Tank Spam ?

[Rafe]

Why do i keep hearing about this ? Are all games pretty much limited at later tiers to tanks ? If two players of equel skill played each other and one tries to mix in a few more diverse units will the tank spammer(maximizing tanks) always be at advantage ?

I must say i enjoyed some of the previous games in teh series, but if i'm going to be penalized for going air instead of armor i don't want to invest the time in a 1 dimensional game. I might ask, why have any other units at all?

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after snifing around i found an older blurb from lion

"It was a tank spamming game, and that's just about what C&C3 is about as well. Some will disagree, but the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the replays. You develop a good build order that rakes in da money in the least amount of time, and then just spam tanks ASAP. And may the biggest tank army win. Are there counters to a large mass of Preds or Mammies barreling down on your position. Yes indeed there is! An equal amount of tanks waiting for them should do the trick."

i must say i'm kinda disheartened by this. Dont' get me wrong i'm sure it takes skill to micro tanks. Like i said in a the pre-edit. i do'nt wanna be penalized for having a few less tanks and a few more flying units or indirect fire or artillery units.Why do i keep hearing about this ? Are all games pretty much limited at later tiers to tanks ? If two players of equel skill played each other and one tries to mix in a few more diverse units will the tank spammer(maximizing tanks) always be at advantage ?

[Derek]

Don't take Lion's word to be divinely inspired. Hes actually not very good. In CNC3 tanks are the backbone of any army you will create, but its not all about tank spam (unless you're Nod).

Are all games pretty much limited at later tiers to tanks ?
Actually quite the opposite, the later into the game you get, the less predominant tanks become. However, they are always remain the the most significant aspect of the game no matter how long the game lasts.

Units that you can mix well with tanks are generally non-vehicles that are effective themselves effective against tanks, such as missile squads, orcas, and vertigo bombers. In turn, if you see your opponent start to use these, then mix in the counters to those, anti-infantry and anti-air vehicles and infantry. But all this is really just to ensure that your tanks get to his base, and his tanks don't get to your base. It will be the tanks that blow things up, and tank vs. tank engagements will be the focus of the game. The rest is how well you manage your tanks and how well you support them with other units.

If you really want to avoid tank spamming though, play Scrin. They don't have incredibly effective tanks (which also makes them slightly underpowered). Their two anti-vehicle vehicles are the Seeker, which is equivalent to the Pitbull or Attack-bike but has heavier armor, does more damage, and moves slower, making it act like a light tank that can attack air, and the other is Devourer Tank, Scrin's true tank, but this is not an economical unit unless you order it to consume some tiberium from a field, which will temporarily increase its rate of fire and damage to devestating effect, but requires micro. Compared to the other tanks, the Devour is more powerful (even without tiberium) but slower and more expensive, and the Seeker (although not technically a tank) is faster and cheaper but weaker. Neither of these units alone will beat a straight up tank spammer, but Scrin also has excellent anti-tank infantry (disintegrators and shock troopers) and aircraft (stormriders) that will be make very effective support for your tanks. Of the three factions, Scrin definately requires the most mixing, so if you don't like tank spam try them out (although you will still be fighting against tanks spammers).

[Kiefer13]

I think that rocket men are not as good as they should be against tanks. I mean a player shoudl have to avoid rocket men with his tanks OR send anti-inf support with them. Not just run them over and continue towards their objective virtualy unscathed.

[drgNz~]

Bring back LL'ing! ;D

[Derek]

Yeah, as the game is missile squads are not useless, but they aren't powerful enough to really bother tanks.

[Stompy]

I've had many games where tanks are not the deciding factor, particularly bigger games like 3v3s or 5+ player FFAs where you tend to see more teching up.

[SgtRicko]

I rarely build tanks when I'm Nod or Scrin, and when I do, it's usually for base defense or soemthing along those lines.

[M2M]

I think rocketsquads should run away (eg. to the side) when a tank is about to overrun 'm, that way rocketsquads are more usefull. I mean an upgraded predator can take on a lot of infantry, as well as tanks, and those scorpions just drive over those poor infantry units. Putting 'm in buildings is more or less useless online, because any real player would just avoid those buildings or clear m' out with some of the cleaning units. But then again, it is the same with gdi's elite and scrin' elite infantry, pretty useless if you come @ m with some tanks

[Derek]

I rarely build tanks when I'm Nod or Scrin, and when I do, it's usually for base defense or soemthing along those lines.
Nod should always build tanks, if you spam Scorpians from 4 WFs and micro your tanks well, you literally cannot lose on Tournament Arena, and only lose with difficulty on other maps.

