We have the wiki on that thematic wich is quite good: pamatches.com/wiki/ But I still thought a better explanation of the basic unit types and general strenghts of each type might help. Note that this mostly applies to PvE (PvP has somewhat other rules/applicability due to player being better able to counter then AI) and this is for version 71729. About 100 more units are planned and there is a change in balance just about every patch. So this might not apply for too long. Notes: Every unit can kill a commander (a 25000 Metal unit that can build like T1) and storm a base as long as it can attack ground/underwater and has just enough Metal invested into production. But I note the units that can do so at minimal resource cost/earliest chance. Also most T2 units can beat every T1 unit it can attack in a equal metal fight. I barely used T2 Naval, Air and Bot units in combat as the AI avoids Naval planets heavily making it vulnerable to flame tank rush or easier to nuke and since T2 is quite expensive, so I am going by the Wiki, Tooltips, ocassional tests and general experience there. Had to split it into multipel post due to character limits.
Vehicles: They are the backbones of a ground army. They are quite durable and the right choice to punch through defenses when no weakness (air, naval, orbnital) is exploitable. In most cases a Vehicle factory should be the first thing you build with your commander (even before econ), unless map and start position favor naval heavily. V-Fabricator: Among the fabricators the one I most often use. Flame Tank: Short range but lot's of HP. It's HP make it ideal for hunting commanders and bringing down bases early game bases (both cases where his low range is not such an issue) even in small numbers. In other cases it can be used as "meatshield" for your more vulnerable units. Aside from usual vehicle weaknesses (air and outranging), hit and run tactics via light tanks and bots are it's special weakness as those can outmaneuver him. As such mixing some light tanks into the formation is a good idea. Light Tank: If you are hunting commanders or attack bases the Flame Tank is the way better choice, but they still offer valuable support against enemy tanks and bots (that outrange the flametanks). It is very quickly destroyed by commanders and turrets and does little agaisnt buildings. Anti Air Vehicle: The primary way for ground armies can defened themself agaisnt air assault. Not the most ideal to protect areas with. Air units and defenses are generally better at coutnering air units (with air units being the best), but they can be crucial during ground offenses - air units would be in danger from enemy air superiority fighters and defenses need time to set up, so they can create "no fly" zone for enemy air attacks till more specialsed defense can be build/moved in. The unit is highly vulnerable to ground assaults as it has no ground weapons. T2 - Flame Tank: The vanguard is basically a Flame Tank on steroids. It is scarily quick at killing commanders and surivives an exploding commanders to the face. Also it's weapon has a minor aoe effect, making it good against short range bots. And when in doubt it works as a meatshield for the tanks too. T2 - Medium tank: I hardly used those myself. They are tougher and do more damage then thier T1 counterpats. but usually Vanguards provide the meatshield for light tanks in T2 PvE games. And the vanguards themself are often enough to kill commanders and bases on thier own. Only if the map/terrain makes long range usefull do I choose those over Vanguard. T2 - mobile artillery: The primary way for vehicles to outrange T1 defenses. Also vehicles primary defense against sea-raids. If the enemy lacks counter artillery, using those to bombard him while other vehicles provide ground & air cover is a idea.
Bots: Short ranged and fragile, but very mobile, cheap and fast build. These units have to avoid serious confrontations until you have build up enough of them. Thier primary purpose is to raid in areas where the enemy has air superiority but no other defense. B-Fabricator: They are slightly cheaper and faster to build then thier vehicle counterparts and offer same build performance. Due to their smaller size they also don't get in each others way that much so they can be slightly faster at building in hard terrain. Dox: With a range around the flametank but not even remotely it's health this unit doesn't surivie any coutner fire. Especially the commanders uber-cannon can swat large amounts of them. This unit is amphibic and can attack air target, but is inferior to any other unit that can attack air due to it's small range. Also it will stay on buildings when air units suddenly appear, requiring micro to defend agaisnt sudden bombers. Grenadier: It has about the range of the light tank, but at a fraction of it's durability. If you have to engange defenses with bots, this is the choice. Defense Fabricator: This is one of the most intersting and tricky bot units. It offers a tremendous Build Power (multiple times that of a T1 Engineer at same energy cost), has a much higher repair range and can repair while moving, but can only repair and build wall's & mines. If you want to repair it beats any other fabricator in self cost and energy efficiency. It also does not get "stuck" on helping building units while on area repair order near production facilities. T2-Fabricator: Like T2 vehicle, just cheaper. T2- Slammer: Not used. Dox on steroids. Also equipped with torpedo launcher. T2-Sniper: Rarely used myself. Actuall long range unit. The fire arc is flat so it is stopped by walls. More usefull against mobile targets. T2-Missile: Rarely used myself. Actuall long range unit. The fire arc is parabolic, so it can shoot over walls. More useful against buildings/stationary targets. T2-Defense Fabricator: Not nearly as interesting as it's T1 counterpart. It has slightly more build power then the T2 Fabricator, but can only build Teleporters and T1 defenses and has slightly more health/Metal. That means it can be usefull to establish the ground part of a planetary invasion beachhead, but has little use otherwise that is not covered by T1 version or T2 fabricators.
