Combat Tips

This page is for discussion about tactics or battle strategies that you like to use. You can disagree with the tactics but no flame wars.

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Tactics
So my favorite tactic is to use lancers to destroy everything and send in pyros as clean up. The terraknors spend some time reloading so while the gun turret is on super low health,pyros come in and just "clean up" the remains.

Something I also like to do is test out one new unit or one newly upgraded unit on a level 1-9 guy. That way I can see its power.

My favourite is to summon as many terraknors as I can to destroy

the guns and send in raiders to collect resources after that.

-Raze1

My favourite is to summon 2 terraknors to clear the fire blaster turret and send 3 of my always prepaired titan as blocks I sometimes use the titan to knock all guns and snipers before the terraknors.

Quinn 2 If your warp gate is level 8 or more then you can do another strategy. Be sure that your shrikes and specters are level 8 or more too. First you attack the confederation with the closest level of yours. Second, you "full" your gate with shrikes and you remove 5. After you wait shrikes destroy some defenses and you put 5 specters. They have a big range so they will not be in the range of defense turrets.

Or, with the new update I like to put some decimators to destroy some turrets then I full my Warp Gate with specter. It is great, but pay attention, it is effectiveless against high-level heavyweight tower (which have many targets so the specters will die fast).

Alternate strategy: You can chang the specters for devastators it does the same thing, or chimeras it's okay too. Even the range is more than 230 it is okay.

Uses for Rhinos:
Rhinos have high health and aren't long to build.
 * Pyros can hide behind Rhinos, they have a little bit bigger range... If I remember right it was enough some time trough. They have a great life so with long range units it is effective.

For a X-1 to miss the pyros and hit only the rhinos. LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * Many people use this to for example: win Helio 50, Erazi 50, etc. You put specs in... Leave space for 5 or more rhinos, before the turrets can shoot the specs put one rhino in for it to be the target, when it dies, put another one, and so on. Usually used when there are also a lot of x-1's or teslas because then you don't need the rhinos. (Read technics of specs.) LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)

Uses of Specters:
Specters have a very high range. High enough to shoot X-1 Cannons and Tesla Towers unharmed. \
 * Good to use to wipe out the teslas and X-1's out of the way. LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * Also good to use behind rhinos or titans (Read my second rhino technic. It works with titans too!) LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)

Uses for raiders
Raiders double the resources for destroying a resource producting building.


 * If you wipe out most of the base or the turrets, but there are a lot of Gas refinery's and crystal mines left. Then don't be shy to use your raiders because they double the resources you get. LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)

Uses for terraknor:
No big secrets here. Get it out and let it play. There are a few tips to maximize its effectiveness, though. Actually, they are now called lancers. But they are the same thing as terraknors.
 * Against densely packed towers, run it with rhinos or titans to draw off the fire and keep it alive longer.
 * Against widely spaced towers, let it serve as the damage soak. Run it with shrikes, specters, or other big damage dealers. It will absorb the shots, and the amount of return fire will be minimized by the amount of firepower you lay down.
 * Run it with disruptors to do both of the above at once. It will be a small force, though.

Uses for hornets:

 * Hornets slow down turrets reload speed, use it as your advantage.
 * They are too fragile to survive alone—send them with titans or rhinos to absorb the damage.
 * Don't use them as damage-dealers—other units do that better. Instead, put one or two with a detachment to slow down return fire and keep your damage absorbers (rhinos and titans) alive longer.

Uses for titans:
Titans are basicly the same as rhinos, I prefer them when teslas are in front of me, also you can make them better than 2 rhinos by upgrading them :P (but take more time to build them).

Uses for shrikes:
Please note that Shrikes have since been tweaked since this tip was published JavaBy te 11:44, January 29, 2012 (UTC)

The best way to use shrikes is mostly for quick wins.

"Shrikes do a lot of damage, have a decent range, and move quickly. Their speed means that turrets get fewer shots at them as they approach—especially good for widely spaced towers. They are a bit frail, so they are less effective against densely packed towers where their speed doesn't help them."


 * Running them with Titans works very well, as the range difference means that X1 splash damage from the Titans won't reach the Shrikes. Be careful, though, or the Shrikes may speed past the Titans and then take the hits themselves. If they destroy a couple towers this way, the Titans will get out of range and start destroying non-combat buildings, which will keep them out for the rest of the battle.

