The UEF believes in the strategic doctrines of “strength in numbers” and “quantity over quality” when it comes to units in its military. Most UEF units cannot stand up to those of their counterpart factions in a one-on-one fight, but instead rely on cheap costs and shorter build times to ensure that there are always two units of their units for every one of their enemies.
Land Units
Rockhead TankThe Rockhead is the workhorse of the UEF military. It is one of the few exceptions to the UEF’s quantity-over-quality mentality. When fully upgraded, it is arguably the most powerful non-experimental unit in the game. With two health upgrades, two attack upgrades, shields, training, and the ability to engage air units with deadly effect, only experimentals stand a chance of taking a Rockhead down in a one-on-one (mass) fight. The Rockhead is not the only unit in the UEF arsenal that has land and air attacks through research - the Titan, Meteor, and Demolisher are also affected by this upgrade. Fortunately (for the other factions), this upgrade is far back in the tree and takes 24 research points to unlock (in the
Infinite War DLC).
Titan Assault BotThe UEF has the ability to build Titan assault bots, however, most players choose not to for two reasons. One, the Titan is a dead-end in the research tree (unless you have the
Infinite War Battlepack, in which case you can research afterburners). Two, the more important reason, is that the Rockhead is simply a better unit. In a stand up fight, Titans will lose to tanks - the only advantage that assault bots have is their speed, and even that advantage is nullified in the DLC by the Afterburners upgrade.
Air Units
Wasp FighterThe UEF is the only faction that has a dedicated fighter and bomber. While this means it is more difficult to transition from shooting air units to shooting ground units, the fact that the fighters are cheaper and quicker to make than Aeon and Cybran fighter-bombers means that the UEF will always gain air superiority in an even fight. This is further compounded by research that results in a 10% cost decrease and a fifteen percent build time reduction for the aircraft.
Eagle Eye BomberUEF bombers are graced with a clusterbomb upgrade that decimates land armies and buildings with low hitpoints that significantly increases the area of effect and damage of their bombs. The Eagle Eye is also the only bomber with the ability to add torpedoes to its arsenal (which is located immediately after the clusterbombs).
Broadsword GunshipUEF gunships, even when fully upgraded, are the worst vehicle in their class. They do not gain any significant defensive upgrades like the Aeon, nor any decent attack upgrades like the Cybran. The UEF gunship’s advantage thus, like most of the UEF’s units, lies in its ability to be deployed in large numbers.
Naval Units
Tigershark SubmarineThe UEF will always beat a Cybran player in naval combat due the submarine. Strictly an anti-ship unit, the submarine is a cheap unit that is quick to produce.
Mastodon Cruiser The Mastodon Cruiser is the second ship that the UEF start with. It has excellent anti-air capabilities that only a late-game air player will be able to counter as well as an on-board tactical missile system. These tactical missiles have a long range and do high damage, allowing UEF players to quickly destroy enemy buildings from afar.
Poseidon BattleshipThe Battleship, once unlocked, is another excellent anti-ship and anti-building unit and is superior to its Cybran counterpart, especially once Double Barrels is researched.
Experimental Units
Land ExperimentalsFatboy IIThe Fatboy II is the first land experimental unlocked by UEF players and is the best minor experimental in the game, better than the Megalith and the Urchinow. With five tri-barreled gauss cannons and exceptionally long range, most armies are torn to pieces before coming close enough to fire a shot.
The UEF has two major experimentals from which to choose from (if you have
Infinite War), the King Kriptor and the Jackhammer.
King KriptorThe King Kriptor is best described as a large walking GUNS bot. It has one advantage over the Universal Colossus and the Cybranasaurus Rex in its ability to bring all of its guns to bear on the enemy while retreating. Aside from that, it is inferior to the Aeon and Cybran major experimentals when engaging standard units. The King Kriptor suffers from overkill when attacking units with low health, unlike the Universal Colossus, and the Cybranasaurus Rex. The King Kriptor is thus best for engaging units with high health levels and structures. The King Kriptor also has lower health than the Cybranasaurus Rex and the Universal Colossus.
JackhammerThe Jackhammer is a high-damage deployable cannon. It has an absurd amount of health and a huge area-of-effect for its cannon. The Jackhammer is a better option for engaging large armies of standard units than the King Kriptor. Most players will not even bother trying to approach it with anything short of experimentals or air units.
Air ExperimentalsThe UEF has three air experimentals; the experimental transport, AC-1000 Terror, and the Airfortress Mobile Air Factory.
C-230 Star KingThe experimental transport, like its Cybran counterpart, has the ability to transport an experimental or a large number of tanks. It is best for transporting experimentals over long distances.
AC-1000 TerrorThe AC-1000 is classified as a minor experimental and is an experimental gunship. Much like the AC-130 of today, the AC-1000 circles its target and blows it to pieces with its assortment of weaponry. It is easy to unlock, quick to build and wrecks havoc on your opponent.
