so i havent played in awhile (almost a year) and i am starting to pick it up again and i need some advice and a good starting strategy for TEC seeing as they fit me best for the way i play....i am also looking for advice for entrechment as i just picked that up as well
Well, TEC starbase has a magic red button ability that will make the SB explode and deal 8000 damage to anything in the aoe. Very effective. Kills all but caps. LRMS lose to Illums, so don't bother trying. TEC scouts beat Illums, and I'm pissing a lot of people off with this discovery.
TEC Repair bays rock. Marza should be ur first capital ship for missile barrage at level 6 (ability destroys entire fleets). Kodiaks still kick ass. Hoshikos still kick ass.
Fighters don't really work anymore. Flak kill them too quickly. Community wants a fix. Bombers are still ok units. Flak kill 'em too though, just much more slowly.
To clarify Raging A's post, scouts only counter Illums in equivalent or better amounts of minerals. 10 scouts will NOT beat 10 Illums. You have to either match and supplement or outresource and spam scouts against illums to succeed. Just make sure that you have something up to counter light frigates/flak/fighters that might try to come and kill your scouts.
For entrenchment: Just do an easy game or a game with no AI and just have pirates on and let them be your starbases target practice (lvl 3 military research required). Upgrading them is expensive, but watching them destroy a pirate fleet in seconds is worth it. Be warned of new anti structure ships though, and bombers still do a good job against them, as do high level mothership + guardians + lots of Illums (though big red button could destroy most of them).
TEC starbase is most dangerous for the big red button. Basically, don't ever consider fighting it in close combat. However, it's largely helpless to long-range bombardment from either bombers or anti-structure cruisers, and will need support to take these out.
The Advent starbase is most dangerous for meteor control, which can annihilate large fleets that engage it shockingly quickly. It can even take out long-range attackers like the anti-structure frigates. This means the only reliable way to take out such an Advent base is with bombers.
The Vasari Starbase is a pain in the ass. Because it moves, your only real way to bring it down is attritian. Fortunately, it doesn't have uncapped area of effect attacks like the other two starbases do, just massive guns and extra thick armour and shields.
Oh, and nanos/phase missiles are just as effective against starbases as they are against capital ships. Yeah, starbases have a lot more HP, but this is still a great way to whittle it down quickly. Pretty much your only approach in a Vasari mirror match.
In reply to your actual question, starting strat, TEC is a great faction for getting your eco up and running fast. You only need to build a couple of Civ research stations and you can research the Tradeposts tech. From there just expand as quickley as you can and start building up your trade.
Depending on where you want to go from here, you can either get ready to turtle, or move out into Offensive.
For turtle, your next move is to build 3 military reserch stations, so you can reserch the things that build the starbases, this is in the Defence Tree of the tech tree. Once you have expanded enough that your are happy you will be able to keep it under control, build a couple of starbases at the outermost planets of your area and upgrade them a bit. These can also be upgraded to have a tradepost on them, so more money if you want to outlay the initial cost. From there, you will be able to save up lots of cash, and build up an awsome fleet. Best way to take planets when you eventually want to go into O is to have lots of the carriers and build plenty of bombers, even if you come across a fully upgraded starbase, with 60 bombers, you will be able to take it out without losing many ships at all. Also make sure you have one of the starbase builders ready to move in right away once your fleet has got to the planet because they can become good backup if your fleet is taking a few hits.
When it comes to O with TEC i havent had a lot of experience, i like to turtle and Feed or D for a while depending on wether i am playing AI or online. Its my general understanding that Marza is the best Cap Ship, so make sure this is your first build, they are great for raping planets quickley in endgame. Like i said before, carriers and bombers are awsome, i love jumping into a grav well with lots of them, doing a strike run on a few research stations then jumping back out.
Hope this helps a bit and gets your TEC games up and running a bit.
Have Fun!
Well.. Not exactly... Your first ship ought to be a Kol (unless on a tiny map) which can easily devastate militias... Just fly it into the middle of their ships and you'll win... Next, (if you want to turtle) get a Dunov. I put it in command of a second, rear-guard fleet. Once you are ready to go attacking some (not a full scale invasion, but a skirmish or two) get a Marza. Move the Dunov to the Kol's fleet and have the Marza in its own offensive fleet. The multiple skirmishes will quickly get it to level six. From there, you can pretty much build whatever ship you want... (just don't use a Sova...) Have the Kol, Dunov, and Marza in the same fleet while creating a second defensive one. I guarantee that those three ships in the same fleet will devastate most anything. Flux field makes Gauss cannon much better while MB speaks for itself. Combine all that with EMP and shield restore and its not too hard to understand why...
Kol, Marza, and Akkan are all perfectly valid choices for first cap for TEC. All have great damage output, all are quite tough, and all have great abilities. Unlike Advent and Vasari, there is no definitive "right answer" for TEC's first capital ship.
For second capital ship, anything goes. Dunov is great, situationally Sova can be wonderful, and rounding yourself off with a Kol, Marza, or Akkan (I wouldn't get a duplicate of the one I already have) are all great choices.
Honestly, aside from the thorny issue of missile barrage and the mediocrity of the Sova, the TEC capital ships are quite well balanced and the one you choose really comes down to personal taste rather than something that outclasses everything else.
