Adeptus Mechanicus unit overview

[LuciusRex (KRALJ)]

Anyone willing to share their experience with individual AdMech units? E.g. What's the Onager Dunecrawler like? What are the Pteraxii like?

Any and all input welcome!

[Zackmar]

While I'm not the best at the game, I have some very strong opinions on some of the units so far.

Starting off, the Imperial Knight. Yikes this thing is strong. If you buff it with Marshall and the 6 armor penetration from Tech Priest Dominus, and the Knight can deal 100-200 damage at 1 range. One shotting cities is hilarious.

Speaking of Tech Priest Dominus, this guy's amazing. Maybe one of my favorite heroes. Very good burst DPS with his skill, can repair units every turn and is not easily taken out. With some items he can be made into a really strong hero with a versatile role and kit.

Finally, the Skorpius Disintegrator. Very powerful in my experience. Equivalent (if not stronger) to Leman Russes even though it didn't seem like it from the stats.

As for units I disliked... god the vanguards are so... ehhh. I like their damage output but they drop like flies. Same for the Marshal in fact, who I really did like but was thoroughly disappointed by his survivability.

Sadly the other units didn't stand out that much to me from the one match I managed to play so far, but I'll definitely play more of them.

[Corseth]

The heroes are all really good. The Marshal is a little awkward - he's actually a support hero and squishy, and most of his abilities are free actions, so he ends up usually ending his turn with his action free (It's rarely worth it to use his melee, it doesn't hit hard and puts him in too much danger). But being able to stack +100% attacks and +50% damage on the same unit is just nuts. The Dominus is also good and most people mention him, but I think people may be overlooking the Manipulus. His repair can be used every turn for 24 points at rank 3, his armor pen buff can be added to the same target the marshal buffs for more lol, but his rank 3 stun ability can ALSO be used EVERY TURN and is a FREE ACTION. This is actually nuts for handling powerful monstrous creatures or tanky enemy heroes, as the Manipulus can stun an enemy and heal an ally every turn, and he's pretty tanky himself. Doesn't have the damage of the dominus, but its not awful either. Frankly all 3 heroes are bonkers good.

Their stuff hits infantry really hard, but until later, less so on vehicles. If anything, this might be the faction's awkward point: they have a LOT of infantry units that decimate infantry. You get Sulfurhounds at the first tier (one of the better first-tier-research units IMO) and then it feels like every few tiers you get a slightly better version of "infantry killer".

Castellen Robots are the only vehicle I don't really like, for as annoying as the neutral ones are (they're a mostly anti-infantry option in a faction glutted with better choices for it). Ironstriders are a really early, really mobile, really cheap range 3 unit. Don't do amazing damage but there is a LOT to be said for that combo of factors. Onagers are extremely versatile and amazing versus the factions that have skimmer tanks like Elder and Tau. Frankly against Tau they're fantastic because they also evaporate battlesuits, even many of the monstrous ones.

I don't yet have a lot of experience with Knights or their aircraft, just a bit of playing-around. Knights are definitely stronger (and much cheaper) than say Tesseract Vaults, but that might be because vaults are super garbage for their cost (Vaults are kinda my most familiar point of reference for end-tier units because I play 'crons the most, and most games I don't get to the end of the tech tree before its over).

[Quinox]

It should be noted the Dominus' aura is currently not working, so there's a potentially very powerful ability not in play. The Skitarii Vanguards are like a cheaper Eldar Guardian, with all the survivability issues, if not more due to lesser out of the box mobility. They're more a unit of necessity than anything else, as they trade their good damage for barely surviving.

The Sulphur Hounds are a good early replacement, but it's easier to just use Datasmiths, as they're actually decent combat units with decent damage and survivability along with combat healing. They're an essential unit since they build the cities, but they're just good at any role you want them in early on, so get spares.

No matter what you want the Tech Priests as they ramp up the Ad Mech's battlefield presence significantly. The level 6 capstones are very powerful and the Dominus then starts to more than pay for its' own influence cost. Buying tantalizing icons for the heroes so they produce more influence than they consume makes it much easier to toss more heroes out, which provide a lot of battlefield control while building up to the big units like Onagers.

Onagers are one of the few anti-air units that is also a good general combat unit with a hardly shell. This is your earliest non-hero unit that can both give and take punches like a champ, provides your serious AA firepower, and ramps up massively with a Marshall. It can shift the tides of a front significantly when they start arriving.

