Robot Tactics & Overview

ROBOT TACTICS AND OVERVIEW

This is going to be depressingly incomplete, as I lack the Automatron deck at all; this means that I can only go off the base cards, and don't even know for sure what the Robotics Expert Perk does to fully evaluate the Mechanist's value.

What I can discuss is what makes them SPECIAL, though, off of just their base cards. Robots have a solid variety of both expensive and cheap models. With high average Health and Armor, they'll also take quite a lot to remove, and Battle Cry is a dead ability. Many of them also Self-Destruct, which is a highly threatening move.

Their flaws, though... Lockpicking is nonexistant, and many of their models cannot Climb. While several of them have access to Search and even Computers, none have that ability on their card leaving it up to their Robot Controller. Almost all of them lack access to Fast Actions, with their only source being their Controller's Aura.

Before we go onto the individual Robots, we need to mention the Clunky option and the possible Robot Controllers.

Clunky is... an interesting choice. For a -20% discount in Caps, you get a model that has a 25% of starting with one fewer Action every turn, or a 17% of having -2 on all their Tests for the turn. Is it worth it? Honestly, only on the most expensive Robots: Assaultrons and Sentry Bots, and that's a MAYBE. We'll talk more about those in their own entries.

For the Controller, the Mechanist seems like an obvious choice, but for 145 Caps s/he has wretched combat stats and can't Lockpick; unless there are Robot Perks they can take to up their sub-par STR 3 or PER 4 to a decent level, or learn Lockpick, I'd say give the Mechanist a pass. What you'll probably want is a durable model with Lockpick and other abilities to offer; Piper, Scavver Outlaw, a Knight Tech, or even Z2-47 are all possibilities. The Sole Survivor Day 1 and Tech are potential candidates as well.

ASSAULTRON

In FO4, I kept Jet on a hotkey just to deal with these scary mf'ers. They're far more terrifying than Deathclaws, Behemoths, or any other enemy in the game. And they do not fall short of that in FWW, as their 320 Caps cost will testify to.

First off, they have stellar 10 Health behind 2+1/4/x Armor. AGI 6 is a bit on the low side for their Melee attacks, but the Assaultron Swipe includes a Green die to bring it up to 63%, with an Yellow die as well! They also have Red/Green for Movement Charge, making them quite speedy, and can spend AP to Move as well. Their PER 8 governs Search and Pistols/Rifles, which makes their Head Laser... so much scarier. Int 4 Computers also means they can do things other than charge and slash, but why would you?

For abilities, they have can Climb (yay!) and have Fast, which means they can be made Ready for free; this can let you move two models in a single turn. Assaultrons always Self Destruct at 0 Health. Their Assaultron Head Laser is a Primed Weapon (2) they can use for without spending Actions; it adds a token after each action if there's an enemy model within LOS, and deals a gargantuan 3 Energy damage with a fistful of dice (BBY/BY) alongside an impressive 18" Black/Red Range. This can potentially go off every turn, adding to their frightening DPS.

Adding the Clunky card to them is... perhaps not terrible. It drops their cost to 256, and while the Action loss might make their Head Laser shoot less often, it also might not. Their Skills are decent enough to still threaten even after taking a -2 penalty. The problem is that that's only a few Caps less than having two Battered Assaultrons at much more random fighting capability.

BATTERED ASSAULTRON

At 145 Caps, you might think, "Wow, they must lose a lot to regular Assaultrons!" and you're right... but they're still good choices, and can tear up your enemies. Especially when you reckon that you can get two of these for the price of ONE regular Assaultron with Caps to spare!

First off, they're softer, with only 8 Health behind 1+1/2/x. Second, they only have PER 6 and AGI 5 for their Search and Shooting/Close Combat respectively, dropping from 75% and 63% to 55% and 54%. Their Head Lasers are inferior, swapping the Red/Black Ranges and losing a Yellow die at all ranges. They only have a 25% of Self-Destructing when dropped to 0 Health. Last, they lose Fast, which hurts quite a bit.

That's all still VERY impressive, and I think that 2 Battered Assaultrons are better than a singleton Assaultron for less - more chances to fire their Head Lasers, more Health spread across two models, and so on. But they're both good choices, which is solid game design!

