Scion Units

Personally, I think that the Scion units look the coolest over the ISDF units, but they have their drawbacks and their advantages to ISDF units that must be considered when taking them into battle. Here I will show the customizations that I prefer to use with my Scion units in certain situations. Remember, however, the configurations you make in the Kiln / Forge are erased the second you build a new tech tree structure, you have to go into the Kiln / Forge again to reconfigure after every jump. Scions only have 7 offensive units, much less than the ISDF, but Scion's units are more versatile with their morphing ability, adding armor in exchange for speed can sometimes tip a battle in your favour. Numerous people forget the morphing performs the following: In morphed stage, the tank regenerates ammo slowly and health quickly, in un-morphed mode the tank regenerates ammo quickly, but no health. Remember this! This can help you if you do not have access to service.

The Scion Scout is the standard base unit for the Scions. A basic Scout is equipped with a Plasma Cannon and Solar Flare. When compared to the ISDF Thunderbolt Scout, these ships, by far, are superior. Their weaponry is deceiving, as a plasma cannon is a great deal stronger than the minigun, only it is harder to aim. If you can aim well, this scout is probably more ideal to you. When faced with tackling heavily armored targets, such as scavengers and tanks, the morphed plasma stream is the scout's only hope of survival. A solar flare can attract FAF's away from the scout itself, the two scouts complement each other in this way. The only thing scouts lack are the cornering ability displayed by FAF's. A FAF can fire around a corner, thus allowing ISDF scouts to kill Guardian batteries without getting in their range. A Scion commander must use different tactics, involving getting in the turret's line of fire, to attack an ISDF turret, but the scout's speed can easily make up for this and destroy turrets with ease. The scout is also useful later on when given shields and heavy weapons. Scouts, however, have high heat emmissions and are easily tracked by missiles of that type.

Scion Scout

45 Scrap - 50 with mod

The Scion Sentry is an often over-looked rushing unit. They are cheap, when compared to an ISDF tank, and if pilotted well, can take on an ISDF tank when it is morphed. They are among the fastest ships available for the Scions and are equipped with the Ion gun, a good all-around weapon for attacking all sizes of targets. Once you get a Kiln and Antenna, you can make Deflection shields, so when this happens, I customise what I call an SG. An SG is a shielded sentry designed to take on turrets. When morphed, the Ion gun becomes the stronger Ion gun II and the defelction shield protects from miniguns. One SG can go face to face with an ISDF turret and live! Sentrys are also good against those commanders that are absent minded enough to forget to make early tanks. ISDF Tanks are the only thing capable of stopping this thing, but when it has deflection shields it is hard to stop and requires a skilled pilot to beat it. When playing against Scion, however, it is useless, as all (except the Quill Cannon) weapons that the Scion own are energy-based. Later in the game, I equip them with Blink displacers for efficient travel means. The sentry is scion's free modification unit, so play with the gun types as you see fit to get a good sentry mod you like.

Scion Sentry

50 Scrap - 50 with mod

Scion Lancers are rather annoying pests, and can be deadly to stronger ISDF vehicles if they are not quickly dealt with. A lancer's main weapon is FAF, the Stinger missile. This is another unit that can be made mid-game (along with the SG) that can corner and take out turrets rather than face off with them. I never usually use these right when they are available, due to lack of armaments, one stinger missile. I give them a Seeker and a Deflection shield later when an Antenna and a Kiln are available. If you can keep weak ISDF units in your sights, a Lancer is ideal for attacking Tanks, and is probably the only rushable unit that is capable of doing that. When morphed, the Scion missiles change to Swarm Launchers which, when fully charged, can destroy even the most hardened target. Beware, when a Lancer is morphed, it cannot strafe or turn fast enough to evade attacks and its only weapon must be charged up, so it is only good for shock attacks, or hit-and-runs. The Lancer is a popular unit to pilot by commanders and pilots alike. The alternate missile (multi-lock) is usable against heavy units and the WASP is semi-useful against a base assault. I rarely pilot these ships, but they can be helpful sometimes, as they can kill scouts and mortar bikes with relatively no effort; and some people tend to make scouts as attack units later in the game making these invaluable tothe scion arsenal.

