Detailed strategy for Ladder with Harkenon

[Guest Kazrael]

This is the second post I'm doing in the strategy section, listing everything I've found so far playing Emperor online. If you haven't seen the Atreides post yet go read that one first. I won't go over anything I wrote on that post.

Now, past the beginning build order, instead of upgrading the barracks you'll just immediately queque up troopers after the scouts are out. Troopers are in some way even better then kinjal, because they can move without having to deploy/undeploy, making them better units for guarding your very important missile tank. Not to mention they can knock out carryalls out of the sky, making it harder for your opponents to ferry their harvesters back to safety when you start hitting it. Using Harkenon, you want to strike just as early as you would with Atreides, as you don't want to arrive after your opponent has massed a good amount of infantry to fight you. In small numbers, infantry don't mean anything, as you can simply run them over with your buzzsaws. The force move key comes in handy in these situations. Always move 2+ buzzsaws at the units as doing only one can very easily get you blown up before you reach them. Your army composition is much simpler with Harkenon. You use buzzsaws, and you use troopers. Sometimes, just once in a while you might want to mix in an assault tank or two. They perform well in certain situations, where a unit is needed that can absorb a few blows before it explodes. Buzzsaws are a far better unit then the sand bikes, as it does a very good job at killing infantry because of its speed and squishing ability. The guns it has also manages to kill infantry very nicely for the stray ones that escape getting squished. As you're fighting on your enemy's sandbox, his spice field will suffer from all the buzzsaws moving around the place even if you don't intentionally try to destroy it. And as in the Atreides strategy, your power unit, the missile tank is the key here as well. Thank the gods when you have the time that Westwood didn't see it fit to give you a devastator instead.

The missile tank is far more fragile then a minotaur, but it also is much faster. Use that speed to your advantage. Hit and run tactics work very well with a missile tank, but just to be sure, if you see units that can finish your tank in one shot, give your opponent some fodder first. A lone trooper perhaps to soak up the initial shot and die, then run in during the reload time to finish off the unit. Should you lose the missile tank, you may have to upgrade the factory and produce another, resources that can be spent otherwise in more buzzsaws and troopers. Don't lose it if at all possible. When your fighting, think of your buzzsaws as the shock troops, taking care of infantry, absorbing the brunt of the damage and keeping your infantry safe. The troopers are the main force, the ones who will be dealing most of the damage. The missile tank is a tactical weapon that will take care of dangerous units and structures that other units would have a problem with. As for everything else, do it the same way you would with Atreides, as time progresses upgrade your factory and start pumping more missile tanks and consider mixing in some flamethrowers so you won't have to make so much buzzsaws to protect your infantry, freeing up the factory to produce missile tanks or assaults instead. If the enemy holds up well your army composition will have to change with time, going more heavy on the mech units as the army sizes get bigger and bigger as there will be more infantry killers around.

Remember that micromanagement is the key to an early strike, one minotaur can potentially wipe out your entire trooper army, and then his mongoose in tandem with the minotaur kill every one of your buzzsaws.

Hope this helped anyone who's reading this improve on his strategy.

Good luck everyone, and have fun playing Emperor. Above all, remember it's only a game, and don't get pissed when you lose. If you're pissed you start blaming others for your loss, you never look to yourself to see how you can improve your game. Remember that whiners who choose to blame the game or their opponents will never be good at anything they do. You lose, it's your own fault, but a fault that can be remedied. Simple concept, very useful in getting good at things.

See you all in the game. Bye. :)

[cyclonus]

I never get pissed, if I lose than its to a better commander. Learn from your mistakes, and with experiende you'll get better.

[ordos45]

And if you know you will lose go out fighting. In one of my first SC multiplayer games a guy and his ally sent 400 units between both of them so I landed ghosts in their bases and nuked them as much as possible while my defenses were barely holding. I learned from that mistake in defenses just like Cycloneus said to.

[Sardauker-Kirov]

Old topic  woooooooh :D :D

Strategy always requires Experience and Tactics.