Finally you say? Finally a new multiplayer FAQ has arrived? I realize that there is already a multiplayer FAQ out there (Greg Lindsley's). But it hasn't been updated for about 6-7 months. So I've taken the liberty of making a new multiplayer FAQ. Updated. This FAQ is very similar to Greg's (in format). It contains information of my experiences as well as about 10-11 others who donated some excellent tactics. I've tried to check this for any errors to the best of my ability.
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What you're gonna find here
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Tips, strategies, and maybe some cheats when playing a multiplayer game. These strategies are only suggestions and may not work for you. You might find a better tactic to use. These tactics will be a little different than the previous (As v1.07 was all that was available when the previous FAQ was written). Also some excellent graphics I have obtained.
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Important!
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I must apologize to a few individuals who gave me a lot of tactics. I had to edit out LOTS of them to keep from repeating themselves. Thanks a bunch still!
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Table of Contents
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Part 1:
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Basic settings you can make
1.0-Options you will find in multiplay
1.1-Number of Units
1.2-Crates
1.3-Tiberium Regrowth
1.4-Ai on, Ai off, and Capture the flag mode
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Part 2:
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Details on what structures there are, what units there are, and what they are good and bad
for. No tactics here, just descriptions.
2.0-Structures and Units in the game
2.1-General Structures
2.2-Nod only Structures
2.3-GDI only Structures
2.4-General Units
2.5-Nod only Units
2.6-GDI only Units
2.7-Special Units
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Part 3:
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What to do once on the battlefield
3.0-Starting off in the game
3.1-General base defense
3.2-Nod base defense
3.3-GDI base defense
3.4-General offensive
3.5-Nod offensive
3.6-GDI offensive
3.7-Special Weapons
3.8-Common questions and answers
3.9-A few bugs to use in multiplayer (Only for evil people)
3.10-Extra multiplayer maps available
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Part4:
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Conclusion
4.0-Ending
4.1-In the future...
4.2-Links to C&C web pages (man there is a lot of them)
Revisions
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Basic settings you can make in multiplay
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{1.0} These are the options you can make and adjust according to how you like to play.
{1.1} Number of Units
Basically how many units you start with. If you choose a lower number you get less units that aren't that high tech. The higher the number the more units and the higher the tech level too.
{1.2} Crates
*Note: Choppers cannot pick up crates. If you move a chopper by the crate and use a unit to pick it up then the contents may effect the nearby chopper.*
If you choose on, you get little wooden boxes on the map every once and a while. They appear just about anywhere and contain any one of the following things.
Money-Appears to me to be the most common crate. I think it appears the most anyway. Can contain from anywhere up to $2000.
Money crate:
Explosion-A variety of different explosions. Some even spread out and kill surrounding units. Very nasty.
BOOM!
Special Strike-A one time use with either the ION Cannon, Nuclear Missile, or an Airstrike. Very cool when you collect all of them and they are all fully charged. Bye bye enemy!
ION crate: Nuke crate: Airstrike crate:
Hide or Reveal All Map-Will get rid of all the black shrouding on the map. Most excellent if you can't see your opponents base and are unable use a special strike or any kind of chopper. Will also put the black stuff back on the map. So any terrain you have uncovered is blackened again. :(
Hide/Reveal Map crate:
Single Unit-Gives you a single unit (not infantry) from either GDI or Nod's forces.
Infantry-A variable group of five infantry. From either GDI or NOD's forces.
Heal All-Will heal all your units and structures.
Heal All crate:
Viseroid-Will cause an angry Viseroid to attack you or your opponent. These little guys can be a help too. Once I got this crate when playing in a multiplayer capture the flag game. The viseroid killed my opponents only protection of his flag (we started with one unit) and destroyed his only power plant. I walked in and out of his base, with the flag, with no problems at all. The viseroid looks like this:
Stealth-My favorite crate. Makes the unit that picks up the crate stealth. Like a stealth tank. I once even got a stealth APC, Harvester, Refinery, and Temple of Nod. The coolest things ever. I'm still trying to get a stealth Commando or Chinook.
Stealth crate:
{1.3} Tiberium Regrowth
Will cause the tiberium trees that produce tiberium and existing tiberium to regrow after a while. Kinda neat to watch a regular tree turn to a tiberium tree.
{1.4} Ai on, Ai off, and Capture the flag mode
Ai on-Will cause all of the sides not controlled by humans to be controlled by the computer. They don't build bases. Just pretty much attack you or your opponent and destroy stuff. Just makes the game more difficult. Personally I have no problems with them. They are easy to kill.
Ai off-Only players controlled by humans will be in the game.
Capture the flag mode- This is basically the same as normal but with a unique twist. You must guard your flag. It starts off on your MCV vehicle. When the MCV deploys, it drops the flag next to it. If an opponent enters the same cell as the flag, he picks it up. He must then try to get it back to the bullseye where his flag is. If he is successful, all your units are destroyed. Same thing with you. You must try to get his flag and bring it back to your bullseye. The unit carrying the flag's speed is reduced to 50% of normal. If the unit is destroyed the flag drops at that cell. You cannot move your own flag, only guard it where it is. Still quite fun!
{2.0} What the structures and units are used for, as well as their perfomance on the battlefield. I rated performance as being either Poor, Good, Very Good, and Excellent (These are in my opinions). These are just descriptions of the structures. No tactics on how to use them in this section. See in Section 3 for tactics.
IMPORTANT! GDI is equiped to kill armored units (They have all of those killer tanks!). Nod is equiped to kill infantry (They have the awesome Flame tank and Flamethrower infantry. Don't forget that nasty Apache chopper!).
