Can the Cunning Hares party like it's 2023? (Cunning Hares vs Adam Smasher)

[Naito-desu]

Now that the last profile is up, I can finally do my dream match-up

• Adam Smasher is in his Dai Oni Body key
• Speeds are equalized
• Standard equipment is given, Anby is Soldier 0
• The Cunning Hares are given prior knowledge of Adam Smasher
• The battle takes place in the Lumina Square
• 10 meters
• SBA otherwise

You look like a cut of f***able meat (0.18654370446 tons of TNT):
Starlight Knight, Soldier 0, Nicole Demara, and a cat eat burgers after (0.0225 tons of TNT):

 

[Shadowslash125]

Adam Smasher is 9x stronger than everyone else here, and the hares' status effects don't take effect fast enough, either. His jamming field would almost immediately take Billy out of the fight entirely (or at worst daze him enough to be killed swiftly). Nicole would pose the most threat with her Ether case, but the next problem arises here. They're outranged by Smasher, whether by his normal weaponry or his railgun. Prior Knowledge wouldn't matter as much as the hares would think, as any cover can be done in by explosions, and it doesn't help that they're fighting in Smasher's home turf.
Skill-wise, idk much about the three, but Smasher also leaves them in the dust. He's able to stalemate Morgan Blackhand of all people, and is arguably as skilled if not more so than Kenichi Zaburo, who also stalemated the latter.
Yea, this is either a very big stomp favouring Smasher, or an extremely decisive win on his end.

 

[Naito-desu]

I was hoping the Ether Corruption would even the odds, honestly, but the AP gap is as I feared. I could modify the arena and range for them, or add Nekomiya Mana to complete the Cunning Hares. Don't care who wins but I'd like it to be viable at least

 

[Shadowslash125]

add Nekomiya Mana to complete the Cunning Hares

More meat for the slaughterhouse

I could modify the arena and range for them

This can work. What do you have in mind?

 

[Naito-desu]

Lumina Square, so familiar home turf for the Cunning Hares. Reduce the range to maybe 10 meters, and maybe give the Cunning Hares prep?

 

[Shadowslash125]

Lumina Square, so familiar home turf for the Cunning Hares. Reduce the range to maybe 10 meters, and maybe give the Cunning Hares prep?

I guess that could work.
Wait, important question, wouldn't the W-Engines be affected by Smasher's jamming field?

 

[Naito-desu]

I don't think so, based on the description (ECM), it only really jams comms, so it's not really effective at disabling technology per se, just anything that needs a signal or radio. W-Engines are Ether tech and mostly just empower the user.

 

[Shadowslash125]

One thing being taken out of his home turf brings is the fact that Smasher can go all out without needing to worry about destroying everything in his sights. Hence, his ATGMs and railguns can come out in this fight rather easily, and the railgun's higher speed gives him the edge when he uses it. The jammer just jamming signals means that Billy is not deadweight in this match, although everyone can still be one-tapped by a single stray bullet. What I fail to notice is that Anby's entire kit revolves around electricity... And Smasher has resistance to that. So she might as well take Billy's position. Another problem is that only half the squad has only tens of meters range, while the other half is melee range, which would mean that only Billy and Nicole can go firefight in the firelight with the full borg.

EDIT: I realised you still put them at SBA range.

And Billy just does the danmaku that tickles Smasher before meeting an ATGM or some other explosion in the face. This leaves Nicole as the sole saving grace of the team, depending on how fast Ether acts up if Smasher gets hit with it. Her ether projectiles are quite noticeable (especially the field). She might receive a railgun to the face, if anything.

This feels like a gamemaster chucking Adam Smasher at this cyberpunk party as the ultimate punishment for messing with Arasaka. They'll most likely end up as another cautionary tale in the Boogeyman of Night City's long list of them.

(Also, our Cyberpunk stuff is pretty lacking in parts and just have 4 characters. Although, we do have to check the other gamebooks to even expand Cyberpunk, so there's that).

 

[Naito-desu]

I realised you still put them at SBA range.

Fixed, and I guess the rest does apply.

Ether Corruption doesn't have a super strong effect in gameplay, only increasing damage received. However, Nicole has only ever fought those with slight Ether resistance, so we can be generous and say it's fast-acting if Adam Smasher decides to linger in her black holes, which we know he wouldn't. The rest would tickle Smasher, yeah.

Shock resistance means Anby would be pretty weak or struggle to get electricity build-up. Nekomiya might better prosper getting Physical Attacks in. Nicole and Billy doing potshots from afar.

Also I just realized they don't have a team page that we can put this match-up on if it even gets the votes, which it might not but still

 

[Naito-desu]

Update, added the team page

Cunning Hares

The Cunning Hares, officially Gentle House, is a human resource dispatch agency and a faction in Zenless Zone Zero. It was founded by Nicole Demara. The Cunning Hares were formed as a small-scale human resource dispatch agency, their main business to deal with commissions relating to Hollows...

vsbattles.fandom.com

 

[OrangeFR]

I think smasher might win still