Is it just me or are ixian units very weak?

[SpellcastingKisiel]

As in title, have not played too much with them, but I get a feeling that most of them are pretty trash. Not sure if I'm yet to learn something or they need rebalancing.

The idea itself, mechanic units supported by Elites and cheap meatshields seem alright, but the execution itself not so much. Linking bonusii are not too great to be honest (+3 to power in new patch is barely a thing, and come on, Long Range? Really? I'm not sure if AI can handle Long Range anyways), and I get a feeling that everything is really delicate. That, and I'm not convinced that repair as a special feature is really that useful on engineers, but I guess I'll play more and find out.

What I was doing was using Mekst to initiate and the flooding with suboids (if I start with suboids, well, thay are just getting melted), with railguns and engineers in the back. Basiacally suboids and the rest of the army is 1:1.

I feel like I'm missing something, factions traits do not really encourage peace and on paper Ix should feel like a fine defensive faction, but something does not sit with me.

[Songy Bird]

Still figuring out the combat rework but I was losing suboid soldiers fighting against outnumbered village militia which simply never happened before so yeah, possibly

[Connatic]

Originally posted by Songy Bird:

Still figuring out the combat rework but I was losing suboid soldiers fighting against outnumbered village militia which simply never happened before so yeah, possibly

Yeah, learning a new faction the same exact same time combat is reworked will make it tricky.

[Novia]

They are pretty strange, and without ship support, pretty slow too. The majority of your army (drones) are pretty expensive, Suboids seem to be mostly there to offer synergy bonuses with the melee droids as their own output is as unimpressive, as their durability and speed.

I think one of the largest reasons why they preform so badly (critical mass fights don't count) is also due to the fact ranged units no longer seem to get interrupted in melee and the AI hasn't changed its focuses in engagements, so if they're getting focus fired by guns and bombs, they'll feel it. So tactics remain the same, you just have less options to mitigate the cost prior to this patch.

The Repair from the support unit is okay, nothing spectacular but at least it doesn't stop them from contributing to the fight and with an upgrade can make the support a little more tanky if AoE fire is coming down, but I wouldn't say it's a deal-changer worth microing for.

[Spark]

im seeing they get buffs when are connected to a node, so i think that is there focus, better defense terrible offence, encouraging a build tall playstyle.

[SpellcastingKisiel]

Originally posted by Spark:

im seeing they get buffs when are connected to a node, so i think that is there focus, better defense terrible offence, encouraging a build tall playstyle.

Tall build definietly, but really, node connection bonuses are kinda meh

[Mina Murray's Typewriter]

Yeah, my read is that they're temperamental and fragile as a faction. Expansion should be meticulous and careful, with a heavy emphasis on staying on good terms with everyone else until you can climb the tech tree.

It's very funny that, once again, the game's behaviour mirrors the lore. Every skirmish I've played, the Emperor has kicked down my door and started wailing on me the moment I'm outproducing him in Landsraad standing and spice output. Just need the Tleilaxu to join the game and help him out.

[OGM|NeWnAr]

I think their Railgun drones are pretty strong, while Suboids feel like a noob trap (limit to 2 at most, if not 1). Going pure mech has benefits such as being able to ignore sandworm attacks entirely while others have to run, so you can fight at full power in a Thumper region. You also only need one Fight Engi since your mechs only benefit from the highest level Fight Engi around. This leads me to think that manpower is the least useful resource for Ix, as they only really need it for village militia.

[Dumbo3k]

So, I found a large part of the confusion, is that the attack damage on a unit, the crossed swords, is no longer the power stat. The power stat is a substat of that, and shows up in the tooltip, and is stronger than might be initially assumed. I'd have to tinker a bit with the Ix units to see the change in damage based on power, but I know that for Conscript Rifleman for Corrino, +1 power is equal to about 5 change to the displayed attack stat on the unit.

As for Ix, their Railguns are quite powerful, especially if you make sure they hold back, and you get the gear that increases their power based on distance from target. Being tethered is also a huge help, as they get attack speed based on your knowledge output, and Ix can output a lot of knowledge.

Suboid's are relatively cheap, but very fragile with their complete lack of armor, but they do offer a gear piece that offers an additional +10% power to nearby drones, which is handy. I think their other real role, is mechanical and building destruction, with their gear that ignores half the armor values of the aforementioned, so probably pretty handy on a push into someones HQ, since armor is no longer shredded. I would not use Suboids as meat shields, as that'll drain your manpower quite quickly, and they don't last nearly long enough to function as meatshields.

The Fighting Meks are much tankier, especially if supported by one, or several, engineers who have deployed their repair depots. Their upgrades range from bonus armor while tethered, to bonus damage vs biological enemies, to bonus attack per enemy armor (with a downside of a penalty to attack speed per armor).

