Army Men RTS: Unit guide

This guide will serve as a general rundown of the capabilities of the units in the game, from the basic grunts all the way up to the Heroes themselves

Infantry units

All infantry units (with the exception of the Radio Operator) are made from the Barracks, your infantry are the bread and butter of your gameplay, even if you focus mainly on building vehicles, Infantry will almost always help your assault


Grunt
The Grunt is your most basic infantry unit. Grunts operate by charging their target and firing at it continuously with rifles. They cost 50 plastic, making them the cheapest combat infantry available in the game, as an extra bonus, they are capable of firing at every type of unit, whether it be other infantry, armoured vehicles or air targets. Grunts however, have the lowest health of any combat unit in the game, sharing this trait with Grenadiers and Snipers, of 200 HP. They also do only 8 damage with every shot, with a rate of fire of 1 shot a second.

En Masse, Grunts are a formidable opponent, due to the fact that they can be manufactured so quickly and cheaply, you can resort to simply overwhelming enemy defenses with sheer numbers, they might kill some of you, but they can't kill all of you. (Unless they have splash damage... whoops). Grunts are best being early game rushers, meat shields for Advanced Infantry or as supporting infantry for Tanks.

Grenadier
Grenadiers are another basic infantry unit. Grenadiers, as the name implies, use grenades as their weapon of choice, they are your only form of splash damage in the early game before you build a Super HQ. Grenadiers cost 25 more plastic than Grunts, coming in at 75 plastic each, they are slightly more expensive, they also share the 200HP of Grunts. Grenadiers have a higher damage output than Grunts, with 12 damage per grenade, while not much higher, the splash damage from the explosion can quickly devastate packed infantry. Grenadiers are however unable to attack air targets.

Grenadiers are great additions to any army, early or late game, early game, they can be used as very aggressive scouters, or base defenders, as their AoE attack allows them to quickly whittle down enemy units that are grouped up, while your other troops mow down the weakened units.


Minesweeper
Minesweepers are a non-combatant unit, they have no direct form of attack unless the enemy in question happens to be a mine (you'd think they could at least clock someone with the sweeper). Minesweepers cost the same amount as a Grunt at 50 plastic, so it's not a massive investment to clear a safe path through enemy territory.

Obviously, seeing as they have no method of attack, a Minesweeper doesn't deal any damage, however their "range" of detecting mines is about the same size as the attack range of most combat troops, so you don't need to worry about your minesweeper not catching a mine in time, unless your troops are rushing very far ahead. As with Grunts and Grenadiers, Sweepers have 200HP







Now moving on to the Advanced Infantry
Machinegunner
Machinegunners are available after you upgrade the Barracks, they are the next step up in anti-infantry units. Machinegunners clock in at 100 plastic per unit, so basically two grunts. Machinegunners deal 20 damage per second to infantry, essentially making them 2 and a half grunts. However, they do not have the health of two and a half grunts, they only have 250 health, which is an improvement over grunts and grenadiers, but still not much.

Machinegunners, just like Grunts, are able to shoot at all 3 types of opponents, infantry, armour and air, but unlike grunts they do not do equal damage to them all, while doing 20 DPS to infantry, they only do 10 DPS to Vehicles or Air targets, meaning that if you are facing these types, better to bring along an extra amount of units or Bazooka Men.

Machinegunners need shielding because he is only marginally stronger than grunts and grenadiers, however, with enough machinegunners, or if you just don't care about losses, you can just put them into combat themselves.

Bazooka man

Bazooka Men are also available once you have upgraded the Barracks. They are your first really dedicated Anti-Armour units. They cost 125 plastic per man, so it can be quite costly if you plan on building a lot of them, but with this cost comes the distinction of being the highest health infantry unit you can create, with a whopping..... 275 health...

All jokes aside, the Bazooka Man is the highest health infantry unit you can create, so he is quite tough when it comes to facing other infantry units, when it comes to fighting against other units, he can also target all three types, but he suffers when dealing with infantry, only doing 11.25 DPS and he only fires a shot every 2 seconds, when Bazooka Men really shine is their ability to destroy armoured and air targets, doing a whopping 22.5 DPS to these targets.

