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Soldier

In-game Description

"This versatile unit can serve any purpose. They wear heavy armor and wield a powerful sub-machine-gun. But be careful, their noisy weapons can call the attention of the nearby infected."

General Information

The Soldier is an Empire's Primary Infantry unit in They Are Billions. They can be built from the Soldiers Center.

Soldiers are versatile units that primarily act as hardy frontline infantry, having more health than Rangers and more armor than both Rangers and Snipers. Their Semi-Automatic Battle Rifle is powerful enough to stop small groups of infected with relative ease, but the noise they generate can attract nearby infected if the player is not careful, possibly triggering Villages of Doom.

The Soldier is much noisier than Ranger, making him unfit for early expansion. Groups of soldiers don't deal as much damage as Snipers and require more Soldiers Centers to produce. However, they are best units for tanking due to high HP and armor for relatively low cost.

Soldiers are also slower than Rangers but are much faster than snipers, they are capable of outrunning all common infected. This makes them better at defending against normal infected and reasonably good against Infected Venoms due to their resistance against venom (50%), making them effective defensive units, especially when placed in towers to extend their range.

A unique bonus that this unit has is that it acquires more experience from zombies than other units, allowing it to reach veteran status faster. Another extra bonus of Soldiers is that they regenerate their health at the rate of 5 HP/sec, allowing them to return to the frontlines faster after taking heavy damage.

Squads of 7+ soldiers are adequate for clearing the map of normal infected on normal population density, but caution must be taken when they encounter Special Infected. Unlike Snipers, soldiers require walls to avoid losses in fights with Giants.

Soldiers can carry Explosive barrels.

Campaign Upgrades

Technology Tree in campaign provides multiple permanent upgrades for soldiers, dramatically increasing their power and survivability.

Technology ⇅Tier ⇅Effect ⇅
Assault Rifle1New Unit: Soldier
Military Tech1Extra Unit: Soldier
Reinforced Armor2Soldier: Armor +20% (damage reduction only)
Medicine2Soldier: Life +20% Ranger: Life +20% Sniper: Life +20%
Professional Soldier2Extra Unit: Soldier
Long Range Rifle2Soldier: View Range +1, Attack Range +1
Advanced training3Soldier: Training Time -10% Ranger: Training Time -10% Sniper: Training Time -10%
Military Tactics3Units: Experience needed to be veteran unit -20%
Chemistry3Soldier: Damage +20%
Advanced munitions5Soldier: Damage +20%
Nanomaterials5Units: Armor +5%

Fully upgraded soldier has 144 HP, 65% armor, 22/36 damage. With attack speed 4 times higher soldier can deal almost as much damage per second as Sniper, but without overkill and for less maintenance.

Experience gained

Slow ⇅Fast ⇅Executive ⇅Special ⇅
1.34%2.68%6.7%13.4%

Shots-To-Kill Table

Tier ⇅Slow ⇅Fast ⇅Exec ⇅Spec ⇅Chubby ⇅Behemoth(800%) ⇅Giant(800%) ⇅
Base3369455561786
Vet2246283411099
Campaign base2347334051299
Campaign vet123420247794

Tips & Strategy

  • Due to the extreme sound that their weapon makes when being fired, expanding with a single Soldier is rarely a good idea. This is because the infected are attracted by the sound and this can surpass the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Soldier(s). Wait to make a squad - at least six to eight - before engaging the infected without support.
  • Soldiers are often skipped by experienced players on Desolate Desert and Caustic Lands due to their redundancy with Snipers. However, soldiers is still a solid choice for early-to-mid game in low economy. Soldiers are also great expandable meat shield for sniper squad while clearing the map.
  • By getting more experience when killing infected, it's a good idea to bring your Soldier's to as many fights as you can permit - a Veteran Soldier is a very powerful upgrade - gaining a whopping additional 10 AD, on top of more Armor and Attack Speed.
  • Soldier has the fastest weapon loading speed than all other ranged units (entering combat stat faster), which means they are good for chasing/patroling, or focus-firing critical targets like Harpies.
  • Soldiers have the shortest view range of 6 among all units, which is the same as most dwelling/resources buildings and runners.
  • Soldiers works very well with Lucifers, because of their resistance against fire damage (50%). By taking only half the damage this can allow for less than perfect control so a single mishap won't incinerate the bulk of your army.
  • Defensibly, Soldiers work well en masse by acting as a living firing wall which self heals, assuming proper micro management.
  • When using Soldiers en masse it is often better to focus on making the Academy of Immortals than to veteranise each individual Soldier.
  • Soldiers work well with Titans; the Titan's area of effect damage to deal with dense swarms and the Soldier's firepower (assuming at least six to eight) make for a handy force. They also work well as a mobile reserve for when the infected breach the colony walls. In dire situations the soldier's armor and health regeneration make a defensive wall for the Titan, leaving it safe to clear the larger knots of infected. In high enough numbers, a squad of Veteran Soldiers will clear out any surviving infected - freeing the Titan to be re-tasked onto greater priorities.
  • When all else fails, a squad of Solders make wonderful meat shields. You'll be surprised how long they last!

Quotes

When deployed from Soldier center:

  • "Reporting for duty!"

When selected:

  • "At your service."
  • "Any orders?"
  • "Commander?"
  • "Is everything okay?"
  • "Just tell me what to do."
  • "Orders, sir."
  • "Ready and waiting."
  • "Tell me."
  • "Just guide me to the Infected."
  • "Sorry sir, was just cleaning my weapon."

When moving:

  • "Alright."
  • "Come on."
  • "Great idea, sir."
  • "Of course, my commander."
  • "On your orders."
  • "That will be easy."
  • "Understood."

When attacking:

  • "Attack!"
  • "Bring 'em on!"
  • "Chaaarge!"
  • "Heeere we come!"
  • "I will kill our enemies!"
  • "Let's get them!"
  • "Fooor the humans!"
  • "Fooor the colony!"

When dying:

  • "Damn it!"
  • "Oohh!"
  • "Errr!"
  • "Arrrr!"
  • "Ooohh!"
  • "Damn it! Nooo!"
  • "Oof!"

Travia

  • Unlike most units, soldiers have a fixed sprite (instead of animation) on death.