Claustrophobia (mod): hints and tips

[Brute51]

One of the best things that can happen to a mod creator is that people you've never talked to begin to play your mod. Especially if there are several replays in a short time with the same people playing the mod, that is just awesome!
This has happened with a mod called "Claustrophobia". This mod guarantees short and intensive games which is, I think, why some people love the mod. And I love to watch the replays of these games. Through watching replays I've found that there are several do's and don't. I've created this topic to advise anyone who is interested in it.

For people who do not know this mod: Claustrophobia periodically shrinks the map until 10% of it is remaining. A game starts like any ordinary game. After about 6 minutes the map shrinks for the first time, the next shrinks have a 45 second interval and there are 25 shrinks in total. So in less than 25 minutes the playable area is such a small square that your ACU cannot hide from the enemy, resulting in an intense end-game. If you're interested in replays, I'll link a few at the bottom of this post.

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General tips and hints #1 -- Game set up
The mod is at its best when played as a Free-For-All kind of game with several players. I recommend maps that have fair starting positions, equally far from the maps edge for all players. Circular maps are definitely not recommended. Maps with an unpassable center and maps that are scripted to expand or spawn enemy units are also not recommended. As for map size, I recommend 10km maps that favor land based combat.
The Claustrophobia parameters in the lobby are currently bugged, will be fixed soon.

General tips and hints #2 -- Factions
A cliche: Make sure you pick the right faction for your play style. UEF and Seraphim are definitely favored for the (short) battles of attrition that Claustrophobia usually results in. Cybran is least favored because their units seem least suited for these kind of games -- however, like always the laser enhancement on the ACU almost guarantees a win. Aeon players also have a hard(er) time but their longer range partially make up part of their deficiency.

General tips and hints #3 -- Reclaim
As the map shrinks units, reclaimables and props that fall outside the playable area are destroyed and cannot be reclaimed. Try to reclaim as much as you can in the area that is about to be consumed by the "darkness". This includes reclaiming your own structures. Be careful to keep your engineers on the right side of the red border.

General tips and hints #4 -- Do not upgrade your early base
Most structures you build will be eaten when the map shrinks. Therefor it is generally a waste of resources to invest in your early base unless you can use it for 12-15 minutes. In general this mod is about T1 and T2 units mainly and an occasional T3 unit here and there. Experimentals are costly and time consuming, in this mod I don't recommend to use them.

General tips and hints #5 -- UI
Keep an eye on the progress indicator, the yellow bar on the top left of the screen that tells you how much time is remaining before the next shrink. The map itself has a red border that indicates the size of the map after the coming shrink. Be sure to have your mobile units in this square before the time indicator runs out.

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Tips and hints for above average players #1 -- Do not go to the center
A common tactic is to move to the center of the map early and quickly, and build a strong firebase there. Don't do it! The center of the map is often thought to be the safest place because it remains playable at all times. It is also the place where every other player will inevitably go to, so the center guy will have to defend from multiple sides. In my experience the first guy in the center is one of the first to get killed unless you have Ravagers (UEF T3 PD) and TMD.

Tips and hints for above average players #2 -- Upgrade your ACU
Upgrade your ACU early on. Towards the end the ACU is gonna be your primary combat unit so make sure it can take a punch and deal it too.

Tips and hints for above average players #3 -- As Cybran, attack early
In my experience if a Cybran player wins it was because he was attacking early and kept being aggressive until the end. Another tactic is to keep to yourself until you have a laser on your ACU.

Tips and hints for above average players #4 -- As Aeon, use your range advantage
Attack early when the map is still big enough to take advantage of the extra range. This includes upgrading the ACU with the long range gun. Aeon mobile artillery can be very useful (T1 and T3).

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Tips and hints for below average players #1 -- Go to the center!
A common tactic is to move to the center of the map early and quickly, and build a strong firebase there. In games with low ranking players this is a valid tactic because the others will attack late in the game when there are plenty of defenses. In such games, expect large groups of tanks.

Tips and hints for below average players #2 -- Have a few interceptors patrol the center
Expanding on the previous tip: sometimes players use a transport to move their ACU to the center. Have 2-3 interceptors patrol the area for an easy kill.

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I hope you've found these tips useful. If you have any of your own please don't hesitate to share them in a comment below.

Last but not least, some replays that I really enjoyed watching:

http://replay.faforever.com/4264493
http://replay.faforever.com/4269502
http://replay.faforever.com/4327186 http://replay.faforever.com/4327049 http://replay.faforever.com/4327290 http://replay.faforever.com/4327396 (same guys)
http://replay.faforever.com/4283163 http://replay.faforever.com/4282949 http://replay.faforever.com/4283396 (same guys)

[rxnnxs]

Thank you for the replays.
They are very entertaining.
Now i watch the last two.

[pip]

Very interesting mod, too bad these replays don't work anymore after the server change.

Do you recommend specific maps to play this mod? I guess naval ones with big body of water in the middle like Roanoke, Liberiam Battle, Concord Lake, Bermuda Locket are not optimal, but maybe some maps are particularly good for this? Maybe Shuriken Island would be really nice, and this mod an opportunity to play 40 x40 maps that would otherwise lag or drag the game too much. Have you seen replays on such maps?

[Aurion]

Very interesting mod, too bad these replays don't work anymore after the server change.

Do you recommend specific maps to play this mod? I guess naval ones with big body of water in the middle like Roanoke, Liberiam Battle, Concord Lake, Bermuda Locket are not optimal, but maybe some maps are particularly good for this? Maybe Shuriken Island would be really nice, and this mod an opportunity to play 40 x40 maps that would otherwise lag or drag the game too much. Have you seen replays on such maps?

It would definitely be interesting to have a list of maps that work particularly well with Claustrophobia so it can be quickly be set up on lan parties for example