In addition to their high damage against armour, Bazooka Men are also capable of dealing splash damage (as you would expect from a guy firing rockets), so grouped up armour divisions or air forces can be quickly destroyed by his high damage against these types and the splash damage he deals.

Mortar Man

Mortar men are another unit available after upgrading, they cost 150 plastic per unit, but their special abilties make up for their increased cost. They don't have a large amount of health, only 225HP, coming between the 200 of basic infantry and the 250 of the machinegunner.

Mortar men are capable of delivering devastating artillery fire from long range, they deal 13.3 reccuring damage per second, however they only take one shot every 6 seconds, so their damage per shot comes up to near enough 80HP worth of damage.

Mortar Men are your long-range destroyers, with one slight catch, they can only target buildings. Mortar men are "technically" non-combatants because of this fact, coupled with their extreme range, which is the longest range of any unit in the game, don't be fooled by the range though, because their sight does not match their weapons range, meaning they will walk straight into enemy fire before being able to bombard, so they need someone further ahead spotting targets for them, their slightly lower health shouldn't be an issue as long as they are kept safely away from combat or with a few guards just in case, they have no defense against enemy units other than running.

Sniper

The Sniper is the best Anti-Infantry unit you can create, he deals a massive 160 points of damage with every shot, allowing him to two shot any infantry in the game other than the heroes. There is a drawback to this amazing power however, the Sniper costs 250 plastic for each unit and is quite weak, with the same health as a Grunt, 200HP.

The Sniper has the longest sight range of any unit and longest weapon range other than the Mortar Man. With all this strength comes a weakness however... The Snipers can only target infantry.

Use Snipers as spotters for Mortar Men or assassins to pick off dangerous infantry while your main assault force distracts them.

Vehicle Units

While the infantry are your bread and butter, the Mechanized units are the filling. They are better armed and armoured than any infantry unit, but with that comes with increased cost and the inclusion of the second resource of three, which is Electricity.

Your Armoured forces are built from the Garage, only available after upgrading your HQ, so they're quite 'middle game' forces unless you plan on speed-building towards them. Units that come from the garage are:

Minelayer
The Minelayer is not a combat unit, instead he... well... lays mines. The Minelayer can put down three types of mines, the "Mine" which is your standard, 'step on it and take damage', the "Glue Bomb", which freezes enemy units that are in range for quite a time when triggered and then the ever deadly Thumbtacks, which instantly destroy ANY vehicle they moves over it while being harmless to infantry, and is not 'used up' after one trigger like the others.

The Minelayer costs 100 plastic and 100 electricity to build, has a nice chunk of health at 400HP, but obviously doesn't do any direct damage himself. The Mine costs 50 plastic to build, the Glue Bomb 100 plastic, and the Thumbtacks 100 plastic and 200 electricity. Each Mine does 200 damage whenever it is triggered, Glue Bombs do 0 and Thumbtacks do infinite to vehicles.

When using a Minelayer, remember that all it takes is one Minesweeper to take a casual stroll near your base and all your hard work is gone (mines detected by the sweeper are destroyed), so unless you're sure that your opponent doesn't use sweepers, best to keep a few snipers ahead of the mines to pick them off before they arrive.



Medic
The Medic, as the name implies, is able to heal your troops, any of them. Medics can't heal themselves however unless there is another medic nearby, so it's best to have them moving around in pairs.

Medics cost 100 plastic and 150 electricity to build, have 450HP and are, again, incapable of doing damage. The medic heals 6HP with every "shot" it does and it has a pulse of healing every second, so you won't be instantly reviving a nearly dead soldier.

The medic is arguably one of the best units in the game, instead of assassinating targets like the sniper, or rolling straight through heavy defenses like a Tank, the medic patches up your forces for FREE, meaning that all you have to do is let some units spend some time with a Medic to get a fully healed unit, rather than having to spend the cost to produce another one. However, Medics tend to wander into battles and places they shouldn't be, especially if you are using them to keep base defenses topped up, so it may sometimes be needed to fence them in.



