Light · Ground · ×3
Needle
Anti-heavy burst squad that can take off
Three slim strike craft with lance-shaped charge cannons: one slow, heavy shot each that punches through armor.
- Squad
- ×3
- Damage
- 1,144
- Range
- 100 m
Three slim, low strike craft riding on folded lift fans, each carrying a long lance-shaped charge cannon.
On the battlefield
The Needle is a burst squad: three light strike craft, each firing a charged lance every few seconds for a single heavy hit at 100 m. That heavy shot is wasted on chaff and lands best on single heavy guns: in the 22-unit launch matrix it beats the Aurochs, the Heron, the Salvo, the Weaver, the Cutter and the Torch. It is light and few, so chaff and splash that reach it first win (Skitter, Hexguard, Ridgeback), and the thickest walls (Anvil, the Landship) outlast its volleys. Lift Fans change the whole matchup: the squad takes off and only anti-air can answer it.
Courser
Heron
Cutter
Aurochs
Weaver
Salvo
Bombard
Aegis
Sunspire
Skitter
Hexguard
Ridgeback
Rotor
Torch
Mirage
Seraph
Anvil
Templar
Rampart
Tempest
Citadel
Landship
Dreadnought
ArchangelFrom equal-supply battles of each pair at 400, 800 and 1,600 supply in the 22-unit launch matrix (no techs, 40 seeds each). Real armies mix units, so read these as tendencies.
Where to deploy
Behind the front line, with chaff in front, facing the enemy's armor. Spread from other light squads so one splash shot can't take all three.
Early and late rounds
Cheap to field and free to unlock, so it comes in early as an answer to the first heavy unit, and stays useful while the enemy keeps buying armor. Lift Fans are the late swing: a flying lance squad against a ground army with no anti-air.
Techs that change its job
Lift Fans make it a flyer, out of reach of every ground-only gun. Siphon heals each Needle for part of the damage it deals, so a squad that keeps hitting armor stays alive. Long Barrels add range; Heavy Plating adds HP and blocks part of every hit.
Anatomy
Drag, hover and tap the parts. Open it full screen.
Stats
- Deploy cost
- 100
- supply
- Unlock
- Free
- unlocked from the start
- Squad
- ×3
- 3 machines
- HP
- 1,370
- per machine
- Damage
- 1,144
- per hit
- Attack interval
- 3.3 s
- Squad DPS
- 1,040
- whole squad, before armor
- Range
- 100 m
- Speed
- 8 m/s
- Targets
- Ground
- Splash
- None
- Layer
- Ground
- Footprint
- 4×2
- tiles of 10 m
Level 1, no techs. Distances in metres (one board tile is 10 m).
Techs
| Tech | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Lift Fans | 200 | Takes off: it flies, so only anti-air can hit it |
| Siphon | 150 | Heals for 30% of the damage it deals |
| Long Barrels | 100 | +40 m range |
| Heavy Plating | 100 | +40% HP, blocks 60 damage from every hit |