Tips for a new player

[saqib126]

As it says, I would appreaciate some tips.

[Jackolite]

Well...since you asked...might as well tell you what i remember without consulting to the guide.

Infrastructure wise:

- Never spread silos. Bunch together to create a concentrated air defense net. You may say "But muh cities!!!" Let's face it, you are going to get hit anyways.

- Never place Airbases or Silos in theoretical radar range(s) of your enemy(ies). Losing them can cripple your capacity to respond to certain threats (i.e. subs off the coast or refilling CV's during the null of the fighting). There is a mod which gives you an overlay of all theoretical radar ranges to help guide you on this. Placing 3-4 (5 is a little risky depending on setups) Radar installations on the Borderlines of opposing territories is acceptable, but remember to save some to use the silos AA range to their full capacity and to cover possible early game angles of attack.

- Conserve your silos until you have either scouted theirs or yours are scouted. Even then you must be certain it will pay off. Personally i launch my silos upon being scouted (with some fighter/bomber patrol just incase). I prefer to lose silos with all their payloads on their way to score any points possible than lose 60 nukes and waste any oppurtunity to gain.

Naval wise:

- Don't place wagon wheels (6-ship formations) or 5-ship formations. 4 is the max advised if you are wanting to group them in formations to save micro. Just take naval nukes into account.

- Don't mix ship type combos if you do formations. A sub's slower speed effecitvely hampers the whole group movement. Taking longer for the ships to arrive to where they are needed most and making it harder to avoid naval nukes (especially on a mass scale). And having a CV in anti sub mode chase a bunch of subs sneaking past you while having 3 BS' in the group means those 3 vital BS' needed to escort the fleet have left your main force a little weaker to whatever may still potentially be a threat (i.e fighter spam, opposing BS').

- The more you group formations, the more easier it is to manage the fleet...but the harder it is to be flexible and move around where needed.

- Have at least 1 CV in anti-sub mode incase the enemy gets any funny ideas. If you get that fella who thinks he/she is clever by trying to sneak subs under to harass your fleet, you can seriously punish them by both removing a potential thorn in the side and eliminating their capacity to launch SRBM's at you, thus lowering their nuke count and chances of winning.

- Though depending on the setup of the game and unless you know what you are doing, it is advised to concentrate your fleet into one single force. Strength in numbers. Just remember not to position too close incase you fall victim to splash kills.

- CV's have longer radar ranges than battleships. Thus should be used at least in line with your battleships. This will both act as a heads up for your battleships and should help in capitalising the bombers long ranged AGM missiles.

- When launching subs, strike by having them do a sync launch (takes some practicing). Works well with bomber waves in the early to mid game (see Airforce).

- Subs should not be used offensively until they have delivered their salvos. People will debate otherwise on this matter but i personally find that having the subs infront of the fleet is susceptible to splash damage from the hailstorm of splashes going on from dogfights between fighters and the AA coming from the battleships.

- Don't be that cheesy scrub and use land ships. Don't ask me how because A) i don't know how, B) because as competitive as i am, i try to maintain some honour in my fights and C) it's widely regarded by the community as cheating and is a bannable offense on most active dedicated servers anyway. It can happen by accident due to a bug that IV software have never fixed (so don't bother crying for patches because this game is nearly 10 years old now and they are tied up with PA). It is rare though, but please do inform the players in game should it happen to avoid confusion (but don't think about lying about it either because the replays never lie).

Airforce:

- Don't just fighterspam wildly when you see 3-4 ships. Send a first wave out first to scout the surrounding seas, then bring up the bombers (and have them scissor your fleet...though this takes a lot of practicing so prepare to hammer that mouse as if this was Jacksmith). If possible, try to conserve the fighters until half way to DEF 1. Though this depends more on play style and your current situation. Same applies on land too. Don't wildly fling your fighters in random directions without proper thought. Only time to spam is for scouting/counter scouting (and that should be 2 waves max if you can afford losing them) or countering enemy bomber waves.

- Don't Congabomb (where you just click where you want the bombers to go and they end up arriving one at a time). Micro your bombers and introduce them in waves. Make sure to give them fighter escort so you don't lose too many. You can overwhelm silo defences with this tactic and knock out the big fat juicy cities early.

- Remember to refill your CV's and any Airbases of more strategic value depending on the setup. In long ranged battles like in the Pacific theatre, fighter chains with airbases and spare CV's will come in handy.

- In mid to late game, bombers are useful as costal patrols to make sure subs don't catch you completely off guard.