Half-Track
The Half Track is your standard anti-infantry vehicle, it costs the same as a Medic, 100 plastic, 150 electricity and has a nice solid 700HP, so it can survive quite a few skirmishes. The Half Track is capable of engaging all three types of units, Infantry, Armour and Air targets, while dealing 26 damage to infantry, and 16.8 damage to armour or air targets.

The Half Track is capable of Running n Gunning, in other words, it can be moving while the turret continues tracking and firing at targets nearby with 360° of coverage, meaning it can retreat from slower persuing forces while still taking potshots at them.

The Half-Track is the fastest ground combat unit in the game (the fastest ground unit is the Medic), meaning that they are best at quickly crossing distances to help out if there is trouble. Remember however, because they are vehicles, running into Thumbtacks will instantly destroy it, so watch out for those. I personally like to use groups of Half-Tracks as patrols, because they can engage everybody and are fast enough to do it.



Tank
Tanks are your powerhouses, best used for massive assaults, breaking through defenses or just generally decimating an opponent. Each Tank is a large investment however, as one tank costs 200 plastic and 250 electricity. Tanks are the highest health unit in the game, bringing a massive 1000HP with them wherever they go. Tanks are excellent against enemy armour or buildings, but poor against infantry, dealing only 15 damage to infantry but 30 damage to enemy armour or buildings, just watch out for choppers, Tanks can't do anything except run away from those.

Tanks to it's turret, the Tank is also capable of Run n Gun tactics, it can drive by enemy defenses while shooting them up and with it's high damage, it may well destroy it before it gets out of range, and if you're running from other units, only half-tracks can catch up to tanks, but are then out-gunned.

Tanks are a great tool for breakthroughs, they can smash through all but the MOST fortified enemy defenses, however they are not invincible, due to their poor infantry damage, two Bazooka Men can destroy a tank in a 1 v 2 fight unless the Bazooka Men are taking splash from the shots, even then the Tank will be seriously damaged. Tanks are fully capable of causing heavy damage on their own, but if in pairs or small groups, they become mobile wrecking crews. It's best to not have too many at once, as they will all get stuck on each other. Like other vehicles, they will be instantly destroyed by Thumbtacks.


Chopper
The Chopper bares the distinction of being the sole air unit in the game, costing 150 plastic and 250 electricity per chopper, they aren't cheap to mass produce and they are somewhat fragile, with 600HP meaning dedicated anti-air units can kill them with ease. The chopper is an anti-infantry uni in terms of speciality, doing 25 damage to infantry and 20dmg to everything else, still not bad. Essentially the chopper is better at damage than the Half-Track while sacrificing some health.

The chopper is capable of Run n Gun tactics, but only in very specific circumstances, the guns are fixed facing forward, so the chopper can do strafing runs if the target is directly ahead, but cannot shoot sideways or behind.

Choppers are the ideal scout/patrol unit in the late game, they are the fastest unit on the battlefield by a mile AND they are flying units so they can simply ignore any obstacles unless it is above the "roof" of the playing field. Keep in mind they are quite vulnerable to squads of Bazooka Men, and unsurprisingly AA Guns will rip through them with ease.



Dum Dum
Dum Dums are... interesting units... The Dum Dum is a suicide unit, a robot carrying a big explosive strapped to it's back, it operates by charging up to enemy forces and detonating, causing HUGE damage to anything within it's very large splash range. The Dum Dum costs 50 plastic and 150 electricity to deploy, has a health of only 300 HP and does 1001 damage to anything it directly targets, even a Tank isn't safe from a 1 hit KO.

Obviously, Dum Dums can't target choppers, the explosion isn't THAT big, they are also very Dumb, as the name implies, they will charge down a Grunt much in the same way they will charge down a Tank, making their huge damage potential useless, it is better to micromanage Dum Dums into targetting what you want rather than whatever comes first. Also, don't worry about his lit fuse, you don't have a time limit to use him.

Air Support

Air support in this game comes in two forms, the Close Air Support (CAS), comes from your choppers, which were covered in the last section.

The rest of your Air Support comes from the Radio Operator, built in the HQ. All air support is instantly recognisable, as there is a loud air-raid siren, a notice on the map and the associated sound with the drop, Paratroopers are announced by the siren and the sound of a plane flying overhead, Magnifying Glasses are announced by the siren and the buzzing sound of a laser (glitched, only works sometimes) and Bombing Runs are announced by a slightly longer siren and then the sound of the bombs dropping.

