Imperial Bastions can't be manned with infantry?

[flupo42]

I am a big fan of fortifications, but these turned out to be really lackluster in practice for me and I am wondering if I am missing something here.

The biggest dissapointment is that there doesn't seem to be a way to put my guardsmen infantry units into the Bastions.

Instead I get a 40 ore with 2 ore upkeep, a basically get the equivalent of my speedy, weak scout unit (Scout Sentinel)... that's stationary.

It would be fine if I could stick a Heavy Weapon Squad inside to make it a proper defensive unit, but as is, they seem rather lackluster.

Does anyone actually use these for their intended defensive role?

[flupo42]

Or is there maybe some research later down the line that makes them more viable? I've only gotten to mid tiers so far...

[postpaleo]

I use towers, sure. Nice at a choke point and sometimes I try to over lap them, give each other cover fire. They also help on some quests and can be good for early warning. They do go up in level and can be healed and buffed in a fight, if you're near with the right stuff.

[Nodork]

The bastions are really good for control of chokepoints and city def in general.
In combination with troops / tanks you can turtle as much as you want.

You dont need to put guardsmen into a bastion, because its already fully operational. It does not have any upkeep, guardsmen do have upkeep and they cant take as much damage as a bastion.

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by Nodork:

The bastions are really good for control of chokepoints and city def in general.
In combination with troops / tanks you can turtle as much as you want.

You dont need to put guardsmen into a bastion, because its already fully operational. It does not have any upkeep, guardsmen do have upkeep and they cant take as much damage as a bastion.

Good points, makes sense.

[flupo42]

Originally posted by Nodork:

The bastions are really good for control of chokepoints and city def in general.
In combination with troops / tanks you can turtle as much as you want.

You dont need to put guardsmen into a bastion, because its already fully operational. It does not have any upkeep, guardsmen do have upkeep and they cant take as much damage as a bastion.

You are wrong - at least in 1.07, they have an upkeep of 2 ore which is not shown anywhere in the game, but is subtracted from your income as soon as the bastion is built.

It is however listed on their wiki here https://gladiusrelicsofwar.gamepedia.com/Imperial_Bastion

if they didn't have that upkeep, they would be amazing.

With it, I just don't get what their use case is vs. a Scout Sentinel that has exact same cost and upkeep, but can reposition to support other units, can hunt down enemies and can retreat to be repaired when needed.

Even if I need to hold a choke point or something, there is just never a situation where 'park a sentinel there' isn't a better choice than than invest in a Bastion.

Right now the trade off is: 4 more armor, and 2 more armor penetration on an 18 dmg attack, which amounts to 2.8 higher damage on the Bastion.

VS 'ability to move, unempeded across ruins and forests, and 3 turn radar scouting.

In a game with a different economy, the fact that Bastion is insta-plop would be a big deal. But right now, it's not like our factories are normally busy - the economy is tight, and most turns your Manifactorium's are sitting there waiting for your income to grow enough to be able to support more units.

Their only use so far for me was to put up a rear force guard when I am pulling out - at cost of 80 ore, I will sometimes plop them down to take a bit of pressure off my retreating units.

I think this unit needs review - either to lower upkeep to 1 ore, or to give it some boost significant enough to warrant spending on them vs. just popping out more Sentinels

[Zak0r]

But a sentinel needs to be built, sent to the battle and maintained on the way.

[flupo42]

Right, but it's also an asset that remains useful in fluid battlefield conditions because it can move.

[flupo42]

I am still getting a hang of this game so maybe it's a gameplay skill thing where I am not seeing the full utility - if anyone have a youtube or twitch game to link that showcases the utility of Bastions, I would love to go get some schooling.

[Zak0r]

I have not used it myself but I saw an ally use it to block off enemy reinforcements while his heavy weapons squads obliterated an enemy city.

It could also be used to capture a weaker army with ZOC (dropping it behind them) so it can't run away.