Vax's Guide To Supreme Commander 2
Version 0.15
Dec-02-2011
Copyright Larry P. Schrof, 2011
You may use this article for any non-commercial purpose IN ITS ORIGINAL
FORM. You may not modify this article in any way. Copies of this article
may be distributed so long as attribution of the author and copyright
remain intact.
Section 1: Introduction and Background
Section 2: Beginner's Guide to Online Team Games
Section 3: (Almost) Everything About Mass Conversion
==========================================
Section 1: Introduction and Background
==========================================
I should have written this guide 18 months ago, when we still had a
relatively large community. SupCom2 is a challenging yet rewarding game.
For beginners, it can be VERY challenging. Right now, it's tough for a
beginner to play with so much stiff competition and top-notch players
out there who have thousands of hours of experience. I'd like to help
make this game as rewarding as it is challenging for beginners. This
section of my guide attempts just that.
So for the tardiness in getting something like this out late, I
apologize. But late is indeed better than never.
Next, this is a work-in-progress. Pardon the typos and grammar - they
will be corrected soon. But for now, we need this to get out there,
and we need that to happen now.
Who this guide is for
---------------------
This guide, in its current state, is for:
- Any SupCom2 player with less than 100-200 hours of
experience
- Any SupCom2 player new to playing multi-player mode online
- Any SupCom2 player wishing to improve their play at 3v3 and 4v4
Most of this guide applies to 3v3 and 4v4 team games. It can help for
1v1 and 2v2 if you're a total beginner, but it won't get you far. For
that I'll write more later.
A word about the SupCom2 community
----------------------------------
The SupCom2 community is dying fast. We need as many new players to
enjoy the game and come back as possible. If you're a pro, please
welcome and encourage all new players. If you realize you're going to
steamroll them because they're simply too new, back off a bit and work
with them. Send them attacks they can counter, and work with them
through the counters. You'll be surprised, but this can actually be fun,
and it really ENCOURAGES GROWTH IN THE COMMUNITY. Pub stomping can be
fun, but the community can't afford much of it these days. We
need every new player to come back that we can get.
What this guide is now, and what it will become
-----------------------------------------------
This first guide release is super-small comapred to what I'm going to
try to release over the next couple of months. This is just to get
beginners up and running in multi-player. I hope to augment it with
an in-depth guide to the many facets of this amazing game.
This version of the guide is essentially what I consider the most
important advice that new players should receive concerning the
game. These tips, opinions, and facts, should give you the most "bang
for the buck" when it comes to improving your skills and taking you
into an intermediate level of play quickly.
New players tend to exhibit behaviors and patterns that cause them to
get DESTROYED, and thus get pretty frustrated with the game. If you
want to get rid of that 'noob' status quickly, read this guide a
couple of times. Try a game or two, practicing only one or two points
mentioned. Then come back, and read some more.
****************************************************************
* Rule A: - the most important rule ------ DON'T GIVE UP EVER. *
****************************************************************
Don't give up. SupCom2 is CHALLENGING when playing against experienced
players. The community is getting smaller as players move on to more
recent games, but once you master the basics, this brilliant RTS is
about as rewarding of a game experince as you can get. This game didn't
have millions of dollars of backing that StarCraft 2 did, and yet it's
player base agrees that it's a far-superior game. (Just use your mouse
scroll-wheel to see what I mean.) Stick around and learn. You will lose
many games in the beginning, but that's okay. Remind yourself that the
only way to learn is to lose. Winning teaches us nothing; it only feeds
our ego.
When the game starts, hit SHIFT-<ENTER> to set your chat window to
team-chat only. (Make sure the little check is hilighted at the
bottom.) Then say, "I'm sorry but I'm new. I'll do my best, but any
advice is welcome." That right there will change the mindset of 90% of
your teammates. Instead of being frustrated with you, they actually just
may help. (And even if they're annoyed, they'll at least know that they
need to play differently to compensate.)
Once the game starts, don't be concerned if people don't respond to your
chat right away, if at all. SupCom2 moves very quickly for an RTS game,
so every second that players spend typing is time they're not actually
playing. During my first few hundred games, I put myself at a heavy
disadvantage by typing so much; trying to teach new players *during* the
game.
Don't get depressed if people are frustrated with you. SupCom2 is
unfortunately heavily weighted against teams with even one new player,
so some frustration with new players is to be expected. Ignore it.
Keep being nice, and keep asking for help. But above all else...
DON'T EVER QUIT PLAYING SUPCOM2. THE COMMUNITY NEEDS YOU BADLY.
Next meta-rule: ----- Ask for help and keep learning ----
Ask everyone you meet for advice. Especially the people who beat
you. And ESPECIALLY the people who beat you badly. Then ask them to be
a mentor or at least to give you advice. Get more than one
mentor. Learn learn learn. When a game ends, there is a post-game
lobby with a chat window. That is a GREAT place to ask for
advice. When you realize you are going to get whomped during the game,
turn off team-chat only and tell your opponents you would appreciate
if they could stick around and offer advice in the post-game lobby.
Become friends with everyone you can on Steam. You will always see me
in-game as '[EdC] Vax' - you can always ask me for help. Other good
players whose names rarely change are 'Nuclear Pizza', 'redarrow', and
my favorite, and perhaps the best all-around player in SupCom2, 'Iron
Commander'. (These guys will have letters in front of their names,
ignore those - they are clan tags. Instead, look at the right-hand
side portion of their name.)
Another learning tip when you're just starting out - don't play
'Fast' game speed. In the multi-player lobby, get in the habit of
looking in the lower right. You want to play games where the speed
says 'Normal' or (less preferrably) 'Adjustable'. Fast game speed is
VERY FAST. The only reason you'll see it being played is from people
who get bored quickly.
Another valuable learning tool is the replay feature. Sign up for an
account on gamereplays.org, then begin downloading replays into your
SupCom2 replays folder. (The folder is something like Users -> My
Documents -> My Games -> Square Enyx -> <some number> -> replays. That
order is not exact, but you'll get the gist.) Once you save a replay
file, you can launch it from the main menu by choosing Extras ->
Replays.
NOTE: There are non-DLC replays and DLC replays. If you do not have DLC,
you will not be able watch DLC replays. Each type requires its own folder.
Do a Google search for specifics on which replays should get saved where.
gamereplays.org probably has a good article on it.
Another fantastic way to learn is to meet players you like on teamspeak
and ventrillo. If you haven't heard of these tools, they are software
that you download and install that allow you to communicate, using a
microphone and headset, with other people. Even better, you can
communicate DURING THE GAME. This is an immensely powerful way to learn
and coordinate.
If nothing else, you can use CTRL-Q in-game to turn on and turn off
voice chat. WARNING: Voice chat can become extremely annoying very
qickly. Use it SPARINGLY, unless your team has agreed to use it as
their primary choice of communication.
The last tip I can think of for learning is to download shoutcasts from
gamereplays.org. These are audio commentaries that are designed to be
watched along with specific replays. Do a search for them on
gamereplays.org and you'll find more details.
---- Next meta-rule: Purchase the DLC (downloadable content) -----
Do yourself a favor. If you've played even 1-2 games of SupCom2 and
think it looks worth some of your time, buy the DLC through steam.
It improves the variety and gameplay by roughly 50-80%. That's a lot.
It adds maps, units, technologies, and just adds a lot of fun all-around.
----- Next meta-rule: Don't play with exclusions. -----
In general, try hard not to play a lot of games with exclusions turned
on.
Exclusions are things you can "turn off" in the game, like nukes, air
units, experimentals, reseaarch, etc.
Exclusions in SupCom2 are essentially a marketing tool designed to get
more people to buy the game so that they can play it in a very contrived
fashion. I know the game developers will not agree with this, and it
wasn't their intention, but essentially that's what exclusions have
turned into: establishing very contrived games that only a few people
enjoy.
The occasional exclusions game can be fun, and even allow you to focus
on a particular unit or style of play. In particular, for your first
20-30 hours of team play, you may like to turn nukes or arty off. That's
okay, for a short while. But don't get addicted to exclusions.
Exclusions do more to make you a bad player than they do to make you a
good player. (The exception is the 'Slow Research' exclusion - when this
exclusion is enabled, AND NO OTHER EXCLUSIONS ARE ENABLED, it can be an
invaluable learning tool.)
Many times in your career of SupCom2, you will lose, and lose badly.
But on top of that, you'll feel like there was NO WAY TO STOP IT. Don't
worry - everything in SupCom2 is counterable. Some things are much
harder to counter than others, but it's doable. If you don't believe me,
go meet players like Iron Commander and Nephylim. They'll show you it
can be done.
Go to the GPG supcom2 forums. Search those archives. I guarantee you'll
find length discussions on countering all sorts of stuff you think can't
be countered.
So that you know you're not alone, I'm going to list all of the things
you'll feel are unstoppable at first. (You'll feel this way as you start
learning the game):
- ACU rushes (an enemy spams early research and techs their acu quickly
to a very powerful unit)
- Long-range artillery barrages
- Blobs of air experimentals
- 20 tanks in your face after 3 minutes
- Nukes
- Cybran megaliths knocking on your door after 8 minutes or earlier
- Cybran naval battleships pummeling you from out of range
Throughout your days, you'll see people set up 'No air' games, 'No arty'
games, 'landwar' games, etc. These can be dangerosly tempting to play.
And in some respects, you CAN learn from them.