Air: Few unit types are quite as good at controling a lot of ground. They are also very good at harassing. Most unit types are unable to attack air. They especially excel metal planets (where the chasms hinder ground movement). They are also currently the main line of defense against planetary invasions. At the very least you need some Air units to counter enemy air raids. Don't forget to set the rally point to a partrol order as air units on the ground are easy prey. Air units cannot be brought to planets via teleporters. They have to be build on location or be transported there via Astreyus. A-Fabricator: The most mobile fabricator, but also the least effective. It has 10% less build power but 10% higher energy cost then all other T1 fabricators. In turn it can cover the sea too and it's fast movement + ignoring of ground obstacles can make it the effectively faster builder over wide areas/hard terrain. It is ideal to grab MEX spots on controlled planets or large areas. Air Scout: Best scout in the early game as it moves very fast. Even a single scout can quickly find an enemy base on a large planet if given planetary patrol order. Air Fighter: The primary weapon against bombers, and T2 Air units. Avoid Fighter vs Fighter combats (it is better to use Ground, Naval or Orbital AA agianst those), unless you have the masses + production to come out on top. Light Bomber: The classical "fly overhead and throw a line of bombs". The bombs have limited steerability, so they do not totally fail against moving targets (but are still better agaisnt stationary). Until recently they were unable to endanger commanders due to Commanders high RoF and AoE effect in the Anti Air gun (now nerfed out). Now they are about as metal effective as T1 bots or Light tanks in this area. T2-A-Fabricator: A T2 version of the T1-A-Fabricator. Same weakness in build power and energy consumption, same strenght in mobility. T2-Gunship: Go close and draw circles aroudn ground targets. Better agaisnt moving targets that have no or limited AA. T2-Bomber: This one is nothing like the T1 bomber! It is a floating missile platform, that can outrange all AA defense structures and even the commanders AA weapon. Better against stationary targets and has minor aoe effect against.
Naval: Among the most powerfull units. Even a navy in a small lake can be a formidable opponent and control a lot of ground & airspace. It also has one of the two primary T1 Commander Killers. If you build at water you have to go naval. While you can defend against naval using pelters/general artillery and air units, those will be an uphill battle. The only thing that can beat naval effectivley is naval. It is the only unit class with a T2 Anti-Air unit. Like air they cannot use the teleporter, they have to be build on site or brought thier via astreyus. They are the slowest, least maneuverable and most heavily limited unti type due to thier terrain requirements but in thier terrain they rule almost supreme. N-Fabricator: Offers the same effectiveness as ground variants but can only build in or near water. Also about 90% of all buildings can be build on the sea (only teleporter and ground unit factories cannot) this gives you a lot of extra space to build where ground units cannot attack. Anti-Air ship: This is naval's primary defense against air raids. Unlike other anti air units it can fire at ground targets too, but is not the most ideal to do so. Indeed it's tendendcy to go close to the enemy can be an issue. Destroyer: This ship is the main naval ship. It's range and damage put T1 any land unit to shame. It is one of the 2 T1 units that can destory commanders effectively. While it is very fragile, it has enough range and mobility that it can keep shelling the commander without being attacked in return if properly micro'd. In a lake or when attacking a base with waterfront it's firepower can overwhelm most defenses or serve as a defense force themself. T2 - Fabricator: Same as any other T2 fabricator, but for sea. Scout/Raider: This unit is like the land scout mixed with a land bot. It can scout and raid, but won't surivive real battle. Battleship: Destroyer on steriods. Missile Ship: This is like the naval lovechild between a Catapult and a T2 Anti Air Structure. This is the only T2 anti-air unit in the game and makes T2 naval viable despite the low movement speed of naval (as air units cannot reliably attack during the long approach). Submarines: There are submarine models in the gamefiles, but they are currently not used. There were issues with the submerging system, making them next to useless. They might be re-implemented later, but naval was a secondary goal for this game after all.
Combat Buildings, Orbital Guide: Commng soon-ish. Let's see if my guide so far is mostly right first.
Well, this is pretty vague, and you missed some abilities here and there, and have written some false stats.
Wich abilities and wich units? What is too vage? Most importanly: Wich Stats did I got wrong?? Because I avoided writing any stats (they are too subject to change for this overview). At all. It is hard to get wrong what I do not write
Dox has not got a range "around the flametank", the grenadier can shoot over walls (pretty good to know), slammer have the highest RoF and are therefore a very good counter to dox, so mostly it was just the bots. EDIT: Also try to not type out too many opinions.
I realize you've put some effort into this "guide" but if you haven't even played with the Slammer, why do you even start with such a writeup? Also, why aren't you using the proper unit names?
I remember the AA bot! Not really a great design, I would have preferred a Dox with a rocket launcher.