[Gaucho8788]

I think rocketsquads should run away (eg. to the side) when a tank is about to overrun 'm, that way rocketsquads are more usefull. I mean an upgraded predator can take on a lot of infantry, as well as tanks, and those scorpions just drive over those poor infantry units. Putting 'm in buildings is more or less useless online, because any real player would just avoid those buildings or clear m' out with some of the cleaning units. But then again, it is the same with gdi's elite and scrin' elite infantry, pretty useless if you come @ m with some tanks

They're not entirely useless. If yu are going to go infantry, then you need to make big groups. The only reason they're so expendable is the fact they cost so little. You can pop out about 4 or 5 groups of missle soldiers for the price of one predator. Also if the get up to elite status, the higher they go the stronger they are. So the longer you keep them alive the better. It's not that hard to keep them alive either, except maybe against flame tanks but thats why you get a huge group. They don't just die instantly to them like they did in the previous games so the're going to damage. And if you garrison the best way to do it is with, if your GDI, 1 sniper team and 2 rocket soldier teams. The snipers will handle the infantry while the rocket soldier get everything else. This works especiallly well if their are alot of garrisonable buildings around, especially if they're really close to each other. Don't put them down if they're easier to die than tanks, or are weaker than tanks.

[JBV3737]

i think with tanks a massive air power is just as good, aswell a commando to take out the power behind the base :P

no but for real, air power is good also.
and no its not all tanks, zone troopers own other normal tanks, and to take out those you need different units, such as shadow teams.

[Gaucho8788]

Exactly. It not just the armor but also the way you use everything else.

[Daishi]

IIRC from high-tier replays, you can't replace a tank spamming strategy unless there's a Scrin on the other team.

But I believe that C&C3 will eventually evolve past tank spamming. People will start using certain units for certain things when they eventually become more effective at what they do than a tank spam.

[M2M]

IIRC from high-tier replays, you can't replace a tank spamming strategy unless there's a Scrin on the other team.

But I believe that C&C3 will eventually evolve past tank spamming. People will start using certain units for certain things when they eventually become more effective at what they do than a tank spam.

I believe tank spam click fest will still be #1 strategy for nod players...

until the vertigo bombers come, they lack armour to take out heavy equipment

spamming choppers can be fine too, but you will need the laser upgrade to make 'm somewhat effective against hard targets, and by that time you can build vertigos as well (yeah I like my stealth bombers)

[SgtRicko]

Fanatic spam works pretty well agianst most targets too, especially if you rush to build the Secret Shrine early on.

[Soviet779]

I nearly got mauled by a zone trooper rush. I had taken my tib spots, and the ones in the middle with no sign on the enemy at all. I figured hes afk or really crap, so eventually across the bridge came these hordes of zone troopers pouring into my base. I was like "OH S**T!" They mauled most of my stuff, but lots of sentry towers and distracting them with my preds killed most of them and i eventually won with raingun mammys. But i was on the verge of giving up and leaving at one point.

I got totally trashed by a mastermind rush. He stole my stuff, built storm towers in my base, sold my con yard. Then after the game i remembered a few damn sentry turrets could have stopped all that! I saw the mastermind coming as well! Dunno why it didnt click in my head to kill infantry hero when you have nothing useful, build turrets! Wont happen again though thats for sure.

So infantry have their uses :p

[Star Wars Man]

Yeah, as the game is missile squads are not useless, but they aren't powerful enough to really bother tanks.


Not if you micro them right. Getting them behind tanks damages them more. Having the squad surround the tank usually is a good option. You just have to be careful that he doesn't try to roll over your guys, then this would be pretty useless. :p

Fanatic spam works pretty well against most targets too, especially if you rush to build the Secret Shrine early on.

That works well, just make sure to clear any anti-infantry vehicles and base defences, or else your guys are going to get killed. That, or just build huge masses of them, storm the base, and see what happens. :D

[SgtRicko]

That works well, just make sure to clear any anti-infantry vehicles and base defences, or else your guys are going to get killed. That, or just build huge masses of them, storm the base, and see what happens. :D

That never fails. EVER. Even if the enemy has anti-inf turrets, they're pretty much screwed once you get the tib infusion upgrade and start massing fanatics, especially if the enemy is Scrin (buzzer hives suck vs. fanatics).

[M2M]

That never fails. EVER. Even if the enemy has anti-inf turrets, they're pretty much screwed once you get the tib infusion upgrade and start massing fanatics, especially if the enemy is Scrin (buzzer hives suck vs. fanatics).

I agree that fanatics against you are a real pest...

if you drive 'm over you will lose your tanks

only venoms appear to be able to handle 'm (and of course warships of the scrin)

so if you are up against something like that, build some AA as well, and take it out, then mass against the enemy and watch the firewords

[Derek]

I got totally trashed by a mastermind rush. He stole my stuff, built storm towers in my base, sold my con yard. Then after the game i remembered a few damn sentry turrets could have stopped all that! I saw the mastermind coming as well! Dunno why it didnt click in my head to kill infantry hero when you have nothing useful, build turrets! Wont happen again though thats for sure.
Mastermind rush isn't that hard to stop. First of all, Scrin has good infantry and has to use them to win (their early vehicles aren't good enough and their aircraft come in too late), so you should have a couple APCs anyways. Second, you should always be scouting with rifle infantry you get from selling structures. Your scout might not get very far into his base, but they should get far enough that you can see if he has built a WF or Nerve Center first, if its the later then he is almost definately going to Mastermind rush you. At that point just make sure your flanks are covered by APCs, and if you can see his barracks watch it and when the Mastermind comes out see which way it goes.