Please take a look at following topics on bgg:
- Strategies to defeat Moloch?
- Occupy hexes where Moloch would want to place his shooters. You don't even need useful fighter there: sacrificing your module to
occupy that nice spot behind Moloch HQ is perfectly reasonable. This
will not only save you at least 2 hp, but also make Moloch place his
good units in bad positions. Always keep best places shut from the
enemy (this applies to fighting every other army as well, they just
favor other positions).
- Continuing previous tip, place some fast (3-initiative at least) guys nearby, but not adjacent to Moloch HQ, and target Moloch shooter
spots. Moloch will have to waste turns neutralizing your units before
he can safely attack you.
- If Moloch HQ is in the center, place a shooter directly behind HQ, but in the corner. It will kill shooters and, if there are none,
damage HQ.
- Use meat shields. Put your units between your HQ and Moloch shooters. Sometimes deflecting 2 damage is best use for a unit.
- Move. It isn't easy for Moloch to adjust it's aim since it doesn't have many Move tiles. If Moloch HQ is in the corner, you'll probably
have plenty blind spots where HQ-enhanced shooters won't reach you.
- Play Battle carefully. After each battle you will lose your shielding units, and your HQ and important guys will be unprotected.
On the other hand, each time you don't play Battle, you risk losing
your perfect setup to bomb.
- Strategy principles - pay attention especially to weaknesses of Moloch. Get advantage of them. And yes, you are correct, speed is the greatest one of them.
Units to watch for: Bomb, Net Fighter, Push, Cyborg, Hunter Killer
Storm Trooper
For example, try to make Moloch player initiate a battle (or generally, to play offensively):
Never, never, never initiate a battle as Moloch. Never. You will only
get the pieces around your HQ killed on your turn, and your opponent
can then fill them. Let them battle, and then refill them yourself.
- Can Neojungle beat a competent Moloch player?
Against Moloch its best to place the NeoJungle HQ in the middle, you
can use the HQ's ability without the need of building long supply
chains. Put as many units as you can adjacent to Moloch's HQ to
prevent its bunkering, also to make the most use of your castling, and
as long as the airstrike is in the deck, scatter your units, mix it
with Moloch's. You have three netters; place them on the borders to
make the airstrike equally bad for your opponent. Use the two
Nightshades against the HQ, don't waste it on units. If nothing else,
there are plenty of Slicers, buffed up they can do plenty of damage.
Handling Air Strike:
FlameBird: I still don't think you can do much against the Air Strike; simply targeting your HQ will always get some good stuff destroyed.
Midaga: I think you have to learn to stop worrying and love the bomb. There's
only one nuke in there, you can anticipate it, it's bad for Moloch
too, it creates room on the board for you, you should wish for it.
Also, you have the Small Bomb, which is much more useful, as its
precision strike lets you do relatively more damage.
- Best Counter-Armies - one of the users suggest playing Outpost against Moloch. Here you can read some advice for playing Outpost army.
Versus Moloch, Outpost's HQ can dance to dodge Moloch's augmented
ranged shots, while Moloch sits still for Outpost's repeated ranged
shots. As long as Moloch's nuke remains unplayed, Outpost can use move
and battle tiles liberally, to keep unit density low; that's Outpost's
normal game plan anyway.
And this one on Neuroshima Hex! Strategy Blog:
- Moloch: Defeating
If you have ranged units, try using them to attack Moloch’s base from
a different direction then your base. Doing this will ensure that
Moloch cannot both address this unit and attack your base at the same
time. Also, if the Moloch use a soldier to attack this unit, odds are
they will never get a move to turn that soldier onto your base.
Remember that moving away from Moloch units will likely make that unit
kind of worthless. Also remember that pushing Moloch units can
accomplish the same thing. Avoid clustering your units if possible.
They have a freakin’ airstrike. Never just leave the Gauss gun pointed
on your base. Address it.