Heterodox unit designs

[Nabvrimn]

Wierdest unit I ever designed was a colony pod chopper to get the manifold nexus on an island map.

[Qwerty88]

copper? i use colony pod needlejets a lot to get to manifold nexus, how far away was it?

[Nabvrimn]

too far for a needler but close enough for a chopper to get there before crashing.

[Kirov]

I'm not sure if you can put a colony pod on a jet.

[Qwerty88]

I hope you can, considering I usually use one a bit before mind/machine

[iapetus556]

One unit that has proven particularly powerful in my current game is the lowly Synthmetal Probe Rover.

Mostly because Yang seems (or seemed - he's currently being interogated) to think they are normal probes, so that if I parked one on rocky ground beside one of his cities, he would attack it with his defenders, who would normally die in the process. (The Hive's entire garrison (3x plasma sentinals and a laser/synthmetal squad) died in one turn that way, and he still hadn't replaced them two turns later when one of my missile rovers arrived to take possession of the Command Nexus and Weather Paragdim).




Regarding more exotic units, I tried editing the alphax.txt to allow you to put artillary on aircraft. Despite the manual saying you "obviously" can't do this, I've always thought it seemed quite a realistic way to represent a high-altitude bomber that could damage things from a distance at no risk to itself. (As opposed to the "standard" ground-attack jet making a strafing run, that can completely destroy an enemy but risks damage/destruction itself).

Unfortunately the game simply doesn't recognise aircraft as being able to make bombardments, either by moving into an occupied square (which attacks as normal) or pressing "f" (it thinks you are trying to build a farm).

Which is particularly frustrating, given the cost of an artillary needljet (artillary cost being proportional to movement!).

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Qwerty88


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

arty is not to KILL the natives-- its to weaken them way down so your empath SAM rover wins without taking much damage at all

[Leon Trotsky]

Originally posted by iapetus556
Unfortunately the game simply doesn't recognise aircraft as being able to make bombardments, either by moving into an occupied square (which attacks as normal) or pressing "f" (it thinks you are trying to build a farm).

I'm just curious, do they return fire?

[iapetus556]

Originally posted by Leon Trotsky


I'm just curious, do they return fire?

A needlejet with the "bombard" ability functions exactly the same way as a normal lejet.

If you attack an ordinary unit, it will resolve combat as normal (E.g. Missile Pod vs Plasma Steel = 3/9 chance of attacker taking damage)

If you attack an artillary unit, it will still do normal combat (not an arty duel).

If you press "f", to bring up the Long Range Fire pointer, you will just get the message "Only formers can perform the Cultivate Farm order".

If you try to select Long Range Fire from the "action" menu, you can't - its just not there.


The only differences between a normal jet and a "bombard" jet are:
1) It costs a heck of a lot more.
2) The Unit designer names it as if it was an arty unit ("Missile Battery Mk2", rather than "Missile Needlejet").

[kbarrett]

My pet favorites:

Drop Probe teams, either hovertank probes or standard if I am being cheap.

Submersable Armored Radar Trawlers ( Supply pod foils ) ... Great early warning system.

Armored AAA Former hover tanks ... they don't get picked off easily, and they make great offensive platforms against ( formerly ) seagoing factions.

And of course, the drop Colony Pod from orbit ... followed immediatly by it's drop garrison.

[Nightlifter]

Re: Heterodox unit designs

Originally posted by Leon Trotsky

I then realised the awful truth - a transport won't carry another transport in this game.

even of a different type? a rover transport cant go on a cruiser transport? um... well you could always just use drop pods

[Nightlifter]

Re: Heterodox unit designs

Originally posted by Leon Trotsky

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.

Originally posted by kbarrett

And of course, the drop Colony Pod from orbit ... followed immediatly by it's drop garrison.

eh little late in the game for taht? maybe exeriment with starting a game with bonus high-up techs, like eudomonia and orbital spaceflight. then use these units where they would be the most useful, early game.

perhaps even split them between factions in a PBEM, and see who comes out on top!!!

[Leon Trotsky]

Re: Re: Heterodox unit designs

Originally posted by Nightlifter
perhaps even split them between factions in a PBEM, and see who comes out on top!!!

Yes, I thought of modifying the alpha.txt in order to give the Psi Probe Team to an empath faction from the vey beginning.