posted 04-18-06 11:16 PM EDT (US)
If anyone has any comments, errors, or anything else to add, feel free to point it out. I made this in preparation to teach my friends how to play when the game comes out (so I don't beat them so badly!), and figured I'd post it here as well. I'll be working on an Alin and Cuotl one, although I'll probably have to ask GreyPawn if I can do a Cuotl one quite yet. Here is the numbers, and unless I'm dreadfully wrong, these stack: [This message has been edited by Astronomical (edited 04-30-2006 @ 03:32 AM).]
Attack- Ranged, Ignore Size/Piercing
Upgrades- Imperial Grenadier, Imperial Fusilier
Tactics/Powers- Fire at Will, Volley Mode, Skirmish, Assault
The Imperial Musketeer is your typical ranged infantry unit and thus is easily massable. With it's ignoring size, but piercing attack, you really only have to be concerned with units with a Heavy Armor rating when concerning the Musketeer's offensive abilties. The Musketeer sports a decent attack throughout the game, and Volley Mode is perfect to use for a boost when you are actively micro'ing; anyone that doesn't get hit can switch into the mode and inflict quite a bit more damage. In my opinion, upgrading the Musketeer to a Grenadier makes them nearly the perfect infantry unit at this stage. Skirmish let's them move faster and take more damage, and upon upgrading them increases their damage dramatically. If you are going to keep using Musketeers past a Large City, it's definately a smart idea to make them last longer and become a pain to get rid of with Skirmish. Fusiliers are even more interesting, becuase Assault gives them a nasty Pounding/Ignore Armor attack that is extremely potent to use against any large size unit. Assault also makes them extremely efficient seige troops and a very powerful "Spiky" attribute to counter trampling. Be warned though, Assault causes you to lose the defenses in Skirmish and have to get nitty-gritty with melee attacks. Of course, Assault Musketeers are pretty much the late games most powerful infantry unit, especially when it becomes common to have a lot of large units in play. At the very least, I advise having Musketeers accompany most forces if only for cheap fodder due to them being very cheap and sporting a very low ramping cost.
Attack- Melee, Skillied Attack/Piercing Attack
Upgrades- Improved Clockwork Men, Super Clockwork Men
Tactics/Powers- Clockwork
The Clockwork Man is an easily massable unit. Infact, in my opinion, if you make any Clockwork Men it should usually be in 5+ numbers to take advantage of their Clockwork bonus. For every other Clockwork Man it is near, it gains +1 to attack and seige damage. Plus, whenever another Clockwork Man dies, it heals all of the Clockwork Men around it. These things are your infantry smashers plain and simple, they even knock down infantry upon striking htem. Their skilled-piercing attack makes them pretty much worthless against larger and heavily armored units. However, they are not simply early game units. Infantry in most games will be very common even in the late game, and the Clockwork Man has a very powerful Seige Attack, especially when next to other Clockwork Men. I've won many battles all the way through the game by micro'ing Clockwork Men to destroy infantry and structures, and Imperial Musketeers for destroying everything else in a focus fire without any other units to support except perhaps Giacomo or another hero. However, all of this said, if you are doing a very strong boom you probably don't even want to research these at all for use and would prefer to stick with the wealth to buy up all the sites around you. Clockwork Spiders can handle the infantry as well with a trample attack. The way I look at it, either get a lot of Clockwork Men, or don't waste the wealth.
Attack- Melee AND Anti-Air AND Trample, Pounding Attack/Piercing Attack
Upgrades- Improved Clockwork Spider
Tactics/Powers- Web, Anti-Air while Moving
Anti-Air while moving, Trample, and a Pounding Melee attack equals a unit that can pretty much accomplish anything it puts it's mind to. Not to mention, the web is basically a ranged stun that damages them while they remain in it. Ah yes, did I forget to mention they are cheap? The Anti-Air may not be the strongest thing out there, nor may the melee attack be particularly fierce. However, the Trample is deadly for such a cheap costing unit early in the Large City phase. A master of in-battle micro dreams of this unit since it's web can disable any small or medium unit on the battlefield for a few seconds. Sporting a medium and even heavy armor once upgraded, anything with an Accuracy or Piercing attack will start to notice that these things arn't easy to break either. Simply put, these things are a great addition to any army since they can accomplish anything and sports the great power of web. Whether it be trampling infantry, meleeing large targets, or shooting down the aircraft on the move, these things can make a difference in battles.
Attack- None
Upgrades- Improved Scout Flyer, Super Scout Flyer, Ultra Scout Flyer
Tactics/Powers- Gun Pods, Air-Mines, Bombs
The Vinci scout is, well, a scout. It's moderately quick and fits right in the middle in speed/line of sight compared to the Alin and Cuotl scouts. When upgraded, this thing can at least do something in the middle of a battle by dropping Gun Pods to inflict light damage. Air-Mines are probably it's most useful ability, sporting a decent anti-air turret for some time, but this does require you to upgrade to Super Scout Flyer. I simply cannot find a use for the Bomb ability due to it being so weak. Not a bad idea to bring one with your army if you might be facing some false images or cloaking... at least I'm pretty sure they spot such things.
