NOTA players guide
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This is an NOTA players guide, made by 123v and HeavyLancer.
This is by no means a definitive strategical guide to NOTA, because there are so many units and strategies that it would take forever to think them all up and list them. This Guide gives you the knowledge and understanding to develop your own strategies and tactics.
Overview
This guide is about unit selection for various situations, some general tactics and strategies for all 3 fields of battle; land, sea and air. All of these fields of battle in NOTA are equally important, and it is advised not to concentrate solely on one at the expense of others.
At the end are sections on economy, defenses and a section on general strategies, tactics and some notes.
Land
Tier 1
- The Kbot is a very valuable unit. It is cheap and dishes out the best fire power at cost. However, Kbots lack armor, health and speed but you get the most fire power for the cost.
- Vehicles are best used as tier 1 Kbot support as vehicle artillery and AA has better range than their Kbot equivalents. Vehicles also have greater speed and better armour (making them better base assault units not unlike Calvary). They are also less cost effective than Kbots in terms of damage dealing capacity.
- If you need a mobile army for a big map you may want a a vehicle army because of the extra mobility and aforementioned armour. However, for that cost you could build 2 Kbot armies, which can push for more ground, still hold their own, and have more firepower.
- You will also find that kbots maneuver better in battle while vehicles have speed. The differences come out on large maps, as small maps one may even wonder why they would even build vehicles.
Tier 2
- As tier 2 units hit the battle field tier 1 units will play a smaller role in the bigger battles, but one of the neat things about NOTA is that tier 1 units have important uses even into the late game where as in many other mods they are a waste of resources.
- Tier 2 units are really neat. You can see for your self in-game. The Arm Raptor IV Kbot is a work of art. Even if you will not play NOTA, you should still see this unit. As it takes hits in battle it will also lose weapons as different parts are blown off.
Some notes on specific units
- The peewee is a very useful unit in NOTA. It is cheap, moves at a high speed, for a Kbot, has a spray attack, decent health, and does not take out all it's mates when it is killed! (Unlike in some other mods) The Core AK is the same but the lazers it has are just not as cool.
- Another ground unit you should know about are the speedy raider bots. They are fast, have a decent attack range, and do decent damage. An opponent that micromanages these early on in the game can be a nightmare if you are not prepared. These raider bots are good for raiding, killing arty, snipers, and when micromanaged, small groups of Kbots. Do not try to kill them with Arm Flash tanks. The Zeus, Core Instigator, and units whose projectiles move fast enough to hit fast moving targets are good for dealing with these.
- T1 artillery for both Arm and Core are great for fire power on low trajectory, but is not very mobile. T2 Kbot artillery is costly, but a giant gun on legs.
Air
Air vs Sea
- Ships are rather costly and as a result come with some AA. It is a good idea not to fly near ships. Torpedo bombers should be used against ships, but not in closely clumped packs, as ship AA will deal splash damage to those poor planes of yours, and kill them off very quickly. If you do not use them in packs pilots will not be coming home, and they will not be able to tell stories of the great ships they sunk.
- Toads and Vashps can also be used against ships, but not subs. Bombers and such will not be very effective for dealing damage to ships as you will see for yourself.
- There are sea based planes but land based air is really where it's at.
Tier 2
Tier 2 air is a world apart from tier 1, just in sheer terms of variety.
- A pack of tier 2 bombers can give some tier 1 fighters a bad time and an early death as the tier 2 bombers have better AA thanks to their tail guns. Still, a large pack of tier 1 fighters will drop even tier 2 bombers. Tier 2 fighters are better.
- Stealth bombers use 200 E for stealth. They are fragile and won't last long if detected. Ground radar can detect them if they fly directly overhead. Otherwise, radar planes are the best way of detecting them.
- Wings are deadly low flying laser beaming monsters flaunting a laser of death and two bombs, but every AA unit can hit them, so they can fall out of the sky fairly quickly. They fly slow, so a retreat must be premeditated if the wing is to live. It does not have a large fuel tank so it is not a great deep strike unit, unless you have mobile airpads with you.
