It got me thinking... IG usually opens with (at least) 2 Guardsmen, and Tyranids often get 2 Termagants. These two ranged squads are, in my opinion, also two of the most comparable squads in the game - they're high model, low health/DPS T1 piercing units with a variety of upgrades to help their efficiency. So I figured; why not compare their stats?
Here I'll write the baseline of each unit.
Information taken from in-game descriptions when available, otherwise from Codex pages
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Termagants
Models: 8
Model Health: 75
Model DPS: 3.9 Piercing_pvp
Cost: 260 req
Reinforcement Cost: 16 req
Upkeep: 3.825
Totals (without upgrades)
Total HP/Req = 2.85
Total DPS/Req = 0.12
Cost per model-reinforce = 16
Guardsmen
Models: 6
Model Health: 100
Model DPS: 4.12 Piercing_pvp
Cost: 210 req
Reinforcement Cost: 18 req
Upkeep: 2.55
Totals (without upgrades)
Total HP/Req = 2.85
Total DPS/Req = 0.11
Cost per model-reinforce = 18
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Now, let's assume the Guardsmen squad gets a Sergeant (I rarely see them without it). And the Termagants get Toxin Sacs at least. The upgraded stats become:
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Termagants with Toxin Sacs
Total Cost = 335 req, 15 power
Total HP/req = 1.97
Total DPS/Req = 0,12
Cost per model-reinforce = 16
Guardsmen with Sergeant
Total Cost = 295 req, 0 power
Total HP/Req = 3.18
Total DPS/Req = 0.12
Cost per reinforce = 9
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It's DEFINITELY worth noting slow 90% for 5 seconds Termagant debuff, but it's hard to calculate it's value...
But on the other hand; I didn't account for Power cost in the Termagant efficiency... and 15 power is no small price in Tier1
Okay so aside from having spent power to unlock a (very) useful slowing ability, Termagants seem to be lacking. What about T2?
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Termagants with Toxin Sacs + Endless Swarm
Total Cost = 385 req, 30 power
Total HP/req = 1.88
Total DPS/Req = 0,10
Cost per model-reinforce = 8
Guardsmen with Sergeant + Commissar
Total Cost = 380 req, 20 power
Total HP/Req = 2.315
Total DPS/Req = 0.135
Cost per reinforce = 6
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Again; it's hard to gage the value of the Crippling Poison, just like it's hard to judge how much the Commissars 26.15 melee DPS will come into play...
Similarly, it's pretty hard to "math-out" how good Commissar's Breaking Retreat execution is...
One thing is clear however; the Crippling Poison is useless in a straight shootout between these two units, which is really all I'm gaging here.
Now I do realize there's one big, gaping hole in my comparison: the Synapse bonus that Tyranids can get.
Basic Synapse (available from Hive Tyrant, or a 300/25 Warrior brood) reduces incoming damage by 20%. This is, of course, a tremendous boost for termagants, but I'll argue that they're still not favored because:
- Warrior Broods cost a heavy 300 req and 25 power to field; and are initially melee. Meaning they could get split from your Termagants.
- Synapse backlash. So whenever a Warrior (or Tyrant) goes down, all 'nids in a radius 25 lose 14% of their max HP (!), and get weapon-knockbacked.
- With the Commissar or Lord General, Guardsmen will tend to be buffed up as well - whether it's sacrificing 1 model to get +100% damage, or getting 30% firing rate/ranged-damage reduction/etc.
Ranged Synapse from the Venom Brood is another good bonus - but again; it requires fielding a T2 unit which is actually designed to be Anti-vehicle. And it adds another Synapse Backlash domino-effect to your ranged blob.
Another point worth making is that, while all tyranids have natural health regen, there is no repair function. So your Termagants won't be able to quick heal up your carnifexes, and you won't be able to help repair allied vehicles in team games (that Land Raider sitting on 5% HP will have to take care of itself!)
Summary:
I'm probably missing a lot, and I am a noob. But it seems to be that Termagants simply don't measure up to Guardsmen - I don't know if their upgrades are poorly priced, or if I'm underestimating buffs, or if Synapse backlash is really just too hard on them.
I'm also worried that Tyranids seem to be the least played faction... and I'm sure there must be a reason somewhere.
TL;DR: I think Guardsmen >>>>> Termagants, and I don't like it.
Woodenplank wrote:But pointing out problems is easy... Finding solutions is hard (especially if you're a noob like me). So here's an outlandish suggestion (feel free to bash)
- Give Basic Synapse for Ravener and Lictor Alpha as well (compensate the Hive Tyrant some other way, so he'll still feel unique, dunno)
- Adjust Wargear for those two Heroes. I.e. Lictor's "Lone Hunter" removes the Synapse bonus, Ravener's "Damage Synapse" could be reworked to "improves basic synapse to increase damage..." and so on.
- Possibly reduce the bonuses of Synapse, and then make Synapse Backlash less damning (less damage, smaller knockback radius, etc.)
P.S. Also worth noting: Despite having 25 more HP/model, Guardsmen reward only 3 Red per kill, as opposed to 6/kill for Termagants