Overpowered Active Camo

Active Camouflage - KemVar is always considered to be at one higher tier of cover than their position as long as their armour hasn't failed.

What does that mean in practice? If a KemVar model is in

• the open, with No Cover, any shot against them counts as Weak Cover (+1FN)
• Weak Cover, any shot against them counts as Strong Cover (+3FN)
• Strong Cover, well, you technically can't draw LOS to them to take a shot anyway

That means that a KemVar model that has elevation and cover would have a +4FN modifier to any shots fired on them. When the general FN of models is FN6, you'd already be at FN10 to make your shot!
At a glance this seems like a very overpowered Corporate Trait, but here are some pointers to ensure fun and balanced MERCS games. Note that while this was written with KemVar in mind, it does apply across all factions.

MERCS Appropriate Terrain

Firstly, ensure you are playing on MERCS appropriate terrain.
Specifically, ensure terrain elements that offer optimum firing positions (that is, both elevation and weak cover) are limited and are located mid-field.
This ensures that both teams have an equal opportunity to secure these positions, and the most valuable firing positions on the field are rare and have to be fought for.
As an extreme example, if you put all the buildings that provided elevated cover in the KemVar deployment zone, then the KemVar would have very little motivation to give up their prime firing positions to expose themselves - they would just sit there and shoot down the opposition that came towards them.

A good example of MERCS appropriate terrain from the rulebook

Missions/Scenarios/Objectives

Similar to the extreme example above, if there are no in-game objectives or missions to accomplish, once a KemVar model has secured an optimum firing position, there is very little incentive for them to move from it and expose themselves.
This is where good missions and scenarios significantly improve games - by helping to ensure units are forced into action, as well as adding an element of narrative to the game.

Squad Selection - Template Weapons and Armour Failure

It should be noted that Active Camo only affects weapons with an FN - so things like grenades thrown at the ground, that auto-hit anything within their template, are not affected.
Furthermore, note that the Active Camo ability does not work once a KemVar unit's armour has failed - some units have abilities focused on causing armour to fail, which is invaluable against Active Camo.
This battle report (specifically Game 2) shows how it's done. After the KemVar stole Game 1 by surprising the CCC with their speed, the CCC then played defensively and brought their template weapons to bear. The template weapons destroyed the KemVar - the Incinerator's flame thrower, the Demo's Frag Grenades and the Leader's Emp Grenades made short work of the KemVar.

Sync out.

[FCC] Liaison - is he EVER worth taking?

Is it ever worth including the Liaison in the FCC line-up? My initial thoughts are: "No, unless he is an integral part of a specific strategy you have in mind - and a definite no for a 3v3" but I'll examine it a bit more deeply.
I'll start by looking at each element of the unit, and deciding on whether or not it's a pro or a con.

Basic Stats

2MP - Fairly standard speed for a lightly armoured unit

Reaction 4 - Slower-than-average Reaction Value

AV1 - a minimal Armour Value, if hit then any weapon can deal Blood

AF7 - a high chance that his armour will fail

Courage 7 - a high chance to fail courage checks, making him prone to suppression
Repair 2 - a surprisingly good chance to repair


Weapons
Machine Pistol

FN7 - standard FN for a trooper

WS2 - standard WS, and will draw blood on most units

2 attacks against 1 target - standard for troopers

Only Short-Range - this is the deal-breaker for this unit. 1 card length? Ew.

LDHF Barrier
+2FN to all ranged attacks, stacks with cover, not affected by AF - this is awesome, and counters the low AV and AF of the basic stats - you can't Blood what you can't hit.

Personal Abilities
Contact

This would be the driving reason behind taking the Liaison - granting Corporate Abilities to your Black Ops Agents.

Communicator
There is a lot of potential for this ability to be a game-changer. Get a few of the enemy in your House Master's Sweep for example, then sending a second spray of fire into them, or maybe using it to finishing off a near dead enemy unit with another round of fire.

Summary
There's more blue than red up there, but the one deal breaker for this unit is that it's only weapon is short range. This has a massive impact on the unit, which I'll look at from an offensive and defensive perspective.

Offensively, the fact that he's only a threat at short range means that to do damage he's got to work his way to the enemy without being gunned down - which is possible due to his LDHF Barrier making him much harder to hit. If he is hit though, he'll definitely take Blood, and will likely Armour Fail too. If you've brought him along to grant Corporate Abilities to Black Ops agents, then you probably wouldn't want to put him in high risk situations though - I certainly don't like the idea of getting this unit up close and personal with the enemy. Getting him within one card of the enemy makes him prone to melee attacks too - which his LDHF Barrier does not protect against.

Defensively, this unit is solid. Get him behind cover away from the enemy, keep the rest of your squad in between him and the enemy advance, and he's sitting pretty with a modifier of at least +3FN (LDHF Barrier + Half Cover). Chances are he isn't shooting at anything anyway though, unless someone comes within short range - which means you'd keep him behind full-cover.

"Can you guys hurry up? Jersey Shore is on in 15 minutes..."

Conclusion
You're taking him either to grant Corporate Abilities, with  the bonus of providing his Communicator support. Both are good benefits to your other squad members, but I don't think it's worth taking him in the end. It comes down to whether or not the Corporate Abilities and Communicator are worth playing with one man down.
On the board he's either a very sub-par offensive unit, or will spend the game hiding out of LOS just to grant the buffs and not really contribute to the rest of the squad - you'll be playing a 5v5 with only 4 units on your combat front while your opponent has the full use of their 5 units.

He really just seems like dead weight to me, especially when the other FCC troop choices are solid.

A Response from Brian Shotton!
Not long after posting this entry on the MERCS forums, Brian Shotton (the lead on the MERCS rules and writer on the rulebook) responded with this:

I love him. I think he is possibly the most underrated MERCS in the entire line-up.

I also think his Machine Pistol owns. FN7 but only short range, means multiple shots in short range or melee. Typical FN for the Liaison are FN3/4/5. I will take two shots at these FN any day of the week. the trump-being able to take multiple shots in melee. This is very rare in MERCS.

Add to the the LDHF barrier (which is better protections than KemVar AC), and Communicator . . .  you got one bad ass perpetrator who's here to stay.

Oh, and his repair is 2+. Sign me up.

This highlights the fact that my playstyle is very conservative - maybe too conservative for the FCC Liaison. I have clearly underestimated his LDHF Barrier, and his potential in close combat for dishing out pain. In either case, more play-testing will be required, and I'll definitely have a good go at playing the Liaison much more aggressively.

Sync out.