But don't make exclusions a habit. Occasionally, a 'no nukes' game is
okay - I won't fault you, AS A BEGINNER, for playing those. But your
long-term enjoyment of SupCom2 will be guided by your ability to enjoy
games with no exclusions, as these games offer a much fuller, richer
experience.
====================================================
Section 2: Beginner's Guide to Online Team Games
====================================================
Okay, what I've given you so far are meta rules. Rules for behavior
and how to learn. Now I'm going to go into more concrete rules - these
pertain to straetgy. They are in no particular order. For now, these
are pretty much "rules". As you improve and gain experience, you can
think of the material below more as "guidelines" that aren't set
in stone.
But for now, as a noob, you should probably treat the following material
as if it was Holy Writ. In fact, for SupCom2 multi-player beginners,
it IS.
Let's get started.
How to begin playing SupCom2 in 3v3 and 4v4 team games
------------------------------------------------------
*** Every time you build a point defense tower (PD) or anti-air ***
*** tower (AA), you increase your chances of losing. ***
Yup, that's right. You know how us pros can spot a new player in the
first 90 seconds of game time? Our air man scouts you and we see you
plunking down 1 (or 10!) pd or aa towers. You haven't even been attacked
yet!
Try to learn how to play the game from your very first day without ever
having to build one of these. Yes, there are times when you will need
them. Yes, they can be used offensively by experienced players. But
YOU, for the love of God, should not use them.
In fact, here is your mantra for the first 100 hours of playing SupCom2:
"If I have built more than 3 PD turrets in a game, or more than 3 AA
towers, then I have made a tactical or strategic mistake that I need a
mentor to help me correct."
Go out and find 1v1 replays of Nephylim, Iron Commander, FunkOff,
Nuclear Pizza, sleeping cloud, and tell me how many pds and aa towers
they build. Then tell me how many units they build.
If you're in a situation where you feel the only thing that will save
you is a cluster of PD towers or AA towers, it means you made a mistake
at some previous point in the game that you'll need to learn to correct.
It also probably means it's too late and you've already lost. SupCom2 is
very unforiving like that - losses are often guaranteed about 30-40% of
the way through the game - the rest is just watching your base slowly
blow up.
Here's some deeper food for thought on this. I want to emphasize how
worthless your point-defense turrets are, even if there are 30 of them
in a wall. I am going to list every unit I can think of that doesn't
fly, but can still crush your pd's. The worst part is, your pd's won't
be able to reach any of these units, so your PDs are helpless. In the
end, your PDs will prove to be nothing but a waste of your hard-earned
mass.
Here we go. All the surfaced-based reasons why your point defense turrets
re Absolutely Worthless:
- Mobile-missile launchers (mml)
- Illuminate Tactical Missile Launcher (tml)
- Factory missile launcher (Factory add-on that fires arcs of missiles)
- Artillery fire from cybran or UEF long-range artillery
- Artillery fire from UEF fortified short-range artillery
- Missile volleys from upgraded UEF or Cybran ACU
- Artillery fire from an upgraded UEF ACU
- UEF naval unit: mastdon (cruiser)
- UEF battleships (bs)
- Cybran jump-jetting land units that self-detonate on your pds
- Cybran naval/land unit: destoryers (salems)
- Cybran naval/land unit: Executioners (bs)
- Illuminate experimental: loyalty gun
- UEF experimental: Fatboys (fatties)
- Cybran experimental: Megaliths (megas)
- DLC-unit: Cybran monkey lord (monkey, ml)
- DLC-unit: UEF jack hammer
- DLC-unit: cybran recylcer (can be used to kill live units)
- UEF experimental: King Kriptor / Aeon experimental: Universal Collossus (*)
- Nukes
*: PDs might actually outrange these guys. Either way, it's very close.
*THAT'S TWENTY EXAMPLES, AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN LISTED AIR UNITS*
Everything I named travels along, or is built on, the surface, out of
range of your PDs.
If this still hasn't sunk in, let me offer you this statistic. In the
several-thousand games I've played, many times I've seen a player making
PDs and AAs in their base within the first 2-3 minutes. When that
happens, that teams *loses 98% of the time.*
Ok, if PDs and AAs are worthless, what SHOULD you build??? (Hint: it's
not research stations)
---------- Factories pumping early units win games ----------
The first step to keeping your enemy from finding out you're a new (and
hence vulnerable player) is to make early factories. In fact, as you
become more experienced, you will learn that it is frequently proper
to have 2-3 factories pumping units before you have "capped" (built)
your 9th or 10th mass point.
When you have a factory selected, there is a circle icon in the lower
right. When you click it and it becomes hilighted, that factory will
produce units continuously. You can then click one unit, or even several
different units, and the factory will progress through that cycle on
infinite repeat. For example, if you think to yourself "I'd like to
produce three tanks for every one missile launcher", you'd select the
factory, click the circle icon, then click the tank icon three times,
and the mobile missile launcher icon one.
In general, you want units coming out of factories to GO SOMEWHERE. This
should not be over enemy territory. Generally, you'll want them near,
and in front of, your base. For air units, you (generally) want them to
the front of your team's side of the map to provide accessibility to all
areas of the map quickly. To tell a factory where to send units, simply
click the factory, then right click the spot on the map where all future
units it builds should be sent.
TIP: You can easily tell ALL factories of a given type (land, air,
sea) to send units to the same location. Select a factory, then hit
CTRL-Z to select ALL factories of that type. Then right-click to set
the destiniation.
----- Next rule: Know your role in 3v3 and 4v4 team games -----
These rules primarily apply to 3v3 and 4v4 team games. 1v1s and 2v2s
are a different story entirely.
When learning SupCom2, you will primarily be dealing with learning
these three roles: land, air, navy. I recommend saving land for last
- it is both the most vital and also the most intricate and difficult
to learn. Starting with naval can be your best bet as naval combat is
generally slower, requires less multi-tasking, and less decision
making. Also, with proper knowledge, it's extremely difficult to
lose a naval battle. Even a beginner armed with proper knowledge can
stalemate even the best of SupCom2 pros in the water. (This also
makes for some mind-numbingly boring battles, which is why most players
gravitate away from playing naval.)
You need to decide what type (air, land, sea) units you will produce,
and this is dictated by your starting location, NOT WHAT YOU FEEL
LIKE MAKING. Want to know how to piss off experienced teammates?
Randomly say, "I'm going air", or "I'm going land and naval", etc.
*** YOUR STARTING LOCATION DEFINES YOUR ROLE WHEN LEARNING THE GAME ***
You can break the following rules later on in your SupCom2 career. Not
now. You need help and you need people to help you grow as a player.
You won't get that if you piss your teammates off by playing the wrong
role.
So how do you decide which role to play? It's fairly simple. Apply the
following rules, in order. As soon as a rule describes your situation,
you go with the corresponding role.
1. If you are closer to your enemies than any of your teammates, you
should go land. Additionally, if this is true, AND you are close to
a large body of water, playing as Illuninate is probably a good idea.
On some maps like Van Horne Core, two players will be "closest" to
the enemy. Generally, both should go land.
If the above rule does not apply, see if this next one applies.
2. If you are the furthest of your team away from the enemy, you should
almost always play air. Playing air, by the way, means spamming jets
until the other side has no chance to make stuff that flies. This is
called 'owning the air'. More importantly, PLAYING THE AIR ROLE DOES
NOT MEAN SPAMMING GUNSHIPS.
If neither of the above rules applies, use these guidelines:
- If the map doesn't have water, go land if you know someone already has
air covered. If no one volunteers to take air, you do it.
- If the map has water, then you should go naval IF you are pretty close
to water AND someone else is covering air. Setons Clutch is the best
example. There is a starting location where your ACU is a 5-second
walk from the water. That's a prime opportunity to play naval.
- If all else fails and you're completely uncertain, go air, because:
- Many people on your team won't cover air, and your team will need it
- Your team is guaranteed to have good scouting (because that's
what you'll do - more on this soon)
- You have a wide variety of locations to apply pressure on the map
- If no one on the enemy side goes air, you'll (virtually) free reign
to sow death and destruction.
Now, let's move on to proper execution of your role.
--- Executing your role properly ---
The first rule of executing your role properly is this:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Your job is to focus on eliminating any players who play the same role |
| as you. This is often, but not always, dictated by starting location |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
If you start in an air slot, your primary object is to kill (or
effectively take out of play) the enemy player going air. Same for
naval. Same for land. The only situation where this becomes untrue is
if you get double teamed in air or land. (If you are playing navy
correctly, you could get triple-teamed and still win. More on this
later.)
For now, let's assume you're only against one player in the same role.
(This is quite common.) Failing to destory him means letting your team
down. If some other enemy, not lined up across from you, slaughters
your team, it means someone else probably dropped the ball, not you.
Bottom line: Figure out which guy is across from you, and put
crosshairs on him. In the following material, when I say your primary
opponent or primary target, I am referring to the
person you are lined up against, or the person who's destruction is your
responsibility.
Now, on to the first few minutes of the game: executing your role...
**** While you are still new to the game, don't build ****
**** research stations in the first six minutes. ****
Don't make early research stations. It makes you so vulernable that it
brings tears to my eye. Get your factories up and running quickly. 9
mass points is enough to support 4-5 air factories, 4-5 land
factories, or 2 naval factories. (4-5 uef naval factories if you're
pumping nothing but subs.)
By the way, learn from experienced players what I call 'mex
ettiquette' 'mex' is a nickname for mass point. On each map, there is
standard ettiquette that says which mass points belong to you and
which belong to your teammates. If you're not sure, ask. Don't get
into fights with your teammates over who gets which mass.
