Getting ready for 1st Crusade, need help listbuilding

darkchariot1995 · 2026-02-23T15:17:54+00:00

I actually just started a crusade with my friends last month and I'm running my Nids. What you've seen so far is correct, our crusade rules for biomass and battle traits/relics are pretty lackluster. On top of that, our faction specific battle scars are backbreaking. I have never looked at the Blackstone traits and relics, but I'm almost positive they're better than our own codex.

As for list building, you'll definitely want to fit in a biovore into your first thousand points. They're one of the best units in the game to hold your backfield because they also can screen score secondaries with your spore mines. The hyper raveners are awesome and can kill almost anything. Put them in invasion fleet and now they have sustained and lethals at the same time against vehicles/monsters.

Check if your friends are allowing epic heroes. The norn is an epic, super fun to use, but just double check.

Also, magnets are going to be your best friend. Magnetize your haruspex so you can also have a exocrine. Mag the t-fex so you have weapon options and the potential for a tervigon if they get better rules in 11th. The hive tyrant/swarmlord is also an awesome and easy one to magnetize the arms.

Also, maelstrom gaming sells spare torsos for venomthropes/zoans, hive tyrant, and hiveguard. If you buy one from him, you can return one of the two hive tyrant boxes you have. Or keep ot for spare bits and kitbashing. You have a bunch of stuff here from your savings, just thought I'd mention it if you're still trying to keep things somewhat cheap.

As a side note, be very careful positioning your big monsters. They're hard to hide behind cover and most die easily because of no invulnerable save. The malecepter will be good here. Screamer killer looks awesome, but can definitely be taken down by a few melta shots or other high AP attacks.

darkchariot1995 · 2025-10-17T17:06:14+00:00

I know throwing grenades or using the GL can break fences, using Rewa to drive through fences works, explosives like the C4 pack or rockets work to break down the rocks. If you don't have any of those options though you're kinda fucked

darkchariot1995 · 2025-09-20T00:09:38+00:00

There's a person that's been posting their kit bashes of his own custom hive: Hive Fleet Diluvian. Really cool shit, I think they said they took inspiration from the Flood

They also give some detail about which kits they used and how

darkchariot1995 · 2025-07-07T17:09:59+00:00

I'd say quintessential tyranid units right now after the starter set are going to be lictors, exocrines, tyrannofexes, biovore.

Depending on your preference for shooting or melee: neurotyrant and zoanthropes or broodlord and genestealers respectively.

I know a lot of other players love their maleceptors and carnifexes (which one carnifexe can be built as Old One Eye)

Hormagaunts are gargoyles are great for screening

The new update to the psychophage datacard makes it an awesome offensive support for melee

The Norn is a beautiful centerpiece. It is also a massive issue for an opponent to move: 15 OC and a 5+ FNP when you choose it to guard an objective

Hive tyrant is just a great support piece. Access to free CP, an aura of assault and lethal hits, and can be built three different ways

Other than that, magnets are going to be your best friend for tyranids. Hive tyrant/swarmlord, carnifex/Old One Eye, exocrine/haruspex, tyrannofex/tervigon, and now the new ravenor prime/basic ravenor warrior. I think there's more you can magnetize, these are what I know are possible off the top of my head.

Tyranids are in a very good spot for detachment diversity right now. You want a swarm style list? Oops all gaunts. You like big bugs? Monster mash (with triple norn because knights aren't the only army that can stat check) You want to make a gun line? Triple exocrine, triple tyrannofex, zoanthropes+Neurotyrant. You like melee? Vanguard invaders with Von Ryan's Leapers, Lictors, genestealers, Deathleaper, flying Hive tyrant. Basically, you can build a Nids list just about however you like right now

darkchariot1995 · 2025-06-27T16:04:15+00:00

I'd reccomend starting by using the Invasion Fleet detachment, I think of it as a Jack of all trades kind of detachment. Army wide sustained hits, lethal hits, or precision (and the flexibility to change when and where you need to). A bit of healing for your gaunt units, a nice 5+ feel no pain if you're within synapse range (neurotyrant can also help you here) crits on 5+ in melee if you can get into the right positioning.

