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1997-02-18
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by Steve Perrin
Writing a strategy guide for a
game can be a proposition fraught
with peril. In this essay I will
attempt to avoid that peril and
provide some helpful hints based
on basic strategy and how it is
implemented, or avoided, in
M.A.X..
In general, I will be dealing
with long term games of conquest,
the Custom Games. The tactical
scenarios included with the game
often have divergent strategies and
special lineups of units that might
or might not ever arise in a
standard conquest game.
How It Works
The first thing to keep firmly in
mind with M.A.X. is that it was
purposely designed to emulate a
chess game with a lot more variety
of units and terrain. It doesn't
look much like a chess game, but
certain elements stand out.
For instance, attack and damage
are constants. In chess, if a unit
moves into a square (is in range of
the square) the piece already in
that square is taken. In M.A.X., if
a unit is in range of another unit
and shoots at it, the target will
be hit. Unlike chess the target may
not be instantly destroyed, but it
will be hit for a certain amount of
damage. This damage is always the
same from any one unit. Only
upgrading the unit can change the
damage it does.
Thus, if you are used to games
where a frontal assault by a few
units might succeed because there
is a chance the opposition will
miss and a chance that the damage
the hits do will be small, erase
that mindset now. In the worlds of
M.A.X., targeting is an exact
science and munitions are
manufactured to rigorous
tolerances. The sights will put the
shell into the best possible spot
and the shell will always do its
exact amount of damage.
Obviously, Electronic
CounterMeasures are useless in
M.A.X.. Sighting devices cannot be
fooled. It's a hard fact that a
M.A.X. Commander has to learn to
live with.
The Right Unit For the Right Job
There is no such thing as the
ultimate unit available to the
M.A.X. Commander. Every unit has
its uses and liabilities and every
unit can be upgraded far beyond its
base attribute levels. Tanks and
Assault Guns, with their ability to
partially move and still fire, are
excellent for open field battles
with lots of movement. Put them up
against implaced,
well-supplied-and-informed missile
units and they become so much
debris. Ground Attack planes are
devastating against undefended
ground and sea units , but drop
like flies when anti-air units are
present and prepared. Implaced
anti-air units are virtually
invincible against a reasonable
number of ground attack planes, but
cannot do anything if they are
caught moving. Move your mobile
anti-air weapons and you leave your
other units wide open for the
ground attack planes.
Some of these weaknesses are
obvious, some are not so obvious
and are, in fact, game balance
decisions. Here are some
hard-learned lessons we can pass on
so you don't have to learn them in
the middle of a battle.
* Keep mobile radar scanners or
scouts with your long range units
so they can make the best use of
their range. Protect moving groups
against ground attack planes with
fighters, not mobile anti-aircraft.
* Do not put tanks in the first
line of a beachhead defense force
unless you just want to provide
targets for enemy ships. Pull your
tanks back and keep them as a
reaction for against breakthroughs.
If you are defending a small area,
don't build tanks, build gun
turrets and mobile units with
long range weapons.
* If you are facing a foe without
much air capacity, you can use
scouts instead of escorts to
provide information for gunboats
and missile cruisers.
* Submarines can be devastating
to a sea-based power. Corvettes
and-Ground Attack Planes dedicated
to protecting shipyards and docks
and sea mines may seem like a
needless expense until these
facilities start blowing up in
your back yard. Of course, a sea
mine field is also a good
investment.
* Mine fields are always useful
as a protection. Your units are not
affected by them and the only enemy
units that can find them (without
blowing up in the process) are very
fragile. The best use of minefields
is in front of a position that can
be protected by infantry and scouts
to take care of surveyors and
minelayers.
* Infiltrators are always useful.
Even if they just keep an enemy
from using an eco-sphere for a few
turns, their contribution can be
invaluable. Remember that Armored
Personnel Carriers are amphibious
and virtually invisible unless on
land. The only real failing of the
infiltrator is that its ability to
take over or disable enemy units
contains the game's sole
concession to probabilities. There
is always the chance of failure,
and the chance that failure will
bring discovery and disaster.
Strategic Upgrading
The right upgrade to units can
make all the difference in a
long-term game and in some of the
tactical scenarios we have provided
with the game. But what should you
be putting your research and
upgrade time into buying?
* Attack adds to the damage done
by a combat vehicle's weapon. It
can make a definite difference,
especially if multiple upgrades are
purchased. Enemy units designed to
be able to absorb two or more hits
suddenly start blowing up early.
This can be very discomfiting. And,
of course, it is absolutely
necessary if the enemy has invested
in armor upgrades.
* Range is a costly upgrade. It
is also vital. For tanks, remember
to upgrade the scan (also costly)
as well as the range. Having tanks
with a range and scan of 5 when
everyone else has 4 will make all
the difference.
* Small increases in Armor and
Hit Points are not very significant
and cost accordingly. Go for a
second upgrade in these elements.
It can make the difference in being
destroyed in two shots or taking
two hits and getting back to a
repair unit to fight again.
* Speed is relatively cheap
upgrade and can make a significant
difference, particularly for units
that are normally slow. Fast tanks
are always frightening, and fast
repair units and supply trucks can
make the difference between a
blitzkrieg and a deliberate
advance.
* Shots are the most expensive
upgrade for a combat vehicle
because they can make all the
difference. A missile crawler with
two shots can suddenly both move
and fire╤a deadly attack combined
with mobility. Buying an extra
shot with a vehicle is always worth
it, if you can afford it.
What to Build First?
A M.A.X. Commander who has just
landed on a planet has two
imperatives. Build a successful
colony and defend the colony.
Unfortunately, this is the
classic guns and butter problem.
