Hovercraft Strategy Guide

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转载自
http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tauwisdom/contents.html
By Antimatter Hurts (AKA SeraphFire)

IntroductionHovercraft were a new class of units first introduced to Total Annihilation (“OTA”) in the Core Contingency expansion pack. They are fast and have the ability to traverse over both land and water making them, at least on paper, ideal units for raiding and amphibious assaults. Unfortunately, OTA hovercraft are “under-balanced” and suffer several other deficiencies that make them very unpopular with both ARM and CORE Commanders. Few have taken the time to learn the proper use of hovercraft and they rarely appear in multiplayer games.
Like many CORE Commanders, I found that fighting the ARM Pelican to be very frustrating, especially on maps such as Gods of War. The inability of missiles to properly target them when they are on water made them a fearsome weapon. Even when Commanders learned to force fire missiles at them Pelicans were still dangerous because of their firepower, speed and AA capability. The CORE Gimp and Crock are poor comparisons; costly, slow and wretchedly vulnerable to torpedoes and air units.
I turned to experimenting with the neglected CORE hovercraft on Gods of War and Coast to Coast and discovered to my delight that hovercraft could indeed be a very useful if not deadly weapon. When I introduced the fast hovercraft strategy on Gods of War in an old Annihilated.com posting last year new life was breathed into that map and others. Finally CORE had units that could surpass the Pelican in raiding prowess and nearly match their fighting ability. I have won more multiplayer games with hovercraft than any other Commander.
Still, fighting with hovercraft requires skill and experience. There are many quirks that must be mastered in order to win with hovercraft. And they are still “under-balanced” so hovercraft should always be part of a combined arms approach. I wrote this strategy guide for hovercraft as my contribution to keeping Total Annihilation alive as the best RTS game ever.
Hovercraft Advantages and DisadvantagesDisadvantagesHovercraft have certain attributes that discourage Commanders from employing them:
[list=1][]All hovercraft units are produced from an expensive level two factory but have less than a level two fighting ability (exc. the rocket hovers).[]Construction hovercraft cannot build level 3 structures such as LRPC’s or fusions.[]Cavedog did not create any radar or jammer hovercraft.[]Hovercraft units are weaker in terms of armor and/or firepower to metal ratios than most level one units. Cavedog did this purposely to balance out their terrain crossing capabilities but it was overdone.[]Some hovercraft have incredibly poor turning capabilities (even though real world hovercraft can turn on a dime) and they cannot navigate moderately steep slopes (like certain shorelines) which can immobilize them for a long time.[]Sometimes it takes a ridiculous amount of time for a newly built hovercraft to exit the hovercraft platform.[]Not all maps are suited for hovercraft, further reducing their usage.[/list]Advantages[list=1][]Terrain crossing - they can traverse land, water and even acid unharmed.[]Speed - they are the fastest class of units after planes.[]Torpedo launchers and submarines must manually target hovercraft. Depth charges will not fire at hovercraft.[*]Sight distance for all hovercraft is superior to most units.[/list]Huh? Nothing more?
Yep, that’s it. But the first two advantages can be quite powerful if you use it correctly. Let’s see why hovercraft can be powerful starting with my original strategy for Gods of War.