Attack- Strong Air Ranged AND Light Ground Ranged, Ignore Size/Piercing Attack
Upgrades- Improved Pirata Flyer, Super Pirata Flyer
Tactics/Powers- Fire while Moving
Pirata Flyers are a great AA unit that you can dump wealth into. They are quick and can fire while moving which can give them potential to be a great raiding unit in small numbers. They are however, realatively easy to destroy throughout the game, and ramp up in cost faster then Clockwork Men. But if you ever want a few Fire Elementals destroyed, these things are your best bet. Keeping a few along with any army can make sure that the enemy has some potent anti-air to deal with and with micro these things accelerate quickly and have a high speed to match so keeping them out of harms way isn't too difficult. An interesting way to deal with an air heavy army would be to devote timonium to Musketeers and Wealth to Pirata Flyers, although I personally find that few people run very air heavy and most often you need another unit to deal with ground units, particuarlly well-armored ones. Having these around is almost never a bad idea, but I wouldn't mass them.
Attack- None
Upgrades- Improved Cargo Dirigible, Super Cargo Dirigible, Ultra?
Tactics/Powers- Supplies Units, Can Carry Units
Your Transport and Supply unit in one. If you plan on using these, the upgrade is extremely cheap and gives them a heavier armor class which can never hurt a unit. There isn't much to say other then maybe have one if you think your enemy is deep in attrition techs, or you need them to pull some obstacle avoidance tasks. Steam Cannon drop anyone?
Attacks- Strong Ground Ranged AND Light Air Ranged, Skilled Attack/Ignore Armor
Upgrades- Air Cruiser
Tactics- Bombardment
One of two larger combat units the Vinci can have. This one is wealth heavy and severely destroys medium and small sized units in a large splash radius. If you want to clean up on the units that everyone has had since the early game then these things will easily do the trick as they even knock down infantry units and can destroy a lot of massed medium ground sized units as well. With Bombardment these things sport a pretty potent seige attack as well, as well as the potential to be micro'd to perfection. These things can be out as early as the Large City phase but cost A LOT of a wealth in comparison to anything at this point. Pirata Flyers and Air Destroyers can make an excellent team by covering each other's weaknesses, however both of these have problems when it comes to the larger units in general. These things would make excellent raiders if miners weren't splash resistant. If you have a lot wealth and are facing alot of small-medium ground units, then these things are a decent thing to invest in.
Attack- Skilled Attack/Accuracy Attack
Upgrades- Super Steam Cannon
Tactics- None
The Vinci seige unit in all of it's glory. Unique to this seige unit is how it can actually do something when it comes to attacking infantry. It can knock them down with splash and does more damage then the other cannons featured by the other races to units. Seige in general in Rise of Legends packs a punch, becuase not only are they healthy units which aren't easy to dispose of, they pack a much larger seige attack then other units especially when you consider their cost! Take a pair of these and most cities can be leveled in a very short amount of time, not to mention any other structures that are around. If you have the Timonium to produce a Steam Fortress then these should always be with your standing army. Even a spare Steam Cannon can harass an enemy building and level it pretty quickly.
Attacks- Trample AND Ranged Pounding Attack/Ignore Armor
Upgrades- Ultra Juggernaut
Tactics- None
The trample on this giant tank can kill most infantry in one pass, if they survive that, they are probably dead in the second pass. These things are your ground pounders and are the second Vinci larger combat unit. Air Destroyers and Juggernauts can easily be game-changing if the enemy lacks pounding attacks which ignore armor. Not only can these things take care of all, and I do stress all of the enemies infantry, they can focus on an enemies larger units as well dealing a heavy amount of damage to them. The only downside to these things is their heavy Timonium cost (Juggernauts are heavy on Timonium, Air Destroyers are heavy on Wealth, anyone else see potential here?). If you can protect your Juggernauts, or you notice your enemy lacks Pounding/Ignore Armor attacks, these things can easily turn a losing game into a quick and devestating victory. Even sacrificing one of these to run over the 20 infantry sqauds can be worth the resources put into it. The two large combat units the Vinci have are a great way to go in the Large City phase. Both of their upgrades are equally as fierce as they pertain to the Great City phase. In longer games you often can't go wrong with one or two Juggernauts, even more if you can afford it. Their main offensive weakness is their lack of anti-air damage.
Attack- Ignore Size/Ignore Armor
Upgrades- King Leviathon
Tactics/Powers- Devestator, Burrow, Repair
The Vinci epic unit which can appear anyone on the map in a short amount of time. These things are as powerful as any epic or master unit in the game. Devestator is an extremely powerful single target strike, Burrow allows it to get anywhere quickly, and Repair is the most potent healing any master unit has although it cannot attack while it's using it. However, the master units are extremely expensive and I don't find them comming into the game too often unless I can squirk out the resources to build one. Without much experience on them I can't really comment on them much.Skilled (vs. Medium Size 75%, vs. Large Size 50%)
Pounding (vs. Medium Size 75%, vs. Size Small 50%)
Piercing (vs. Medium Armor 90%, vs. Heavy Armor 80%)
Accuracy (vs. Medium Armor 75%, vs. Heavy Armor 50%)
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