firefly

For the unclear, he is probably referring to having leeches inside your base. NIAB tanks are temporarily helpless for a short period of time after defolding. I've excerpted the relevant section from his site for reference.

Granted, the carryall AI does need a bit of work. The Harkonnen repair pad isn't that bad an idea, either; and as for repairing carryalls and other aerial units... I think an Atreides repair vehicle can fix ornis/gunships that are landed 'in the field' (as opposed to being on a pad), but generally I can see the hangar doubling as a repair bay for aerial units (much like the naval yards in RA2/YR). There're a bunch of things I'd change in Emperor... I'll put them up sometime soon over in the general E:BfD thread for peer review.

There's nothing wrong with them per se; they fit well with the character of each House and all. However, I would have made one minor change - have these abilities not be tied exclusively to their 'own' units. Let us take as example House Ordos' regenerating vehicles and experienced (level 1) infantry. If an Ordos player captures, say, an Atreides factory, his/her 'Atreides' vehicles would also gain the regeneration trait. Conversely, an Atreides player scoring an Ordos barracks would be able to recycle his elite 'Ordos' infantry. What do you folks think?

On the other tendril, Leeches are good for harrassing someone's economy. At the very least, they slow down the intake of spice. "But," you say, "I don't have the Tleilaxu as a subhouse!" In that case, you need access to a projector tank, and a Leech (someone else's, or find one in a crate). Take the projector with some support - including a scout and sniper/dust scout/sandbike/buzzsaw - and set up near the enemy spice field, project a few Leeches, and let 'em rip. At least one of the projections will succeed in infecting the harvester. Other units that help here: AA of any kind (troopers, mongeese, missile tanks, APCs, Sardaukar elite). Be ready to pack up and break for home if something serious comes to investigate.

I'm just curious... has anyone read Thoxen's guide to stopping Guild dead?

If the laser tank's controller backs up the instant he sees the launch, and has enough space, odds are he'll leave the trooper's missile behind. This is, however, not the case when missile tanks come to the party, as far as I know. For this reason 'instant' weapons (ADPs, kindjal, Sardaukar) are best against the Ordos' hover units.

[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

Wow, I'm surprised people are still talking about this one... suppose that's a good thing. What I am now curious about is whether anyone has put this theory of mine to the test.

As has been mentioned several times, Leeches are good for slowing down someone's economy. But, you ask, how do you enjoy that without the Tleilaxu as a subhouse or by relying on crates/map artifacts? Two words: House Ix. More specifically: projector tank, and someone else's Leech. Since - unlike their StarCraft analogues - projections do real damage you can use a projected Leech to infect a harvester, then finish it off with some real units. Result: a real Leech.

Quite right; the laser tanks aren't part of the 'wall' per se; they use it as someplace to run to. There are scouts all over the place, so when catapults/Minotauri/Kobras show up, I know in advance so the tanks can sally forth and deal with them... other than that, I range them over the map, harassing harvesters and targets of opportunity.

I finally finished this mission (okay, so I only now got around to the Harkonnen campaign)... it's apparently the hardest mission in the game. Anyway, what I ended up doing was creating groups of assault tanks, backed up by 2-4 missile tanks and a similar number of ADPs... the ATs and ADPs take on most everything, with the missile tanks' priority being enemy missile tanks. Basically, I advanced one of these groups along the eastern route, brought along two catapults to waste the turrets, and finally levelled the palace with several duplicated missile tanks.

In that case, the 'move in formation' command is your friend. Hold down J while clicking a destination; the mob will advance in formation at the speed of the slowest unit.

Quite right, the Ordos' APC is handy as triple-A, especially if loaded with missile troopers. Load it up with two of each kind of Sardaukar, plus a scout, and it becomes ideal for harvester hunting.