You have only so many resources and
only so much to do with them in a
restricted period of time. Likely
as not, the opposition is going to
find you early and you have to be
ready to defend your colonists. But
you have to have colonists to
defend or it is pointless to build
up a major defense force.
The classic tactic is to put your
constructor to work on a Light
Vehicle plant while the Engineer
works on storage units for the
mining station and connectors
between the plant and the mine.
Extra constructors (which
generally don't have supplies at
the start of a game) need to be put
to work on the habitats and other
colonial buildings like
eco-spheres, training halls,
barracks and research centers.
Extra engineers need to set up some
fixed defenses, like anti-air,
radar, and missile installations.
Early on, you also need a heavy
unit plant to build the major
fighting vehicles and an air unit
factory. Don't forget things like
depots, hangers, and, where
appropriate, shipyards and docks.
Everything is necessary except in
special circumstances.
Once you have these facilities
working, you are left with deciding
which units to build in them. In
the early game, scouts are always
useful. Extra surveyors can be good
if there is a lot of area to check
for vital resources. Engineers and
supply trucks are good. If you get
into a fight early on, then
bulldozers should be built as soon
as possible to take advantage of
the debris. Sometimes the debris
you pick up off a battlefield can
keep a colony alive until the
second and third mining stations
are built.
Which air unit to build is always
a good question. Air units are
fragile. Anti-Air units are very
powerful. Sometimes the best
investment is Air Transports to
haul your units around the map and
set up in out-of-the-way places for
unexpected attacks on the enemy. An
AWACs is an excellent investment,
especially if protected by a flock
of fighters. Upgrading the scan of
an AWACs might be very important in
the later stages of a game, to
avoid being brought down by
anti-air units with extended range.
As stated earlier, Ground Attack
Planes can be devastating. Since
airplanes never have to land except
to rearm and be repaired in this
game, they are best used at the
fringes of a conflict, taking out
constructors and engineers trying
to build new facilities, moving
columns of enemy units without
fighter support, and wayward
surveyors and scouts. They don't
have a lot of use in straight
conflict unless the enemy has
somehow been deprived of anti-air
units through an active ground
offense or gunboat bombardment. In
such cases, they can range
throughout the enemy position and
destroy his strategic facilities.
However. if the player is using
the right clan and can produce them
early, enemy ground units are easy
meat for the Ground Attack plane if
the opposition hasn't built any
anti-air units.
Also, ground attack planes with
upgraded range and good
intelligence are probably the best
answer to the anti-air problem.
Anti-air is often only as good as
its supporting radar. Take out
enemy radar and your ground attack
planes have a longer lifetime on a
battlefield.
Passive Defense
In a game with a lot of units
running around, it is easy to lose
track of the fixed defenses and the
passive defensive. Implaced
artillery, missiles, radar, and
anti-air have obvious uses. Other
elements, such as concrete blocks
and mines, can seem like
superfluous afterthoughts.
The main use for these two
elements is in channeling the
approach of an enemy force. As the
tips for the game state, it is not
necessary to fill up every square
of the map grid with a mine to
create anxiety in an attacking
opponent. If one unit blows up in
an area, the whole area is suspect
until it has been swept╤a laborious
process. Use a few scattered mines
to make an opponent channel an
attack into an area covered by
every weapon the defender owns.
Concrete blocks are less subtle,
but also less easy to eliminate. An
enemy trying for a quick knockout
can be very frustrated by the
blocks, particularly if he doesn't
have the long range detection gear
to see them until he is in
mid-attack.
Intelligence Gathering
In M.A.X., Intelligence gathering
is essentially the employment of
lots of radar and the use of
infiltrators. It is never a bad
idea to upgrade radar range and
build radar units, both fixed and
moving. Mobile Scanners are quite
capable of operating at all times,
unlike mobile anti-aircraft units,
and the information they bring in
on the move can be vital to an
attacking force or to a colonial
force trying to get the lay of the
land. One unit that can provide
knowledge of an enemy's location
and comp osition is worth three
combat units flailing about blindly
without a clue. Remember this
when determining what units you
will build.
Interesting Initial Deployments
Common unit selection for an
initial mining station colony
follows the ones shown in the
training scenarios. Constructor,
Engineer, a couple of scouts, a
surveyor, and perhaps a couple of
tanks and an assault gun. This is
a balanced group meant to handle
threats from similar balanced
groups.
But here are a couple of other
possibilities you might want to
try.
* The Scout Horde is a deployment
that fills up with scouts, perhaps
a bit upgraded in Attack and Speed.
A new colony group can have up to
about 8 of these vehicles. If you
think you are going to land near an
enemy colony, this is an ideal
force to swarm his defenses and
destroy his mining station and
power generator and building
vehicles before he knows what hit
him. You are, however, putting
everything on a fall of the cards
that puts you close to your
opposition. If he is far enough
away to have time to build more
scouts and other heavier units, you
may be destroyed easily when you
finally make contact.
* The Defenders option calls for
extra construction vehicles, very
few scouts (maybe just one) a
scanner and a couple of missile
crawlers and or rocket launchers.
The plan is to sit tight, call very
little attention to yourself, and
destroy anything that gets close.
It might work best on an island off
to the side of a planetary map. A
Defender will probably lose to a
Scout Horde unless he has had time
to build.
* The Heavy Metal option does
away with scouts entirely in order
to add another tank or two or
assault gun. Use tanks in teams of
two to do your exploring and hit
anything you find as hard as you
can. It's a reconnaissance in force
tactic and chancy, but it might
mean destroying an enemy before he
can get started. This will work
best on a world with lots of
connected land, though it might
also work on a landing area that's
a large island. And, of course, if
you build a light vehicle plant
early, you will have scouts to take
care of wider scouting after you
secure the immediate area.