tips on scouting enemy territory

In-depth tactical discussion on how to lose the least

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pdub
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tips on scouting enemy territory

Postby pdub » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:15 pm

I've just recently started playing again after putting down the game for awhile, and it seems that people have grown smarter, so I ask you all:

Any tips on some good methods of scouting enemy territory, to reveal their land placements?

I consider it foolish to launch on cities without taking out at least some radar and silos first, but whenever I fight a non-adjacent territory, it's next to impossible to get any intel on their placements, short of parking a carrier group off their shore, and launching suicide fighters, which don't tend to last too long. That means I end up launching a mass attack to try and overwhelm their (unrevealed) defenses, which is probably the least effective way to 'lose the least'.
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rus|Mike
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Postby rus|Mike » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:36 pm

Firstly find out where the silos are approximatelly are (done judging be the tracelines) and then send a bunch of nukes and fighters towards general silo location. While silos will be shooting at the nukes even several fighters will reveal everything. When you have 12 carriers parked near enemy's shore and dozens of bombers to provide distracting nukes it's all easy. Whe you have limited resources timing is everything.

Also sneaky trick can be used. You create a massive bomber run, release nukes, turn your empty bombers back (well they do it themselves) but order some bombers (1-2, probably 3, more will brake the sneaky "spirit") forward. You have a good chance that enemy will not notice a lonely bomber with all that nukes, flashes and AA fire everywhere. Bombers have a nice radar range (shittie speed though) so you will not need to much time.

Another variant can be applied when you have many bombers and nukes enough only for the last bomber run. In that case order all the bombers forward after they release nukes. 100% efficiency if your enemy didn't notice the wave well beforehand.

Lonely sneaky empty carriers sometimes work against installations close to the shore. You'll have to do it not too earl in the game though. Good if you're having a naval fight somewhere at this time: it will distract the enemy from having an eye on his ground stuff.

Here's on of the most pro tactics:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon ... php?t=5191
It's like nuke enemy's silos not reckoning them.

...and pure suicide fighters still work good enough :P
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Ace Rimmer
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Postby Ace Rimmer » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:41 pm

What mode of game are we talking about?

There are several ways to find out this sort of information.
  • Ally with other player
  • Ally with that players neighbor that has radar coverage
  • Use fighter/bomber/incoming nuke combo, that is distract the AA with nuke/s while fighters go in along with a spare bomber or two (bombers have much better radar)
  • use extremely tight nuke launches from subs/silos/bombers, it's amazing how well a very tightly packed set of nukes will do against AA
  • Play against regulars who launch the moment of defcon 1, taking AA out of the equation :wink:
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Postby pdub » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:06 pm

The nuke/bomber/fighter combo seems to make some sense. So the next question is:

How many nukes do you launch, typically, in order to get enough time for your bombers to get into the middle of his territory? Say for example you cannot see any of his silos, so you know that 6 will be shooting at your nukes, and then your bombers...

I tried it once or twice, and launched maybe 6 or so, but maybe my bomber timing was off, cos they didn't make it very far :)
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Postby Ace Rimmer » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:41 pm

Well, AA fires in this order...

Nukes, then Bombers, then Fighters, and it starts with the closest. So, in order to make the most of a combo, it's best to stagger the nukes so that you have only one coming in at a time but in a continuous "stream" so that you get the most distance from your scouts.

Also, you can try skirting the borders from the opposite side of the territory. Like so...

Image

A lot of times if the other side is undefended (or like the top border of Asia in 1v1) the other player doesn't think to pay much attention there for a while, you can sneak in some scouting this way. :wink:

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