1. Link teams are king in 200 points. In 300 points you can afford to bring the kind of face-stomping HIs and TAGs that can waltz through a link team, but in 200 points such units are rare and this means that getting lucky with a link team firing at +3BS +1B from an advantageous position because more game-breaking. Link teams also give you tremendous economy with orders, especially if you have a specialist in there. This is critical when getting to even 8 orders can be tough.
I haven't quite decided whether you want to have a 3-man rock link of HIs or something similar (like a link of MSV2 troops) or a 5-man link of cheap troops. I'm leaning towards the second unless you have some way to get a big order pool on the cheap (like Kuang Shi). A 5-man link turns line troops into scary motherfuckers, which is great economy, which is what you want in 200 points.
2. Specialists should be cheap and/or multi-purpose. This is where ISS falls down because you have to take a Sophotect. In 300 points Sophotects are amazing - WIP15 and 6-4MOV with engineer and doctor makes for a slick package. But in 200 points having to pay 31 to only get a single specialist with a combi-rifle is painful, and then there's another 3 points for the Yudbot so you don't have to expose the Sophotect until she makes a sprint for the objective on turn 3.
An example of a multi-purpose specialist is a Celestial Guard hacker who fulfils the specialist role and pads out a link team, while also bringing some utility thanks to the general hacking device (notably protecting your Wu Ming FO or remotes).
3. Getting a camo-token game going when you're not playing Ariadna is tough without relying heavily on combi-rifles for damage, so better to bring MSVs instead. This is doubly true if you have access to smoke or expect your opponent to bring that noise. If you don't have an answer to smoke it can completely destroy you by taking away your reactive turn, so best to have at least 1 defensive unit with an MSV2.
4. Protecting yourself against all the Shenanigans in the game is tough in 200 points, so don't bother much with the ones that can't be fit into 200 points. TAGs are super hard to work into 200 points, AD troops give bad economy in the order pool, as do TO Camo units and guided missile units (too many orders to fire a shot). Hackers are unlikely to have support. The main thing you need to be able to defend against is link teams, which is basically all about smoke (though Haqqislam links can get around that) and snipers that can ping the leader. Mines are helpful as well.
These are the lists I'm working with at the moment, though I probably won't try them until the tournament is confirmed to be at 200 points again (in May, haha! I plan early).
List 1 - Celestial Guard Link Team:
CG (lt.) with combi-rifle
CG (hacker) with hacking device, combi
CG with KS control device, combi, smoke launcher
CG with MULTI sniper rifle
CG with combi-rifle
Sophotect with combi-rifle, d-charges
Bao troop with MULTI sniper rifle
Wu Ming FO with boarding shotgun
Sforza with viral rifle, adhesive launcher, holo L2, X-visor
9 bodies, 199 points, 4SWC
This is a pretty defensive list. You have two snipers, one with an MSV to see through any smoke you or your enemy would drop. You have the full 5 man link so your CGs are BS14 and firing B3/2 with the sniper rifle on offence/defence respectively. These bonuses make their combi rifles actually a bit fierce. There are no Kuang Shi but I smoke just breaks so many armies that I think it's worth having for the 0.5SWC. You can basically end someone's active turn with a well placed smoke grenade, and firing at BS14+3range makes it hard to fail.
You have 3 specialists - the hacker, the Sophotect and the Wu Ming, which is pretty good for 200 points, especially as the Wu Ming is tough and the hacker will probably get some free movement towards objectives thanks to the link team. The Sophotect is super quick, which allows her to move out rapidly on the last turn to grab objectives, which she will often only have to ping once because she has WIP15. Likewise, the hacker is WIP14, so you're pretty reliable to beep-the-boop.
In terms of getting forward, most of the work will be done by Sforza and the Wu Ming, who have some durability thanks to decent stats and either ARM4 or Holo L2. The Celestial Guard will probably assault a bit, but they need to stay back to keep the sniper out of trouble, and their guns aren't exactly full of damage. I suspect that on the first active turn I will use the snipers a lot to kill things I can see (MSV2 and 5-man link should give me the edge in long range) while Sforza and the Wu Ming go up in cover. Sforza is decent at range too thanks to his x-visor. Once the Wu Ming is at short range he should have the advantage against most targets with BS13 and a shotgun. He will do the early scoring and the Sophotect the late game scoring.
Note that smoke helps get around total reaction bots with HMGs, which are the go-to cheap defensive unit in low points games. As we will see in the next list:
List 2 - Kuang Shi link team cheering on the remotes:
GROUP 1
Sophotect
Yudbot
Rui Shi with spitfire, MSV2
Lu Duan with MK12, Heavy flamerthrower, MSV1, Holo L2
Yaokong Husong with total reaction, HMG, 360 visor
Celestial Guard with KS control device, combi, grenade launcher
Kuang Shi with chain rifle
Kuang Shi with chain rifle
Kuang Shi with chain rifle
Kuang Shi with chain rifle
Sforza with viral rifle, adhesive launcher, Holo L2, x-visor
GROUP 2
Yaokong Weibing FO with combi, sniffer, repeater, sensor, sat-lock, deactivator
Zhangying (Lt.) with breaker combi-rifle, sensor, nimbus grenades, e-pulse
200 points and 2.5 SWC
When in a link team the Kuang Shi lose the extremely part of their impetuousness, so you can cancel the compulsory move. This makes them phenomenal cheerleaders. Here they supply orders to a bevy of small but effective attacks units, including the MSV2 equipped Rui Shi who can benefit from the smoke launcher of the celestial Guard, and the Lu Duan and Sforza who both pack holo L2. Meanwhile, defence is taken care of by the Husong reaction bot. You can usually stand a Yudbot or the Sophotect behind it and get cover from its bulk so you can repair it if it gets hit. With WIP15 there is a good chance it will get back up. The Zhangying protects your backfield with sixth sense Lvl2 while the Yaokong joins the attack team to claim objectives with clear mines. On a tight board full of terrain you should also be able to get the Zhangying on the attack and use his nimbus grenades to block off line of fire.
The weakness of this list is that it only has 2 specialists - the Weibing and the Sophotect. The Sophotect in particular is very important for healing the remotes that do so much of the heavy lifting. Still, with the Yudbot and the number of threat vectors you should hopefully be able to keep your opponent distracted long enough for them to survive to make late game sprints to objectives. Just remember to activate the sensors as you move so you don't trigger a thermo-optic camo unit and lose your specialist right when it counts. If you suspect a TO camo unit then try to think about where it might be and activate the sensor from nearby as you get close. People tend to deploy these guys in doorways and behind vending machines and other 90 degree corners where they can get a shotgun off and delay your advance down a flank from cover.
This list is a little bit weaker on open terrain boards but very strong on dense boards.
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