Does Oathbound suck?

[Råb!d]

Even though they appear to have decent stats and buffs they die so quickly compared to any other faction. I just don't get it.

[Janthis]

Were you playing the campaign by any chance? Oathbound have good defense but in the campaign you are basically set up to fail, your main enemy is the assembly which uses long-range units and arc weapons, precisely the things you are weak against. And it cheats by massively outproducing you as well.

As for general strategies, keep your protectors bunched up to take advantage of their shields and AoE heal when necessary, attacking as a group. Wardens are for long-range AoE with their banners, and finishing off damaged units. You also get support units that can heal and buff your guys and curse enemies. And research the precognition doctrine as soon as possible.

[★ Spaceflash ★]

no oathbound arent weak. Its one mod that changes everything: Stun module
Since many oathbound units have a single-hit attack the chance to stun is very high. Makes Aspirants very powerful, champions and the marquis hero vehicle are just straight up broken with that. I always rush arc impact module and stun module in my oathbound games after picking up some basic tech

[★ Spaceflash ★]

also dont focus on paladin protectors and paladin wardens, both are kinda crap. Aspirants, Scyers, Champions and the different seer units are what I would focus on

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by ★ Spaceflash ★:

also dont focus on paladin protectors and paladin wardens, both are kinda crap. Aspirants, Scyers, Champions and the different seer units are what I would focus on

Are you serious about paladin warderns? Try putting Stun module and Arc Extenstion module, being able to stun 2 enemies with chance 8 while dealing 35+ damage with accuracy 95 all the time is amazing. Warden's Banner becomes a stun bomb from range 7, really powerful as well.

[Etherlight]

I find them difficult to play early games, but late game they are invincible.

Try Promethean as the purifier is a very powerful early game unit that helps a lot early survivability.

[Råb!d]

Thanks for the advice! I'm spending all my time in Empire mode these days. I was playing Oathbound while simultaneously trying to tech rush.

I think I may have been trying to rush to high tier units and mods, so my early game was just too weak. Also, I haven't been using the Aspirants as much as I needed to. Stunning wasn't something I used enough.

[★ Spaceflash ★]

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

Originally posted by ★ Spaceflash ★:

also dont focus on paladin protectors and paladin wardens, both are kinda crap. Aspirants, Scyers, Champions and the different seer units are what I would focus on

Are you serious about paladin warderns? Try putting Stun module and Arc Extenstion module, being able to stun 2 enemies with chance 8 while dealing 35+ damage with accuracy 95 all the time is amazing. Warden's Banner becomes a stun bomb from range 7, really powerful as well.

Hi. If you want the long version, check the section of my steam guide, find it here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2057256649

To sum it up: It deals a nice chunk of damage but it´s a large target unit (cant take cover and easier to hit), has pretty bad defence stats for a large target and a really bad range of only 5 tiles - combine that with their high production cost and squishyness due to large target and it´s just not worth using them in my opinion.
Look at it this way: The aspirant is much cheaper, has almost the same HP and armor, is a regular sized unit, his ranged attack deals a base of 1x15 arc damage compared to the Wardens 1x20 arc damage (which is a pathetic increase considering all the negatives I listed till now) and the aspirant also has an insanely powerful melee attack for a tier 1 unit - they can trash tier3s with inflict stun, first strike is just amazing.
The tactic you mentioned (wardens banner with infict stun) is quite good, ngl. But remember you can (and ABSOLUTLEY should) grab the marquis hero vehicle as your commander bonus. Thats a one-time ranged AoE attack that deals arc damage and has a range of 7 tiles. Slap arc static buildup module, arc impact module and stun module and you are just trashing everything since the stun chance is really high. And you can use that every turn, twice even if your leader has killing momentum thanks to commander background or thanks to the vanguards "sequential kill system" mod (might be a mispell here but I think you know what mod I mean).

