I seem to have sparked some interest in the army strategy. And I'm not going to lie, it can be boring at times. Building an army is a frustrating resetfest before you have 4 hacking suites and cleaning up after them(purging) can be an annoying endeavor as they kill the squads sent to kill you raising the alert level. It's not uncommon to hit alert 5 before the factory.
BUT, raising an army is cool and worth doing at least once so you can enjoy the fireworks. 10 weapon slots? Pfft. Try 10 H-66 Slayers each with 2 KE Penetrators.
Preparing for the Army
You'll need
2 Hacking Suites.
2 Hcp. Matter Storage Units.
Get yourself a hacking suite off an o or through unenhanced hacks.
Get Hcp. Matter Storage units the same way.
Hack Schematic(Imp. Hacking units)
Hack Schematic(H-66 Slayer)
Find a fabricator through hacking or exploration.
Establishing a Perimeter
Your soldiers WILL blow up your production facilities if you let them near them. Keeping them away and keeping you safe is a priority. Establishing perimeters around key points is essential to the function of a military.
Use the GUARD command to form squads. Assign 1-3 units as squad members to officer units. Command the officers to GOTO positions that block off access to the key structure.
As you produce, you'll need to make matter runs. Chances are your soldiers will be killing things and dropping matter like mad, use it to fuel your army.
Optional: If you can contain a terminal within your perimiter do so. This isn't mandatory, but it helps a boatload with the next step.
Maintaining Your Army
Aries make a lot of noise. I hit alert level 4 in pretty much every run by the second evolution. This is why you have your hacking suites.
Use Alert(Purge) until you get the message "No threats on record".
Mobilizing Your Army
Moving from point to point can be difficult. Important assets can be easily blown up on accident if you don't take the necessary steps.
Finding a Terminal is your first priority on every floor.
Use Index(Machines) if you have hacking suites. Index(Fabricators) and Index(Terminals) if not.
Use this to plot a path to the Fabricator to resupply. If you have hacking suites also use Access(Main) to plan an exit strategy.
DO NOT allow your units near Fabricators. Ideally you don't want them near Terminals either, but there are always spares.
Bait enemies surrounding key points to your army. Being able to fly is handy since it makes it easier to get behind your army when the fighting starts. Crossfire is scary as hell.
Once a point has been flushed go move on to Establishing a Perimeter and either build up or flush the alert.
Continue ad infinitum.
The only things that should change are what you build. Better flying units are nice if you want to carry a boatload as are defenses for safer baiting. Robots are the biggie though as everything else is up to taste.
The things you want to build at each fabber level are
Level 1
H-66 Slayer
Level 2
Unknown
Level 3
Unknown
Ideally you want units that don't have explosives with decent dodge chances or a boatload of health. Think of dodge modifiers as health multipliers.
I don't know what those are at the high end because I'd been mucking about on the easy floors gathering data. When I get far I start running away a lot more so I'm not sure what relative strengths are up there(yet). Any help would be appreciated.
