Dune units usability and some opinion.
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:53 pm
Infantry. A bit more sturdy then in other mods, to an extent. Can be crushed. Only infantry can see stealth units. Base defences can't deal with infantry. Infantry can traverse rocky terrain and bridges. Has least trouble with pathfinding.
- Light Infantry (cost 50) - basic unit of the game. Used to create pressure on the map. My personal unit of choice. Can be used to punish lack of enemy scouting and no barracks build (i.e. trike rush of one of the base entrances left unguarded).
Light infantry rush countered by light infantry counterspam (mind your barracks! either build backup or place safe on concrete) as reinforcement would stretch for enemy. Harvster crushes are also efficient (in combination with defencive infantry), also you might loose your precious mining time or even harvester itself if you are not cautious.
- Trooper (cost 90) - anti-vehicle unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Main use is to not let your infantry get crushed by tanks. Also dispatches light vehicles (aka trikes) faster. Due to lower movement speed they can fall behind main forces thus being unable to perform their duties (punish crushes) in time when travel long distances.
- Engineer - repair/capture unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Rarely sees the light of day on most maps as he has mo means to infiltrate the base of most players unnoticed and people don't usually station couple of engis for emergency repair. Even if they did, the enemy would've sniped engineer before taking the building. Some maps designed to have capturable expantions, thus increasing value of engineers in about the same way as Red Alert 2 with tech structures.
- Thumper - special unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Noone knows how it works, but if you place couple of thumpers here and there, worm will harmlessly travel between them. I would'nt have moved my vehicles and harvesters close to them though. *I think thumpers create priority target for worm, so with two thumpers can theoretically create a loop to trap the worm, more testing required*
- Grenadier (Cost 80) - advanced infantry of Atreidis house. Requires high-tec facility, outpost and barracks upgrade. Has insane attack radius and great anti-infantry damage. Can replace basic infantry on battlefield. Bad against moving targets, bad against combat tanks, explode with beautiful effect, do not cause chain reaction.
- Sardaukar (cost 200) - elite anti-everything Harkonnen (well, technically - Emperors, but dispatched by Harkonnen army) troops. As of playtest build requires high-tec facility, outpost and barracks upgrade. They are very expencive for their worth, and thus can only be used with huge eco line to support them. Fun fact: they are weaker then two 50$ light infantrymen and do less damage to vehicles then 90$ troopers.
- Fremen (summoned unit) - elite Atreidis (i.e. Arrakis) units that are too small in numbers to use against infantry (also they lose to Sardaukars 1 on 1) or vehicles, but they have one of the best anti-building damage. They can quickly dispatch every building that is not placed on concrete or snipe essential target of unattentive player. They are stealthed until they shoot and quick to regain camoflage. To successfully infiltrate enemy base you need to scout enemy infantry placement first. If enemy is lax enough to leave base without infantry (or all defencsive infantry was drawn away to hold your assault) consider sniping the barracks. You can escape any vehicle by cloaking yourself to find next building to demolish.
- Saboteur (summoned unit) - elite Ordos unit. Basically suicide bomber. Can one-shot any vehicle or building. Only stealthed when not moving, so building snipe is highly unlikely (and you can do basically the same with purchasable engineer). Can camp spice fields to snipe harvesters, but with the number of saboteurs it would be one harvester per two or three minutes. More of a light annoyance for palace worth. Shares same bug as hijacker when entering vehicles.
Light vehicles. Fragile. Fast. Have separate building que. Used for fast attacks, not recommended for extended clashes. Cannot deal with mass infantry.
- Trike (cost 300) - fastest units of the game. Can be used for early harrasment, flanking and scouting. Ordos variations are more expencive, but more efficient dring all game length. Die from everything, cannot kite well because of poor attack radius. Minimum recommended battle group number - 3 units, optimal recommended battle group number - 5 units up to 10 units to not cause pathfinding problems.
Early game trike rushes can be repelled by stationing light infantry in crucial points. Each trike cost equivalent is 6 to 7 infantryman and they (in group) cannot stand even against group of five rifles. Thus placing five or so units near all crucial buildings (refinaries, factories, MCV) can prevent sniping. Note that concrete doubles the amount of HP of building placed on it. Always make backup barracks or place barracks on concrete - othervise it can cost you responce time increase.
Trikes can also camp spice fields, but it takes time to actually destroy a harvester: don't panic and gather retaliation/spice field patrol light infantry groups. Do not try to give chase with all you got, they might want to force your defences out of position for those juicy juicy buildings snipes.
