Strategy against rush?

[Prophetbot]

I've bought the game yesterday,to try it out,after the tutorial,i've done a skirmish against a easy bot (all skirmishes are done in spring duel)...it just sent me continually some basic enemies,i won with a few turrets.
Then i tried a normal bot...he did the same,but he sent a little more units...
Then,right now,i've tried the hard bot...in less than 2 minutes my base has been attacked by 20+ units...then a stream of units kept attacking my base non stop!
I died immediatly...so i started again,rushing a few turrets and shields...guess what...i had 6 shields all together,over 25 turrets to defend the middle of the map...and the enemy spammed so many enemies that destroyed even 6 shields (with over 30 adaptors!!!).

What should i have done when such thing happens?

[Triple]

Well playing againts a hard bot difficult because of all the benefits they get towards resource and unit deployment, ur best bet is to get all the ACU's and engineers u have to build up ur economy, ACU build 4 mass 1 engi builds 4 power gens and the other engi builds mass on other desposits (usually expand to about 3 early on) then after ur ACU has build those 4 mass then get him to immediatly build 3 land factories or 2 land 1 air whatever u want but 3 land factories at the front of ur base and while those factories are in construction u can select them and have them build units even before there built, so depending on what faction u play as build the unit that faction has (Example UEF= rock head tank Cybran=Loyalist and so on), then have those factories be put on infinite build queue which is a button found when you select that factory, keep pumping out units with all those factories and u should be able to hold a little longer until u can tech up and build defences at the same time, dont worry about ur economy that will always tip over but the key is to keep pumping out units.

Another way to win is to recruit some help from a bot (Basically put him on ur team) or have an actuall friend play with u.

If u lack a freind then friend request me and we'll play.

[Prophetbot]

Ok,i've beaten the bot in this way: 1 Engineer made the 4 mass extractors,one made three power generators,and the commander has been sent immediatly to the choke point,building two point defenses,a mass extractor and a land factory.
I've upgraded the factory with the radar,shield and missle launcher,while i've ordered an engineer to build another land factory at the base and the other one to build 1 anti air turret.

I've then set as infinite production 1 tactical missle tank and 3 tanks,researching the shields asap.
The enemy couldn't block me anyhow,as i already have controlled the choke point in a strategic position,and the tactical missle launcher tanks were destroyinh its mass extractor near the middle of the map,so i had a mass advantage,a position advantage and the ACU in the frontline.
After the shield has been researched,i had no more issues at all.

[H3X]

There's a few ways that're good against the computer, but this would be the most common of ways I use to deal with an AI rushing me in SC2. The first, and simplest, is to build defensively at the start (and yes I play on hard, it's too easy for me otherwise lol);
Engineer 1 > 2x mass > point defense x3
Engineer 2 > 2x mass > anti air x2
ACU > Land factory > generator x3

If you place your point defense slightly forward towards a choke point your enemies will have to advance through (there's usually something akin to one, on most maps) or just a little out from the rest, funnel enemies into them with your cheap units, and help out with ACU weapons if needed. let one engineer help your factory and keep the other close enough to the guns to repair them/pull mass from wreckage if needed, it's handy early on. Your first research should be shields. once they're unlocked, shield your point defence and build some more, build up overlapping fields of fire, and push out with units to clear artillery or rocket bots or they'll batter you down eventually. use them as cannon fodder even, they're cheap and for that purpose.

While this is going on build up your other base structures but keep them behind your fields of fire from point defense, don't want that generator running something to be the first target now ;)

From there expand out with your tanks/bots to take more mass and set up another choke point, don't forget to build air support, but don't rely on bombers to kill attacking units, they'll be too slow. low level gunships are a better spend of resources and can sweep out to mop up faster than tanks can even though they build slower. Essentially at this point you need to take a tech and bash your opponent with it, so you should be good..


And some general army tips;

Upgrading gunships early can be a killer to play against, but is expensive so your unit count will be low - can't throw away squads with that approach so take care.

Land is powerful, but slower. though a land experimental can stop an enemy charge in its tracks, in seconds if placed correctly.

If you're playing cybran, consider upgrading structures a little, or going for the exp. anti-nuke and cyber brain (cause it generates research faster than anything else in game). The mass recycler is an excellent structure to place in your defensive line too as it gives you mass for everything killed in its radius, they attack you, die, and give you resources. And their mobile shield bot is one of the best units in the game.

Aeon Have good air capability, though the units all need to be researched a bit to become good head on, (especially against UEF) though they're damned powerful weapons wise. Their low level land experimental is excellent for blunting attacks if you get it early, I like to keep an engineer handy to supplement it's regen rate till it levels up. and the saucer - well, it's insane. suiciding these is a great tactic, if expensive. kills shields and anything underneath it when it falls pretty much, so send three for a real multi kill, even commanders a lot of the time.