On most maps 3v3 and 4v4 maps, you will have 9 mass points. On some
maps, such as Boolon, you may have more. Don't be a mass hog - if a
mass point is closer to a teammate's starting spot that it is yours,
it was meant for him, not you. Sometimes, teammates will intentionally
leave mass points vacant. If you'd like to have them, ASK. If they don't
respond, say "Unless I hear from you in chat, I'm going to take such-and-such
mass points in 30 seconds."
VAX TIP: Use the f5, f6, and f7 arrows to 'ping' a location on the map.
Use these keys to show your teammates which mass points of theirs you'd
like to take. NEVER PING SOMETHING MORE THAN TWICE. Seriously. Multiple
pings is very annoying. Don't worry - we see them.
Now for timing. In general, if you don't have at least one factory
pumping units by 2:30, you need a really good reason. As a new player,
you won't have this reason. By 3:00-4:00 for land and air (4:00-5:00
for naval), all 4 of your factories should be under construction or
better, finished building and pumping units.
--- What do I make? ---
Here's another rule you need to keep in mind:
AS A BEGINNER, NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, MIX LAND / AIR / NAVY.
When you become more experienced, you can (and will need to) do this.
But as a beginner, DON'T. Do not make land and air. Do not make navy
and land. Do not make all three. PICK ONE, AND ONLY ONE TYPE,
DEPENDING ON YOUR ROLE, AND STICK TO IT.
--- Roles for beginners in ten minutes of reading ---
The following are extreme generalizations, but, they should suffice
for helping a beginner know how to play based on where they start and
what faction to pick. They will hopefully make you less of an easy
target.
Playing UEF NAVAL:
If you are lined up against a UEF or cybran player, you want 9 mass
points, 4 power, then and 2-3 naval factories pumping out subs. Send
an engineer early way out into the water to build a sonar that covers
all water of your primary opponent. If you see enemy naval, make a
total of 4 factories and pump subs on repeat from all of them. Assist
one factory with your ACU and assist each other fac with EXACTLY one
engineer. (Not zero engineers, and not more than one engineer per
factory.)
Push as soon as you think you have an advantage. If you are against
cybran naval, you MUST prevent them from getting legs and walking onto
land. Keep your subs between the cybran naval player's base and the
most likely point of where you think the boats will hit land. UEF
naval is designed to take out cybran naval. When you are playing UEf
naval against cybran, push hard, early and often. Take out enemy naval
units, then factories. Do not approach enemy factories (facs) with
less than 6 subs. Do not fight cybran ships within range of their
factories, unless you have a big blob of subs. When attacking
factories, surface your subs (icon in lower left.) This will cause
them to not only fire their torpedoes, but also their surface
cannon. This is great for taking out shielded facs.
When enemy naval factories start dying, you have essentially won the
naval war. Stop making new subs. Use your remaining subs to clear out
any enemy naval units, then use your (now-surfaced) subs to bombard
any mass points in range. After that, dive them back under the water
and keep them on the enemy short to prevent him from getting back into
the water to estbalish a navy.
Congratulations - you did your job well. Everything you do after this is
icing on the cake for your team.
At this point, as a uef naval player, you have done your job. You can get
artistic. Spam cruisers from 1-2 factories if you like - those will
absolutely destory enemy bases in range. (Albeit a bit slowly.) But with
the naval radar upgrade, even one cruiser is perhaps the single most
powerful addition to a uef player on any water-based map. An upgraded uef
cruiser simply has INSANE RADAR COVERAGE.
Alternatively, make some research and tech to artillery, noah, or
experimentals.
Now, the story above is completely different if you are playing UEF
naval against aeon across from you. In this case, get cruisers out as
quickly as possible. Do not leave them by your base. Send them as soon
as they are built to bombard your primary opponent's mass points. Aeon
land units can hover on water, and if they get in range of your
cruisers, you lose quickly and decisively.
A quick note to new players: UEF cruisers have exceptional anti-air
capability. The best thing you can hope for is that the enemy team's
air player sends bombers and gunships 5-6 at a time to try to take out
your cruisers. They'll learn a valuable lesson... the hard way.
Don't make more than 8-10 cruisers. This is where most
intermediate-level players get it wrong. If 8-10 cruisers aren't going
to crush your opponents, it means you're headed into the late game and
you're going to need a lot of mass for research stations. Besides,
more than 8-10 cruisers turns out to be mostly overkill. Try to
remember to turn off your naval facs. Or better yet, when you win the
naval war and start making cruisers, just click 3-4 times on the
cruiser icon for two of your naval factories. This will save you mass
in case you forget to turn the facs off later.
My final thought for beginners playing UEF naval: If you win the naval
war, you have done your job. If your team loses, it probably wasn't
your fault. Anything you do after winning the naval war is icing on
the cake. If your teammates are good, your cruisers are what will add
value. If your teammates are really good, there won't be much left for
you to do except plop out a couple of long-range arty and watch them
score a couple of hits before your team wins. If your teammates are
mediocre, you'll need to find other ways to assit them. Usually, this
means using cruisers to trash as much of the enemy players' mass
points as possible. When using cruisers, attack mass points and mass
converters. Those are your primary objective. If you think you can snipe
an enemy acu sitting still in his base, go for it, but this will fail
9 times out of 10. (And it wastes precious volleys.)
PLAYING CYBRAN NAVAL:
I don't advise this for beginners. Yes, Cybran navy can be upgraded to
walk on land. Yes, cybran navy has incredibly powerful offensive
potential. Yes, salems can be cranked out quickly. Here's why I advise
against playing cybran naval:
It is just too easily countered by even a semi-competent player. If
you line up in the lobby as cybran on a navy slot (starting point),
and the guy across from you then siwtches to UEF, you're against a
vet. Don't even try to go naval.
If you INSIST on going cybran naval, the following are things to keep
in mind.
Hit early, hit hard. But if you see UEF subs early, stop making naval
completley.
You can support two cybran naval factories spamming salems
(destroyers) on repeat with only 9 mass points and 4 power generators
(pgens). From LOTS of experience, I recommend making one research
station before you begin having both factories doing salems on repeat.
Use your ACU to assist one factory, put one engineer assisting the
other factory. Have your factories send all salems to the water on the
coast of your primary enemy. Send your second engineer with them to
build a radar to cover your enemy's base. That allows the salems to
bombard from a bit of distance. Salems have reasonable anti-air, but if
you see a cluster of more than 3-4 gunships headed your way, fall back
to the middle of the ocean until your cluster of salems is larger,
then move against the air units.
Your primary target is any naval units your primary opponent may be
making, along with those naval factories if you can reach them without
dying. After that, kill all enemy base structures that you can reach
WITHOUT HAVING TO WALK ON LAND. If you attempt to hit land and walk
before the proper time, you could lose your entire fleet.
Killing base structures will earn you lots of research points, Use
these to upgrade your naval units. If you can invest the research
points into the 40% distance upgrade, that is absolutely worth it.
It's expensive, but outstanding. It can ensure a quick subsequent
victory.
While bombarding the enemy coast, KEEP YOUR SHIPS MOVING AT ALL TIMES.
Otherwise, missile volleys from factories, mml, and cruisers will quickly
kill your ships.
Your primary targets when bombarding with salems should be, in
(roughly) this order of priority: (Remember, you are staying in the
water at this point)
- Enemy naval ships in range are always the most important
- Enemy naval factories if no enemy ships are in range are also critical
to take out. Then, take out...
- Enemy naval ships out of range
- Mass converters (You should be attacking early enough the enemy doesn't
have these yet!!!)
- Enemy ACU, if it's Assassination mode or if the ACU is near a lot of
structures
- Air factories spamming gunships or any experimental gantries
- Land factories actively making units
- Point-defense turrets
Basically, clear out anything the water first. Then clear out anything
that could make life difficult for your slow-moving salems once you're
land-locked. Then, slowly creep your way through each enemy base and
crush your way to victory. If you see a land blob, RUN AWAY. If a land
blob gets in range of your ships, they will die. I can kill three
battleships with five tanks if they're in range. I'm not kidding.
Kite the land blobs - take them out, then proceed forward.
Alternatively, you can try to play with battleships as
cybran. Everything regarding targeting priority, land-fall, etc. still
applies, but your starting build order should be a bit different. If
you are on a large water map, and are committed to the idea of going
cybran battleships, then finish off your 9-mass economy first. On the
4v4 map Seraphim Isles, it may take awhile for your engis to arrive at
the 8th and 9th mass points. Go ahead and start building a research
station if this is the case. Once 9 mass points are up, make an
additional 2-4 research stations, depending on taste. Finally, build
another 5 pgens (power generators) for a total of 9 pgens. 9 mass and
9 pgens will support one factory continuously pumping cybran
battleships. Have your ACU and both engineers assisting the factory.
I would say the range upgrade is even more important with battleships. It
lets them hit almost anything with impunity. An unaddressed navy of
cybran battleships always results in a loss. Some things left unchecked,
like bombers, become a nuisance. Some thinks left unchecked, like arty,
can be annoying. A cybran battleship fleet left unchecked is Game Over.
Remember that.
---------------- Playing as Air man for the Beginner -----------------
Generally speaking, you'll want to select UEF as your faction. This is
because UEF fighters are significantly cheaper and faster to build than
other factions. In fact, one major complaint that pros have about
SupCom2 is that the air game is very stale due to the ease with which
UEF can gain air superiority so quickly. Many will argue that there are
one or two specific Aeon research technologies (shields and, especially,
flares) that can overcome the disadvantage against a UEF air player. As
a beginner, don't worry about that for now. JUST PLAY UEF AIR WHEN
STARTING OUT IN MULTI-PLAYER.
