Issues with Disciples of Anu Tech Tree

The Disciples of Anu tech tree and arsenal seems like it has aspects where it can offer some capabilities that enable the creation of overpowered Terminator builds, yet has other aspects that seem underpowered or even missing entirely.

  1. The overpowered aspects are the part I’ll write about first. The developers have stated before that they are planning to change skills and abilities soon so that Terminator builds are no longer possible, and a key part of what enables Terminator builds is the Adrenaline Rush capstone ability that the Berserker has.
    When combined with the Rapid Clearance capstone ability that the Assault class has, a maxed out Assault/Berserker is capable of killing everything (or almost everything) on a mission map within one turn due to the near infinite action points an Assault/Berserker can gain. The developers seem like they are aware of the exploitative power of Adrenaline Rush and that it will be changed to be more balanced and reasonable. Priests used to be very powerful but the developers have already made balance changes to them in the past so that they are not overpowered like they once were.
    The Anu shotguns are strong, maybe slightly too strong, as the assault rifles feel too weak by comparison. I often found it more effective to move Assault class operatives from medium to close range just to use shotguns for shooting, instead of relying on assault rifles for medium range shooting where they should excel. Assault rifles in general could use a slight buff to make them more potent medium range weapons, while the Phoenix and Anu shotguns could use a slight nerf to make them specifically ‘keep handy for close encounters’ weapons. Changing the Dash ability so that it can only be used once per turn would also help prevent shotguns from being relied on too often.

  2. The Disciples of Anu tech tree still contains quite a few capabilities that are underpowered. The first melee weapon that the Disciples of Anu get, the Marduk’s Fist, still has a higher net damage than the other, higher tech tier melee weapons, while still having a higher shock rating than even the Phoenix Stun Lance, a Phoenix hybrid tech weapon that requires both Anu and NJ tech. The Dagon’s Tooth blade should have its stats changed so that it is the most damaging melee weapon to use against unarmoured and lightly armoured enemies, while the Scion of Sharur mace should have its stats changed so that it is the most damaging melee weapon against heavily armoured enemies. The strength stat of operatives should influence melee weapon damage as well.
    Mutogs mostly rely on melee to inflict damage, but the melee damage they do is significantly smaller than what humans with melee weapons can inflict, despite Mutogs being genetically engineered warbeasts that are much stronger, larger and heavier than humans could ever be.
    The low melee damage that Mutogs inflict is the main issue that still prevents them from being actually useful.
    Melee weapons also need balancing relative to shotguns as well, the other main close quarters weapons type. Melee weapons and melee combat in general still needs improvement, it is an issue that effects the Disciples of Anu the most.
    The Berserker’s Aksu armour could use a slight speed buff to compensate for the low armour protection it provides.
    Mutations in general need a balance update. The tentacle torso should be 1 AP to use, the Venom torso poison spike attack is still too weak to be worth using, and has anyone ever gotten any use whatsoever from the electric kick ability of the Shadow Legs mutation?
    The Priest Judgement head mutation is also flat-out better than the other two priest heads. It has better stats that give more accuracy, more armour, +5 will points along with the extremely useful mass frenzy ability it provides. I really like the Judgement Priest head but even I think it’s too good. It also makes the Disciples of Anu Stimpack redundant, I wish the Anu Stimpack provided its own special type of buff.

  3. There are capabilities and techs that Disciples of Anu could really use, but are currently missing. The Disciples of Anu tech tree has no special technologies that give benefits for the Phoenix Project having an alliance with them. New Jericho gets Pandoran Physiology, Project Hecate, Project Vulture, Signal Disruption Tech and Centralized AI as special Phoenix Project alliance techs that provide big benefits for the player. Synedrion has Moon Mission Preparation, Moon Data Analysis and Project Domovoy as special Phoenix Project alliance techs that provide significant benefits too.
    But the only Disciples of Anu tech that can only be obtained from a Phoenix Project alliance is Pandora Key, and it doesn’t give any benefits except leading to the Disciples of Anu endgame mission. It would be cool if Pandora Key actually gave a specific benefit to having it, as well as the Disciples of Anu having more research projects that can only be obtained by the Phoenix Project having an alliance with them. Given what the Phoenix Project manages to discover about the Pandoravirus by the late game, it would make sense that if the Phoenix Project combined their own knowledge of the secrets of Pandoran biology with that of the Disciples of Anu, they could create even more sophisticated and advanced mutation tech.

