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People have already brought up how strong overseers are. I should also note that their (fairly situational, admittedly) Power Blast does have an additional use: Since it knockbacks it can be used to get pesky melee units out of Overwatch Range. Very handy.

For the record, without increased starting armies or the starting army perk, Syndicate starts with 1 Overseer, 3 Indentured and 2 Runners. Assembly starts with 1 Vorpal Sniper, 3 Scavengers and 2 of the healy scouty thing.

It usually take 3 turns to get to your first mod, so for this you might be able to fight... 3-4 battles? If you are optimal? And most enemies at this stage are in groups of 3-4. Most of those fights are quite simply trivial for these starting armies unless you make some major mistake or get RNG-screwed.

The Overseer as mentioned is very strong: The full turn Reset is amazing, the heal is so-so but the psi damage is always nice. For those comparing the reset with bringing another indentured: That underestimates it's power: The reset means you can move, reset, then move again which gives for wayyy better movement than just having 1 additional indentured (who would only be able to move as far as the first one anyhow) now, there are risks with this, but it's also a huge benefit.

Assembly scavs are probably my favourite T1 units. The problem people tend to have is thinking of them either as a shitty ranged unit or a purely melee unit. While yes, they are primarily a melee unit the shotgun is still an integral part of their kit, the ablity to move and throw out 16 damage shots (equivalent to two shots from a t1 unit) is nothing to sneeze at, especially against low-HP enemies like quartzites.
 
What map settings are you using OP

Wanna know so I can play out the battles you're apparently facing that you are losing the best unit in the game to
Second Syndicate and Assembly Campaign mission.

Honestly basing your assement of a faction based on Starting Army seems wierd to me, as long as it can seize the first areas needed it did its job, after that others things quickly become more important.
Wich is why I did not do that.
"Starting Army". It is right in the title. If you can not even be bothered to read the title, please do not comment.
 
People have already brought up how strong overseers are. I should also note that their (fairly situational, admittedly) Power Blast does have an additional use: Since it knockbacks it can be used to get pesky melee units out of Overwatch Range. Very handy.
That is definitely the intended use of this ability. Considering it lacks the AoE or Ignore Line of Sight of all the similar abilities abilties, it seems to be about teh only thing this ability is good for.
 
That is definitely the intended use of this ability. Considering it lacks the AoE or Ignore Line of Sight of all the similar abilities abilties, it seems to be about teh only thing this ability is good for.
Well it does get stagger too, so you can use it for minor crowd control and to remove defense mode/overwatch. Plus it's higher damage than a single regular shot. The 3 range makes it kinda hard to make significant use of, but the fact that you can combine that with cerebral override means that it isn't that hard and it has its uses.
 
Well it does get stagger too, so you can use it for minor crowd control and to remove defense mode/overwatch. Plus it's higher damage than a single regular shot. The 3 range makes it kinda hard to make significant use of, but the fact that you can combine that with cerebral override means that it isn't that hard and it has its uses.
The knockback is extremely effective at moving people out of cover so the rest of your army gets 90% shots at it. If you're only using it to get melee units off you or the occasional stagger you're missing out on easy kills.
 
The knockback is extremely effective at moving people out of cover so the rest of your army gets 90% shots at it. If you're only using it to get melee units off you or the occasional stagger you're missing out on easy kills.
The issue with using it like that is the Range of 5 and that the shoot itself is affected by cover. So getting into a position with good hitchance is a pain.
 
Seems super weird to think that the Kirko starting army is better then the Assembly, since they are functionally very similar (melee/rush), and the assembly Scavengers are a lot more flexible then the Kirko melee units, and a lot better at anti-air.

