Some other general strategies that can, given the situation, mess with people and machines alike. 1. Assassination. Target a unit who is least protected (early in the game, this is usually a spice harvester, a carryall, a sniper, a sand racer, depending on your opponent) and eliminate it. Then leave. The earlier the better. The more random the better. Make it invisible, if possible (by using stealthed units). 2. Feint. Mass fast moving troops within sight (again, earlier is better, before opponent gets outpost) and then retreat. This does not work with slow moving troops. It's hard to do this early with Hark, because even the Buzz isn't fast enough to run away from danger. This strategy can be combined with others to confuse the human opponent. Of course, group the fast troops. 3. Hook charge. This is a specialized form of rush that US Civil War armies used very well. If the enemy is well organized, they will have lanes or spaces in their formations to allow fresh troops to come forward. Well, you can use those as well. Charge the force/base, but rather than stop, go straight through and then hook--turn and stop. Set up a defensive post behind the enemy. Using an engineer, capture something and plant a turret you've already built there. Now, the opponent has to turn and face a problem, a problem that because of LOS (line of sight) issues, can't be resolved by long-range fire. He has to attack, for instance, an Atred. turrent at close range (ouch) with supporting fire from your fast units that made it through. The game is won at this point if you have a suitable assault coming from the front. A nice spread of stealth units of some kind (Fed or Guild Tanks) is ideal, because then he does not expect the support. 4. More of a tip than a strategy: Micromanaging to stay stealthy really stinks. How do you keep an APC stealthed without having to watch it constantly? First, if you really care about it, watch it. But if you are really busy, you can set up lots of zig-zag way points. That will (help) keep it stealthed. Second, send a slower stealthed unit in front of your APC and line things up so the APC bumps it constantly. That will slow it down so it stays stealthed over a distance. I look forward to trying these things out in multiplayer. Happy New Year, all.
