To clarify, the 'basic self-repair' refers to the SELF_HEAL tag. All NEXUS units have it, in addition to the Hospital effect granted by the Core and the Machine Shop effect granted by the Machine Plant.
Allied Legion infantry get SELF_HEALing too.
If I'm not mistaken so too do some other units. Mostly the super units of all sides. But the bulk of the healing powah goes to NEXUS. Let's face it, if he didn't have it his units wouldn't be strong enough to stand up to anything. They're, by and large, weaker than their AL/FL counterparts in terms of armour. Yes, NX is spammable but that's the point. AL and FL have to think smarter and harder to counter it. Trust me, it's not hard - an all-out attack by NX on your unit horde can be easily countered by simply running away. Let him come to your base when
all your units are there and see how he likes full-bore firepower. Once his huuge cluster is gone you're basically free to blast his base. Hard.
How can I be sure of this? Because for all his bells-and-whistles fancy plasma arty and stuff, his weapons are not quite as strong as those of the AL and FL. Allow me to elaborate.
FL antitank power is a complete rapefest. Tank Hunters fuck everything up, even in late game (ok they're not tanks so they don't take a lot of damage but neither are they infestable by NEXUS and they're so ridiculously cheap they're probably worth more than the amount of devastators you can build with the same money), and the Mantis is being massively upgraded. Might not've been quite what you wanted in 1.99 but it could take down just about anything in one hit. They also have the Kirov Gunship in late game. And Hellstorm cannons. I guarantee you that, while not quite the most powerful, they're the
best defence in the game. If you spam a few rebel gunners and turn them into Gargs (for the greater good
) your defence just got even stronger.
AL have the best primary tank in the game in the Marauder, and have Guardians who are completely invincible en-masse except against air units or something like the Annihilator. Condors and Comanches provide all the defence you need to stop the NEXUS tide. And I haven't mentioned the Chrono Legionnaires or Towers or the new Cryo Tank.
Osiris doesn't get the healing buffs. Osiris has firepower and armour. That's it. If she masses, she can steamroll you but her stuff's so expensive massing is hard. Plus it's not like you haven't got time to prepare if an Ontos is coming. You're waiting til early next week for it to get to your base. Just make a few Chrono Prisons and poof! Cr5000 gone, probably losing 1 Prison in the process...so that's about Cr2500 if I remember right. If you're FL, just spam. It can't turn so you can basically dance it to death if you're good. If not, numbers will kill it. Battle APCs with tank hunters rip it to shreds. If you're NEXUS, infest it with terror drone and let it walk right into your laser defences. But Osiris probably have the hardest time defending against nexus too - the numbers can be overwhelming, but Osiris will win a pitched battle against two-to-one or better odds without blinking. Add Isis Shieldcasters to the mix and things get even more groovy!
So it's not like you don't have options...I have my own thoughts on who is the strongest side overall (and yes, it's probably NEXUS although it depends who you're fighting and how they're fighting) but it's certainly possible for any side to win. Yes, the healing sploit made things a bit more imba than they needed to be but that changes and playing field is once more level.
Edited by Paradox, 24 March 2008 - 12:45 PM.
