Heh, so many noobs just waiting to have their ass handed to them...
Hell, I'm an intermediate player, and I still get smashed without much effort by the better players.
But I can say that the majority of strategies mentioned in this thread will get you killed faster rather than slower...
TA Spring Strategy
Moderator: Moderators
Some things i have learned so far that work in xTA
- To counter Brawler rushes, use Fighter, (hawks, or vamps)
You dont need a lot of them, with 20 vamps you are ok for mid duration games
- A quick Brawler counter is to build a lot of crashers, they are cheap, fast to build.
- Place defense Turrets on high places, so they have no blind spots.
- Switch between view modes, (Total war mode is very height-informative on close up).
---This is usefull to determine ground height, place defenses, hide units from direct fire...
-When placing defenses, take in account, that if direct line of fire is blocked, the unit wont shot. So, dont place a sentinel in front of another sentinel...
-Spy often spy soon
---You may use a small contingent of cheap lvl1 units, a jeffy, (early game), or my favorite Finks, (in large numbers (5+) mid game) The lvl2 spy kbot is not much usefull right now cuz it has no selfjammer...
---This will give you the advantage of KNOWING what is your enemy planning to do, so you can counter (i.e. Brawlerhore). You may find some exquisite surprises when you spy... (as a mid built BB
).
i will be adding more.
- To counter Brawler rushes, use Fighter, (hawks, or vamps)
You dont need a lot of them, with 20 vamps you are ok for mid duration games
- A quick Brawler counter is to build a lot of crashers, they are cheap, fast to build.
- Place defense Turrets on high places, so they have no blind spots.
- Switch between view modes, (Total war mode is very height-informative on close up).
---This is usefull to determine ground height, place defenses, hide units from direct fire...
-When placing defenses, take in account, that if direct line of fire is blocked, the unit wont shot. So, dont place a sentinel in front of another sentinel...
-Spy often spy soon
---You may use a small contingent of cheap lvl1 units, a jeffy, (early game), or my favorite Finks, (in large numbers (5+) mid game) The lvl2 spy kbot is not much usefull right now cuz it has no selfjammer...
---This will give you the advantage of KNOWING what is your enemy planning to do, so you can counter (i.e. Brawlerhore). You may find some exquisite surprises when you spy... (as a mid built BB
).i will be adding more.
Last edited by mongus on 22 May 2005, 05:51, edited 4 times in total.
I prefer hiding my base, putting there much of defenses and attacking with long range weapons and air-forces.
Sometime I also use transports to move my stronger troops longer distances in short time.
Also I prefer placing radar tower on every hill I see on the map.
Thought there are some leaks in this tactic which makes it not so intermediate and should be secondary.
First: Hiding a complete base is hard.
2st. If the enemy attacks whole time, it's impossible to build enough energy to defend the base.
3th. It requires that the round takes much time and there is FFA so there are much action.
Fourth and fifth leaks I gues I could find, but these are the worst.
Sometime I also use transports to move my stronger troops longer distances in short time.
Also I prefer placing radar tower on every hill I see on the map.
Thought there are some leaks in this tactic which makes it not so intermediate and should be secondary.
First: Hiding a complete base is hard.
2st. If the enemy attacks whole time, it's impossible to build enough energy to defend the base.
3th. It requires that the round takes much time and there is FFA so there are much action.
Fourth and fifth leaks I gues I could find, but these are the worst.
show me the money.
know your enemy.
whatever got you to where you are now, won't keep you there.
Now I'll rabbit on about these three phrases for a while, in no particular order. These should make the uber players giggle a little;
(disclaimer: i've played 3 games of spring, and i haven't been what i would call a regular online player of TA in some years - i love spring thus far but to be honest i fear some of you people so you wont see me in the battle room for a long time)
- attack early, attack often; even with just a couple of units. Repairing and replacing things is annoying and can be expensive. 3 or 4 lev 1 units can clean up if the opponent is not watching. target resources over defences, although indirectly defences cost resources to maintain the aim of early razing is to stunt growth. early in the game it is often quite easy to run past defences. play the small battle game.
- expand early, but be prepared to give up territory without much of a fight. the idea is to gain resources quickly and cheaply. throwing good metal after bad just to get a few mines back is expensive in the short term. remember we want the metal at the start, not the territory.
- instead of defending your 'outer limits' resources with buildings, send units. they can be moved, regrouped with other forces, redirected to other battles and retreated to saftety.
- recycle, reuse, reclaim. in the grand equation: metal costs energy, energy costs time, time costs you units.
- if the map has good clear land paths between bases, forget about aircrafts until later. that said a squad of fighters is a handy defence, but for a while they are too expensive for an offence. naturally you'll want scouts and radar planes, these are essiential and exempt from this rule.
- when 'final attack' time comes, ffs - don't send everything you have at once. I know it looks cool and it demoralises the other team. but you can often co-ordinate a cheaper attack with smaller separate groups. again the other side of the coin is, a suprise attack of everything you have might suceed where piecemeal co-ordinated strikes allow time for the other team to regroup. weigh this up during the game, for what it is worth i don't go much on the 'one massive battle' senario, its for playing bots and newbs, not humans.
- further to the above, I know alot of people like to 'dig in' and then strike with an uber airforce when they reach max units. The usual strat is, send a pile of nukes (or emps then nukes), then follow up with all they have thats airbourne. old timers will keep their bombers aside and use them on specific targets during the confusion (probably things that look like commanders
. I figure on two main counters to these players;
1 - 'join em', but don't commit to air unless you need to - commit to a shitload of cheap AA kbots. if your defences hold out, your reprisal will be largely unmatched beyond static defences. remember if you do this be prepared to watch everything you have worked for get ruined - it will be too late to counter a earlier underestimate.
