NowhereDan, the attack command isn’t alt click, it’s ctl+alt click, which is the dumbest attack move command since Age III used the ‘z’ key. Ugh.
Matt, the question about base size is a tough one. Basically, like most RTSs, you never stop building your base. Once you’ve got T3 engineers, you want to be building T3 power stations and T3 mass fabricators, presumably to accelerate production of an experimental unit.
As wonderpug noted, shift placing ferry routes will let you set up a ferry path and the transports do indeed return over the same route.
Also, I think some of you missed NowhereDan’s point, and it’s a huge one: you can delete things from patrol routes, waypoints, build queues, or anything else displayed on the map by ctl+shift+rightclicking. Don’t want that one mass fabricator sandwiched into your build among a bunch of other mass fabricators? Just ctl+shift+rtclick it’s ghosted image.
And, no, a lot of this stuff isn’t anywhere in the manual or tutorial videos. Way to go with the documentation, Gas Powered.
Also note, The ACU’s overcharge command can do signifigant damage to t4 experimantals. If Memory serves, I got a spider bot from a little over half health to zero in one charge. Had to be real close and almost lost my ACU in the process. Only recomend on a last ditch effort.
Nope, it’s alt-click. Ctl+alt click is move in formation AND attack. Ctrl click is move in formation. Give it a shot - if you hold shift and alt click, it’ll make a red line to the destination.
Unlike most other RTS’s, units in SupCom will attack on the move by default (unless hold fire is turned on). So an Attack Move does not mean the same as it does in other RTSs, where units have to stop moving to attack.
In TA, having most units stop and fire is less effective since they are harder to hit while moving and also because they couldn’t auto-target units beyond their line of sight with radar coverage. (unless you had a targeting facility) Thankfully, in SupCom units will target and fire upon units beyond their line of sight provided they’re picked up on radar and within the units range.
But as Tom mentioned two threads ago, you want your artillery to stop at longest range to start shelling instead of completing the move and getting within range of the turrets or unit weapons. The attack-move is perfect for that.
Also, it’s a bad idea to have your units close the distance with enemies if you have AoE units in the formation (like arty), since your units are vulnerable to friendly fire. However, always close on arty and tactical missile launchers, since they have a minimum range. To recap, with units selected:
Right-click (RC) = Move to that point without regard to formation and distance to enemy
Ctrl-RC = Move to that point while maintaining formation and without regard to distance to enemy
Alt-RC = Move to that point without regard to formation and stop when in range of enemy
Ctrl-Alt-RC = Move to that point while maintaining formation and stop when in range of enemy
Yes. Especially since units can fire from maximum range(which for long-range units is beyond their line of sight) with help from radar…However I found more direct close combat units fare better attacking while moving (units that don’t fire that far past their line of sight) so it really depends on the situation.
Just learned this, you can change formation type by first holding the right mouse button with group of units selected to bring up the formation, then left clicking to cycle through the types.
Okay, can someone explain the adjacency bonus for buildings? Does the large metal fabricator provide a much better bonus for factories than the small ones or is it even better to use small ones to fill in the corners next to large ones? Do fabricators get a bonus if adjacent to power generators? What is the optimum layout (I hate the fact that I’m asking this- I feel like I’m on the path to min/maxing hell) to get the fastest production? What else provides bonuses to each other?
Just mess around in the sandbox mode (Tutorial) and see how the building upkeep and unit costs are affected by the adjacency bonus. For example, if you build a T1 Power Generator adjacent to a T1 Mass Extractor, you’ll receive a 0.1 energy discount on the operating cost of the ME (turn on the economy indicator). And when you build Power Generators adjacent to factories, compare the energy and mass rate costs listed when you mouse over a unit in the build menu to the actual energy and mass rate costs while it’s being built (mouse over the factory).
Just keep experimenting in the sandbox with different combos.
Wait, wait, power generators next to mass extractors give an adjacency bonus? Sheesh. How do you people know this stuff? The only one I can remember is that power generators speed up factory production and artillery recharges. Oh, and the one about mass storage giving you a bonus to mass extraction.
Yeah, because, you know, Gas Powered Games has better things to do than explain how their game works. :)
Yeah, I was frustrated by the lack of information on the adjacency bonus, so I finally decided to putz around in the sandbox. I don’t like getting sand in my shoes, GPG… ;-)
After a bit of sandboxing, I’ve found that adjacency next to factories doesn’t speed up production. Fabricators and storage will reduce the amount of mass needed per second and likewise energy storage and sources. The bonus isn’t really that huge to justify laying your base out to a rigid design (unless you are insanely into min/maxing) but it could be a good idea at the beginning of the game when resources are tight.
I miss having construction aircraft- in TA I always had a tight ring of them hovering over my factories, churning out my hordes.
Also, in TA, I always had the impression that the commander was the strongest constructor. In SC, he’s only as strong as a T2 construction unit. (Of course, after upgrading it’s a different story, but by then you should have a crap load of T3 constructors anyway…)
Here’s an interesting and detailed discussion on min/maxing economy. I don’t necessarily agree that the OP’s method is a good idea, but there’s a lot of good info in that thread.
I am not sure I expressed my question clearly enough.
Lets say my builder has 10 mass makers layed out in its build que. I notice mass maker #5 is in a bad spot, how do I remove mass maker #5 without gettring rid of 6 - 10?
Edit: I read Tom’s response on how to do this.
Does anyone know how to have other contructors start on other ‘green’ buildings laid out by other constructors already? I swear I have seen this in replays, but I do not know how to do it.
For example: I lay out a factory, and 20 power generators. I finish the factory, then make 5 engineers. I want to select 3 of them and tell them to start building some of the things from the ACU’s que, but not ‘assisting’ the ACU, ie: they will jump ahead of the ACU and build things it is not working on yet.
I was doing something like that, using diagonal painting to interleave power with mass extractors. The big problem, aside from unit count, is if a single fab or power plant dies, the entire grid will explode. If you make one, be sure and get some force fields ASAP.
I disagree with his assessment about ‘not doing’ upgrades unless necessary. If you were 100% efficient with your resources, IE: mass and energy never went to waste, then he might be right. However, I am rarely red in the energy so that part of the cost goes out the window. The mass part isn’t bad if you plan for it. Also its not about efficiency at some point, it is really about raw economic power. Even if it is half as efficient to produce another +50 mass, you will use it at some point if you end up cranking out a bunch of units while expanding your base at the same time.
Edit: Another question.
Is there a way to change the shape of a formation? I noticed if I selected some units, selected a destination, but held the mouse button down and dragged, it let me set the formations facing. Unfortunatly this was always a column. In most cases I would prefer a row.
