Planetary Defense Units worth it?

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Planetary Defense Units worth it?

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Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/22/2015 12:27:16 AM

tppytel

Posts: 34
Joined: 11/12/2015
Status: offline

Are PDU's worth their high price and difficulty to move around? I know they can shoot down incoming troops, but I've yet to actually see that in action. At 4x the cost, it seems like that ability would have to be amazing to be better than just having 4 infantry units instead.

Post #: 1

RE: Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/22/2015 4:15:21 AM

Twigster

Posts: 1023
Joined: 1/13/2015
Status: offline

Hey tpptel,

IMO, yes they are worth it. Not in great quantity (unless you can afford that), and not by themselves: PDUs do some of the job, but you do need regular ground pounders on the planet to finish the job.

(in reply to tppytel)

Post #: 2

RE: Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/22/2015 12:30:42 PM

Uncle Lumpy

Posts: 158
Joined: 7/1/2005
Status: offline

Hi tpptel,

I've long been of the same opinion of PDUs as you. Recently though, I decided to reread the game manual in my spare time in the, uh, "library." I came across this under Planetary Defense (p59): "In addition, planetary defense units are able to intercept bombardment attacks, mitigating the strength of any bombardment from space."!!! Have not tested this yet. But if true wow!

In addition it reads: "Planetary defense units are hard to target for troop types other than Special Forces, as they are generally well fortified and behind the front lines." As I understand that sentence, without Special Forces to take them out it means:
1. they will continue to target any landing reinforcements in an invasion attempt,
2. it would take pretty much an armored break through to reach them. Again untested by myself.

If the above is true, just more of how this game has soooo many layers.

< Message edited by Uncle Lumpy -- 12/22/2015 1:31:51 PM >

(in reply to Twigster)

Post #: 3

RE: Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/23/2015 3:09:07 PM

Twigster

Posts: 1023
Joined: 1/13/2015
Status: offline

My campaigns are really big and really long. All AI worlds have Planetary Shields, so I dont 'test' things much. What I CAN tell you is that AI PDUs damage my troops to the point that health recovery takes time, so that planet-hopping takes that much longer. And in a long campaign, time matters.

Yeah, however you slice and dice it, PDUs are worth it.

(in reply to Uncle Lumpy)

Post #: 4

RE: Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/23/2015 4:22:05 PM

aaatoysandmore

Posts: 2848
Joined: 9/11/2013
Status: offline

Overwhelming odds will defeat anything though. Not worth it to me as I can put several regular veterans on a ship per pdu cost. Remember ants people there is power in numbers vs Neo. (except in that scene where he took on a lot of Smith's at once.)

Neo is actually an exception to the rule since it's fantasy sci-fi. In the real world ants will win the majority of the time in overwhelming numbers. I like to take Sim Ant as an example vs the Spider. If they horde around it they win. Going in one at a time they lose.

(in reply to Twigster)

Post #: 5

RE: Planetary Defense Units worth it? - 12/26/2015 2:10:12 PM

HerpInYourDerp

Posts: 118
Joined: 5/7/2015
Status: offline

Their actual combat power for both ATK&DEF are pretty low, but other than shooting at drop pods to severely weaken them before they can start attacking, they have a +25% DEF bonus, so it's worth having a few (just a few) around for that if you're expecting a fair amount of invaders. But then I also only use a few Tanks and SF units when invading just for their 25% ATK bonuses, using the rest of the space for regular infantry/clones.

(in reply to aaatoysandmore)

Post #: 6