The Unofficial C&C Strategy FAQ - Part 4 - Vehicles continued Downloaded from the Net Written by: Roger Wong roger@powhq.nildram.co.uk http://kublai.pacificrim.net/~solaris @~Continued from Issue 54 [2-2-11] Recon Bike ------------------------- Andrew Griffin (buggy@adam.com.au) Fastest ground unit, but very lightly armored. Equipped with rockets, a great unit in packs, especially against hummers and APCs. Can be squashed by tanks and harvesters. Michael Brenner (100275.2163@compuserve.com) Recon bikes are best used in groups of 4-10. Use them to take out enemy harvesters. Be aware that they can be run over, so don't let the harvester get too close to them. If you're attacked you can retreat to your own base faster than any GDI unit can pursue you. A group of 6 bikes can take out a mammoth tank with losing only 1 bike. They're also great for defending your own harvesters esp. against Orca attacks. Since they're so fast usually one large group is enough to protect all your harvesters. Vs. the computer drive one bike close to the enemy base (the computer uses his Orcas mainly to defend his base), let the computer launch his Orcas, drive your bike back to your SAM sites. As long as you keep your bike on the move the Orcas won't be able to hit. Let your SAM sites do their work. Mike Zimmerman (zimmermanm@aol.com) Find the enemy harvester in its tiberium patch. Drive the recon bike by the harvester. The harvester will always chase the bike because it can be crushed. Lead the harvester to your turrets or obelisks and watch the fun. [2-2-12] Light Tank ----------------------- see also [2-2-6] MEDIUM TANK Rune Fostervoll (runefo@ifi.uio.no) These are smaller than medium tanks (Surprise, surprise) but is also Nod's heaviest tank. One on one against a GDI medium tank is a sad contest, but two on one is as well, the other way. They should be backed up by infantry and possibly artillery as well, never work alone. They cannot handle infantry except by running over it, and cannot handle tanks, because armorwise they are at the bottom of the tank food chain. [2-2-13] Artillery ----------------------- Ethereal (allenr@sunspot.tiac.net) These make INCREDIBLE offensive weapons when they are firing at close range, at long range even if it appears that they hit the target, often it doesn't do full damage. They aren't that good a resource since they cannot take much damage, but if you plan to use them remember that they function VERY well at close range. Andrew Griffin (buggy@adam.com.au) Slow moving, this unit can take very little punishment. It does have a very long range, and the blast radius from its shots are very large. Can take out multiple infantry with a single hit. Tends to be inaccurate though. Also good for attacking buildings from a distance. Rune Fostervoll (runefo@ifi.uio.no) The first and biggest tip is, never attack with them. I do not mean, do not use them in an attack, just NEVER ORDER THEM TO ATTACK. Against enemy rocket turrets, for instance, if you order it to attack, it will move within a comfortable range, and then open fire. The problem, of course, is that 'comfortable range' means the rocket turret eats it up first. Move it towards the turret one square at a time, and when it starts firing, just leave it alone. The artillery has better range than any other unit. Remember that, use it, and the artillery units is Nod's best weapon. Cheap, too... but vulnerable. To take them out? Attack it. All you need to do.. it's slow, it's weak, it's pathetic when someone fires back at it... so it needs backup. [2-2-14] Flame Tank ---------------------- Andrew Griffin (buggy@adam.com.au) Awesome anti-infantry weapon. Fires twin flame jets. Especially devastating against closely-packed infantry. Also good for taking out buildings. Nod only. You get access to these after a few missions. Rune Fostervoll (runefo@ifi.uio.no) These are great fun against infantry. A single flame tank can waste heaps and heaps of infantry. They are weak against armor, though, so back them up with bazooka units to keep things balanced. It's a paper-scissors-stone thing where you have both a paper and a stone. If he uses infantry (which is good against bazookas) the flame tank wastes it. If he uses armor, which the flame tank is powerless against, the bazookas waste it. This works nicely, but the flame tank is not strong enough to fight sustained battles. Andre Pang (ozone@zip.com.au) I took out 60+ infantry with one flame tank once. Nothing else to say about them, really :). *2-2-15* Apache Attack Helicopter ----------------------------- see also [2-2-7] Orca The Apache carries enough ammo for fifteen weapon discharges. Bonczkowski (ccastrd@prism.gatech.edu) Nod gets them in later scenarios if you capture a GDI construction center and build the heli pad, that lets you build heli pads with attack copters. Seth Hutchins (seth.hutchins@sunrisebbs.com) The Nod attack chopper is basically a flying Guard Tower, and as such is a DELIGHTFUL weapon to kill lowly GDI infantry. If your opponent doesn't have any bazooka/missile support, the chopper also does well to weaken armored vehicles (harvesters, and the like). It can also destroy a re-arming Orca on the platform. Watch out for Advanced Guard Towers, Bazooka Infantry, Mammoth Tanks, and Rocket Launchers, who can all make short work of the chopper. Tucson Luke Loh (tlloh@zip.com.au) a) Apaches can make short work of infantry. Orcas well, merely waste rockets on infantry. b) Apaches are slower to deliver their full payload ... while this means you can keep them in the air longer, it also means that they take much longer to destroy an armored target. Against armoured targets, the Orca has the edge because its faster delivery means it stays in the area a shorter time, reducing its vulnerability to SAM