- Quad - advanced light vehicle. Requires light vehicle factory upgrade. While a bit slower then trikes, they are a bit mor sturdy and have bigger damage output and range, thus making them great unit for vehicles snipes. They can't fight infantry, so flanking is necessary. Can easily destroy trikes, siege tanks, can swarm harvesters, missile tanks.
Heavy vehicles. Can crush. Note that bullet damage output in this mod is decent enough against all types of targets.
- Combat tank (cost 700) - main battle tank. Fast, pretty sturdy, with good damage. My second unit of choice. Used for recon, breakthrough or any other task. Efficiently crushes the infantry, but needs to be cautious of troopers. Don't do well without support.
- Siege Tank - anti-infantry heavy vehicle. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade. A lot of people's unit of choice. In groups of three and more can efficiently deal with infantry, but preferrably to have infantry support of your own. Can be easily sniped by light vehicles of combat tanks. Watch your flank. Perform best with chokes, cliffs and slow sand (where it's more difficult to squish). Compensate weakness of base defences against infantry wich can tip the balance in case of base trades. Deals more gamage against buildings.
- Missile Tank - anti-vehicle heavy tank. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade and IX-lab. Slow rate of fire, but great range and damage. Also it theoretically great unit, it requires line of sight and micro to target enemy tanks (as frontline usually buffered with infantry and missiles are not good at all against it). Othervise missile tanks can even snipe deviators. Note that Ordoss can only purchase missile tanks from starport.
- Sonic Tank - Atreidis special tank. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade and IX-lab. Great area of effect damage dealer. Kinda slow. Good against everything. Beware of friendly fire. Problematic to use as you need some support to not let sonic tanks be outnumbered, yet the support suffers from mentioned friendly fire. Possible solution is usage of several battle groups for simultaneous attacks from different directions. Wich useful even without sonic tanks granted you have required forces. Target fire to make most use of line area damage.
- Devastator - Harkonnen special tank. Big, badass, most sturdy in the game and painfully slow. Hard to stop yet easy to eavade. Due to being slow when it finally arrives to your base it's battered from numerous battles. Deals area of efect damage.
- Deviator - Ordoss special tank. Basically direct counter to two above mentioned special tanks. Temporarly captures enemy vehicle. With very slow rate of fire it's best to micro each shot. Desperately needs direct support as it's very fragile and can't do anything against infantry. Fast and expendable trikes or quads are best way to deal with them. Always scout ahead.
- Light Infantry (cost 50) - basic unit of the game. Used to create pressure on the map. My personal unit of choice. Can be used to punish lack of enemy scouting and no barracks build (i.e. trike rush of one of the base entrances left unguarded).
Light infantry rush countered by light infantry counterspam (mind your barracks! either build backup or place safe on concrete) as reinforcement would stretch for enemy. Harvster crushes are also efficient (in combination with defencive infantry), also you might loose your precious mining time or even harvester itself if you are not cautious.
- Trooper (cost 90) - anti-vehicle unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Main use is to not let your infantry get crushed by tanks. Also dispatches light vehicles (aka trikes) faster. Due to lower movement speed they can fall behind main forces thus being unable to perform their duties (punish crushes) in time when travel long distances.
- Engineer - repair/capture unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Rarely sees the light of day on most maps as he has mo means to infiltrate the base of most players unnoticed and people don't usually station couple of engis for emergency repair. Even if they did, the enemy would've sniped engineer before taking the building. Some maps designed to have capturable expantions, thus increasing value of engineers in about the same way as Red Alert 2 with tech structures.
- Thumper - special unit. Requires barracks upgrade. Noone knows how it works, but if you place couple of thumpers here and there, worm will harmlessly travel between them. I would'nt have moved my vehicles and harvesters close to them though. *I think thumpers create priority target for worm, so with two thumpers can theoretically create a loop to trap the worm, more testing required*
- Grenadier (Cost 80) - advanced infantry of Atreidis house. Requires high-tec facility, outpost and barracks upgrade. Has insane attack radius and great anti-infantry damage. Can replace basic infantry on battlefield. Bad against moving targets, bad against combat tanks, explode with beautiful effect, do not cause chain reaction.
- Sardaukar (cost 200) - elite anti-everything Harkonnen (well, technically - Emperors, but dispatched by Harkonnen army) troops. As of playtest build requires high-tec facility, outpost and barracks upgrade. They are very expencive for their worth, and thus can only be used with huge eco line to support them. Fun fact: they are weaker then two 50$ light infantrymen and do less damage to vehicles then 90$ troopers.
