Just finished what I would call my first real game. I am going to try and just bullet point the highlights. Setup FFA 4 player 1 player dropped 1 player lagged out about 15 min in 1v1 effectively My opponent had logged more then 75 hours in game Result I forfeit after being nuked twice (commander survived both attempts). Thoughts Defense is way too potent. He smartly turtled with the dragons teeth and clever artillery placement. I was the aggressor and successfully raided him multiple times If I had been more aggressive I could have taken him I believe. I just...lost interest after about an hour. Don't know how better to put it. I had moved to the moon around the planet and was building advanced miners, so that was good. But the two nukes against me were enough to make me lose interest. Personal failing? Maybe having more experience will help me cope better with this type of opponent (I'm sure it will. Just thinking about it, I could have completely encircled him and built up heavy art. to pick away at his pace. I had a satellite over him at one point raining down death.) Its concerning that the resolution was me just losing interest. I understand this is beta, there are balance issues, etc. I'm just trying to share my thoughts in the hopes there will be some value to a dev along the way.
Nukes are a very big issue right now. It's not you. That said, I've found team games to be a good way to get acclimated. Once you get the hang of things, you'll enjoy yourself more. Also, remember that Bots are more reliable against artillery, since one shot kills one bot and you'll have a lot more of them; you can also do hit-and-run raids on metal factories with bots or air. Tanks are better at taking out turret lines, and a bit of forward counter-artillery can help you secure territory. There's a lot of nuance to the game if you stick with it.
Build antinuke. If you are raiding you might have seen their nuke. If so, put antinuke closest to your border that his nuke is closest to, maybe on both sides. If you got to deal with nuke spam, layer rather than spread. Possibly stack then together to protect pockets. Then build up units and swarm. He can only nuke if he wants to nuke himself then. Also, if you got to the moon, farm it and fortify every surface of it and build orbital fighters, then swarm back onto enemy planet over and over. It isn't like nukes go off planet or that he can break into a moon while a planet has much more landing area. Right now, interplanetary is more unbalanced than nuke. If you wanted, you could have camped the moon, he couldn't do anything about it since he can't move his planet, and you don't want to move yours, so watch netflix or YouTube while you wait for theirs forfeit.
Making antinukes to defend against nukes is not the way to counter nukes. Ye i know it sounds stupid but antinukes are: A: too expensive B: have very short range If you have map control just swarm all over the place and divide your forces instead of focusing them all in 1 spot. Attack him from all angles.
+1. If it was a 4 man ffa planet size mustve been reasonable, at least 4? If he turtles, you counter by taking the entire map, constantly monitor him with scout planes/radar and keep swarming up. Then, and this is key, split your forces. You can even use your com to dance in front of his artillery (v.easy to dodge with 1 unit being focused) and then mob him. Defences hurt like hell but they are built of paper too, if you can just get in there, he is done. As there is no Metal fabricator mechanic (ala FA) you NEED map control to have the economic advantage. Not want, NEED. If he turtles then he is giving the map to you, take it, use the resources, win. As for Nukes, when he turtles, spread/anti nuke. You will be able to leverage so many more resources than him that it shouldn't matter.
Antinuke aren't worthless. I was getting at that he wasn't using them right. As he probably lost the meatier chunks of his resources and fabrication to nukes even while spread out. He just needed to know to use antinuke like a wall and to double layer his antinukes when he thinks enemy has double nukes. Or to use antinuke on tight resource structure clumps or a factory with a blob of units your piling up. When you get a turtle, take those raiding parties, sit them outside his base, take his own closest metal points, then take all the ones between his and yours, and farm that metal to send several clumps of units from around his base inward to his base, and should he survive that artillery into his base, and should he survive that wash rinse repeat. The first post was assuming the enemy was spreading but also rushing nuke. If they rush nuke they can't rush orbital. If they rush orbital however you best respond immediately as right now once they cover a moon there is no getting a foothold and then they will camp that and if dumb possibly kew you.
Nukes beat antinukes since you can kill a antinuke with a nuke...Thats because antinuke only covers a really small area. Only way to counter nukes is to: A: spread out dont let him kill hundreds of units with just 1 nuke. B: kill the nuke C: use stuff that can avoid nukes or are imune to it D: make your own nukes and outproduce him (should be easy when you have map control)
I am also a new player...this thread is very useful. I had almost the exact same problem. This helps a lot!! thanks guys!
turtles are a big annoyance in this game... but they usually are worst in team games where you fight someone else and he is turtling hard. Usually what i tend to do is expanding quickly all around the map and start spamming catapults... they are quite OP and the only good way to stop them is attacking back, a thing turtles dont usually do. For our luck players who turtle on a 1v1 "usually" dont play as good, so finding a weakness can be quite easy. But when you get to fight a good player who is turtling... you WILL suffer
Especially now that metal is incredibly important. Unless you have a TON of metal and have tech rushed you will burn SO bad. Map control is key, if you control the resources, you control the game. Out produce, out tech, out maneuver. FLANK! Hit from all directions! That will be the end of them. Also orbital will guide you through and through.
