Posted by: JMDurron
« on: June 03, 2017, 11:08:19 AM »In my opinion, EotH isn't disadvantaged compared to the other factions, it just happens to be by far the most different in terms of best tactics/strategy, so applying methods from the NR/IR to the EotH isn't going to work very well.
To be fair, this opinion is based on just playing my first game as EotH (Empires at War - so stuck in Era 1 tech!), but I've already noticed two huge advantages that the EotH has.
1) The Chaf's ability to enhance power to weapons does not appear to drain its shields in the same way that all other factions' equivalent frigates' ability does (in Era 1, anyway). It's one small "chunk" of shield strength, for lack of a better term, whereas the VSD/Dread drain their shields entirely or almost entirely. Combine that fact with the ability to "stack" frigates like the Chaf along the Z-Axis with the capital ships and a large number of space heroes, and the EotH has a big edge in any non-SSD Era 1 battles.
2) Phalanx Commandos are absolutely awesome, with their ability to conquer lightly-defended planets on their own. The ability to sneak onto any enemy's planet with a known hyper lane is deadly in two particular situations. The first is early in the game, before the AI builds turbolaser towers or ground production sites that have infantry-killing garrisons. The second is against the PA, with their extremely weak anti-infantry early unit mix. Jerec is the only guaranteed counter to the commandos with his lightning attack, but I've taken 8 of the PA's planets without ever fighting a space battle against them, using only 5-unit stacks of Phalanx Commandos. This method is also almost hilariously easy to use against the Yevetha, but that's a scenario-specific quirk due to their lack of ground unit production. Throw in the 100 credit cost and the fact that you start with the ability to build them on all of your planets, and you've got a devastating blitzkrieg tactic to start things off.
This is just in Era 1, so the complete lack of airpower on the ground or any super-level ships to build (Phalanx being the closest produce-able one) is a shock to my system after playing through every GC as the IR after doing so as the NR, but the power of the EotH is considerable once you shift your thinking to better leverage their strengths. My first attempt at a conventional ground attack against a well-defended IR planet was essentially a disaster from a casualty standpoint, although I ended up taking the planet anyway. Neither my NR airpower doctrine nor my IR "smash through them with armor" doctrine lent themselves well to the EotH ground force I had built, but that's just indicative of me needing to adapt my thinking more.
To be fair, this opinion is based on just playing my first game as EotH (Empires at War - so stuck in Era 1 tech!), but I've already noticed two huge advantages that the EotH has.
1) The Chaf's ability to enhance power to weapons does not appear to drain its shields in the same way that all other factions' equivalent frigates' ability does (in Era 1, anyway). It's one small "chunk" of shield strength, for lack of a better term, whereas the VSD/Dread drain their shields entirely or almost entirely. Combine that fact with the ability to "stack" frigates like the Chaf along the Z-Axis with the capital ships and a large number of space heroes, and the EotH has a big edge in any non-SSD Era 1 battles.
2) Phalanx Commandos are absolutely awesome, with their ability to conquer lightly-defended planets on their own. The ability to sneak onto any enemy's planet with a known hyper lane is deadly in two particular situations. The first is early in the game, before the AI builds turbolaser towers or ground production sites that have infantry-killing garrisons. The second is against the PA, with their extremely weak anti-infantry early unit mix. Jerec is the only guaranteed counter to the commandos with his lightning attack, but I've taken 8 of the PA's planets without ever fighting a space battle against them, using only 5-unit stacks of Phalanx Commandos. This method is also almost hilariously easy to use against the Yevetha, but that's a scenario-specific quirk due to their lack of ground unit production. Throw in the 100 credit cost and the fact that you start with the ability to build them on all of your planets, and you've got a devastating blitzkrieg tactic to start things off.
This is just in Era 1, so the complete lack of airpower on the ground or any super-level ships to build (Phalanx being the closest produce-able one) is a shock to my system after playing through every GC as the IR after doing so as the NR, but the power of the EotH is considerable once you shift your thinking to better leverage their strengths. My first attempt at a conventional ground attack against a well-defended IR planet was essentially a disaster from a casualty standpoint, although I ended up taking the planet anyway. Neither my NR airpower doctrine nor my IR "smash through them with armor" doctrine lent themselves well to the EotH ground force I had built, but that's just indicative of me needing to adapt my thinking more.