Nomad Units, Full Overview.

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Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby Softly » 28 Nov 2012, 21:11

This thread is going to be here with the aim of providing some information on all nomad units, and how each one compares to other factions equivalents. I would encourage everyone to contribute their opinion below on what I miss, because contrary to popular belief I am not all knowing, or even all powerful!

I won't cover everything in my initial post, but will be adding more units as I get more time.

Everything in italics needs clearing up for me, thats your job pip :P
And pip is allowed to add to this too btw since hes the one who actually knows what hes talking about.

Nomads Land
T1
Scout: On the faster end of scouts, it is the same speed as the cybran scout. It has a fairly normal health for a scout too, though has the most powerful gun (a whole 3 dps!!!) of any scout (not inc sera) although it has pretty pathetic range.

Light Tank: The nomads version of a lab, its distinguishing feature is that it can hover, although like other nomad units it is slower on water. Otherwise it is effectively the same, except it cannot fire from transports.

Medium Tank: The medium tank can also hover, though is again slower on water. It has 25 dps (middle beween tanks and Mantis) but a good damage value, and has just slightly lower health than Mantis. Its range is the same as mantis/striker/thaam, and is almost as fast as Mantis on land, and as fast as auroras on water.

Tank Destroyer: The wildcard of nomads t1, this unit has higher dps than tanks although it is very frontloaded, with each shot doing 300 damages. This is a one shot kill on all other t1 units (excluding tanks with vet). This makes it best suited for use in short conflicts, where their high initial damage can swing the battle in their favour. At almost the same range as artillery, they are great at killing small rading groups and stopping an advancing or upgrading ACU.

This highly effective weapon however is well countered by labs (due to the massive overkill) and by artilleris which outrange them if they are not "anchored". Also the Tank Destroyer has roughly similar health to auroras, so is very weak against bombers. Add this to the fact that they have a slow movement speed, and incredibly poor accuracy when moving, unless deployed correctly they are one big waste of mass, as each one costs more than a tank.

Mobile AA: Though the nomads mobile aa costs around 20% more than other factions t1 aa, this buys you an extra 2 dps against air targets and a low damage artillery weapon as well. This makes including nomad aa as part of your spam a more viable tactic, as they can also be used to destroy pd. This is offset against the fact that the artillery weapon does less than half the amount of damage as a medusa (cybran arty), so don't expect small numbers of them to get through pd quickly.

T2
Fast Assault Tank: This unit is the nomads version of an amphibious t2 tank, and it does what it says on the tin. It moves as fast as t1 scouts on land, although suffers the same speed reduction as other nomad units on water. This still makes it an ideal unit for raiding in the t2 phase of the game. Also in true nomads style, it has higher dps than other similarly priced t2 amphibious tanks at 70 dps, with less health as well. (Comparing to aeon and sera t2)

Heavy Tank: This is the nomads equivalent of a pillar or rhino, actually fitting in almost perfectly between those two units. It has more health than the pillar and less health than the rhino, and also more dps than the pillar, but less dps than the rhino. Its cost is also between these two units. It has a slightly longer range than both, but a rather slow speed. It also increases accuracy of Nomads artilleries units (and MML) when they are nearby enemy targets.

EMP Tank: The EMP tank is exactly that, it stuns enemy units. While having a low damage against enemy units, it has a much higher dps when firing on shields, so is a nomad counter to t2 mobile shields when they don't have any of their own. Furthermore the EMP weapon has a small AOE damage, so try using it against bunches of t1. It has a long range for a t2 unit, and is the sturdiest t2 unit (and most expensive), which ensure it's usefulness also at the t3 stage, although the stun duration against t3 units is much shorter.

Mobile Missile Launcher: It is unlike other factions mmls: it has the interesting ability to both go underwater, and fire from underwater (though at a shorter range). This unit also has better AOE, though it has a fair bit less dps.