- The Core Flying Fortress is a very costly unit but a pain to kill as it has AA and a lot of armor and health. Interceptors are the best way to kill them. If you have less than 20 Tier 1 aircraft after a flying fortress comes your not going to have much of a fighter force left afterwards. 20 Tier 1 fighters have a decent survival chance if they attack as a group. The Tier 2 interceptors are the best way to kill a flying fortress though. Flak is not bad but a flying fortress is flak resistant (flak will still kill it, however).
Notes on Air
- The Tier 1 ground attack planes (Toad and Vashp), are excellent. They are not cheap or easily built but are wonderful for cleaning up problems in your base or behind your front lines. A toad can pick off raiders in your wind mill farm without causing much collateral damage at all.
- Planes have fuel, and it makes for great game play. Airpads are cheap but needed. A tier 1 air factory comes with a pad as part of the kit (W00t!)
- 4-5 accurately placed bomb drops from a tier 1 or tier 2 strategic bomber can destroy most factories. About 32 (since NOTAv1.59 40+ bombers) bombers can kill a Command Center and 9 stealth bombers will do the same job.
- Napalm bombers are great. They are fast and fly low to avoid a lot of AA. Rocket towers or tier 2 rocket units put a stop to them best.
Napalm. Beautiful. Hit massed units with it. Hit econ farms with it. Love it when you use it. Hate it when it is used against you.
- Air is a huge part of establishing regional control. Getting a fighter within response range to discourage air to ground attacks and ground based AA discourage air to air attacks. This can be done with 1-2 fighters and 2-3 ground AA.
- the cheap static chaingun AA turrets costing 34 metal are a good panic response option for to low altitude air (the are build-able in the field by construction bots/vehicles)
Sea
- Firstly, a word on hovers. Hovers are cheaper than ships so it is nice to use them as they do not cost as much. Hover arty is the best hover unit for fighting small ships, but understand that ships are the kings of the sea, not hovers. 6 hover arty will pwn a Destroyer and you could pull it of with 4 of them if you're really good, but don't count on it. A hover transport will CARRY a MOHO builder(T2 metal extractor constructor). This is important as Moho builders are very important units in NOTA and they are very slow.
Ships
- Ships are huge investments and as a result have a huge impact on the field of battle. Losing sea, followed by the enemie's use of naval bombardment is not fun and will end the game. If there is sea on the map you will want it.
- As a ship is valuable you do not want to lose your first ship, so watch it closely, but do not be afraid to use it because you just may catch your opponent with his pants down. If an AA ship can park in your harbor you can say good bye to your air supremacy, and then you've got a problem.
- The Destroyer is really the runt of the ship family but it's radar and sonar ranges are huge. It has the most torpedoes of any ship(4, with 2 on each side), yet it's low health is a bit of a drawback.
- The Cruiser is a great all purpose ship. 123v envies the Core version, it's the best ship you could dream up. Cruisers effectively have 2 torpedoes, a nice set of guns, decent range, and a small sonar radius.
- Subs carry a lot of fire power. They have 1 guided and 3 unguided torpedo launchers, but have little health and can be beaten with ease. Subs can cause a lot of hurt before torpedoes reach them and if they are lucky they may even live. 2 lucky subs can kill a destroyer, but the same destroyer on a lucky day could also kill both subs in the same exchange.
- Arm ships are more single purposed and thus cost a lot less as they typically have less AA, and are just not as much. Core ships typically lack the range of the arm ships but do have more hp and are packing a more all-purpose bite.
For instance, a Core missile ship packs a cruiser gun battery and other weapons to boot. An Arm missile ship is much smaller but costs half the price, and has effectively no additional weapons. A player who keeps his resource spending in mind would prefer the arm missile ship as he can get more missile bang for the buck, but he will need to defend his ships with additional units where as the Core ship can dish out some damage to all units, except subs.
- The Core battle cruiser is a floating pile of health where as the Arm battle cruiser has half the health, but has much longer-ranged guns.
Economy
- Economy is costly in NOTA which means that using MMs (energy to Metal Makers) is not a way to get a heavy economy rolling. If you have a good supply of Energy then use MMs, but producing units to gaining or defend metal spots will get you a lot further than throwing your resources into a bunch of fusions.
- Heavy economy building cost a lot of Metal and takes time to build. Getting Moho metal extractors (Mohos) is a huge deal, and it costs you nearly 5000 M to get your first Moho up and running. Mohos have more health as they do cost a lot.
