Army builds

[redeyedjedi]

Just wondering how some of you are structuring/expanding your armies, what some of your favorite units are and how they perform on the battlefield, and maybe some of your favorite tactics.

I've only had an hour of play time so far and my strategy of, "MOAR TANKS!!!!!!11!," hasn't quite been working out.

Has anyone figured out an effective way of dealing with enemy artillery?

[Kerensky]

Combined arms all the way for me. Far more so than Panzer Corps, all units in 40k have a much higher degree of usefulness, and part of the mastering of the game is learning and understanding what all of these units are good, and bad, at doing.

Tanks are generally good, but their low unit count and low rate of fire on many anti-tank weapons prevents them from truly being all purpose units. For dealing with massive hordes of Orks present in this game, you will need to have several units with high rates of fire, such as the Heavy Bolter Support, and especially Assault infantry to defeat your enemy efficiently.

For example, the Laser Destroyer has unit count 5 with 1 weapon at 1 Rate of Fire. A powerful weapon for 'sniping' enemy vehicles at longer ranges, but a total shot count of only 5, which is very low when firing Orks that number 30 or 40 in a single infantry formation.

On the other hand, Steel Legion Rough Riders is a unit with 15 count, 2 weapons, and both weapons have a rate of fire of 2. They throw potentially 60 dice when attacking, which can do considerable damage to those Ork hordes in a single engagement!

Assault infantry are especially adept at attacking enemy artillery, who are often limited by their minimum gun range and cannot even use these weapons when they are being assaulted by melee units.

If I had to split my core into %... probably 30-40% infantry of various types, mostly assault infantry... 30-40% tanks/vehicles/walkers and other such armored units... and 20% expensive long range artillery units like the Basilisk for softening up really tough enemy units like Ork Mega Nobz.

[redeyedjedi]

I knew there had to be a counter to artillery, I just couldn't figure it out. You just saved a lot of lives my friend. I was simply bum rushing artillery pieces with whatever I felt was expendable. Ironically I completely ignored the rough riders during my unit purchasing, even going so far as to scoff at them for being on horses in a world full of tanks and explosions.

I'm going to start a new game from scratch and play through the tutorial again, paying closer attention to a good mix of units this time around.

[Kerensky]

Rough Riders and Imperial Guard Command Squad are very popular early game choices, the extra 'umphf' they gain from having Assault melee weapons can be pretty decisive.

Make no mistake, Rough Riders have their weaknesses. I like them for their great movement speed and also decent attack power, but they are EXTREMELY vulnerable to enemy fire, being horses in a world full of tanks and explosions.

One of the concepts players struggle the most with is good infantry use, and it is hard because Imperial Infantry aren't the highest quality of unit that exists in the Warhammer 40k universe. They are undoubtedly the most numerous units at the player's command with their significant formation size and also extremely cheap price, but they tend to struggle because the Ork formations are even more numerous!

There are rumors of other factions that may join in the fight for Armageddon, but I wouldn't want to give away any lore spoilers here!

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Guard

The Imperial Guard fights punishing battles of attrition in which incalculable lives may be expended for each objective achieved. An Imperial Guard army must utilise the twin advantages of vast numbers and overwhelming firepower to annihilate its foes.

[Tolien]

As many units become "useless" in later game, like you don't carry Steel Legion Conscripts when you can upgrade to better troops.. I think maybe some units could have a higher/lower unit count, a little like in Starcraft games. Imperial Guard Infantry are suppose to be the most numerous, but most ingame army have few of them.. cos tanks are more awesome!

I would like to have Rough riders in combat.. but I don't as they are likely to be destroyed, and therefore all XP on unit will be lost. A tank is easier to keep alive. But both take a Core slot in the campaign.

[sdeix75]

the scout tank is pretty good ( 3 range on weapons) especially if you can upgarde to commander.

commanders are essentiall for helping your units regain CR (morale) every turn by being adjacent to them

[Kerensky]

the scout tank is pretty good ( 3 range on weapons) especially if you can upgarde to commander.

commanders are essentiall for helping your units regain CR (morale) every turn by being adjacent to them

One of my favorite tactics is to put 1 command unit almost permanently attached to my artillery units. That way, they never suffer from morale degradation and can blast away at 100% efficiency for the entire duration of a scenario.