Remember, playing air does not mean spamming gunships. It means spamming
fighters without stopping until you are sure you own the air.
As your team's air man, you have one creed to live by. It defines your
job the entire game. If you follow this rule, you did your job. If you
ignore this rule, you let everyone on your team down.
***************************************************************
The Air Player's Creed:
"If it flies, it dies."
***************************************************************
That's it. Period. End of story. That's what dictates your approach
and decision-making when you are fulfilling the air role. Your primary
goal is not to assist your teammates. Your primary goal is not to bomb
incoming ACUs. Your primary goal is not to attack outlying mass points.
These are all "good things to do", but they are not the first thing you
should be attempting.
Your ***PRIMARY*** role, as air man, is to utterly annihiliate any enemy
unit that is capable of flight. Once you own the air, you must keep it
that way. Unskilled opponents will continue trying to pump air units
from their factories. You must kill these air units to keep your air
superiority. (Or suffer the painful consequences for failing to do so.)
A good opponent recognize once he's lost the skies to you, and turn off
his air factories. He then glumly hopes he can come up with a clever
strategy to help his teammates before you come swooping in with your
gunships, bombers, and air experimentals to kill everything you can find.
Chances are, he won't be of much value once he's lost the air.
You also have an important secondary role: you are the eyes of your
team. You are the scout. If something from an enemy comes at one of
your opponents that they had no warning of, it's your fault. It is
important to send individual planes very early in the game (Between
1:30 and 3:00) over your enemy's starting areas to get a feel for what
they might be up to.
Aggresive air players will make an air factory as one of the first three
bulidings they construct. (Their first air fac often comes out even
before a 5th mass point or any power gens!) Until you get better at
SupCom2, don't worry about this. Make your 8-9 mass points and 4 power
gens. Then start making your 4 air facs. Have them start making jets on
repeat as soon as they are finished bulding. Use the first couple of
planes to fly over enemy starting positions (and more importantly,
slightly in front of those positions) to see what your opponents are
doing. On water maps, use your scouts to skim the coast lines, looking
for enemy naval. Use the f5, f6, and f7 keys to ping the map when you
see something noteworthy. Use short phrases, such as "South guy has 1
cybran naval fac", or "Two guys on left going air", "3 land facs up
front" , etc.
As a beginner, this may not tell you much, but it will be CRUCIAL
information for your more-experienced teammates. In fact, games can be
won or lost just to scouting in the first two minutes. (I'm not kidding)
Use the shift-click technique to queue up the movement of your initial
planes (scouts). Planes will slow down drastically at your waypoints,
so don't place waypoints near enemy bases. Generally, you want a long
straight line to cross any area you're interested in checking out. This
ensures your jets (scouts) fly over the likely-hostile area at max speed.
It is tempting to scout the 4 starting mass points of each enemy. What you
actually want to do is scout the open areas immediately to the front of,
and immediately behind the 4 points. This is where factories and important
structures are made early in the game. On chokepoint / bridge maps, such as
Setons Clutch, Van Horne, Boolon, and Iskellian coast - scout the main avenue
of approach between your ally's and his main opponent's base. This "lane"
is where tank rushes and ACU rushes will approach from.
As air man, except for lone scouts, keep all your planes together.
Keep your factory churning out fighters until you have killed
everything that's flying, and you are sure your opponents are no
longer producing flying units. Never engage in an air battle unless you
can get a decisive victory. If at all possible, lure enemy air units into
fighting over your ally's navy - ESPECIALLY uef cruisers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
VAX PRO TIP:
Never focus fire on non-experimental air units with your air
units. (Focus-fire means selecting most/all of your air units, and then
ordering them all to attack the same enemy air unit by right clicking
it.) Instead, when you wish to engage in an air battle:
1. Make sure you stand a good chance to win the
engagement. Engage when you have superior numbers,
are fighting over friendly aa, or preferrably, both.
2. Select all of your air units that you want involved. (This should
almost always be ALL of your air units capable of air-to-air combat)
3. Tap the 'A' key, which should make your cursor turn red.
4. Left-click somewhere on the ground near enemy air units, and all of
your air will rush in to kill whatever's in the area. This yields
results 400-500% more effective in air battles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air units are finicky when it comes to movement. It takes them a while
to switch directions. Get used to this. Also, air is extremely
vulnerable to AA fire of any kind. Stay zoomed out and look for
quick-moving yellow dots hitting your air - that's aa fire.
Once you've gained air superiority
----------------------------------
As a UEF air player, your wasps (jets) won't be able to attack anything
that doesn't fly. As soon as you gain air superiority, you should generally
consider making bombers, gunships, or air experimentals. This is because
you have probably invested some of your research points into air
technology already - so it's wise to make use of research points
you've already spent, instead of heading down a different tech tree.
As a UEF player who has gained air superiority, you have no excuse to
lose the game. (Unless your teammates are collectively doing very
poorly.) My favorite approach is to make ac1k terrors (uef minor air
experimental) which are outstanding for sniping. If it's Supremacy,
and not Assassination, you may need to tech for the late game. Air
forts, mass conversion, arty, noah cannon - everything's an
option. But don't lose that air advantage. Keep scouting, and keep
radar on the enemy. A lone UEF cruiser with upgraded naval radar on a
water map is an outstanding way to see if your opponent is trying to
make "sneaky" air units in the back of the map.
In any case, if you see grey triangles starting to come into play, one
of your enemies is trying to get back in the air game. Don't let that
happen. Ever. Once you win air, it should stay won.
A note for cybran and aeon air players:
You have bomber capability as well as fighters. Don't get distracted
bombing ground targets. Your primary mantra is still in effect: "If it
flies, it dies." ONLY once you have eliminated any threat of enemy
fighters should you focus your attention on bombing targets. Your
primary targets are radars, sonars, and engineers you see that have
wandered away from your enemy's base. Why these structures?
- Most can be killed by a single pass from only a few bombers
- They are almost always undefended
- They rarely have an engineer by to re-construct them quickly
- Killing outlying engineers is a FANTASTIC way to slow down
your opponent's economy expansion. (Iron Commander is merciless
with this strategy.)
- Engineers, sonars, and radars are all intel-gathering instruments.
(Engineers have radar). Eliminating enemy intel is ALWAYS a good thing.
When you've taken out the easy targets mentioned above, mass points
that are away from your enemy's base should be taken out next. More
appropriately, *undefended* mass points should be taken out. Don't try
to crack shields unless you have a LOT of bombers. (More than 25). Don't
attack mass points near aa towers or factory aa. Remember - your next mission
is to bomb UNDEFENDED mass points.
The best part about all of this bombing? IT GETS YOU RESEARCH POINTS
FROM COMBAT KILLS.
In general, 4 air facs are the most that can be reliably kept running
churning out air. A 5th is sometimes feasible for UEF, but for now,
stick to 4 while you're learning.
----- Playing land as a beginner -----
Ugh. This is tough to teach thoroughly to a beginner, as there's a lot
to know about land play. In fact, I would argue that land play is
probably 5-6 times as intricate as air or naval play - there's that
much to know about it.
Let me give you some super-general advice that will help ensure you
(hopefully) don't get steamrolled.
- You want a total of 4-5 land facs pumping out tanks (or loyalists if
you're cybran)
- You want 9 mass points (10 on a few maps) and 4-6 power gens, no
more.
- If you are in close proximity to your opponent, you absolutely need two
factories early, making units. Open Palms is a prime example of close
quarters.
- Generally speaking, you want at least one factory pumping units, if not
two, by the time you finish your mass points and power.
Move toward your opponent when you have at least 10 tanks. Send an engineer
to make a forward radar that covers at least some of your opponent's base.
(Remember, the guy across from you). You are looking for one thing and
one thing only: grey diamonds. Those are enemy ground units. More importantly,
look for grey diamonds super-imposed on grey squares. Those are ground
units being produced by factories. This tells you how many land factories
you're up against. If there are more enemy units than you have, don't attack.
Keep your units massing in the middle, knowing you'll eventually need to go
to battle. If you are cybran or UEF, begin mixing in say 1 mobile artillery
unit for every 3 tanks or loyalists you make. arty kills blobs.
Do not engage point defense structures with only a few tanks. For
every point defense turret you see, you want at least 7-8 tanks so as
to not take a terrible beating. Double this figure for every PD you
see under a factory shield. In other words, point defense means "stay
away" to tanks. Make some mml from your factories, which out-range PD,
and crush the PD with your mml.
There is another scenario - you could be against a new or bad player who
hasn't read this guide, and is spamming a bunch of grey squares. Those
are structures. If they're very tightly packed, they're point defense and
anti-air. If they're spaced a little bit apart, they are power generators.
If they're pretty far apart, they're research stations.
In any case, I want you to say the following letters: "M M L". Mobile
missile launchers. Illuminate and UEF get them for no research cost,
but cybran need to spend SIX research points total to get "cobras"
(the cybran mml). One you have one or more mml, CAREFULLY move it
close to enemy structures and begin bombardment. I highly recommend
purchasing the land range upgrade if you are UEF or Aeon. This really
helps keep your mmls from accidentally wandering into enemy PD
range. If no enemy units (grey diamonds) approach, build more mml and
attack more heavily. Generally keep SOME tanks / bots close to your
missile forces to guard them in case something approaches.
