What custom units do you use?

[Viriato]

I sometimes use SAM rovers. If needed they can attack air units (2/ turn, 3 if elite) but don't defend first like interceptors. When attacking ground units they don't take 50% penalty behaving like a normal rover.

I've read something about using SAM abilitie with artillery but never tried it myself.

[Muzta]

Airdrop forumers.....yes the ultimate in useless.


hehe kidding, there not that useless

[martian]

PSI Supply - If you've got the Neural Amp, or give it Hypnotic Trance it is rather difficult to take out (say, with a NeedleJet...)

Trance Formers - Didn't come up with this one, but I use it occasionally when the midworms attack. Gotta love the name.

Clean GravShip SuperFormers - The Caddilac (sp?) of formers - work on both land & sea.

And how is a spy ship illogical? The US and probably other nations have employed them in the past.

[Sarxis]

I build police infantry quite a bit (infantry chassis with only hand weapon and non-lethal). This is good for getting rid of drone problems quickly, while keeping expenses down. The unit can later be upgraded if needed.

[The Mad Monk]

I've been experimenting with transport needlejets and transport choppers; the needlejets are near useless, and the choppers are almost near useless. I mean, only one unit transported, and range cut in half, and load only in bases and airbases, and unload only in bases and airbases?!? Any two of the above would have been reasonable, but all four completly hamstringed the usefulness if the units!

We live in a world where airlift capability is extremely important both militarily and commercially, would the future be any different? Especially a world where 'airdrop' capability and 'orbital insertions' are de rigouer?

I've been considering altering this situation, but I don't have decent knowledge of ACs .txt file yet...any suggestions?

[uptons]

My custom units of choice are both ships:

A) My "Missile Submarine"
An armored up destroyer with transport equipment + Carrier deck, + Pressure Hull. A nice piece of equipment. Fill them up with at least one PB and lots of regular missiles for a punch (1 PB/3-4 C.M. works well). Send one to each faction and double-hide them in fungus outside sensor range. Consider accompanying them with a regular Submarine for further protection. Now if the enemy faction is stupid enough to go to war, you hold the fate of their most prized base/s in the missile tube of that Submarine. If the UN Charter has been repealed, feel free to fire away.


B) Repair Carrier (most cheap when running with a Fusion Reactor)

If you like Needlejet + Drop Troops tactics, invest in this. One best-armor Repair-Carrier destroyer filled to capacity with bombers/interceptors on a 2/1 basis (consider bringing a copter or two though). Accompany this flag ship with at least one AAA/SAM cruiser and 2-3 regular battleships.
Also, bring a sea colony pod and a normal transport carrying your crack drop troops.
Enter one unruly faction. Move your CVN task force to the enemy territory and park a short distance off-coast. Build a base, regardless of terrain. Now launch your Needlejet squadrons to wipe out all defenders in your target city(cities?). When you have finished with the garrison, use the sea base to drop your para-soldiers into it/them.

[zsozso]

All kinds of crazy supply combinations (armor, special abilities, rover chasis, copter chassis, needlejet chassis with various reactors). The reason: use them for SPs with upgrades. I.e. build a cheap version of given chassis, upgrade it to some crazy expensive version due to special abilities/armor. This way the total cost is less than building it with those special abilities and hurrying it, furthurmore, it is FAR cheaper than hurrying the SP itself. With this trick, you can 'buy' secret project minerals as cheap as 1.5 energy per mineral, which beats even the cheapest base-facility hurry cost (2 energy per mineral).

Using various (crazy) armor/special ability combinations are also good to achieve specific mineral costs to suite the production capabilities of certain cities (e.g. 50/60/70 minerals), so that you can make perfect productivity transfer from various bases to the SP builder base.

Let me also emphasise the use of infantry probe teams with best-armor as a single defender of a base (nobody else in the base). It is especially useful when you tech and SE settings allow the creation of elite probe teams from scratch (can be achieved pretty early with Miriam/Fundy). Such unit is the universal single defender: strong against traditional attack (best armor+elite morale), also strong against psi attack (elite morale) and also strongly defends against probe actions. It is usualy easier to achieve elite probes than elite combat units out-of-factory, because some techs only increase probe base morale!

