Police Unit

[Mead]

Re: Police Unit

Originally posted by HongHu
Ok since police units can have the same anti-drones effect of rec commons plus they can defend the base too, supposely you don't need to build rec commons if you've got the police units right? Now my questions is that do people simply build them after they have the tech or they normally upgrade the scout? Somehow when I tried to upgrade, the cost is higher then build a new one. Is that true or did I do something wrong?

I usually use both Clean Police Units and Rec Commons. I usually run my SE at 0% for Psych unless I need some help to manage my Drones. I will often allot some energy to Psych for a few turns after I build the Cloning Vats.

One thing I note about Police Units, particularly Clean Reactor ones, is that they require no further resources to do their job. Rec Commons require 1 energy per turn for maintenance. A Clean Police Unit requires nothing after it is built and parked in a city.


Mead

[Chaos Theory]

A clean cop costs 20 minerals before industry, the equivalent of 40 energy.

A rec commons costs 40 minerals (80 energy) plus 1 energy per turn. It does at least as good a job as a cop aside from the cost, unless you also have a +3 police rating.

Free Market (for non-Yang, Cha, Dee, and to some extent Morgan) will give more than 1 extra energy per turn at each base, after inefficiency.

The extra cost of a rec commons (40 energy up front) is offset pretty quickly by the extra energy.

For Yang, I wholeheartedly agree that clean cops rock.

[UnityScoutChopper]

Chaos,

RC - 2 drones quelled.
Cleancop - 2 drones quelled.

So no, an RC doesn't do at least as good a job as a cop - it does exactly as good a job as a cop, twice as good as a pre-II cop however. It's available earlier than cleancops, but before the switch to Demo, a large percentage of cops will be "clean" anyway. And they cost 10 minerals, thus a mere fourth of an RC, and they can protect bases and CP's from worms, and they can be upgraded to real defenders if invaded, and they can head out pod-popping in their spare time, and and and.

Having tried both FM starts and Planned starts extensively, I'd say -- both have very strong strong points (cops being Planned's strongest point, and the huge energy boost indeed FM's strongest point), and it's definitely not a cut-and-dried thing.

USC

[Chaos Theory]

A rec commons does a better job than a cop when you already have as many police as you are allowed (which is 0 units under FM).

Early "cops" (1-1-1 units) only do half as good a job as rec commons, and they will often not be effectively clean, since highly-desirable formers are chewing up the free support slots in each base.

If you send your cops out to kill things or pop pods, then they stop quelling drones in their original bases, and so must be replaced. If, instead, you use rec commons, you can't move them from base to base, but you can rush-buy a rec commons in your new base for ~60 energy if you aren't yet running demo, or for ~90 energy over two turns if you are.

The upgradability of cops is useful, but again, you'll need to replace them soon if they stop being cops or leave to fight a war. If your empire has an interior, then you have no need of immediate defense in there against other players. You should either have sensors or formers in the area - sensors prevent random worms and formers make adequate defenders in a pinch.

Aside from Yang/Dee/Cha, I use FM early for the tremendous raw energy boost unless I have a compelling reason not to - nearby enemies or a real worm problem. With the extra energy from FM/Wealth, I can buy rec commons where needed without trouble, cancelling the extra energy, but preserving the extra labs. Planned chokes my energy too soon with the -2 efficiency (Dee and Aki excluded), especially on larger maps.

[Pandir]

I love police unit I always use my police units for base defense. You can produce one basic scout police per turn and they can be upgraded in time of need.