Nod Avatar Mini-Guide

[Derek]

I figured I'ld make this for thsoe of you who either A) Don't have the demo (may you be smitten for years to come) or B) are too lazy to figure this out for yourselves.
You all know that the Avatar is Nod's mech, their highest tech unit and work horse of the late game. You are also probably aware that the Avatar can rip equipment off of other Nod units to become more powerful.
First of all, what you may not know is that the Avatar is not limited to one upgrade, it can recieve one of all the upgrades, making for a very powerful (and very expensive) unit.
The units that the Avatar can scavenge are the Attack Bike, Flame Tank, Stealth Tank, and Beam Tank. I'll cover these one at a time:
Avatar Warmech:
Appearance (http://i9.tinypic.com/4cu7os9.jpg)
Ability: The standard Avatar is Nod's high tech mech. It is fairly slow, but has a powerful laser. While tough to kill, it is not nearly as strong as GDI's cheaper Mammoth and cannot handle a Mammoth on one-on-one. Like all heavy vehicles it can crush infantry, but due to its small base it does a fairly poor job and it is best to have some Scorpians or Stealth Tanks around to run over pesky rocket men. It can, however, run over vehicles to destroy them. Like all mechs, if it is destroyed it falls to the ground, where it can be reclaimed by anyone's engineer, rising again at half health. The special feature of the Avatar is that it can rip the equipment off of other Nod units and add them to itself, gaining new abilities.
Cost: 3000
Usefulness: Nod's late game warhorse, although surprisingly the Scorpian Tank is actually more powerful for the money. The Avatar's true power lies in its flexibility.
In Action (http://i16.tinypic.com/2i91id0.jpg)
Recon Avatar:
Appearance (http://i11.tinypic.com/2rp8evd.jpg)
Note the periscope like attatchment on the back.
Ability: Stealth Detection
Cost: 600
Usefulness: Maybe against another Nod, but you're usually not that desperate to detect stealth. Venoms work just as well.
Flame Avatar:
Appearance (http://i13.tinypic.com/42sblev.jpg)
Note the flame tank and nozzle on the back
Ability: Shoot flames at close range
Cost: 1000
Usefulness: Very. Think Dragon Tank with firewall on all the time. This can probably destroy structures faster than any other lone unit. As a bonus, it can clear garrisons. Not very useful against tanks though, so don't bother if you are going to use the Avatar mostly to fight Mammoths or some other heavy vehicle.
In Action (http://i5.tinypic.com/343kpea.jpg)
Again (http://i12.tinypic.com/33wa4k9.jpg)
Stealth Avatar:
Appearance (http://i12.tinypic.com/43eo7k2.jpg)
Note the partial transparancy. Your opponent, of course, can't see it at all.
Ability: Makes the Avatar stealthed. Remains stealth while moving, but must reveal itself to attack.
Cost: 1000
Usefulness: Low if you're using Stealth Tanks to do this, for just $500 more you can use the Cloaking Field ability to make a group of four or more stealth. The Stealth Avatar itself is very useful for sneaking around the battlefield unnoticed, but if you're mostly going to use these to defend then you might not bother.
Beam Avatar:
Appearance (http://i12.tinypic.com/43eo7k2.jpg)
Note the added cannon on the left hand.
Ability: Gains a second laser, essentially doubles the firepower of the Avatar.
Cost: 1000
Usefulness: Must have if you will be using it against any units. Of course its great against structures too, but the Flame Avatar is better.
In Action:
Appearance (http://i2.tinypic.com/29mqhrn.jpg)
(Notice that the left hand is fireing. Although the greater RoF is best seen in a video, not a screenshot)
Combos:
Since you are not limited to one upgrade, you can mix and match the above to your heart's desire. But remember: Just because you can upgrade, doesn't mean you should. If you won't be putting an upgrade to its fullest use, don't bother buying it. That said, there is at least one very good combo:
Stealth + Flame Avatar, these can sneak into unexpecting bases and level numerous key structures before the enemy has time to respond, none-the-less kill them.

[SiDeWiNdEr]

Nice and useful for anyone who hasn't tried it out yet :)

[wthigon]

Nice guide Derek. I'd +rep you but I have to spread some around.. :D

[EliteGi]

Nice one Derek. If you have two upgrades, do the weapons work individually (as in they can fire simultaneously) or does it shoot one and then another?

