Best deck for starters?

[___]

What's a good deck for begginers like me? Specs, nation, whatever, that will help me get fast XP and move swiftly trough the ranks?

[DMFisher]

It depends how you play the game. So really if some onbe says the best deck for starters it might not be the best deck for you.

[petri.piira]

There might be a "best" deck, or a few of those, for min-maxing top players to play ranked with against each other. But I think ranked has mostly died for this game. If I understood correctly, it was not viewed as very diverse or fun in any case - just "best" decks using "best" tactics withing the ruleset of the ranked.

Instead, pick something you *like*. There are lots and lots of ways to make viable decks, which can be used to play in different ways.

A good/mediocre deck might assuredly lose a gainst a "best" deck played by a top player, but I doubt you would run into such a deck, and the top player could beat you with any deck, anyway. And you couldn't likely play the "best" deck correctly either, still lacking the practice and the skills needed for it.

Make a deck which you think might be fun. Play it and experiment with things. Learn how stuff works, switch out things which don't feel good for you. Add things you don't really know what they do, and try to use them.

[DMFisher]

Or to get XO JUST PLAY SINGAL PLAYER OR PLAY THE SINGAL PLAYER CAMPAIGN!
That earns XP to

[joseph_glessner]

I made a fun deck today. All viernam era US Air cav vs Motorized Russian. Hella fun. Not having the high tech aspect really makes you rethink strategy.

[Maxwell Sinclair]

My advice is to play with what you like. But there is a particular deck that someone taught me how to make if you want to throw some strategy into it. Which involved NATO (No nation limits) Motorized (To give me more planes cause I love planes) and pre 1975 only.

The French get a low tier infantry that you can deploy hundreds of, in a puma helicopter that has a 30mm cannon with 1000 rounds or something... So it allowed you to basically deploy a set of psuedo attack choppers for a much cheaper price.

It really depends on how you want to play though. I for one, love aircraft, planes, helicopters, anything that flies I love it, especially if it causes massive explosions with its munitions, or epic strafing runs (I'm partial to an A10 minigun run... gets the gunboner pitching.) So I build my decks around deploying a multitude of various role filling aircraft.

Small tip though, when selecting your infantry, consider the purpose you plan to use them for, especially when selecting the transport vehicle and veterancy for them. For example. A low tier infantry, the basic squads, you could deploy a load of them at trained status in say... an APC. Then they are cheap, you can use plenty of them without too much worry, and they have the weapons on the APC for basic fire support. But say... an ATGM team, designed to take out tanks, you are probably better off taking them at a higher veterancy and getting less of them, deployed in say... A Helicopter or even an Armored vehicle. The reasoning being that You don't really drop a lot of ATGM teams, you use them primarily for city defence or forest ambushes and you want them to be veterans so they hit more often, those missiles are not cheap and they don't carry many.

You just have to build a deck to your playstyle. I recommend using one of the games pre-built decks first, play with each unit, each type, and then build a deck based on the things you enjoyed most.

[Zarno]

+1 to all those recommending that you build a deck for your play style. I've had this game since it came out, and I'm still terrible at it. I only recently started putting some real time into it, and I'm only just starting to get familiar with the capabilities of different units/armies. Personally, I prefer a deck with good range - one where I can stay as far back as possible while still attacking the enemy. It's much easier than a hard-hitting, close-range deck because such a deck requires a lot of micromanagement to make sure your units are properly utilizing the terrain. It's easy to get caught in the open while trying to maneuver into a good position.

When I first started this game, I could only use decks that had sturdy tanks in them. Having come from C&C, Starcraft, and Ruse, I had come to rely on tanks that could absorb a lot of damage and work as the front line of my army. In this game, you don't always have tanks that can fulfill that role, so if that's how you tend to play RTS games, make sure you have a tank in your deck that has good defenses in addition to powerful, long-range attack capabilities.

But really, above all else, you'll just have to put some time into the game to learn what works and what doesn't work.

[Maxwell Sinclair]

I made a deck with specific bonuses...

PACT
Poland
Motorized
Pre 1975

there are only two tanks available here, the T-55 and the T-55A pretty paper thin armors, won't stand up against any real threats, but the bonuses are they cost 20 and 25 points respectively and their main gun isn't terrible... oh and because of the 80% increased availability I had over 100 of them total.

I found myself fielding groups of 8 to 20 tanks, and then rampaging with them, sure they'd get smooshed by cobras and an abrams would waste them in a straight up fight. But I could take out groups of abrams with my group, because of the difference in reload time. Also you have to remember points cost... A single abrams is 135 points. So a group of 4 is 540 points. that means I have to lose 6 of my tanks, before they've made enough points to equal a single abrams.

My infantry were also super cheap, and deployed with a somewhat decent APC that had anti tank missiles on it, again paper thin armor, but 12 of those infantry + their APCs in a city could lock it down nicely, especially when supported by AA infantry with more of the same APCs.

I found my playstyle evolved to fit that deck and it actually held up rather well. The thing is, there are SO many possibilities for the outcome of your deck and the way it will play, you have to simply experiment and find out which you like the most.

[petri.piira]

Ah, a beautiful deck choice. I like the same kind of decks.

Send a company of T-55A (250 pts) over the field, supported by Malyutka ATGM launchers (50pts), shilkas (50pts) and BRDM recons (40pts) hidden in forest, accompanied by a company of infantry (250 pts) which unloads once it gets among the enemy tank platoon (540pts) the whole attack was directed at! Almost a battalion against a single platoon - at the same price, give or take. (point values might not be absolutely correct.)

Perfect 1980s stereotype of endless eastern hordes against few high tech NATO defenders..

[Maxwell Sinclair]

XD I've been playing Red Dragon and the Chinese are able to do virtually the same thing. Which is kinda cool. Especially since they can do it with Naval support.

[Real Goblin]

If you want to quickly rise through the ranks you may have to sleep with some of your officers lol.

But just find a strategy that works for you and do it as much as you like.