Today was another Imitation Game day which meant huge resource potential. During stage 6, I ended up losing a Grenadier which angered me. However, I’ve felt that the Tank Grenadier Medic combo had been slowly running its course. So I finally made the switch in swapping Grenadiers for Bombardiers and the result was a clean stage 7.
While I’ve been using Tank Grenadier Medic for as long as I can remember along with Cpt Everspark, the level 66+ bases have given me tons of problems with Ice defenses, where I would constantly require re-rolling them until I could get something much lower. Part of the problem is that Grenadiers, while having a long range, lack accuracy and cannot out range a lot of defenses, making them vulnerable to things like Boom Cannons and Sniper Towers.
Although Grenadiers have more health than Bombardiers, the extra health usually do not provide much of a defense and they end up getting killed one way or another. The better option is simply to out range defenses to allow your tanks to soak up the bulk of the damage.
However, the other major issue Grenadiers is that they are much faster than tanks so it’s possible that they will encounter a group of defenses before your tanks can re-group to a flare spot. That simply makes the situation very sloppy and chaotic.
On the other hand, Bombardiers are slower and thus will remain reasonably safeguarded behind tanks while your medics keep up both groups. This works well for flaring. And the only real thing you’ll end up missing is the splash damage that helps clear out mine fields.
In truth though, something like a Cryo Bomb, Everspark’s inherent ability to summon Critters and just a well placed Critter Swarm will handle most mine clusters. Better yet, tanks can generally absorb Boom Mines and will always push ahead of Bombardiers, unlike Grenadiers which place themselves in danger.
Currently, my setup uses 3 landing craft of Tanks, 3 landing craft of Bombadiers, 2 sets of Medics and Everspark. This was done using a full boost today so it’ll be interesting to see how this structure fares against a non-full boost day as Bombardiers do take up more energy.
That said, on my main account I managed to begin upgrading the last defense I worked on before the HQ 24 update while my secondary account started on a Flamethrower level 21. I feel that on my main account, I might either start on another Sniper Tower since there are quite a few left to upgrade or I might push my last Boom Cannon. I do feel the efficacy of each of these major upgrades mostly whenever I do a Hammerman Strikes Back stage 6-7 encounter. I had a few close calls this past week and I’m certain without boosting and the level of defenses, I would not have been able to complete them.
Now that I had the opportunity to try the Bombardiers, I’m wondering if I’ll get a chance to try all Scorchers or use the Mechs in any capacity. Thus far, I haven’t heard of a solid use for Mechs and I’ve never been attacked by them. Scorchers, I’ve heard, are great but the deployment cost is insane. I would be forced to re-arrange my statues for more GBE, something that I don’t feel good about compromising.
Otherwise, the only other combination I have my eye on currently is a Cryoneer, Heavy, Bombardier, Medic group with Dr Kavan, Pvt Bullit or Cpt Everspark thrown in. My main reasoning for giving this group a shot is to utilize the LC24 upgrades with the Cryoneers and Heavies getting an extra unit.
At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised with the results of the Bombardiers. I’m probably going to continue using them moving forward just based on the results today. I’m certain that a few of the Dr T island events will be made easier in the future.