Beginner Faction

[blueman52]

Which faction is best for noobs?

[Ceejay]

None of them, all of them, there is not really one better or worse than they others. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. People can lean towards a certain faction in multiplayer that they like, but none of them have an advantage over the others to the point it would make them easier to play for a newbie.

If you have the first game, try playing through the campaign, it will slowly introduce you to the units and the factions and how they play.

Forged Alliance was basically a stand alone dlc for the first game, the developers assume you have played the first as this game drops you straight into the action.

[blueman52]

Is there a chart somewhere on the strengths and weaknesses?

[OutsidR]

Originally posted by NobleWarrior:

Is there a chart somewhere on the strengths and weaknesses?

I doubt there is any... I myself believe the factions are equal in all respects... BUT how well you use each unit as well as experamentals is what matters. Getting to know everything will just take lots of time and error to get to know them. It's a pretty good game with a high learning curve, just don't give up and enjoy.

[blueman52]

I just have one more question. When I ever do a game, I always screw up with economy. Are there any tips you have handy to combat this?

[Seven7]

UEF better for beginner - they have support station with unlimited range and mobile shields units

[Happy face licker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOr37guP39Q

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by Seven7:

UEF better for beginner - they have support station with unlimited range and mobile shields units

But they have no flying experimentals which can simply kill it. AEON get unlimited resources. Which makes it easy to churn out experiments out by the bucketload, so again each have their strength and weaknesses.

Again people have their preferences, but there is not 1 above the other. Personally I prefer Cybran, but I can play any faction. Well I say that, I have not ever really bothred to play with the Seraphim to any kind of proficiency. Even though I must have over a thousand hours into the game, I think its as you cannot select them in single player, so never really practiced with their units etc, and multiplayer I prefer one of the original 3 factions as I know how to use them well.

Certainly if starting out, make sure you are using adjaceny bonuses.

http://supcom.wikia.com/wiki/Adjacency_bonus

Also rememebr you can use engineers to help speed up production too.

[blueman52]

Yeah, because I used to have a habit to try to organize my base to make it look neat and cool. Example: Trying to organize buildings in Aeon fashion

[Crenando]

UEF is the best pick for beginners, they require less micro to use and best at turtling. But as Ceejay said, they lack pure offensive experimentals like the Aeon Colossus and the Cybran Monkey lord. Speaking of which Aeon is the hardest faction to master, requiring the most micro with Cybran a bit easier but still harder than UEF or Seraphim.

[ppakur]

comparing to other RTS i played, factions are pretty much the same, except the experimental units. All races have units of the same types, with similar capabilities. If you play against AI there are few exploits that may help you :D
- if u manage to get tech 2 ground factory early, you can build few rocket launchers and set it near the enemy base. As soon as they'll start to attack base structures, enemy ACU will leave the base and go towards you, leaving his AAA range. At this point it's easy to kill him with bombers
- Build defensive structures as close to enemy base as possible. Seting T2 artillery cannon in range of enemy base usually ends the game. Keep in mind enemy will probably try to do the same.

If you haven't beat the AI on 2nd tech level, you need to build lots of energy generators and mass creators (imho only those frome T3 are energy/mass worth it) and shields. Most likely at this point it's long range artillery battle between two teams, with some experimentals on the center. Some are tricky (galactic colossus), other can be destroyed with swarm of regular units.

Nuclear missiles aren't worth it :P

[Sabaithal]

Heres the basic rundown of the factions_

UEF: Very Good durability on most units, decent firepower and firerate. Units fairly balanced for roles. Probably the easiest to use for newbies.

Aeon: Decent durability. Very good firepower, low firerate. Individual units very good at one role, but cannot do much of anything else, IE low versatility. Probably the most fun to use, and have some of the best experimentals.

Cybrans: Decent durability, most of the time. Lower firepower but very high firerate. Units highly versatile, and usually much more mobile than other factions. Somewhat difficult to use, but very good for guerilla tactics since a lot of units have built-in stealth.

Seraphim: I have very little experience with this faction. They are something of a cross between the Aeon and UEF, and usually difficult to utilize, but potentially the most dangerous for most players. Heavy emphasis on offense and aggressive playstyles.

[Tormoz]

UEF, units and structures looks much more logical for newbie.

[Jaded]

UEF with the descriptions and looks are more inuitive, beyond that they are equally easy/difficult to learn. I'd say play the first games campaign (non forged alliance) for its tutorial, it will be the most helpful thing for you to learn the core gameplay.

[Sabaithal]

I personally prefer the cybrans for their speed and for how easy it is to make early-game airfleets, but since cybran units are not quite as durable or damaging as the other factions (with ground units anyway) they have a tendancy to make up for it with their missile weaponry, especially anti-air where their tech 3 AA is more likely to hit multiple targets because of the numble or projectiles fired. Same with their gunships. Unfortunately to gain an advantage in a ground assault you usually have to attack with a very large number of units.

[Migromul]

Some specialities of the factions:
UEF:
- Support Drones for Commander and Sub-Commander (exchanges the "fast builder" ability of other Factions Sub-Commanders). Can be used independent as level 1 workers.
- only faction with a tier 3 defense-turret with extrem range. Is like a heavy gatling.
- no regular Carrier
- no level 2 submarine, but a torpedo-boat
- Mobile Fortress-Factory (can build all factory-units) as an experimantal unit
- submergable Carrier as an experimantal unit (Can build tier 3 bombers)
- Tier 2 defense is a single shot with medium shotspeed.
- Commander has a build-in-nuke as upgrade with shorter range. (and very fast build! - only one shot at a time.)

Aeon:
- specialiced units
- 3 tier 1 sea-units, all specialiced in a role. (Anit-Air, Submarine, Anti-surface)
- a lot of hover-units, which aren't targable by topredoes (those things are REALY annoying!)
- Tier 2 Defense has a slow shooting with huge aoe-damage. (can easily destroy a bunch of crowded tier-1 units with a single shot.)
- experimental Battleship which can build tier 2 sea-units.
- experimental "UFO"-Air-Battlehip, which can build tier 3 Air-units, including Bombers, at much faster rate.
- Shields aren't upgradable. (there is a tier 2 and tier 3 shield.)
- no tier 2 fighter-bombers. Instead there is a tier 2 anti-air-hunter and a controllable Anti-surface-Missile (serves as an own unit.)
- "sacrifice"-ability for all workers. So you can get rid of tier 1 and -2-Workers, when you reach tier 3.

Cybrian (my favorite faction)
- a lot of "spider-like" units
- those are fast!
- Tier 2 Defense is a continuous-fire laser-turret with low damage per "hit" (fires felt 10 shots/second) with long range
- my favorite unit: the tier 2 destroyer is AMPHIBIOUS!
- Tier 1 submarine has a deck-gun. (so you can emerge and kill those annoying aeon-hover-units!)
- Tier 1 anti-air can change to anti-surface
- same for the missiles of the tier 2 Cruiser. Those are either anti-air or anti-surface
- experimental Gunship
- 2 different experimantal Spider-bots
- The shield is only buildable at tier 2 and has 4 or 5 ubgrades.
- a lot of units, including tier 3 bombers and tier 3 hunters, have a stealth-ability. (deactivated as standard.)

Seraphim:
- least Varity of units
- tier 2 defense is a mid-firing beam. I don't know if there is any aoe-effect.
- experimental BOMBER. (Has a huge bomb, with an effect like a nuke!.)
- submergable tier 2 destroyer. (is emerged as standard.)