Need my help to become good in Emperor? Post your questions in this thread

[Navaros]

Since not everyone realizes just how valuable some of my contributions to the Emperor community have always been, this thread is to be a constructive demonstration of just how very useful I surely am to the Emperor community.

If you need help to be better or keep losing to a certain strategy I can help you by giving you some of the best possible advice; as I have seen and understand the nuances of almost every strategy employed in Emperor.

Anyone who wants me advice on *any* aspect of Emperor gameplay, ask away and I will help you to the best of my ability. My knowledge is yours. And I won't give you useless, short, unclear answers, or answers that don't actually work. (Unlike most people who respond to questions about Emp strat)

[IxianMace]

Ok Navaros first question: (I was going to start a new topic about this but since you're offering so much advice, I thought I'd give you ago}.

If you are playing as House Atreides, and you have another Atreides player on a rock plateau nearby (adjacent rock formations in Fishers Plain), and you can't see his base at all, you're not sure what he's going to do right? So what should you do as far as defence goes? He could be preparing to make an engineer drop or a Mino rush. So what do you defend against first? Do you set up your defence against Advanced Carryalls and Air Drones (which means Mongoose at the cliff edges and your own drones) or do you start pumping out Minos?

[Navaros]

Going for an engineer defense right away is usually a very bad idea, unless you are 100% sure he is going to engineer drop you (ie: If you see him building Engineers). It is not a usually a good idea to prepare for an engineer drop in the early game because if you spend a lot of time and money doing that and then he attacks you instead of engineering, you are going to lose. However, still put a few snipers around certain spots in your base where he is likely to try engineering you, which you should have in place anyways to stop scouts. Just don't go for an all-out, proper engineer defense.

I learned the hard way that for Atr vs. Atr when your starting positions are very close, you need to be ready for *his* Mino rush above all else. I played paravane (a sucky player who has been proven to multinick cheat on this board) in QM and he beat me twice in a row. The first was on a very small map where the two bases are right in front of each other. The second was on Knife Fight.

Both times, he Mino rushed me. I killed *all* of his carryalls, he killed *none* of mine. I had a better variety of units. I had more money. From playing this guy many times before these matches, I knew that without question that I was much more skilled than him. But still I lost to his Mino rushes. Twice. I was shocked. On small maps, if the Atr out-Minos you (if you are using Atr also) and attacks early, you are dead no matter *how* much skill you have. So in that particular case, IxianMace, get Minos early and Mino rush *him*. If you waste your money on Air Drones and he builds just Minos and attacks you early, you are dead for sure.

[IxianMace]

Ok, but won't spending your money on Minos leave you vulnerable to drone rushes if you don't have an adequate air defence? ??? Which could mean that he could damage your economy then wear you down.

[Navaros]

Will not having drones leave your economy vulnerable? Absolutely.

However, if you Mino rush him early on (Ref Fac works well) then that is irrelevant. By the time all your carryalls are dead, half of his *base* will be dead, and you win.

(Note: this is only on maps where you start very close to each other)

[IxianMace]

So you are saying that I should build a refinery after the windtrap, and then a factory BEFORE a barracks? Then he will have scouts running all over my base. Which will then allow him to see what I am doing and prepare for it.

[Devastator_Mech]

Exactly, always, always build windtrap then barrack.

[Navaros]

ok that's not my fault. I am speaking from a Real Game (read: QM) perspective. That is where the bar is. If you want to know about other settings you need to specify that in your questions. And no, obviously you wouldn't do that with no Pre.

[Devastator_Mech]

i don't get you.......

[Timenn]

He means that he gives his anwers according to QM settings, which are, if I'm right:

6000 money

prebuilt on

living world on

no starting units

superweapons on

crates on?

fog of war on/off ???

And if you start with prebuilt on, you start with:

Conyard, 2 windtraps a refinery, and a barracks.

So that's why he wasn't talking about building a barracks

[IxianMace]

Ahh okay. Understood. Sorry, I usually play with none of the boxes (pre-built, crates, etc, etc) on. So what would you do if you started with 10k, no pre-built, no crates, no superweapons, and no living world, on a map like Sandy Pass and you AND the other player are both Atreides? Built up a Mino hoarde and then rush him?

[SurlyPIG]

Actually quick match is

6000 solaris

Pre-built base on

5 units

Living world random (50/50 on or off)

Crates random (50/50 on or off)

Fog of war random (50/50 on or off)

Superweapons random (50/50 on or off)

[Navaros]

Actually quick match is

6000 solaris

Pre-built base on

5 units

Living world random (50/50 on or off)

Crates random (50/50 on or off)

Fog of war random (50/50 on or off)

Superweapons random (50/50 on or off)

Superweapons are ALWAYS on in QM and I think some of that other stuff is too. Those 50/50 stats are surely wrong because the SW stat most *definitely* is.

edit: if i am proven wrong by someone reading the code, that would be most embarrassing... if anyone can check this by reading the code, please do

[Navaros]

i am not all that great on 10k or no Pre but yes that would be my advice. get a windtrap, barracks, Ref, Fac, Ref ( insert more windtraps as necessary) and Mino rush him real early with about 5 Minos. Go right through his whole army, straight for his base. Unless he has almost as much Minos as you, he's dead.

note: send Fremen (build a bit but not much, spend most of your money just on Minos) ahead of your Minos and keep the Fremen in front of your Minos so he doesn't fire on your Minos by seeing them without your Minos being able to fire back because they can't see him.

[IxianMace]

You're talking about Fremen Warriors to protect the Minos from any Fedaykin the other guy might have?

[Navaros]

warriors yes because they are cheaper unless you wanna use Fedaykin to help take out his Minos while your Minos are fighting. but the main purpose is to give your Minos vision which is fundamentally important to making sure your Minos don't get massacred. oh wait that might not apply with no Fog... if so my bad i keep thinking of QM 'cause that's how real games are played....

just Mino rush him in that case ;D

[IxianMace]

Well ok thanks Navaros, I'm done for now. I'll try that strat some time soon. ;)

[Devastator_Mech]

If you have Fredaykin with the mino, its very dangerous of the Fredaykin becorz if its splash damage.