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Which fac to switch to: Air or Strider?

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7 years ago
If I'm playing Heavy tank fac, which factory should I swap into/supplement the available force in most conditions favorable to Heavy tanks (Small hills/flat)

Airplane fac? Support with bomb runs?
Gunships? Provide covering fire?
Striders? Even more brute force?
+0 / -0

7 years ago
air if there's no air on the team yet, else strider
+2 / -0

7 years ago
It depends. If it's 1v1 and the map is small you could really do either one. If the map is larger you definitely want air before striders, because air counters striders. On a smaller map a dante rush is more of a surprise tactic that wrecks if your enemy doesn't see it coming, or something that can turn an eco advantage into a win.
+1 / -0
Spiders, because the enemy will ulti your reaper ball any second now. Golis can easily challenge striders, so no need for a switch just for unit weight in most cases.
+5 / -0
7 years ago
Are you sure DF? If I swap to spider on flat ground, isn't that a bit risky since spiders are slow?
+0 / -0
Redback is the best riot though and riots deal the most damage.
+1 / -0
7 years ago
vs Ulti?

When does anyone actually make ultimator? I can see if it could takedown a shieldball, but it looks risky and I don't want to try it
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7 years ago
Ultimatum is arguably the best strider, competing only with catapult.

If you are HT, chances are you should go air. The advantage of HT is that it's heavy weight, meaning it scales well into choked up game-states. HT is basically strider fac lite. The only time you should transition from HT into strider is when the map is so choked up that goliath isn't heavy enough (this typically means opponents have DDM or Bantha+), or your really need cata/ulti.

+1 / -0

7 years ago
Ulti one-shots dantes and scorpions, 2 shots banthas and if you have two of them then that pesky detri is as good as reclaim. Golis, grizzlies and other demi-striders are also one-shot ulti food. It's also possible to use ultis as mega-scythes and just tear the enemy's base in half.
+1 / -0

7 years ago
Ulti cuts through tanks like butter, so you should always be keeping a few fleas around. Air is a must-have for any zk late game. Try to have a dedicated team mate do it, as it's a major APM sink (even more so when you don't have specialized keybinds).

If you want to train playing tanks and air, I recommend doing some FFAs, because playing these two factories well will get you far there ;)
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7 years ago
I don't think I've ever successfully used an Ulti, too much micros!
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7 years ago
That's probably because you tried to use it against striders, which they are not effective against (except detriment). With good micro, 2 ultis will reliably kill an unprotected bantha, dying in the process. If the bantha has some simple screening they will fail. 2 scorps will reliably kill a screened bantha and most of the time both will survive. They are also more than capable of defending themselves against any low weight support units.

Ulti is not that good of an anti strider but much more suited at decimating masses of heavies. It can kill entire balls of grizzlies, reapers or crabes within seconds and walk away from it(because those usually don't have screening and no death explosion)
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7 years ago
What to switch to depends a lot on the situation. That said, Tank and Strider often fulfill the same role so you'll probably want some sort of air, if that is the choice. Gunships and Planes vary based on the situations but I haven't figured out what each is best at for a switch.

You can also switch to other things. If it's late in the game I might make a land factory and an air factory at the same time. Switching is often a desire for a unit.
  • Cloaky: Get cheap raiders and chaff to protect your tanks and raid over hills. Scouting.
  • Shield: Anti-heavy, possibly riot.
  • Vehicles: Long ranged artillery, possible riot.
  • Hovercraft: Skirmisher, another type of anti-heavy.
  • Spider: Chaff, Crabe.
  • etc..
+1 / -0
7 years ago
So what air fac?

Gunships or Airplane?
They both support, but GS can stay longer in fields and can keep close to tanks whilst airplanes clear the ways for any invading force, yours or ally...
+0 / -0
Firepluk
when everything else seems to fail and u are well beyond 30m in the game switch to DRP rush

[Spoiler]
+0 / -0

7 years ago
Unless you have a good reason to go planes, default to GS. It's easier to use, and is less conditional. I personally only go planes in order to use vulture, TB, and wyvern.

GS has a lot of answers to all sorts of things, and seconds as a striderfac by producing krow (which is better than most striders anyway).
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id also go for spiders or athena so you can build fleas. in team games you normally dont need anything but your tanks, some aa and something to cover against ultimatums and other anti-heavies, which the fleas are for. other than spy, which is useful too, there arent really any units in the fac that you need if youre playing tanks on flats, so you might as well get the athena instead for more utility units (impalers, cloakers, etc) - its just a bit more tedious to handle, especially if you need nothing but flea spam.

i wouldnt normally go for planes because sufficient ground aa cover tends to be cheaper and more reliable(and most of the time getting bombed a bit isnt a big deal for tanks), but that depends. the bomber planes arent a great addition to what tanks already bring to the table.

if the game gets very long or youre facing a lot of heavy porc/arty you might want to stop making tanks altogether and switch to striders (catapult spam for example) or nukes etc.
+1 / -0
i played recently vs reaper groups with cloaked penes on holdfire. it is comparable to the alpha-shock of cloaked catas - you trade being more precise to be more fragile. success chances are 50% but the fun is guaranteed, also the enemies zomg-moment.

you can often kite reapers when you have some porc to retreat to. also, position your penes facing away to pick up runaway speed faster.

terrain must fit, here catas have an advantage as they walk and dont bump/hang so easy.

i made cloaked cata packs popular. lets see if this composition evolves too. ;)

(but cloaked reapers have a zomg-effect, too!)
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