In team games, which faction strength should you use?

[dotswarlock]

It can safely be said that ladder games and team games are quite different, leaving a bigger place for the macro level (at least in the 1000 – 1400 ratings).

My experience so far has taught me that, for parts of the game, you should not be a jack of all trades, but rather focus your efforts on a few key elements. For example, trying to hold the front line AND build experimentals AND have an overwhelming air cover AND have a large TML battery firing is probably not going to work (something’s going to go wrong before you get all of that online).

So while any faction can fill in any role, some are more suited for specific tasks than others. For example, on Gulf of Rohan a UEF player will eventually overwhelm a Cybran opponent in a shield / turret standoff. So picking Cybran might not be the best choice to hold the front line, but it might be a good one if you want to throw vipers to offer support.

So my question is this, assuming a team game in the 1000-1400 ratings with random people (4 vs 4), which specific strength of your faction should you consider using to best help the team (you might wish to specify at which phase or “tier” of the battle)?

[Hammie]

Well from what i can make out in general the factions are each more suited to these roles

UEF; Defense, and ground units

Cybran: Stealth, and range

Aeon: Air units and flanking

Seraphim: Navy units, and offense

However don't go into a battle instantly assuming these are their only attributes to use, they do have various different needs and usage, for example in the T1 spam, its actually Aeon units that have the best range advantage, which are even more effective with recon units tied in, and generally people use the Cybran T1 mantis for flanking.

Now UEF i would say is a defensive race in most aspects because they are so much more tanky, however this doesn't mean to just sit back and turtle as people can quickly find ways to counter it, so even though they are the best units for defensive situations, eventually on a 4v4 people will break through that's why either you or some allies must still try to harass, yet again, UEF are the only faction to have a T3 defensive turret, which in large numbers can be quite effective against experimental units, and a line of about 5/6 of these can pretty much halt an unsupported ground attack in its tracks.

Aeon i would most definitely say as always are best suited for Air especially at Tier three because of the Anti Air gunship, and the T3 torpedo bomber, and even though Cybran has a t3 gunship it is not as suited for its multi-role purpose as Aeon, this is because a large group of Aeon T3 gunships supported by even a small wing of ASFs can generally win a lot of fights, and help to win an ASF battle due to their effectiveness as anti air units.

Seraphim, by their nature are a very aggressive and offensive race, they are most suited to being the front line attacking force, even at t1 they are a very powerful offensive race, with their t1 artillery being amphibious, and as im sure you have seen being used to effectively counter navy, and this race is especially effective offensively again at Tier three, this is because of they have the t3 mobile shields, which are also amphibious, and finally we have the seraphim navy, these show some very aggressive traits with the fact that their battleships can build a nuke, and their T3 sub hunters can not only dominate the sea but when surfaced are actually more effective at dealing with air forces then the seraphim t2 cruiser.

Now for cybran it goes with out saying that they employ stealth the most, their T3 air units can have stealth enabled, and even the Monkey lord has stealth, which as you may have found out can quite quickly sneak up on an opponent that doesn't have omni radar, i see alot of players in large 4v4 matches especially on setons clutch using the Cybran mobile stealth generator sneak behind the enemy and set up a TML fire base under stealth right under their noses, which can cause a lot of issues especially with mass sniping, however by doing this you do commit a lot of resources and it must be used effectively, and finally Cybran actually does have a couple defensive factors to them,for example their t2 point defense has the best range compared to its counterparts, and they are the only race to have a t3 submerged Torpedo launcher.

Finally i would always say to give an engineer to other members of your team so they can keep your race if you get killed, in a 4v4 it ios best to have 1 of each race, however again this depends on the players and how effective they are at using each race, further more you must keep checking the change logs in each updates as some elements might be changed enough to make one of these points invalid.

[rootbeer23]

UEF: mass extractor
Cybran: mass extractor
Aeon: mass extractor
Seraphim: mass extractor

[Nombringer]

It can safely be said that ladder games and team games are quite different, leaving a bigger place for the macro level (at least in the 1000 – 1400 ratings).

My experience so far has taught me that, for parts of the game, you should not be a jack of all trades, but rather focus your efforts on a few key elements. For example, trying to hold the front line AND build experimentals AND have an overwhelming air cover AND have a large TML battery firing is probably not going to work (something’s going to go wrong before you get all of that online).

So while any faction can fill in any role, some are more suited for specific tasks than others. For example, on Gulf of Rohan a UEF player will eventually overwhelm a Cybran opponent in a shield / turret standoff. So picking Cybran might not be the best choice to hold the front line, but it might be a good one if you want to throw vipers to offer support.

So my question is this, assuming a team game in the 1000-1400 ratings with random people (4 vs 4), which specific strength of your faction should you consider using to best help the team (you might wish to specify at which phase or “tier” of the battle)?

0.0 the legend that wrote the infinite war series plays FAF!?

[Golol]

shit i didnt even realize!

[Hammie]

urm...no i didn't write the infinite war series, im just used to writing reviews for mods, so every now and then i go overboard, however i do agree with the all factions mass extractors, that's always essential, in a sense this game is more about economy building and micromanaging economy than the actual fighting, as it is generally what wins battles

[Nombringer]

I know you didn't... Dotswarlock did....