Name |
Abilities | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Flag | 0/1/0/0/0-2/6 | The lowly Flag is the only unit that cannot be made in a Base or Factory. In fact the only way to get one is to buy a Bulldozer and use the Bulldozer to drop Flags. This costs the Bulldozer no movement points and it only costs you a measly $6 per Flag. This makes it the cheapest unit in the game. Used correctly it can protect you against all manner of horrors and give your enemies nasty ulcers (as they try and deal with them all). More on the various uses of Flags in Offence And Defence and Crowding and Containment. |
| Porcupine | 0/10/0/0/0-2/20 | Porcupines are the ultimate in cheap defence. For only $20 you get a unit that takes
at least 100 damage to even put a dent in it when put in a base! This means that you need
a unit with at least 4 attack and a 200% surround to have even a slight chance of denting
it. They are even tougher in fortified cities where they have a defence of 240! In fact,
Porcupines are so tough that you shouldn't even attack them with anything less than a 6
attack value and a 200% surround bonus lest you make them even tougher. Porcupines gain
experience if they survive an attack at the moment. Experience has been changed so that it
increases both the Attack and Defence abilities of units (Skyven, creator of the game,
will probably be removing this ability from Porcupines in the next edition). A note on a peculiarity of the Porcupine. When put in the open, the Porcupine becomes the most dangerous and vulnerable unit in the game.It is invisible until you buy radar and when you attack it from a range of 1, it will explode taking itself and its attacker out of existence. It counts as a normal unit when attacked at long range. If lucky, your opponent could move a transportation unit onto it and blow himself sky high with all aboard. However, it is more than likely that an intelligent opponent will already have Radar and use a Soldier to blow up the Porcupine (which costs less than the Porcupine so then you lose out). More on exactly when and how to use Porcupines in Offence and Defence . |
| Striker | 6/6/0/4/0-2/57 | The Striker is a unit of limited usage. It has inferior attack and defence capabilities to many other units, is of low mobility, has only moderate long range capabilities and is not particularly cheap. All in all, most players relegate the Striker to a 2nd line defence role in combat situations if they use it at all. It is even poorer in offence as all other long range units do more damage than it or have other desirable qualities. There are some rare desperate occasions where you may need to use a Striker such as when you are short on advances and low on cash and it will get the job done. Just don't expect the Striker to be worth using all the time! |
| Patriot | 6/10/0/10/0-2/89 | The ultimate defensive unit! It has the strength of a porcupine, very long range and can attack back at anything that attacks it. If it has a higher defence value than the transportation unit that it is in, it will fight instead of the transportation unit. This is the only unit in the entire game that is capable of this. All other units that are in a transportation unit are highly vulnerable and will die if the transportation unit dies and lose as many units as the transportation unit does. Although it is too expensive to use in Bases or transportation units that are not going to be attacked, it is highly prized for its ability to protect transports from destruction when engaged in a long war with an enemy. It can even be used to protect a city instead of Porcupines when space is valuable on the transportation unit heading into enemy territory and you want to build a factory. |
NOTE: Low mobility units have special movement restrictions. They have 2 movement points, but they cannot move anywhere except into or out of a Base, City, Resource or transportion unit. Also, moving out of these into any other kind of square uses up all their movement. Essentially, you can't move them very far without the aid of a transportation unit.
Name |
Abilities | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Hawkeye | 0/1/10/6/0-2/61 | The Hawkeye is the unit you go for first and most often when looking to deal with enemy Aircraft. It does almost as much damage as the AirFreedom and is only 70% of the cost. As it is a low mobility unit, you can use it from a transportation unit which somewhat makes up for its lack of speed by comparison. Still, it is primarily a fast response, defensive Anti-Air unit as just about anything that hits it is going to blow it away (unless you have something else with it to soak the damage up). |
| AirFreedom | 0/5/12/6/10/90 | The AirFreedom is best used in offensive situations where it's movement and range can get it into position to blow away unsuspecting Hercules and the like. In situations where there is a no or a very low surround bonus, the AirFreedom is also worth it's price as it's ability to destroy a Hercules is 1 in 6 better than that of the Hawkeye. When that Hercules is in the open, the AirFreedom will always kill at least 2 units, instead of the chance the Hawkeye has that it will do absolutely nothing. In situations where you are attacking a fully loaded Hercules this is more than worth the additional $29. (If loaded with 5 Scorpions that would destroy over $150 more of the enemy units). |
| Falcon | 1/8/14/1/14/155 | The Falcon is the ultimate in anti-air. Capable of utterly destroying a Hercules and all of its contents 85% of the time with no more surround bonus than itself, it takes an awful lot of anti-air weaponry to bring it down (and it better be Hawkeye's or AirFreedom's, because it will do horrendous damage to any air unit that attacks it and even Metal Knights and Captains don't have the firepower to harm it without a hefty surround bonus!). It's drawbacks are it's cost and difficulty to get. Usually, only the Furtif and Nuclear are invented later in the game. Usually, you will only see this unit on massive or very rich maps where everyone is pulling in thousands of dollars a turn. |
NOTE: While these aren't the only units that can attack aircraft, they are the only ones that are specialized in that field.