Radio Operator
The Radio Operator calls in airstrikes in exchange for your resources, it takes him a while to call them in depending on which strike you want to call, the Radio Operator is not a combat unit and cannot defend himself, so always keep him somewhere safe. The Radio Op is built for 400 plastic from a fully upgraded HQ, so quite the investment and has 200 health, just like the basic infantry. Once the strike has fully "built" the Radio Op will hold the strike until you give him the order to drop it and he cannot build two strikes at once. (You can't have paratroopers stored and be building a bombing run)

The strikes that the Radio Operator can call are:

Paradrop

The Paratroopers airstrike costs 500 plastic and 200 electricity to call down. This strike drops 5 Paratroopers onto the battlefield, which take about 2-3 seconds to land and be combat ready, additionally, the strike must be dropped in your sight range.One Paratrooper has 250HP like a Machinegunner, but does slightly more damage, 23dmg to infantry, 13 damage to armour and air. The Paratrooper airstrike is also the only airstrike you get active control of, as you can order the units once they have landed.

Paratroopers are useful for reinforcing an on-going attack without having to wait for backup to cross the entire map... as long as you have the strike pre-called (It takes 45 seconds to fully call), or they can be a diversion, having your army assault one side of the base while you sneak paratroopers behind to attack the economy. Also, Paratroopers provide an excellent chance for follow up strikes, while they are parachuting down, they have the best vision range of any unit in the game, but this quickly diminishes the closer they get to the ground, so act fast.

Magnifying glass

The Magnifying glass airstrike costs 100 plastic and 300 electricity to call down and takes 60 seconds to build. The strike calls a laser beam of intense light/heat to quite literally melt opposing forces on a fixed location, doing 20 damage every 0.1 second for 8 seconds, so even brief exposure to the beam can quickly deplete the health of caught units.

Despite the fact that it is a giant beam of heat coming down from the sky... it won't even scratch choppers, even if they fly directly through the beam. The Magnifying glass is best used in choke points where enemys can't just scatter away from it, the beam also has a small degree of splash damage, as long as units are in the shadow of the Magnifying Glass on the ground, they will take damage. The Mag Glass can be used for area denial, cutting off a choke point for a short time unless the enemy wants to risk moving through the high damage zone, it is also capable of inflicting serious damage to structures, due in no small part to the fact that they can't move.

Bombing Run

The devastating Bombing Run costs 200 plastic and 400 electricity to bring the thunder, but takes 75 seconds to build. The strike, as you may have guessed from the name, calls down a bombing run on your selected area, doing heavy damage to anything caught in the zone, only tanks have a chance to survive a bombing run, even then, some may be destroyed while the survivors will be crippled.

Bombing Runs are the be-all end-all of Airstrikes, they are a devastating tool when used properly, as they can destroy any unit in the game, exception of the above, they can utterly annihilate an attacking army, or be used to simply piledrive through an entrenched defensive position. However the high cost can very quickly leave you wondering where your resources have gone, so it is best to use them sparingly and only when it is worth the cost.

Interestingly, the Bombing Run is capable of damaging Choppers according to the in-game and in-files stats, but I personally have never seen a chopper be harmed by a Bombing Run.



As a bit of a random note at the end, despite the fact that all the airstrikes are delivered from the air, and therefore a plane would theoretically have to travel across the map to deploy them, there is no way of preventing them, AA Guns will not even react to the strikes being dropped nearby, not even to shoot at Paratroopers as they drop.

Bravo Company Commandoes AKA Heroes

The Heroes are part of Bravo Company and the Commandoes of the company, with Sarge being their leader.

The Heroes are capable of doing a lot by themselves and are usually superior in all aspects to their mass-produced counterparts from the barracks, they can be used in their own group as they cover all aspects of combat, or can be used to support an assault with their higher damage and higher health than other units.


Sarge is basically the commander of the forces on the ground (even though that's actually you). Sarge brings with him 800HP and 51 damage across all types, obviously he doesn't cost anything because you can't build him.

