Unit Debate #7 -- Marro Drones Vs. Marro Dividers

[MegaSilver]

EDIT: Read the poll carefully before you click. I almost clicked on the wrong vote myself!

Marro seem to be on the rise in Valhalla, don't they?

The Marro Drones can Hive Swarm up to 9 figures, but if the Marro Dividers are hit they split to little slashers that keep on going. Who do you think is more effective?

This debate was submitted by ParaGoomba Slayer.




Compare the units by looking at thier:

1. Stats/Special Powers

2. Playability

3. Overall Usefullness

4. Who Would Win Head-To-Head

5. Army Builds

6. Best Strategic Use

Here is a hint for next week's debate: (You can guess.)

Spoiler Alert!

Elves verses Samurai

Also, a special edition of the Unit Debates is located in the Customs thread, you can find the link in my sig below.

MegaSilver

[Bonecrusher]

Dividers. Benefit from SBN more, and really help with map control.

[MegaSilver]

EDIT: Be careful to read before you click. I almost clicked on the wrong vote myself!

[Panopticon]

I voted for the drones. If there are no support units (TBR, SBN, etc.) the drones just seem like a much more reliable unit. That being said, I will be using the heck out of the dividers every chance I get. I've used them in only one game so far and they were a blast.

[StarofEarendil]

Ooo... This is tough. I'd give the (slight) advantage to the Dividers.
Drones' Hive Swarm would be pretty good, the Cell Divide of the Dividers gives them the edge, being able to bring back their deceased.
Playability-wise, the Dividers again have the edge, not needing to have three or four squads in their army to achieve their full potential.
I remember reading a while ago that while the Drones are more offensive, the Dividers are more defensive. The Drones are going to be able to hold glyphs because there's so many beyond the glyph that the glyph holder is ignored. The Dividers, however, only need to rely on Cell Divide to hold a glyph, even if the battle lines are around the glyph. Overall, the Dividers and Drones are pretty even.
Head-to-head, things get interesting. The Drones' best strategy against the Dividers would be to use Hive Swarm to surround various Dividers, but that doesn't always guarantee a dead Divider. Since the Dividers' survivability is better than the Drones', I give the Dividers the head-to-head advantage.
While the two could have some very similar army builds, I see the Dividers using Tul-Bak-Ra more often, and the Drones using the Hive much much more.
It seems best to use the Drones to Hive Swarm across the board in a huge, unstoppable mass, while the Dividers work better as glyph holders and height holders.

[ICEMASTER]

If you got the Marro Hive with the drones then I would go with them they can swarm. I've never used the dividers but I hope to soon. I have to go with Marro Drones because I have used the successfully.

[tubafication]

The Drones for sure, I think that a 3 attack, 3 defense squad isn't going to last long anyway, so the best possible scenario is that you swarm and take out as much as you can. IMO, a better version of the Vipers.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Cell Divide is a very good power, but the Drones use less Order Markers and have 1 more move.

I'm going to go with the Dividers because not only does a successful divide roll save one of your Dividers from death, it also brings another back from the dead. So now your opponent has to deal with more Dividers at the front.

Normally when you get a high roll for the Drones' swarm, you only end up getting 4-5 attacks in instead of the full 9. Although if you need to get somewhere fast, go with the Drones.

[Ullar/utgar own]

I prefer the drones for their playability (not that I have either) with other marro units:
Hive
3x stingers
3x drones
490/24

Is a lot more effective than:

Hive
3x stingers
3x dividers
490/24

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by Bonecrusher

Dividers. Benefit from SBN more, and really help with map control.

I'm with this guy. Dividers are really frustrating to face. Drones are more frightening probably... but they've never brought me to scowling at my friend's d20.

[Dysole]

Stats/Special Powers.

Drones have one more move and potential for more attacks. Dividers are annoying as heck to kill.

Edge: Even, possible slight edge to Dividers

Playability.

Both have the same point cost. Both need at least three squads to be really effective, but you can get away with fewer Dividers than you can Drones.

Edge: Slight edge to Dividers.

Overall Usefulness.

