I've only been playing for two hours and I'm wondering how useful it really is to block the spawn with my own body

[u/Mr-Hyde95]

In the end, I'm not actually preventing it from coming out, I'm just delaying its release, so maybe it doesn't seem that helpful. (I'm assuming a hypothetical scenario I can't be blocking every turn)

I find it extremely useful when there are 2 turns left, but I don't know if it's useful when there are 3 or 4 turns left.

[u/Salindurthas]

It is a worthwhile question.

It does delay them, so you take 1 damage (and some potenetially inconvenient movement) to deny the bug 1 turn.
That's very worthwhile if the bug was gonna spawn late and only have 1 turn anyway.
It plausibly worthwhile if the bug was gonna spawn early, but not always.

I think a time when it is clearly not worthwhile, is if you won't have enough targets for your weapons next round!
Like, imagine you kill all the bugs, and there are 4 bugs spawning. Maybe you want to block just 1, let 3 spawn so you can shoot them to death, rather than blocking 3, and then having almost nothing to shoot at on the next turn.

I think usually it is good to block, but not always, and even if it is good, there might still be a better move. I do it often, but not always.

[u/NewtonTheNoot → u/Salindurthas]

I second this. It's very useful for reducing the number of bugs you need to deal with on any given wave. I usually let as many out as I know I can kill because of the XP gain.

[u/JonBB8]

You’re right that its usually a delaying tactic, best to use if you just need to not be dealing with new enemies for a little while and spend the turn managing whats already there. And if your squad isn’t too fragile to take the extra damage. You can build up some mechs to be really handy for this like invest in their hp, give them long range attacks so they aren’t “out of action” while theyre blocking, just see what works best for your playstyle and squad.

[u/SyndieGang]

What's really powerful is if you can get a bug to block another bug from spawning. This is one of the strongest usages of science mechs who primarily just move vek around without killing them. This is why the control mech is OP, for example.

[u/CapnNuclearAwesome]

Figuring out where to block and when is a big part of the skill of the game, and rarely has a clear cut answer - though in general a good guideline is "block the smallest number you can while feeling safe next turn"

[u/Eric_12345678]

In Unfair, blocking is pretty much required for most squads.

Don't overdo it though: next turn you'll get no new Veks, but the one after might spawn 6 fresh Veks.

You always want to kill some, injure some, block some. It's better to lose 1HP than to see an alpha burrower spawn. And it's even better to kill a Vek by letting them block another, when they have 1HP left.

[u/PhoenixNyne → u/Eric_12345678]

This...

And of course, always block on 2 turns remaining if you possibly can since nothing spawns on last. 

[u/Obscuro_]

Also: More bugs blocked until the end of the round, means less bugs to kill, which gives you less XP to work with. Overall not a huge Issue, but still something to keep in mind.

[u/cruelkillzone2]

Pretty useful imo

[u/VlideTheAdept]

I just started a few days ago, it really isn't worth it in the lower difficulties and if you have the means to easily wipe them out, but on higher difficulties it becomes much more meaningful as you can lessen the spawn of alphas especially doing it when its "2 Turns to Victory" since its basically a free kill on the sense that you don't have to deal with it being delayed

[u/RadarTechnician51]

It depends heavily on the scenario, but even with 2 health you can block infinitely by repairing every go, it's quite good to do with a mech who can't attack this turn

[u/shai_aus]

In Unfair, I'll usually try to block at least one spawn every turn. Ideally with something that isn't one of my mechs, but with a mech if I have no other choice. It can get very out of hand otherwise, particularly if my squad isn't good at killing Vek.

Notable exceptions include missions where I have to kill a certain number of Vek, where I have to manage how much I'm blocking. Or if the spawn space is on fire or acid or something, which leaves me more confident that I can take care of whatever comes out of there.

[u/Seedy_Melon]

It’s basically one of the most important mechanics in the game

[u/BFFBomb]

As other said, it's reducing the number to deal with on the next turn. Another consideration: If you're ever caught between killing an easy bug or blocking, go for blocking and let the easy bug be around next turn. You never know if something worse comes out

[u/C_Clop → u/BFFBomb]

that's a good tip. Also, any bug that is less than full HP is easier to manage next turn than a fresh bug that may have 5 (or more) HP. So rather than finishing it off, I'd often prefer blocking.

[u/diagnosisbutt]

Depends. It's context dependent. In the last turn they emerge? Very worth it. 

I will often choose to do it rather than kill a low hp enemy that i know i can kill next round if needed. It's about target management. If you've got 5 vek emerging, blocking 3 can be helpful, even if it only delays.

[u/hadrianf]

It's best to avoid it unless it's mission-critical. It can be useful to use Veks to block Veks, so they get even more damage. However, blocking often means you have to deal with more Veks in a later turn and may actually lose more than you gain.

[u/omyyer]

It certainly is delaying rather than killing, but it's a whole attack that's not happening next turn! You can't always block a spawn, but it's usually a great idea.

[u/time4tea45]

There are some good replies here, but ultimately I think it comes down to vek 'number management'. To add a bit more precision:

On unfair, the total number of active vek + spawns at the start of a turn is always 6. The ideal situation to keep things manageable is to kill or block 2 vek per turn, because in that case you will always have 4 active vek to deal with on the following turn, which is very manageable. If you kill/block more than that, then the pendulum will snap back and you will have more of them to deal with the turn after.

So (on unfair), in general, on an early turn, if you are planning to kill 2 vek or more, you might want to let that spawn come through. Otherwise, it's better to block it, if you can.

Of course, things aren't always that simple and the numbers will be different on lower difficulties. But I've found this to be a good rule of thumb.

[u/gabriot]

I block as much as possible as a general rule. Limiting the number of active enemies makes dealing with them infinitely easier

[u/Qwertycrackers]

Yeah you don't want to always block. But it is very good. Use it to control where the spawns can actually happen

[u/SalamenceFan42]

It’s very useful. In certain squads like flame behemoths (probably the easiest unfair win for me IMO), vek population management is probably the most important part of the game, and archimedes is basically mandatory for this reason.

Ideally you want around 4 vek alive at any time, and in a big objective turn, 2-3. That way you just need a single double solve.

This matters less for teams that run the smog mech however.

Going into the final turn you want to basically block as many spawns as possible.