Returning Vanilla Veteran - Questions

[TehOwn]

Hey,

I played a LOT of SupCom Vanilla including beta. I only played Aeon as they suited my playstyle. When Forged Alliance came along, I didn't have the patience to completely change my playstyle as, lets be honest, it was like an entirely new game.

FAF is a similar jump, it seems to be very different from FA due to balance changes. Is there any summary of all the changes? I'd hate to have to cross-reference every single unit using the unitDB.

Additionally, what is with Commander aggression? It seems entirely mandatory that you use your commander are your primary combat unit for the entirety of T1 since barely anything is a threat to it. Back in vanilla days, you were afraid of massed artillery, PDs and even a small handful of T1 bombers. Now, the commander seems to be a nigh indestructible unit that costs you the game if you don't use it aggressively.

Lastly, Aeon balance seems really changed. In T2, I feel the only useful units are the tank and the mobile shield generator. They're still very strong in T3, though. However, with all the rotation maps being 10km x 10km, I rarely get to T3 anyway.

I've been playing a few 1v1s with a friend but I feel lost. Any advice for an Aeon player?

tl;dr - What's changed since FA? Why are commanders so useful now, combat-wise? Any tips for Aeon?

[GallantDragon]

I'm no veteran of Vanilla and FA, so I'm not the best person to answer these questions, but I'd like to point out that I've killed commanders at T1 before; it's just bloody difficult. Cybran have it a bit easier at t1, with the Jester, but that particular unit is basically t1.5. My impression has been that t1 is for raiding your opponent to set up for victory later. And remember: the commander can't be everywhere at once. One of those guides linked in the Help! I'm New! post in the forum (which are really good reads, can't recommend them enough) mentioned that if the enemy commander steps up to defend against your raiding force then the best course of action is to run away and raid somewhere else. Kind of obvious, if you think about it.

[TehOwn]

I'm no veteran of Vanilla and FA, so I'm not the best person to answer these questions, but I'd like to point out that I've killed commanders at T1 before; it's just bloody difficult. Cybran have it a bit easier at t1, with the Jester, but that particular unit is basically t1.5. My impression has been that t1 is for raiding your opponent to set up for victory later. And remember: the commander can't be everywhere at once. One of those guides linked in the Help! I'm New! post in the forum (which are really good reads, can't recommend them enough) mentioned that if the enemy commander steps up to defend against your raiding force then the best course of action is to run away and raid somewhere else. Kind of obvious, if you think about it.

Firstly, thanks for the reply.

The point is that I'm not taking about Commanders DEFENDING because that is their job to prevent rushes. The trouble is Commanders ATTACKING. Back in Vanilla, we had a major problem with ComRushes, where if you were against a higher elo player then you'd just charge in and force a draw. In FA, they reduced the death nuke of the Commander so it doesn't instagib any nearby commanders like it used to.

The trouble in FAF, is that Commanders can walk into an enemy base and wreck havoc, then walk out with barely a scratch. And they'll just regen it back anyway.

They're too good for harassing.

[ZaphodX]

A commander is a strong powerful unit and not using it early game is a very poor choice. It is a very strong tank with regen, lots of life and can be upgraded, it also has the build power of two engineers. If your opponent is using his big tank to kill your forces and your big tank is just sitting in the base building you need to re-prioritise your strategies.

For Aeon in particular the comm can suck up loads of damage that would otherwise go to your very fragile tanks, which keeps more of your tanks on the field and is a very important part of playing Aeon.

[GallantDragon]

The thing is, what if your commander meets the enemy commander in the middle of the map?

[ColonelSheppard]

, they are shooting at each other untill one is pulling back, this will happen often, try to get an arty outranging and damagin the enemy commander, thats often the best choice, also sending a few tanks as support can be usefull, but only if you reclaim the wrrecks afte the enemy commander killed them (if he does kill them)

[laPPen]

the biggest changes were made from sc to fa. in sc mapcontrol was not really
important u could eco farm those cheap massfabs. there was no partivular need
for an agro com. since mapcontrol is very important now u have to go use your com, esp
in early game where it has the biggest impact on the battle and is less threatened by the
units on the field.
from fa to faf there have been a few changes but nothing with a great impact considering the very
early gameplay ( for example : bombers were made cheaper what makes rushing a bomber to kill engeneers early
an interesting choice). the biggest change concerning the early use of your commander is that u need to build
a power storage in order to be able to overcharge.

[TehOwn]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I'm interested why no-one answered my Aeon question though. How the heck can you survive T1 as Aeon? Should you just rush to T2 immediately?

[pip]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I'm interested why no-one answered my Aeon question though. How the heck can you survive T1 as Aeon? Should you just rush to T2 immediately?

You need to use aurora superior range to full efficiency, which means with a few scouts to get full range and hit and run strategies. If you manage to do that, you will see that Aeon t1 is one of the best of the game.
Also, if you get the chance, Aeon ACU has a very nice setup for gun upgrades (longer range / faster rate of fire are separate upgrades). It's easier to get at least one of them and get the upper hand in ACU duels.

[ZaphodX]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I'm interested why no-one answered my Aeon question though. How the heck can you survive T1 as Aeon? Should you just rush to T2 immediately?

Use the range of the tanks and you realise Aeon are actually incredibly strong at t1. Always have radar coverage however.

I'm currently still uploading this video but check out the micro and constant kiting backwards of the Auroras for an idea of how to play:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52B0taG4 ... Ys&index=5