Units mods - Advice needed on what to use/how much and which unit to mod

[Spaceman78]

Hello guys,

After the recommendation of some of this forum's posters, I bought the game. I love it!

I have been following some guides, especially Frost Ees OP, who is very helpful.

However try as I might, there were few guides or non at all concerning mods.

As a unit/hero (mostly) can have 3 different mods, my question is;

1. What mods should I use? (Perhaps it is too broad a question with many factions/secret techs and NPCs).
2. What is the ratio of offensive and defensive mods?
3. Should I mods all units or some of them?
4. Do I upgrade higher tier mods on a unit already with mods?
5. Finally do I give high tier mods on a low tier unit?

Supposedly whenever I have the cosmite and do not have to build a colonizer, should I mod a unit. However sometimes for example Vanguard Trooper, should I give it 2 offensive and 1 defensive mods; nanite injectors, rail accelerators and thermal targeting relay or 1 offensive and 2 defensive mods; purification field, interlocking armor and thermal targeting relay? Or I suppose you mod your unit depending on the enemy (faction + secret tech) you face.
Then I wonder would I rather use nanite injectors or another heal ability like regeneration or purification field?

Anyway any advice would be welcome. And thank you just in case.

 

[TreborTheTall]

1. The answer to this question is very situational. Knowing what units and mods enemy commanders will field will help you decided what strategies and mods you should use. For example, the Forgotten's Desolate with the resurgence quality are a great unit to put 3 offensive mods on, because even if they die, you get them back at the end of the battle. BUT they have no ranged attacked, and can be easily countered by flying units. Psifish, and syndicate, and kir'ko units can deal psionic damage, so if you are facing off against those, you want to use mods that add shields, especially if you are playing dvar (who use armor over shields).

2. I have heard most people like using 2 defensive mods with 1 offensive one. Keeping units a live longer should result in you dealing out more damage.

3. I like putting a couple mods on my starting units after they have a bit of experience, as that tend to help them stay alive longer. I also fully mod my heroes as quickly as I can afford to, as they don't have to wait a turn an heroes are much more useful than most of the other units that are in game. Modding t3 NPC faction units can be a good idea, as they are quite expensive and you probably won't get a lot of them. Also, if you get to t4 units, then you should mod them up. If you are trying to decide between building a 3rd or 4th colony or modding units, both are valid options, but don't go for a colony you can't easily defend.

4. Typically I leave the lower mods on the units that I applied them on, but that may just be me being lazy at the end of the game. I usually use my late game cosmite on high tier units and/or modding up my heroes with the higher tier mods.

5. While I wouldn't recommend it, I know a lot of people who say that the lower tier units with mods are "better" than the higher tier units with the same mods, because you will be able to afford a lot more. Personally that seems like investing a bit much on a unit that could easily die. Mods like the Reassembly Module, bring units that fall in battle back from the dead, so that is a great mod to slap on your low tier units, but it also provide health regeneration, which is super effective on the high tier tanky units with lots of hp.


If you are looking for more tips, I got a YT channel where I have been posting tips, beginner guides, and tier lists for AoW: Planetfall since the game launched. So far I have been able to put out one of those videos per week. Hope this helps!

 

[Promethian]

The simple answer is: Have mod? Have units with open mod slots? Use mod = yes.

As for what mods to use when? I could write on all the specific cases here for hours and not get them all. That is my nice way of saying, go play the game and learn.

 

[CrazyJ]

The simple answer is: Have mod? Have units with open mod slots? Use mod = yes.

As for what mods to use when? I could write on all the specific cases here for hours and not get them all. That is my nice way of saying, go play the game and learn.

its's not quite that simple, you have to balence how expensive it is to balence that unit compared to how much it would cost to replace it when it dies, the main variable that determines that is the unit's base cost and whether you have facilities that reduce base cost

 

[Promethian]

its's not quite that simple, you have to balence how expensive it is to balence that unit compared to how much it would cost to replace it when it dies, the main variable that determines that is the unit's base cost and whether you have facilities that reduce base cost

Should I make a new unit? Well I need to balance the costs vs other things and yadda yadda yadda.
Should I upgrade the sector on this city? Well I need to balance the costs vs other things and yadda yadda yadda.
Should I activate this operation? Well I need to balance the costs vs other things and yadda yadda yadda.

Oh great and wise captain obvious. Share more of your divine wisdom!

 

[CrazyJ]

i have been called captain obvious, so here, have some more wisdom. in general it is more cost effective to use unmodded low tier units for defense because with decent defensive upgrades you don't need the best defending armies, always bring a flyer since if needed it can give the enemy the run around and force them to retreat if it doesn't get shot for 6 turns. for your attack army the priority for modding is commander-hero-t4-t3-t2. t1s are rarely worth the cost unless they have reached prime rank. the reasoning is that a units base cost is not affected by mods and thus higher base cost units are higher priority, the exception is heroes because of the time it takes to level them up. a mod does cost somewhat more on high tier units but the decreased chance of losing the unit in question, and thus the investment usually makes it worth it.

for mods the best choice for a beginner is any mod that makes it so the unit revives when it dies because it means that you can make more mistakes without costs, it's still a solid choice for an experienced player but if you rarely lose units you may wish to swap to more damaging options, the assembly module that revives dead units apon victory also grants regeneration making it one of the best defensive mods in the game. if such a mod is unavailable to your faction consider any mod that heals units or revives them because it allows for more margin of error, the nanite injectors are a solid example of this as they are available extremely early and are fairly inexpensive.
if you are having cosmite issues unmodded tier ones cost no cosmite and if you have enough of them you can beat t4s if you play it right

(i'm aware it was a joke)