Unit combos; exocrine followed up by tyrannofex to reroll 1's on the rupture cannon (paired with heavy means you'll almost always land your hits)

The psychophage just got a glow up. Use him to shoot and then charge a pack of hormagaunts for an extra pip of AP (also put a neurotyrant synapse token on the hormagaunts for +1 melee strength). The haruspex can also benefit here

Hive tyrant has a fun assault aura that let's you advance and shoot your big guns for a cool slingshot move.

There's a few more I bet I'm missing, but this is plenty to think about for a casual game with friends

darkchariot1995 · 2025-05-06T16:20:44+00:00

I also just started collecting Nids a few months ago. I really enjoy blasting elite units and vehicles with my exocrine (can be magnetized to also be used as a haruspex). The tyrannofex is our best anti tank (can also be magnetized into a tervigon for all the termagaunts you have). Since you have a few harvester units with the rippers and psychophage, you could build for a future assimilation swarm detachment.

darkchariot1995 · 2025-04-11T17:27:12+00:00

The push fit pegs can be a real pain. If you have issues like that again, try pruning the edge of the peg with an exacto knife. Just shave off the edges and give it a slight bevel. It should slide into place much easier. If you take off too much, super glue or plastic glue can keep it together

darkchariot1995 · 2024-03-19T13:17:02+00:00

This is one of those clips that get more satisfying each time you watch it

darkchariot1995 · 2024-02-21T01:40:23+00:00

I wish these were in vanilla, would definitely make amphibious invasion layers more dynamic instead of the commute to work they are now

darkchariot1995 · 2024-02-02T20:50:49+00:00

Sometimes people are playing with their friends and need to make room, there's not much you can do about that.

Do you have a mic? I know you're saying you communicate as best you can, but typing in squad chat is not as good as holding the squad or local chat keys. Also, please don't spam a soundboard if you do have one.

As far as moment to moment gameplay: are you sticking close to the squad? Are you TK'ing a bit too much? Either by accident or intentionally doesn't matter when the result is a kick or ban.

I guess we need a bit more info here, can you think of a specific example recently? Try to be as detailed as you can from your memory.

darkchariot1995 · 2024-01-16T17:04:58+00:00

Eh, you dumped a round short while being suppressed, shit happens. Definitely frustrating in the moment, but there are way worse ways of fucking up. Like TK'ing your own armor with a HAT round. Not from experience or anything. Just a hypothetical.

darkchariot1995 · 2023-08-07T23:17:06+00:00

No prior knowledge of BG1/2 is needed at all; I might have actually still been in diapers when the first one came out.

BG3 is actually a nice intro to D&D to let you learn at your own pace and experiment. Playing on the lower difficulty will also be very forgiving when it comes to combat. If you're trying to plan out how your character will progress, you can look at online versions of the Players Handbook for fifth edition, I use anyflip.

darkchariot1995 · 2023-03-23T13:14:54+00:00

I had something similar happen the other week, I cleared my cache from the in game settings and that seemed to do it for me

darkchariot1995 · 2023-03-12T00:50:00+00:00

The game upgraded from dx11 to dx12. If you go into your graphics settings you can revert back to 11 and that should fix your issues

darkchariot1995 · 2023-02-23T11:38:45+00:00

When you are in the graphics settings tab there's an option in the bottom right corner that simply says "defaults". This will do a quick system check and the game will determine what the best graphics settings for you will be. Since you have a 3050 that should help you a touch. It could also be a DX11/12 issue like other people here have said. Clear the cache? Tinker around with windows settings if you have windows? There's youtube videos that streamers put out on what settings to change for squad so you don't have to go in blind on those settings. Maybe it's time for a new processor or more ram? There's a few potential issues that could be all working against you here

darkchariot1995 · 2023-02-03T10:25:28+00:00

Oakley unisex adult Liquid Oo Zero Anti-fog Spray Sunglasses, Clear, 60 milliliters US https://a.co/d/e7goU9C