As for Infantry, see these examples. Sure the Leman Russ Annihilator can shoot from range safely, but Assault infantry really grinds up the enemy, provided you soften up your target sufficiently before sending them in! Just wait till you see some of the late game infantry too, they don't even need targets softened up for them!



compared to

[JimmyC]

Does that combat prediction include the Rough Riders both shooting and engaging in melee? Or is it just 1 or the other? I am a bit confused with how melee works. Is there any thread someone can point me to in order to explain it?

My force has consisted of around 50% infantry, 20% tanks, 15% artillery and 15% walkers/scout vehicles. It hasn't performed very well...

[Kerensky]

It includes both, melee/assault always happens if your unit has such weapons and is adjacent to your target. Try firing a Rough Rider unit at range 2 hexes away, and see how much more damage they do when adjacent as a good measurement.

As for your force, 50% infantry sounds too high. Hard to say without knowing exact force composition, but I would recommend 40% tanks (there are lots of different Leman Russ all built to perform all kinds of different tasks so get a few of each for early game) and 30% infantry. Infantry truly come into their element with some of the extremely tough late game units, the early game units struggle to survive in a campaign environment where unit durability is a must to preserve long term experience. Imperial Guard infantry were just never designed to function in this manner, they number in the thousands and die in equally large numbers!

[JimmyC]

I had a unit of conscripts as they were cheap and i thought they would be a great sponge for soaking up fire and keeping my better units alive. But the movement of 2 meant they were always at the rear of my forces, meaning that they never did anything much! And yes, i realise now my forces were too infantry heavy. I went a bit overboard when i saw all the different types and wanted 1 of every infantry, plus a couple to spare...

It is a shame that melee isn't animated. Firing effects look great, but i suppose animating melee would be a lot more difficult. Would have been nice though...

[Akelion]

I played beta till the last few scenarios,all i can say when space marines come into picture i almost convert all of my foot soldiers into space marines units,only banblade variants and a few basiliks are all left of imperial guards in my army,my scouts are 2 warhound titans

[zakblood]

i like Tanks, plenty of them, the bigger the better, then again it can be won with no tanks and all infantry as well, so either way it's fun

[Slaarth]

I played beta till the last few scenarios,all i can say when space marines come into picture i almost convert all of my foot soldiers into space marines units,only banblade variants and a few basiliks are all left of imperial guards in my army,my scouts are 2 warhound titans

Wow, that just show how broken this game is to be using warhound titans as scouts.

How you could be a beta tester and not mention how non 40k this is beyond me or are you just not a 40k player and such had no idea what universe they where trying and failing epicly to protray?

[Wolfen75]

I played beta till the last few scenarios,all i can say when space marines come into picture i almost convert all of my foot soldiers into space marines units,only banblade variants and a few basiliks are all left of imperial guards in my army,my scouts are 2 warhound titans

Wow, that just show how broken this game is to be using warhound titans as scouts.

How you could be a beta tester and not mention how non 40k this is beyond me or are you just not a 40k player and such had no idea what universe they where trying and failing epicly to protray?

We have understood now that you don´t like the concept of hex-based strategy games.

Now stop you immature, annoying trolling all over the forum.

It is not the fault of the company nor the one of the beta testers, that you have bought a game of a genre you don´t got a clue about.

I don´t like games like this one alot, too.
Everytime i buy such a game i regret it a few hours later, which is why i do it only every few years.

I bought this one only because it catches the WH40K atmosphere quite well.

It is much less narrow than this kind of games used to be.
I played it for a few hours now and the only things i have to bitch about is the fact that i got that crappy i-pad UI and not the amount of ingame-information about the units i like to have, but well, i can live with that.
Other than that, it offers a bunch more than games of this genre usually does.

to topic:
thanks for the hints about the army construction, as someone who usually don´t play this kind of games and therefore use to suck at them, this is quite helpful.

[redeyedjedi]

I'm nearly through act 1 and my casualties have significantly been reduced, especially in regard to the attacking of artillery pieces.

Going into the end of act 1, here's my build..

Infantry:
1x Command Squad
1x Flamer assault Squad
1x Infantry Squad
1x Mortar Support
1x Heavy Bolter Support
1x Rough Riders

All but the rough riders are transported in Gorgons. I like the extra armor, mortar, and load of heavy stubbers. Totally worth the move sacrifice, imo. And although it's tempting to use the rough riders as scouts, I keep them to the rear and use them as shock troops or to take advantage of openings and decimate Ork artillery.

