Holy Massive Update!

Who is your Faction?

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Today we saw a massive update to the game in the forum of base upgrades. Outpost increases to level 9, stands to level 8, new conqueror hulls to be researched by small and mid-level players. Malevolence elite and a new turret. To say that this was a massive update is an understatement there is so much to see here that it took up two posts in the forums. I want to concentrate on one aspect, though, that made me jubilant and should provide some flavor to the game. This change is the factions of course, who are you going to pick? Why you might pick them, and what it means going forward. As well as the faction I am choosing to start and the reason for it.

Factions

We finally get to be the Draconian, or maybe you want to be Scourge. The beauty is that we get to choose and that choice brings with it change to the look of our bases inside and on the world map. Before you get to choose you have to upgrade to level 9 outpost. With that upgrade you get the following:

Outpost 9

• Increased Health to 3,000,000
•  Increased Total Base Power to 342,510
•  Increased Outpost Power to 12,030
•  +1 Tactical Installation Slot
•  +5 Land Tiles
•  Factions

Here is the rundown of each

Reaver

• Molten Tileset Change
• Reaver Player Base Map Icon
• +Radioactive Turret Damage 20%

Forsaken

• Earth Tileset Change
• Forsaken Player Base Map Icon
• +Ballistic Turret Damage 20%

Scourge

• Ancient Tech Ruins Tileset Change
• Scourge Player Base Map Icon
• +Corrosive Turret Damage 20%

Legion

• Barrens Tileset Change
• Legion Player Base Map Icon
• +Penetrative Turret Damage 20%

Draconian

• Draconian Tech Tileset Change
• Draconian Player Base Map Icon
• +Explosive Turret Damage 20%

Each faction gets a bonus to a damage type in the game, none got the concussive bonus, and they get unique tile sets and a map icon. I think the graphics team did an excellent job at the new outposts and of these my favorites are Scourge and the Reavers. They just look so good to me, and I like the tiles they get the most. It might be that I have looked at the earth tiles and draconian tiles for over four years, so the change provided by those two is most appealing.

Why would you choose a faction?

Other than the way they look; your choice should be based on the damage you want to boost your base.  A 20% increase to damage is a good enough bonus to help push your turrets over the threshold of minimum damage. I would not focus all my turrets on one damage type of course, but I would make a few more of my chosen turret to take advantage of that bonus.

The obvious choice for many might be the Scourge. The Corrosive is still one of the most useful damage types to the majority of the base hitters. There is a few that can tank it, namely the Retribution, Spite, and Malice. Others get some deflection to it as well, but not enough to actually tank it properly. We do not have long range turrets though for corrosive, Draconian Scatter and Basilisk is the only turrets this will effect.

The Forsaken get a ballistic boost, and that can be fun for those that have a lot of blunderbuss and Ballista in their base. That extra 20% damage will help push your turrets over the top and do some nice damage. Granted low to mid-level players with their javelins and harpoons will see a boost as well as their disruptor turrets.

Reavers are Radioactive, while that might seem to be limited I will note that Apoc and the new Cataclysm turret are radioactive damage as well. Not to mention the fire patches they put down are radioactive as well, and those patches ignore deflection. Other notable mentions are the Pyroclastic turrets and napalm turrets.

Legion with their penetrative boost will be a big help to bases that have Dead Eye executioners and Executioners. Sent V will also benefit from this choice for small and mid-level players.

The last I want to touch on is the Draconian. The explosive damage boost will let you boost your mortars ( Apoc and Cataclysm primary damage is explosive) and Frostbite/Coldsnap.

When making your choice you will want to take into consideration the damage types you have in your base, and you could go with the majority turrets you have, looking to overwhelm the defenses. You could also go with the one you are weakest in, hoping to boost those few turrets to make you have a secondary damage type that the attacker has to be concerned with.

My choice

For me, I am going to go with the Forsaken at the start. My base is relatively tilted towards the Ballistic damage type, so I want to boost that damage as much as possible. My favorites visually is the Scourge or the Reavers, and if I ever switch damage types I will switch my faction. For now I am Forsaken and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Which Faction have you chosen?