The Disciples of Anu could use more mutations to choose from, but there some new mutations in particular they could really use. In the ‘Mutations of Anu’ Phoenix Point website news update from 29 July 2019, it hinted that there would be other kinds of priest head mutations aside from the three that got included in the released game. It mentioned a priest head mutation ‘hiding their allies from the alien’s perception for a turn’. Given that the Disciples of Anu are overall a very close quarters combat dependent faction, they need a way to close the distance against the Pandorans, New Jericho and Synedrion without being cut down by medium and long range firepower before they can even get close. I’m sure Taxiarch Nergal would have noticed this problem. If the Disciples of Anu priests could have a head mutation that granted a long-range psychic ability that allowed them to temporarily reduce the perception and accuracy of a group of enemies, that would help fix a big tactical weakness that the Disciples of Anu have. Maybe call this proposed priest head mutation the ‘Glamer’ head, based on the DNA of the Shadowed Hierarch. It would be cool if this priest head also had a slight stealth bonus, instead of the stealth penalty that the other priest heads have, so that it would be a viable choice for Infiltrator/Priest multiclass operatives.

I also found this unknown, unused Priest Head design while I was playing the game, and have used it as my avatar picture. It is shown only in this event background. I don’t know what this Priest head was supposed to do or why it got cut out of the game, but I think this Priest head design looks really, really cool and I hope it gets reintroduced to the game at some point.

Lastly, The Disciples of Anu need to have ways for them to cope with the mist. Given that the Disciples of Anu’s whole ideology is to evolve specifically to be able to survive and thrive in a Pandoran environment, they would need ways to deal with the mist. In the ‘Anu Priest Class’ tech description, it even mentions the priests as being able to manipulate the mist. From the Phoenix Point PDF manual, it seems as if the priests were originally supposed to have a ‘Breathe Mist’ ability. In any case, the Disciples of Anu should have ways of dealing with the mist both on the mission level and on the Geoscape level to protect their haven populations. All the Disciples of Anu have currently to deal with the mist is the ‘resistor head’ mutation that cuts virus damage in half, which is kind of redundant now that we have bionics, and I’m not even sure it actually protects against mist effects in missions.

That was a long post, but overall, the Disciples of Anu tech tree and arsenal definitely has room for improvement. What does everyone think about these issues, and what other improvements would you like to see made for the Disciples of Anu?

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  1. Adrenaline Rush will be nerfed… Not sure if enough, but still they try to balance it. And shotguns will be less lethal.
  2. Melee weapon stats will also change
  3. We use food production boost (which may change) and we use mutations.

Other than that I see your points and agree.

I agree with all that you posted,

in my opinion Adrenaline should be used only fro single class soldiers , melee weapons not doubts about it, PP Lance I would prefer 1 AP per use, compensating low damage.

Mutogs Venemous is not so bad , 120 DoT using 4 AP, is fine, I think Ramming Mutogs could require a tweak

http://phoenix.server317.com/Mutogs

And about tech, I miss more SR types during early and mid game, Subjugator is a Viral weapon, dangeours, sure, but it is not enough,

you can contain and wipe out lot of enemies without close combat, it is easier to fight Discples of Anu and The Forsaken, beacuse of that, their strategy is viral, acid and speed, also Priests,
but they can’t get close due to Snipers and Heavies killing them without actual risks,

also some kind of launcher, poison or acid, could level the forces

Another thing that the Disciples of Anu have that could use a balance update is the Priest’s Amphion armour. The appearance of the Amphion torso armour gives the impression that it mounts technological devices that are meant to enhance and amplify the Priest’s psychic abilities, not just make the Priests look impressive. The perception bonus that the armour gives is probably meant to reflect this, but it would be good if the armour directly improved the Priest’s psychic abilities in some way, like boosting their willpower stat or reducing the willpower cost of using psychic abilities for example. Otherwise, Amphion armour just isn’t good enough to make it worth wearing for Priests when compared to other armours, bionics and mutations.

By this point it looks as if almost everything that the Disciples of Anu have needs rebalancing and updating. I like this faction, but I dearly wish that everything they have is eventually balanced so that it is effective, interesting, useful and viable without being overpowered. Same deal with the other faction tech trees as well.

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