*** MML are virtually worthless against tanks. Do not over-spam them. ***
The genral line of thought is that 8-10 mml is more than enough to do the job.
If there are no enemy units (tanks, bots, etc.), and 8-10 mml can't crack
his defenses, you need another approach.
Also, move your mml back and forth every few seconds. Players who
build mostly structures also tend to build factories with missiles on
them. Those missile volleys from factories can wipe out your mmls
quickly. So keep them moving the best you can.
Occasionally, you'll get close to a guy with mostly structures and
then you'll suddenly see your units start to flash with light and
start dying at a fairly brisk clip. This is because you are playing an
aeon player, and they have activated what's affectionately known to
the pros as "beamgen". For a total of 8 research points, all power
generators for an aeon player can be converted into
point-defenses. This costs 500 energy to activate per power generator,
and the target can not be selected. This capability has a cool-down
timer, so it must be used carefully.
What this mainly means for you is that ***beam-gen outranges your mml.
Pull them back.*** You'll need to revert to another strategy to take
your turtling, structure-building friend out. (Tactical missile launchers,
artillery, or even gunships, if your teammate has kept the skies safe.)
Approach cybran bases very carefully with your land units. ALWAYS
ATTACK CYBRAN BUILDINGS FROM THE MAXIMUM FIRING RANGE A UNIT HAS TO
OFFER. Cybrans can purchase a tech called 'structure detonate'. This
allows the cybran player to pick (almost) any of his buildings to
unleash a MASSIVE blast that will crush any ground units and gunships
in the immediate vicinity. Yes, he will lose his building, but he'll
take out a lot of your units in the process. (I once destoryed 100+
gunships by detonating a single factory!!) Most notably, cybran PD
turrets, AA towers, research stations, and factories all have a nasty
detonate blast. Approach with caution.
Special tactis with Aeon:
Remember, aeon land units can float on water. Many times the opponent
lined up against you builds structures, and nothing but
structures. Normally these players are a cakewalk to beat. But
sometimes they build nasty structures, like point-defense and
beam-gens. If you can, use the water to your advantage and march your
troops AROUND their obstacles, and right into, say, an undefended
naval player's base. This is the classic move on Seton's Clutch. UEF
navy is exceptionally vulnerable to early aeon tank raids. If you are
playing as Aeon on Setons Clutch, and you encounter an enemy "front
man" (opponent in front slot) who's turtling with structures and NO
UNITS, simply take your initial tank blob along the water and hit the
beach. You'll either take out a navy, or frustrated the guy by the
beach because he wasn't expecting to have to defend against land so
early. (He will be VERY mad at his front man!!)
As a land player, you want to push and push hard - as hard as you can.
Don't stop pushing until an enemy makes you stop. Focus on wiping out
one player at a time, starting with the guy you lined up across from.
You may see other land players move their ACU to the front as part of their
land play. This is an advanced style of play that requires decision-making
experience that you don't have yet, so don't try it right away.
Rely on your teammates to kill things that fly. If you find yourself
having to build more than 1-2 rare aa towers, your teammate is not
doing his job as air man, OR, he just got overwhelmed. In either
situation, it's best to retreat, turn off your land factories (if
there's no land threat), and consider teching up to something more
powerful, or trying to help your teammate out with the air situation.
Some experienced players will say to just spam mobile aa units from your
factories. I don't recommend this approach because:
- You're new, and this takes experience
- It's less mass that you get to spend on structure-killing and tank-killing
units
- Mobile aa takes awhile to build and takes even longer to get it where you
need it
- Enemy air can just run away from it
- You shouldn't HAVE to make mobile aa in team games. Your air man should
be doing his job
If you are fortunate enough to make it to your enemy's base unhindered
by his land units, you will begin racking up research by killing
buildings. Use this to further upgrade your land units, preferrably
toward a land experimental such as megalith or fatboys. If you are</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
Illuminate, do not bother with the urchinaw or willfindja - they both
suck. Instead, tech to the teleport technology which lets your land
units jump as a group, instantaneously, to another spot nearby on the
map. This lets you keep up with faster units, ambush enemy ACUs, or
get around pesky point-defence walls. (But then again, you have mml
for the point defence, right?)
--- Important tip for moving groups of units of any type ---
One of the most annoying aspects of SupCom2 is that when you have a
group of units selected, and issue a move-order, they attempt to get
into formation first, and then move. This has horrible implications if
you have selected units that are far apart on the map. It can actually
cause units to move in the OPPOSITE direction in which you order them.
In general, it is a very good habit, to use control-click
frequently. This tells the units to move to the location you specify,
REGARDLESS of where they're at, and it tells them to not get into
formation.
==========================================================
Section 3: (Almost) Everything About Mass Conversion
==========================================================
- Background: What is mass conversion? -
Mass conversion refers to the process of converting energy to
mass. Every faction has the ability to research the Mass Conversion
technology. Once researched, this technology allows the player to build
one or more structures called, simply enough, mass converters.
Each mass converter, when activated, instantly converts exactly 2,500
units of energy into 250 units of mass. It is possible to select more
than one mass converter at once, then fire them all off simultaneously.
For example, if four converters are fired at once, then 10,000 units
of energy are converted, instantly, into 1,000 units of mass. If you
do not have enough energy to to fire all of the converters you have
selected, you will not be allowed to activate them. Try selecting
fewer mass converters such that the amount of energy to convert falls
into the amount you actually have.
Once fired / activated, a 10-second cooldown timer is then imposed on
the any converter that was just fired.
- How to determine if and when you should pursue mass conversion -
Contrary to the belief of many inexperienced or casual players:
- Mass conversion does not ruin SupCom2 games
- Mass conversion is not a "noob" tactic
- Mass conversion is almost never a good idea at the beginning of the
game
Mass conversion has many benefits and drawbacks. An experienced player
will take into account many factors before deciding to "go
conversion". Such factors include:
- The map, especially the size of the map
- Their location on the map
- The skill level of their opponents
- The skill level of their allies
- The state of their opponents (Are the opponents attacking, turtling,
teching, etc?)
- Is their team generally winning or losing?
- How long they expect the game to last
- Style of the game (FFA vs team game, Assassination vs Supremacy)
- The open space available to them for spamming power-generators (The
lifeblood of the mass conversion super-economy)
- How close are they on the tech tree already to getting mass conversion?
- How desperate are they to pull off a miracle when losing badly?
Mass conversion changes the flow of a SupCom2 game dramatically. In
essence, it increase a player's economy exponentially. Before mass
conversion, a typical player will have a mass income of roughly +9 to
+12 mass per second. After a fully-developed mass conversion economy
is up and running, a good player will have the equivalent of a ***
+150 to +360 maMASS INCOME PER SECOND. That's anywhere from a 12x to
30x increase in economic production. Properly utilized, it's a
nightmare for your opponents.
Many new players would ask "Wow - why *wouldn't I want that?" That leads
to our next section, an important one.
---
How to decide if and when you should attempt a mass conversion economy?
---
This is a tricky section to write, because there are somewhat differing
opinions out there. However, I think I can give some general rules that
apply to a majority of games. There will always be exceptions to the
guidelines below, but it should serve as an excellent starting point for
newer players.
- The earlier you are in the game, the more risky it is to tech
straight to mass conversion. This is because the typical approach of
teching straight to mass conversion requires investing most of your
mass into defenseless research stations and p-gens, as opposed to
mobile combat units.
Conversely...
- The later you are in the game, the more of a *necessity* mass
conversion (usually) becomes. There is a simple reason for this: Your
opponents have held you off to the late game, which means what you
tried isn't working. Since they held you off, they often have the
luxury of doing mass conversion themselves. Thus, if you don't, you'll
eventually get crushed.
The first rule above is true in any style of multi-player above. The
second rule generally only applies to 3v3 and 4v4 matches, and
sometimes 2v2 matches on larger maps. In 1v1 matches, you will often
have your hands full from the start of the game, and attempting mass
conversion just won't really be feasible very often.
With regard to the above two rules, I generally keep two times on the
clock in mind: 8:00 and 15:00. If you hit mass conversion before 8:00,
you have taken a huge risk in your research purchases. By
this, I mean high-risk / high-reward. Conversely, if you get 15:00
into a game and have NOT researched mass conversion, you probably need
to give serious consideration to making massconv your next investment
on the research tree, unless you are nearing the end of the match.
There are always exceptions and modifications to these times and
rules, but the 8:00 / 15:00 rule is a good place to start.
Now let's discuss some exceptions to the above.
If you are on a small 1v1 or 2v2 map, or Open Palms (a small 3v3 map),
you may never make it to mass conversion the whole game. This is
because you will be in "close-quaters" combat the whole game, needing
to spend your mass and RP on combat-oriented units and structures. The
good news is that your opponents won't be going mass conversion on
these maps either. And if they try, you'll crush them.
Additionally, it is a huge gamble to go early mass conversion if you
are against a team of aggresive, good players on any but the largest
of maps. Good players will know how to put the most offense on the
board in the least amount of time and get it to your side of the
map. This is not at all fun for you to have to try and address if you
have spent your RP and mass on nothing but research stations and power
generators. You simply won't have enough combat forces to fend off the
attack. By the time the enemy forces are upon you, *it's too late*.
SupCom2 is all about being prepared ahead of time. And pushing heavily
for mass conversion early leaves you pretty much unprepared for all
but the lightest of enemy attacks.
Now for an exception that demands that you DO go mass conversion
early. You need to learn to spot this early.
You are against a team of players who are turtling and teching to mass
conversion themselves, BUT, the nature of the map or their defensive
posture prevents you from getting enough offense on the board in time.
