (meh) and INT 6 (whoo, above 50%!).

 

Pistols and Melee as his only reasonable skills means that he has only a few good options. Your first buy should be a Laser Pistol; the added dice will help him hit more. After that, with a Stun Baton he'll do okay, but it makes him quite expensive; adding a Power Fist is cheap and at least gives him something to swing close in.

His price point means he can serve as a one-off Courser for a more conventional Institute force (leveraging his Stealth Boy), or he can serve as the command for a Courser team.

CHANGELOG

v1.1 Removed all references to SRGs, moving it to one combined section under the Gen 1 Synth. Had an epiphany regarding the Scientist. Rewrote the opening paragraphs to include my current feelings on the two main strats available to the Institute: Coursers and Patrollers/Kellogg. Rewrote the Trooper as well, they're a little better than I thought as massed close combat.

v1.2

Revamped the Courser entirely to talk more about the Gauss Rifle as a choice. Changed all dice reference to colors instead.

 

v4.0 

Heavy revisions; the drop to SRGs moved them from a jank strat to a real one. Pretty much every entry but Conrad saw revision, and the addition of the SS gives more options to the force.