RedSky1335

Hm, i like that deployable Archelon ability idea. Nanoswarm mines could be really cool, or maybe a "nova" of nanobots similar to Epsilon Adept's deploy ability. It'd probably have to leave the vehicle disabled for a few seconds; maybe that's when it could get temporary mind control immunity?

Either way, it seems that we have a solid consensus that the Archelon needs some love. Everything else is so badass and then you have the dinky Archelon. Looking at the role of stolen tech units, a pattern is very clear- they're mostly anti-unit with mild effectiveness vs. infantry armor, generally ineffective vs. structures, and then you have the specialists like Grumbler and Archelon. Archelon's offensive ability is limited completely to clumps of infantry, using its stealth to get in range and take shots. That alone wasn't enough for a stolen tech unit, so I think they made it an infantry healer in hopes of making it more unique and competitive with other stolen units, but it just comes up short. Compare it to the Sickle, which shares the inability to attack buildings, but has a personal Iron Curtain, super fast, and a weapon that annihilates infantry in groups (a lot like Morales' sniper rifle) as well as quickly frying lighter-medium vehicles, even performing well against heavy vehicles in numbers.

I kind of thought the Foehn's stolen Epsilon tech would be a combo of nano tech + gravity tech, rather than nano+stealth. Foehn isn't a stealthy faction, so it's kind of out of place. Imagine something like... an Athena Cannon platform, but instead of calling down Mercury strikes it fires down magnetic bursts like the support power. Damages/immobilizes vehicles for a few seconds, good vs. buildings, doesn't affect infantry unless they can be EMP'ed (Knightframes, Tesla Troopers, etc.) and is very fragile. Has a deploy ability which disables for several seconds after generating a nanobot cloud which slowly heals any Foehn that enter and damages enemy infantry that touch it. Something like this is balanced with weaknesses and the power we expect from stolen tech, the versatility needs to come at a steep price. It'll probably just remain a stinker that goes relatively unused, unfortunately.

I think Grumble isn't very popular because you can't do much with it, it is basically a mobile AA turret. Other vehicles allow you to harass your opponent, while Grumble is just "now sit there and wait until they attack" kind of unit. Sure, you can use it in offence too, but it is somewhat risky. Also, it can only attack air target, which limits its possible use (while Phantasms can wipe out anything but buildings, for example). As for Archelons, I don't know, they might be effective infantry killers, but you can easily lose them to Adepts, and it is a very big risk to use them against Psi-Corps. They can only handle infantry spam, and even then, they don't nullify Brute blobs in seconds, so they aren't really impressive in that role I think.

Maybe if it wasn't Epsilon tech that was required for the Archelon, it'd be better? Imagine if I was doing my "Archelon medic" trick, 4-6 Archelon's force-firing onto my big nano-synced infantry squads. The Archelons lose stealth when firing, so enemy player will be able to see them... worst possible thing that could happen is if they happened to have Dyabukk- Siezers! 4 of them fly over my infantry army, mind control a few Archelons as they are firing- when mind controlled mid-fire, the nanocloud becomes hostile en route to the target. Entire infantry army could be gone in seconds if some slick mind control micro was used to counter my Archelon healing strategy. Perhaps they need to be immune to mind control?

Looks like the Soviet's Grumble and Foehn's Archelon aren't getting much love. I have my theories as to why- I've only used Grumbles twice. First time was a 1v1, I was playing Russia against a USA enemy. I noticed Stormchild jets are too mobile and fire too quickly for Grumbles to stop them from doing their damage, but they'll take them down. Grumbles are actually really solid counters to Barracuda bombing runs! I was also making short work of small groups of Warhawks, but then my opponent realized that swarming the Grumble and forcing it to use its firepower on insignificant targets negates them very well. So before moving in with a Warhawk group, he'd throw a handful of Rocketeers spread out to take the shots, Warhawks come in and painted Grumbles, then Stormchild jets swooped in and blew the Grumbles away. Very impressive play on my opponent's part.

In a 3 player FFA where I was Russia vs Epsilon HQ vs. Pacific Front, I got ahold of Grumble tech but no one was using air... I managed to catch Norio when I think he accidentally set a waypoint path going directly overhead a few deployed Grumbles. Was hilarious how fast he died! But the real show was when the Irkala came up against my expansion base, I had a Stalin's Fist hidden just outside the base, cranked out 2 Grumbles as the Irkala killed everything in that base. Then it started retreating when I moved my Wolfhound squadron towards it, and I deployed the Grumbles. It was glorious. The Dyabuk-As that showed up to try and take out the Grumbles didn't last long.