{2.1} General Structures
Construction Yard-The heart of your base. Protect this expensive structure at all costs. It allows the building of other structures in your base.
Good: Lots of armor.
Bad: Expensive. Once it's gone no more structures can be built. :(
Performance: Excellent! It's probably the busiest structure on the map.
Refinery-Absolutely necessary. Without this you cannot produce structures or units as you will lack money after a while. I would suggest building at least two of these structures to insure a good amount of cash.
Good: Lots of armor.
Bad: Expensive. If it gets destroyed and your harvester is unloading, the harvester blows up too. Same thing if it gets taken over. Can't be sold when an enemy engineer is about to take it over and your harvester is unloading. This can be good too!
Performance: Very Good.
Silo-Holds tiberium credits. If you find yourself with lots of money, build one of these to store it in. !!Caution:!! If it is destroyed and you have a lot of money, you will lose the money from lack of storage space.
Good: Stores LOTS of tiberium
Bad: Very weak. Destroyed easily
Performance: Poor. I wouldn't put my trust into a bunch of silos to hold your tiberium.
Helipad-Allows the building of controllable aircraft. Nod gets the Apache, and GDI get the Orca. They also both get the ability to build transport choppers.
Good: Allows the building of choppers. Builds very fast.
Bad: Nothing!
Performance: Excellent! You can build about 6-8 of these things in a matter of minutes!
Comm. Centre-Gives you a radar view of the map. Useful when you want to take a quick glance at what's going on on the map without having to scan through the whole thing. Must have full power to operate correctly
Good: The radar view is about all you get out of this. Also allows the building of higher tech structures such as Adv. Guard Towers and the Adv. Comm. Centre.
Bad: Takes lots of power.
Performance: Good.
Power Plant-Provides the power necessary to run your base.
Good: Gives a sufficient amount of power for your base.
Bad: Takes many of them to support a large base.
Performance-Good.
Adv. Power Plant-Same as the regular one but provides lots more power.
Good: Gives LOTS of power for your base
Bad: If one is destroyed you lose all that power! :(
Performance: Very Good
Repair Bay-Repairs damaged vehicles.
Good: Does a complete repair job on vehicles.
Bad: Take a long time to repair heavier vehicles such as the Mammoth or a harvester.
Performance: Very Good
{2.2} Nod only Structures
Temple of Nod-Allows the ability to fire a Nuclear Missile.
Good: Allows the ability to repeatedly fire that awesome Nuke! Heaviest armored structure in the game.
Bad: Takes lots of power. Expensive
Performance: Excellent!
Obelisk of Light-Excellent base defence!
Good: Destoys any unit within three shots.
Bad: Takes LOTS of power. Cannot hit air units. I'd suggest putting SAMs next to it.
Performance: Excellent!
Turret-Excellent vehicle killer
Good: Can take lots of pounding.
Bad: Not able to hit infantry well. A group of 4-5 Grenadiers can take one down. Not affected by power outages.
Performance: Good
SAM site-Death to air units!
Good: Only good for one thing, taking out air units. HEAVY armor. Not affected by power outages
Bad: Doesn't do a thing to ground units. Sitting duck.
Performance: Very Good
Airstrip-Nods only way to get new vehicles
Good: Very tough to kill!
Bad: The cargo plane which drops the vehicles takes a long time to get to your base if it's on the left side of the map (Since the cargo plane comes from the right side). Also it gives away your bases position if the plane is seen by your opponents.
Performance: Good
Hand of Nod-Nod's method of producing infantry. Same as GDI's barracks
Good: Produces infantry
Bad: Is destroyed very easily.
Performance: Excellent!
{2.3} GDI only Structures
Adv. Comm Centre-Gives the same functions as the regular but with something extra!
Good: Gives you control of the awesome ION cannon! Good armor
Bad: Takes TOO much power. Expensive
Performance: Excellent!
Weapons Factory-Produces GDI's powerful vehicles!
Good: Provides GDI's tanks, APCs, and Humm-vees
Bad: A single nuke can take it down! :( I believe ION cannon can too.
Performance: Very Good. Just don't let it get nuked!(Like you can do anything about that)
Standard Guard Tower-An infantry killing base defence.
Good: Kills infantry and lightly armored units. Isn't affected by power outages. I personally love that loud rip of it's gun.
Bad: Can be brought down by heavier vehicles or air units.Performance: Good
Adv. Guard Tower-Kills infantry, vehicles, and air units! Unstoppable!
Good: Doesn't take much power and can kill any unit. Especially good against infantry and light armored units.
Bad: Doesn't operate without sufficient power.
Performance: Very Good. I say this (instead of excellent) because a mass of 3-5 tanks can take one of these down.
Barracks-GDI's infantry training station. With 2-3 of these you can kick men out like no tommorrow! I'd recommend about 2 of them if you use lots of infantry.
Good: Gives you any kind of infantry you want quite quickly.
Bad: Is drastically slowed by power outages.
Performance: Very good.
{2.4} General Units
Minigunner-Cheap, pretty quick (for infantry) on it's feet.
Good: Does a variety of jobs. Good all around unit. In groups of 10, they can take just about any tank (except the flame tank).
Bad: Very low tech. Lightly armored. VERY short range.
How I use them: I'd recommend using them against a player who builds large tanks and trys to stomp your base with them. The tanks can hardly touch infantry (Except Flame tanks).
Bazooka/Rocketeer-Basically the same unit with a different name. GDI gets the bazooka and Nod gets the rocketeer.