Mobile Flak: Not much to say here, this unit is roughly the same as all other factions.

Field Engineer: The nomads equivalent of the UEF sparky, although this engineer comes in with a low power tmd system rather than any offensive weapons. Could be quite useful in a pd war. It is also equipped with a radar that has the boost ability.

T3
Heavy Hover Tank: A mix between the range of a Percival and the rapid fire of Othuums, this t3 tank actually has two weapons with totally different charachteristics. The first weapon has a high range (even better than a brick or percival) and a low fire rate, at a total of ~ 200 dps, and another rapid fire weapon at the same range of an Othuum doing ~160 dps. This tank can also hover, and has the same speed as Othuum, although is even slower on water (same speed as Brick when on water). To sum up : this is a t3 aurora, with low HP but good range and good for its kiting ability.

Mobile Artillery: Like the t2 flak, this unit is very similar to those from other factions with broadly similar dps, health and AOE, with the same range.

Mobile AA: Another unit unique to nomads, the t3 mobile AA is a very interesting unit. It does cost about 3.5 times as much as a mobile flak, but for that you get more than double the health, more damage and homing ability (so much less wasted DPS and ability to hit fast flying units), and a small range increase. You do lose AOE damage though.

Experimental
Beamer: With the introduction of the beamer, FA will have its new cheapest experimental. The beamer (unsurprisingly) fires a beam weapon with 2300 dps (Monkey Lord for comparison has 4000dps, Galactic Colossus has 2500dps), and 35 range (same as a percie or brick).

At a little over half the cost of a monkey (12 000 mass), this unit is a great anti experimental weapon. It is however much worse than other experimentals at killing t3 land and attacking fortifications on account of its lower health (though the smart players will use veterancy to keep it alive longer). This unit also pairs up to make the most awesome thing in all of nomads, (Which Napalm didn't put in his vid!!!!), when you load it up into a comet, the experimental transport, it can still fire at ground targets. Yes you heard me right folks, it is an experimental ghetto gunship.

Crawler: This is the nomads missile tank, which is effectively an aeon missile ship that goes around on land and water and siege a base from afar. This is another unit that can be picked up and carried by the experimental transport.

It has a few different weapon systems, but the important thing about it is its range. Its most effective at bombardment at a range of 110 (A fatboy has 100 range). Another big thing about it is its ability to overwhelm tmd with its barrage ability, if you haven't tried this out yet then I recommend strongly that you do!

Bullfrog: This is the bad boy of the nomads Experimentals ( 8-) ), with the most powerful weapons, the highest dps and the highest cost. This unit has about half the dps at its maximum range as the megalith, although once in closer it has more dps than the megalith. That said it does have less health, and will suffer while it tries to get in close.

It is however far closer to the price of a fatty.

Nomads Air
T1
Air Scout:

Interceptor:

Bomber:
Lower HP than the others, but slightly faster. It has also a longer reload time.

Light Gunship: As the title says : it's a gunship but cheap and lightly armored. Best used to harass, but very fragile.

Transport:
Lower capacity (4) but faster speed and cheap mass cost.
T2
Fighter/Bomber:
2 attacks, rockets and bombs.
Torpedo Gunship:
Very useful against navies and underwater ACU. More expensive than other gunships.
Transport:
Normal T2 transport (not like the t1 one)
T3
Spy Plane:

Air Superiority Fighter:

Strategic Bomber:
Less powerful than other t3 bomber but huge AOE and cheaper cost. Better against armies, less efficient at sniping.
Heavy Gunship:
More efficient at sniping than other gunships thanks to a better DPS, but less HP.
Experimental
Comet:
Good anti air unit, can transport up to 18 units of any kind (even t3) + 1 Experimental (Beamer or Crawler, not Bullfrog) or a naval unit. A beamer loaded in the Comet can fire so it's a T4 Ghetto gunship.