It happens a little more often than you think, especially on big
maps. Yes, you can spam dozens of tanks and charge them early down the
straight on Setons Clutch, but if the other team's front man does the
same, he can easily hold you off. He is emplying a tactic called
'stalling'. You can rush to get 3 AC-1000 terror's built around the
7:30 mark, but by then it would be trivial for an opponent to have 4-5
aa towers under a couple of shields - more than enough to vaporize you
terror's.
So there are times when your opposing team will be a tough nut to
crack, and mass conversion sooner rather than later may be a
requirement for 1-3 players on your team. Fortunately, by reading this
section of the guide, you're going to be a far-better mass conversion
player than your opponents.
Assuming you are not in any clear-cut scenario descibed above,
deciding when it's time to pursue / research mass conversion is all
about experience and "feel". If you think you've got enough forces to
deter whatever your opponents have in store for you *over the next
five to seven minutes*, by all means, opt for mass conversion. Intel,
scouting, and a knowledge of how your opponents play will help
fine-tune the decision.
Here are some exotic but somewhat reliable guidelines I've come up
with that help me in the decision process, or to know that someone
ELSE is setting up for mass conversion:
- If my team does not get scouted in the beginning of the game, AND
I'm on a big map, chances are 95% that at least 1-2 of my opponents
are going mass conversion "out of the gate". This means at least one
person on my team should probably go for mass conversion right away as
well.
- In an FFA of highly-skilled players, anyone who is able to kill an
ACU and everything in their immediate vicinity will usually have
enough research points to acquire the mass conversion technology
instantly. If it looks safe to do so, they will almost always begin
spamming power generators and ramping up their massconv economy.
- If my team scouts within the 3-4 minute mark and we see a particular
player with more than five power gens and/or 2-3 research stations,
odds are 75% or higher that the player in question is bolting for mass
conversion. We need to either attack that player asap or go massconv
ourselves.
-------------------------------------------------
Proper establishment of a mass conversion economy
-------------------------------------------------
The first step was deciding if and when to go mass conversion. Once
you've decided that mass conversion is the right path for you, the
next step is to understand HOW to actually do it.
This section describes how to properly set up a mass conversion
economy, and things to keep in mind. It never ceases to amaze me at
how many players ARE TERRIBLY INEFFECTIVE with a mass conversion
approach. Read this section of the guide thoroughly to avoid being
one of them.
Let's start off with some key concepts and considerations you need to
be aware of about setting up your mass conversion economy.
-- Blast Radius --
Almost every structure in the game, when it is destoryed, causes SOME
amount of damage to nearby enemy units. Many of these structures will
also damage nearby FRIENDLY units when they are destroyed. Some
structures, such as radars, sonars, do virtually no damage upon death.
The mass converter structure, however, HAS AN ABSOLUTELY LETHAL DEATH
BLAST. If a converter is destoryed, it will take out, or severely
cripple, any of your other units and structures within almost a full
point-defense's radius. This includes other mass converters, which in
turn will have their own blast radius and damage. This means that
when one converter is destoryed that sits amidst a line or cluster of
converters, a seriously devastating explosion (the equivalent of a nuke
blast) will instantly erase that area of your base. (Think instant chain
reaction.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vax Pro Warning:
This death blast will also occur if you decide to self-destruct the
converter yourself, so be forewarned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This large and powerful blast radius of mass converters has a few
implications you need to keep in mind at all times:
- ALWAYS guard your converters with shields. There is no excuse for an
unshielded converter once your exponential economy is up and running!!!
For Cybran and Aeon, it is physically impossible to research mass conversion
without having already researched / unlocked shield structures. So you
already have the ability to build them!
- NEVER leave your ACU next to a converter. ESPECIALLY in an
assassination game. If you are assigning build orders to make your ACU
build converters, add a final move order that makes him walk away from them.
- When possible, place your converters away from valuable structures.
- If possible, place your converters next to hills / mountains /
unbuilable terrain. This gives you one obvious advantage and another
less-obvious advantage:
- Terrain can frequently block direct-fire from enemy units such
as tanks, loyalists, megaliths, or even fatboys.
- ALSO, placing converters near terrain that won't let you build there
means there will be less of your stuff that gets taken out by the
death blast, should one of your converters get taken out.
So now you have a decision to make - should you bunch all of your
converters in one heavily-protected area, or spread them out?
There are pros and cons to placing all of your converters in one area
versus spreading them out. Personally, I do mine in small "clusters"
of two to five each.
The main disadvantages of placing all of your converters in one large
cluster are as follows:
1. When one dies, they all will die. You will have no conversion
ability until you (re)build more converters.
2. When your enemy finds one of your mass converters, he's found them
all. Never assume that just because an enemy notices a particular
structure of yours that he also notices one nearby. It's easier to
hide structures than you might think.
3. If your ACU is anywhere in the area when a converter gets taken out,
he dies unless he's nearly fully upgraded on health / shields.
On the other hand, the main disadvantage of spreading your converters
is that you now have many points of "blast radius risk" in your
base. This means there are now several potential big bangs your
enemies could cause in your base. Using the placement tips above can
help to reduce this risk. Additionally, going with the "spread your
converters" approach can be well worth it if one of your clusters
should get taken out. You'll STILL have access to plenty of conversion
from your other mass converters. You'd be surprised how often your
enemy does NOT find or notice all of your converters when you have
threm sprawled (and shielded!) throughout your base!
-- How many converters should you make? --
First, let's start with some pure math. One mass converter, operated
with machine-like precision, can convert 2,500 energy every ten
seconds. This translates to 250 of energy consumption per
second. This means that, in theory, if you were able to remember and
"fire off" (activate) your converts exactly every 10.00 seconds, you
would only need one mass converter per 250 energy (per second) of your
economy. For example, if my energy income is +800 energy per second, I
would need an absolute bare minimum of 4 mass converters to keep up
with my economy. (3 mass converters can consume 750 energy per second,
which is not my full income.)
In reality, we're human. We get distracted, A LOT, in the late game
chaos. We're busy building, planning, scouting, attacking, and
defending. We're managing many activities at once. It can be
challenging to remember to fire off your converters. (The more you
play, the more it becomes a habit.)
Therefore, as a general rule, I assume I will only be 50% efficient in
remembering to fire off my converters. (I personally remember about
once every 20 game seconds to fire them off). Thus, I tend to make 1 mass
converter for every +125 energy per second I'm at. (In the early
stages of mass conv, this is a little excessive, but works quite well
for enduring the late-game chaos.) The more you play mass conversion
phases of the game, the more you'll start to get a feel for how
"inefficient" you are on remembering to activate your converters.
By the end of absolutely crazy mass conversion games, I'll either have
12-16 mass converters (For population cap 500 games), or 16-28 mass
converters (For population cap 1,000 games)
***************************************************************************
Vax Pro Tip:
Always, always, always research the energy output upgrade technology
immediately after researching mass conversion
***************************************************************************
The UEF and Aeon factions have a technology that increases the output
of their power generators. It is a SupCom2 moral crime *not* to
research this technology soon after achieving mass conversion. Why
would you NOT want to increase your economic output 20 to 30% for such
a small amount of RP? You spent 15-19 reseasrch points to get to mass
conversion in the first place - why not spend another 4-5 to make your
economy truly unstoppable?!?! To repeat, always make the energy
upgrade the next technology you acquire after mass conversion. It's
THAT IMPORTANT.
----- What (and how) to build after reaching mass conversion -----
---
NOTE:
This section generally applies to large-map 3v3 and 4v4 games where
the game is effectively at a stalemate. In 1v1 and 2v2 games, if you
acquire mass conversion, you'll often be in the midst of constant
combat. You won't have the luxury of time or focus to build 200 power
gens. Instead, in these smaller games, mass conversion will tend to be
a (reasonably healthy) supplement to your current economy. Having only
3-4 mass converters and 15-20 power gens is not uncommon in the
very-late game phases of intense 1v1 and 2v2 games, especially between
good players.
---
Okay - you've research massconv, and the energy upgrade tech. You've
got some space, and some time. Here's what you should do.
Build a land or air factory immediately with your ACU if you don't
have an idle factory available already. That factory should then
immediately pump out a minimum of 20 engineers, and preferrably 30. DO
NOT HAVE THAT FACTORY SET TO PATROL UNITS. Instead, set a waypoint for
that factory to a very near-by space. You want idle engineers to
appear quickly on your side-bar. While your ACU is building the
factory, have two engineers build 1 mass converter each. This gives
you immediate access to 5,000 energy every 10 seconds. If your energy
stores are above 30,000 - go ahead and bulid a third mass
converter. Once your initial converters are up and running, select one
of them, then hit CTRL-Z. From there, assign them to a numbered
control group (I always pick CTRL-1). Now, whenever you need more
mass, you can type '1' (or whatever number you assigned), and then
activate the conversion ability by clicking the icon (which shows the
cooldown timer) or hitting the shortcut-key.
As your engineers roll out of the factory, select them one at a time and
order them to build short lines of power generators in DIFFERENT areas of
your base. The engineers should build power generators in groups of 4-5 at
a time, no more, no less. Any less than 4 means they become idle too
quickly and you spend too much time managing them. Any more than 5-6 means
it takes them forever to go idle, and they may be needed for a different
task in the meantime.
