BE Winning Escort: Why Do I Have To Write This?

I only play NF as Escort (in particular, alt5) because it's typically much more enjoyable, despite being much more complicated. Perhaps Escort's complex requirements for NE allow me to lower my expectations enough to have fun. But I can't lower my expectations for BE because their strategy is so fucking braindead-simple.

• High Level Philosophy
  
  • With quirky maps, you need to be on the lookout for arbitrage. Exploit game mechanics whose disadvantages don't exist on this map. Money's res removes the disadvantages of compo heavies. Escort removes all of the reasons for BE not to constantly rush vehicles.
    • Vehicles
      
      
      1. NF doesn't have vehicles.
         
      2. BE has vehicles and plenty of res.
         
      3. If you aren't always in a vehicle, you're doing it wrong.
    • Offense
      
      
      1. NF is almost exclusively defending.
         
      2. BE doesn't need to worry about defense and has infinite tickets.
         
      3. If you aren't constantly utilizing very aggressive offensive game mechanics, you're doing it wrong.
  • Assuming the previous premises, the following strategy logically follows. I've color-coded everything so you nitwits can easily draw all of the decisions back to these two foundational premises.
• The Escort Medium Tank
  • • You're building a vehicle or you're losing. But what vehicle? Don't think, just make this tank and keep suicide-rushing them with Improved Armor Gren:
      
      1. Fill Up those armor plates with Reactive except for two plates in the back.
         
      2. Pop on HE Cannon.
         
      3. Add in Gas Turbine.
    • This perfectly matches the weight limit! It's a thing of beauty.
  • Chassis
    
    • APCs are cheap and UGL is nice against turrets and barriers, but money doesn't matter and a UGL-Compo-Turbine APC only has 240HP per side. HE-Reactive-Turbine Mediums have 480HP on their front and sides. That's the equivalent of a motherfucking compo heavy. We'll need the armor.
  • Armor
    
    • Reactive. Why?
      
      1. NF has no vehicles to bio us and we are suicidally rushing, so we only care about maximizing HP to maximize survival time.
         
      2. Since we don't have heavies, we maximize HP/plate (Reactive) instead of HP/weight (Compo).
         
      3. Ergo, Reactive.
    • If you think you're a smart fuck and you want compo, don't. Four plates of reactive has the same HP as six plates of compo. Your tank will have as much HP as a motherfucking endgame heavy tank.
  • Weapons
    
    • HE Cannon. It can work double duty against turrets and infantry. You shouldn't survive long enough to take advantage of anything more.
  • Engine
    
    • Gas Turbine all the way. It's fast, but not 3phase-fast. And as you're dying, it gets you to the flag faster. Perfect.
  • Class
    
    • We want armor and eventually mine immunity and we don't need to repair, so the gren is the obvious decision.

tl;dr Build Tanks. Rush.

EDIT The ever kind Empires community has reminded me that I need to be correct. So you really only need to rush like a mad man for the first flag or two. But I swear to fucking god, if you try to take the first flag as a fucking rifleman when I'm on BE, I will end you. If I'm on NF, then it's cool. I'll just pin you in your base, lol.

 

I haven't played modern escort but do you really have infinite money? Because I've found pure suicide tactics in the past lead to you running out of steam before the 2nd last flag.

There's also some points which desperately need infantry.

The first point is definitely a pure tank zone. The second point requires a simultaneous tank push combined with an infantry squad blitzing through the left hand pathway. Third flag *needs* infantry because NF can just fucking spawn and sticky you over and over as you cap the point.

4th point is a bit weird, on the one hand tank spam will work but a sneaky infantry push can be whats needed to take that point.

Finally the 5th point is pretty easy. But I'd say you still want infantry on the ground sniping out enemy grens and stickybombs.

That's my 0.02 but I havent' played escort in over a year so I dunno how the res goes.

Also isn't alt5 literally the worst map of all time.

 

Also, I find using the cluster missiles (forgot the name of them) very useful against the wooden barricades. If you destroy the barricades, there is often nothing stopping you from rushing a tank on a flag, which usually makes NF panic.

 

6.5/10

You need both infantry/vehicle rush.
Not just useless tank rush...ending up with 10 tank carcasses blocking your way.

annd, I'll just stop playing NF.

 

OR:
Stay back and spam UGL. Problem solved.

 

If you get 3 vechs dedicated to doing this and everyone rushing it's basically a gg.

 

I think you're right. I was a smidgen drunk with rage when I wrote this. I had just stacked BE for a swift end to the map. I think it's pretty easy to get the first two flags with crazy rushing. But my team couldn't even do that.

 

There's your problem.

 

Step it up.

Please play BE and net me 50 mine kills per match.

Good luck effectively fitting more than 3 APCs in s-bend unless your team for some reason aren't completely incompetent at driving.
Also have fun dying and driving that apc all the way back only to die again

Because staying back and spamming UGL/HECN while getting repped never completely fucking wrecked any NF effort to stay near the flag or any chokepoints.






Pretty good troll thread though.

 

Best solution to anything escort related: rtv when it comes on. That way everyone wins.

 

Tellin' it like it is.

 

RTV, fixing Empires design flaws since 2006.

 

Wait rtv actually works? I've never seen rtv work ever

 

Yesterday we skipped a tedious round of district nicely with rtv.

 

Today we finished an 80 minute district round because no one would RTV.