Good: 4-5 of these can drop a tank in almost no time. 5-6 of them and it's bye bye aircraft.
Bad: Lightest armored infantry (Except the Engineer). Very slow.
How I use them: Against choppers, light, and heavy vehicles mainly. They can barely scratch infantry.
Engineer-Probably the most famed and feared of infantry units (and they don't even have any weapons!).
Good: Can steal an enemy structure and put it to your use!
Bad: Has no way of defending itself. Lightest armored unit in the game.
How I use them: Capturing enemy buildings is all they really can do. Since they have no weapons armored escorts or APC/Transport delivery to their targets are recommended.
Commando-The funnest unit to have in the game! Can kill any infantry in one shot! I've actually seen a commando miss before. It took him two shots to finish the soldier off.
Good: Can kill any enemy infantry with a single shot. Can destroy any structure with a C-4 charge in one shot. Fastest infantry unit (Civilians and Technicians being the fastest). Very hard to kill.
Bad: Cannot even kill a Humm-vee or Nod Buggy! Still he is a tough guy to kill.
How I use them: Infantry killing and building destroying.
Mobile HQ-Only available in multiplayer capture the flag games with the bases turned off.
Good: Nothing good about this one.
Bad: Very light armor. Once it is destroyed all the units on your side will blow up.
How I use them: No way to use them really. Can squash infantry though.
Hovercraft-Not available in multiplay
Note: Only available to GDI when the tech level is 7 and the number of units is set to 12.
SSM-Awesome weapon! Outranges the Obelisk even!
Good: Kill infantry quickly with its napalm missiles. Outranges and can kill an Obelisk.
Bad: Takes long time to reload. Not very effective against heavy vehicles.
How I use them: Base defence on the other side of ridges is a good idea. It will launch over the ridge and hammer the enemy. I've gotten transports in my enemy's base about
times before with nothing to stop me. Except 5-6 times that friggin' SSM launched it's missile and killed my engineer.
Harvester-Your soul method of income. Without at least 2 of these you'll be outproduced and overrun by the enemy (In my opinion).
Good: Very heavily armored. Can usually survive an attack until help arrives.
Bad: Incredibly slow. Takes lots of money to make a full repair because of it's huge energy bar.
How I use them: To harvest of course! Maybe squishing infantry too.
MCV-Mobile construction vehicle. Nothing you can do with this thing but find a base sight.
Good: Heavily armored.
Bad: No weapons. Very slow.
How I use them: To find a suitable base sight and deploy it. It will turn itself into a construction yard.
Note: Only available to Nod when you have a Temple of Nod.
Rocket Launcher-Fires rockets at ranges longer than most units. Good offensive unit in packs
Good: Can hit ground and air units. Kills infantry like no tommorrow!
Bad: Cannot effectively hit units close to it. Lightly armored.
How I use them: Rear base work is a good idea. 2 can stop a transport chopper from getting inside.
APC-Armored transport for troops! Engineers love arriving to an enemy base in these!
Good: Lots of armor for protection of troops. Very fast. Contents disperse when it's destroyed (Unlike the Chinook transport chopper where the contents are killed).
Bad: Nothing!
How I use them: Recon mostly. I hardly ever get engineers inside an enemy base with them. If you are lucky enough to get a stealth crate with one of these though...
A10-Flying death to structures, units, and infantry.
Good: TOO much armor! Very fast. Drops napalm bombs. Very destructive.
Bad: Only available from a crate. Besides that nothing bad at all! If an enemy unit or something moves from the spot you targeted. The A10's will just burn empty ground.
How I use them: It does a good job of ridding yourself of your enemy's front line. Especially useful against GDI's weapon factory.
Chinook-Transport chopper for transporting infantry.
Good: Undetectable by enemy radar when it's off the ground. Can fly you right into an enemy base. Only rocket using troops can hit it.
Bad: No weapons. Weak armor. When it's destroyed all contents inside are destroyed.
How I use them: I think I use them too much. As soon as I have a helipad I start building these. Then it's off to the enemy's base. Very tempting bait for a trap also.
{2.5} Nod only Units
Flamer-Infantry killer!
Good: Can wipe up infantry and light vehicles! Tough to kill. Fast.
Bad: Other infantry around it will die when it explodes into a ball of flames.
How I use them: Anti infantry is about the best thing to use them for.
Chem Warrior-The Flamer's big brother
Good: Same as Flamer only it does 50% more damage and shoots and poisonous tiberium gas. Can walk through tiberium and take no damage!
Bad: Will also kill surrounding infantry when it dies.
How I use them: For guarding in tiberium fields. Does a good job of keepin' your Harvesters safe.
Flame Tank-No infantry can match this weapon! Dual flame jets!
Good: Can take out tons of infantry before going down! Fast enough to catch running infantry also. Burns structures down very fast!
Bad: Rather useless against heavy vehicles.
How I use them: Rear guard work. Just in case a Chinook drops off an Engineer, I got something to use against him.
Stealth Tank-Unseen by the enemy! Ingenious unit!
Good: Is totally invisible to your enemy until it fires. Dual rocket launchers do some damage to your enemy before he knows what's going on!
Bad: Can be seen by infantry if it gets to close to them. Rather weak armor.
How I use them: For suprise traps!
Light Tank-Good tank in packs. Just your basic tank.
Good: In numbers they can cause damage.
Bad: Nod's biggest tank. Any GDI tank one on one can take this thing down.
How I use them: Front line guard work. 5-8 of these up front and your enemy will think twice about a head on attack.