sites, Advanced Guard Towers etc. Orcas also kill structures faster as again, the faster delivery allows the structure less time to repair. c) Apaches take twice as long to reload as Orcas. [2-2-16] Stealth Tank --------------------- Rune Fostervoll (runefo@ifi.uio.no) Keep at least one square away from his units and you can launch an effective attack. Even with enemy units and guard towers present, four of these could take out the opponent's building facility. And the next batch can take out the tiberium facility. It is too weak to operate alone, and rather costly to use in large numbers, so it's not the best units as such, but it has its uses when you fight an opponent that is too well defended for an open assault. Seth Hutchins (seth.hutchins@sunrisebbs.com) Purchase LOTS of Stealth Tanks and group them into "Wolf Packs" of 5 or more. Attack your enemy's harvesters. It never fails to be annoying. These Wolf-packs also make short work of Mammoth Tanks. You can also toast grouped infantry, simply run over them. You'll become visible for a moment, so stay clear of any evil tanks. James Hindman (jhindman@ea.oac.uci.edu) Here is another one of my strategies. It is to place 5-6 Stealth tanks in your enemy's favorite Tiberium field. When his harvester shows up, have your tanks unstealth and annihilate his harvester. It will be dead before he even knows what's going on. Then take your tanks and run away so he doesn't retaliate by killing them. Michael Brenner (100275.2163@compuserve.com) Against a human player it is also a neat trick to let stealth tanks protect your harvesters. Many human GDI players will launch an Orca attack against a single harvester outside the reach of visible air defenses, not follow the attack too carefully if they've got other things to do and be very surprised if their Orcas don't come back. Like most multiplayer tricks this only works once or twice though. Eric (eroswelkr@aol.com) Here's an AI strategy I exploited like no tomorrow while playing NOD. Use Stealth tanks as walls. As long as they're stealthed, the computer won't advance or attack. AND you can position artillery or other ranged units a few squares behind them so they can just pick off anything at a distance. Jeremy Butcher (butcher@inter.nl.net) There any good ways of hiding them so in a multiplayer base so that they can't be found. Almost all buildings have a few squares under them where you can't place a building. Place them on those things, then when your enemy tries to place a building there, everything's normal because you never can place a building there. Andre Pang (ozone@zip.com.au) If the computer (or player's) refinery is fairly far away from any units, drive a stealth tank directly in front of his refinery, cutting off the entrance for the harvester to get through. It can take quite a long time for your opponent to realize something is dreadfully wrong. [2-2-17] SSM Launcher ------------------------- Phil Lochner (decker@megaweb.com) The SSM launcher is big and powerful. Though they take a terribly long time to reload, each missile they shoot has a tremendous amount of damage potential. The flame which shoots from the missile toasts footsoldiers, and a direct SSM hit takes out practically any Nod unit. It has the longest range of any unit. Mike Mulligan (mulligan@netcom.com) Have two or three SSMs and a few tanks as a protecting force. Then just move in to attack! I had three SSMLs take out two Obelisks in less then 30 seconds. When your opponent comes after the SSMLs, let your tanks lag behind and buy time for the SSMLs to get away. If she presses her attack, she will get a mouthful of SSMs! [2-2-18] Chinook Transport Helicopter ----------------------------------------- Tucson Luke Loh (tlloh@zip.com.au) Like the APC, the order of exit is the reverse of the order of entry i.e. the last units to enter are the first to exit. Phil Lochner (decker@megaweb.com) These slow moving troop transports are expensive and troublesome. They suffer from the same loading and unloading problems of the APCs, and have a tendency to circle aimlessly before landing in any area. They make easy targets for SAM sites, and their cost and low capacity makes them tough to justify. Note that they are not usually available to be built on computer missions. They also cannot be used to land in unexplored areas. Tan Tot Lit (isc30236@lenois.nus.sg) Two big advantage of the chopper over APC - Few units can shoot at you. - You don't appear on radar until you land. Josh Eckels (joshtgf@execpc.com) Send in an Orca or Attack Helicopter a few seconds before the transport helicopter. Since your opponent can't change the targets of SAM sites or Advanced Guard Towers, they will continue to shoot at the first thing they see. This gives your transport helicopter enough time to land, deploy its cargo of engineers, and get out. Scott Shaffer (shaffer@bangate.compaq.com) Despite the limitations of this craft (small capacity, slow movement) there are some cases when it is very effective. Often times an enemy base is vulnerable to attack from a certain angle or direction. This is especially true of bases built against a corner of the map. You can often then direct your Chinook to an undefended area (like the very corner) by making it hug the edge of the map. It can land in areas that other units can't get to if the opponent has built his base in such a way to prevent easy unit movement. [2-2-19] Mobile HQ ---------------------- These units only appear in multiplayer games of capture the flag, when bases are turned off. They are unarmed, and are weak units. You must protect your own mobile HQ while destroying your opponents' mobile HQs. Keep them surrounded by your units. Even a Hummer can destroy one in a few shots. @~Next issue we start looking at buildings. - o -