Air FortressThe final air experimental is the Mobile Air factory. This unit is godly; with the ability to build air at one-third their cost and one-third their build time, if an opposing player didn’t have air superiority before its construction - he never will. Still, it is a fragile unit and can be brought down by a decent fighter force and therefore must be protected once built.
Naval ExperimentalsThe UEF has two (with
Infinite War) naval experimentals, the Atlantis II and Super Triton.
Atlantis IIMuch like the Atlantis from
Forged Alliance, this is a large submersible aircraft carrier. The Atlantis builds aircraft at one-third of the regular cost but at a normal speed. It is equipped with torpedoes and gauss guns for naval combat.
Super TritonThe Super Triton is an experimental dreadnaught. Similar to an ironclad warship, the Super Triton is ringed with gauss guns and topped with a massive tri-barreled cannon. Although not useless, none of the naval experimentals are worth researching as the Super Triton’s job can easily be done with battleships and the Atlantis is out-performed by the Airfortress.
Structural ExperimentalsThe UEF has three experimental structures (with Infinite War), the Noah Unit Cannon, the Aegis Experimental Shield, and the Disruptor Experimental Artillery Station.
Noah Unit CannonThe Noah Unit Cannon is a factory that builds units at one third of their regular cost and at speeds seven times faster than normal. It stores 21 units, which are always ready to be fired across the map to engage the enemy. The Unit Cannon is excellent for orchestrating assasinations to take out critical enemy equipment (and ACUs).
Aegis Experimental Shield GeneratorThe Aegis is a massive shield generator with five times the hitpoints of an ordinary shield generator. The Aegis’ shield does not automatically recharge but must be manually charged at a massive energy cost. The advantage is that the shield can be instantly brought back up if dropped (only once however, as there is a charge time for the ability).
Disruptor Quantum ArtilleryThe Disruptor is an artillery piece that fires four shells into the air with each burst. It also has the ability to charge its cannon and deliver an EMP burst that disables enemy buildings and units upon impact. It is the best artillery piece in the game and is preferable over teching towards Long Ranged Artillery if the enemy is looking for an artillery duel.
The ACU
The UEF ACU is the worst ACU in the game in direct combat. The only advantage that the UEF ACU has over the other factions is two health, two bunker upgrades, and the ability to hide from enemy radar. This allows the ACU to take beatings that would otherwise have resulted in thermonuclear craters for other factions and then hide from enemy sensors. It is therefore wise to only utilize the ACU in combat during the early stages of the game and then leave it in your base once some of the heavier units have appeared.
The ACU also has the ability to research a 15% building cost deduction. This is best researched when building expensive structures and experimentals.
Structures
The UEF has two artillery units, the shorter ranged Fortified Artillery and the Long Range Heavy Artillery.
Fortified ArtilleryFortified artillery is a medium-ranged artillery unit that does medium damage and is rather inaccurate. Fortified Artillery is best used as an advanced point defense. When hardened artillery is researched and activated, the artillery fires much faster and does more damage (sacrificing range in the process). A wall of these units can stop a major experimental.
Long Range ArtilleryLong Range Artillery, when the range upgrade is researched, outranges Cybran artillery. However, this advantage is only noticed on larger maps from the
Infinite War Battlepack. Otherwise, Cybran Heavy Artillery is superior due to its superior accuracy and increased fire-rate (when upgraded).
Shield GeneratorThe UEF is the only faction to have shields that absorb splash damage. This is extremely detrimental in artillery duels because UEF shields will always collapse before those of other factions.
Mass Extractors, Research Stations and Power Generators The UEF have two upgrades that place gauss guns and anti-air guns on Mass Extractors and Research Stations. Those upgrades are followed by another upgrade that allows UEF Power Generators to double as repair stations, automatically repairing and assisting nearby structures and units.
Mass ConversionThe UEF requires more research points to unlock Mass Conversion that Cybran and Aeon players. However, the tree for unlocking Mass Conversion has all of the UEF's economic upgrades. So, although it takes longer to unlock mass conversion for the UEF, they have a better economic footing once it is achieved.
19RP (UEF)
or
17RP (Cybran)
15RP (Aeon)
Final Tips
There are a few units that UEF players should not bother building and researching. As already mentioned earlier in this guide, Super Tritons are really not worth researching or building unless you have the resources and research to spare. Also, the Research Converter (another DLC unit) is not worth the investment at any point in the game. Bomb Cameras (for UEF bombers) are another useless upgrade. The cameras do not last nearly long enough after a bombing run to provide useful intelligence and the bombers need to deliver their payload in order to place the camera in the first place. Fortified Artillery, although nice, is not a practical structure to research in one-vs.-one or even two-vs.-two games. It is best utilized in three-vs.-three or four-vs.-four games where its role can be better fulfilled. Finally, for the ACU, upgrade its defensive and stealth capabilities before starting on the offensive ones. Since the UEF’s ACU is better at surviving than attacking, it is better to upgrade those aspects of the ACU first.
It is my hope that this guide betters your understanding of the UEF Faction. Go forth and restore peace and order to the galaxy, no matter the cost. Long live the UEF!