One big or several small?

[Charles]

Hi there,

 

Players that were on CNCnet during Christmas vacation (Feda, Fildakor, Verbusage, Kipper, Dato, Wyq, Le, Ayman, Blazin, etc.) will recognize me. I like Dune2K since a long time but I just began play multiplayer. Pretty addictive... I will not be able to play as much now that the vacation is over but I hope to be able to practice with you sometimes on week-ends.  

 

So first of all, thank you for making this game available. I don't know who best deserves these compliments but I suppose the list includes FunkyFrash, GruntLord and Feda. You made my Christmas vacation one notch more enjoyable :D it's a great game and I hope I can improve, at least at the point where I'm good teammate and not just a liability :D

 

Now over the strategy thing. I lost 1vs1 (on the obvious Habbanya Erg 3 map) in very different circumstances. Verbusage builds like 88 combat tanks and a great number of quads by the 8-min mark, he does 1 big push and I just have not enough stuff to stop him. On the other hand, Kipper builds a lot of tanks too but they come from at least 3 different ways. While I stop or destroy 1 or 2 groups, 3 others are already coming destroying my base and it just never stops. In this game, I could set a second base but that just made more paths available for Kipper to keep me off-balance.

 

Obviously if a player is better than another, I suppose he's gonna win whatever the strategies. But all things being equal, what is your favorite one? Do you prefer 1 big push or several small ones?

 

BTW Happy new year Dune fans !

Charles

[X3M]

What I have noticed when people talk about multiplayer in Dune2000. Is that a lot of people go quads and combat tanks. It is very logical that this is your first rush:

- They are good against any armor that you have, including structures and harvesters.

- Including quads since you build "twice" as fast, even though they serve more as fodder.

 

Here are some tips that I used to do (used to, since multiplayer will never ever work for me with EA games :(   ) :

 

As a counter, you could use tanks with troopers, but you need to wall in your troopers with your tanks. Or they will get crushed.

Building troopers goes rather slowly, so you also need quads as fodder. It remains an arms race though, where it is important to spend every penny. Don't worry about trikes/raiders. They bite the dust when your tanks are with your troopers. In fact, those few troopers act as a good fodder against trikes/raiders.

 

If they can't get into your base, your harvesters are done for. Attack is the best option. Perhaps you can use your first few quads for harrassing the enemy harvesters first. But run when he counters, don't waste units on small attacks.

 

Harkonnen is the best race when you are a camper.

Ordos is the best race when you are an attacker.

 

Moving tanks take less damage. Make sure you have 2 groups, one moving group that "take" the hits, and one group that really attacks.

Or have just one group, move a bit, and focus fire, then move a bit, and focus. etc. etc.

 

Don't use your resources for other tanks, unless you have a starport, then buy missile tanks first. And of course more combat tanks and quads.

 

Perhaps more experienced players could answer your question.

[Feda]

Best house for camp is not hark but atreides. Ordos is also an offensive side, take map control with it or it's useless.

I sonetimes share your feeling Charles: i see enemies having more units in first engagement, guess im just slow. But good unit control can help.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Hi there,

 

Players that were on CNCnet during Christmas vacation (Feda, Fildakor, Verbusage, Kipper, Dato, Wyq, Le, Ayman, Blazin, etc.) will recognize me. I like Dune2K since a long time but I just began play multiplayer. Pretty addictive... I will not be able to play as much now that the vacation is over but I hope to be able to practice with you sometimes on week-ends.  

 

So first of all, thank you for making this game available. I don't know who best deserves these compliments but I suppose the list includes FunkyFrash, GruntLord and Feda. You made my Christmas vacation one notch more enjoyable :D it's a great game and I hope I can improve, at least at the point where I'm good teammate and not just a liability :D

 

Now over the strategy thing. I lost 1vs1 (on the obvious Habbanya Erg 3 map) in very different circumstances. Verbusage builds like 88 combat tanks and a great number of quads by the 8-min mark, he does 1 big push and I just have not enough stuff to stop him. On the other hand, Kipper builds a lot of tanks too but they come from at least 3 different ways. While I stop or destroy 1 or 2 groups, 3 others are already coming destroying my base and it just never stops. In this game, I could set a second base but that just made more paths available for Kipper to keep my off-balance.

 

Obviously if a player is better than another, I suppose he's gonna win whatever the strategies. But all things being equal, what is your favorite one? Do you prefer 1 big push or several small ones?

 

BTW Happy new year Dune fans !

Charles

 

I Prefer one big group, trying to sneak in with small groups to get a lucky win was never my thing :D

 

...

Here are some tips that I used to do (used to, since multiplayer will never ever work for me with EA games :(   ) :

...

 

Sounds like you have never tried to play on CnCNet!

[X3M]

I now have. ;)

 

I recommend it to every one.

 

No dune2000 players online at the moment though :( . But I guess I could set up a meeting here with PM.

 

Can't wait till my first slaughter (it is probably me any way)

[Charles]

With respect to Ordos, they clearly are the worst race. I will play with them sometimes for fun and to make some tests. True, they can achieve map control if you exploit well their speed. But they are so week and it's frustrating to rely only on starport to get missile tanks. In a game against Juan, I took Ordos and he had Atréïdes. I achived total map control. He just camped and set up strong defensive lines near the 2 entrances to his (only) base. I destroyed every harvester but the game still last something like 1hour ! You can imagine the kills, he had almost twice than me since only me attacked... with Ordos.

What I learned from this game : Ordos can achieve map control, but map control is not sufficient to compel a camper to surrender and they are always out-reached. Deviators can achieve little, their attack had an impact maybe 25% of time :-/

[X3M]

If complete map control is easy with ordos, then that is their tactic. But a win is a win. Just be proud even if you have only 50% efficiency.

 

In Starcraft: Zerg is the same, they have map control fast. But against terrans (a camper race) they take a longer time to destroy the one and only base.

 

Best way to reduce your losses is hit and run.

Small entrance? Small force, make sure your units CAN retreat when needed. They are faster any way.

[Gruntlord6]

I now have. ;)

 

I recommend it to every one.

 

No dune2000 players online at the moment though :( . But I guess I could set up a meeting here with PM.

 

Can't wait till my first slaughter (it is probably me any way)

When I was writing a tutorial on how to connect I saw at least 4 different games going on. Might just be the time you log on. 

[Charles]

"Deviators can achieve little, their attack had an impact maybe 25% of time :-/" 

 

Well experience certainly made me change my mind! Actually, deviators are Ordos' best option if the game can't be won quickly. In the past I never built many of them, thinking they were to be used as some diversion/support for a tank force. So yeah, if you have only a few devs, they can all miss their shot and make you regret having invested in them. However, a group of like 20 deviators can be hard to tackle, especially if they are supported by 5-10 siege tanks. 20 deviators will never ALL miss ! 

 

Ordos are still the 3rd best House overall, but they are not useless. In fact, it can be argued that in 1vs1 situations, all other things being equal, Ordos have upper hand against Harkonnen.

[Feda]

Ordos are amazing in no rules, which is actually the normal dune, and the game mode we should be judging the balance on. 8 min is a custom rule invented by ppl not by westwood.

[Charles]

I agree. That being said, whatever rules (rush or not) , it will still be true that the longer a game goes, the less Ordos are likely to win