As for the Resonance drones, I'm not exactly sure what role they serve, beyond making all your drones have an AoE damage field, which is still pretty nice. One of their upgrades also reduces the armor of any enemy affected by the static field by 1. Rather expensive at 5 CP, I usually only have 1 or 2 in my endgame army. Very cheap CP wise, and upkeep wise if you chose the no upkeep upgrade. Could potentially use them to swarm someone who doesn't have much AoE damage, but you'll still probably lose most of them.

Now, the unit I really like, is the Engineer. I like them almost entirely for their active ability, which lets them deploy themselves into a repair depot that heals mechanical units, even in combat. Combine that with an upgrade that gives them bonus armor while deployed that way, and they become a rather tanky way to drag out a fight. If I'm reading the tooltip right, it does come with the downside of stopping the Engineer from shooting while deployed, but I think that's evened out by letting your primarily drone army keep fighting for longer.

Now, my real favorite Ix unit, is actually one of their heroes, Nuwa, who is essentially and Engineer on steroids. Provides a long range buff to drones that gives them +1 armor, and a speed buff. Their attacks ignore half armor, and they also can deploy into a repair depot, with an even farther range than the Engineer, and anecdotally, looks like it heals faster as well. To top it off, Nuwa gets to keep shooting when deployed, with a faster attack, but losing their half armor pen.

The last two units of theirs to talk about, are their flying units, the Spirit, and I forget what their capital ship is called.

The Spirit always counts as tethered, which I guess mostly just means it constantly benefits from the knowledge output based attack speed boost. They are also stealthed in your territory, and in the territory of anyone you are in a Truce with, which probably makes them a pretty good harassing force, sneaking through an allies territory, to harass the enemy at some other part of their territory. I'm somewhat lukewarm on them, honestly. They do benefit from Nuwa's Drone buff, so I guess they technically count as Drones, despite not having the Drone trait.

Their capital ship, like most of the capital ships, is quite slow. basically counts as a mobile node, and any drone counts as tethered, even if far away from your network. In that case, it's relatively helpful for deep strikes into enemy territory. It's other big benefit, is it's active ability, which teleports every Ix unit in its Aura, to anywhere in the Ix node network, allowing you to quickly reposition from an attack, to defend a node under attack. Other than that, I don't really have much to say about it. Still like it more than the Spirit, mostly for the Tethering and teleport.

I am interested in everyone elses thoughts about them.

[Quinox]

Just going to point out: Nuwa's trait of, "Machine's Mother," applies to tethered units, it's not linked specifically to drones. That's why the fliers who get automatic tethered status also get this buff, despite not being drones. The stated effects are accurate, and rather favor Nuwa for overall army improvement.

Suboids are something of a, needs must when the devil drives, unit that does more to bleed your manpower and serve as temporary troops while you collect fuel cells. Neither hero is much help for them, as even a third gear slot won't make them more than a support unit of desperation. Fight-Engineers aren't significantly affected by either hero, and thus remain a high value support unit with minimal numbers needed. Granted a third gear slot is nice, but there's no major benefit to have three over two for this unit; you're just not going to have that many of them running around.

At the end of the day Nuwa affects what should be the bulk of your army, that other guy I'm just not sure about. It's hard to say being a reusable assassin, in your own territory, is worth more than Nuwa's army wide effect. Even with some better combat stats.

[emontyj]

What I like so far about Ix is you can have 40/40 in the early game because the upkeep is 0 but those guys die fast to aoe. You can pump those Suboid Soldiers until you have the ability to make a proper army with your chosen hero. What are best combos is up for debate

[Old Master Fudo]

Ix are OP, you need a resonance drone with your squad to buff/debuff

[rbdoallo]

Suboids are much more important than initial massive cannon fodder wich can cost nothing in upkeep with the gear that erase their cost, they have also gear that gives a little more power to nearby drones and other gear that ignores armor so for a massive attack against a base it's very cool, a part from that a totally automated army is the best thing to be the victim of an very efective, in this case, EMP...so if you don't have the Ixian capital ship that can teleport for retreats, it's better to have a group of suboids to help the drones. They are very cheap to replace both in cost and command points. And you can go with the Ixian hero that gives a third modification/gear for one of your type of units and take the suboids to make them quite better...that's my next plan.

[Will]

Seems to be lots and lots of synergy going on with IX

[Monitor Tan]

I saw an interview with the devs. They want to slow down the kiting back and forth you get in combat that can be frustrating. Their trying to end those situations where 1/2 units who clearly lost, can hold up an entire army that won the battle. You can still do it. It's just harder.