Mobile Artillery-What a long range monster!
Good: Second longest range unit in the game. Never underestimate the power of the Artillery barrage! In a group of 5-6 in a narrow passage these things are unstoppable! Use the "Crtl" button to make them fires endlessly into a passageway. The enemy will look at all those ballistic charges pounding the ground and wonder whether he should send a unit through it or not!
Bad: Very light armor. Can't take many units on by itself.
How I use them: Front line defence. Just behind your main front line is a good idea since their range is very long.
Nod Buggy-Excellent recon vehicle.
Good: Very fast. Okay infantry killer.
Bad: Very light armor. 3-5 infantry can rush this thing and kill it.
How I use them: Recon is about all they are good for. Maybe have a couple at the front of your base ready to get crates when they appear.
Recon Bike-Considered the best unit in the game by lots of people. And a steal at $500!
Good: In packs of 5-8 they can take out any unit. Good for hit and run attacks on harvesters. Fastest ground unit in the game. Good for quick recon of an enemy base.
Bad: Lightest armored vehicle. 5-8 of these wouldn't be able to handle 10-15 Grenadiers.
How I use them: Recon (of course). A nice pack of these can kill any harvester in a matter of seconds. Good for drawing Orcas not put on a Ctrl # into your base.
Apache-The loud rip of this things machine gun is about the last thing a an infantry unit will ever hear!
Good: 4 of these can tear a harvester apart! Infantry stand no chance against these.
Bad: It takes longer to unload all of it's ammunition on a unit or structure. This is dangerous because if it can get pounded on a lot by rocket using units.
How I use them: To pick off stragglers in a group of units.
Cargo Plane-Nods only method of getting new vehicles
Good: Delivers your weapons. Hell what can I say!
Bad: Takes a long time to get your unit once it's completed if you are far away from the right side of the map.
How I use them: Cannot be used.
{2.6} GDI only Units
Grenadier-Probably the best infantry!
Good: Can kill multiple infantry with one grenade. Is good at killing armored units as well. Hard to kill.
Bad: Explodes when he dies. Damage to friendly units sometimes happens.
How I use them: Guarding bridges and mass attacks. Very useful against those pesky recon bikes.
Medium Tank-GDI's second most powerful tank.
Good: In packs of 5 these can spread some fear! Pretty quick in speed. Powerful cannon.
Bad: A pack of 4-5 Rocketeers can take this thing down in about 5-10 seconds. :(
How I use them-Front line base guarding. Also makes a good distraction so the enemy doesn't see your engineers coming!
Mammoth Tank-The most powerful unit in the game!
Good: No unit can match this thing! It can hit air and ground units. Dual cannons! Recharges itself to 50% health automatically, free of charge!
Bad: Very slow. Cannot hit infantry well. 5 minigunners can take this thing down.
How I use them: These things make good front and back base guards. They are usually my main unit when making a ground attack (I Normally use about 3-5 in an attack). Put these babies in tiberium fields and no unit will come near!
Humm-vee-GDI's fastest unit
Good: Very fast. Can decently kill infantry. Makes a good scout.
Bad: Very weak armor.
How I use them: Scouting and getting crates. That's about all they are good for. I almost never build any.
Orca-Killer air support! Bye bye tanks!
Good: Faster than any ground unit. Any unit not using rockets cannot hit this thing. 2 of these can take any Nod unit out. 8 of these can take any structure (Except the temple).
Bad: Stays in the air for a while when it's delivering the rockets to their targets. This makes it vulnerable to enemy rockets.
How I use them: Just before an Ion Cannon attack. Let the Orcas damage a structure and let the Ion Cannon rip it apart! Killing off enemy choppers that are on the ground is a good idea. Sometimes people fly a chopper somewhere, land it, and get caught up in something else. That's when you quick gun it down!
{2.7} Special Units
Viseroid-A weird red blob thing that is very mean and destructive.
Good: Sometimes they attack an enemies base! :)
Bad: Sometimes they attack your base! :(
How I use them: Cannot be used.
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What to do once on the battlefield
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{3.0} What to do when you first start off and after the game has been going on for a while.
{3.1} General base defence
Keep the enemy blind:
Always block off any entrances to your base the best you can. The less the enemy knows about your base the better. He won't know what to expect. Tanks, Aircraft. He'll never know.
Be prepared for air attacks:
Get air defences up as soon as possible. The only prerequisite for helipads are power plants, refinery, barracks. An enemy can launch a massive air assault the first few minutes of the game.
Mark (me@zip.com.au)
Build SAM's/Adv. guard towers. Great air defence.
Mark (me@zip.com.au)
Don't always put your construction yard in the corner of the map! (Authors Note: Firing a blind nuke into a black area lights up the cells there. Many people nuke or air strike blindly into a corner and many times hit a construction yard.)
Space it out:
Try to sandbag your base and space it out as much as possible. This may seem time consuming but it helps in the long run. It's commonly referred to as "Spider basing".
Phil Sykes (root@sykic.demon.co.uk)
Be ready for APC attacks!:
If you know what you're doing, you should _never_ be hurt by one of these. Best time for them is within a minute of starting the game, cos after that, they almost never work.
To defend against them - lots of units is a big threat to APC's - massed minigunners and grenadiers slow the APC down.
Obelisks are best - remember to manually target the engineers as they come out! (Author's Note: I've found adv. towers to be very effective against engineer attacks. Put one in the center of your base or maybe by your construction yard.)
Have a guard tower ready to put down in the engineers path. This will inevitably frustrate your opponent.
