Lol, me and Niarbeht have the exact feelings about Comm. I've commed 7/8 games I've ever played in Empires, and half the time people never listen to me. Like in the beginning, and I say "Go go go! Move out towards the refs!" and "If you need ammo, ask and engy! Engies drop ammo boxes outside the barracks!" I get people saying "I need ammo!" and "make an armoury". Then I tell them why there is no armoury. By this time, I STILL have a person or two running into the comm car either thinking that there is no comm yet, or asking "I WANT THIS CARR LOLOL!!!11". Ugh. And yes, I haven't analized my style either, it really just depends if people listen to me or not. If they can listen, I micro it up expanding with seveal bases across the battelfield, otherwise if they can't listen, I just try and hold grounds while getting research...... not like it matters because they don't know how to use the VF.
Not to sound sny, but I can't remember the last time I've lost a game that I commed from the start. These pubs are just too easy, I want to play against good players and teams but servers are few. The official server is so laggy that it's not fun to play. I roll with the punches as a commander and adjust as needed. Each map is a bit different but many themes carry over for me. Strategy -forward barracks = hold territory -forward armories = great for changing classes/upgrades/healing/ammo and missle spam with vehicles -forward radar = I prefer putting the radar in a location that will detect all incoming tanks for my team, and place it early, sometimes I will make more then one for this purpose. -2 repair stations = one on each attack front, skilled players will use these to keep expensive tanks rolling -***LOCK*** the vehicle factories = it's for the teams own good, I am the commander, I can see how many of what type of unit is in play. you can not. I control the resources and save as needed. I control what weapons are deployed to counter the enemy and I save the team time by having pre fabbed tanks/apcs. research and development 1. biodiesel engine = decent cooling, allows you to get pounded and not stall, good speed and acceleration 2. absorbant armor = supperior anti cannon armor, good against turrets, average weights and COST, composite is too expensive in the long haul, there are counters to this armor, but luckily no one knows them. 3. physics --->projectile physics-->heavy calibur= deploy a few 50 calibur apcs and maybe a few Umg apcs, watch infantry drop like flys. these are purely support for light tanks and artillery, try it. 4. arty--> Highly explosive shells as needed. The game never makes it to the point where I need anything past arty. This is because all noob commanders make lvl 3 turrets and wait for death. They lose all of their footing to my absorbant/biodiesel tanks. The game is almost always over before I get arty since the enemy never can fight back with their weak tanks. I also get apcs out to support and slaughter the grenadiers w/ 50cal mgs. The apcs also allow friendly grenadiers to spawn in and take out turret spam. Sometimes I may deploy triple GL apcs to clear farms until arty arrives. I never upgrade turrets. ever. good defense is a good offense.
Does the big radar act as engineer's radar? What you've said at the end is complete bullshit. On public server you usually get 90% noobs (if you're lucky 50%). You can play like that only if enemy allows you to do this (weak and stuff).
I gave up commanding because of the moron rate, and I'm a usual Grenadier, I always have a retarded commander constantly telling me to go all accross the map to build a fucking refinery, constantly clicking on the objective, spamming me with fucking noise.
I usually don't like to comm but when I do, I concentrate on vehicle survival and early, concentrated hit-and-run attacks with light equipment. This will result in a late-game situation where the enemy won’t have many resources to use, making research and heavy equipment hard to get while my own team will have enough money to replace any destroyed equipment. Resource usage – I usually get a good engine and armor first while saving the remaining resources for building light tanks, or if the enemy leaves his CV unguarded, I'll go for it with light tanks without even researching anything. Recon and refineries – knowing where to strike is the first thing needed for success. Lone refineries and CV's are the number one targets for fast attacks. This will leave the enemy very few choices; they can either guard the refineries with infantry (which will force them to spread out too thin) or build turrets and leave the refineries alone, making it easier for grenadiers in APC’s to destroy them. Tank groups - one tank gets owned by grenadiers very fast or damaged in 1vs1 vehicle combat, but four tanks can end the fight easy and fast. Unfortunately people don't use this tactic even if I tell them to, which can pretty much ruin the game for the team! Tank usage and opportunities - the thing I love about light tanks is that you can get them early and they're bulletproof and fast. The best armor is available from the very beginning; your surroundings. By attacking from unexpected direction and using enemy buildings as cover, you can do some serious damage to enemy base. The important thing here is the element of surprise; if you attack early enough, the enemy will probably not have all sides of his base guarded which makes fast entry possible. Concentrated firepower - whatever the target is, I usually tell MANY people to shoot at it. This tactic, combined with those above, can lead to effectively taking out important units and structures *very fast* which will make the escape and survival of vehicles even easier. So basically I'm a early-game commander who will get owned if the game goes on too long or the players won't use the tactics mentioned above. For me it's not about the most powerful units but the strategies and teamwork. I hate arty and level 3 turrets from the bottom of my heart and usually try to end the game before the enemy gets them both. If they DO get them, I'm screwed.