Vehicles:
1x Salamander Scout
1x Armageddon Pattern Sentinel

The salamander is one of the most veteran units in my army. He has been responsible for many deaths and I particularly enjoy his ability to chew up Ork infantry at close range and do moderate damage to lightly armored targets. Frankly, I'm amazed he's made it this far. The sentinel is an amazing scout unit. He's fast - especially on roads, and that lascannon is nice for sniping a few points off of enemy armor units until my destroyer can move in to finish them off.

Tanks:
2x Leman Russ (weapon upgrades)
1x Leman Russ Punisher
1x Leman Russ Destroyer

The Leman Russ (weapon upgrade) varient is my all-purpose tank. He has a Battle Cannon, plasma cannons, and a lascannon making him able to deal moderate damage to infantry at close range and gives him the ability to slug it out with tanks. The punisher is good for chewing up infantry, especailly at close range, although he is nearly useless at his full range. The destroyer.. well.. he kills tanks from a safe distance. Pew pew.. pew.

Artillery:

2x Armageddon Pattern Basilisk

Long range firepower at the sacrifice of damage delt by the shorter range varients. I like being able to reach out and touch someone without having to put the unit at risk or really move around a whole lot.

Aircraft:

1x Valkyrie

I go back and forth on whether or not I like this unit. It's mediocre so far. He's good at hitting artillery or crossing bodies of water but he really doesn't do enough damage or move fast enough for me to consider it especially useful.

**Edit**

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thank you to those who contributed to this thread. It has helped a lot and made the game more enjoyable.

[Kerensky]

That sounds like an awesomely progress core, redeyedjedi. I really like that composition and you sound like you are having some much better successes with it!

Just remember that you won't be using those same forces for the entire game, many new friendly and enemy elements await you, so be prepared to adapt accordingly!

[bobthehero]

Playing on easy through the campaign, so plenty of requisiton, I am at 18 Reaver Titans or so.

Supported by 2 Armageddon Basilisk batteries, a fully upgraded Baneblade, a fully upgraded Shadowsword, two platoons of Guardsmen in Chimeras, a squad of Terminators with assault cannon, a squad of Scouts and a squad of Sternguards, all in upgraded Rhinos.

[Kerensky]

Playing on easy through the campaign, so plenty of requisiton, I am at 18 Reaver Titans or so.

Supported by 2 Armageddon Basilisk batteries, a fully upgraded Baneblade, a fully upgraded Shadowsword, two platoons of Guardsmen in Chimeras, a squad of Terminators with assault cannon, a squad of Scouts and a squad of Sternguards, all in upgraded Rhinos.

And that is exactly what that difficulty setting is there for. Do anything you want with near unlimited points and have fun as you see fit!
I only wish I could afford such a Titan heavy force playing on Very Hard!

[bobthehero]

Yeah, I struggled at normal, but I am guessing that's because I have to learn about the game mechanics.

Although, simply going ''Hey this thing survived my Reaver shot, here, eat 5 more Reaver volleys'' isn't a really good way to learn the game

And regarding the complaints about the Warhound titans, read up their fluff, they are actual Scout titans.

[Kerensky]

Yeah, I struggled at normal, but I am guessing that's because I have to learn about the game mechanics.

Although, simply going ''Hey this thing survived my Reaver shot, here, eat 5 more Reaver volleys'' isn't a really good way to learn the game

And regarding the complaints about the Warhound titans, read up their fluff, they are actual Scout titans.

You know what I'd say to that... This product, being a game, having fun comes first and foremost. Really learning the game and truly mastering all of its it's units, mechanics, and other intricacies can be a painful process that often requires many attempts that often result in defeat. That's not going to be fun for everyone though, so by all means, I hope you are having a blast with those Reavers. Just as a tip, their optimal firing range is 3 with an unobstructed Line of Sight, it is the 'sweet spot' where every single one of their weapon systems can fire on a target. Any less and the Apocalypse missile launcher has a minimum range problem. Any more and your other weapons start to hit their maximum range limitations.

In fact, I would say learning details like that is pretty huge to understanding range mechanics of the weapons in the game, and 40k is full of a vast arsenal of many weapons that behave in a huge variety of ways! Learning to duck 'under' the minimum range of weapon systems like Ork Mortars or out ranging powerful short range weapons like a 2 range Rattler kannon or ever present Assault units in the game is pretty significant.