Not at all. On shorter missions, you’ll end up forgoing a lot of the long term stuff anyways, which applies to all COs really (although Zagara is the closest to muster this since she has a very trim tech tree). In Tychus’ case, no lv5, lv4, or perhaps even lv3 and lv2 upgrades! (reaching speed run territory here).
You’ll have to decide if the Ultimate Gear is worth the cost of not getting that equivalent in (regular) Gear, and/or more Outlaws. IIRC, the best Ultimate Gear includes: Sirius, Vega, and Tychus (if you have more Outlaws that is)
Most of the time yes, gear should be prioritized over upgrades. I think the only ult gears not prioritized right away are Blaze, Nikara, and Cannonball since they don’t give a huge boost. But if you find that your guys get bursted down quite quickly like against mass baneling, getting some armor upgrades early wouldn’t hurt as well as getting outlaws that do well vs. them. Though in my experience you can balance getting gear and armor upgrades without delay unless you’re playing P1.
For P2 you prioritize armour upgrades over weapon ones due to the x2 benefit and already large damage output. Also, anything that gives more/larger AoE is often better than damage increases.
For non-P2, certain gear upgrades are super good and should be prioritized - Tychus #2 then #1 - Sirius #1 vs air & #2,#3. Either way you shouldn’t have a problem with constant upgrades out of 2, possibly 3, ebays.
Currently, I upgrade Guns speed first from EBay (alongside Sirius’s aoe fear passive), then once I have three outlaws I start upgrading weapon/armor after each set of outlaw gear. Does this sound alright?
For shorter missions, I get 2 Ebays, get in the “trifecta” (Guns fire +25% faster, Muscle has +25% more hp, and Fixers become detectors) first, plus Big Red Button. Then get the 1st and 2nd lv upgrades. May go lv3 or more for longer missions. You do get diminishing returns for the higher levels (which is true for any CO).
I prioritise weapon and armour upgrades as a P2 player and always build 1 ebay and somtimes 2 before getting my first Outlaw just so I can continuously keep the upgrades going. Once I get first outlaw out I will go up to 3 Ebays to get the 1-off upgrades (attack speed, then big red button, then fixer vision).
I’d suggest to level P1 as P0 to improve your build order and timing of upgrades and push outs. Try different Outlaw and equipment load outs so you can figure out what is strong in what circumstances.
For leveling purposes I think P1 would be a downgrade more often than not as the increased cost of outlaws is going to decrease number of outlaws on the field and/or number of upgrades purchased which will extend completion times. The strength of P1 is doing things like mass dominate strategies with Vega which is very specific to a map and composition.
(not playing p2) Probably unpopular, but easy for simple folk like me: SCVs to 14, #15 builds refinery 1, next SCV builds Engineering Bay 1 of 2, with follow up command to build 2nd refinery. Next 2 SCVs to 1st refinery. At 15 SCVs, upgrade Fixers’ detection. At 16 SCVs build the Muscle upgrades. Spawn Rattlesnake for healing so I can push right off (and when there is rarely stealth deployed yet), at 19 SCVs move 1 to expansion for 2nd CC. Engineering bay 2, then Fixer upgrades (and follow up order to expac refinery 1), upgrade Rattlesnake’s healing. Then Vega vs Terran or Protoss (especially air) for Detection and domination; Nux vs Zerg for AOE. Last 2 are Sam and Sirius, order doesn’t matter much except certain maps, like Trains where you want to burn down a large HP unit.
Often, I leave Sirius for last, sometimes leave him at base to use turrets as defense.
Best upgrades are Rattlesnake’s added healing, Tychus’ + grenade dmg, Vega’s “air tackle”, Nux’s AOE spread, Sam’s stealth reaction, and Sirius’ confusion or air attack.
I upgrade armor and arms constantly unless a speed mission, and even then up to 3 usually.
You know, that’s kind of the problem with Tychus I’m seeing. The choices for (my) outlaws are pretty much decided: Sirius, Rattlesnake, Sam. the only different is probably Vega v.s. Nox, which is an AoE v.s. Single target choice. Even switching orders of their purchase is rare.
They are all useful in the right circumstances but it takes a lot of skill to identify the situations in which other outlaws are useful and even more skill to effectively use them. As a P2 player I can say that the only Outlaws I almost never use are Nikara and Cannonball but even those can be useful.
Cannonball can tank entire ground armies and his only drawback is his melee range which prevents him from fighting with other outlaws.
Nikara even on P2 gets play against Black Death. As non-P2 she can be a choice against heavy air compositions when Rattlesnake will not have anything to shoot.
P2 Blaze can destroy entire maps if playing against heavy bio comps (preferably with infested/broodling spawns). Non-P2 can somewhat replicate this as well to a lesser extent.
Vega can sequence break maps if you are good at grabbing BCs and teleporting them to safety. Other good units for Domination are Immortals, Tempest, Lurkers, Ultralisks and Thors.
Nux is the choice vs swarm styles especially if they are arriving via drop ship.
Is Outlaw Availability better than Tri-Outlaw Research Improvement for P1? The Speed of them coming out, couple with Tychus’s ultimate gear, seems to be a reasonable choice?
They cost too much to recruit them and keep up with upgrades and to be able to buy equipment. Can work if you are doing a specific strategy but I think that would be map dependent (and even then I think weapon and armour upgrades are just too important for Tychus and co to forgo just for an extra outlaw).
As a point of comparison, P2 provides a MASSIVE buff for each recruited Outlaw however it is still better (in my extensive experience) to focus on weapon and armour upgrades because getting these done is more end game power (as you can always catch up on recruitments but not on upgrades). I’ll even delay my first Outlaw recruitment and solo with Tychus just so I can get weapon and armour going that much faster.
I don’t know if this exactly translates to p1 but the main benefit of P1 is getting more uses of abilities but the abilities don’t carry the game (even as P2 with their massive +150% damage boost) rather its the sustained damage that is important. Maybe if Sirius’ Turrets didn’t benefit from upgrades I could see an argument but I’m pretty sure they do benefit. Probably only if you were planning a fast Vega strategy but even then you wouldn’t be able to afford Outlaws AND Vega gear AND Nux gear.
So, in conclusion, Tri-outlaw research all the way.