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| pkcRAISTLIN |
Just so you (and any supcom lurkers that might exist) both always have a nice reference point that is easy to find :)
INTRO
Feel free to build or expand upon anything you read here, there are 200 players above me in the ranked ladder so im obviously doing something wrong, this is meant as an intro guide but really its up to you to utilise what you feel is useful and ignore what isn't.
1.1 Economy
Ahhhh yes, the bane of all new players. Once you have it understood though it becomes second nature and adds to the range of choices unlike any other RTS we've played. We'll start with the opening build order because a good start is imperative.
Starting Build Order
1. Factory (fac)
2. Power Generator x2 (pgen)
3. Mass extractor (mex) x2
4. pgen x3
5. Fac
Now, this is just a general guide, the actual BO may change from map to map, or if youre rushing air etc. Stay with this build order until you have a good handle on how the game starts.
NOTE: if your commander (ACU) can be sent in between two mex points to build both of them (rather than walking to one and then walking to the other) then do it, it saves valuable seconds.
From that first factory get a couple of engineers out to build a few mex points, then get them reclaiming (patrolling near trees, rocks, crystals etc) to give you a boost in energy and/or mass early on. The more engineers you have patrolling, the more that initial boost. Beware of building too many engineers at the start though, as they will be easy pickings for raiders. Be on the look out for big rocks and wreckage as these provide a substantial boost to your mass income, but you have to click on these individually if you want them reclaimed immediately. Knowing where the wreckages and big rocks are in a map is vitally important when playing a skilled opponent.
You should normally have at least one factory with a single engineer in the middle of the build cue. This means that as your troops are built an engineer will come out with them, meaning you will never be short of engineers assuming some get killed off. Wreckage is worth 80% of the mass used to build the unit, so always having an engineer reclaim on the battlefield can make the difference between winning and losing. Try and occupy and dominate a battlefield that has a lot of wreckage on it.
Mexes
Mass extractors are your primary source of mass. Tier (t) 1 mexes are the cheapest and most efficient form of income, they only take 18 seconds to pay back their cost in mass, so build them everywhere you can, wherever you can. If a t1 mex gets destroyed, rebuild it as soon as practical.
Upgrading Mexes
This is a tricky option. Upgrading a mex from t1 => t2 costs you 10 mass per second, for 90 seconds. At the start of a game that can be a lot of mass, but if you find lots of wreckage you can put that straight into upgrading. You will not win a game without teching up your mexes, and your decision to do so should be based on how many troops you already have, and how much pressure they are under. Only upgrade one mex at a time, or it will crash your economy. As with any upgrade, you can get your engineers to assist the mex, it will be expensive, but you'll have that t2 mex that much sooner which can make all the difference. If you ever find youre wasting mass then upgrading a mex is the perfect way to ensure no mass goes to waste. Any mass not spent is a crucial error and will cost you the game, there is no harm in running a negative mass income as long as the % of negativity isn’t too high ie running a -20 economy is ok if youre generating 80 mass, but its bad if youre only generating 30.
Mass Storage
Storage should only be used around t2 mexes before they are teched to tier 3. It is more efficient to tech a mex t1=>t2 than it is to build storage around a t2 mex. It is more efficient to build 4 storage around a t2 mex than it is to tech a t2 to t3. Have a 4 storage blueprint in your build templates to make storage building around mexes that much easier. Building storage around mexes generates additional mass from that mex.
Storage is not really essential for just storage, you should always be spending as much mass as you generate - upgrading mexes - building more factories - building more structures - upgrading factories etc. again, it is criminal to waste mass in this game.
Energy
Energy is crucial. Unlike mass, you should rarely be spending more power than you generate. Doing so will crash your entire economy and probably cost you the game. Remember that mexes cost power to operate, so crashing power will also produce less mass at the same time. Something you definitely don’t want.
From the beginning of the game there should be at least 1 engineer building lots and lots of power gens. Utilise the hydro power plant at your spawn location if there is one. It is twice as efficient as a t1 power gen.
Air factories require a lot of energy, so building lots of pgens around an air factory will lower the cost of air units. Have a 4x4 square template of power in your build templates.
Reclaiming trees will give you a small amount of power, as will reclaiming destroyed power structures.
If at any stage you find your power crashing badly, assign all available engineers to speed-build t1 power generators. Do not have 2 engineers working on 2 individual pgens. Any power crash should be attended to as quickly as possible. Turn off/pause factories/commanders/engineers if you have to.
When building power consuming buildings or units pay attention and think ahead to how much spare energy you will need to run them properly, this is especially important in respect to shields. Never build shields until you have a healthy excess of energy.
Don’t bother using energy storage, it is a waste (at the moment).