A lot of people misuse the light tank ie they try to attack stuff directly. The best tactic is to use your superior speed to circle the enemy tank and keep them from hitting you with their cannon while you pummel their tank. It's possible to defeat medium and heavy tanks with the light tank with ease once you master driving while shooting.
I'm more of a vehicle rusher. I'll usually go for the composite and gas turbine, then for meds. But once i got the meds, unless the enemy's got arty i usually get turrets. If the enemy DOES have arty, i go for some arty of my own and Extended Range cannons to take them out. I only get heavies if i'm playing NF. The BE heavy tanks are shit, but at least the NF ones can hold some decent armor and still give you good weapons.
I had pretty good game yesterday while comming. I entered a bit after the game was started someone had spent all the resources and some guy was attacking enemy base with a paper light tank. Armed with two refs and two engineers that didn't have any problem in taking orders I proceeded forward with taking on res spot at a time. In the end we had all but one res point under our command, little bases everywhere and 6 turrets pounding enemy base. Someone referred those 6 level 3 turrets as a farm, but I don't think that six turrets is enough to be referred as farm. My research went slowly from turret upgrades to bio diesel engine, regenerative armor and medium tanks. I didn't have much more time to research. All this happened in emp_canyon, I was comming on NF and the BE comm was a beginner(well it was my seventh time comming, so I think I'm a beginner comm also :D)
Destroyer is like your average commander. researches composite/gas and chasis just because they are all in the same tree. Then goes for turrets. This is your average strategy, but I do not recommend this. Try other armors/engines combinations. Try looking at my armor/engine guide in the wiki. Destroyer does atleast get ranged cannons which are usually overlooked. I'm not a fan of composite because of the high cost of tanks using it. I prefer tanks set up for anti cannon fire. Composite is great against arty, but usually you only need enough to survive one barage anyways, and I find that if you use biodiesel, you can avoid stalling and close in on that arty w/ time to kill.
I usually go for early paper tanks, followed by Regenerative, nukes, Bio Diesel... By then I usually won.
I sometimes try different armor and engines depending on what the enemy's got and whether i have a good team. If it's isle i'll experiment with reflective once we have other armor. I find that the nuke engine's really only good on jeeps. Anything with guns will overheat way too fast and stall. I only get composite if we have the res for it, otherwise i go into chem and get adv coolant and absorbant. By the way... does anyone know if reflective armor helps when the shot's angled from below you? E.G emp_isle.
when you get to slower but stronger weapons overheating isnt a big problem (also missiles give low heat) making fission engine a good choice because of its good acceleration. Its very good on artillery aswell
Im the type of comm that wants a compleate offensive... If I can the enemy will always see a cannon shell over their heads... I usualy go for mediums with Reactive Collant, then arty (BE Heavy sucks >.<, but if nukes are there then :D) If nf I stick with light tanks until arty... then heavys then nukes... That is my template... If something goes wrong I will research the appropriet tech to counter... But if you see me comm, and when Im reaaly into it, you can usualy see me spamming the text chat with : 1) ATTACK! DONT HOLD BACK! 2) KILL THEM KILL THEM ALL! 3) I DONT LET THEM RECOVER ATTACK! oh and im on love with BE medium tanks...
Yeah, the BE meds are great. I love how they can hold almost (repeat: *almsot*) a full set of armor and still have bio-HE cannon-chain gun. (i'm talking both armor slots fileld with good armor and armor almost maxed out)
Destroyer, save yourself some weight. That second armor slot is useless atm. Tested it for 1.064 with absorbant-regen. No regen happend. Second armor slot is still DOA.