Temporarily wall off bits of your base to stop him getting in.
If all else fails, SELL THE BUILDING THE ENGINEER IS GOING FOR!!! The exiting troops can take him out - you get the money and he doesn't! (Author's Note: It's good to sell even a stupid structure like a silo. The reason being the enemy might have a obelisk or guard tower ready to plant.)
(1) Border your structures (with the exception of the refineries, factories/airstrips and hand/barracks) with sandbags to prevent against engineer attacks. It seems stupid because its so simple, but not many people do it, so here you go.
Be aware of your enemy(s):
Scan frequently for any enemy movements that might looks suspicious. You don't want a suprise attack to come about.
Have extra power:
Lots of guys think they're cool because they take out your power plant with a nuke or ion before an attack (especially against Nod). For this reason you should have 1 or 2 plants which are excess. It'll save you cash in the long run. Also, 2 standard power plants are more cost effecient (by $100) but makes your base twice as large.
Use those Rocket men:
A group of about 5-7 bazookas do a lot more damage than people give them credit for.
Protect harvesters:
Always have a unit guarding your harvesters. Click on unit to guard it. Hold down Ctrl+Alt and click on your harvester. The unit will follow it around!.
{3.2} Nod base defence
Guard your entrance:
If you're Nod, the best way to guard your entrance is with turrets who are lined up in a checkerboard fashion. This detects stealth, and takes out anybody trying to get in.
Obelisk power:
Obelisks ARE worth the power and money. Just make sure to take care of those babies! Build them and protect them correctly and they will do a nice job. Put concrete walls around them. Then a mass of tanks or minigunners is worthless! Just keep slappin' down more walls. 2-3 SAMs and aircraft will have trouble killing them also. Having a Flame Tank or Flame infantry around it will help too.
Flame 'em!:
Flame tanks are good guards, especially with Obelisks because most people like to send infantry against them. Also good for use with guarding Construction Yards from those pesky engineers.
SAMs:
No matter what a devoted GDI guy says if he has five Orcas and you have four SAMs, the orcas will be trashed. Unless he is skilled at killing SAMs. Tactic for killing SAM sites below. In the GDI offensive section.
Unstoppable defence:
If you have an unstoppable defence, you've already won. The best idea for Nod is to make your opponent come to you. Three obelisks can trash 20 mammoths with no casualties so don't underestimate the power of defence. I've found that eventually the enemy gets so tired of trying to blow a hole in your base that he runs out of offensive and defensive weapons.
Base Defence Example:
W=Walls X F F X
T=Turrets X F T T T T T TFX
O=Obelisks X T T T T T X
F=Flame Infantry/Tanks X X
X=Natural Terrain XO WWWWWWWWWW OX
X X
XWWWWW T WWWWWWX
First of all this setup is rather expensive but also does a good job of detecting and destroying stealths and heavy armor, while at the same time destroying infantry. Even if they break past the front line they have to go directly by the obelisks and then make another complete turn around a wall to get inside. Do NOT forget to support this setup with SAM sites! Orcas or Apaches can rip this setup apart without SAMs.
{3.3} GDI base defence
Mark (me@zip.com.au):
Build those Adv. Guard Towers,(Author's Note: Surround them with walls too. Helps cut down on damage from tanks) get those Mammoths up and running. Grenadiers are your best infantry so pump 'em out and there cheap too. Use Ion cannon (not just in offense, defence too) and if you get one, use Air Strike effectively.
Tower Power:
Make sure either Adv. Towers or Standard Towers are positioned strategically all around your base. Especially have one or two around your Construction Yard.
Sneaky Stealths:
You can have all the big tanks (Mammoths or Mediums) you want at your entrance. But they won't detect Stealth Tanks at all. Always have some infantry or Humm-vees around your entrance. Preferably in front of the main defences to give an early warning.
Mammoths:
Mammoths are the most powerful, survivable, and have multiple functions they can preform. Especially guarding. I've found that sometimes I don't even build fancy guard towers. Mammoths do a fine job of that (and repair for free!). Position them inside your base at multiple locations to help take out any attacks that break through.
Adv. Towers:
Adv. Guard Towers, in my opinion, are the best engineer killer available. The rockets they shoot slaughter weak infantry. Put them by important structures.
Base Defence Example:
X=Natural Terrain X WWW WWWX
G=Adv. Tower X X
W=Walls X X
I=Infantry X WWWWWW X
T=Tanks X I I I X
X G I I G X
XWWWWT TWWWWX
Notice how the enemy is forced to go around different layers of walls before even getting close enough to touch any towers or units. Stealth tanks are also easily detected.
{3.4} General offensive
Mark (me@zip.com.au)
Attack with not just infantry or not just ground units, try to combine all or as many as you can. APC's + Engineers <if done right> = swearing from opponent.
Take his Construction yard!
Harvesters:
One of the most common tactics to beat an opponent is by cutting his ability to produce. Frequent harassing of Harvesters is good. And also try to destroy them quickly (4 Nod choppers fully armed can do so. Or about 6-9 orcas.). An economic advantage is sometimes better than a military one.
Disable defences:
Before making an attack, try to disable defences. Such as Obelisks or Adv. Guard Towers. Maybe use a commando or two, fly them in in a Transport chopper and blow up three or four Power Plants. Then make your assault!
Air Power:
If you spot a lone unit or two that uses no rockets, use a chopper or two to take him out. One less unit to worry about. Another tactic to use with choppers is to gather about 4 of them and suicide attack the enemies Construction Yard. Then while it's weak, use an Ion cannon or Nuclear Missile attack. Works almost every time. Remember the words in the Official C&C Guide, "He who controls the air, controls the battlefield!"