Another point which I can't emphasize strongly enough -
DO NOT WASTE TIME MAKING NICE NEAT STRAIGHT LINES AND SQUARES. You
don't have the time. It should take you less than 1.5 seconds per
engineer to "swipe flick" your mouse across an area of the map to make
4-5 pgens. You want most of the area consumed by pgens, but you don't
want it covered by a perfect square. That means you've wasted WAY too
much time.
To really get your economy rocking, you need to invest all of your
initial converted mass into power geneartors, and a few research
stations. Once you've got maybe 40 to 50 pgens in play, it's time to
assign a single engineer as your converter builder. Send an engineer
to various safe spots (described above), and have him build 3-4
converters in each spot. As the converters come on line, make sure to
add them to your control group. By the time you have 20-30 engineers
pumping out power, you'll have enough converters to keep up.
***************************************************************************
Vax Pro Tip:
In games where the population cap is 1,000 - the factory that is
pumping out engineers should be set to bulid engineers on infinite
repeat. You can never have too many engineers in a 1,000 unit
mass-conversion game.
***************************************************************************
While your dozens of engineers are spewing out power gens, your ACU is
best suited for one of two roles:
- Assisting the factory that is pumping out engineers, or
- Building a couple of research stations per minute.
Producing a lot of research stations is a good idea, but don't make
so many that it drains your new found mass quickly. In fact,
I've gotten in the habit of waiting until about two minutes after unlocking
the massconv technology before making additional research stations. But once
my economy hits the 600+ energy-per-second range, I start cranking out
research stations like crazy.
If you are playing as the UEF, given extra consideration to having
more research stations. With the ground fire and AA upgrades on the
structure trees, multiple sprawled research stations in your base are
a NASTY defence against all but the largest of forces.
Regardless of what faction I am, I generally shoot for 30-40 research
stations - slightly more if I'm UEF.
Again, the general rule is: MAKE IT LOOK KIND OF MESSY. Don't draw your
research stations in a neat tidy line or box. Spread them out. Your base
should start looking like a chaotic mess of structures. This has
the following advantages:
- It is MUCH harder for the enemy to attack structures in different
locations than if they are all gather in one location.
- If something like a nuke comes in, it will only take out a small portion
of your power or research.
- It actually confuses your enemy. It's hard to tell what's what amid
all the clutter.
Try not to waste large chunks of open space, and you really don't need
to draw lines diagonally (this wastes space), but in general, MAKE IT
MESSY.
----- After power and research is cranking -----
Okay, let's confirm our checklist:
- Researched the energy boost tech? CHECK
- 20-30 or more engineers spamming power in various locations? CHECK
- ACU is not sitting idle? CHECK
- Our base is starting to look like a chaotic mess? CHECK
- We have a single engineer queueing up to build 4-5 small clusters of
mass converters in different parts of our base? CHECK
Time to add a few immediate things to this list.
--- Next mass conversion base checklist item: Shields
If you are UEF, research shields asap. If you are Cybran or Aeon,
you will already have them unlocked.
You must begin building shields all over your base. Unfortunately,
shortly after unlocking mass conv, they will drain your economy if you
bulid too many. Have your ACU queue up 4-5 shields in different, but close
by, spots in your base. By the time he is done cranking those out, your
economy should now be able to support multiple engineers building shields.
Again, the cardinal rule applies: MAKE IT MESSY. You want shields randomly
scattered, and heavily applied, around your bass. Don't make neat lines.
Also, I want to mention an important concept at this point.
Once your economy is rockin' - say - past 800+ energy per second,
you don't want to use one engineer making a queue of ten structures.
In this case, we'd be talking about shields. The problem with using one
engineer to build all structures you need of a particular type is that
it takes way too long. So once your economy can support multiple shield
construction at once, don't use one engineer to make 20 shields. Instead,
use 5 engineers to queue up 4 shields each. Again, MAKE THEM RANDOM.
Thinking back to many of my mass conversion bases, I probably had 30-80
shields by the time was all said and done.
Whenever you think of it, select one of your shields and hit CTRL-Z.
This hilights all of your shields, and should show you, using range
rings, all of the areas of your base that are covered by shields. Your
goal is to have no gaps, and many areas that are double-covered.
Note: If you are playing with the DLC, the UEF has an experimental
shield called the Aegis. Don't worry about building these for now,
UNLESS you are taking long-range artillery fire.
--- Next mass conversion base checklist item: Faction-specific defense techs
If you are UEF, you need to unlock the following two consecutive
technologies on the structure research tree:
Gauss Cannon
Linked Railgun Anti-Air
These upgrade both your mass points and your research stations. The
first allows both types of structures to fire on nearby ground
targets, very similar to point defences. The second technology allows
both res stations and mass points to fire on air targets.
If you are cybran, you need to unlock Structure Detonate on the
structure tree. This allows you to self-destruct almost any of your
structures in exchange for a very power death blast that helps to
eliminate nearby enemy ground units and gunships. (Structure detonate
does not work against fighters or bombers.)
If you are Aeon, you need to unlock Electro-Shock on the structure
tree. This gives all of your power generators the ability to become a
temporary form of point defence, firing a near continuous laser on
neaerby ground units. Used with 20 or more power geneartors at once,
this can be a defensive force to be reckoned with. It is enough to
keep skilled players from approaching you by ground.
The best way to use this technology is to select all of your pgens
in the area, and activate them at once. This ensures maximum damage output.
Note that each activation requires 500 energy PER PGEN, so keep an eye
on your energy reserves. Additionally, there is a cooldown timer to be
aware of. Finally, just be aware that you will not be able to select which
targets the pgens fire at.
--- Next mass conversion base checklist item: PD and AA
You now need to liberally sprinkle AA towers and PD towers in your
base. By now, you should have gobs of research points acrruing, so
invest heavily in the training techs (star icons) on the structure tree.
If you are Aeon, also get the structure shield technology on the
structure tree.
If you are UEF and have extra research to spare, get the 'Engineering
Tower' upgrade on the structure tree. This allows pgens to heal nearby
damaged structures and units. This is incredibly useful for enduring
light to moderate long-range artillery fire. (You also get the added
bonus that pgens will automatically completely construction of any
building in its range that is unfiinished and does not currently have
an engineer/ACU working to complete it. This can happen frequently
when an engineer begins construction on a structure but is then
destroyed by enemy artillery fire before it can complete
construction.)
--- Next mass conversion base checklist item: Anti-nukes
About the same time you begin peppering AA and PD (in a messy
fashion!!!) around your base, your need to pop up anti-nukes. If you
are cybran, do not worry about boomerangs (yet). You want more
anti-nuke structures than you think you need. You want to place them
toward the edge of your base that faces all of your opponents. More
specifically, zoom out and mentally picture every area you could
reasonably expect nukes to be launched from. You then need to build
an anti-nuke structure to cover every avenue of approach. The
anti-nuke radius should be just enough to cover your forward base.
Your ACU is a good candidate for anti-nuke building. Having 9-10
anti-nuke buildings in your base is NOT overkill. It's a good idea to
have a few anti-nukes slightly more inward than your first (main) ring
/ line of anti-nukes. Occasionally, due to geometry and other quirks
of the game, nukes slip by. Having a few "inner" anti-nukes is a wise
investment.
ANTI-NUKES ARE CHEAP WHEN YOU HAVE A MSS CONVERSION ECONOMY RUNNING.
Once an anti-nuke structure is complete, YOU HAVE TO LOAD IT WITH AMMUNITION.
This is the biggest mistake new players make pertaining to nukes: they fail
to remember that anti-nukes have to construct anti-nuke missiles to fire.
For each anti-nuke structure, you want it always building an
anti-nuke, and you want 2-3 queued up. I promise you, at some point in
your career, 60+ nukes will be fired at you simultaneously. You'll
understand the effectiveness of anti-nukes when that happens.
--- Next mass conversion base checklist item: Intel
At this point, you should send a few engineers to spam radar and sonar
all over the map. Use transports to move them quickly on large maps.
Make sure you have all radar and sonar range upgrades. UEF has a
radar range increase, Cybran have a radar range and (an AMAZING) sonar
range increase. Aeon have an activated radar ability that gives a temporary
radar AND VISION radius boost.
If you're cybran and playing with the DLC content, get intellitrons on
the air research tree and artillery intel on the structure tree.
Spam intel in every way you can think of at this point. Place extra
radars and sonars for redundancy - they're cheap, and they can help
win games.
--- Finally: Defensive experimentals and offense
Now your economy is booming. If you're a real fanatic like I am, and you're
playing in a 1,000 unit cap game, your energy should be over 2,000 per second.
Yes, that's the mass equivalent of 200 mass units PER SECOND.
You're going to need all of it.
At this point, you need to have a pretty good idea of what your main
threat will be: enemy air, enemy artillery, space-templed land-units
(units that get teleported into your base), or nukes. Generally
speaking, a majority of the late game threats you face fall into those
four categories.
To address these, you need to put a portion of your booming economy to
work producing powerful defensive units and structures. Here's a run-down:
If you are cybran:
- Go ahead and research and build boomerangs. Just realize they are
much more easily overwhelmed by multiple, simultaneous approaching
nukes. Boomerangs, like regular cybran anti-nukes, need ammunition to
work. When a nuke passes over a loaded boomerange, the nuke is
redirected back to the original nuke that launched it. Assuming no
bugs in the game occur, there is nothing to keep that nuke from
exploding on the exact spot that originally launched it.
This in turn causes your opponents to (usually) stop firing nukes. So
don't go crazy with boomerangs. Generally, I find that I build 3-4
anti-nuke structures for every one boomerang sturcture.
