How to play Usonia in Iron Harvest

Iron Harvest is a RTS strategy game where players command huge lumbering mechs in the heat of an alternate history World War One. Players get to choose from four different factions to play as, one such being an alternate USA, Usonia. Usonia is not exactly like the other tribes, in that their air superiority is a huge asset to their fire power. Here is how to play Usonia in Iron Harvest.

Usonia’s unit roster

Usonia’s infantry is the same as the others, however with some slight twists to what you may be used to. Their Barracks will not produce any armour-busting units, such as grenadiers or anti-armour gunners, until it is upgraded. This puts Usonia at a disadvantage when it comes to warding off armour, as the Barracks and the upgrade will cost a lot and will put the faction behind.

However, what they lack in direct armour-busting potential, they make up for with air superiority. Most mechs cannot target airborne units, so the enemy will rely on having ground units or specialised mechs to take them down.

Air units, in an effective Usonian army, will make up a lot of the fire power. However, airborne units cannot ‘take cover,’ so be careful with how you place them. They make up for that through being able to fly across the map unlimited by structures.

Usonia also has a lot of mechs that can fly, such as the Revere, Samson, and Gunship. These mechs will swoop in and barrage land and air units with missiles, most not being able to ward them off. Those in league with the skybikes will prove a pest to any other faction, regardless of how strong they are.

Related: How to play Saxony in Iron Harvest

Best strategy for Usonia

If you plan on playing Usonia, you’d better be prepared to fully utilise their airborne potential.

Early game is pretty much the same as any other, focus on sending your two volunteers to collect and secure resource points to rapidly grow. Be careful not to over-extend them, as you will want them to be able to hamper your enemy’s efforts of claiming what’s yours. The volunteers aren’t the best infantry, however, and you might find them getting bested by the enemy.

Build the Barracks and Workshop as usual. With Usonia, however, you can afford not to worry about upgrading the barracks, as their basic units should be enough to do what you need them to. For your strategies with Usonia, you will mostly be using Volunteers, anyway, despite being below-adequate.

Having two skybikes as your first reserve is an excellent strategy, as they can fly over and assist your struggling volunteers.

When the resources start flowing in, you can start building your air force properly. Construct a couple more skybikes and the Revere. Your fleet will be able to provide air support to all of your volunteers who you will train solely to capture points once they have been cleared of enemy presence.

I would also heavily recommend constructing the Salem and Attucks mechs to support your ground troops more thoroughly. They will rip through infantry like butter.

With your ground force slowly moving about and securing points, use your unimpeded air fleet to clear out points and areas further ahead and respond to threats. Once you have domination of the map, you can hardly wait out any point victory, as the enemy may start to access their late-game units, which may prove disastrous.

Launch an attack. It may be worth holding your ground units back a little to allow the air fleet to destroy buildings. If the enemy produces anti-air units, pull in your ground troops to help destroy them. If the enemy produces infantry-slaying mechs, pull back the ground troops to allow the air units to decimate it.

Soon, your air fleet will make light work of their headquarters.

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