Asking for loadout advice for young empire

[Iacs]

So, I have returned to Planetfall after some months spent doing other things and decided to play in Empire mode. As a result i have relatively young empire with just three planets counting Union Prime and i rerolled my fourth. I decided earlier that i want Misfortune's Paw relic so i rerolled until i got it... Well, it now looks that i may be overly ambitious - Autonom, RPR and everything invisible...

So i have rolled this with my little three-planet empire. Now i'm asking for advice - what hero and loadout i should take to handle it?
This is my empire progression - a bit of Oathbound, Celestian and tiny Amazon experience (I love Celestial Amazons)

Relics are also nothing notable, except one Grail Configuration i found on last planet called Tholian's Gulch

An finally i have three heroes including Aliuna from campaign, and 47 empty slots so new hero can be created if needed

So, now i'm asking experts for some advice - what race, secret tech and empire loadout i should take to conquer Demonis Xena - i really want this Misfortune's Paw. Are my heroes ok or i should make new one? What requisition items i should take upon planet's final configuration?

 

[Windscion]

Okay, rule #1: Have five heroes. Because that is how many you can use per planet, so why not max hero levels. If you go for really fast wins, obviously this is less important. Still, get five heroes. The recruitment costs do not rise even when recruiting a level 15 empire hero!
Do you plan to make peace w/ Automon? The cost of 250energy 30influence is easily managed before their attacks get at all troublesome, at least in my experience. If not, you should figure out how you plan to fight them.
Finally, the only secondary (hence "fast") win available is to capture/purchase two automon dwellings. I consider this really hard to control, as they might well spawn next to another tribe. So it is probably a good idea to realize that you are in for a long slog to a victory condition. I recommend that you choose a secret tech whose doomsday victory you like. Celestian has the potentially annoying side effect of making your city population explode, for example. (Also Oathbound+Celestian, while thematic, doesn't have great synergy. I actually prefer Psynumbra Oathbound. Think of them as avenger subclass paladins, if that helps.)

 

[Iacs]

Game does not show specific victory condition for this planet, so it is going to be doomsday. I just checked - no, two dwellings are not shown as victory condition on planet description screen. And I actually like seeing my colonies grow from Celestial doomsday, but i'm not sure that is a good option against Autonom and RPR. As for war with Autonom, i do not think i want to have this war constantly, so i will likely go for peace. So most conflict will be against different types of wildlife.

As for idea of five heroes, thank you i should have created two more. Just made fourth - Promethean dvar, fifth position is currently open to whoever is recommended in this thread. I'm still not sure about my current commanders being a good fit for planet.

P.S. Oathbound + Celestial are great at high-tech levels, Champions with Tenets of Pacifism are great.

 

[Iacs]

Decided to go with Psynumbra Vanguard and rush Electromagnetic Utilization tech.

 

[Iacs]

Doomsday Weapon solved the planet.

And now i have access to Misfortune and nearly have access to Paladin Champion hero vehicle.

P.S. Now time to hunt penguins on Ivaria-Z and test these Misfortunes.

 

[Windscion]

re: Vehicles.
There is an Oathbound hero skill that sounds like it should guarantee vehicles survive combat -- sort of a vehicle resurgence. In my experience, it doesn't always work, so consider skipping it.

 

[atord/Nordos]

re: Vehicles.
There is an Oathbound hero skill that sounds like it should guarantee vehicles survive combat -- sort of a verhicle resurgence. In my experience, it doesn't always work, so consider skipping it.

it does work - if your hero survives. If your hero has resurgence as well and dies, the vehicle will be lost.

 

[Iacs]

Misfortune testing was successful - penguins of Ivaria-Z were slaughtered.

Eleven levels of Celestian for single planet!

 

[Windscion]

Daaaaang.

 

[Draxynnic]

Looks like you'd figured it out yourself.

But yeah, my usual approach is to look at what you know you're going up against, identify what's likely to be the biggest threats, and try to figure out ways to counter it. With that particular roll - the Autonom-related objective is to reach Integration with them, so you'll probably make peace with them early. So the main threat is probably the RPRs. RPRs are mechanical (and therefore have Arc Weakness) and have a lot of abilities that either stagger or specifically target biological or cyborg units. Oathbound, therefore, are a very good race to go up against them, since most Paladins are mechanical units that have stagger resistance.

So I'd have probably taken Oathbound, and optimised further by taking Synthesis as the secret tech - lots of mechanical units that are automatically Integrated, Autonoms become automatically Integrated if you ally with them as well as having their own networking mechanic, lots of options to shut down enemy mechanical units.

Looks like Vanguard with lightning bullets worked, though!

Like some people have said, it's worth getting 5 heroes ASAP - might as well level heroes even if you never end up using them as commanders.