As I'd mentioned elsewhere, that is the seeming oddity of the Deviator's payload. Contrast its use in the heighliner mission with what you see in the rest of the campaign. I would've given the Deviator's rocket a small splash radius which only affects infantry - it still needs a direct hit to snag a vehicle. One of the oddest things I remember happened during the assault on Geidi Prime - I brought a Deviator to bear on those two elite Devastators guarding the palace. They happened to be right next to each other, and I hit one. Ended up getting both... has anyone else experienced something like that?

The nice thing about kindjal troops (recoilless-rifle troops?) is that their weapons are 'instant', unlike either strain of missile trooper or any artillery unit, and don't give Ordos armor time to turn and run. Just watch out for chem troopers, large numbers of dust scouts, and artillery units.

Here we go again? Timenn's solution is a basically sound one; however, I wish to add a couple of pointers... IIRC, you start with some elite infantry units... do not send them to the front line; rather, place and upgrade your barracks, then recycle the lot.When the opportunity presents itself, capture the Harkonnen base. Build a Harkonnen MCV (set their factory as the primary structure, then build an MCV) so you can then construct their hangar and supplement your defenses with ADPs.Fedaykin are very handy, especially if placed in ambush, along with scouts, along the enemy routes of approach. If you manage them carefully, you can even sic them on the worm - remember to move immediately after each volley so as to avoid an enemy response.With NIAB tanks being in play, interior defense is just as important: groups of Sardaukar and kindjal next to your key buildings, along with turrets, help nicely. Reference is recommended to Thoxen's Crushing Guild - A Guide to Better Bases.I hope these tips help you out...

That's not so far-off a description: Snow Serpents (the poor sods Gob is apparently bringing the smack to) are a subset of Eels, who - if I recall correctly - are supposed to be Cobra's version of SEALs.

Apologies in advance, but I ran across this the other day, and it was just so funny. Another reason to not cross the moderator...

That's intended as a balancing point... it is, after all, a cruise missile as opposed to a theater ballistic weapon like the Death Hand. Well, making the radius equal to a Minotaurus' fire range would've been overdoing it... as is, IIRC, it's on a par with the DH. And unlike a DH, whatever building(s) are caught inside the effect area are just no longer there... if your CY gets nuked, you can repair it, but the plasma bomb will obliterate it entirely! If aircraft actually crashed in the game (like they do in RA2), I would've given a shot-down cruise missile a chance of going off when it hits the ground...

After reading through Emprworm's description of Thoxen's favorite strategem, I found myself wondering if it could be adapted to the normally-offensive-minded House Ordos... after all, they do possess units that could do the job. So, having experimented in a few skirmish matches, I think it is indeed doable... Basically, the groups would consist of Kobras, APCs, AA and chemical troopers, and both types of Sardaukar, supplemted by Fremen. Note the laser tanks in the screenshot - these are using the position as a rally point to recover in between sallies.

Back when people were tossing about new unit ideas, I had an idea for a new super weapon... plasma-yield device As seen in 'Battle Born' by Dale Brown: a warhead which, when detonated, basically consumes everything in a set radius with no blast/overpressure and negligible radiation effects. Unlike the Death Hand, however, the PYD is delivered by a cruise missile (equivalent in speed and HP to an air drone) - which means it can be shot down by an alert player. If it makes it to its specified coordinates, however, it detonates in a silvery globe of a moment's duration; anything enveloped or touched by this globe (which has a diameter roughly equal to a Minotaraus' firing range) is simply gone.

The one unit that really should accompany - or even precede - your every advance? That, I think, would be the cheap and apparently underused scout. Why? you ask. Oh, just two reasons that come immediately to mind... Infiltrators;Fremen (especially feydakin)

Here we go again... Step one: get your D in order!

Contaminator: Tleilaxu antipersonnel-only bioweapon that replicates by infecting its victims. Instant-kill melee attack only. Rarely seen in online play - two to four Buzzsaws/trikes/dust scouts will put paid to this headache. However, in the campaigns you can be guaranteed that they will have Leeches (discussed at length elsewhere) for company. All Tlielaxu, however, are owned by air-defense platforms...