MArs units performs fine against SAAB/Mars units
SAAB units underperforms against Mars units and do fine against SAAB units.
, so overall SAAB units underperforming against earlier age units because lack of range.(maybe Hover Tanks can beat SAAB units, lolz)
Nail Storm seems to be good, but
Sentinels(Mars age) works fine against it . GbG will show more like
@ITown mentioned up there.
I think you actually summed it up pretty well. Inno usually does (seemingly) design new units in a vacuum without considering earlier ages, and in that light, SAAB is 'fine' although an age of extremes. The units were definitely designed to be very good specifically against the units they're boosted against, but also incredibly bad against the units they aren't good against. Hover Hammers for example are obviously going to work extremely well against Nails and B.E.L.T.s since they don't retaliate, while getting decimated by Drills and Shredders. The rest of the units work pretty similarly.
But the big problem is that SAM units can still be used since they're still statistically viable, and they end up performing better in a lot of cases due to having the same unit bonuses. Sentinels are probably the biggest outlier since not only will they work just as well as Hammers against ranged and artillery, they also don't have to worry about retaliation from light and heavy units that should 'beat' them. In fact, in a lot of cases Sentinels would probably rather face Shredders than Wardens because they don't have Force Field and can more reliably be brought down in two or even one shot!
But like
@Crollito said above, Venus should be nothing but exciting in terms of units when it releases. If they stick with this low-range stuff, SAM will probably be too weak in terms of stats to really push forward with and the Venus units will feel like a true 'upgrade'. If they go back to 'everything is a ranged unit', then it'll feel even better and SAM will definitely be retired. Either way though, I can't see Venus units also being underwhelming to the point of not wanting to use them...and in both cases, SAAB is going to be quickly forgotten about. lol