2 - 'beat em'; attack early attack often. you need to get ahead of these players by costing them resources. once their base is 'sealed' getting in the door is expensive.
- higher ground, ffs, higher ground. the general exception here are things that can shoot upwards (omg, thats everything now!) like AA then you probably want cover, not higher ground. if you haven't played TA:battle tactics, go play it now.
- mobility can win a war. if they can't find your units they can't blow them up. if you can get your units to weak spots in your own or enemy's defences quicker then the other team you have an advantage. your typical TA base will fall like a deck of cards once you reach a certain amount of damage to resources but you have to have squads on hand to take full advantage of an economic collapse.
- spy, assume, guess, study game theory, do whatever it takes to learn the the other teams movements and motivations. most strats require some knownledge of whats going on 'over there' in enemy HQ. i've even just outright asked the other dude 'whats happening', there is some sorta Dr Evil gene in some players that wants to tell you their plan moments before enacting it.
- deversity good, monoculture bad. occasionally i would employ the 'enigma' game, where i would typically attack using one or two types of unit en masse. then after the enemy team has invested in specific defences, attack with a wide range of units. this strat is to encourage the other team to use monoculture, it can work well on coastal / island maps where the other players is not expecting a sudden land offensive.
- you get what you paid for, except for korgs, then you get what you paid x10 for.
- the other players are human, you can trick humans. you can bait them into unnessary battles, you can confuse them with crazy tactics, you can overwealm them with attacks on multiple fronts, you can lull them into a false sense of security. you can suprise them with sudden advances, and scare them into wasting resources on static defences. you can even make some of them cry.
know your enemy.
whatever got you to where you are now, won't keep you there.
Now I'll rabbit on about these three phrases for a while, in no particular order. These should make the uber players giggle a little;
(disclaimer: i've played 3 games of spring, and i haven't been what i would call a regular online player of TA in some years - i love spring thus far but to be honest i fear some of you people so you wont see me in the battle room for a long time)
- attack early, attack often; even with just a couple of units. Repairing and replacing things is annoying and can be expensive. 3 or 4 lev 1 units can clean up if the opponent is not watching. target resources over defences, although indirectly defences cost resources to maintain the aim of early razing is to stunt growth. early in the game it is often quite easy to run past defences. play the small battle game.
- expand early, but be prepared to give up territory without much of a fight. the idea is to gain resources quickly and cheaply. throwing good metal after bad just to get a few mines back is expensive in the short term. remember we want the metal at the start, not the territory.
- instead of defending your 'outer limits' resources with buildings, send units. they can be moved, regrouped with other forces, redirected to other battles and retreated to saftety.
- recycle, reuse, reclaim. in the grand equation: metal costs energy, energy costs time, time costs you units.
- if the map has good clear land paths between bases, forget about aircrafts until later. that said a squad of fighters is a handy defence, but for a while they are too expensive for an offence. naturally you'll want scouts and radar planes, these are essiential and exempt from this rule.
- when 'final attack' time comes, ffs - don't send everything you have at once. I know it looks cool and it demoralises the other team. but you can often co-ordinate a cheaper attack with smaller separate groups. again the other side of the coin is, a suprise attack of everything you have might suceed where piecemeal co-ordinated strikes allow time for the other team to regroup. weigh this up during the game, for what it is worth i don't go much on the 'one massive battle' senario, its for playing bots and newbs, not humans.
- further to the above, I know alot of people like to 'dig in' and then strike with an uber airforce when they reach max units. The usual strat is, send a pile of nukes (or emps then nukes), then follow up with all they have thats airbourne. old timers will keep their bombers aside and use them on specific targets during the confusion (probably things that look like commanders
. I figure on two main counters to these players;1 - 'join em', but don't commit to air unless you need to - commit to a shitload of cheap AA kbots. if your defences hold out, your reprisal will be largely unmatched beyond static defences. remember if you do this be prepared to watch everything you have worked for get ruined - it will be too late to counter a earlier underestimate.
2 - 'beat em'; attack early attack often. you need to get ahead of these players by costing them resources. once their base is 'sealed' getting in the door is expensive.
- higher ground, ffs, higher ground. the general exception here are things that can shoot upwards (omg, thats everything now!) like AA then you probably want cover, not higher ground. if you haven't played TA:battle tactics, go play it now.
- mobility can win a war. if they can't find your units they can't blow them up. if you can get your units to weak spots in your own or enemy's defences quicker then the other team you have an advantage. your typical TA base will fall like a deck of cards once you reach a certain amount of damage to resources but you have to have squads on hand to take full advantage of an economic collapse.
- spy, assume, guess, study game theory, do whatever it takes to learn the the other teams movements and motivations. most strats require some knownledge of whats going on 'over there' in enemy HQ. i've even just outright asked the other dude 'whats happening', there is some sorta Dr Evil gene in some players that wants to tell you their plan moments before enacting it.
- deversity good, monoculture bad. occasionally i would employ the 'enigma' game, where i would typically attack using one or two types of unit en masse. then after the enemy team has invested in specific defences, attack with a wide range of units. this strat is to encourage the other team to use monoculture, it can work well on coastal / island maps where the other players is not expecting a sudden land offensive.
- you get what you paid for, except for korgs, then you get what you paid x10 for.
- the other players are human, you can trick humans. you can bait them into unnessary battles, you can confuse them with crazy tactics, you can overwealm them with attacks on multiple fronts, you can lull them into a false sense of security. you can suprise them with sudden advances, and scare them into wasting resources on static defences. you can even make some of them cry.