- In NOTA wind does not have a huge explosion so u do not have to be as afraid to use it.
Defense
- NOTA defensive units are costly but very effective. Spending the M can be a real setback, but if it was well chosen it will serve you well. You will find that NOTA does not have indestructible weapons. Super weapons built prematurely are very easy to lose. Mobile units should be mixed with static defense for the best results. Static AA can remove large airborne problems quite nicely too. After you have about 12 flack they start to become very effective. Transportable flack has a faster turn rate and is thus better for shooting low-flying targets then static flack.
- Use a transport unit to carry transportable defenses to new locations.
Air Defense
- The best way and most cost effective way to establish air supremacy is to build fighters. You should make use of ground Anti-Air to make sure that your fighters win, but it is not cost effective to use ground AA to hold your airspace. Ground based AA will also be a deterrent for enemy aircraft, but this does not equal safety as ground attack air craft can remove small groups of AA without much trouble.
- As fighters can be lost easily over enemy airspace is is normally better not to lose them in a conflict over enemy airspace. Instead, more costly ground-based AA could be a safer option for your air force.
- Warning! Only flak and ship based high altitude missiles will hit high flying planes such as bombers. All other surface AA is for low altitude air defense.
- Flak has splash damage but is also inaccurate, however, it can case premature deaths by causing an engine fire. Once you have 8-10 flak it will become effective and enemy bomber losses will be heavy.
- Transportable (yes, transportable!) flak turrets do the same damage as non-transportable versions and have a faster turret turn rate, so it is not so bad against fighters (but still inaccurate). Use a transport unit to carry transportable defenses to new locations.
Sea Defense
- An anti ship gun is a powerful weapon, but air can knock it out with ease, so keep air supremacy or invest in some heavy AA.
- Heavy, long range weapons (such as strategic cannons) are a great way to back your sea effort, and a good way to hold it. Big Berthas (Arm strategic cannons) have a good range for controlling sea, and do good damage to boot.
General Strategies, Tactics and Notes
Tactics
- Keeping your army alive, micro'ing your lines during confrontation is part of the game. A well lead army can achieve wonders.
- Raiding and attacking your enemies' economy is good, as NOTA's econ is a serious investment. Captured ground and mexes are more valuable in NOTA than other mods. Doing raids and not just one all out attack will help you gain the upper hand so you can make that heavy attack and succeed.
- Picking apart your enemy:
Because diversity is so powerful in NOTA breaking up your enemy's diversity exposes his vulnerabilities. Most units all do a specific extremely very well.
- Due to the tides of battle, it may be best to let the battle rage back and forth over your/their mex spots(metal extraction spot) rather then trying to hold at the mex spot, just be sure to cap it when available.
Strategies
Teching
- Once you have 3 or more factories you might think of going to Tier 2 depending on how the game is going. As you get a feel for the game you will know when and even if you want to tech. The Tier 2 units are much more useful than Tier 1 units but also cost a good deal more so there will be many more Tier 1 units than Tier 2 units.
- Building an air factory before going to Tier 2 in any other area is also often a wise idea if you haven't already.
Notes
- Factories cannot be assisted in NOTA. Most NOTA factory production is faster than it is in other mods. If you want larger unit production you can build another factory. In NOTA diversity is very important. As a result you should have a number of factories early on, perhaps even before you can keep them all running at full production. NOTA factories can increase and decrease their production speed so as not to consume resources or build as quickly, depending on your needs.
- There are three armor classes: light, medium and heavy. Units do different damage to the different armor classes, as you would expect. Most Kbots have no armor. Armor is weaker at the sides and weakest at the rear, often the thicker the armor the greater the weak points.
Factors to consider when choosing units to be produced
- Weapon characteristics such as rate of fire, accuracy, area of effect, damage, turret turn rate, and how the damage and projectiles reach the target
- Armour class and health
- Speed and turn rate
- Build time(which decides what is practical to produce), energy and metal required to manufacture the unit
- Cost-effectiveness with regards to firepower
- Stealth characteristics such as cloaking, stealth and decloaking radius
Content created and edited by HeavyLancer and 1-23v[NOTA]
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