Three-sided Battle

Mirabel, and his Viktor armor, is the main Novus hero unit of the campaign storyline.

The different sides have very different units and base styles, and their approach towards turning the opposition to dust differs considerably. Novus is all about robots, and they build classic RTS bases with a small twist - they can build a network of towers to move units about very rapidly. They're more suited to hit and run tactics, and work best using the correct unit types against specific enemy units. They also get unique "patches" that can be installed to all units; the selection depends on the tech available, and on the most basic level, these give specific damage resistances to units. You can simultaneously install up to two from a selection of 12 different upgrades.

Hierarchy is the bunch that is initially invading the Earth with massive four-legged walkers and waves of foot soldiers. They are very much a blunt instrument - slow units, slow unit building, but when they finally reach their target, their units tend to have an advantage both in offense and defense. Hierarchy's unique twist is the lack of base buildings. Yes, they have to build a landing site as a starting location for their assault, and they can lay down fixed turrets, but all units are built (well, beamed down from orbital ships) by the walkers. There are several different walker types, and each walker can be configured by installing different modules to the available hard points. Modules can be switched on the fly, so a rapid troop-summoning walker can be reconfigured as armored fortress of doom relatively quickly by switching the existing modules to armor plates and extra guns.

The Hierarchy invade!

Customizing a Hierarchy walker for battle.

Masari, driven from their hibernation under the sea, make their dramatic entry to the battle.

The Masari stick to more conventional base building. The Architect units have a special ability to boost the production of any structure, and all Masari units have an ability to switch between "light" (offensive) and "dark" (defensive) mode. Masari faction could be considered as the "advanced mode" of Universe at War, and they require a degree of finesse to play. While the other two factions can stage convincing "zerg" rushes with cheap basic units, Masari are a bit of a "turtle" faction, concentrating on building and developing its way up the tech tree until it can unleash a fully developed army.

Each side also has three unique Hero units at their disposal. All of them have their unique strengths and weaknesses, and you usually have to risk their neck in the battle due to the considerable power they bring to a battle. On the other hand, if a Hero unit dies in a story mission, it's "Mission Failed", so you have to micromanage them carefully.