Sarge is the toughest unit in the game that isn't a heavily armoured Tank, he deals the most damage out of any unit that can target all three unit types, being only second to the Sniper in terms of raw damage and third to the Dum Dum. But the Sniper can only shoot infantry and the Dum Dum only gets one shot. He is the best unit to use if you aren't sure what you'll be facing, he can win a 1v1 fight with any unit in the game, though he may not come out of it looking to great. Sarge is easily identifiable in a group, as his name stays below his health bar.



Riff is Bravo Company's heavy hitter, he has 500 HP so half of a Tank, and does 15 damage to infantry and 30 to armour or air. Sound familiar? Riff has the same attack strength as a tank except he can shoot at air targets. Riff is your best unit for attacking anything armoured standing in your way, due to the fact that he has splash damage, he can make quick work of enemy vehicles and is especially dangerous to choppers. Sarge and Riff bother have a greater range than other infantry that aren't Snipers, so they can support from the backline.



Thick is the beefed up machinegunner of the group, though his name certainly sticks. A bug in Thick's range coding means that he runs to well within his firing range before actually shooting, meaning he's usually the first man to go down in a fight, this isn't helped by the fact that despite his large appearance, he only has 500HP (Well.. 'only'). Like regular machinegunners, he excels against other infantry but is weak vs armour or air, doing 30 damage to infantry and 16.5 damage to everything else.



Scorch is unique in that he is the only flamethrower in the game. As you'd expect from a flamethrower, he does heavy damage to infantry and still impressive damage to armour, Scorch has 600 health to make up for his shorter range and does 50 damage to infantry and 25 to everything else, while he is slightly tougher, his shorter range also makes him the focus of fire if there isn't someone else to draw it, so watch him. He also can't attack air targets.



Hoover is the Minesweeper of the group and as a minesweeper, he has no damage to deal. He does have 400 health, so double a regular sweeper and he has a higher sweeping range than standard minesweepers, allowing him to destroy mines long before your units reach them. Hoover is a coward though, he will run away much further than other non-combatants when he gets shot at.



Shrap is your special mortar man, he has a longer range than normal mortars and fires just slightly faster, along with having 400hp. His damage is actually the same as normal mortar men, but his increased fire-rate means his actual output is slightly higher. He is best paired with other mortars while bombarding, allowing them to take down buildings much quicker.



Vikki is only available in a few levels, but she is functionally identical to Sarge, she does the same 51 damage across all unit types, has equal range to Sarge and has a respectable 600HP. The lower health makes her more vulnerable to groups of snipers, so unlike Sarge she isn't very well suited to roaming the map solo, best to send some weaker units with her to draw the fire. Sarge and Vikki as a team make one hell of a pairing, as they can quickly chunk-out any unit in the game.



Bullseye is a bit of an enigma in the Army Men universe, he appears first in Army Men RTS and only in Army Men RTS. Bullseye is your sniper, having 300 health, he isn't that much stronger than standard Snipers, but he deals 201 damage with every shot, allowing him to insta-kill basic infantry and enemy snipers, he is just as helpless vs armour or air however. Bullseye is best used in infantry attacks or in a sniper squad, where his higher damage can pick off the tougher troops while others clean up the rest.

Bullseye never appears in any games before or after Army Men RTS... so either he was only a temporary addition to the team, or he was Killed In Action during or shortly after the events of RTS

[nameless0801]

This is unrelated but how do you beat mission 9?

[Firehawk894]

Random fact about the Bombing Run - It seems to randomly go from one cardinal direction to the other.

North > South
East > West etc

[ll1xx]

uesful guide

[StrategicSurvivor]

Yeah, I get it. Thanks anyways through.

[Firehawk894]

It’s hard to tell the Range value, I do have the information but there’s no real way to measure it. Because there’s no grid on the game and such, you know?

[StrategicSurvivor]

It would be cool to know the range values for them as well, but what you did thus far is GREAT!

[Firehawk894]

Thank c:

[Wumbo]

Nice Guide

[(Smeg) Red Dwarf]

Yes please!

[Firehawk894]

Would anybody care if I tried to make a general guide for the campaign missions?