- Fremen (summoned unit) - elite Atreidis (i.e. Arrakis) units that are too small in numbers to use against infantry (also they lose to Sardaukars 1 on 1) or vehicles, but they have one of the best anti-building damage. They can quickly dispatch every building that is not placed on concrete or snipe essential target of unattentive player. They are stealthed until they shoot and quick to regain camoflage. To successfully infiltrate enemy base you need to scout enemy infantry placement first. If enemy is lax enough to leave base without infantry (or all defencsive infantry was drawn away to hold your assault) consider sniping the barracks. You can escape any vehicle by cloaking yourself to find next building to demolish.
- Saboteur (summoned unit) - elite Ordos unit. Basically suicide bomber. Can one-shot any vehicle or building. Only stealthed when not moving, so building snipe is highly unlikely (and you can do basically the same with purchasable engineer). Can camp spice fields to snipe harvesters, but with the number of saboteurs it would be one harvester per two or three minutes. More of a light annoyance for palace worth. Shares same bug as hijacker when entering vehicles.
Light vehicles. Fragile. Fast. Have separate building que. Used for fast attacks, not recommended for extended clashes. Cannot deal with mass infantry.
- Trike (cost 300) - fastest units of the game. Can be used for early harrasment, flanking and scouting. Ordos variations are more expencive, but more efficient dring all game length. Die from everything, cannot kite well because of poor attack radius. Minimum recommended battle group number - 3 units, optimal recommended battle group number - 5 units up to 10 units to not cause pathfinding problems.
Early game trike rushes can be repelled by stationing light infantry in crucial points. Each trike cost equivalent is 6 to 7 infantryman and they (in group) cannot stand even against group of five rifles. Thus placing five or so units near all crucial buildings (refinaries, factories, MCV) can prevent sniping. Note that concrete doubles the amount of HP of building placed on it. Always make backup barracks or place barracks on concrete - othervise it can cost you responce time increase.
Trikes can also camp spice fields, but it takes time to actually destroy a harvester: don't panic and gather retaliation/spice field patrol light infantry groups. Do not try to give chase with all you got, they might want to force your defences out of position for those juicy juicy buildings snipes.
- Quad - advanced light vehicle. Requires light vehicle factory upgrade. While a bit slower then trikes, they are a bit mor sturdy and have bigger damage output and range, thus making them great unit for vehicles snipes. They can't fight infantry, so flanking is necessary. Can easily destroy trikes, siege tanks, can swarm harvesters, missile tanks.
Heavy vehicles. Can crush. Note that bullet damage output in this mod is decent enough against all types of targets.
- Combat tank (cost 700) - main battle tank. Fast, pretty sturdy, with good damage. My second unit of choice. Used for recon, breakthrough or any other task. Efficiently crushes the infantry, but needs to be cautious of troopers. Don't do well without support.
- Siege Tank - anti-infantry heavy vehicle. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade. A lot of people's unit of choice. In groups of three and more can efficiently deal with infantry, but preferrably to have infantry support of your own. Can be easily sniped by light vehicles of combat tanks. Watch your flank. Perform best with chokes, cliffs and slow sand (where it's more difficult to squish). Compensate weakness of base defences against infantry wich can tip the balance in case of base trades. Deals more gamage against buildings.
- Missile Tank - anti-vehicle heavy tank. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade and IX-lab. Slow rate of fire, but great range and damage. Also it theoretically great unit, it requires line of sight and micro to target enemy tanks (as frontline usually buffered with infantry and missiles are not good at all against it). Othervise missile tanks can even snipe deviators. Note that Ordoss can only purchase missile tanks from starport.
- Sonic Tank - Atreidis special tank. Requires heavy vehicles factory upgrade and IX-lab. Great area of effect damage dealer. Kinda slow. Good against everything. Beware of friendly fire. Problematic to use as you need some support to not let sonic tanks be outnumbered, yet the support suffers from mentioned friendly fire. Possible solution is usage of several battle groups for simultaneous attacks from different directions. Wich useful even without sonic tanks granted you have required forces. Target fire to make most use of line area damage.
- Devastator - Harkonnen special tank. Big, badass, most sturdy in the game and painfully slow. Hard to stop yet easy to eavade. Due to being slow when it finally arrives to your base it's battered from numerous battles. Deals area of efect damage.
- Deviator - Ordoss special tank. Basically direct counter to two above mentioned special tanks. Temporarly captures enemy vehicle. With very slow rate of fire it's best to micro each shot. Desperately needs direct support as it's very fragile and can't do anything against infantry. Fast and expendable trikes or quads are best way to deal with them. Always scout ahead.