Transports:
Many people don't expect or just plain don't see a transport coming early in the game. Build Power Plant>>Refinery>>Barracks>>Chopper Pad>>Engineer>>Transport. Fly him in and take Construction Yard. You can usually get this silent assault team assembled in about 3-4 min. Or multiple transports, each with 2-3 engineers landing in multiple spots in enemies base. Take over half his base!
Infantry mass:
Many people underestimate the power of mass infantry. 25-45 minigunners can strike a lot of fear into a player. Takes lots of cash but they can kick some butt.
Artillery:
Two types of artillery. GDI get the Rocket Launcher and Nod gets the Arty. GDI's Rocket Launcher is best used in packs of about 5-6. Offensively these things can take down structures fast. Nod's Arty is best used in defence. It's too slow and too weak for offensive combat.
Use Multiple Attacks:
Can't get an engineer in that enemies base? Try sendin' in about 3 empty APCs from one angle and a transport with engineers/commandos from another angle. Make sure the transport is hiddin' from the enemy. The enemy will be concentrating on the APCs too much to worry about the chopper. When the time is right and the APCs are just about to the enemies base. Ion or Nuke a power plant. Then he'll think you're trying to get those APCs in without defences such as Obelisks or Adv. Towers to stop them. Then fly that chopper in and get the Constrution Yard!
Who's Tiberium is it?:
Build sandbags to tiberium fields and start slappin' down some towers. Then the enemies' harvesters won't come near there. Unless he builds a force to come and blow it up.
Alex Wilson (alexw@watcom.on.ca)
Great Construction Yard diversion tactic:
One good trick to use when trying to destroy your enemy's base is to attack the structures when he or she is not looking. If your opponent never realizes that the building has been damaged, they won't repair it. How can you do this easily? With a simple diversion. Remember that when you attack any part of your enemy's base they will hear the ominous "our base is under attack" message. If your opponent thinks that the warning came from the diversion, they may not notice the attack on the building. Case in point: My opponent has a well defended base, and it's only vulnerability is to air assaults. I only have two Orcas, which will not be able to destroy his Construction Yard if he keeps repairing it. I send off a diversionary group of two minigunners to suicide attack one of his Advanced Guard Towers -- a very noisy little exchange. Before the minigunners are in the range of the Towers, I send the Orcas off to attack the Constrution Yard. His base is laid out in such a way that he won't see the Orcas attacking unless he's looking at his Construction Yard, of course though, his attention is drawn to the very noisy minigunners playing catch with rockets. He hears the "our base is under attack" message and laughs at the minigunners, while the Orcas are chewing away at the Construction Yard. The Orcas don't show up on radar. Repeated a few times, and the construction yard is history, and he never attempted to repair or defend it.
Attack Example:
Ok enough saying "mix your force" or "build those, they're good". Time for *actual* examples. Now, before making an attack you should take a good look at your enemy's base layout and defence design. If possible, disable defensive structures before an attack. A commando or two in a chinook is capable of taking 3-4 power plants down, or choppers work good. Now look at his defensive setup *closely*. If it is supported mainly by tanks I'd suggest about 15 minigunners to be included in the assault. If it has alot of infantry perhaps a commando would help, or a couple of rocket launchers (which are good at killing infantry) included. Look at his defensive structures. Obelisks are more touch to bring down with just infantry masses because Nod has flame tanks and infantry. Generally it takes about 5-6 Medium tanks per Obelisk (roughly). Adv. Towers are a bit easier to take out but I'd still suggest a good sized tank pack (If your gonna attack might as well make it a good, strong one). So with all of that you should gather the following: Commando/Rocket Launchers for anti-infantry. 5-9 Medium/Light tanks for taking heavy defence down (Perhaps a Mammoth or two if available). A group of about 15 minigunners to help chew down on tanks and other infantry. Now you make your assault. Head the tanks in first followed by Rocket Launchers/Commandos. Once defensive structures are just about down rush in the infantry to help destroy enemy resistance. With any luck you'll have half his base blown apart before he destroys a force like this. Now I know this kind of assault (Head-on kind) can get risky and completely fail, but it's worth a shot. Personally, I take the Covert approach to beating my enemies. Such as, repeated engineer/commando attacks followed by frontal assaults to confuse them. Once his Construction Yard and Vehicle production are stopped it's just a matter of wearing him down. (Author's Note: A fun thing to do is really embarrass someone by totally annihalating his last two or three men. I once played a guy who only had one minigunner left. I felt like a jerk and ION cannoned it :) Rather cruel.)
{3.5} Nod offensive
The sneaky chopper killer for Nod:
If you find your enemy is controlling most of the battlefield because of choppers here's a sneaky little way to take them out. Build about 3-4 stealth tanks. Get a transport chopper (your bait) and load an engineer inside it. Make sure your enemy sees that engineer. Then move the stealths somewhere far from your base. Put them on Guard 'G' and land the transport next to them. If the sucker plays into the trap he'll send out his little choppers. He'll be sayin "hehehe" until a suprise stealth pack uncloaks and blasts his chopper! Try it! I've done it and it works great! You can use other bait as well but... Transports are so tempting!
MCV attack tactic:
One of the most effective tactics I've found is to get about 3-4 stealth tanks and sneak them into the enemies base. Once in plant them near the enemies' Construction Yard. Use a nuclear missile to blast the Construction Yard. It'll be weakened to it's red zone on it's life bar. Then quickly move the stealths in a finish it off.
