Name: Ravager
Cost: $4500
Side: Scrin
Special power type: Reinforcement
Tier: 4
ERA: Kane's Wrath
Base Asset: EA (with additional XML coding from me)
Gameplay
The Ravager Pods support power is available once a Signal transmitter has been built, and costs $4500 to use.
It is very similar to the Shock pods support power in Kane's Wrath. It will instantly warp in 3 squads of Ravagers to the target location.
There are some important things to realise. Firstly, you cannot buy Ravager squads from the Scrin Portal (barracks), so the Ravager pods support power is one of the simpler ways of obtaining Ravagers (you can also get a single Ravager squad from selling a Warp Chasm or Terraforming Nexus).
While the primary purpose of this support power was to provide a simple method to obtain Ravagers for the Hexapod, the fact that the support power warps in instantly to any location mean that it has practical uses in general battle tactics.
My general feeling on the Ravagers is that they were in the tradition of infantry that were overpriced for their ability and survivability. The Ravager is good against all ground targets, but only excels against infantry.
For its price, it needs more survivability against 'GUN' type damage, and without this it ends up being a very niche unit.
The Traveller version has extra usability thanks to the speed upgrade. But even that is mainly used to get the Ravagers into position for their single great 'trick' (Tiberium agitation ability), or to beat a fast retreat when the Ravagers face any sustained 'GUN'-damage dealing unit.
Tiberium Agitation
This is the only reason that using Ravagers outside of a Hexapod could be worthwhile, but even then, it is still a lot more difficult to use then it should be. This is due to the long pause before firing, and the fact that the Ravagers will interrupt the power to attack a different target, which will often cause issues.
I have found that you can avoid this issue by:
- Go into the 'HOLD_FIRE' stance (Alt+f).
- Use the Tiberium Agitation on your intended target.
- Once the the beams have fired, return to a normal stance, so your Ravagers will automatically attack the enemy.
The Tiberium agitation power does massive damage to any structure or vehicle which contains tiberium.
The three squads that you get from the support power will kill a harvester, and\or leave a refinery with hardly any health ('and\or' because the damage that is dealt is area of effect, so if you target a harvester that is docked at a refinery, you will damage both at the same time, indeed if harvesters are bunched up, it is possible to kill many of them in a single use of the ability!).
Harvester destroyed, massive damage to the refinery!
Because you can warp in next to the desired target, a lot of the issues with the Ravagers are bypassed. You can use the element of surprise to remove the ability of your opponent to build counters for the Ravagers before you have done extensive damage.
Obviously economic harassment is the most obvious choice for the ability. As discussed above, if possible, it is preferable to target a Harvester that is docked, or tightly bunched groups of harvesters, so you can maximise the damage you are doing with the ability (it will depend on whether you have been spotted or not, whether you can briefly wait for your enemies harvester to dock).
Some nice damage!
However if you are facing a Scrin opponent, then a Terraforming Nexus is a good target for the Tiberium agitation ability, or the Missile silo if you are facing Nod (be warned that you will not destroy a Missile silo with 3 Ravager squads using the Tiberium agitation ability).
To simplify, the element of surprise, and the extra seconds that this buys you, means that there are actually practical uses for the Ravagers now.
Blue Shards
The Ravagers can benefit from the Blue shards upgrade. This provides a modest damage boost, but does not address the survivability issues.
However it is better than nothing, and you would be getting the Blue shards for all the other units and structures that it upgrades, not just for the Ravagers.