[Star Wars Man]

I love that the Avatar can rip off weapons. That was done well.

I don't pick and choose. If I ahve a ton of money, I buy all the units and make one super-mech. To have 5 of these go into and enemy base undetected is awe-inspiring. :D

[Derek]

Nice one Derek. If you have two upgrades, do the weapons work individually (as in they can fire simultaneously) or does it shoot one and then another?
They fire at the same time (although the twin beam cannons alternate shots, which is why I couldn't get a screenshot of both firing. The net effect is to double the rate of fire)

[eLDiablo]

I had 10 fully upgraded Avatar's earlier today.

burned the base to the ground and pissed on the ashes in record time.

[Gaucho8788]

Wow, thats awesome. I should make a copy of that guide and put it up in my room for reference.

[bugglemenot]

The flame avatar is weak. Until you reach the key buildings you will have been raped, bullied, ripped-off, and knocked out. Also, the flame avatars will tend to use beams before flames. If you give it the command to destroy a building in the far, it will move a certain distance a start beaming.

[EliteGi]

I imagine the flame avatar is useful for close combat with infantry and/or structures. Unless you are going to use your flame avatar for close combat with infantry and/or structures, why the hell would you have a flame avatar in the first place? For the job it's meant for, I imagine the flame avatar will be very effective.

[Derek]

Meh, in general I've become disillusioned with Avatars. Despite having written this guide, I don't build them at all anymore. Someone at GR.org actually did a test and found that Scorpians with the laser upgrade are more powerful than Avatars with or without the extra beam. In addition Flame Tanks have nearly the same effect on buildings, for a fourth the price and a lot less tech, and by the time you have teched up Beam Tanks are even better (I explained the power of beam tanks in another thread). They also have other weakness, like the inability to back up, which means that you cannot effectively retreat Avatars like you can do with other tanks (including the Mammoth and Scorpian). At this point I no longer know what Avatars are good for. Maybe I'll find out when the game comes out, but until then I'll be laser Venom/Scorp spamming with a side of Beam Tanks.

[sovietmisaki]

well it's not exactly a good idea if you're just going to rip a brand new unit apart to add new parts to your avatar, though one thats one shot from getting wiped off the face of the earth is a much better candidtate.

[Derek]

It would still be better not to buy the Avatar.

However in v1.05 the Avatar will cost only $2200 so it should be a lot more useful.

[General Kane Nash]

Nice guide Derek, want to update that you actually can use the cloak field generator in ten avatars, making it an obvious choice over rip an stealth tank.

However, you can upgrade your avatars from enemy Nod units with a bit of good luck you would be able to obtain an stealth generator just for free, also if it's considered the cost, its better to use a laser beam upgraded avatar against an annihilator tripod than 5 scorpions, usually you will lost one or two scorpions in this confrontation (depends of the laser upgrade), while the avatar will defeat the tripod and survive, allowing you to save 800-1600 of money, anyway, Avatars can be used to assimilate heavy damage from attackers and of course with the additional bonus that if you survive the attack you will got the chance to recover the tall thin guy.

[SgtRicko]

Avatars can be used to assimilate heavy damage from attackers and of course with the additional bonus that if you survive the attack you will got the chance to recover the tall thin guy.

That last part will only work if your enemy is completely oblivious to your strange fleet of carryalls following your avvies, or if they are GDI and haven't built firehawks yet, which isn't likely. Otherwise the carryalls will be screwed since (the scrin will use their stormriders, and Nod can send some Venoms to stop you.)

[Avapodnaught]

usually if u have a stealth avatar.. ur enemy cannot see it, so if u push them back with an engineer behind ur army u could recapture it, before it dissapears completely...

[Derek]

Avatars are really only useful defensivly when they can be easily recovered, but since you need to be constantly attacking as Nod Scorpians end up being a lot more useful.

[SgtRicko]

Avatars are really only useful defensivly when they can be easily recovered, but since you need to be constantly attacking as Nod Scorpians end up being a lot more useful.

Too bad you can't use carryalls to drop them behind enemy lines, then they would be pretty awesome and totally balanced!:p

[Cylon Crusader]

Thanks, I didn't know that you could have 2 weapons/abilities on th avatar at the same time.