Red Alert 2

Shiminay

Love this game - and I'm not an RTS person at all especially ones like AOE2 where there's too much resources and not enough tanks (and it's not that I'm bitter because I can be beaten in AOE2 in less than 10 minutes ).

So, I play kinda OK as the Soviets (Iraq or Libya - depending on who I'm playing), but I'm sure I have a hell of a lot to learn and I'd like to get better.

I'd imagine the way I play leaves me open to an early Tank Rush, so how best to avoid that? What should your running order of buildings be to get weapons built quickly?

Also, how quickly should one be looking to establish their second base (assuming it makes sense to have one in the map you're playing)?

My problem is that I have very limited playing experience - having only my brother and the computer for company (and kayos once or twice when we lived together). So I'm totally unaware of how it's played globally

I'm hoping to have a good dose of it at the next Galway LAN, so how can I crush my enemies under the treads of my tanks?

Oh yes, I have played the Yuri's Revenge version too - I dunno, it's grand, but I miss my Cloning Vats (when you're under attack, there's nothing like lashing out a hundred or so conscripts to fool enemy AI/force lots of micro-management and save your buildings. Siege Choppers are a lot of fun - great on Defence and great on Offence (2 groups leap-frogging each other making a bit of a mess). The little houses for your guys are cool too - garisoned infantry can really dish out a fair whack of damage.

So good people of boards.ie - what's a sure fire way to win (or at least get better)?

ykt0di9url7bc3

www.planetcnc.com has the a mix on some of the best tips and tricks to use

i play as america or france if we are allowed choose our nationality...(its fun going random ), the best help i've gotten in many years is the Art of War, by ole Sunners Tzu

btw Kharn , the second i hear "My truck is loaded!" the harrier is on its way

Pugsley

If your new to the game, pick france and put grand cannons everywhere as long as your money lets you
But if your playing on-line,always build millions of flak troopers, the amount of rocketeers you will come up against is unbelievable (they usually come in packs of about 40 {literally}) and flak cannon's beat the pants of patriot missiles, so use them alot aswell, best AA in the game!
And ALWAYS make tesla coils get charged up by tesla troopers, the damage and range increase is unbelievabel (if you dont know about this, put a tesla trooper at the base of a tesla coil and he will start zapping it, tis simple).
For attacking, as soviets about 20 apocalypse's (depending on the defence, up to 50 may be needed) and back them up with a handful of kirovs, when the apocalyse's take out the power their base is f**ked and your kirovs an drop them presents with nothing to stop them
For defence, build about 3-4 tesla coil's at every entrance to your base (all charged up) and put a sentry gun at the base of each of them, and a flak cannon behind them (tesla's = no tanks, sentry's = no troops, flaks = no air units. Very tight to get past without mass numbers). And also, always have a force of rhino's behind your main defence, because prism tanks can outrange any defence except for grand cannons, if you see prism tanks, rush them with your rhino's, if you see 50 of them, quit the game, you lose

Hopefully this will help you, if not take a good look at that planetcnc website, its great for guides and downloads.

ykt0di9url7bc3

against grand cannon defense

chronoshift 5 chronotroops into the center of the base or where there is litlle or no unit defense, the grand cannons will all turn in on the base and thats when you move in with your prism tanks and destroy them!:D

Pugsley

IF you have a massive grand cannon defence u will prolly also have like 50 prism tanks in your base, grand cannons turn so slow they wont get time to shoot before the chrono's are zapped

regeneration

Originally posted by Pugsley
IF you have a massive grand cannon defence u will prolly also have like 50 prism tanks in your base, grand cannons turn so slow they wont get time to shoot before the chrono's are zapped

Anyone who uses a Grand Cannon defence is a turtling newbie and/or a poor player at best. The best defence is a good offence, or more accuratelty, tanks (mirage/rhino, depending on side) or lots of deployed troopers. I generally use for defence nothing more than the basic machine gun posts, as the way I look at it is; If you turn the game into a siege where you are the one holed into a corner, there's only gonna be one loser - you.

Besides, once a squadron of rhino tanks breach your base, grand cannons are only gonna help your enemy win by firing on your own buildings. Plus, as I mention below, grand cannons are an expensive building (as are tesla and prism towers), they can only hold back so much before they fold.

They're slow, power hungry and a waste of money. At 2000 a pop, that's nearly three grizzly tanks, and a couple of rhinos. You should always spend more time and effort on your mobile units, they will win you the game with good offensive tactics, rather than sitting back. Oh and this tactic works, my record online can prove that.

