Long Game Strategy

This is the section when games are drawn out. The Forbidden Bomber, the APC attack, the Titan flood, all the exciting stuff happens here, when all the technology is done. Getting to this age first, of course allows the better tanks to run off the assembly line, and can spell a victory before the game is even drawn out. All the action is here, if the game reaches this point, it's all or nothing and by now the scrap will all be tightly secured and allocated to the warring factions. Let the games begin!

Not much to say now. If you've gotten this far, however, the key strategy should be breaking huge defenses. By this point you should be building, if they arent already built, lots of defenses for your home base, so they can pull any cheap tricks on you. Pummel-rushing the recycler is one old technique, but still usable if many tanks are involved, Mauler-rushing it is another newer one. APC attacks are also threatening, but can be avoided, much like the other ones, by surrounding your 'cycler and factory/kiln with Spires, GTs. The Scion base will be more compact, and into a 5x5 square of land one can fit eight gun spires and all the tech tree buildings. An ISDF player need at least a 6x6 square to maintain enough GT coverage for the base and power for GTs at your base and extractors. The many ISDF buildings that you usually never use in the mid-game can be used now. First off, the evil bomber. They are deadly and only units pilotted by a human and rocket tanks can attack them while they are in the air. Their bomb can incinerate most any vehicle, and destroy most any building. Scion buildings stand more of a chance, but many ISDF buildings cant take the dreaded "Bombs are away. Good day, sir!!". Excellent for bombing Extractors (and the GTs around them), but many times, you'll never get to a base. APCs are just as deadly, and Gun Spires are pretty bad protection against them. Bombers cant hurt gun spires too much (that is if the gun spires dont shoot them down first) so APCs are great for cheaply attacking a heavlily Spired recycler. APCs are great for attacking many things due to their cheapness, and difficulty to stop when deployed. Another good way to get at a heavily guarded base is to kill power plants, by sneaking around the Gun Towers (with a RED field or Blink Displacer) and destroying their energy supply. If you can take out enough plants to knock out power, then the base is all yours, go for the recycler! The pummel-gun is useful for taking down large buildings, so consider using it against the recycler if the defense is just loose enough for you to get in there end hide behind the recycler. ISDF GT's cannot fire over buildings like Scion GTs can (which makes this hard to do on a scion player) so there are always weak points in the base. Plan for this, and build you base carefully, ISDF commanders!
Scion players can have an equally cheap time with other players, primarily with the use of Archers. The only way to crack a big ISDF base with Scion units (totally devoid of ranged weapons) is to place archers on a cliff outside their base. By the time they find them, you can take down vital structures with howitzers or acid clouds. This is especially effective in stages where the cliffs around the base are too high to reach with a tank, and only a flying infantry can take em out. They must either hop out and risk death or watch their base get fricaseed from above. Beautiful, ain't it :)
Maulers are also extremely devious contraptions that many people overlook. A Mauler can take on a gun tower with arc streams, so many can do likewise to a base. Titans and Atillas are sometimes the only usable methods of breaking a huge base; try not to attack uphill, however, as the AI has problems doing this without driving all the way up the hill. In some maps, this is bad, but in many flat maps, this is not a problem. Remember that ISDF has long range weaponry, the Rocket tanks (250m with Hornet) can safely attack GTs out of range, and the Plasma Cannon on a Bull Dog (also 250m) can waste towers from afar as well. Normal ISDF tanks have ither Plasma or Mortars which can also be used as long range weaponry, so can Missile scouts' Shadowers, and last, but not least, mortar bikes can also fire out of range of a GT. With all these easy methods to kill Gun Towers, Scion hasn't got much. Their only choice is to overwhelm them with Titans and Maulers (expensive) or Arching them from a cliff (Vulnerable, sometimes). Scion on Scion combat is also interesting, as it is easy to take on spires with Arc Streams or Titans. ISDF can break its own brethren's GTs just as easily as Scion's, making ISDF the more offensive race in the long game. If you are playing Scion on ISDF, you have to win in the short game, or there are too many things a smart ISDF'er can do to you. With enough practice, you can usually end the game before this stage, but you still gotta know how to crack those nasty Gun Towers if you are gonna get anywhere in any type of game. Any time you need help with a siege, though, know that the mighty Flarius is one of the best base siegers out there! I can end a game fast if al you have is a base, so beware!

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