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Author Topic: How do you use different soldier types?  (Read 6253 times)

Offline huschel?

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How do you use different soldier types?
« on: April 01, 2019, 10:12:13 pm »
Hi everyone,

I was wondering what you are using the different soldier types for? Honestly, I love the variety of unit types available but I still feel a bit overwhelmed and think I don't utilize every unit type in an optimal way...

Uber Gals (let's throw escaped lunatics, freaks and "normal" hands together to keep this easy)
Have the most potential, biggest selection of gear, expensive. I use them for my primary strike team.

Peasants
Weak in every concern, however with ok-ish max values, cheap. I almost exclusively use them in the beginning, when I'm lacking Gal-power. Although it might be a good idea to include a cheap nurse to the crew of each bigger dropship, just to stay back in the ship and treat all wounded/exhausted/demoralized units.

Slave Soldiers
Kinda meh until you get the Doom armor in large numbers but boy, their effectiveness really peaked for me after that. I usually put them in the biggest craft I can field, add a vehicle or two and have several cheap strike teams across the globe.

Lok'Nars
In theory they should be sneaky scouts, have some exclusive gimmicks like the gyrocopter and there are missions like the ratman cache, which can only be done by them but in the end I never find enough reasons to keep a team of those arround.

Bugeyes
What I read from other posts those are good VooDoo users but simmilar to the Lok'Nars, I just never found a good way to integrate them into my roster.

Auxiliars (various beasts that can be recruited)
I exclusively use them as a cheap base defense. A burrow full of mutated reapers or tamed werewolves next to an elevator has a lot of stopping power.

Gnomes
I saw there is a new soldier type in the latest version, although I did not upgrade yet and have no experience. Did anyone already test them?

So, I usually have a primary strike team of Gals that I send on the most difficult missions. Additionally I have some cheap slave teams as a backup. They come in big numbers with vehicle support and simply overwhelm the enemy. Peasants are only an early game substitute until I have enough Gals/slaves. Auxiliary beasts are used for base defens only.
As you can see I normaly have teams exclusively of one soldier type only. I tested a little bit with mixed teams but without satisfying results.
Do you use diferent team compositions? Any uses for the different soldier types that I missed?

Looking forward to reading your opinions!

Offline legionof1

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2019, 07:33:09 am »
Ubers: These are the core of what you will field in campaign. Sturdy, great stats. Though not the whole show given that some missions limit what type of units you can bring, you will need some teams of other soldier types. The expense is relative, given how hard it is outright lose an uber, and the numerous methods to get some extra recruits you don't usually buy alot. I've played campaigns with "found" ubers only and didn't even feel any pressure from it.

Peasants: Not great but they are cheap and given time to train are very nearly equal to slave soldiers. These are likely to be the bulk of your garrison troops in the early stages of base expansion. And the handful of "non mutant" limited missions does mean you need some of these ladies.

Slave Soldiers: Garrison troops once you have the ability to get them in similar numbers to peasants. Thou i do include a handful with the gals in later game cause the testudo armor is the tankist, non codex locked armor. Also no morale degen is handy on certain types of longer missions. Same as with peasants you need some non mutants to handle the full spread of missions.

Lok'Nars: Not usually included with the major combat teams. But cave environments mean you do need some. I do use them quite alot as pilots thou. Aside from a lucky freak they have the best starting reactions so they are usually good pilots right out of the box. Second best pilot when dealing with stat capped troops but usually you want those capped out gals doing something else then air combat.

Bugeyes: I include one or 2 with the major combat teams to fill the role of nurse, since they are far superior with there default outfit then the actual nurse outfit being used by any other type. Good voodoo stats and inbuilt psi amp mean they can still help out even with there hands full. Also very good in fixed darkness missions, like underwater or space due to extra vision range. In alot of cases they outspot the natives of those environments. Sadly not alot of outfit options limits them even in there best environments. On paper the best voodoo user, but other classes have better voodoo booster outfits so that advantage is marginalized to top few percent of rolls for voodoo str.

Auxilia: Supplement the garrisons as beast housing facilities are cheap. Mutant reapers and werewolves(if your lucky to get some) are really powerful defenders. Even the basic doggos are pretty useful, once strapped with pre primed explosives. There is a case to be made for using the high HP types in place of HWP armors since they fully regen between battles so chip damage won't put them out of action. Usually becomes irrelevant once you have the heavy tanks, since those can face tank pretty much all direct fire without harm to the pilot.

Gnomes: They have a very unique stat spread which makes them the ideal offensive HWP operator. There reactions aren't quite up to snuff so defensive posturing HWPs with them is not very good. But given that they can use all HWPs aside from the quad and the assault bike and have higher HP caps then anything but gals, while being immune to Psi attacks(min 120 starting bravery) makes them really powerful. Also a bit of niche in Voodoo str scaled tools like wands, highest Vodoo str and the bravery to mostly not care about morale costs. Lousy psi skill thou so the full range of Voodoo is beyond them. At the moment stupidly rare due to being only "found" recruits, and from a damn limited amount of missions. At present the single rarest class. If you make the right choices you will see 1 assured chance at one.