[pfmm]

I find it strange that their heroes require so much food.

Had a PvP game against Orcs and was hurting in the food department leaving me short of heroes.

An Orc Warboss only requires 2 food, most of mine need 3. The flesh is indeed weak.

[adder007usa]

Initial impressions on the earlier units

Vanguards: Glass cannons with only 1 range. You really need a marshal to make them good, move him to take whatever overwatch attack hits, then move them in to melt the enemy (sometimes literally). They're honestly best at defense; Park them somewhere that you think the enemy will run into, their damage is surprisingly good even against armor.

Sulpherhounds: These guys actually are pretty good. Fast, hit hard, a bit fragile (nothing new from Vanguard), they can't overwatch as well as Vanguards, but on the attack they're a lot stronger. Excellent for flushing out enemy squads in cover due to flame weapons.

Ironstriders: These guys don't seem like much at first, until you realize you have a fast, cheap, spammable range 3 unit with a halfway decent attack. Range 3 this early is incredible. They're a doctrine unit as well, so if you pop the +accuracy one, they can hit just about anything from outside its usual range. This is your early backbone.

Sicarian infiltrators: Not bad. Still just as fragile as vanguards, but the morale penalty to enemies and the immunity to overwatch make them a better offensive unit. Melee weapons mean that they don't benefit as much from some of the doctrine abilities, but that can be offset by the marshal and other techs.

Scorpius Dunerider: This is a solid transport. Fast, and the cognis stubbers mean that they're surprisingly good at hitting infantry in cover.

Onager: This thing is amazing. It melts battlesuits, skimmers, and flyers, and isn't half bad against other armored units as well; The lack of accuracy can be easily offset if you have a dominus nearby.

Kastellan: Eh...not really all that impressed. The only reason I use these is when I steal the roamers with a data-smith. The illuminate debuff can be good, but aside from that, their damage is mediocre for their cost.

Datasmith: These guys are great. A free +6 heal or decent damage each round, plus the ability to clear wire-weed and found cities.

Electro-priests: I might be missing something, but I'm not impressed. They supposedly get damage resistance increases when they kill targets, but in my experience they hit like a wet noodle compared to infiltrators, and aren't that durable to start, so good luck getting that kill?

Heroes:

Marshal. This guy is awkward, but if you treat him as the support hero he is, then he's great. His damage buffs are really nice, particularly the passive, and his level 6 ability is a 1 turn +50% damage to a unit of your choice; ANY unit. So putting this buff on something big like an onager, knight, or dominus is hilarious.

Manipulus: Do you want something to not die? Put this guy next to them. He's got his basic "heal 6" that all tech priest individuals get, but his hero heal can repair up to 24 points to an individual EACH round. He's not too shabby of a damage dealer either.

Dominus: This guy is deceptively powerful. Low health to start, but high damage resistance, and all of his hero abilities are great. In particular, his accuracy aura means that with him hanging around, cover is a suggestion to your army. With gear, coupled with his rage ability, he can nearly one shot just about any other hero if he gets close as well.

[Jonlissla]

They're in a weird spot if you ask me. Like what was mentioned by another user they seem to have a ton of anti-infantry options but very little in the anti-armor department up until later. Many of their early units are about as tough as paper, have very short range, and regularly get killed in one or two hits from wildlife. To top it off they cost a fair amount extra too.

I'm also a bit confused as to how their building bonus system works in practice, since the tooltips only show adjacency bonuses. Speaking of the adjacency bonus, I also have no idea how it's currently implemented. Does it only value resource buildings, or does it value any non-headquarters building?

Canticles and Chants are fine but I'm not too overly impressed. I usually get the one that gives bonus armor and ignore the rest. The maluses aren't worth the hassle and I'd rather spend the research elsewhere. There's never been a moment where I'm willing to sacrifice durability for movement.

Heroes and vehicles are good. The former helps out with some of the faction's disadvantages like no early anti-armor, and the latter ends up as the backbone of the army, especially the Onagers. Hands down one of the best units in their roster.

Overall I'm having fun but, eh, could be better.

[Orclover]

Their best units sadly will be slowly plodding across the battlefield and ready to engage, when the game is over in another turn.

Capture robots is turning out to be a headache, they usually just get captured back. If you spend a few turns setting up a capture then you wonder if you could have just built a robot instead and saved yourself the trouble.

