Tips

Avoiding instant elimination

The most frustrating thing is not even surviving the first five minutes of the game! This is a common nightmare for beginners, as more experienced players have developed very rapid assaults, known as ‘opening rushes’, which are ALWAYS fatal if you don’t take a few initial precautions...

Base-building order:

Whether you’re playing as Nod or GDI, the best thing to do is, first and foremost, to build your base quickly – very quickly – without overthinking it, following this precise, most effective order:
1/ Deploy the MCV
2/ Power Plant
3/ Barracks (and immediately produce around twenty light infantry)
4/ Tiberium Refinery
5/ Power Plant
6/ Radar
7/ Tiberium Refinery

This is the bare minimum if you hope to survive...

Building layout:

Engineers are the main culprits behind early eliminations. They take control of any buildings they enter. A very rapid rush of enemy Engineers whilst you have few defences, and your starting Construction Centre is immediately captured: it’s over, you’re dead! A fairly reliable tactic is to build a compact starting base: always follow the order above, but place all your buildings right up against every side of your Construction Centre – this blocks immediate access to it. Furthermore, as you produce them, spread your Light Infantry units all around it.

If you’re up against a GDI player, this tactic will almost certainly do the trick. Just add a few second- and third-class infantry units to be on the safe side.

Against a Nod opponent, the situation is more complex. Some players manage to develop the Underground Transport Vehicle very quickly: they load it with five Engineers, send it right up next to your base and, whether it’s compact or not, inflict considerable damage on it.

A good strategy is to produce a few Engineers yourself: place one next to each of your key buildings. If a building is captured by the enemy, immediately send the nearby Engineer inside to recapture it. Be careful, though – you’ll need quick reflexes to act very swiftly before the enemy sells the building!

Launch an attack yourself?

The best defence is a good offence! So why not launch one of these Desolators yourself? It’s possible, but very risky if you’re a beginner: it takes quite a bit of experience to launch a rush whilst simultaneously securing a solid starting base. So, if the enemy repels your brilliant assault, the rest of the game is in serious jeopardy… It’s a gamble!

You’re GDI:

Produce 20 disc launchers as soon as possible and, without looking, send them to the opposite diagonal corner of the map; they’ll normally find the enemy base there. Carry on building your base whilst they’re on the move. When they come within sight of the enemy’s structures, take control of the disc launchers again and direct them all – regardless of enemy forces – to attack the Construction Centre. Note: this rush used to be completely unstoppable. Since then, a Patch has changed the rules of the game so that disc launchers explode and take out other units when they are destroyed. The rush remains 50 per cent effective.

Whether you’re playing as Nod or GDI:

Produce 20 Light Infantry as soon as possible, followed by 5 Engineers. Then proceed as in the previous scenario. The Light Infantry, being more mobile, will be the first to reach the enemy base: direct their fire at the enemy Soldiers and defences. The engineers arrive next and, normally, the area will be more or less clear by then (or the enemy gunners will be occupied): direct them all towards the Construction Centre!

Staying in the game

Right, you’ve somehow survived the first five minutes! There’s no question of resting on your laurels: the worst is yet to come. Objective: always stay one step ahead of the enemy.

See and not be seen:

If the ‘fog of war’ option hasn’t been selected, you must both be aware of what the enemy is planning-by seeing their base-and conceal your own plans from them by hiding your base.

During the first five minutes, always take three or four men from your starting forces and send them-blindly, whether you’re rushing or not-towards the diagonally opposite corner of the map. They’ll die, but with a bit of luck, they’ll have given you an unobstructed view of the centre of the enemy base. The enemy will no doubt do the same: if you have time, stop their Scouts as soon as possible. Under no circumstances should you tolerate any enemy units, even solitary and harmless ones, in the immediate vicinity of your base.

Live happily, live hidden:

Now that you’re constructing your more advanced technology buildings, spread out as much as possible if you’re GDI. The advantage is twofold: the enemy won’t spot them straight away (their initial Scouts have, for the most part, only seen the centre of the initial base) and, in the event of a missile or ion cannon attack, these expensive structures will likely be outside the damage radius.

If you’re playing as Nod, on the other hand, stay compact: you’ll want to build the Generator as quickly as possible, as it makes your base invisible within a certain radius. Note: the Generator consumes a huge amount of electricity, so you’ll need to build plenty of power plants before constructing it.

See and anticipate:

Visibility is quite simply vital. Beginners often lose it when they’re suddenly confronted by an enemy air squadron: without air defences, all they can do is watch as those three or four aircraft systematically destroy their base. Sad.

Bear in mind that it’s almost impossible to build every possible type of defence at the same time. How do you choose? Quite simply by regularly observing what your opponent is planning and putting the appropriate defence in place in advance. As it’s also impossible to build all types of attack defences at the same time, you’re more or less safe…

Tips and a few little tricks

Finally, a few basic principles to avoid disasters:

create your own game rather than joining an existing one;
to begin with, always choose the same map; this will give you a slight advantage (you’ll be playing ‘at home’);
in the opening dialogue, always claim that you’re a beginner when facing an unranked or low-ranked player, and that you’re a killer when facing a highly-ranked player. Warning: your opponent often does the same!
refuse any changes to the game settings: if your opponent asks for them, it’s probably because they have a strategy ready to impose on you;
when you have nothing to do (slow construction, mass unit production, long troop movements), chat politely with your opponent: unless they’re a complete Brute (like you), they’ll reply courteously to your messages and waste their own time too...