Best unit for cost/production/firepower?

[Gryffinz]

So as the title says what unit (combo of body,tracks or vtol, and weaponry) is the most bang for the buck?

[aubergine]

At which stage of the game, and against what sort of opponent?

The best choice of unit depends on what your enemy is attacking with.

If they are attacking with mostly cyborgs, you need AP weapons. If they are attacking with mostly tanks, you need AT weapons. And so on...

So there's no easy answer to your question.

That being said, there are some popular configurations, like cannon + tracks, or sensor + bug, etc. I'll leave more experienced players to suggest what they use.

[Gryffinz]

the question I left open eneded do to my lack of experience lol I originally played the game on the playstation in 99'. I recently tried multiplayer for the first time and got my ass royally kicked, so I'm just kind of curious as to good unit combinations.

[Iluvalar]

Bodies :

viper=>cobra=>scorpion=>python=>mantis=>tiger=>vengeance=>dragon

Weapons :
Keep with the line you chose ! learn to get the new components as fast as possible (it's nearly always the best researches)

Propulsion :
htrack => track(on defense except against antitank) or hover (attack except against anti personnal). You can sometime jump on vtol if you want.

That's about it.

[Figger4]

i havent tried it yet but have seen the AI make them, the dragon can hold 2 weapons

[raycast]

There is no general rule. It depends on the combination, so you'll have to try out some.

Don't always go for the heaviest. Sometimes, speed is key.

For VTOLs for example Retaliation + a reasonably light long range weapon (say, a bunker buster or vtol scourge), is great.

Or in the end game, when your heavy units have pretty much control over the enemy, don't waste time to produce more heavies. Take a fast and light body with some high-damage weapon and try to get it to the enemy as fast as possible. If you have some heavy units in their base, chances are they won't have time to care about light units going for the final kills. So usually, by the time you have researched dragons, you should be building Retaliations.

However, if you want to pack some damage, you'll need a heavy body. I have found the Python (despire being a "first armor" type) to be very useful. The leopard is a much later tech, but its engine is underpowered. Assuming you want to carry a scourge (not yet including propulsion in the equation), a leopard has 3.47 engine/weight, a panther has 4.48 and a tiger 4.86. The "old" python has 6.45 at 10% more armor than the panther. So a python-scourge will probably outrun any of the green bodies. Vengeance is at 7.93... Retribution is quite good at 7.89, but it is rather costly for this. A dragon, with double weapons, is at around 4.4.

I havn't looked up the full equations, or the effect of propulsion. But I've definitely seen that heavy weapons must go on heavy bodies, or the units can be incredibly slow.

Put a heavy laser (non-vtol) on a retaliation, and you get 0.24 engine/weight. Put it on a dragon, you get 1.15 engine/weight. You bet which one can move, and which cannot.

[aubergine]

I love bug VTOLs with heap bombs - quick to produce, fast reload times, multiple strikes at enemy target. Obviously, once enemy gets AA up you're screwed, but often you'll have so many Bug HEAP VTOLs that you'll simply be able to overrun the enemy.

[themac]

For me the best are the source missiles, the heavy laser and the gauss canon. You should fit it onto a big body, no matter which drive train you use. =)

[aubergine]

Scourge missiles are awesome, one of the most delightful weapons in the game. Perfect for putting on top of a Vengeance Hovercraft. A little underpowered in late-game though.

[Rommel]

If you are playing in a team and one of your mates has a massed heavy type army you can play havok with the enemy flanks as well as hide inside your team mates battle group with bug lancers/tank killers or scourge. This can be extremely devastating as your team mate draws the fire with his heavy units while you play peek a boo The thing is that these are extremely fast to mass, in a few minutes you can have a heep of them, lancer is the cheapest and while not as powerful as the later AT weapons you mass them FAST, 50 of them is gonna do some serious damage hiding behind heavy bodied units - but you have to be very careful, one mistake and you can lose the lot of them in seconds...