About zerok (questions to programmers)

if you lack a competent air player

* put yourself under a fully charged shield

* get a screamer semi-back, so it covers the contact line

* get a juggernaut (attact settings)

* get 2 hacksaws

* get emp turrets (enough)

* get a newton on attract

* get 4 flails or anglers

* ...

Air factory is for:

• not letting opponents bomb you
• bombing opponents (if opponents do not have competent air player)
• scout (nukes/antis/lance targets)
• pick things in the back (scythes, athenas, fast raiders)

I often pick planes because nobody picks it and I prefer it to getting bombed to death.

Still, depending on map, air can be quite inefficient. One artemis and it will take some time until air can do anything again (time to build silo + missiles :-p)

And if you want to win, you should fill in the role that is not filled, so occasionally that means not going front (although most games is true there are not enough front).

Thunderbird can also make a big difference - I always feel I don't make it enough.

And when I play air, the play style is quite different from ground play: you have to be more aware of global situation; you have to be more aware of static defense (more unforgiving/larger radius)

So in conclusion if air should be a different play style adding interesting strategic options I think this is achieved.

I mainly play with only ravens and often get more damage dealt and value killed compared to using likho. Definitely less uses bit i feel people definitely dont utilize units like pheonix and ravens to full potential. Only problem is mass swarms are killed by artemis and it completely shuts it down. For incoming invasions into your land. I feel raven is better against almost all AA except for flaks because of the mass AA. Just my opinion

manero

I may not be a good player, or the person you want an answer from, but I think the purpose of the air factory is obvious. It is basically meant to be a support role played in big team games.

For example, anything bigger than a 10v10 should have air fac.

As for what you are addressing:

a. The Likho is a great unit but it cannot be used to early, or else the game is lost. Just like the rest of the lobby, there are also stages for the air factory.

1. Swifts (To kill other scout swifts and to scout enemy base)
2. Owls (To give vision to team)
3. Light bombers (Can be interchangeable with owls but used to apply pressure to the early units being made)
4. Heavy bombers (Used to kill big swarms and give your team a way to push).

b. Swift is more prominent when burst damage is needed (Likhos) and to kill small raiders. Raptor is good vs slow and ranged air units (such as the new Penguin, the Nimbus, Krow, Harpy, and Odin). Swifts can also scout for nukes and can scout locations of specific towers like Cerberus or Missile Silo.

c. The players can be a problem, which is why you want someone who is strong at air to play it. One reason that they might not have anti-air is because they are focusing on building backline metal extractors and linking them with wind tidal-or solar-generators. If they still do not build anti air after economy, the best strategy is to build things like Newton + Chainsaw yourself. It is a light investment of 1,150 metal, but it is very effective.

1. You also might say 1,150 metal is too much on small maps. You could go for a smaller investment like Thresher. Just remember that they also have a very low metal income, so things like Likho (which is not easily countered by Thresher) is a huge investment for enemy air.

testing the 2 new bombers..... I can say they are not op/special
the penguin does not have enough burst to kill a mex..... (minimum buff needed to get enough damage to kill a mex...)
the other chonky one seems like a worse likho