[★ Spaceflash ★]

Doesnt make your tactic any less viable, its just my opinion :)

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by ★ Spaceflash ★:

Hi. If you want the long version, check the section of my steam guide, find it here:

Hi,
I liked your guide (I've read it before and I didn't realize you are the author), but we have different roles here. Aspirants are melee defenders, wardens are behind them shooting like real snipers ignoring cover and units in the line. Of course wardens have arc retaliation module as their third mod and it means they have 3/2 defenses (64 HP) and laugh at psi damage (being machine their defense vs psi is higher than vs other channels) while still not vulnerabe to arc. I tried offensive combos for aspirants (like stun/extension/devotion) and then they die like flies (defenses 3/0, 56 HP), defensive combos (like retaliation/devotion/entropic radiation emiitter) and again it does not work for me as they are very weak unless attacked. The problem is if they attack from range 5, they have low accuracy. If they attack from melee range, they are vulnerable to flanking. Wardens don't have this problem. Of course I use marquise, it is the most OP vehicle in the game, I even ignore tier 3-4 vehicles. I use both wardens and marquise, it is stun festival then ;)

Edit. To make it clear, I don't use wardens much before researching stun/extension module.

[sandman25dcsss]

I just tested it in a demo game. Stun/arc extension/arc retaliation for both units, warden costs 44 cosmite, aspirant costs 35 cosmite.
Vs unit in cover: 90% vs 28%
Vs large unit not in cover: 90% vs 70%
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2402298253
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2402298182
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2402298339
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2402298124

[Janthis]

Some good points in the guide, but I highly disagree with protectors and wardens being useless. Until you can get champions and high-level mods, they're the backbone of the Oathbound army. Aspirants are nice and all, but they're still tier 1 units. Their main advantage you tout so much, being able to take cover, is negated when there's no cover available. I'm also pretty sure the warden has a longer range than 5 tiles, maybe it's been patched.

[★ Spaceflash ★]

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

Some good points in the guide, but I highly disagree with protectors and wardens being useless. Until you can get champions and high-level mods, they're the backbone of the Oathbound army. Aspirants are nice and all, but they're still tier 1 units. Their main advantage you tout so much, being able to take cover, is negated when there's no cover available. I'm also pretty sure the warden has a longer range than 5 tiles, maybe it's been patched.

totally disagree with you there, but whats the point, neither of us is going to convince the other. Have a nice day

[Janthis]

Here's the thing, these games are still developed and designed by professionals, and then play tested. Of course they're not going to be perfect all the time, but overall they still do a fairly good job of it. This is why when a guide says 'unit x is useless, don't bother with it', I tend to take it with a grain of salt - especially if my own experience has proved the contrary. But as you said, everyone has their own opinions.

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by ★ Spaceflash ★:

totally disagree with you there, but whats the point, neither of us is going to convince the other. Have a nice day

No units are useless, especially for oathbound. I wonder how your typical stack (no hero) looks like. No healer because you don't use protectors, no decent ranged attacks because you don't use wardens. Do you always play as psynumbra? Then I can see why you don't need those units.

[★ Spaceflash ★]

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

No units are useless, especially for oathbound. I wonder how your typical stack (no hero) looks like. No healer because you don't use protectors, no decent ranged attacks because you don't use wardens.

What are you even talking about? The Aspirants have the same range on their ranged attack as the Warden, that is no advantage they have whatsoever. Regarding healing: The oathbound have several healing sources available to them without heroes thanks to their different seer units. The augurs healing restores 20 HP plus the whole "last stand" buff, the Scyer can give precognition which prevents damage in the first place, Diviner can do that too for a group of units, while also having the ability to heal a massive amount of HP, to revive units and to give them sweet resurgance.

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

Do you always play as psynumbra? Then I can see why you don't need those units.

Dont make assumptions on what I play and what I dont dang it. I got plenty of hours in this game, I can play good or at least decent with almost every combination. FYI Psyumbra is actually one of my least favorite secret techs. I prefer survivalbility over raw damage usually.