So far i'm not impressed by this faction, kind of wished I had saved my money.

[Dworph Lungren]

There's two things I wanted to check, just to see if things are working as intended. First, is the sulphur hound only supposed to have 3 movement? That's the same as most foot units, and they're meant to be kind of a ranging, striking unit.

Second, why does the Manipulus get two heals? It seems completely redundant, and a waste of an ability. I get that the standard heal is just a tech-priest thing, but there will never be a reason to use it the second you get the other ability. Missing something?

[Zackmar]

Originally posted by Dworph Lungren:

There's two things I wanted to check, just to see if things are working as intended. First, is the sulphur hound only supposed to have 3 movement? That's the same as most foot units, and they're meant to be kind of a ranging, striking unit.

Second, why does the Manipulus get two heals? It seems completely redundant, and a waste of an ability. I get that the standard heal is just a tech-priest thing, but there will never be a reason to use it the second you get the other ability. Missing something?

I have the same exact questions too (among others regarding adjacency bonuses and the like). Only way I can rationalize the Manipulus having two heals is to maybe allow you to not take the healing ability unless you need to heal high-HP units, therefore making picking the other two available abilities more viable? I dunno though, I still think it's redundant but it's the only "logic" I can see the developers having regarding this.

[Avlaen]

Originally posted by Zackmar:

Originally posted by Dworph Lungren:

There's two things I wanted to check, just to see if things are working as intended. First, is the sulphur hound only supposed to have 3 movement? That's the same as most foot units, and they're meant to be kind of a ranging, striking unit.

Second, why does the Manipulus get two heals? It seems completely redundant, and a waste of an ability. I get that the standard heal is just a tech-priest thing, but there will never be a reason to use it the second you get the other ability. Missing something?

I have the same exact questions too (among others regarding adjacency bonuses and the like). Only way I can rationalize the Manipulus having two heals is to maybe allow you to not take the healing ability unless you need to heal high-HP units, therefore making picking the other two available abilities more viable? I dunno though, I still think it's redundant but it's the only "logic" I can see the developers having regarding this.

all the tech priests have the 6 hp heal, its just the manipulus can choose to spend points on a better heal.

[Prof_Nekko]

one noteworthy thing about the Knights is that they only have 2 move and no methods of speeding themselves up, so it can be difficult to use them at times

[Orclover]

Originally posted by Prof_Nekko:

one noteworthy thing about the Knights is that they only have 2 move and no methods of speeding themselves up, so it can be difficult to use them at times

In every game against the AI the knight never makes into the fight. By the time they are out on the field. the game is over.

[Prof_Nekko]

true most endgame units you won't see unless it's a big game or you do the story missions. The point is that when they do get used they can be hard to do so since they are very slow

[Dworph Lungren]

Just unlocked the Knight Crusader. I was pretty excited to see it, and then saw the movement rate. Looking over the comments, I can see I'm not the only one shocked at what I'm seeing. 2? I cannot understand the logic behind this. Some people seem to be stating that it's to balance how powerful it is, but 2 movement is uselessly slow. Gorkanaughts, Baneblades fulfil roughly similar roles, but they aren't hamstrung like this. I feel like this has to be a mistake. Knights are pretty famous in the lore for acting as cavalry, being swift and aggressive. Does anyone get the impression that they were supposed to be 4 movement, and someone saw 3 movement, and accidentally pressed -1 instead of +1 to the value?

[Jonlissla]

I've been playing more and more AdMech recently and to be perfectly honest, I don't think they're very good. Their research is painfully slow and with no readily available anti-armor unit they rely entirely on a single hero, the Manipulus and their ability, for their AP needs (the Datasmith is decent and works in a pinch, but I'd rather have them as support). It's not until you get the Onager you get something akin to a vehicle buster, but you have to survive until then. And speaking of the Onager it feels like it's a sort of anti-everything at the moment. Absolute beast for taking out aircraft, does well against infantry and semi-decent against armor. For me it functions like a crutch for most of the game.

Their bonus for having multiple buildings of the same kind in one slot sounds good but it hampers your earlygame something fierce unless you ignore it and just eat the penalties instead, which makes the start even more difficult but for the wrong reasons. You also can't delete buildings so good luck wanting to "fix" your tiles lategame when you have resources.

I'm just not feeling it, Mr Krabs. I'm fine with factions that are late bloomers but the penalties for earlygame AdMech adds up so much that you have to catch up the entire game.