How to play Saxony in Iron Harvest

Iron Harvest is a RTS alternate history Great War game that throws diesel-punk mechs into one of the most influential wars of history. Players get to enjoy playing with four different factions, each with their own pros and cons. Saxony is one such faction, which players may find difficult to use against faster factions such as Polania. However, it is the faction with the most firepower. Here is how to play as Saxony in Iron Harvest.

How to play as Saxony

The units and mechs at your command

Saxony can best be described as a slow war machine capable of mass destruction. Buildings are expensive and growth will be slow, however at its peak, Saxony will become nigh unstoppable.

The soldier unique to Saxony are the Eisenhans, which really symbolize the Saxony army as a whole. They are extremely slow but pack quite the punch, with their mortar capabilities and battering rams. A lot of Saxony’s units are best used for support, and if you want to be successful, you will want a strong support.

The mechs are where Saxony shine. Out of all the mechs available, the most notable are the Stiefmutter, the Wotan, and the Isegrim. These mechs are slow but vital to Saxonian operations.

Most of the time Saxony can operate successfully without many soldiers at all, however to pull that off you must be extremely careful with your own use of your soldiers in the early game. Your mechs are incredible, but can be very vulnerable if you are not careful.

Speedy factions such as Usonia and Polania may run rings around you in the early game, so you need to employ detailed strategies to hold them off whilst you build your mech empire.

Best strategy for Saxony in Iron Harvest

Firstly, you are going to want to send your initial units out to capture as many resource points as possible, keeping the technicians behind. You goal here is to acquire resources, not to start setting up a front. Try to avoid combat. Once around half of the points have been captured, place them both at different defensive points.

This is to keep the enemy away. Your enemy will be able to build quicker than you, so they will already have more units. They will try to assault you. Your job is to keep them at bay as long as possible, so be careful with where you place your units and pick your battles wisely.

Whilst they are keeping the enemy away, enlist another technician and build your workshop and barracks and, if you can, deploy your first reserve. Starting in this fashion sets you up for what should be Saxony’s overarching goal — to slowly build an army of mechs to crush any and all opposition. This is otherwise known as ‘snowballing,’ having a slow start but quickly ramping up exponentially to higher levels of power.

Try to upgrade the mech shop quickly. Don’t spend too many resources on soldiers, but if you must, grenadiers, flamethrowers, and medics will be your best friends. Do not push, just defend. Your only excuse for pushing would be to take back territory if you are lacking resources.

Related: How to increase army size in Iron Harvest

Soon enough, you may have some Isegrims or Grimbarts. You will be able to expand your defensive position with these mechs. But they are not enough.

When your workshop is upgraded, get straight to building the Stiefmutter, followed by the Wotan. You are now in business. The Wotan will defend and attack from afar as the Wotan secures the front line. Use your soldiers to quickly secure locations under the protection of the two mechs.

With this strategy, keep adding Wotans or other mechs as you push forwards, keeping the Isegrims or Grimbarts to keep resource points defended. You will soon exhaust your need for soldiers, and you will quickly be able to absolutely demolish any opposition through long-range and powerful attacks.

All in all, having a swift and defensive start will allow you to build up your mech army. Don’t send out mechs alone, they will get overrun as they are too slow to quickly respond. Send them out together, with support, and slowly you will dominate the map.

Keep an eye on Gamer Journalist for more gaming and Iron Harvest content, such as how to play a co-op campaign.