Phil Sykes (root@sykic.demon.co.uk)
Stealth Tanks:
The psychological effect of stealth tanks is much greater then their actual effect. If the enemy thinks there are stealth tanks out there bursting for attack (and try and make him think there are as many as possible by rapidly shifting them and attack new targets, and cloaking and decloaking large numbers for a bit), then he will devote more resources to defences, harvester defences and generally be a bit less offensive. If he has a poorly defended entrance, sneak stealth tanks in and around his base for an attack on costly targets such as Construction Yards, orcas on pads and harvesters. If he has a big 'open plan' base then this is much easier. If it's tightly packed, then the chances are he'll be able to react very quickly and there'll be nowhere to hid in the base, so just get the Construction Yard and go.
Also by Phil Sykes
Recon Bikes:
Useful, but over-rated by many.
They can:
-Be used in large pack to take out isolated armor (5 bikes = 1 mammoth tank with no probs).
-Be used as a 'rapid reaction force' against harvester attacks, or similarly against harvesters.
-Be used as impromptu air defences.
They can't:
-Be used to assault defended bases - two Adv. Guard Towers = a lot of dead recon bikes.
-Be used in place of a good balanced army
-Get through walls and dodgy terrain quickly
-Be very subtle (you never miss 'em moving on the blow up map)
-Be used to kill infantry with any great effect.
To take them out:
Infantry! Five bazooka troops are the same price as three recon bikes and do a lot of damage. Massed minigunners are equally effective at taking them out - but it can be hard to get and use troops to the place where recon bikes are attacking.
This tactic by "Prophet" from the Webboard (no email address given)
Obelisk in the enemies' base:
One of the best tactics I use to defeat my foes early in the game is to get 3 refineries and then build a Helipad ASAP. Then get a transport chopper and an engineer send it over and take over whatever you can. Before you do all that have a Obelisk of Light ready to place down the moment you take over a structure. This means the end of the game is you take over Construction yard or a building close. If your enemy has too much air defence try a MCV if they have to much defence for that then too bad for a early victory.
Best way to use your Nuke:
On the GDI Weapon's Factory. Takes it out with one shot everytime.
Mass Infantry:
NEVER mass Flamers together. They will kill eachother. I've seen 20+ Flamers go up in about 1 second. Cause they were all next to eachother. Use minigunners instead.
Chem-Warriors:
Chem Troops are great infantry. Especially since they don't die in Tiberium. For this reason they should be put in Tiberium fields. Lots of them. Then if a recon bike pack comes along to take out your harvesters, the chem-warriors kill 'em off!
SSM's:
Build an Obelisk and an Airstrip. Then you have the ability to produce SSM launchers (if tech level is 7). Build about 5-6 of them and 4-5 stealth tanks and send 'em all off to the enemies' base. I've had this done to me. It's VERY nerve racking. They start pounding on your buildings and there's nothing you can do until you can gather enough troops to take out the stealths and SSM's.
Apaches:
They suck against armor but for some strange reason 4 of them can drop a harvester. Use that knowledge wisely. A few runs and all the enemies' harvesters are gone.
{3.6} GDI offensive
The Mammoth:
Probably too slow to be used in most offensive assaults. But still if it's mixed in with about 4-5 Medium tanks and some infantry, there's gonna be one hell of a fight. At $1500 it's kinda expensive to just have blown apart in an attack.
Orca+ION=Dead Construction yard:
One of the most commonly used tactics for GDI players is to use orcas to damage the Construction yard enough to have to ION cannon take it out. Works quite well.
The ultimate SAM site killing tactic:
Orcas shouldn't be afraid of SAM sites. They can take them out quite easily with a bit of practice. Here's what you do:
(1) Build about 5 orcas
(2) Put them all on one Ctrl+# key except one. Put it on another Ctrl+#.
(3) Fly the 1 *just* in front of the others.
(4) When the SAM head pops up to kill the first leading orca, select him and hit 'G' or 'S'. That will make him fly back automatically.
(5) While the SAM head is going back down the other Orcas will destroy it before it raises back up!
This tactic doesn't work well with Apaches since it takes about 9-10 of these to do that. And the SAM site will destroy one or two of them.
Phil Sykes (root@sykic.demon.co.uk)
His views on orcas:
Dangerous but expensive ($1200) - best used for taking out harvesters, and applying psychological pressure to the enemy. 8-10 of them will also always remove the enemy's Construction Yard with a few losses. Don't send them in to attack non vital targets that are defended - take out the defences first. When you have more than 6, small groups of 3/4 are more useful than one big big. Repair any orcas in the yellow when going up against defences - the average orca takes two SAMs to kill it (That's 4 SAM missiles). Orcas are a great diversion to an engineer attack, and can draw off SAM sites otherwise used for hitting chinooks, and Adv. Guard Towers otherwise used against APCs. (Editor's Note: It's also fun to use them to take out enemy choppers that are on the helipads.)
Zap 'em!:
If the enemy is a heavy chopper or recon bikes user then here's what you do. They will probably land them somewhere and bunch them up. When that's done a fun thing to do is ION cannon there choppers or recon bikes. Especially good when they are all grouped.
NEVER do this:
Don't EVER put your Weapon's Factory by your Construction Yard! If he nukes it, it'll take out the Weapon's Factory AND damage your Construction Yard. Then all he needs is about 3-4 choppers to finish it off too. Then you'll have no more offensive vehicles.
Infantry:
Your best infantry is the Grenadier. Use them. Get lots of them. Surround important structures with them too. Send attack squads of about 10 of these from different sides. They can do some serious damage.