Scion Lancer

55 Scrap - 65 with mod

The Warrior is a devastating unit when equipped correctly. Early on, the Warrior is too useless to take on tanks, because it merely combines the weapons on a Scout and a Sentry to provide a rather weak attacker. The Warrior need more firepower to be a useful offensive unit, so I never use it till later in the game, when I have access to the full tech tree. This is the heaviest armed Scion Hover-Unit and can take the blows, especially when it is morphed, and when it is equipped with a shield. Never give a shield of one type (Absorbtion / Deflection) to a Warrior. Good pilots will realize their shots do nothing and will switch to their alternate weapon to do more damage past the shield. Equip a Stasis shield on all your warriors simply because you can never expect what the enemy will fire at you. You should never try to destroy Gun Spires / Towers with Warriors either, because they just cant stand up to awesome defensive units like that (unless you are piloting it and drive under the lung). Depending on what you are fighting you should change your main cannon to a Sonic Blast (if they use hover-tanks and scouts etc.) or an Arc Cannon (if they use heavy-armored vehicles, walkers etc.). Some may think the Arc cannon is the best weapon for a warrior, but it cannot destroy the almighty Plasma tank as fast as a Sonic blast can. Also, when morphed a Sonic blast can be useful against heavy treaded vehicles anyways. Use a gun to your discretion: if you want heavy damage, use the ion gun, if you want a projectile fast weapon useful against heavy targets (whem morphed) use the gauss gun. The EMP is practically useless on a warrior; more useful for a sentry; so avoid equipping them here. A common special to use is blink, but any special will usually work well under different circumstances.

Scion Warrior

55 Scrap - 65 with mod

A Scion Archer is like four different artillery types in one. Each weapon gives it distinct characteristics that make it useful in different situations. The stock Howitzer is useful for barraging any base defense with its 300 meter range. Archers can also use the popper which is a short range attack unit then, but also poppers serve as anti-air as well. They can stop bombers and APC's on sight (bombers you have to force-fire). Making the popper a good ambush weapon or AA. The gas bomb mortar (or Acid Cloud) is effective in that it can corrode structures and give little warning of its location. Acid clouds are hard to detect as they dont leave a smoke trail like howitzers, so they can be hidden and knock out key units and structures. Beware, though, acid cloud works both ways and bounces off gun towers as well as has a slow fire rate. The last mortar, the Resin, is completely useless. Completely. This weapon is used SORELY for re-equipping stolen ISDF tanks, as archers cannot fire on enemies with this. I could see perhaps an archer around a corner using one of these, but they fire the resin too far up and it never lands, just disappears in thin air. Archers should not be overlooked and are hard to kill when flying as well. Be on the lookout for archers, because they can be placed in rather difficult to reach places when used in the antenna mound, but protect them well. Archers are very fragile and even infantry can cause serious damage to archers.

Scion Archer

65 Scrap - 70 with mod

The Scion version of the Walker is difficult to maneuver, makes annoying clickity-clacking sounds when moving, but can climb up walls (to a degree) and lacks jumping capabilities. It has two cannon slots which use morphed weapons rather than their usual use. It can have two plasma streams, arc streams, sonic waves (snicker) and fang shots. The fangs are standard issue, but the Mauler gets 4 shots and he is out of ammo, killing only a turret or two before having to resupply. Equip your Maulers with Arc Streams. If you can get close to gun towers with this baby, you can one-on-one a gun tower and win! The ammo runs out fast, however... if you are afraid of this, use plasma streams instead. Beware! The AI does not know how to use the Arc Streams effectively, so avoid using them on anything but one YOU pilot. Do not underestimate these, pilot one and watch the super-defensive genius hole up in his base and bang, he wont know what hit his gun tower.  Employ a few of these in your siege of the enemy base and defense will no longer be a problem.

Scion Mauler

70 Scrap - 80 with mod

The Titan is the epitome of all Scion units, having the toughest armor and the heaviest weapons. The standard equip is perfect for toasting those gun towers and spires. Nothing can stop this thing, because it's turret can swivel 360 degrees and the arc cannons are hard to miss with. It can stand up to anything and is most useful in a siege, however is great base defense against puny ISDF tanks :)  5 of these, pilotted with expertise, can crack any base and go straight to their recycler. No amount of gun towers can save you! Run from the Titan, RUN!! The only thing that can toast this tank in a second is the Atilla (except if it has Plasma. If its got plasma, the titan will win). Try equipping them with Quill cannons if the enemy is using absorbtion shields, or using sonic blast if they are using a lot of light-attack units.

Scion Titan

90 Scrap - 100 with mod

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