Haven’t played Mengsk since before Prestige was implemented. Are they worthwhile?
Yes, P1 is your EO favoured go-to. P2 expands his RG gameplay and overall diversity, while P3 is like a solid trooper sweeper. All 3 are unique enough on their own, definitely worth getting.
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Thx for the reply.
P2 feels like its own contradiction, no? Reduced gas means more royal guards, but experience earned is also reduced as the number of guards goes up. How do we balance it?
Xp gain is also doubled for the prestige, works out to feel just about right, for me at least.
Awesome! Didn’t see that earlier. Thx!
I actually like to play EO with p3. It’s a bit slower, but i find it more flexible and you have a much stronger presence early game, the mini nukes can defend you really well regardless of how many crayons your random ally is busy eating. And with blimps over both bases, you get enough mandate regardless.
A lot about p2 at first glance will seem counter intuitive but it actually is all benefits (except the mineral cost). Although that cost really isn’t an issue for Mengsk’s macro.
My problem with P2 is the supply increase. You end with a faster-builiding, but weaker army. For most missions works fine though, since the duration is not that long anyways.
True the army is smaller, but that supply cost also gives you a faster boost in Mandate over the other prestige. Plus 3 star Guard are strong enough to overcome the smaller army size if tailored right.
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This is a perception fallacy actually. And we can look at it more objectively.
P2’s reduced gas actually speeds up the RG production. Mengsk’s fast macro and expansion design allows a full saturation very quickly. This meant minerals in particular isn’t of concern. RG’s costing high amounts of gas is usually what restricts their roll out as TIME progresses. And by simple comparison, full saturation gas is about 400/min whereas for mineral it is 1200/min, over 3x the amount (thus double mineral isn’t an actual barrier).
So for a 1 RG per 1 RG comparison with respect to time, P2 actually has a much stronger army because the RG is out faster at any given time. Having 1-2 RG out by 5-6min is far superior than having barely 1 by 6-7min. And what’s also important to note is that early roll out means faster RG levels, thus far stronger RG.
The overall smaller army “size” is true but only affects superior late game. The double supply isn’t hindered during any other stage (as multi-build and conscription are available for Mengsk, as well as again mineral isn’t an issue). In fact, the double supply cost increases RG’s mandate generation so much that by level 3, the RG mandate rate out strips the labour mandate rate.
So what about the smaller size army? Well let’s look at it more in depth. On first glance, one might be inclined to think I have 200 supply only, so obviously if I can fit 200 supply RG, it’s better than 100 effective supply RG (in P2). If you think this way, then you’d be wrong. There really is nothing 10 PoA, BlackHammer, or equivalent RGs can’t kill. In fact, most games you’ve wipe the map long before you max out even with P2’s double supply RG. And as Mengsk non-P2, you’re never running full 200supply RGs.
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Absolutely. All three are good, though P3 might be debatably OP.
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Did P1 last night. Normally I spend 24 extra supply (assuming six EO) just to power them for rapid bombardment, it’s interesting to use EO just for their quick CD. Aside from the slight delay on contamination firing, it feels as if missing the nuke is not a big issue, especially with Dogs of War is on such a low CD with long lasting effect.
As for P2 (which I haven’t earned), it’s giving out a Nova army vibe. Is it possible to work with a 100% RG army mid-late game?
And apparently Blizz hasn’t fixed the Imperial intercessor bug, they still lag behind and fail to heal my army. I had to group them with “melees” such as Flame Troopers and Aegis Guards, send them ahead of time to wait at the right position first.
Yeah, not having nukes isn’t a big deal in P1.
And you can RG all game long if you’re doing it right. You can trooper too, I run P2 and the fact it allows for everything is exactly why.
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Realistically, at the point where you’re supply capped mostly on Royal Guard, you basically faceroll everything anyway. And with doubled xp, in the lategame, even if you do lose one or two units, you instantly re-level them when they’re replaced, whereas with regular Mengsk, the xp costs alone are exorbitant enough to make that a non-starter.
For point of comparison
Level 3 Aegis Guard
200 Minerals, 210 Gas 6 supply
300/525 HP
4 Armor
Attack does 35+(+35 vs Armored) and a 10s stimpack to shoot that twice a second with splash.
Compare that to what most commanders get as a heavy unit.
Off topic… Imperial Intercessor is causing an old headache I had about it not moving when you order it to attack-move. I literally lost a whole group of them just now during Cradle of Death due to them not moving out of the blast zone after I ordered them to. Needless to say, them not following the group to heal continues to irritate. Any suggestions?
Take the inhumane approach and go P3, lol.
However, I usually have to keep them in a separate control group so I can keep track of them. Don’t rely on attack moves with them. Use the move command to place them where they need to be, to and continue to give move commands as you push up.
The healing AI has never been the best in this game.
Yeah, this is exactly on point.
Easiest way is to move command in between. The issue with this method is if you follow up with an attack-move command then you run into the same problem. Alternatively, you can group them but that takes an obvious set of demand from you.
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Pretty much. I use move command but the moment I need them to heal and order an attack, they suddenly freezes in track. I have such issues with other flying healers like Science Vessel, which is funny. Do you think it may have something to do with Intercessor’s ability to fly a tank to attack, therefore has some AI hiccup when it carries no tank?
Honestly not sure, but it is annoying lol.
Just got my P2. I actually run out of minerals before gas, which is odd. I’m thinking about keeping the number of Troopers low next time. (Used to have at least two pages of them)