1.2 Units
First off, stay away from the aeon and seraphim. Especially the aeon. They are the skill faction and require a lot of knowledge to use effectively.
The commander: he is you. The number 1 unit in your arsenal and should always be doing something. Building, fighting, moving, reclaiming. Just have him doing something. On the 10x10 or smaller maps he is a juggernaut of power, use him offensively every chance you get, but support him with a few tanks as well. Troops shoot at other troops by default, so having a few tanks in support helps prevent the enemy from targeting him alone. It is very easy to find yourself all alone on the front line so be careful of his status at all times. A sneaky weapon upgrade can make all the difference to your commander and will often turn the tide of battle. Its expensive, but almost always worth it. Be wary to protect your commander during his upgrade, because while he can still shoot, he cannot move.
On the 20x20 maps he is more concerned with building, so tech him up with the build suites coz he is the best builder in the game until t3.
Learn what your units are designed to do. Many of the units in FA are multi-purpose, but they might do their "secondary" roles less effectively. Try and pay attention to the range circles so you know the effective range of your units, please note that many units can shoot further than they can see, so having radar up is essential for them to perform to their full potential.
Scouts should be included in any build cue, if you don’t know where the enemy is you are at a distinct disadvantage. A t1 stationary radar should be built within the first 4 mins of the game. Failure to do so will cost you mexes and/or engineers to raids.
Use diverse unit groups so that they are useful at what you need them to do. The one exception here is that early game t1 tanks are far more useful than t1 artilley, its only as the game progresses that t1 artillery becomes more useful against defensive structures and groups of troops.
T1 point defenses are fantastic at shooting just about anything, they are awesome for keeping the enemy commander at bay, and chew through units. Be wary that all artillery out-ranges it however, so it is not a one unit army. SUPPORT your PD with your own arty and tanks. If you’ve sent your commander far away from home, having t1 PD in your base is an absolute necessity, an unchallenged enemy commander in your base will cost you the game.
T2 point defence does less DPS (damage per second) but has much higher hit points and range. Its good to combine the two for a proper defense.
Some t2 units are better versus t1 spam, and some are better at killing t2 or t3 units. Generally, the faster-firing units are better versus t1, and the slower, more powerful units are better versus t2. Always consider ranges, as every t2 unit outranges every t1 unit. Even if you've got a bunch of units not known for killing t1, if you keep them at maximum distance the t1 units will struggle to get into range to be effective. Your units will automatically target the enemy units that they are best at killing.
Take note of any special abilities your units have, such as the Cybran mantis' ability to assist buildings and repair damage or the ability for the Cybran's anti air unit to switch to ground fire.
Take the time to research the cost of your ACU upgrades, at least become familiar with the t2 engineering suite and the weapon upgrade, both of which you'll see often in small games.
Currently with the UEF, I like a build cue at t1 of 6 tanks, 2-3 artillery, 1-2 scouts, 1-2 anti air, 1 engineer but will mass tanks or arty when needed.
Don't forget to mix in lower tiers with higher tier units.
Never build the Cybran mobile bombs, they're useless.
Don't forget you can capture enemy engineers and build their stuff!
3 Tactics
This game is a physics simulation - USE IT. Hide artillery behind hills or mountains, place your mobile shield units at the front of your forces, place point defenses behind your factories making them harder to hit etc etc etc. This is most important when you are controlling your troops - if it is an important battle, take command and keep your troops moving. The best way to do this is to select your units and give them an order at 12 o'clock, then 1 o'clock, then maybe 11 o'clock. Units moving are harder to hit and take less damage. If your ACU is under fire, running him away at say 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock might just save his metal arse. By moving your troops you also force the enemy to keep paying attention to his, or risk losing them all. A well microed army will always defeat a similar force that is left to its own devices. Artillery in FA is very powerful, and moving your units constantly will make it less effective. Always zoom in when you encounter a force to check what you're fighting against, some units are more susceptible to micro than others, which you will notice when you start seeing shots go harmlessly wide. Take note of changes in terrain because some units (cybran t2 rhino tank, UEF t2 amphibious tank) have a very low trajectory and are prone to shooting the ground; take advantage of this weakness if you can.
the main goal in fighting in supcom is to get the maximum of your units shooting at the least amount of the enemy, so attacking from the flank is the best way to get your 10 tanks to rape 15 of his.
Veterancy
Each unit receives extra hitpoints and regeneration after making a certain amount of kills, each unit has 5 veterancy levels. The most important of these is the ACU, which gains a level with each 20 kills (including buildings). This can mean the difference between winning and defeat, don't send t1 units blindly at the enemy ACU, all you'll be doing is feeding him vet. This is why the ACU should always be used offensively on a small map, there simply isn’t anything at t1 that can match the ACU, except the enemy's ACU. By keeping your troops alive you can make them tougher and tougher, and the same goes for point defenses and anti air turrets. A fully veteraned ACU or experimental is pretty damned tough to beat.
