Soldiers Vs Rangers in early map clearing

[Pagrek]

So I was looking at the stats for the early unit types, rangers and soldiers, and I noticed that the soldier stats were essentially three times as good as the ranger even though they are roughly about twice as expensive. So I thought it would be a good idea to use soldiers to clear sections of the map, leaving my starting rangers as scouts and the surplus soldiers as help to defend against waves.

Holy crap did that go poorly. I severely underestimated how much nosier the soldiers are. They absolutely wrecked the initial zombies, but it feels like the stronger the zombie is, the further away they'll come from if something is loud. I was soon fighting miniature hordes and only the fact I could fall back to a ballista's range saved me, and I still lost a lot to those stupid venom spitters and harpies were a semi regular occurance.

Later I got a lookout tower up in a different section of map and all I can see are regular zeds with a smattering of executives. I'm wondering if my (now much reduced) soldiers can start clearing and I just chose a bad direction to start going in, or if they'll bring down too much heat and I should stick to rangers.

[Morphic]

Yeah ... that's part of the problem with Soldiers and Spitters. Soldiers will draw in significantly more mobs than Rangers so, effectively, their superior stats are rendered inert due to the additional mobs. To top it off, if you run into Spitters; Soldiers get 2-4 shot and now you basically wasted a lot of money/iron that could have been spent elsewhere. At least they don't get 1-shot like Rangers!

Personally, I think Soldiers are actually really good but they need to be in "critical mass". So you need ~30-40 Soldiers acting as a group and you'll basically kill everything short of a VoD and even then you could take on small VoDs with them. However you still need to pay attention because 1-2 Spitters can completely destroy them.

Overall Rangers are cheaper but, IMO, are crap after Early Game. At least Soldiers can remain useful until Late Game. I just tend to either Turret Creep, go Sniper VoD squad or just rush to Titans -> 10 Titans clear entire map.

[oliver.bengtsson]

Soldiers can't really go out in small groups IMO.
I went from Ranger heavy to sldiers and I think the soldiers wins out. For the hordes around the base of decrepit/young zombies, 2 rangers can start clearing relatively safely. If I have 4, they can take on running colonists, and with 8 free, executives. Problem is the time spent.
My current strategy is to have maybe 10 rangers at the start to take iron fields and patrol walls until I have ballistas and build up a force of soldiers. 6 soldiers are a reserve for rangers to fall back on, 2 groups of 6 can start attacking executives, so long as there are ballistas to fall back on.
2 groups of 12 can deal with hordes, harpies and the chubby. I am planning on taking 2 snipers as well next time I play to efficiently take down venoms as well.

[Emperor Fooble]

Sometimes the noise is a real boon for speed clearing. Set up some walls/ballista tower in the region you want to clear and send the soldiers out to make as much noise as possible then fall back to safety and kill all the zeds that come running at you.

[Pagrek]

So were the Harpies and Spitters part of the horde I was clearing, or did the sound draw them from further away on the map do you think. This was during my first real expansionist push and I was expecting Executives at most.

[Emperor Fooble]

The close you get to the map edge, the more likely you are to run into the special infected types

[Pagrek]

Emporer Fooble. That's weird because I cleared to the south with the soldiers and drew all kinds of nasty, but a group of rangers cleared all the way to the western edge of the map without finding anything worse than executives. Granted, I think somehow the map geometry put me pretty close to the edge, but I ran smack dab into the sucker without even realizing what had happened.

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I found having a group of 8 soilders with a ranger (for better sight) useful for clearing VoDs as long as you are willing to constantly manage them and fall back to ballista towers. But rangers are so much better at clearing in general just 4 rangers can clear any open areas quite quicky as you won't have to constantly fall back from attracting hordes.
Otherwise I currently find soilders under powered, their short range makes them next to useless at wall defence except after it is too late.
Only worthwile use I have found for them is VoD clearing. I have stopped wasting money and food on armies of soilders and it has made the game so much easier.

[Irish Bear]

about 6 rangers at the start is best, but quickly rush snipers. A squad of them is not only cheaper than titans but their range and damage ensures they slaughter everything.