I honestly think Assembly is one of the best starting armies. You close range with your scavengers, save a single AP, and then shotgun blast. Next turn, you run them into melee and they deal 20 or so damage (2 hits no crits), and heal for 12, assuming they have to run up to the target (if its an enemy who got adjacent, then you deal about 30 and heal for 18). Use your starting sniper to lay down blinds/concussions on priority enemy targets, and use your scout to heal the scavenger who gets focused on the first enemy turn. Usually you end up with an army that has no units lost and is at full hp (assuming you don't screw up the scouts positioning and get it killed).

Assembly starting army does a ton of damage, doesn't require melee range to function like Kirko, has some nice healing tools, and can control the flow of battle early very well due to their strong melee and decent at range damage.

As far as T2 goes, it depends what you want to do and what secret tech you are, but I'm not a huge fan of the Electros unless you are playing an all in arc strategy. Vorpal snipers are great units, so I like to get 2 in my army asap, and I usually replace the scout (or a dead scavenger) with a vorpal. Of course, Reverse Engineer is one of the strongest assembly units, so you want to get at least 1 of those in your army asap.
 
Scavengers are probably one of the best tier I core units. They are fast, have a repeating short range attack, and as Cyborgs are resistant to status effects like stagger and blind, and once in melee, are hard to kill because of their life steal. Better yet, they also heal after battle. They are the perfect frontline troopers.
Vorpal Snipers are also probably the best sniper unit in the game. Their regular shot can stagger, which is pretty important in keeping melee units away and disrupting overwatch. Then they have a Concussion shot that can take infantry and wildlife out of the game for 2 rounds. And even their shorter range snapshot blinds, making enemies miss your advancing Scavengers.
Inspectors have few abilities compared to other scouts, but one is an important passive - they cannot be flanked. Thus, you can fire with them and not worry about being caught in the rear. They become really good on Prime level due to getting overwatch, and with mods can nicely stagger or weaken melee units that advance on you. Their heal is a great last resort save for units that would die... but I ended up not using it much after Reverse Engineers enter the fray, who can even resurrect units. However, it is essential in keeping the Lightning Riders alive, as the ground healers cannot heal nor resurrect them.
Oddly enough I found myself not using Electrocutioners much. They are not weak, just... average. The Inspector already has a decent arc attack that can apply electrified, and the space in my 6-unit army was usually better reserved for units I picked up from combat. But they can be really nice when combined with other arc attack units that lower resistance. I just wish they had some better skill than a regular area of effect they cannot often use as they need to not move at all for it.
 
I'm in agreement that Electrocutioners aren't impressive. I know technically they are better than Indentured, more damage for the same basic attack, more health, and so on. However they just don't feel good for a t2. I think its that their AoE special requires a full action. Its so hard to use and if I have a full action at that range I am likely better off doing a single target barrage.

Believe it or not the Lightning Riders are actually really good for all the reasons Electrocutioner isn't. Charge up, rush in and do the AoE, getting defense for the movement. Then while your scavs and other units are engaged it can safely do full action repeat attacks and get good line of sight because its flying. Its deeper tech but still t2 and infinitely better than Electrocutioner.
 
I'm in agreement that Electrocutioners aren't impressive. I know technically they are better than Indentured, more damage for the same basic attack, more health, and so on. However they just don't feel good for a t2. I think its that their AoE special requires a full action. Its so hard to use and if I have a full action at that range I am likely better off doing a single target barrage.

Believe it or not the Lightning Riders are actually really good for all the reasons Electrocutioner isn't. Charge up, rush in and do the AoE, getting defense for the movement. Then while your scavs and other units are engaged it can safely do full action repeat attacks and get good line of sight because its flying. Its deeper tech but still t2 and infinitely better than Electrocutioner.

Agreed, although LRs costing 10 cosmite will slow down your expansion early game, which is one of the reasons I prefer going Firearms over Arc early on Assembly.
 
Electrocutioners with the first Arc upgrade are cheap, easy to build, and excellent at countering early mechanical units, or clearing certain landmarks. Don't think I've ever used their ability tho, just more barrages for more static. It really depends on what you're facing, but I like getting them, usually.