I can't get to tech 3 in time to counter Aircraft and my AAs get killed quickly. Any suggestions?
P.S. I am not a rookie just stink at RM

A couple quick questions:

1) is this the expansion or the regular game?

If it is the first version of the game, don't be suprised. An air rush is one of the most effective ways to take a player out. You need to scout hard to find the signs of someone going for air (playing naboo, mining nova early, etc...). If you know it is ocming, pump some AA. You still may end up in trouble. With evenly matched players, a rush to air will win the game.

To get a little faster, try watching some recorded games of folks and focus on the first 10-15 minutes of their game.


2) If this is the expansion, you shouldn't have a problem. Due to the problems from the first game, AA got a big boost to fend off the air rushes that were dominating the game before the expansion. Just make sure you have a troop center down and some AA out..you should be all set.

Good luck.

Don't necessarily worry about getting to T3 faster if you see your opponent is in T3 before you. As a matter of fact that can be the worst thing you can do a lot of the time. If you see your opponent get to T3, immediately build AA, and lots of it. T2 AA is very weak alone or in small groups. Try to mass at least 4-5 together in one place. You'll need that many in at least two spots, one by your CC and the other by your carbon.

This will delay getting to T3 substantially, but will prevent you from getting destroyed by air. If he comes with air, queue up more AA as you'll likely be losing some of the ones you've already built.

In tech lvl 2 you can build AA troopers, and never rush to the next tech level unlest it is needed, or your economity will fall.

Depending on your situation, and the map, should dictate what you do. First off, making AA like that can lose you the game, too many ppl have the bad habit of making AA the minute their opponent goes to t3. Think of it this way, what if he attacks you with strike mechs? You can make a couple turrets to defend that then you are just all the more defeated. You need to know what is coming to be able to defend it. You need to remember to constantly scout the enemy's base. If u see a mech factory, then a strike mech rush is likely, an you can always watch for the airbase to go up. If it's an airbase, a TC with a handful of AA troopers should work. When you place those guys to defend, try to let the enemy fighters see your workers first, so he'll start shooting the workers, but then pound the fighters. Since he wont take out workers that quickly, even if he gets 1 or 2 its worth it if u can take out his few fighters. Further tips for using AA include making your aa troopers, in groups of 3, attack seperate fighters, because it takes 3 hits from an aa trooper to kill a fighter, and if you fire 6 guys on 1 fighter you are in essence wasting 3 shots.

yes, create 2 troop centers and focas on ecomony and at the same time pour out the troopers (they are better then mechs for the resons they are cheaper, and can shoot more causing more damage (and can't be run over) and can setup a blockade with AA in the back

I was thinking specifically of 3v3 or 4v4 and my advice still stands in that scenario. In 2v2 or 1v1, obviously it's different because you're only worried about the guy in front of you.

In 3v3+ I always play percentages. If you're the master scout, that's great, but it's 50/50 if your scout's even alive into T3, never mind using it while doing other things. The percentages are that you can expect air from someone in T3. Sometimes it's very heavy air, meaning 6+ planes, sometime 10-12. You can hide 1 or 2 AA guys in your workers, but they're going to die fast to even 2 planes if the guy micros (I do). I can't tell you how many games I've seen and played in where a guy gets air rushed with a few aa troopers standing around and they're basically worthless.

I think most good players do things in mass, even in early T3 now, so 90% of the time you're going to get a lot of fighters up your tailpipe, not just a few that can be easily taken care of.

Another reason why you should focus on protecting yourself from air, even if it delays your T3 is because air has only one counter, aa. You can't wall it out and it's very hard to run from. Mechs you can wall out, turret, and attack from your cc.

If you've a few turrets, you might consider sticking AA troops close to them or to your CC. The turrets don't get an attack bonus for having AA troops in them, but if you've room available in your turrets, they're great for ducking troops in and out of to prolong their lives. It takes a bit more micro-management to do it, but you can take out a fair bit of fighters by firing, diving into a turret (or CC) when low on life, then jumping out and firing again....

Kryllith

Another reason why you should focus on protecting yourself from air, even if it delays your T3 is because air has only one counter, aa. You can't wall it out and it's very hard to run from. Mechs you can wall out, turret, and attack from your cc.

A couple of problems with this:
1) if you are building walls you are either a) wasting carbon for light walls which are completely worthless or b) wasting ore which will hurt you even more

I play a LOT of 3v3 and the typical situation goes like this:
Who is biggest threat? a)known player b)if no known player, player with highest score..

If with people you know on team (i.e. clannies) EVERYONE focuses on main threat first, trying to send in a good combo (ex: air from player 1, strike mechs from player 2 and troopers from player 3...

Are you trying to take them out? Not necessarily... main goal is to CRIPPLE them forcing them to have to rebuild...

After that is accomplished, work is split up into harrassing the other 2. Even if you've got a GOOD 3v3 with an even match up (which rarely happens) I see this type of action almost everytime.

I have also seen: Coordinated attacks with all 3 players on one team hitting the other 3 SIMULTANEOUSLY making it impossible for one player to help save someone else.

My main attack has gravitated to strike mech rush followed by air... strike mechs are harrassing workers and taking out any anti-air troopers that are lurking about. Counter to this? Easy. Put some grenadiers with your anti-air... combo counter to counter combo rush.

but you should be focused on attacking too... if you are just hanging about waiting to be attacked, you will lose everytime. Guaranteed.

It's hard to get an even game anymore in anything higher than 2v2...

Me? I LOVE to see somebody put walls up... 1) it means they aren't spreading which leaves more room for me and 2) it means they wont have as many anti-air and turrets in their base.

Personally, I DON'T build turrets or anti-air. I just plop fortresses all over my base. It is unusual for me to have less than 6 fortresses by the end of any large game that I didn't get slaughtered in early on.

Kind of rambly, I know.. but that is my two cents worth...