Mix:
You've probably heard this before but it's a definite asset to GDI to use a mixed force. Mammoths and Mediums can take down big structures but are almost useless vs. infantry. That's why you MUST have infantry mixed into your ground assaults.
I'd like to update this section also. I need more tactics for it.
{3.7} Special Weapons
ION cannon:
Is an orbital cannon that can only be accessed by uplinking to it with an Adv. Comm Centre. It's very powerful and charges faster than Nod's Nuclear Missile.
Things it can take out:
(1) Obelisk of Light
(2) Standard Power Plant
(3) Adv. Power Plant (sometimes)
(4) Silo
(5) One patch of tiberium
(6) Weapons Factory
(7) Any unit other than the Mammoth
(8) Any five infantry standing next to eachother
Nuclear Missile:
Requires a Temple of Nod to be fired from (Unless you got it in a crate). It's more ballistic than the ION cannon in that it affects a wider area.
Things it can take out:
(1) Weapons Factory
(2) A fairly large area of tiberium
(3) Silo
(4) Standard Power Plant
Air Strike:
In multiplayer it's only available via crate. It consists of A-10 aircraft that drop napalm bombs onto the enemy. Not recommended for use against units or infantry. If they move in time the Air Strike will miss. Use against structures and stationary things.
Things it can take out:
(1) Weapons Factory
(2) Silo
(3) Multiple infantry
(4) Light vehicles
Anything else that these special strikes can take out with one shot, that I have missed, please tell me.
{3.8} Common questions and answers
How do I kill off recon bike packs?
Infantry work best. Massed minigunners. ION cannon them when they're bunched up too.
How can I defend against 10+ orcas?
In my opinion you can't :). But I'll try to give a good defence.
I'd try stealth tanks. Lots of them. An orca costs $1200 and a stealth costs $900. A large pack of them is good. When the orcas are on their pads is a good time to decloak and destroy. Put them on guard also. Recon bikes work good too, but not for going into an enemy's base and destroying them.
How do I destroy Obelisks?
Well the minigunner mass assault works good. Take it down before it can kill off too many of them. 4-5 Orcas can also take one out. But the BEST way to take one out is to cut the power first. Use Orcas to destroy one or two plants and then ground assault the Obelisks.
Those are the questions I see posted the MOST. So that's all I'll put in that section. Any other *good* questions you want answered, mail me.
{3.9} A few bugs to use in multiplayer (Only for evil people)
Infinite minigunners:
Here's how to get unlimited minigunners for free.
(1) Build a structure that uses a weapon (turret, guard tower)
(2) Sell it
(3) While it's undergoing desconstruction click on it and hit the Stop 'S' key.
(4) It will stop deconstructing and you still get the gunners from it!
(5) Repeat over and over for hundreds of them!
Place anywhere:
The method to do this is a little hard, so I'll try to be as precise as possible. The trick is in the radar screen. So this won't work in missions not utilizing the comm. center. What you do is this. Make sure you have a comm. center and a funtioning radar screen. Build the building you want to place anywhere (you can place it anywhere except over trees, in water, on tiberium etc.). Now here's the hard part. Click on a unit, any unit, because he will be used as a targeter to target where the building will go on the radar. When you have the building complete put the placement grid on the screen and position it so that when you move you cursor from the regular screen to the radar screen the grid stays COMPLETELY white. If it isn't completely white on the regular screen it won't place in the radar screen. It MUST be white. With that point stessed and the steps completed you can now put the building on the radar map where ever you want it! The unit you clicked on is what makes the targeter on the radar instead of that big box thing. I'm thinking about making a savegame of exactly what everything should look like before you can place the building. The steps once more.
1.Build build to be placed
2.Click on unit to use as a targeter for the radar
3.When moving cursor from main view to radar screen placement grid must stay ALL white.
4. Place that building using the radar map.
This place anywhere cheat is abolished in versions higher than 1.18
The only other bug I can think of is the silo cheat but it's been abolished in 1.18, 1.19, and 1.20.
Don't use these bugs unless you're feelin' nasty.
{3.10} Extra multiplayer maps available
There are tons of new maps available for downloading and using in C&C.
Go to: http://www.econ.cbs.dk/people/dszcpfk/ccyard.html
(Temple of the Conquerer's Construction Yard)
and get them!
========
Conclusion
========
{4.0} Ending
Well that's it! Those are my best strategies and tactics. I think this was needed because the last one hasn't been updated since version 1.07!
{4.1} In the future...
This FAQ may have some defects. I don't think I really want to update this FAQ. Red Alert is coming out soon. So another multiplayer FAQ for C&C would be stupid. I might consider it though. I'm sorry if this file is too big. The graphics really put a strain on it. But it sure as hell looks cool. I'm also considering making an
"Unofficial C&C: Covert Operations FAQ"
It would give VERY detailed directions for beating each and every level in Covert Operations.
{4.2} Links to C&C web pages
Here's some of my favorite C&C links:
Andrew Griffin's Page: http://www.adam.com.au/~buggy/cnc.html
Temple of the Conquerer: http://www.econ.cbs.dk/people/dszcpfk/cc.html
That's it. Those are probably the best C&C pages on the Web.
Enjoy All!
Richard Kee
richkee@msn.com
Revisions List:
1.0-First release of my multiplayer FAQ. Not many errors. But enough to make me want to release a new version.
1.2-Graphics problems fixed. They had ugly green shadows under them. I went through and fixed all the small mess ups and typing errors that I could find. If you find anymore please drop me a line.