If I have to choose a melee screen with them, I'll pick the Dividers. They'll stick around longer and be only slightly less powerful offensively.

Edge: Dividers.

Who would win head-to-head.

Without a hive to bring Drones back, the Dividers can win the war of attrition. With a hive and Su-Bak-Na, whoever kills the other cheerleader first (although the Hive helps Drones a lot more than Su-Bak-Na helps the Dividers)

Edge: Dividers.

Army Builds.

Drones go with something like the Hive and Stingers, but they don't let you use as many Stingers simply because to be effective you should probably be using 4-5 squads. Dividers with Su-Bak-Na/Nagrubs and probably Stingers. You can fill more Stingers in. Dividers also might be a good melee screen as well.

Edge: Dividers fit into more armies easily and allow you to get more stingers.

Best strategic use.

Drones. Zerg rush. If you get a bad roll just bring up reinforcements and continue to attack until you run out of Drones. Dividers. Use them to hold glyphs, wall opponents, generally just cause frustration. It's annoying to kill three of them and then all of a sudden they're up to full strength again two turns later. Drones generally need to just kill or be killed. Dividers give you many more strategic options, which I like.

Edge: Dividers.

Guess which one I voted for?

Dividers will last longer, fit into armies easier, and cost exactly the same as Drones. And they're from the future. That alone should give them some kind of edge somewhere.

[Darkmage7a]

1. Stats/Special Powers
Drones - offensive and slightly faster / Survivability effect with circumstantial respawn.
Dividers - defensive and slightly slower / multiple activation possibilty.

Game objective = kill your opponent. Someone once said the best defense is a good offense.

Advantage: Drones

2. Playability
The units have the same point cost. To be effective either squad should be used in multiples. The choice of which one to use is heavily dependent on army build, map selection, and glyphs in use.

Advantage Tie:

3. Overall Usefullness
Dividers are easier to plug into an army to fill holes like point gaps and open start zone hexes. Drones require at least 3 squads to use for maximum effectiveness. However, chances of activating 6 per turn is still very reasonable. Dividers can be marched into an area and forgotten or ignored for a time. They survive slightly longer than drones so they can take a bit of a pounding while you turn your attention elsewhere. Drones on the other hand will not be ignored by your enemy and have a harder time staying alive. Rightfully so drones have a far greater threat value.
This section depends on your goal.

Advantage: Tie.

4. Who Would Win Head-To-Head
If everything goes average the faster move of the drones give them better maneuverability allowing them to take advantage of terrain features such as height and forcing dividers to fight in uncomfortable places like uneven terrain which is detrimental to cell divide ability. Even without that advantage the multiple attacks of the drones should overcome the occasional respawn of the dividers.

Advantage: Drones

5. Army Builds

TBR, SBN, Hive, and stingers all couple well with a wall of melee troops to suround them or form a wall to hide behind.

Plug and play, they are interchangeable. The better army would likely play a mix. Not kidding. Some may argue that Dividers don't benefit fromt he hive. I would argue that they do. You can command them with the hive to make your opponent feel cumbersome while using the marro rebirth on a stinger who drained too often or a drone that was undoubtably perceived to be too dangerous.

Advantage : Tie

6. Best Strategic Use

Normal game: tie
Heat of battle: drones
Capture the flag: drones
Bring a game to time in a tournament: Dividers
More fun: Tie, (mashing your opponent with drones is cool but watching the dead come back because your opponent had no choice but to attack, priceless.)
Glyph-holding: Dividers

Advantage: Tie

Final Decision: Drones. Close call though

Originally Posted by Jexik

I'm with this guy. Dividers are really frustrating to face. Drones are more frightening probably... but they've never brought me to scowling at my friend's d20.

I choose to disagree.
Dividers benefit from SBN when the die rolls a 16 or 5% of the time.
Drones benefit from SBN when the die rolls a 16 or a 12 for a total 10% of the time.

You could argue that drones roll once per activation while dividers roll once per defense roll but that is a misconception. It only matters on a failed defense roll. That counter-argument would only apply in specific situations where your opponent is making x or more successful attacks against your dividers per turn.