BATTERED PROTECTRON

More on the Protectrons later (I like them), but Battered versions are

softer (6 Health behind 1+1/2/x) for not much cheaper at 20 Caps, and also only have an 8% chance of Self Destruct versus 17%. The one upside is they aren't any worse at shooting, with the same (awful) 40% at Short range and 35% at Long range. They also still have STR 7+, which lets their Improvised Weapons gain a bonus Black die.

Eh, I don't think they're worth it except maybe as a filler model. But they're not BAD, just... the Protectron is tough to remove, and these guys aren't as tough.

BATTERED SENTRY BOT

Whoo boy! As is the pattern for Battered versions, these guys are much cheaper (130 Caps versus 310), in exchange for dropping some toughness (Health 10 behind 1+1/2/x), skill with their main weapon (STR 6), lower chance to Self-Destruct (in this case, only a 25% chance), and their unique Abilities and some of their equipment - in this case, they lose the Minigun for an Empty Minigun melee weapon.

Okay, all of that is still great. They have a Missile Launcher with an acceptable skill, Unimpeded, and the Empty Minigun adds a Black die and +1 Damage over the Improvised Weapon.

Hell, it might even be worth it to make them Clunky Battered Sentry Bots as well. They only need one Action a turn to fire their Missile Launchers anyway and if they get the reduced skill Missile Launchers Scatter instead of missing entirely. At 104 Caps? Sounds pretty good to me.

EYEBOT

What Eyebots do is provide cheap activations while helping Assaultrons charge around corners and contributing in combat with their little Eyebot Laser; 1 ENE damage may not be a lot, but with 2 Black dice helping its average damage comes to around 1.75. Targeting ENE resistance is helpful too.

They aren't tanky, but aren't soft compared to other models in their Caps cost zone either. Combined with Unimpeded, they can help out quite a bit in the right force composition, and should always be taken if you use Assaultrons.

MR HANDY

Mr. Handies aren't great at combat, but aren't terrible either. They have high Search and Computer Expertise, with a decent 6 Health protected by 3/1/x Armor, and Unimpeded. Taking one as an objective runner isn't a bad idea; your Assaultrons probably have better things to do and they're faster than many bots.

CODSWORTH is also available (no, he doesn't have Survivor listed as his faction!) and should be taken if you can; he's better in combat than the standard Mr. Handy and he can heal your Robot Controller if it's non-Robot!

PROTECTRONS

Protectrons do one thing really, really well: Soak up damage for super-cheap. At 30 Caps, 7 Health behind 4/3/x Armor is nuts. While the Protectron Hand Laser is terrible, en masse it'll do a lot of damage.

Sit these guys on an objective, watch your opponent try to remove them... and laugh. Just laugh. They'll also serve well as a shield for more frail or expensive allies.

SENTRY BOT

Scary, scary guys - maybe not as objectively horrifying as a sudden Assaultron out of nowhere, but they're not to be sneered at either - especially for 310 Caps!

They have great STR 8 governing their Heavy Weapons, and amazing 13 Health protected by insane 3+1/2+1/x Armor. Like the Assaultron they always Self-Destruct when destroyed (if that ever happens!) and are Unimpeded. What makes them brutal is that they get both the Missile Launcher and Minigun and can fire both in a single turn.

Now, the Minigun isn't a great weapon if you have to pick between it and the Missile Launcher. But that doesn't make the Minigun bad; it can lay down an impressive amount of fire and put multiple wounds on enemies with low Physical Armor, and there are no rules saying you can't target multiple enemies with different shots.

Going with a Clunky Sentry Bot is, much like its Battered brother, also a good option. It drops to 248 Caps in cost, and even if it loses an action it can still fire its Missile. Going from 8 to 6 Skill isn't wonderful but way better than the odds on the Battered version.

So, which is better, the Assaultron or the Sentry Bot? Honestly, they both do very solid roles - but the Sentry Bot is far more defensive where the Assaultron is far more offensive. It depends on what the battlefield looks like and what you need your force to do.

What about Battered versus regular Sentry Bot? In this case... Battered wins, just barely. It's still quite tough, very much cheaper than the regular, and can still do the thing you need which is lay down Missile fire. Clunky Sentry Bots are probably better than either, though.