Heterodox unit designs

[Leon Trotsky]

Just a thought, it may be interesting to share the most bizarre specimens that came out of your workshops. Moderators, feel free to get this thread burned, seared, and sterilized until every hiding place is found and until every last reply, every last slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk.


Psi Destroyer Probe Team
(Red Alert II Yuri Commando)

Turn the already naughty Probe Teams into naval powerhouses. Best carried out at sea since there you won't get the three to one defence penalty. By the time you get Psi Armour, your Probe Teams will start out with elite status. Even the bombastic Singularity Battleship won't stand a chance against a swarm of relatively cheap, supportless and droneless Psi Probe Teams. AI always falls on this one.

Disadvantages:
Its prerequisites, of course. Eudaimonia comes so late in the game that this psychic crackers won't change the course of the game. It's a fun gambit to do anyway.



APC

I originally intended to use heavily armoured rovers to carry infantry into the battlefield. The movement drop and huge cost of such a unit provet that stunt unpractical.

I then attemped to reuse the idea in a diferent context - to unload infantry from sea transports, thus enabling them to attack in the same turn pre Amphibious Pods. I then realised the awful truth - a transport won't carry another transport in this game. The apc remained in the same ocean tile as I moved the sea transport away to glory. I have yet to experiment using them as coastal barriers to defend shores; as they actually are ground units, they shouldn't be destroyed by sea units (however, what prevents sea units from destroying a land unit may be the fact that it is on a land square, I have to check that out).

[Mr. President]

AAA Formers with Plasma Armor. Hey, if you'd had the same game I had, with Lal spamming as many needlejets as he was, you would have built some too.

[Petek]

Hi LT!,

Here are three old threads which discuss "favorite units":

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7658

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19694

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22948

Hope you find these useful.

EDIT: Corrected links

[Leon Trotsky]

Thanks, comrade. I'm feeling quite moronic right now. It surprised me not to find a custom unit thread in an Alpha Centauri forum, I should have looked for that archives. Oh well...



I haven't found another bizarre unit I sometimes make, so here it goes:

SAM site
Infantry with Heavy Artillery and Air Superiority, after your bases are likned via magtubes. From time to time, I make one of these (especially if I have a high support rating, and I'm in war with another high-support faction). Occasionally the AI will send several air units to a single tile (usually when wiping out your poor formers -sob- or due to flawed pathfinding), in that case you can bombard them before engaging in air combat. Not that useful, but quite fun to pull off.

[GeoModder]

Actually, I did see that unit in the first of those links.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Mr. President
AAA Formers with Plasma Armor. Hey, if you'd had the same game I had, with Lal spamming as many needlejets as he was, you would have built some too.

You can't put AAA on a unit that doesn't have a weapon.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Sikander


You can't put AAA on a unit that doesn't have a weapon.

hmm you can't ??-- I have been playing modded scenarios so much lately that I forget the general rules since I absolutely DO have a <8> former in my current scenario created by Chaos Theory

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Leon Trotsky
Thanks, comrade. I'm feeling quite moronic right now. It surprised me not to find a custom unit thread in an Alpha Centauri forum, I should have looked for that archives. Oh well...



I haven't found another bizarre unit I sometimes make, so here it goes:

SAM site
Infantry with Heavy Artillery and Air Superiority, after your bases are likned via magtubes. From time to time, I make one of these (especially if I have a high support rating, and I'm in war with another high-support faction). Occasionally the AI will send several air units to a single tile (usually when wiping out your poor formers -sob- or due to flawed pathfinding), in that case you can bombard them before engaging in air combat. Not that useful, but quite fun to pull off.

Actually SAM artillery can be HUGELY useful if you want to be a big polluter as it just decimates locusts. In games where I am polluting heavily I will build 2-3 of these units. It can be great to arty the natives down to minimal health and then use some empath units to kill kill kill.

[xalien]

You can't put AAA on a non-combat unit in SMACX, unless you change rules back yourself. I guess it was fixed together with cheap air unit armor, free prototyping and other stuff.

[Leon Trotsky]

Mental note: even though you can give the ECM ability to your probe teams, it will yield no benefit.

[Darsnan]

A few of my favorite things.....

Heres some of my favorite units that I've cooked up:


This unit is a rover probe team that can also use arty. It is also an NL unit so can move thru fungus at normal speed. Real nasty to contend with:
Kra-Lek Expediter, Speeder, Psi, Psi, 11, 3, 0, Bioadap, -1, 10000001100011000000000100100

Another probe, this one fielded on a hovertank chassis. Note that it has Psi armor, as well as AA in order to take out those pesky human NJ's:

Probe Hovertank, Hovertank,Probe Team, Psi, 11, 3, 0, MindMac, -1, 10000100010000000000100000


Another hovertank chassis with shard weapon. It also has AA:

Shard Behemoth, Hovertank,Shard, Probability,0, 4, 0, Space, -1, 00000100110001000100110100

A group of missiles. The Scud Missile is pretty self explanatory. The other two are fun to have to contend with:

Scud Missile, Missile, Conventional, Scout, 0, 3, 0, Viral, -1, 01000000100000000000000000000
Fungal Missile, Missile, Fungal, 3-Res, -1, 3, 0, Fossil, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Tectonic Missile, Missile, Tectonic, 3-Res, -1, 3, 0, Fossil, -1, 00000000000000000000000000

The DRACa (Drop Re-Entry Assault Carrier - armored) MK3. This is a missile chassis with drop pods (yes, the pods show up on the chassis onscreen) that can carry other units. I used this unit to simulate an orbital assault on a planet in one of my scenarios I cooked up:

DRACa MK3, Missile, Conventional, 3-Res, 0, 0, 6, Disable, -1, 00000100000000010000010000


D

[Kataphraktoi]

Originally posted by Flubber


Actually SAM artillery can be HUGELY useful if you want to be a big polluter as it just decimates locusts. In games where I am polluting heavily I will build 2-3 of these units. It can be great to arty the natives down to minimal health and then use some empath units to kill kill kill.

SAM arty? Empath units? What are those?
I use my trusty scout patrols...
And Rover Rick.


I dont use premade units much...
But i like making variety of hovertank+antigrav cloaked drop units for the ultimate in long range assault. They can sneak in and make bases for easier orbital insertion. I was going to use some in BE2 but then i realized i had so many more stronger units i might as well bash down the front door instead

[Leon Trotsky]

Synthmetal ECM Probe Team (Infantry chassis)

Cost (fission)- 40

Provides protection against covert ops and defense without support cost, though it does not act as police. Also can subvert lone besiegers. Works better with Morgan.

Note: the ECM affects conventional combat only - it does not give any benefit against rover (default) probe teams. Without the ECM it costs the same as a standard probe team (24) but armored probe teams aren't news here.

[iapetus556]

1-1-1 drop troops.

Brilliant for helping maintain your momentum in a blitzkrieg war.


I've also recently come to love [best]-1-2 amphibious rovers - two powerful attacks from a transport against units on the shore, or they can land and move inland rapidly to attack weekly-defended bases and stacks.


And of course anything that the AI doesn't know how to use or counter, particularly probe and supply foils/cruisers.

[Qwerty88]

Originally posted by Flubber


Actually SAM artillery can be HUGELY useful if you want to be a big polluter as it just decimates locusts. In games where I am polluting heavily I will build 2-3 of these units. It can be great to arty the natives down to minimal health and then use some empath units to kill kill kill.

why sam artilary? can't non sam unit still attack locus? one empath rover would seem cheep, and artillery isn't that good against native anyways as killing one kills the stack, its the weekness of planet