Pugsley

On large money maps, a wall of 10 grand cannons is COMPLETELY impossable to beat by tank rush's, and if your lucky enough to get a soviet base a wall of flaks around your base will keep out ANY air unit. With about 10 grand cannons you can destroy enemy units MUCH faster than they can get towards you, ive kileld armies of well over 75 apocalypse's with about 10 grand cannons, and not even a bit of damage suffered.
On standard money maps a good defence of prism tanks and mirage tanks cant be beaten however, and a few IFV's are good for them pesky rocketeers. But you should really put a grand cannons or 2 at each entrance to your base, because if they use mass's against you each shot will be hitting 10 or so tanks. If im soviets i usually use a good few tesla coil's (charged up of course) and back them up with rhino's and a few V3's (they destroy a prism tank in 1 hit...). A pure tesla coil/prism tower defence completely sucks, as a prism tank heavily out ranges you, and without a good mobile defence you cant fight back.
GI defence is good, but there are a lot of weapons which can kill them in the hundred (*cough* V3 and demo truck *cough*)
And if you havent tried it, 4 grand cannons can easily beat 10 grizzly tanks (their both worth 8000) and grand cannons can be repaired on the spot.
However i will agree that tesla coil's and prism's are a bit of a rip off, a prism tank is 300 cheaper than a prism tower, and out rangers and out damages it by quite alot. Tesla coils slightly make up for this when their charged up, still not with 1750 (for tesla troop + cloning vats).

<edit>

If you turn the game into a siege where you are the one holed into a corner, there's only gonna be one loser - you.

In the last game that a siege happened (me and my ally were trapped in our base by an army of apocalypse's and mirage tanks) we turned out winning, by quite a margin, the enemy teams spent so much on tanks, we managed to beat them by hit and runs with prism tanks and V3's, slowly but surely their numbers got wittled down enough for our army of prism tanks and rhino's to hamemr through them, and they had so little money left over for a defence we hammered through that aswell, because they had no grand cannons to outrange my prism tanks, and any tanks they threw at me never got a shot off before being destroyed.

ykt0di9url7bc3

V3's are the worst units ever!
the fact they are so slow to fire and the rockect is again slow and its is prue luck you hit anything and easily taken out by cruisers, rocketeers, flak.....

as for grand cannons, i prefer to siege the base and destroy the oretrucks, prism tanks and rocketeers on a siege.....what will you have, if you had to build and maintain 5 grand cannons with air-attack support

as for defense, i agree by putting yourself beyond defeat is a great tactic, but that also emplys destroying or hindering your enemies ability to attack you, thats why i i rely on unit defense as it gives me the flexibilty to attack and defend, what good are grand cannons if you have no tanks left an no more money!

the best grand cannnon strategy is to have one ready to deploy just as you are taking over an enemy building...the utter cheek of it alone is cause enough to do it!

regeneration

Originally posted by Pugsley
On large money maps, a wall of 10 grand cannons is COMPLETELY impossable to beat by tank rush's, and if your lucky enough to get a soviet base a wall of flaks around your base will keep out ANY air unit. With about 10 grand cannons you can destroy enemy units MUCH faster than they can get towards you, ive kileld armies of well over 75 apocalypse's with about 10 grand cannons, and not even a bit of damage suffered.

Oh and frankly, if you are given the chance to build 10 grand cannons, then your opponent mustn't have given you much of a game
Money maps are evil evil evil. Nothing worse than a big game of stalemate. Last time I played a 4 way money map, we crashed game from building THAT MANY UNITS. no-one attacked anyone, my 30 aircraft carriers couldnt get past one guy's defences. Ick.

On standard money maps a good defence of prism tanks and mirage tanks cant be beaten however, and a few IFV's are good for them pesky rocketeers. But you should really put a grand cannons or 2 at each entrance to your base, because if they use

Never needed them. Simple as that. And I'd rather spread a middle-thin defence around the whole base, then simply one or two grand cannons at the "entrance".

I generally find the grand cannons too weak aswell. 3/4 harriers and no more mr. cannon.

mass's against you each shot will be hitting 10 or so tanks. If im soviets i usually use a good few tesla coil's (charged up of course) and back them up with rhino's and a few V3's (they destroy a prism tank in 1 hit...). A pure tesla coil/prism tower defence completely sucks, as a prism tank heavily out ranges you, and without a good mobile defence you cant fight back.
GI defence is good, but there are a lot of weapons which can kill them in the hundred (*cough* V3 and demo truck *cough*)

well if they have a demo truck available, then I generally dont use them, or at least have 2/3 rocketeer groups patrolling the area

And if you havent tried it, 4 grand cannons can easily beat 10 grizzly tanks (their both worth 8000) and grand cannons can be repaired on the spot.

Bah! If the other guy has 4 grand cannons in the first place, you are doing something wrong There's no better tactic than one of disruption, where the enemy can never keep a building or amass units, as you use hit and run tactics throughout.

However i will agree that tesla coil's and prism's are a bit of a rip off, a prism tank is 300 cheaper than a prism tower, and out rangers and out damages it by quite alot. Tesla coils slightly make up for this when their charged up, still not with 1750 (for tesla troop + cloning vats).

<edit>


In the last game that a siege happened (me and my ally were trapped in our base by an army of apocalypse's and mirage tanks) we turned out winning, by quite a margin, the enemy teams spent so much on tanks, we managed to beat them by hit and runs with prism tanks and V3's, slowly but surely their numbers got wittled down enough for our army of prism tanks and rhino's to hamemr through them, and they had so little money left over for a defence we hammered through that aswell, because they had no grand cannons to outrange my prism tanks, and any tanks they threw at me never got a shot off before being destroyed.

Well it does sound as if the guy you were playing against didnt have any flexability to think of a better tactic than throwing tank after tank at you. Did he not try a harrier rush, or knocking out the power plants?