Psycho:
Don't think the Psycho is as bad as it first seems.
The Psycho is the fastest unit to produce and to move. So
if you're into rushing and you're in a rich map, producing
3 robot factories and pumping psychos out as fast as possible
is quite a viable tactic wich you generally can't make work
with toughs due to its high build time. Psychos are also
great to capture flags and abandoned hardware, and when
you need quantities to atract enemy infantry fire while
your big and costly units (specially mortars, heavy tanks
and mobiles) demolish everything. Beware though, that up
to Patch 4 beta 2 the guard mode doesn't work properly for
robots or tanks, so you'll have to keep the slow and fast
units in different groups and move them carefully so to
not let any of them unprotected. Another forgotten but great
advantage of the psycho is their fast reload rate, which
coupled with their speed can be used to surprise your opponent
specially on cliffy terrain, where he'll get on attack range
before being spotted. Producing some psychos mixed with
your toughs (try 1 psycho for every 2-4 toughs) on large
maps is always a good idea. Against toughs-only groups,
never leave your psychos fire by themselves. Keep them selected,
and once they start firing on the toughs (ie. on attack
range), move them again to the middle of the toughs. The
toughs will get out of minrange to attack and will be easy
preys for the psychos. This will only work against small
groups (read: credit-poor maps), 'coz against any units'
big group or combo the psychos aren't very useful.
Pyros:
These guys definitely aren't what they first seem.
Don't think about the Pyros as "slightly more expensive,
slightly more efficient than psychos" or you'll learn
the hard way. Actually, Pyros are somewhat specialized units,
that excell in destroying structures, but that generally
can't face other infantry (robots) by themselves in open
ground due to their short range. I say open ground because
once you put some pyros "around the corner", ie.
out of your enemy sight but close to a cliff passage, or
on the top of a LOS-blocking hill, for example, they'll
pay for their cost on double. Pyros can't target air units,
so remember to never send them by themselves to take territories.
Ok, actually *never* leave them by themselves on open ground.
Mixed with toughs or psychos and grouped for quick selection,
you can use their high output damage to crack through enemy
toughs and get to the "meat" of the attack group,
ie. mortars and medium/heavy tanks. Another great use for
the Pyros is keeping bridges destroyed. Don't be misguided
by their initial low damage output, once the target is "on
fire" the damage rapidly multiplies up to very high
levels - something called ferocity by the Bitmaps.
Last but not least, remember that even after a Pyros unit
die, anything that it set on fire will keep burning and
losing energy for some time. Ferocity doesn't seem to work
well or at all against moving targets. Pyros make up for
an excellent demolition squad when grouped into an APC,
taking up most structures/factories in seconds.. try to
use this on late games, or when you've already got the speed
upgrade.
Toughs:
The best all-round robot in the game, toughs should
be the infantry of choice for any heavy army, but aren't
the seven-headed beast most players consider them. Anyway,
it's got good sight, good range, medium speed, high damage
output, good armour, good reload. Yeah, it's got too many
"goods" by their side, but it's got too important
"bads": the tough has the highest minrange of
all robots (minrange is the minimum distance they should
be to attack a target) and they can't fire while moving,
which's a characteristic for all robots. So what does it
mean? Easy, on the tanks section you'll learn how to easily
handle "tough swarms". Nevertheless, toughs are
indispensable for any serious attack force due to their
amazing AA (anti-aircraft) power, and they're so good that
they make the psychos, pyros and laser really rare units
on most games. After patch 4 beta2 the tough has been toned
down both on sightdistance an attack range, greatly enhancing
gameplay.
Next: Steel
Soldiers Robots - Part 2