Name |
Abilities | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Striker | 6/6/0/4/0-2/57 | The weakest of the long range units, the only times that you use this unit is as the
absolute last resort! It is a good unit when fighting a delaying action against
overwhelming odds while waiting for allies to pull your fat out of the frier. The only
thing that makes it more useful than something like the Tiger or Patriot in this situation
is it's price. You can buy more of them and put them in more places, making it harder for
your opponents to get past your lines of defense and take all your resources (and leaving
you with nothing but a heavily Porced base). The other last resort for it's use is when you are attacking a heavily defended base and find that your close range units have left you with numerous damaged Porcupines to destroy and you are quite low on money. And then you check your monetary reserves and find out the only chance you have of buying enough units to finish off all those Porcupines is if you buy Strikers instead of Tigers. If anyone can think of any other use for this unit other than as a last resort, let me know! |
| Tiger | 8/5/0/2/7/67 | The second cheapest of the long range units, the Tiger is a real workhorse of a unit. Even tho it's range is minimal (you have to be at a range of 2, making you highly vulnerable to any response by the opponent), it has a decent speed and is quite capable of destroying many enemy units and fortifications without taking any damage in response (you get it rather early and, compared to a Grizzli, it is quite survivable in a fortification busting role). It is, however a little underpowered when it comes time to destroy porcs (it doesn't supply it's own surround bonus, meaning that you have to buy more units and transports to get the full 200% surround bonus). |
| Patriot | 6/10/0/10/0-2/89 | While not the most maneuverable or high powered of long range units, the Patriot is highly valued for its ability to stand up to the punishment and to respond in kind. Due to it's high defense, it must usually be damaged pretty badly, before it stops being the target of attacks on a square. This make it a great unit to place with units that are otherwise defenseless like the Hawkeye, Artillery, Scuds and full Cargoes or Hercules (as discussed above). |
| Shooter | 8/10/3/7/19/108 | The shooter is a very impressive unit with a surprisingly limited range of uses. It is capable of dealing damage on the ground and in the sky at range, but other specialist units can do the same jobs better for much less money. The best usage of the Shooter is to take advantage of its good range and high speed (especially with a cargo) to make lightning strikes to destroy highly valuable targets that you could not otherwise reach or to destroy huge numbers of enemy farms (particularly while still at peace). |
| Artillery | 11/3/0/5/11/91 | The Artillery can be highly useful. In extended battles it is easily capable of destroying several of an enemies farms and roads (high movement) and then finishing off with a high powered attack that can destroy a Fortification, a Tiger or any lesser unit in one unaided shot with high regularity. However, like most Long Range units, the Artillery is highly vulnerable to counterattack. Attacking a Patriot defended square with it is the next thing to suicide. You may hurt the Patriot, but unless the Artillery is protected by a Fortification, the chances are very high that it will be utterly destroyed. Also, if your opponent is able to mount a counteroffensive that can attack your Artillery, they will probably destroy them (especially if the get a good surround bonus. Even an Alpha Warrior could destroy your Artillery then!). |
| Scud | 15/1/0/10/4/116 | Scuds are pretty much there for one shot destruction of Porcupines, Metal Knights,
Captains and anything else it can reach. The only thing you should never attack with a
Scud (unless you are TRULY desperate) is a Patriot. You will blow away a sizeable chunk of
the Patriot, but the Patriot cannot fail under any circumstances to destroy your Scud in
the counterattack. And that is very much in the favour of your opponent. Even though it is slow, it doesn't count as a low mobility unit, so you can't use it from within a Transportation unit. However, it does have enough movement and range so that it can make attacks on positions far behind enemy lines (where even speedy Artillery cannot reach if the defense is strong enough). That extra 3 movement points can come in very handy... And of course, once again, the only thing with more firepower than a Scud is the Metal Knight or the all powerful Nuclear. Final thing to note about the Scud is that it is the second most hideously expensive unit that exists for the defense that it has. The Scud is ALL attack and very little defense. Let NOTHING get near it. Even a lowly truck could kill a Scud if you weren't paying attention... |
| Nuclear | 99/0/0/25/0-2/1000 | The Nuclear is the ultimate weapon in Metal Knights. It will destroy everything with 4
squares (counting only horizontally and vertically, not diagonally). Also, any Cities or
Resources in the area affected are returned to their natural state as if they had gone
Ghost. As this is such an ultra powerful weapon it is has some very heavy penalties as
well. Firstly, it is hideously expensive (of course!). Secondly, it has NO defense. If
attacked by anything it will die (even if it has an attack of 0 like the Hercules or
