#jotum

Size and armour:

The biggest factor differentiating the two. Gecko is the smallest, lightest and cheapest TAG in the game (technically Scarface is cheaper, but comes with a Cordelia tax), with only ARM5, silhouette 6 and costing 53-54pts by loadout. Jotum is the polar opposite, costing a whopping 103pts, with ARM10 and silhouette 7. Neither of them have any kind of movement abilities (aside from terrain ones, Zero-G for Gecko, Mountain for Jotum), so they’re both grounded, heavy bullies. Jotum is the toughest of all the PanO TAGs and Gecko cannot compete with that, however, despite being a TAG, Gecko is often classified as super-heavy infantry. Points-wise its competitors are not Iguana, Lizard or Szalamandra, but SWAST Taskmaster and Kriza Borac. Since both of them are actually HI rather than TAGs, Gecko is the toughest in its class, thanks to the extra point of Structure to their two Wounds.

Weapons:

Gecko has two different loadouts, but both of them follow the same principle Jotum is armed by as well. It’s a high Burst primary weapon, a Direct Template secondary weapon and a disposable Anti-tank tertiary weapon, with no CC skills or armaments.

Again it all comes down to scale: Gecko is armed either with (pretty laughable) double Combi Rifle or (more respectable) Mk12 as its primary. They are both medium-range high burst weapons, with Mk12 also having decent damage. Jotum’s main weapon is a MULTI HMG, a gun only outclassed by Autocannon and HMC. It has high damage, a long range and AP/Shock rounds to choose from, and can also fire an Explosive round if needed be. But the main principle is the same: high Burst weapon to use in the Active Round.

The secondaries are the same for both Geckos: Chain Colt. It gives him a Direct Template option to use against Camo markers or multiple enemies without rolling. Jotum has the same, except it’s a Heavy Flamethrower. While Fire ammo is much better than Chain Colt’s Normal, in most cases the difference comes down to Large Teardrop vs Small Teardrop.

With tertiary it gets interesting, as Geckos actually outclass the Jotum here: Panzerfaust and Blitzen are both longer ranged than Jotum’s D.E.P. and have two rounds to his one. They have a similar use though: to be used when caught by something heavy outside favorable range. Because main Gecko weapons are so short ranged, Panzerfaust/Blitzen give them something to use against, say, an enemy Jotum firing from an HMG. Similarly if a Gecko would get close enough to a Jotum for the HMG to become unwieldy, the D.E.P. will make short work of it, as the effective range is the same as Gecko’s Combis and similar to Mk12 (which actually can put a dent in it). Jotum does have the extra EXP shot on the HMG though.

Battlefield role:

As surprising as this may sound, both Gecko and Jotum serve the same role on the battlefield: they’re “frontline” TAGs. Their main purpose is to eat Orders, get in position and hail bullets on the enemy. Now Jotum can reach more units effectively thanks to greater range and special ammo, but in Infinity most targets are squishy Infantry anyway, and Infantry dies to MULTI HMG rounds just as well as they do to double Combi ones.

But the scale difference persist: a Jotum easily takes more than a third of a list, both in points and SWC. It’s tough, because if it dies, your army loses most of its teeth. A Gecko takes only 50+ points and either no or only 0.5SWC, thus being more disposable and letting other units take heavy weapons. The fact that the pilot has two Assault Pistols kind of point to the fact that the Gecko will probably not survive, but the Pilot is designed to still fight to the death himself, while Jotum is equipped with the crappy Crabbot.

(arguably the pilot is deadlier outside the Gecko with a double Combi profile)

However the principle is the same, only the scale is different. A Gecko or a Jotum is supposed to go forward and kill as much as possible before it dies. And maybe take an objective, but that’s an option, not main goal.

“But Smagg”, you say, “Fireteam: Duo was designed with Geckos in mind! You’re supposed to use them in pairs, even in vanilla!”

To which I reply: