I feel that Xeno plague is the worst tech.

[sparkwarrior777]

not in sence that he tech idea it self is bad, and the research tree is great. But the method of producing units is. What do I mean by this.... Each unit individual( pustials, Devourers, and plague lord) are great but the evolution of them is hard. You can't build them like other techs, you need to first infect an enemy, and that has a percentage chance to spawn a pustial, that pustial through combat will become a Devourer, and then the Devourer a plague lord.

The problem I have with this is if you have say three plague lords, an AI army kills them, you need to start all over to infecting a bio unit, to get them back , where if a purifier loses 3 phionix walkers all you need to do is build them in max 15 turns to get all three back.

Take this with a grain of salt as I haven't completed my Xeno plague run through but this is what I'm thinking is a problem with it. The system of evolution is cool, but I don't see how you can win with Xeno plague unless you win every single battle you fight so your not back at square one.

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

i havent messed much with xenoplague, but they get xenoplague ressurection mods later on, i kinda assumed those ressed units as higher tier plague units

 

[Promethian]

Here is the thing. You still have your faction's top tier units. You should look at the Xenoplague units as freebies you get on the side. Rely on your main faction for the rest. It'll work out great for you. Early game you end up with packs of Pustules joining in your fights hitting the enemies from the flank and being disruptive. Later when they upgrade to plague lords you got some cheap high power units.

My only complaint about Xenoplague is that the Destroyers are really only a side grade from Pustules. They lose too much defense and don't gain enough offense to compensate. The small size, skitter and unflankable perks are simply exceptional for a melee unit.

 

[The Founder]

Each unit individual( pustials, Devourers, and plague lord) are great but the evolution of them is hard.

As far as evolution goes, they are pretty easy. Just compare it to evolving PsiFish.
Meanwhile the same thing that spawns a Xenoplague unit, can be what evolves it.

I do agree it is bad that you can not build/summon the stronger units. But maybe this is not much of an issue? Maybe this Tech is supposed to work mostly via the Mods?
Compare it's mods and units to the stuff syntehsis get's. Wich they need to allow their Opeartions to even work on most units. Or Purifiers.
They actually got units beyond a single T1, T2 and T3 respectively.

The Pustle is weak, being the only Tier 1 Secret tech unit and one of the few melees. But they do still have small target, skitter and a pretty good movement range (40). I would use them like Amazon Lancers. The do get their own unique type of "charge bonus".

 

[Lord of Riva]

You can use the strategic operation to make the T1s into T2s as well.

The game with Kir'ko Xenoplague I played I won with overwhelming Advantage, even if anecdotal, the Xenophage techs combined with biological units (uh... and Cyborgs as well i believe) makes the nearly indestructible, with healing, status effects and ressurections (potentially on every unit)

 

[Vind7]

I think free basic units is a great boon especially initially. Scout and collect everything. And xeno implants is really strong compared to others.

 

[The Founder]

You can use the strategic operation to make the T1s into T2s as well.

The game with Kir'ko Xenoplague I played I won with overwhelming Advantage, even if anecdotal, the Xenophage techs combined with biological units (uh... and Cyborgs as well i believe) makes the nearly indestructible, with healing, status effects and ressurections (potentially on every unit)

It seems like spreading the infection you need to spawn or evolve units is the hard part, and requires a pure Xenoplague army. But you can mix a commander that has the proper weapon or use Strategic Operations.

This is a oddity. Normally the Secret Techs Debuff is something most units can apply or exploit with a mod.

 

[Phoenix32]

It seems like spreading the infection you need to spawn or evolve units is the hard part, and requires a pure Xenoplague army. But you can mix a commander that has the proper weapon or use Strategic Operations.

This is a oddity. Normally the Secret Techs Debuff is something most units can apply or exploit with a mod.

Isnt there a low level mod for xenoplague that applies plague? I have a strong inpression that I saw such a thing on stream

 

[Ethorin]

Plague Pods can be the second thing you research and is basically an infection spreading grenade.

 

[Promethian]

Plague Pods can be the second thing you research and is basically an infection spreading grenade.

That heals your own units as long as they have a plague mod and has demolisher so you can blast away cover. Between the Plague Pods and the cheap 1 point operation that chains with a chance at infection you can reliably get a few units plagued every battle.

 

[Smertnik]

Xenoplague is very, very powerful.
Great top-tier units, good mid-units, both for melee and shooting, easy to spread, just combine with a commander and send your hordes to grow and consume.

 

[The Founder]

That heals your own units as long as they have a plague mod and has demolisher so you can blast away cover. Between the Plague Pods and the cheap 1 point operation that chains with a chance at infection you can reliably get a few units plagued every battle.

Wow. I had to re-read. You are right, this ability is powerfull.
The heal can be ignore, but just the part where it does no damage helps a lot.

Xenoplague might be a even better fit for the Assembly then I originally thought.

 

[Twiggymc]

I think its still a bit to random atleast getting the higher tier units but atleast what i played in the early game is insane by about turn 30 i have 5-6 full stacks of Pustules and Demolishers running around it makes your faction a fantastic swarm faction, the pustules in my opinion are the best T1 unit in the game or atleast way up near the top of that list, they are insanely hard to hit, do considerable melee damage and can spawn more of them selves just pick off the small packs of neutrals and build up

I'm on about turn 75 now and i have 12 armies running around, the ones with my heroes in have full tier 3's and aside from my commanders army that i build for the sole purpose of cracking hard targets, all my other heroes armies i havn't spend a turn building it was all just spawned by the pustule stacks i had in the early game

Edit: i feel i should mention the first AI i came across was Syndicate and i kind of just let them throw troops at me over and over and farmed there biologicals to spawn more pustules

 

[Draxynnic]

Wow. I had to re-read. You are right, this ability is powerfull.
The heal can be ignore, but just the part where it does no damage helps a lot.

Xenoplague might be a even better fit for the Assembly then I originally thought.

I've played a bit of Assembly Xenoplague, lead by Frank N. Stein (he's legally obliged to tell you he's not a real doctor... he was barred for malpractice). You do miss out on some synergies, but it works fairly well over all.

And for any Xenoplague game, you really should be trying to get Plague Pods on any unit you can when you can.

 

[Ovari]

Xenoplague feels underwhelming indeed. Key issues imo:

1. No t3 variety (hi promethian 0/ ), while it SHOULD be like the most versatile secret tech in units department. t2 is weak, t1 is meh, no t4 is a disaster.

2. You have absolutely no control of when, where and what evolves or is created.

3. Despite 'freebie' disguise, XP units are really oh so expensive, since you basically have to sacrifice a LOT of your early research to unlock higher tiers (which is even more confusing from the flavor point of view: you dont produce this units. You dont research technoprophets in order to buy them, right?). ah, and you also have to spam tactical ops to infect enemies, and you might want to activate early XP doctrine as well... oh so not free.

4. No faction specifics. When you play XP (and expecially as amazon or kirko) you expect some flavor to it. I mean, you get some special touch for your secret tech as literally every single other secret tech. (Fire elves for amazon are personal favourite by far)

 

[The Founder]

I've played a bit of Assembly Xenoplague, lead by Frank N. Stein (he's legally obliged to tell you he's not a real doctor... he was barred for malpractice). You do miss out on some synergies, but it works fairly well over all.

I especially like the part where everything in teh assembly is a cybrog. Even the vehicle equivalents. So they are about as Xenoplague Capable as the Amazons or Kirko.
That it also gives them a grenade (the one thing they seem to lack) is a nice bonus.

1. No t3 variety (hi promethian 0/ ), while it SHOULD be like the most versatile secret tech in units department. t2 is weak, t1 is meh, no t4 is a disaster.

More unit variety would require a completely new evolving mechanic. One where you can control the outcome. Otherwise it will screw you over.
And I do not know of any T4 secret tech units of the top of my head. Maybe the Synthesis Avatar, but that tech suffers from the issue that most abilities only work on 1/2 of the targets.

And for the Plague that would be a problem, as they do not need a Elite baracks to make T4.

2. You have absolutely no control of when, where and what evolves or is created.

I can think of a rework that might help, but it requires adding a totally new resource to the game. Biomass would be the name, and evolution/spawning is it's game.

4. No faction specifics. When you play XP (and expecially as amazon or kirko) you expect some flavor to it. I mean, you get some special touch for your secret tech as literally every single other secret tech. (Fire elves for amazon are personal favourite by far)

It is similary flat with Synthesis, wich is largely Robots/Constructs.
Even the Promethean Amazons have only 1 Faction unit (the Purifier). The rest is mechanical.

 

[Ethorin]

Psynumbra has a T4 I think... and Celestian DEFINITELY has one.

 

[Draxynnic]

Xenoplague feels underwhelming indeed. Key issues imo:

1. No t3 variety (hi promethian 0/ ), while it SHOULD be like the most versatile secret tech in units department. t2 is weak, t1 is meh, no t4 is a disaster.

What is weak is subjective. Pustules become pretty good when combined with Plague Pods. Destroyers are comparable to Lancers as a fast-moving melee unit with a ranged attack, and most secret techs don't have a tier 4 (off the top of my head, I think it's just the psionic techs, and they both have unconventional means for getting those tier 4s).

 

[Frank327]

Is Xenoplague evolution based on killing infested units or on getting XP? The tooltips are a bit unclear on that.

 

[The Founder]

Is Xenoplague evolution based on killing infested units or on getting XP? The tooltips are a bit unclear on that.

They tooltips are pretty clear. Killing infected units is what either spawns Xenoplague units or evolves those already in the combat.

The other thing is a ability on teh Unit Card called "Evolving".