Dropping Shrikes with Terraknors and Disruptors is a VERY good idea. Terraknors and Disruptors deals the big blows and the shrikes take out the rest quickly.


 * My tip: drop 3-7 rhinos, 4-8 shrikes, and if you have enough space, include some disruptors or a terraknors.

Uses for disruptor:
They've got high health and attack... lvl10 disruptor has the attack of 500. What else can we say?

Uses for pulse tanks:
They're powerful but hard to get. Be careful not to lose them! Sub categories by LeafyAtom (Talk) 15:24, December 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * Best use is to use a marine as a bait and it will get angry (Beast mode) and it will have big splash attacks.
 * The defense turrets should be packed.

Uses for Chimeras
If you're looking for a small high-damage troop, this one is better than Specters if you can wait and not get them killed; however it is not recommended you use them in battle, as Devastators are safer and there are better uses for them. They take 90 minutes to train one and have about 100–3,300 health. Use them to upgrade bases and gain experience. They give you a good amount of experience for training and they upgrade a base by 22.5 levels.

Low Level Devastators
Use another Troop (Bombas would be perfect, Disruptors are great, even many Marines would be OK but you ought to be able to do better than that) to take the Gun fire and drop your Devastators either as far as possible from Gun Turrets (due to their range) or fairly close (to eliminate the Gun Turrets on the first shot).

The Devastators will then have more range than the remaining Guns (on one side of the HQ) and can walk in to finish the HQ off (after they (unfortunately) shoot any in range Guns and some Buildings, near the HQ, first).

The above tactic can work even when confronting a base with Sniper Turrets.

If all you have are Specters or Shrikes use them to knock out the Gun Turrets. The longer you can preserve the health of the low level Devastators the better, since you don't want to lose them (due to their low health).

Once your Devastators start to level up you can be less cautious and even lose a couple (as long as you hit the HQ).

For high level Players with high level Devastators] and Bombas drop the Bombas first to take on any Sniper Turrets and Heavyweight Turrets since if they are defeated (and explode) that is OK. Your high level Devastators will then clean house (HQ).

With high level Bombas and Devastators you can almost always win as high as you can scout, in one Warp, and most certainly with two Warps. When the high level Player retaliates you won't be worth the XP (and will have dumped your Resources).

Dropping Devastators in two or three piles is helpful as it staggers the shots and has one group firing at all times. When dropped in a large pile it is often the case that only 2 or 3 will fire and the rest will be fodder.

70.71.107.184 02:27, September 15, 2012 (UTC)

With Sniper Turrets] in each corner (and even some in the middle) drop two or three Bombas and one or two Devastators to eliminate them; you can do just one corner Sniper Turret at a time without worry about the other corner Sniper Turrets shots being able to reach your Devastators in time before they can do their job if the Sniper Turrets you are hitting are L1 (maybe L3 or more, if you are a higher Level than the Defender is).

After corner Sniper Turrets are eliminated you can then send General Strom and a few Bombas to cut a path to the HQ. Drop two or three piles of Devastators behind them to hit any Gun Turrets that would blow up your Bombas.

Drop more Bombas as needed and move the front line forward with fresh drops of Devastators (which you might lose) ahead of everything else to catch any Gun Turrets that are now in range of your advancing Bombas and General Strom to preserve the General's escort's health (those first drop Bombas).

If you have better than L10 Bombas and L13 or better Devastators then you should be able to hit almost any Base you can scout in one Warp, you could only fail in two Warps if the Defender has L10+ Gun Turrets or L7+ Engineering Lab Parts.

70.71.107.184 02:27, December 11, 2012 (UTC)

Uses for Decimators
Just a L1 Decimator has 100k health. Titans and rhinos are nothing compared to Decimators. If the defense is packed and there is not a lot of concussion turrets, corrosive turrets or turrets with the concussion part, drop some decimators with some bombas and about 10 specters, after cleaning up all the sniper turrets,  the specters will not be in the range of them and will clean up all the non-defense buildings. An all decimator raid is also very effective, and is best used with General Hale. She can give the decimators a splash and damage boost. When using decimators it is best to use a defensive troop like the sentinel or beserker to soak up damage and let the decimators do the work.

Uses for Incineraptors
With higher health and damage than a decimator at equal levels, it is best used in raids where they can soak up the damage as tanks, as they need to get close to do damage. Again, General Hale can turn them into an excellent damage troop with her splash buff.

