Slightly annoyed that few have made much of an attempt to put a finger on any of what its role: was, will be or should be.
Ie. What is a particular Cyclops idea good for? If it's a direct combatant then what units should it be good at killing and which should kill it?
btw: For those looking for a current!Cyclops soft-counter, Ravagers did pretty well in my sandbox (17 ravagers v 2 cyclops lead to 10 ravagers remaining if the cyclops does the sensible thing and kites)
DeinFreund : After looking at that MR it looks like the canon now does 1000 + 2100S damage, there's no slow beam and it's otherwise unchanged, is this correct?
What will be its role now?
Analysis of change:
[Spoiler]As far as I can see it's now bad against... well... everything except dantes, grizzlies and detriments, which it will still beat, beat and trade evenly with respectively, as it did before. Small and flying things can dodge its attacks, the majority of what it does hit will be massively overkilled and it can't run away any more.
The slow damage is basically only relevant on things with >3000hp, which is Minotaurs, Dantes, Grizzlies, Detriments and Paladins (and some turrets).
And without that slow damage its DPS per cost is incredibly bad, worse than any direct combat unit, including most artillery.
Additionally its hp is mediocre for its cost (comparable to a riot unit), so without being able to run away it is no longer particularly resilient.
Note, however, the slow damage is still relevant when cracking open shields and when hitting Desolators.N
From this I would assume it's new role could potentially be Grizzly and Dante killer (ie. a heavy tank buster :D) and perhaps a bit of porc buster on the side, but is there really call for such a specialized unit? Particularly when it's very vulnerable to other things (like raiders) and other units can do its specialty better.
Possible (mutually exclusive) suggestions:
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Making its canon bullet fast moving would make it less vulnerable, allowing it to not be helpless against small or fast units. Its main purpose would be base assaults.
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A modest AoE effect (30-40) on the slow damage would give it a decent support role as part of a mixed army. AoE on the entire damage would make it a good all around combatant (probably too good?).
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Bring the slow beam back, but reduce the canon's range to around 300, preventing it from kiting and increasing the damage it will take. This would turn it into a support unit that requires something with hitting power nearby to be effective.
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Turn it into a "real" tank buster, with a full 2000 + 2000S damage (possibly without the slow damage? just left it there to make it effective against striders). This essentially turns it into something that can barely beat a mass of medium units of similar cost (one-shotting ravagers and ogres) and defeat heavy units with moderate ease, while still being very vulnerable to swarms. It would be fairly specialist, but good at its specialty.