Nomads Navy
T1
Attack Submarine:

Frigate:

T2
Destroyer:
No torpedo weapons and low HP but more firepower for surface weapon. Its weapon deals more damage over time to they are very powerful against stationary targets, and it's better to move away from the fire when you're attacked by it.
A Bombard mode fire more often but randomly in front of the Destroyer. This is very good against bases and shields., or t1 swarms.

Cruiser: It's called the Mercenary. It has a strong AA weapon, and an EMP weapon that stuns shortly other units, but also do additional damages against shields. It's secondary weapon is a homing missile, with less range and DPS than other cruisers but that doesn't waste as many shots.

RailgunCarrier:
It can "eat" some torpedoes. Better to use at range against subs.

T3
Heavy Attack Submarine:
Versatile unit. It has good torpedo DPS and range, and a long range missile attack, like the Cybran Plan B, but cheaper because it's not a nuke launcher.
Aircraft Carrier:
Very good AA DPS.
Heavy Destroyer:
Versatile t3 ship, with flak canon, big guns and a railgun weapon for underwater threats. Slightly more powerful than the UEF Battlecruiser but with different weapons and higher cost.

Nomads ACU: The Nomads ACU has a special ability, the capaictor, that improves its firepower, buildpower and regeneration for a short time (15 seconds). It fills up like a battery whenever you have excess energy.

Other than that the ACU gets the following upgrades:
- T2, T3, self explanatory.
- gun upgrade 1 = twice the rate of fire
- gun upgrade 2 = double canon, doubling damage output (but not OC damage)
- Orbital bombardment = 10 missiles called from the Mothership will hit a target or several targets (Radius = 3) for around 4500 Damages. Each missile can be countered by TMD (2 TMD will prevent a t2 mex to be sniped in one salvo).
- Intel Probe : a radar device is launched by the Mothership and will give you radar coverage for a limited time in a medium size area. The device also provides Artillery support and can be countered by TMD. The emitter of the device can be killed by a manual ground of any AOE weapon (like artillery)
- Intel Probe 2 : same as the previous one except that it gives vision in a small area, like the Eye of Rhianne.
- Speed upgrade gives ACU 50% more walking speed
- Repair upgrade : gives additional health and the ability to repair after some charge time (15 seconds without shooting or taking damages).
- Power armor : gives + 25000 HP to the Nomads ACU
- RAS : provides resources from the ACU and also speeds up capacitor fill rate.

Nomads SACU:
Can be specialised in offensive or engineer ACU.
Also has capacitor, speed upgrade and power armor. Other specific upgrades are machine gun (fast firing rate), anti naval gun, rocket launcher (long range). RAS is replaced by a more simple resource generator because Nomads SCU don't produce any resources by default.

Engineers: The nomads get the same engineers as the other factions at t1,t2,t3, but they get an extra t2 field engineer as well which acts like a mobile TMD.
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby pip » 28 Nov 2012, 23:41

- The light tank cannot fire from transport.
- The range of the mobile aa / arty is 32 to fit the range of the AA weapon and have the same, clean overlay. It's certainly not this extra 2 range that will make this unit imba.
- Nomads don't have mobile shields NOR mobile stealth, NOR super T2.5 bot so they have slightly better T2 units otherwise they just are UP. That's the case of the MML which is more useful for Nomads than for the other factions.
- The mobile flak fire 3 projectiles with spread and each is 3 AOE it means it covers more space overall than a single shot with 4 AOE. The projectile is also slightly faster.
- The T3 superheavy tank was considered weak by Exivo. It is not weak, even if the HP is low for a t3 heavy unit,it is even very strong but only if microed. It's like a T3 aurora. Again, it is strong because of the lack of mobile shields and no Bricks.
- The Crawler has around 1000 DPS and ALL its missiles can be countered by TMD and you can't protect it with mobile shields. The Fatboy has 3000 DPS that are not counterable by TMD and you can protect it with mobile shields.
- The Bullfrog is barely able to defeat head on a GC or even a Ythota, yet it is more expensive. It's better against multiple units, but less efficient against other Experimentals, unless microed. And again, no mobile shield to protect its metal ass.
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby Softly » 28 Nov 2012, 23:43

Nice.