Uses for Sentinels & Beserkers
Good tank units that should be deployed at the start of the battle to attract heavy hitting sniper fire to let higher damaging troops mop up what needs to be destroyed.

Uses for Battle Cruisers
While they're a fun troop to use, they are not as effective as an incineraptor or decimator. Another reason they're troublesome is that they require a Caldera-2 base.

but battle Cruisers are very useful when attacking a level 500k, they have very long range and target the CC, unlike deci. Higher level players usually have a good engineer part on their orbital strike cannon, if the orbital strike cannon can kill the troops you send out, the other turrets do not attack. so your battle cruisers may get a few shots off at the CC, killing it and winning the battle. if you were to send deci or raptor, the other turrets would attack and destroy them before they have the chance to shoot.

Tips
If you drop a bunch of overpowered troops at a time, they overlap more and shoot at the same turret which is much wasted time as only one fires at the turret.

It is best to drop troops one at a time and spread them in line with turrets.

Found in comment by Alysdexia

modified by Steel Panda (talk) 18:22, September 12, 2012 (UTC)


 * Corollary: If you know whits troops—say, shrikes or specters—can take out a turret in one shot, drop them in groups of that size. Alysdexia (talk) 17:29, September 14, 2012 (UTC)

LVL 100 node (map base)
First drop 19 Shrikes by the Command Center.

Next set 1 Specter at a distance facing the CC.

Now just watch.

Base Raiding Styles
I find I use different combinations based on how the base is layed out. You will find that players either group up there guns in a very tight blob in the center of the building area or they spread them out in a layered rings or line patterns. - Yamaja
 * Vs. Gun Blobs: This is where P-Tanks shine the most. Look for the flame turrets and target them since they pose the greatest damager to P-Tanks. Send in 2 small groups of rhino's first - depending on your warp gate level the groups with be 2 to 4 per group. Put 1 to 2 inch gap between the groups. Quickly insert 1 to 4 P-tanks behind the rhino's line, but in that gap area. > Then drop a marine in an area for an instant kill to "beast mode" the tank(s). I will insert 2 to 4 shrikes on top of the P-tanks at this time. Prepare to drop another marine for instaint kill on the oppisite side of the map, and drop to reactive the P-Tanks. By this time (unless you have lvl 9 rhinos) the remaining rhinos or your shrikes will be activating the P-tanks for the rest of the battle. You can choose to drop more shrikes or raiders for resourse clean up. CAUTION - When using P-Tanks always end the battle if you see ANY of your P-Tanks get to 1/3 life. It is better to keep your P-Tank force than to risk them, unless you have the money to replace them. This combo is less effective on turret formats that are spread out. The area damage the P-Tank uses is less effective and the battle group gets spread out. Hornets and Pryros can be utilized here instead of Shrikes. But Shrikes are cheaper.
 * Vs. Spread Out Turrets: Shrike, Disruptor, and Terraknor have the advange in these battles. Because distance is the main factor here. The slower units will get destroyed. I will put a small group of rhino's in to take the 1st shots and drop a pure Shrike group. As they move through the base you can drop a single rhino by a group of guns that the shrike are about to move, to minimize damage. But you may not want to bother. 3 Shrike vs. 1 Disruptor > Depending on your tech lvl. I prefer to drop 3 shrike because the DPS is higher with the 3 Shrike. Terraknor just use to much warp space. I would only use 1 maybe 2 depending.

Other Army Types

 * Rhino & Hornet - This is a slow moving but powerful combo IF they both are lvl 8 or higher. Rhino and Hornets travel at the same speed. So the Rhino's will stay in front of the Hornets. The Hornets have twice the damage of a Shrike and can slow down any turret. This group can be replaced quickly. But if a player is using exp. boosters. You will not get through as many bases and be wasting booster time. - Yamaja
 * Titan & Specter - Titans can take a lot of damage and Specter can be deployed behind due to long range weapon.
 * Sentinel & Devastator - Sentinel is the unit with the highest life that does not require anything other than resources to be built. Devastator has the largest range of action and does not require anything other than resources to be built. This combination is the most deadly for most bases but is also the most difficult to maintain due to construction time.
 * Incineraptor & Decimator - Both require a core in their building therefore are the most expensive. Both have splash damage making them very effective against groups of turrets. Both have a great life size, especially incinerators and combine that with masive damage and area of efect it makes this the fastest and most powerful combination for the complete destruction of enemy bases and definitely the most expensive one.