- As with ships, there is also a bug that has been exploited by scrubs who are just downright dirty in wanting to win. When Europe and Russia fight in the North Sea, it is expected that some stray bombers will go off the map and into "space" due to not being able to micro fast enough. However, as i said earlier, the replays don't lie so don't be that guy by claiming it's a glitch because the orders panel will say differently. Again...its a bannable offense.

Game Phases:

The DEFCON phases are more early game (assuming it turns out to be a good game and not a boring static diplo game).

DEF-5 - Is when you only place 2-3 radar dishes and some scout battleships (4 max). 1 or 2 CV's can be useful aswell in acting as portable radar dishes at sea in disputed deployment waters should your battleship scouts be overstretched. But this is cutting it risky and i would recommend to only use in waters that are unquestionably your zone (basically your and their deployment zones don't overlap). Early planning with your team mate(s) should be of the norm here. That way you can prioritise where your fleet will go and what their role will be (either the defending anvil or attacking hammer).

DEF-4 - Plans should be taking shape and this is when your radar is turned on. So any scouts you see roaming your waters. Try to immediately block it with a battleship if you can spare it, or place a CV nearby (but not too close, you want to be far enough away to not get shot at while being close enough to maintain eyes on). Try to place at about 3-2 mins before DEF-3 if the speed allows. You don't want to deploy in the Pacific only to change your mind too late to feel you are needed in the Atlantic theatre.

DEF-3 - Naval Combat should be taking form and the front lines should be established. The management of your fleets and airforce, as well as your enemies along with other elements at play (i.e if you are Europe and are defending the Iceland/Scotland gap) will decide which way the game will swing for now.

DEF-2 - Naval combat continuing. By now you should be considering the mid game and possible late game plans. Bombers should be coming out of their airbases and getting ready to launch a nice bomber wave assuming the setup allows it of course.

DEF-1 - We all know what this obviously means, nukes free. The immediate 5-10 mins will see blobs of white hitting the oceans in attempts to get the naval edge and all over the mainland for the first point grabs. Bombers should by now be on their way and given fighter escorts (if possible) for a successful bombing wave. Due to the inevitable naval nuking at this stage fleets should be spreading out and backing off to regroup and resupply (unless your team strategy or territorial setup dictates otherwise.

Mid-game - Lasts from about 40-120 mins roughly in game time (but can vary depending on setup, the players involved, results of engagements and current ones and what the plan for the End-game will be). Naval engagements should be continuing and there will most likely be slugfesting wars of attrition going on, along with the odd bomber/sub raid for point grabs.

End-game - 140 mins+ depending on the setup etc. Silo's will be launching by now. And the final subs and bomber waves will be conducted. Once the timer starts...things can get very tense if the game is really good.

General tips:

- It's always good to try to blind your enemy. Therefore if the enemy has any CV's at the front, you can try to prioritise your bombers to attack that CV. There is a long term gain from this, being that it means 4 less spare salvos for their bombers to use and one less mobile air platform, not to mention 1 less sub muncher on the board.

- Cities have radar range of a fighter (i think), though is not shown in the Radar overlay.

- Spectate games and see what you can learn from the more experienced among us.

- Do not quit unless you have a valid and legitimate reason for it (i.e short notice of something important like work, family first etc). And plan your game time ahead because games last on average between 1-3 hours. If you are not sure you have time then don't play. It saves me and others having to then fight with a deficient CPU for the rest of the game.

- Always double when possible. Removing a problem early on has its benefits.

- If someone is experienced (you could ask others to validate this) and you happen to be allied with them, LISTEN TO THEM. They can give you other tips i may not have mentioned here that can save your bacon. Plus it's not worth debating over simple mechanics over you while you are getting chewed up and spat out by the enemy.

- If you come across that guy who makes you question if they kiss their mother with that mouth, you can type the '/ignore *insert player name here*' command into the chat box to silence their profanities (same can be done on you so you might want to think twice).

- Watch replays of your matches to study your mistakes so you can improve on them (see the introversion forums on how).

- Consult your "friendly" noob-basher named Kudayta if you want to see how good/bad you are at the present time. He pretty much separates men from the boys in 1v1 setups.

- And finally, a little quote from player Baton: "Remember the golden rule...♥♥♥♥ the gold."

Happy Hunting.

EDIT: Like i said...you asked. :P

EDIT 2+: Reasons of abyssmal grammar.

[[hades]Sotholomus]

Wow .. thx .. help me alot to understand the game :-) thx for ur work and time!