How did you decide your faction?

[mr.b165]

So I just bought Supcom Fa and downloaded FAF. I played my first game as UEF and got destroyed (btw gg Gronker). Now I'm not saying I hate the UEF because I lost, I'm just not having a lot of fun playing as them. So I want to know, how did you decide what faction you would play as, or do you guys keep switching it up once in a while.

[rootbeer23]

cybran t3 mobile ari makes a really beautiful *boomsplash*.

[uberge3k]

I would suggest sticking with one while you learn all of the units in the game, and then once you have a fair handle on how to play them, try the others and switch it up. It's the fastest way to find out their strengths and weaknesses, which is useful not only in playing as them but in playing against them.

A short pro/con list:

UEF:
+ Units have more health, stronger shields, and simple "all in" tactics on brute numbers.
+ Well rounded; no glaring weaknesses.
+ Best siege/defensive units with T3 PD and the Fatboy.
+ Decent navy that doesn't require much control; clump shields and move in.
- Few true strengths; air and land is all rather "meh", navy can be countered via superior strategy / micro.
- No direct-fire experimental.

Aeon:
+ Strongest T1 land with the Aurora.
+ Hover units such as the land scout, T1 tank, shield, flak, etc.
+ Fantastic lategame due to Harbingers, shields, anti-shield units, and snipers.
+ T2 interceptors which can dominate midgame air.
+ Mercies for sniping inattentive ACUs.
+ Arguably the best T2 PD vs ACUs and high tech units.
+ ACU gun is split into two upgrades, which allows for RoF to be gotten earlier than usual to win 1v1 ACU duels. Range upgrade makes its gun outrange any other ACU.
- Requires the most unit control of any faction.
- Auroras are countered hard by bombers, gun upgrade, and lack of micro. They need constant attention, but when they get it, they are unstoppable.
- Navy requires support from T2 land with flaks and shields to stay competitive with other factions.

Cybran:
+ "Sneaky" weapons such as TMLs that split when shot, Firebeetles, ACU cloak, ACU torps, and stealth fields.
+ Stealth navy can be excellent; high naval RoF means it can be micro'd well.
- Units are weaker and require more control to use effectively.
- No shields.
- Stealth is hard countered by air superiority, no shields or tankiness to fall back on.
- Weakest ACU.

Seraphim:
+ Perhaps simpler to play than UEF; has fewer units, which are usually multipurpose and absolutely excel at what they do. Rewards both careful defensive play and all-in attacks.
+ Second best all-around all around, narrowly edged out by UEF's with 500 hp more.
+ Best direct-fire experimental (Ythotha; great for both swarms and single exps, and splash damage easily cuts through stacked shields).
+ Best air experimental (the Ahwassa drops one nuke per pass! how cool is that!).
+ Fantastic T2 navy (destroyer is unstoppable with micro; can submerge to counter frigate spam; best cruiser with insane AA and the best TML).
+ Best T1 bomber.
+ T3 mobile shield unit.
+ Best T1 mobile artillery, and it hovers!
+ Best static shields of any faction.
- No LABs; can be raided very hard in the early game.
- No T3 gunship.
- No mobile shield at T2. (cybran: "oh, cry me a river" )
- Slight disadvantage in T1 navy. Their sub is slightly weaker than others, unless you carefully plan hit-and-run attacks in order to maximize its long-reloading anti-torpedo system.
- Worst T2 PD, narrowly edging out Cybran's.
- Static shields, although more powerful, are also more expensive.
- Ishies are inbetween a bot and a tank, and thus are susceptible to kiting from other faction's bots or being overrun by their tanks. Careful unit control is required to make sure this doesn't happen.

[SeraphimLeftNut]

Uberge3k really made seraphim look good.

My opinion:
For new players the best faction is either UEF or Seraphim. Cybran and Aeon need too much micro. I would suggest UEF over Seraphim so that you get used to light assault bots and regular scouts. Laser t2 pd and destroyer can also get inexperienced player in trouble with terrain. For long games drones really make building much easier, especially when you are not used to organizing your engineers.

Seraphim is better if you are a noob who wants to be very aggressive though, especially with drops.

[Voodoo]

UEF is the best allround faction. Only t4 war can make problems as you have only the fatboy.

Seraphim and Cybran are fine.

Important is, don't play aeon on little maps or in ranked games. The t1 tank micro is realy hard.

[Stin]

When Supcom first came out 2 of my friends bought it before me. One chose UEF and the other chose Aeon. That left Cybran for me. I've pretty much played exclusively cybran ever since.

[Emptyless]

I think though that the defensive statelite from UEF is underrated. When the enemy was turtling we used 2 of them to take down all mass very quickly which is very effective. A fatboy would have been destroyed before it could have hitten anything.

[Voodoo]

I think though that the defensive statelite from UEF is underrated. When the enemy was turtling we used 2 of them to take down all mass very quickly which is very effective. A fatboy would have been destroyed before it could have hitten anything.

In the time you build this novax center your enemy can build a monkeylord or a GC. And i don't think the satelite can stop it.

[Emptyless]

I think though that the defensive statelite from UEF is underrated. When the enemy was turtling we used 2 of them to take down all mass very quickly which is very effective. A fatboy would have been destroyed before it could have hitten anything.

In the time you build this novax center your enemy can build a monkeylord or a GC. And i don't think the satelite can stop it.

SOLO sattelite no, but as UEF and you've won your navy you won't have any problem and if you have lost your navy some shield and a t3 point defenses will stop it. The NOVAX on the other hand cant be destroyed by a passive playstyle

[Plasma_Wolf]

During the old times of FA, I played with one of the factions. When I started to lose too much games (which I should've won), I started playing with another faction and I won games (the effect is purely psychological but it did work). As for a proper idea which faction you play best with, you really have to try them all. You can always choose to change if it doesn't work out well.