If you really want your boomerangs to participate in the nuke war,
have them in front of your anti-nukes. Otherwise, anti-nukes will
shoot down the incoming enemy nuke before it gets a chance to be
reflected back.
Finally, keep this in mind:
***************************************************************************
Vax Pro Tip:
Cybran boomerangs are NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANTI-NUKES IN THE LATE-GAME
***************************************************************************
If you are UEF:
Now's a good time, if you have the space, for multiple Aegis shields.
Just remember that the shields need to be manually recharged once they
run out. This is done with a special ability. Keep in mind that Aegis
are primarily used to defend against artilllery fire. Bombers and
gunships can easily get inside the huge shield radius and continue to
do damage.
If you are cybran:
A cluster of 3-4 tightly spaced magnetrons work wonders when set on
the 'repel' function. When you activate 'repel', their strength combines,
and it quickly pushes away land AND NAVAL units far enough away from your
base that they can no longer do damage.
You need to get in the habit of repeatedly firing your magnets. The cooldown
timer expires a few seconds after their repel ability stops running,
so you can run magnets quite frequently. Just keep in mind, if land units
teleport into your base, you may end up pushing them further into your base,
not away from it.
***************************************************************************
Vax Pro Tip:
It is almost never correct to use the 'attract' capability on
magnetrons.
***************************************************************************
They are rarely capable of destorying major experimentals, and many
times units will get "stuck" on structures on the way to being sucked
in. Once the attract wears off, congratulations - you've just helped the
enemy get right into your base WAY MORE QUICKLY.
Some people will tell you that you get tons of mass by sucking in units.
Who cares? We're talking about a mass conversion scenario here.
You ALREADY have tons of mass.
I recommend two clusters of 3-5 magnets, firing them all at once as a
control group. This is especially effective against A.I. players.
Smart humans will figure out a way around your magnets. (Sometimes)
But magnets on repel are an amazing way to hold off cybran walking
navies.
If you are Aeon:
The Aeon have lots of fun defensive toys for experimentals. You should
make use of all of them.
Unlocked the loyalty gun in the structure tree and sprawl anywhere
from 3-10 of them throughout your base, depending on how heavy of a
land assault you expect. If you know you will be attacked by nothing
but air, don't bother. Loyalty guns are good only against things that
walk, hover, or swim. (Exclusing enemy ACUs)
If you wish, you can also unlock the PullNSmash from the land unit
tree. This is a unit that, once activated, remains stationary but
sucks in enemy land, air, and naval (even battleships!) units one at a
time, but fairly quickly. PullNSmashes are fantastic for navies on the
fringe of your base causing harassment. You'll need to constantly
activate, deactivate, move, and reactivate your pullnsmashes to keep
them from getting hit by cruiser missile volleys.
Another great experimental for Aeon is the Illuminator, unlocked from
the structure tree. This is basically a giant radar on steroids. When
activated, it provides visual coverage over a huge area surrounding
it, and covers the entire map with radar, except on maybe the largest
of maps. The boost doesn't last long, though, so be ready to zoom out
and frantically look around to see what you need to see. The cooldown
timer is also nasty-long for these babies. You might want two or three
of them scattered throughout your base.
Additonally, the Airnomo is an outstanding Aeon land experimental
designed to quickly eliminate enemy air experimentals. (It's not so
good against fleets of gunships or bombers - that's what your aa
towers are for.) I recommend scattering a few airnomos throughout
your base.
With the DLC, the Aeon get the ability to produce most land structures on
water. Since you've got a ton of research points, purchase and use it.
Start using the water (on water maps) to hold the remaining pgens you
build. Save the precious land area for experimental gantries and
structures, which can NOT be built on water. In fact, keep the following
in mind:
***************************************************************************
Vax Pro Tip:
Do not depend on an Aeon water base for serious offensive capability.
***************************************************************************
Even with the Quantum Floating upgrade which allows you to build many
structure on water, here are things you STILL can't build on the water:
- Air factories
- Experimental gantries
- Loyalty Guns
- Illuminators
In reality, the only potentially effective offensive capability you're going
to have from an Aeon water base is nukes, and those are easily countered.
Land spam from the water won't do you much good in the late game - your
enemy will be able to counter it. Tactical missile launchers - same thing.
Easily countered.
The real purpose of an aeon water base is a large area to place all
your new power gens, mass converts, and research stations. Sprinkle
liberally with AA towers, shields, and anti-nukes, and you've got
yourself a nice fairly well-protected secondary economy-farm. (Without
good intel, many weak players won't even know it exists.) This is a
good area to launch lots of nukes from, but be careful of boomerangs.
And don't forget, if a navy tries to approach your water-based
powerfarm, beam-gen them. :) Or better, teleport your land units on
top of them.
--- The last defensive technology most mass conversion people forget about
Before going into offense, I'll remind you the most important remaining
technology to research that most players forget about: Your ACU.
Spend your RP to get Training V on your ACU. Invest in any ACU technology
that improves his lifespan or ability to run and hide:
- Stealth (UEF ACU)
- Shields
- Speed upgrades
- Overcharge
- Jump-jets or teleport
- Nanites to heal
- ** HUNKER **
In fact, many times in a chaotic game, I'll just leave my ACU in
hunkered mode. That way I don't accidentally miss seeing a snipe
attempt and lose most of his health. The more engineers you have
exploiting a mass conversion economy, the less valuable your ACU's
increase construction speed becomes. (While he is hunkered, he can't
do anything.)
--- A mass conversion offense
And now the fun begins. At this point, you've lived long enough
to have a massive eco-farm, and your defenses are looking wicked
powerful. Time to crush your enemy.
Use anything and everything at your disposal, with the one following
principle in mind:
Artillery, in range, and en masse, always wins games.
The only counter to arillery is shields. Shields do absolutely nothing
offensively. If you can begin constructing massive amounts of
artillery in range of your opponent (think 30+ disruptors, or 80+
long-range artillery units), your opponent is going down, no matter
how many shields he has.
Even better, an Aeon ally can launch the experimental 'bubbledow'
missile into his base which disables all shields for a moderate period
of time.
When in doubt, if you can get in range, build artillery. If you can't
get in range right away, but you are UEF, build a noah
cannon. Construct 21 engineers with it, launch them closer to your
enemy's base, then begin constructing a forward artillery base with
shields and artillery. Very effective.
If you're in the mood to attack with air, I highly recommend soul
rippers if you're cybran. They have devastating air-to-air power as
well as good ground-fire. 30-40 soul rippers is pretty much
unstoppable. (You DO have an economy of about +2,000 energy a second,
right?)
If you're UEF, AC1k terros are fragile but can pack a mean punch en
masse. They're great for assination mode as they can usually snipe an
ACU effectively. Also, with 1,000 unit cap you can build 11-12 air
forts and have them crank out air units at an insanely fast pace. Just
be prepared for the game to start lagging tremendously, especially on
big maps.
If you're Aeon, your usual play is to construct massive amounts of
universal collosus and a few airnomos to support them. (3-to-1 is a
good ratio). Then get a space temple in range and teleport them into
the enemy's base. I've sent 60+ universal collosus into an enemy base
before with 10-20 airnoms for support. The havoc is unreal. Once the
base is dead. bring them back through the teleporter, then send them
to the next base. It's vicious.
If you don't have access to a space temple, experimental transports
are a great way to move land experimentals quickly across the map. If
you're cybran, monkeylords are just plain hard to stop. Air is pretty
much the only way, or MASSIVE artillery fire. Begin transporting
monkeylords all over the map and your opponents will probably quit
before you even get to their base. :)
I'm not a fan of King Kriptors and Cybran cybranasauras rexes. They
are both slow moving, have a very short range, and are killed easily
by late-game defenses. (Technically, the same is true of Aeon, but
Aeon have few other powerful land-based alternatives).
UEF jackhammers pack an insanely powerful punch, but have a pretty
short range and need to be micro'ed carefully.
I don't like fatboys and megaliths for the late-game mass converson era
because they simply can't destory things nearly as quickly as other
experimentals, arty, or nukes.
The Noah cannon can be loads of fun. The Noah cannon builds units
with extreme speed and efficiency, and then launches them to a location
of your choosing on the map. With a unit cap of 500, I usually keep it
to 2-3 noah cannons. With a unit cap of 1,000 - sky's the limit.
Once Noahs are complete, I usually load them up with tanks. Occasionally,
mmls will be needed instead. (Like trying to crack a base defended by
magnetrons and shields.)
Be aware that your two main concerns when launching noah units are
overcharge from an ACU and magnetrons. You're not worried about Aeon
beamgen, because you can produce units and attack more frequently than
he can replenish his power supply. If an opponent keeps using beamgen
to hold off your units, keep firing them in there. Eventually, you
bleed out all his energy.
When trying to crack magnets with noah, you want mml. You need to
constantly be targeting the magnets with your mml as they land, as the
mml will only live for one volley by the time they're sucked in or
repelled. Firing 80 mml at once is not overkill. You want the magnets
dead.
When facing an ACU armed with overcharge, he can take out your entire
arriving army. Launch 1-2 noahs as 'bait'. let him overcharge, Right as
you see him overcharging on your units, launch the rest of your units
in the same area. If he doesn't run, he'll die.
Since you have so much research, you should have put the 'aa' upgrade
on your land units. You won't be worried about enemy air
experimentals, because now with your massive noah blobs, you'll do as
much damage to air forts, soul rippers, and ac1k as they do to
you. Plus, you can replace your forces a heck of a lot faster.
I love Noahs for this reason.