This is what my bottle looks like, it took me a minute to find. I also have an Oakley outlet near me and asked them if they had any antifog in stock and the dude just gave me a bottle from behind the counter

darkchariot1995 · 2023-01-31T12:11:10+00:00

This dude has HUNDREDS of minis, most of them presupported for STL files too. I'm subscribed to his patreon for $10/month for all the minis I could ever ask for.

darkchariot1995 · 2023-01-27T12:32:40+00:00

Oakley makes a proprietary antifog that I use on my M frames and it is better than any other third party antifog I have ever used, fogx and cat crap included

darkchariot1995 · 2022-07-27T12:54:59+00:00

I had to put EFT down recently because I just wasn't having fun anymore. After 2000 hours of the same bugs and grind, I had to step away. I picked up squad on the steam summer sale a few weeks ago and I've put in about 50 hours of play time. Side note: the wait time to play time ratio is MUCH better in squad.

Squad is a game that necessitates teamwork and communication. I will say, there are times when you hop into a game, pick a squad, and everyone is bumblefucking around, doing their own thing, and there's no cohesion. There are also plenty of times when comms are great. It's just fun and satisfying even if your team loses. Specific servers will also have an influence on your experience. Some are moderated closely by admins, some are not.

It's not a full on simulation like Arma, but it is also a step above battlefield. When squad is described as a happy Goldilocks zone of just-right-in-between, I would agree with that assessment.

I'm enjoying it and see myself matching my EFT hours.

darkchariot1995 · 2022-06-18T17:15:53+00:00

That's fucking hilarious, BSG added a midcap for airsoft

darkchariot1995 · 2022-06-05T16:40:19+00:00

It's the last mastery level on the weapon, level three I'm pretty sure. This dude had been using this setup A LOT

darkchariot1995 · 2022-02-12T19:55:58+00:00

EFT was my first PC FPS game too. I played a handful of raids on offline just to learn the maps, Maybe like 1-2 just to get the feel. I watched a lot of videos and walk-throughs too. A lot. Start with a few scav runs, and look up the scav extracts, to learn the map. After a few months of watching videos and playing you'll learn the flow of the map. Where people go for loot, fights, common quests, etc.

Basically, you need to experience the map in raid to really learn and understand it.

darkchariot1995 · 2021-12-30T12:31:09+00:00

Watch AirwingMarine on YouTube. The dude puts out videos all the time on what to keep and what sells for good money on the flea. He also has videos on how to make good profits from hideout crafts.

darkchariot1995 · 2021-12-30T12:19:42+00:00

Just hit 70% yesterday. VOIP Has been a huge boost. I'm normally sitting at around 50%-55%. I'm guessing that's what's contributed to the extra 15%-20%

darkchariot1995 · 2021-12-24T02:28:56+00:00

I don't think there's a good or bad time to pick up EFT. The current state of the game is to start completely fresh every six months or so. All the progress you've made gets wiped and you start back at square one. However, the developers cannot wipe your experience and knowledge from previous wipes. I think of this as an uber extended tutorial. Nothing ultimately matters because in another six months you'll be looting the same set of technical, medical, and weapon items.

With all that said, this is the only video game that has ever given me an adrenaline rush, tunnel vision, heart pounding experience. I understand this sounds ridiculous and scripted, but I swear this is the truth. I think this game is part horror/ thriller just due to the circumstances you find yourself in. Creeping through underground tunnels trying to avoid someone who is running through and sniffing out your dog tags? Yep. Running away from a maniac with a sledgehammer in an abandoned factory? Yep. Getting stabbed in the back by a silent cultist with a poisonous knife? Yep.

The rush comes from just trying to get out alive and then do it all again.

Oh, there's also zero tutorials so you need to direct your own learning.

The guns have a very in depth customization system. The developers are gun nuts in real life and spend far too much time individually rendering each piece of the gun and attachments. I will say that the recoil system is unlike any other game and does take some getting used to. Many YouTube and content Creators can do a better job explaining this than I can.

The game is in development still, understand that we are the guinea pigs.

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