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Xenomath -> tech in ladder games (11/18/2007 2:14:19 AM)
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How about discussing some ladder game strategies? Let's start with tech.
An official ladder game starts with 35PP.
How do you spend those? And how much do you produce later on?
I usually create a 2nd and maybe a 3rd HQ. A 4th is not needed, I guess.
With some pp production early on 20-30 PPs for tech seem reasonable to me.
But how to spend those? Do you wait to see what you enemy builds to counter it? or do you tech right away?
Obviously there is no need for ship upgrades --> we need a naval pbem map :)
Here are some thoughts on the other upgrades:
Infantry
-rifle II (20PP) is a sound choice I guess. You need those riflemen anyway, so no matter what your enemy does, it will not be wasted. There are just 2 things to be aware of: the damage upgrade only helps vs tanks, vs infantry it's only the extra hp. Upgrading all your initial rifles costs several 100 supply points.
-mortar II (10PP) is another good choice, I think, as mortars are a versatile unit and the upgrade is cheap.
-bazooka II (20PP) I have not used or seen yet. It only helps if the enemy has many tanks, and having better tanks yourself or dive bombers are a better choice, unless your opponent has air superiority. So they are kind of situationally and I would not tech them right from the start, and 20PP is rather costly later on.
-Machine gun II(10PP) machine guns are great at defense, but not so great in offense. You won't win a game with machine guns alone, but as the upgrade is rather cheap, it's a nice add on if your enemy has many infantry (and who doesn't)
-scout II (20PP) this upgrade doubles the scouts stock so it can last for 4 turns behind enemy lines without losing readiness and the improved movement makes it the fastest land unit in every off road terrain. A must have upgrade if you want to use scouts behind enemy lines, as they need the extra supply for that. If you use them only for their recon value, don't bother with this upgrade. And I would only recommend it on the mountains and forest map.
staff II (60PP): assumed your staff is mostly at 30-40 XP and you have a most of your units in staff range, staff II means an extra ~15% attack value for every land unit. Not bad but you would have to pump about a full turn of production into PP to be able to buy it. With this cost, I doubt we will ever see it on one of the current ladder maps.
Vehicles
-Light tank II (20PP) another very solid upgrade as the Light tank is very versatile and it's reasonable to build them in great quantities. But make sure to cover them with flak or fighters. As ladder games are quite short, they will probably not get obsolete in race for bigger tanks.
-Medium tank (10PP) I have seen but not used them myself in a ladder game. Only really useful if your enemy builds light tanks, but on the river or plains map they probably will.
-The medium tank II (20PP) upgrade I haven't seen yet, but 30PP of tech is still reasonable, I guess.
-Heavy Tank (20PP medium tank 10PP) haven't seem them yet. 9 rounds are probably too short to decide that medium tanks don't do it any more. HT II (40PP) is too expensive for a ladder game I guess.
-Tank destroyer (20PP + medium tank 10PP)
Haven't seen those either. Very specialized and expansive, so I guess I won't see them that often.
-Half tracks (25PP). Haven't seen them yet. Nice unit, and I like it when I have them in a scenario, but with 25PP it will most probably stay your only tech in a ladder game. And are they that much better than trucks? Remember, in heavy forest no vehicle is even better than tracks...
Artillery
-Artillery II(20PP) I haven't encountered yet, but that will probably change. Maybe I will try it myself as extra firepower always helps.
-AT gun II (20PP): the AT is nice... against tanks... on defense... Ok, nice but specialized, so It will probably not be build in great quantities, so I hesitate to spend 20PP on a tech.
-Infantry gun(10PP) is a cheap upgrade, thats good: I have used it myself, but I still need to make up my mind about IGs.
Flak II(20PP) another specialized piece of equipment. Would only tech it if I know the enemy has many bombers. That would probably be after I spent the initial PPs, so I would have to produce new ones. Instead Of building 20PPs I could just build 10 extra flaks, so I will probably build those if I need extra AA...
Air
-Fighter II(20PP): Fighters support bombers, so I would tech those first. Extra range doesn't help much as the map is so small, the bombers they escort would need extra range to, and fighters II does not increase intercept range.
-Divebombers II(20PP) haven't seen, but might be worthwhile
-Levelbombers II (20PP) might be funny to use. In fact, I would probably not use them without this upgrade.
As structural damage is automatically repaired you want to do massive structural damage or none. Maybe I'll try it in one of my games.
Level III or IV upgrades
Would you use any of those upgrades in a ladder map?
Machine gun III, mortar III or IG III are the only affordable ones, I guess (10PP +20PP) and of those only the mortar is versatile enough to specialize in it, I guess.
Seems like many of the techs won't be used in a ladder map.
This is especially sad as some units not only get more attack or HP but gain nice features on stage III upgrades. Like the scouts anti supply, the light tanks extra movement, the increased flak range or the increased interception range for fighters.
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