GGTheMachine

Join Date 10/2015

+65

Juggernaut Unit Profiles

Juggernaut Unit Profiles

While Juggernauts are late game killing machines, we want them to maintain strengths and weaknesses so they aren't unstoppable and that investing in specific Juggernauts is a deliberate strategic consideration. Here's some info about the new Juggernauts and how they will fit in with our existing ones.

Substrate Nest of the Queen

Effectiveness:

Frigates & Cruisers - High
Dreadnoughts - Medium
Juggernauts - Low
Air - None

The Nest of the Queen is the weakest in a direct fight, but it has rapid sustainability with the Shield Regenerator and Repair drones which can support itself or friendly units. Since the Drone & Air changes in 2.4, the Queen is quite powerful against air units.

PHC Leonidas

Effectiveness:

Frigates & Cruisers - Low
Dreadnoughts - High
Juggernauts - Very High
Air - Low

The PHC Leonidas is able to easily duel any other Juggernaut, but it can be overwhelmed by large groups of land or air units. Field the Leonidas to counter enemy Juggernauts.

Substrate Eye of Darkness

Effectiveness:

Frigates & Cruisers - High
Dreadnoughts - Very High
Juggernauts - Medium
Air - None

The Eye of Darkness is effective against all ground targets due to full armor-piercing and high area of effect, however, it's the only Juggernaut which lacks anti-air defense, so it needs to be protected against air threats. The Eye can not stand toe-to-toe with the PHC Leonidas, so Substrate players will have to rely on Eradicators or Air Harbingers against it.

PHC Agamemnon

Effectiveness:

Frigates & Cruisers - Very High
Dreadnoughts - Medium
Juggernauts - Low
Air - Low

The Agamemnon annihilates low tier units and buildings with its area of effect missiles and rapid firing laser batteries. Its triple barrelled auto cannons also boast an improved anti-air defense over the Leonidas and other Dreadnoughts. However, the Agamemnon's lack of armor-piercing leaves it vulnerable to multiple dreadnoughts or other Juggernauts, with the exception of the Queen due to the area damage against its frigates.

Substrate Heart of the Phoenix

Effectiveness:

Frigates & Cruisers - Low
Dreadnoughts - Medium. High when Phoenix's are grouped.
Juggernauts - Low. High when Phoenix's are grouped.
Air - High

The Heart of the Phoenix the weakest Juggernaut in a direct fight, however it is devastating against air units and is armed with a Static Charge. The static charge disables all nearby units for 5 seconds on a 14 second cooldown. Multiple Phoenix's can be especially devastating as their Static Charges together can leave enemies stunned for long periods. The stuns from multiple Phoenix's will not stack, so you need to manually stagger the stuns by spacing them out slightly. When the Phoenix is killed, it forms an egg that will spawn a new Phoenix unless it is destroyed.

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SchismNavigator

The nest is such an effective one unit army that it's mental. Units like Athenas don't target it on the attack move and often get stuck trying to kill the frigates and other escorts before trying to fire on the nest it's self. Attack moves often leave armies stuck trying to kill the rapidly re-spawning swarm that they forget to shoot at the nest, often requiring a manual command to focus her down.

The Leonidas is a big gun, pure and simple, but can struggle with terrain and up hill attacks. As well as back-peddling opponents who draw them into defence lines.

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SchismNavigator

Join Date 06/2012

+165

This is a good overview for players who may not be aware of the strengths and weaknesses.

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Quoting igncom1,

reply 1

Every weapon has a target priority. Units like Athenas will automatically target the Queen over the Frigates once they are within range.

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At 1 hour, 46 minutes and 30 seconds when my army attacked the juggernaut army it wasn't until I gave the manual order to shoot at the Queen that the Athenas stopped shooting at the frigates and moved onto the juggernaut.

Attack move can often be a little funky like this, not that it's the biggest issue as Athenas are most of a tanking unit then high damage dealers themselves. By late game they are more supposed to be shot at while sniper and siege cruisers dish out the long ranged pain.

I will accept however that under the circumstances of the battle that they were moving the fight the cruisers in the other approaching army as the did also shoot at the queen when they swung themselves around to move back to the left. So it's possibly just a coincidence on my part.

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fantstc1

Join Date 01/2015

+18

Quoting igncom1,

reply 1

Just another terrific example of unit AI that needs dramatic improvement.

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I was able to reproduce and fix that Athena targeting issue. It had all the priorities setup right but must have been bugged.

Thanks for sharing! The video helped too.

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Quoting GeneralsGentlemen,

reply 6

I was able to reproduce and fix that Athena targeting issue. It had all the priorities setup right but must have been bugged.

Thanks for sharing! The video helped too.

Pleasure to serve sir! For the PHC!

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Quoting igncom1,

reply 1

Yeah, the Nest I find massively outperforms any other unit. There's usually no shortage of anti-Dreadnaught/anti-Juggernaut Cruisers in my army, so having a leader that can essentially erase any Frigates/Cruisers that it looks at is positively fantastic. The regeneration it has means the newest update also turned it in to a huge force multiplier for the Substrate. The normally delicate units all sit behind it while the Nest utterly obliterates whole armies at a time. Then, by the time you get to the next fight, you're already fully healed and ready to wipe out a whole new army.

The Leonidas is fun when you manage to get it to wipe out the opponents' Dreadnaught or Juggernaut, but I've often found it struggles the most. Its main weapon fires too slow to contribute much to a fight against Frigates/Cruisers, it itself is too slow to engage most fleeing opponents (Which can lead to the hilarious instance of a Nest killing a Leonidas by simply mauling it with Drones while it flees) and like you said: Its main weapon being direct-fire can work against it. However, I think the altered unit behavior in 2.4 did a lot to improve the Leonidas however. Now that it sits at the front, I view it more as a shield for the army, that happens to also have a really large main gun. Just wish it regenerated like the Nest did.

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