[Dragon]

Don't forget the best unit of all -- the Drop Trance heavily armored fission supply crawler. The more expensive the better. Upgrade(downgrade?) a fusion supply crawler to this and you can build most secret projects in a single turn. Same thing works with foil crawlers

Also trance scout infantry -- costs 10 and stops worms as well as anything.

Impact empath needlejets are cheap and kill off attacking native lifeforms.

Late in the game, cheap drop hovertanks are great -- drop them on a continent, then upgrade them to something impressive.

Empath rovers are good if you're hunting mind worms for profit.

Really cheap cruisers are useful for capturing sea bases after you've killed off all the defenders from the air. Cheap amphibious units, perhaps with some armor or police ability, are also useful for capturing coastal cities if you are relying on airpower to do most of the heavy work.

And of course if there are Usurpers or Caretakers in the game you want X needlejets and X choppers to wipe them out quickly.

[optimus2861]

quote: Originally posted by The Mad Monk on 01-27-2001 12:41 PM I've been experimenting with transport needlejets and transport choppers; the needlejets are near useless, and the choppers are almost near useless. I mean, only one unit transported, and range cut in half, and load only in bases and airbases, and unload only in bases and airbases?!?

Funny, I recently built a chopper transport to haul a scout hovertank over to an unclaimed island that had a few pods on it to pop; said island was some distance away from my nearest coastal base. I was able to unload the tank, though I had to go to the "Actions" menu and use the "Unload Cargo" command to accomplish it. Other than that, you're right: air transport units are virtually worthless. Drop pods are more effective for one-way trips, and for mass transport, stick to the seas.

- Ian Merrithew

[Skanderbeg]

I know about that thing of upgrading crawlers to very expensive things, but doesn't have it the foul smell of cheating?
I never do it because it would give me unfair advantage against the AI.
I BUILD expensive crawlers as a movable savings bank, but I don't upgrade crawlers.


"Steelborn, Starborn"

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Optimus and Mad Monk,

The utility of an air borne transport preferably a chopper transport is that it gives you the ability to move a probe team (yes only one) deep behind the lines. Whats more as Optimus described the approach to unload this sucker is use the key strokes. Whats more you never have to deal with that annoying drop restriction in the presence of air units and/or aero complexes.

Probe team used in combo with this are invaluable as the range of the probe team is greatly extended inland from where otherwise one might only be able to use foil probe teams. Imagine the surprise when you probe an inland base that has housed an arsenal of PBs or subverting that Zak base with Virtual World Sp. Fun for the whole family!

This is by no mean to be considered an efficient means of starting an invasion but is a nice 'Delta force' insertion route for single units that can make a difference (i.e. probe teams).

Og

[Sarxis]

Yup.

[zsozso]

Ogie,

You are absolutely right about the value of such probe insertion. Just one more advantage to mention there over a drop-probe: copter/plane transported probes can move in the same turn (and without losing any energy), while dropped probes have to sit their defensless for a turn, making it very easy for the opponent to kill them (unless heavily armored).

On the other hand, I'd say it is kinda cheating, because it is quite obviously exploitation of a bug - you were not supposed to be able to unload units from flying transports...
Although this can be debated strongly, i.e. why not ? Especially from a copter, which lands at the end of the turn, meaning that it is sitting on the ground.

I would consider fair if you could only undload from copter, not from plane. But in that case it would be better if worked from both ways (moving the unit or using the right-click menu or key-combination).

Zsozso

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Zso,

You are absolutely correct. The use of the air transport can be considered dubious. I think its incredibly neat tho' to have those probe teams rolling out of the choppers (kinda reminds me of Navy Seals). I also think it realstic (yeah I know one should never apply realism arguements to a Scifi TBS game) In a PBEM game one would definitely have to clear it with others.

By the by, Patent rights on onload technique are of course being made payable to ZSO incorporated. Glad to have you back.

Og
[This message has been edited by Ogie Oglethorpe (edited January 30, 2001).]

[Deimos]

Ah, another Heinlein fan I see. Allow me to compliment you on your fine taste in classic sci-fi authors