You should really just Edit my post yourself, also feel free to expand it to air or navy or something if you want :)
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby pip » 28 Nov 2012, 23:48

Ok, will do that, but there is no need to mention concerns about balance for a unit overview. It's only important to say balance is really solid but not perfect. 8-)
Anyway, Nomads are better balanced than Cybran... :roll:
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby Softly » 28 Nov 2012, 23:51

People keep complaining cybran is weak, I can't help it if they refuse to balance them back to other factions!
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby Napalm175 » 29 Nov 2012, 00:04

Wow this is great. I see some really good videos in our future ;) Awesome work so far guys.
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby pip » 30 Nov 2012, 16:03

Post updated with additional infos.
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby Batmansrueckkehr » 10 Dec 2012, 14:03

i have some questions:

what is the dmg given to shields by the emp weapon? i mean from emp tank and from cruisers.

the heavy t3 destroyer has very much hp, really good dps, is cheap and very fast build. how is it supposed be be countered? i mean i get buildtimewise 2 of those compared with 1 bc and 1 of those is cheaper and more powerful as a bc. what i try to say is, when my build power is equal as that from the opponent and my mass income equal too and enough to produce without delay (no negative mass), i outproduce an uef player with more and better ships. is that intended? maybe u say uef has its shield boat and can so defend himself - what does cybran do?
maybe we should play more navy maps like roanoke or setons to test the ships more. i havent seen the t3 ships yet but when i look at the stats, they scare me at t3.

t2 navy however.. hm.. well hp is almost all in that stage. that's why many players spam frigates - not for the firepower but also for the more hp. u get 2k hp for 300 mass - good deal. and when i look at the t2 destroyer - very low hp and just 70 range. concerning the game we had yesterday on setons, tiep had very less chance with his t2 nomads ships vs my cybran - i am not sure if i had so many more than him. but i could get good dmg to his ships because of good range and his ships died fast even when they come close enough their hp is so low that cybran ships just raped them. maybe i oversee some nomads t2 navy features. maybe the emp effect should last longer? how long is it btw?
when i think of sera, well they can outmicro enemy shoots and take advantage of their beam weapons and they have good hp - and as i said, hp is almost all.
also considering there is no torp bomber - well even harder to compete with sera curisers here. and for the other cruirsers - one gunship dies before it even reaches the ship when it drives away from the gunships. torps can at least drop their loads. and it takes a while for a gunship to get 750 dmg to a target like the torp bomber does. and the gunship is more expensive i get 5 torps for 4 gunships - those 5 torps can kill a cruiser even sera - the 4 gunship cant.

i see it just from navy side of view and i dont want to make any suggestions for balancing or so, i guess i dont know all facts - thats why i am asking. so what u think?
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby killhard » 10 Dec 2012, 19:02

I think whe need to test much more on the navy cause i dont think on this moment nomad navy is OP not ath tech 2 stage .

just my view on this moment ( whe need to play more navy )

so commanders get your gears up and fight this evning on setons to test ( and have fun course )
:)
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Re: Nomad Units, Full Overview.

Postby pip » 10 Dec 2012, 19:53

The naval balance is not finished. There has not been enough games to judge it. There will be some adjustments. Currently, the Cruiser seems too strong, the Destroyer too weak (not DPS but other things), and the Frigate too weak too.
The buildtime of the Heavy Destroyer is a difference with FAF version, it will be the same as Battlecruiser.

The stun duration of the cruiser is currently 2.3 sec for t1 units, 1.3 for t2, 0.8 for t3. It will probably be adjusted to make the perma stun of t2 units when you have 2 Cruisers a bit more difficult. DPS to shield is currently 350.
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