UEF have great all round capability and to build defensively you'll never see more guns. *everything* gets a gun pretty much, from their structure upgrade tree. and the repair from generators is sweet to have, if you place it behind a shield and some point defense or light artillery it'll increase the survivability a good bit. their heavy gunships are amazing in a fleet, flying fortress not so much, but fatboy 2 shold be a good stopgap in defenses for a while, as they have great range. upgrade radar and watch it pound everything to shreds :)

[Prophetbot]

btw...Aeon is my favourite...it'd be hilarious to have the cybran's magnet and 3-4 pulinsmash...
Then just active the magnet and see the orde of enemies being pulled xD

[H3X]

The pulinsmash is a good unit, handy for wrecking pesky spyplanes etc, though they lose out against large numbers even in groups as they only pull one enemy at a time. The cybran magnetron however does stack in efficiency, if you group 4 of them, you get 4x the power. the strength of the effect is increased too, 1 might slow or slightly alter the course of an experimental, two or three might pull it in and kill it

[Prophetbot]

you're telling me the magnet does damage and not just pulls?

If that's true...fokk Aeon,welcome Cybran...

[H3X]

Yeah the big grinder discs on the botton chew up anything that it gets pulled in. And as I said in the last post, the effect is multiplied and made more powerful by having several close to each other. They'll decimate entire swarms of smaller units in seconds, whereas the pulinsmash the Aeon have can only wreck one unit at a time. check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZc6x0sIfuY

Cybrans in general are just incredibly efficient in war. Battleships that can sprout legs and assault land targets, mass recyclers that can cover most of a base area/defensive line by placing a single structure, multi purpose shield/anti rocket/antiair bot, one of the best rocket bots by far, the spiderbot (that's possibly the most powerful single weapon in the game, barring nukes). The experimental nuke redirector is amazing if you cover your base, the launcher doubles as defense too I think. And they get the fastest research in the game with the cyber brain thing, which is also a deployable unit that is auto rebuilt at the structure if it dies.

Only downside is that for all these gains, you get units that're either less survivable or more expensive than Aeon and UEF. Use them right though, and you'll own :)

[Awesomesauce]

you have to say though the UEF has its great advantages like the jackhammar (DLC) that, in groups will decimate anything on the ground. if you can get a strong economy set up, then pump them out from multiple gantrys then proceed to build a stong choke point with them and a few of the agies supersheild (DLC) then against land forces even the monkeylord spiderbot (DLC
in large numbers of up to 60 can be overwhelmed (tested with 20 jackhammers, 65 monkeylords
20 heavy point defences, and 4 ageis super sheilds

[H3X]

But that's what makes the supcom games so good - each army has their own advantages that can be turned to utter ruin for anyone facing you but no matter what tactics you're using, there will be a down side/weakness to it somewhere.

Admittedly yes, there's not much that could crack a fully fortified UEF base by land assault, though there are still weaknesses. For example that aegis shield has a monumental recharge time, and can't be assisted. Battleships/missile cruisers with jump jets (cybran tech) can kite artillery defense and wear it down eventually, it's a matter of how much damage you can inflict before the thing pops again. Gunship swarms and experimental fliers from either of the other armies could make a dent, in fact, suiciding the aeon saucer would go right through that shield if you use a group of them.

Then there's the point that fortifying one point on the map like that makes it extremely tough to crack, but your enemy can sieze everything around it if you aren't very careful. Tactical missile launchers and artillery are made for killing shields and structures, and giving an opponent chance to set them up right outside your base is suicide quite often, unless you already have the economy to build a fast and strong enough force to sweep out every few minutes. Negating the need to be turtled up like that to begin with, since you'll be holding your own ;)

Personally I like having a solid base defense but I'd rarely sacrifice having a mobile force I can defend with completely to go for that kind of static setup when playing against other people (I say static cause your stated example involves keeping the artillery contained within that small shield area). I prefer to get the army forces to a point they can be used as effective defense while consistently adding to the static defenses I use. Land experimentals or unit groups tailored to the enemy I'm fighting, as mobile hardpoints in a defensive line that can be adjusted to keep consistent chokepoints as and when a new structure is added would be the way I go base defense wise.

[ItsJ-]

There are many possible ways to stop a rush u can start off with making a few turrets with engineers pump out anti air from your ground staion. it all depends on the pattern the enemy uses just study how it plays and find its weak point hope this helped

[Mierci]

A few turrents in the beginning will help the first couple of waves. After that, focus on building your units and economy. Rushing for the mass converter is a big help. Since those harvesters are pretty useless mid game.

[Awesomesauce]

yes swarms of air or a darkenoid can open up the sheild but bear in mind that most people will have a very strong army to back this up this is just a good strategy to use against a player or AI that is sending constant waves of land. there are other ways of cutting off constant attacks by air or navy and even carpet nuking for example the cybran boomerang en mass will turn those nukes around and if you pop a few nuke defence silos behind em to shoot down stragglers then nukes become of little use but you must be careful to defend them particularly against bomber fleets

[Awesomesauce]

but most battles with random players online last an adverage of 15 minutes in my expirence so you usually dont have to worry about nuke or artillary or even experimentals

[Awesomesauce]

all i am saying is that all factions have a way of dealing with a particular stratagy be it blockading a point with a monkeylord or sending masses of fighters into gargauntuan dogfights that last for seconds or minutes. all factions are effective in the correct hands but they all have their limitationand thus all factions should be given respect