The Unofficial C&C Strategy FAQ - Part 3 Downloaded from the Net Written by: Roger Wong roger@powhq.nildram.co.uk http://kublai.pacificrim.net/~solaris @~Continued from last issue *2-2-7* Orca ---------------- Orcas have air to air capability. If you target an enemy helicopter that is on the ground, the Orca will fire missiles at it even if it takes off and tries to escape. This helicopter carries six missiles. Stanley Hu (hu@valisys.com) Helicopters tend to hover over a moving target, taking their time to fire. If you're trying to destroy a moving target with an Orca or Apache, the best thing to do is predict where it is heading and click on that area. When the helicopter approaches there, click on the intended target, and it will deliver its payload faster. If you do this, you can destroy Harvesters easily--even with Apaches. Hale Walker (shaggy@ra.isisnet.com) If the enemy chopper is in the air, force attack on the ground on the opposite side of the enemy helicopter. In other words, if the enemy helicopter is on your right, fire your missiles at the square to the right of the helicopter. Your missiles will fire towards the ground, but they will hit the enemy chopper instead since they pass through the enemy's airspace. Phil Sykes (phil@sykic.demon.co.uk) Armament: Six missiles of a similar type to those fired by bazooka guys, i.e. useless vs. infantry, excellent against vehicles / buildings. In order to get them to attack coherently, you need to group them together on the ground. To do this effectively, DO NOT BUILD any Orcas on their own. ALWAYS build pads, or you spend forever charging them. Once in the air, use the unit keys to redirect them. They need to be re-fed information about fast moving units (faster than a tank) before they get there. They will get MAULED vs. SAM missiles. Expect to lose at least one if your strike loiters near a SAM or Adv. guard tower. First strike capabilities: (1) can serve as a decoy for incoming missiles. (2) will take out a flame tank/buggy (3) is best for gun turrets, although two will work on earlier levels: Send one up to attack first, then when he comes in, send them both out. After the first one, the turret will not have suffered enough damage to warrant a repair early on, to the second two will kill him! (4) will kill a light tank (5) will take down a medium tank, obelisk, or SAM site (6) one harvester or mammoth at full health. (7) will get gun turrets/spice silos/power plants (8) is a reasonable building assault force (10) construction yards and other big buggers They work best in multiplayer for air support of harvesters! Phil Lochner (decker@megaweb.com) They also 'track' enemy units which are moving, and usually fly over them and then return to attack. Keep this in mind if you are attacking swiftly moving units, as they can move closer to the Nod SAM sites before your Orcas can 'draw a bead' on them and fire missiles. They also zip around a target after firing some missiles, and this may also bring them closer into SAM range. It is HIGHLY advisable that you group these units before sending them out, as it is impossible to select them while they are in the air to change their mission orders. When grouped, you can simply select the number group and redirect them elsewhere. It takes three SAM missiles to kill an Orca, and they are targets for enemy Bazooka soldiers, Cycles, Rocket Launchers, and Stealth Tanks. Note that you can also land these units in remote locations for quick use later. They cannot target or land in areas which ground units have not explored, although you can exploit their mobility by landing them right on the corner of an explored area (such as the top of a cliff), and then 'leapfrog' them to adjacent areas to uncover ground quickly. It takes three full Orcas to take out an enemy gun turret, and four full Orcas to take out an enemy SAM site or Obelisk. They're also great to attack the lone enemy harvester, but it will take repeated runs to destroy one. Philip Banks (banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz) A single Orca is invaluable for scouting out large chunks of the map. Initially I had blocked off the passes that afforded entry to the valley where my base was located, which prevented me from sending out scouts much. But an Orca doing gradual hop flights could scout out a significant fraction of the map without any trouble. Jonathan Haas (jhass@primenet.com) The 'S' key, which normally causes a unit to stop, will cause selected Orcas or Apaches in flight to immediately turn around and return to base. This is EXTREMELY useful when you need your choppers out of an area in a hurry. Durren Shen (durren_n._shen@vval.com) If you find that your opponent is attacking your orcas a lot while they are on their helipads with apaches, or vice versa, then after the aircraft is done reloading, you should hide it behind a building or somewhere else by moving and landing there. My opponent thought that all of my orcas were destroyed one time when I did that. [2-2-8] Rocket Launcher --------------------------- Requires: Advanced comm. center, Weapons Factory Andrew Griffin (buggy@adam.com.au) Mobile rocket launcher, a good weapon, hampered by the ease with which it can be killed. Great anti-aircraft weapon, two can usually take out a transport helicopter. Also, their excellent range means they can take out turrets without being hit. The ammo has a largish explosion radius, so can take out multiple infantry units. Very poor aim, however. Phil Lochner (decker@megaweb.com) Fragile and powerful. They can only take a few rounds from a bazooka solder or tank, but their dual rockets are faster and more deadly than bazooka rockets. They have a longer range, and the exhaust from the rockets appear to do damage to targets underneath them, making them effective for shooting into packs of enemies. They need support from other units as defense only, as they are quick enough to get out of the way. Their range makes them perfect for destroying the remote gun turret or SAM site. [2-2-9] Mammoth Tank ------------------------ Mammoth tanks have two weapons, a dual cannon and a missile pack. The missile pack is only fired either if an enemy helicopter comes into range, or you manually target a unit that requires the tank's turrets to turn by more than 45 degrees. (cmsl@dc.wcape.school.za) Mammoth tanks are the biggest and most expensive of all tanks. They are worth buying/making large numbers of, for four main reasons: They squish troops. (though a bit too slow if their scattering.) They squish walls. (only tanks that can, and walls take ages to shoot down) They squish helicopters. (four shots with their missile packs.) They self heal right back up to 50%. Basically, if you're planning on building up your forces, Mammoth tanks are a good choice. One tip though: infantry support from grenadiers will go a long way to clear the pesky enemy infantry. Stephen Jones (s.jones@ukonline.co.uk) If your Mammoth Tank is surrounded by infantry firing at it and there is no way to get units suitable for taking out infantry there in time, command your tank to attack the infantry opposite the direction it is facing. This will trigger its missiles and massacre the infantry fairly quickly. [2-2-10] Nod Buggy ---------------------- Tucson Luke Loh (tlloh@zip.com.au) Also an excellent support unit for tanks ... since tanks are not good at attacking infantry moving buggies together with tanks allow the tanks to concentrate on wiping out the armored targets while the buggies concentrate on killing the infantry pests. This way the tanks' firepower is not wasted nor do they have to waste time moving to run infantry over. Also better than infantry in that they can move through Tiberium. Have found that 6 buggies guarantee instant death to any unit of infantry (even prone). Thus 6 of them kill infantry at the rate of one every 3 seconds. @~More on vehicles next issue - o -