Ok, im not sure if the enemies have "aggro-settings" of any kind but we kinda need a tank to take on damage on the others behalf.

Simple idea. Low damage, large'ish AOE, massive HP and preferrably, hp-regen. not sure if possible, but ONE per squad. Cant have more than one squad-up. AKA, cant be spammed.

Aviable early-on. Large material cost but simple materials.

Takes on the heat while others dish out the hurt. Auto-repairs keep the poor fella going.

Or a repair-bot that can repair others from a distance. Unarmed. One per squad.

Could that be done? I take it theres some limitations in the engine itself. Considoring how easy it is to build a rocket-silo i'd say Robot Army is the "true" endgame in Factorio right now.

"Or a repair-bot that can repair others from a distance. Unarmed. One per squad." I'm already doing this one.

I've thought of the tank robot, and i think i'll make the upcoming flamethrower robot "tanky" because it has to get up close for the flamethrower anyway. It will be mid-late game though. Just use lots of cheap clockwork riflebots in the beginning before the biters get too hard. Then the SMG battle droid is going to be boss for a while till the big biters turn up. That's when you use rocket droids!