Syns: The one type OP missed and previous holder of the rarest soldier type. Properly equipped syns, make even the gals look frail and pitiful. Native regen, ridiculous damage resistance even in there "naked" outfit, immune to psi and morale, and can rip open tanks and power armor with there default melee on a number of outfits. Also can be resurrected if you somehow get one killed. Two big downsides, no voodoo tools(or stuff scaling off bravery), and energy management issues lead to severely limited sprinting. High TU so you can get pretty far even walking and are very deadly with fixed cost weapons. You get 1 during play normally(in similar manner to you first freak) and might find more if your lucky with space missions.

My main team is mostly gals with 1 Bugeye as nurse/psi support and any syns that turn up.
A second team is Peasants/slave soldiers rolling a convoy with HWP support, same team with some modifcations also handles the non mutant encounters. Although this is usually late to the party as it takes awhile to tech to and build up the gear and facilities for this to be anything beyond a exercise in attrition warfare.
Third team is a mixed group of gals and bugeyes for underwater/space once i have space suits for everyone. Something of a luxury thing in late game so i dont have to go microing craft/gear loadouts, but its a whole base worth of hangers and the attendant support facilities, so its never very early. Late game you can set this up in a single hanger as apposed to 2 with the dragon craft.

Offline Martin

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2019, 02:32:33 pm »
Ubers - use for everything
Peasants - band aid for causalities in very early game
Slave Soldiers - useless
Bugeyes - healing a weak voodoo support. Kinda useless for my playstyle
Lok’Nars - good for piloting and demon god shrine tends to have okay rewards
Auxilia - suicide distraction during hideout defense at best
Gnomes - expensive alternative to lok’nars, I think actually worse than loks in most roles
Syns - OP

Offline Zharkov

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2019, 06:50:55 pm »
Slave Soldiers are not useless. Their lack of fear makes them invaluable in missions where camping the opponents is a good option.

Offline Martin

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2019, 07:22:50 pm »
You can always take the right drugs 8)

Offline Eddie

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2019, 09:51:04 pm »
Bugeyes have 100% thermal vision and Lok'Nars have 30%. If you use smoke alot, these might be handy as they can see through the smoke (and then shoot without penalties). If you face enemies without sniper/spotter behaviour and no thermal vision, this can make missions trivial. It's useful even for sniper/spotter enemies, as you can avoid reaction fire.

The Lok'Nar standard armor has quite high day camo. This can be very useful depending on map layout and enemies. Again, sniper/spotter enemies ruin your day, but if none are present the high day camo is very useful.
I haven't actually tried it yet, but I was thinking of base defence tactics. A Lok'Nar at the end of a long corridor can shoot without reaction fire, only needs ~20 tiles distance to the enemy. Bugeyes with smokescreen can do similar things, but alot of enemies have thermal vision too.
Last, the high reaction cap of Lok'Nars make them exceptionally good with reaction scaling gear like the silenced pistol and the light sniper rifle.


Offline Dakkdakk

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2019, 11:42:20 pm »
Want good and easily replaceable dedicated interceptor pilots? Look no further than lok'narrs.
Want cheap, good combat grunts (once trained) with great armor options in the mid and late game, that lack the main disadvantage of gals? Slave soldiers.
Want really cheap soldiers you can throw at enemies endlessy, and that are required for one special bounty mission? Peasants.
Want to kill people with your mouth, rather than please them, while having a strange stat pool? Auxilia.
Want to have one of the best nurse units in the game with awesome night vision and innate voodoo? Bugeyes.
Want to "eh kills aleins and doesn't afraid of anything"? Syns.
Want to kill people with snoo snoo and high caliber ordinance? Gals.
Want to drive a tank and pretend you're irish? Gnomes.
 

Offline legionof1

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2019, 02:44:48 am »
Nice work Dakkdakk, that outa be a pedia entry

Offline Mathel

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2019, 11:05:46 am »
Gals: Primary teams
Peasants: Space/Underwater team, ready for the Reticulan dungeon mission to finaly catch their elder
Slave Soldiers: Craft guardians. Once I get a ranged Psionic device (Like a Psi-amp, not wands), I intend to have them try it.
Bugeyes: I used to use them for Psionics from the safety of the craft. After they were nerfed, I removed them, as they were unuseable for such purpose.
Lok'Narrs: Craft and tank pilots.
Auxiliaries: Unused.
I have not yet gained Syns and Gnomes.

Offline Martin

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2019, 04:13:55 pm »
Wonder if we ever get something that might make you reconsider using mostly gals such as ghouls or public enemies.

Offline Dakkdakk

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Re: How do you use different soldier types?
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2019, 11:27:42 pm »
Nice work Dakkdakk, that outa be a pedia entry

Thanks. Xpiratez just has that kind of saturday morning cartoon+heavy metal vibe, and that pleases me greatly.

Anyway, I do admit its hard to just not use gals for everything, but once you learn to maximize everyone's advantages and deal with their disadvantages, you realize you could be using all that extra money for better things other than hiring gals and dealing with their upkeep, though you do eventualy get so much dosh that you can easily deal with gal related costs, even while hiring freaks. The main advantage of diversifying your troops comes from the stat differences (syns, lok'narrs), different armors (slave soldiers, peasants) and special habilities (bugeyes).

I also admit that my bugeyes are pretty much just glorified nurses atm, which is mostly ok, since they're pretty good nurses. It'd be cool if they had some kind of flying armor, tho.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 11:32:21 pm by Dakkdakk »