[Tynendir]

Originally posted by Setzway:

Yeah ... that's part of the problem with Soldiers and Spitters. Soldiers will draw in significantly more mobs than Rangers so, effectively, their superior stats are rendered inert due to the additional mobs. To top it off, if you run into Spitters; Soldiers get 2-4 shot and now you basically wasted a lot of money/iron that could have been spent elsewhere. At least they don't get 1-shot like Rangers!

Rangers are not one shot by spitters! Stop accusing the poor spitters! All I hear is "Spitters are OP! Please turn down the power of spitters. OMG Spitters again! How do you deal with Spitters?"
Spitters two shot Rangers and that's it! They are strong but are a necessary evil to make the game challenging.

[arnaud_defrance]

Archers early on, especially since you need to leave one patrolling every section you expand if you don't want bad surprises (leave one space undefended, zombies are going to show up within a minute)

I like to have a couple soldier though, for dealing with the big mobs when I got 8-10 archers with them. Otherwise a couple soldiers is good for filling up a watch tower with two snipers.

Archers then snipers are my prefered choice though, with aggressive walling you can prevent snipers from getting rushed by most enemies, with archers around to draw and dance around the odd harpy or spitter.

Also, soldiers are far more expansive to maintain than archers. yes soldiers are three time as strong, but they their maintenance is three times as high too.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by Tynendir:

Originally posted by Setzway:

Yeah ... that's part of the problem with Soldiers and Spitters. Soldiers will draw in significantly more mobs than Rangers so, effectively, their superior stats are rendered inert due to the additional mobs. To top it off, if you run into Spitters; Soldiers get 2-4 shot and now you basically wasted a lot of money/iron that could have been spent elsewhere. At least they don't get 1-shot like Rangers!

Rangers are not one shot by spitters! Stop accusing the poor spitters! All I hear is "Spitters are OP! Please turn down the power of spitters. OMG Spitters again! How do you deal with Spitters?"
Spitters two shot Rangers and that's it! They are strong but are a necessary evil to make the game challenging.

Yes but chances are your Rangers are going to be hit 1-2 times by a normal zombie... even if it is the weakest zombie, that brings Ranger's HP down to the 1-shot range of a Spitter.

Unless you are babysitting your Rangers; you are going to lose some-most when they encounter a Spitter. Which is why Soldiers are "better" at clearing than Rangers but at the same time worse.

That's why I said Soldiers are good Early game, just like Rangers. However Rangers quickly fall off whereas Soldiers have a longer lasting stay. Both still suck Late-game compared to your other options like Titans, Executors etc.

Also I'm not saying Spitters are OP, don't try to witchhunt please; Halloween is over.

[Tynendir]

Spitters actually do 40 damage to rangers if I'm not mistaken. So they would need to be hit by a previous zombie not once, not twice, not even thrice but four times! In which case they deserve to die.

[Zerodyne]

Originally posted by Emperor Fooble:

Sometimes the noise is a real boon for speed clearing. Set up some walls/ballista tower in the region you want to clear and send the soldiers out to make as much noise as possible then fall back to safety and kill all the zeds that come running at you.

This. I've taken to loading my towers with snipers as soon as possible and I have ballista support. It helps clear the map faster rather than going out and clearing it manually. They also deal far more dps than anything else that can go in the towers. Now if only they'd fix the AI so that the damn spitters are prioritized...

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

I try to start clearing with rangers until I have 20, then start making soldiers to hold the walls until I have 20-40. By that point, I have ballistae and can clear weak crap with rangers, and the tougher areas with soldiers. I do not get rid of the rangers until I have titans because they have no food upkeep and can clear anything except specials. However, having at least 1 group of 20 soldiers for making the zombies come to you for clearing seems almost necessary, since only they can deal with specials effectively until titans are available.

[Bóbr|meowwwwwww]

Im trying a no-titans third map attempt right now! Mass soldiers with snipers and late-game lucifers for some flavour...
To be honest, i think soldiers are really good. They are cheap, mobile and do a lot of dmg one massed and...... because waves will be easy to defend so you can spare some ballistas in order to boost your economy.
+ if you want to expand you can do it asap with soldiers, whereas rangers need some time to clear an area.

Spitters aren't really a problem. Just retreat, killing some zombs, retreat, rinse and repeat and the Spitters will be the last zombs standing = easy taggen.
I'll keep you updated how it goes for me... I hope i can get around 600 soldiers :D