Cargo!). Lastly, Nuclear is only good for one attack (it is like an ICBM on a
launcher. Fire the missile and the launcher is out of ammo). Because of these two last
penalties, it is best that you don't even buying a Nuclear unit unless you intend on using
it straight away! When firing you must target an enemy position, you cannot shoot at an
empty space or one of your positions to get more enemy units in the attack zone. In many cases, the Nuclear is overkill. There are only cases in which it is not overkill. The first is when the opponent has so many Porcupines in their base that it would cost you would have to buy over $2000 worth of units to kill them (or you are in range of the bases of multiple enemies where you would have to spend over $1000 on each base to destroy it). The second case is where you are playing on a very big map vying for control of strategic locations and your opponent has a position that contains more than $1000 worth of units (in the case that your opponent also has the Nuclear or you can't attack that position with other units because of the range) or $2000 worth of units (if your opponent doesn't have the nuclear). |
NOTE: Long range units can attack an enemy unit at any number of squares distance up to the limit of their range, with one exception. Long range units cannot attack anything at 1 square. In fact, if they are attacked at any range, even 1 square, they are totally unable to counter. The only exception to this rule is the Patriot which still can't initiate an attack at 1 square, just reply to one (at 1 square or any range up to 10).
Name |
Abilities | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Porcupine | 0/10/0/0/0-2/20 | Porcupines are invisible to an opponent until that opponent buys radar. This can be useful in conjuction with it's ability to explode when "stepped on" (ie. attacked at a range of 1) and thus destroy its attacker and itself. However, once an opponent buys radar, the Porcupine's invisibility is neutralized and your opponent can move around it easily or attack it with a soldier (which is actually cheaper than a Porcupine). |
| Shark | 6/8/0/1/15/99 | The Shark is also invisible to an opponent until that opponent buys radar. With luck
and skill, you can place sharks in positions that force an opponent to waste the movement
of expansion units while doing nothing to your own expansion. One expample of this is to go up a river collecting wrecks and then stop at a bridge near enemy territory. As you opponent can't see you, he may try to move a transport across the bridge only to find an invisible unit in the way and be forced to return (because his units don't have the power to destroy a Shark). Another example of this is to place your sharks where you suspect an enemy cargo will attempt to go (when there are two ways the cargo could go). If your enemy heads towards your Shark/s he will waste movement trying to go around or be forced to go back the way he came. |
| Commando | 2/3/0/1/10/89 | The Commando is the ultimate in invisible. The only way to detect a Commando is by
running into it or having your movement affected by its Zone of Control. Actually, this is
not entirely true. If you have a Commando spy on a city or base, you can see every unit
that an opponent would see on their city or base screen (although only the first 7 because
you can't actually use the scroll bar...). This includes the Commando! That is as close to
invisible as you need anyway... The best use of the Commando's invisibility is to sneak into the rear areas of an enemy and take over a town near an opponent's base. You can then buy a factory and launch a surprise attack on your next turn. This strategem is only effect if you are double turning someone. In any other case, your opponent should easily be able to destroy your Commando and Fortification (you would be insane not to buy a Fort to protect a Factory, but that is another story!). |
| Furtif | 9/10/12/1/15/186 | The Furtif is the ultimate invisible combat unit. It can destroy most air and land
units and is completely invisible (apart from the trick described above under commando).
It also has as much defence as a Porcupine and as much speed as a Shark (but with total
manueverability). The one flaw of the Furtif, if you can call it that, is that it is
expensive! Nothing but the Nuclear unit costs more. From a sneakiness standpoint, the best
use of the Furtif is to place it anywhere you expect an opponent to move a transportation
unit full of stuff and wait until your opponent moves right into it! Chances are that you
will annihilate the enemy unit and everything in it, which is quite sufficient recompense
for the price of the Furtif (which will probably get obliterated by an enraged opponent
costing them even more cash). On the other end of the situation, if you suspect your opponent of having Furtif's, use the Patriot that you no doubt have in your transportation unit to try and attack every square along the path of your Hercules or Cargo (you won't be using a Transport in a combat where expensive stuff like this is available!). If an invisible unit like the Furtif is in a square, the Patriot will attack it and you can tell what it is. If it is not in a square, you do not lose anything. |
NOTE: Sneaky units are the only ones that can be invisible. All other units are visible when in the field. Porcupines and Sharks are not quite as invisible as Commandos and Furtifs as they can be seen if the opponent has radar.