Attack attack attack. Even if you lose some units, you're forcing your enemy to react to your tactics, rather than the other way round. Think of this game as chess, just because youre being attacked somewhere doesn't mean you have to respond DIRECTLY to that attack - a better option could be to press your advantage on the other side of the map instead. Make your opponent pay for every attack that he makes on you, its normally far more successful than chasing his units on your side of the map. Often you will see players just send all their "pieces" forward when they're being out-gunned somewhere else. Make your opponent think twice before making an incursion. You will not win games by sitting in your base and making pretty patterns with your engineers, this isn't resource craft. Get as many troops out as fast as you can and go raid the enemy mexes, engineers, or other targets of opportunity. Radar is a great target because people frequently forget to rebuild it.
Build radar. You cant have too much, seriously. You need to know where your enemy is, and how strong he is and also keep an eye on where the enemy commander is. If his commander is pushing forward, chances are you should do the same with yours.
Be sneaky! Overwhelming force is always good, but a quick transport drop of artillery into the enemy base can work wonders to upset his plans and ruin his economy. Cybran are the best for being especially sneaky, with their mobile stealth generators and underwater amphibious tanks.
If youre pressed for time in an attack, it is faster for your ACU to reclaim an enemy building than it is for you to shoot at it.
If youre on a map with a lot of water, build navies. No, seriously. FYI, cruisers are good for anti air, destroyers are good for anti ship and land bombardment. Micro works just as well with navies as it does land units, so make the most out of your fast-moving ships when confronted with floating artillery or bombers.
If you're in the enemy base, target engineers first, then power, then mexes, or if you have a sizeable force, knocking out an early t2 factory can win you the game. As always, judge what you think will provide the most damage. Remember, if you knock out all his power gens he's essentially ed.
Play cat and mouse games with intel units, such as the UEF t2 field engineer (sparky) or the UEF frigate, both of which make "false positives" on enemy radar.
T1 light bots are the only units allowed to shoot out of transports, good for early raiding! Make sure you protect them with a few planes though.
ALWAYS press the advantage. If your enemy retreats, follow him (though make sure not to walk into ambushes). It can be tempting to lick your wounds and relent, instead charge forward and try to end the game. If the enemy isn’t bringing any units to fight you, chances are he doesn't have any. Keep moving forward until you meet resistance.
4 Miscellaneous
Until you're awesome, stick with one race and one race only. It only makes things more difficult if you keep changing (yes im talking to you mr wale). Sure, the sides play quite similarly, but the differences in how you utilise your units can make all the difference. The UEF and Cybran are the easiest sides to learn.
You can change your camera angle with CTRL-V, then use the spacebar to move it around. CTRL-V again will lock it into place.
Turn off all range rings, except where you "mouse over" a unit. Range rings ruin performance. The exception is I ALWAYS have intel (radar and sonar) rings on so I can see where my blind spots are.
Scout scout scout. If you know what he's doing you can be better prepared. Its like having a shade in his base! ;)
Don’t waste mass and don’t run out of energy. Seriously.
You can save on time with factories by simply left clicking an idle factory, and right clicking another factory that is building stuff. This factory will now copy the build order of the other. You can then build units individually at will from the assisting factory, and when it is done it will return to copying the cue of the original fac.
Use build templates whenever you can to save time.
If your ACU is going to explode, get him close to the enemy ACU, because if the enemy has less than 4000 hitpoints, it'll get killed in your explosion and you'll at least get a draw. |
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| Sunsnail |
| Interesting. Krypton raped me on winter duel |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
Interesting. Krypton raped me on winter duel |
who were you playing as? UEF is a good race to start with, especially on that map (their arty is awesome).
the biggest difference between supcom and FA is that FA really rewards aggression.
did you save the replay? im always happy to watch replays and give advice :) i watch about 20 replays a week as it is!! |
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| Zild |
| Thanks. I just started playing FA a little bit before my computer finally ate . This looks like it will save me getting my ass kicked in a few times. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| no worries zild, get amongst it! :toothless |
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| Sunsnail |
| I can't play 20x20km maps. My computer starts to lag and everyone calls me a dumbass :( |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
I can't play 20x20km maps. My computer starts to lag and everyone calls me a dumbass :( |
20x20 maps are the gay anyway. seriously, nothing can compare to the "purer" style of 1v1 ranked. just like singles is a more pure style of tennis than doubles. 1v1 is where its at! |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
Interesting. Krypton raped me on winter duel |
lol!! I am ranked in 331 in the world so don't feel bad..:stongue: |
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