Correct. Unfortunately, everyone sees MB and says "I want that one!" The Marza only fires forwards which is great at the beginning of a battle and for focusing fire, but otherwise not so much... The Kol can neutralize any phase missile coming towards it and has the shields and hull to take any sort of hit without noticing. The Dunov knocks out abilities of caps quickly and can assist allied ships.
Really, I'd only use a Sova if the enemy was 1-3 jumps away... Any more than that, and it just seems a waste of a cap... As for the Akkan, I have never seen a real use for it. Sure, Ion bolt is cool, but nothing else on the ship is... The colonize for the TEC is worthless to a race with nearly unlimited credits, and targeting uplink doesn't provide enough of a boost to be worthwhile... Armistice is a mass ion cannon. It gives you time for your primary force to arrive, but even then, it only delays an attack... Sure, by careful microing, you can use it to disable their entire fleet and make them vulnerable to yours, but one good ability on an otherwise mediocre ship doesn't work...
Agree that Sova is a weak choice unless you are rushing Dunov is a good second choice.
Akkan DOES enable faster colonization if you use it properly, and it can actually be a pretty nasty ship if you support it properly with a fleet. I think Akkan and Marza are the best first choice ships. Kol was a good choice when strikecraft were OP, but now that Flak works better and strikecraft build more slowly, Kol is marginalized again. This isn't because the Kol isn't tough, it is the toughest ship in the game....but it doesn't add as many decisive tactical or strategic abilties to your deck of cards, it is just hard to kill. Both Marza and Akkan have powerful tactical or strategic value. Rapid colonization, rapid planet bombardment, MB, and even a well timed Ion Bolt can have huge impacts on a game.
Hrmm... I just never have seen the point in the Akkan. Perhaps no one I've played against used it properly, but I just don't see how anything but ion bolt/armistice on it would be worth while...
You are right about the Kol though... I would like gauss cannon to get a buff... That would give a point to the Kol and give the enemy a reason to aim at them, rather than wait until the end. But I do agree with you. They are the toughest cap hands down. Between finest hour and adaptive forcefield (plus all the health and shields they already have), you have a ship that doesn't like to die.
volt, the akkan is far more useful as a cap then you give it credit for. First off, the colonize is lackluster compared to the other races, but you never need anything beyond level 1. The akkan is one of the best ship killers in the game however with ion bolt, It can prevent cap ships from running, using abilities like shield restore and missle barrage and so forth. Targeting uplink is extremely useful, as the extra range puts your orgov well beyond star base abilities, allows your garda to be EXTREMELY effective against strike craft, and near a star base, the extended range is godly. Armatice saves games, period. IF you are about to lose a cap ship, armatice to save it, if you need time to get a star base uprade, armatice, if you need to save a partners fleet/cap, armatice. Also with good micro, you can repair structures ships while allowing them to remain safe. The akkan is far far better than the marza as a first cap because of this. PLus, when you do get a marza, don't worry about it getting sniped as much.
I said armistice was good under the right circumstances... Sure, it can save your fleet, but really all it does is neutralize the battle...
And I of course know why you would get a level 1 colonize, but anything beyond that just seems a waste...
Ion Bolt is good at taking down a Marza, Radiance, or Vulkoras when nuking the enemy fleet, but still... It only does so much and if you play properly, you shouldn't be so reliant on abilities that losing them makes your fleet worthless...
Targeting Uplink is good for entrenchment, but I don't have it... I am simply going by the normal version...
In short, you have two situational abilities, one mediocre one, and one that is good at entrenchment... I just don't see this as a good ship... Sure, it can be good, and I'd want one in a perfect fleet, but I'd find that there are many ships that are better more often and since I can't build infinite caps for free and get them all to level six, I just don't see how this is all that critical in a fleet.
Kol: Hardest ship in the game to kill
Marza: MB. Nuff said...
Dunov: Shield restore, EMP, and magnetize! All these abilities are awesome.
Sova: Good for rushing and embargo... aside from that, worthless...
Akkan: Good when you are desperate, but I think that there are better ways of doing its job...
I just find that it is not the best ship to use... For a colonizer, it has good damage, but there are ships out there I'd rather see on my side... In my experience, Akkans haven't been deciding factors, they are just annoyances...
Another thing to consider is the map... if your on a map with alot of neutrals and alot of vasari... well... if your not carefull... they are going to have 15 metal and crystal income to your 5... and if your against an advent player... be ready for the almost inevitible illum spam... if your in a isolated postion (you know... when your 3 allies are on the other side of the map, and you got at least 2 fleets bearing down on you) you should prolly consider an akkan as your capital ship... since you are prolly going to end up running and colonizing the middle of the map... If one of your flanks is protected by an ally... go for something a little more aggressive... a kol or marza or... if you really like danger... build a sova... and go camp your enemies's homeworld... that 30%/70% of his 14.3 credits/second income your earning can hurt him, and give you a nice little bonus... hopefully enough so that you can use that little bonus to buy yourself a real capital ship... rofl... but this is not recommended if your going against preetty much anyone who knows how to play.
Uh, do you know how dangerous fighters are? Later in a game, they could do up to 2 damage each. Multiply that by six and you get 12 damage total. Now just imagine them doing all this to an LRF. 12 multiplied by 2.5=30 average damage per fleet. Since fighters normally come with cap ships, they're like a cost free way (besides the cap ships) to get more ships. That is how dangerous they are.
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