As for the Archelon, I've found one use for it. It can't attack buildings/vehicles, but it's lethal to most infantry- but Foehn has better options for that. No, I use the Archelon as a Foehn medic. In late game, after you've made a few platoons of nanofibre synced Foehn troops, you want to protect that huge cash investment, right? Build 4 Archelons, and have them force fire on your own infantry clumps so that their nanobot swarms cover most of the infantry. A single shot from Archelon almost fully heals a Railgunner! When playing as Haihead, I assigned an Archelon to both Fin and Alize; when standing within their aura range of each other and under constant fire from Archelon, they are IMMORTAL. Combine with a few Buzzards and Teratrons and you have a demonic little task force that can do anything except destroy buildings. Besides that, I can only see Archelons being useful against large numbers of Brutes.

I see a bunch of people appreciate the Lionheart Bomber- but perhaps it is too expensive to be cost effective? Without Black Widow support, Lionhearts can't assault units inside bases without huge risk. A friend of mine told me a strategy he found to work really well with Lionhearts- accompany them with the new Hummingbird jets! If a large enemy force is moving around in the field but it won't hold still, slow it down and try to corral it into a clump using the Hummingbirds. Since they reduce speed and damage by -50% for 24 seconds, this gives lots of time to follow up with Lionheart bombing runs on clumps of slowed vehicles. I imagine Cryocpters/Warhawks and Rocketeers could also be blended into this tactic with great effect, since after the bombing run all the vehicles will be EMP'ed you get some free shots. Finally, Harriers might combo well with Lionhearts with their armor reducing effect; I don't think even a Centurion could withstand a Harrier/Lionheart strike.

It seems that certain stolen tech units have more synergy with certain subfactions than others; for instance, the Seitaad Ballista gives The Last Bastion a true artillery unit- without it, all they have is the Quezatal and Gharial, which only has 8 range so it's not a proper siege weapon. The Phantasm MLRS syncs up perfectly with Last Bastion because it uses the "Golden Rocket" system (which is so damned cool!) and TLB relies on those rockets more than the other two Foehn factions. Teratrons, all Shrike interceptors, Sweepers, and Giantsbanes are The Last Bastion units which use these rockets, tack on the Phantom MLRS and you now have a handful of units that use the same weapon for different purposes. The beauty of this is bringing in the SODAR vehicles for the +15% damage for any Golden Rocket users in scan range. Sweepers will wipe out infantry as the Giantsbane stuns them, Teratron/Phantasm/Giantsbane/Shrikes for AA, and Giantsbanes/Phantasms can destroy vehicles in between Sweeper volleys. Only weakness is against structures, but Uragon can take that role just fine.

The twin cannon you guys are referring to that you can snag from a miner is incredible. Have you ever seen what the heavy machine gun can do? Kills a Cryocopter in 3 hits IIRC, and Siegfried didn't last long against 1 HMG Scavenger.

I wasn't sure if you could snatch up literally any weapon. Have you guys seen the prism tank beam too, or am I imagining this? I'm almost positive I got a few of them when a human player moved a clump of prism tanks passed my deployed Chimera quad and Scavengers. And I remember noting that it's like a miniature version, although still maintains siege range and appears to pack more punch than a Siege Cadre's gun.

This was what turned me onto this vehicle- if I could snatch a Prism, I should be able to mount a Zephyr cannon! Or the Athena uplink! What about Foehn's stuff, can i get "Golden" Rocket systems and plasma weapons? Electro-cannon from a Tesla Cruiser? Also I can't remember the effects on base defenses very well, by the time I was attacking buildings most of the Scavengers already picked something up. And if you have a group of 6 with guns/lasers/cannons and 3 show up with their drain beams like "Sup, guys, can I get a sweet new gun too?" and they're like "Nope, killed everything. Have fun with your drain beam, wimp."

I don't see what's so great about Libra. Always seemed like a lackluster hero to me- although versatile, that lack of specialization makes her vulnerable if she comes up against any strike team that has any balance in its composition.

But...Eureka. She is supposed to be "Anti-Armor", but I've seen her fire 3-4 waves into clumps of Lasher/Gatling Tanks with very little effect, destroying only a few before getting flanked by a Gatling and taken out. Eureka's awfulness makes Libra look like a goddess. Feels like Eureka either needs a huge damage buff, or some major tweaks, because right now she is just a Jaguar driver with longer range/AOE and a $1500 price tag. And because the nature of her attack makes her a "lone wolf", she should be able to *actually KILL THINGS* while operating as a Commando. Imagine if Tanya couldn't kill infantry. Or if Morales couldn't damage vehicles.