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Fast Hovercraft Strategy for Gods of War 1v1This strategy aims to get a hovercraft platform up and running within 4-5 minutes into the game with the goal of using the speed and raiding prowess of the scout and missile hovercraft to tear up your opponents base. Each island has a different build order (using winds, metal makers, reclaiming rocks and plants, etc.) that you’ll need to experiment with to get to the 4-5 minute hovercraft platform. I usually play CORE for this strategy because the CORE hovercraft platform is over 200 metal cheaper than the ARM one.
If the wind is strong you could get a Scrubber scout hover into your opponent’s base at the 5-6 minute mark with 1-2 more coming at different angles. At that time, few people have much of any defense. Scouts have quite a bit of firepower so hit the mexes and any winds you can get before he dies. If you are really lucky, his Commander is in the middle of swimming to another island and/or he has left an Aircraft plant to kill. If he goes ships and has a few Skeeters, move the Scrubber inland fast and the Skeeter missiles will hit the ground. Often, I wind up with Scrubbers alone in the middle of a smoking ruin of a base.
I follow up with tons of Slingers. They are the Slashers of the sea because you can aim their missile unlike Searchers. If the scouts didn’t damage his base enough, send Slingers in as soon as you have them. Since you know where the metal patches are, you can manually target them from maximum range. If MT’s are up you have to act fast. Although a Slinger can kill a MT one on one it’s better to get a group of say 5-6 Slingers together first and again go for the mexes. If a MT fires at one of yours, guard that unit and they will soon kill the MT(s). Avoid his Commander until you can get 8 or more Slingers together then you can hunt him down.
Hovercraft are used to raid and contain your opponent. If you hem him in and done some damage to his economy then the hovercraft have done their job. To finish him off you must keep expanding and build either ships or planes. Hovercraft will continue to contain him and can be used for a final rush.
Why does this work? For the same reasons a couple of Jeffys or Weasels can be so devastating early in a game. Speed is the key. Few people will expect it or have time to react. If they build a lot of defenses that will set them behind and you can grab the other islands. Slingers are cheap; they cost about the same as a Slasher. And they are so fast they can be anywhere quickly so C-ships and C-planes can’t expand your opponent’s economy without being harassed.
Now an ARM Commander building Pelicans will initially be hemmed in but don’t let down your guard. Soon you’ll need to take them on but if you’ve expanded quickly and raided well you should have a stronger economy. Switch to building Snappers if you’re sure he’s going Pelicans or continue with Slingers and be ready to micromanage a fight. Add a shipyard to make Searchers to supplement your hovercraft and absorb damage or make bombers to nail the factory.
Of course there are some drawbacks and risks here, such as an early bomber who is skilled at flying off-screen but I will detail these issues later in the Map Strategies Section. Against average players this strategy can serve you very well.
Hovercraft General StrategiesFirst, please keep in mind that no strategy works if you fail to follow the common sense themes of playing TA. Always expand, build your economy, raid and attack. Second, the primary use of our speedy hovercraft should be raiding on maps with water. So if like to build lots of defenses and sit in your base don’t bother with hovercraft. Finally, you must use a combined arms approach when using hovercraft. Although hovercraft alone are good for amphibious assaults and fighting certain situation vs. ships and Pelicans they are much more effective if you use them with the appropriate naval and air units.
Raiding is most effective early in the game so your strategy should be to get hovercraft up and about as fast as possible. Damaging the enemy’s economy and halting their expansion is the most important objective of raiding. If you can’t get a hovercraft platform built in less than six minutes on a certain map then you have to seriously consider abandoning the hovercraft strategy for that map or decide to build it much later in the game.
Don’t use them to assault well defended bases, hovercraft will never be a front line unit. There are cheaper and more effective units around. But when a hole develops or reinforcements are needed in one area hovercraft can rush in. Hovercraft are fairly cheap and quick to build after you get the hovercraft platform up. On big maps in the middle and late stages of the game a pack of fast missile hovercraft and hovertanks can be very useful in plugging a hole in your lines like in Painted Desert.
Hovercraft Battle TacticsFighting PelicansOn most maps with water, the Pelican is a staple of ARM forces. Even without the missile targeting bug, the Pelican is a pretty good unit with decent armor and armed with both a laser and a missile as good as a MT. A single Pelican has almost as much firepower as a destroyer does. But with the missile targeting bug, Pelicans are almost immune to scout ships, and MT’s and torpedoes need to be force-fired in order to hit them. Fortunately, the Pelican is not cheap, is a little slow and the missile cannot be manually targeted.
Most CORE Commanders have responded by building lots of Enforcers, FHLT’s or even Warlords but this requires a superior economy and is too defensive. All of these solutions have drawbacks or are difficult to achieve in the face of an equally skilled opponent. Building hovercraft in response to Pelicans has fewer drawbacks and is easier to accomplish. If you can effectively use hovercraft to raid and use a combined arms approach you can win against Pelicans.
Missile hovers and hovertanks are the primary units to build although hoverscouts can also be useful if you are metal constrained. I suggest only making one type or the other because of micromanagement issues. You don’t want to be busy toggling between missile hovers that need a force fire and your hovertanks.
You can get about 2 missile hovercraft or 1 hovertank to every Pelican for the metal. Pelicans have a build time advantage but are slow which is a defect you must take advantage of. The hovercraft’s superior speed allows you to concentrate your forces better and pick the terrain you want to fight on. In Africa during World War II, Erwin Rommel’s tanks were outnumbered badly and inferior to Allied armor. He won by concentrating their numbers to smash the Allies’ divided sorties. Same concept with Napoleon during his early campaigns in southern France against even greater odds. Get as many radars up as possible to spot his incursions so you can move your units into place, hopefully with greater numbers. If you can lure them onto land, so much the better.
With missile hovercraft I start shooting in their general direction long before they arrive. Watch the greyed out area for the explosions and retarget. They are so slow and your missile’s range is so great that you can knock out a few Pelicans before they get any LOS on you. And if you have space, move your Pelicans out of range of their lasers. Remember, the Pelican missile is not manually targetable so they will scatter their shots among multiple targets and let your units live longer. Yes, this is a HECK of a lot of micromanagement for you but with experience it is very effective. And there’s not much your opponent can do to micromanage his Pelicans more effectively.
Hovertanks, especially the Anaconda, will do fairly well against Pelicans on their own without micromanagement.
If you can get some scout ships mixed in with your hovercraft your units will be much more effective. The scout ships can distract the Pelicans, absorb a lot of damage or gum them up so the Snapper’s slow plasma shell can hit them. (On the flip side, a Pelican and Skeeter force is also more effective than a pure Pelican force.)
Fighting ShipsThere are a lot of different opinions regarding the use of hovercraft against ships. Here is the take from my experience. First, we know hovercraft can’t kill subs but subs can force fire and kill hovercraft. So the only way for hovercraft to beat subs is to kill the shipyards they are being built in or clear the way for your destroyers and subs. Second, at least on paper, hovertanks have a lot more firepower than any capital ship for the metal. You get about 3.2 Snappers for a Crusader, 6.1 Snappers for a Conqueror and 15.4 Anacondas for a Warlord. These look like pretty good odds for the hovercraft. Plus, moving hovertanks can evade or duck under the ship’s plasma cannons shots (especially vs. cruisers) and depth charges won’t fire. If you have room to maneuver, go around the target in a close circle and its poor turret will be constantly spinning around trying to aim at the hovertank (deadly effective tactic, tough for even a micromanaged ship to overcome).
Here is reality. Yes, if you ever get 3-4 hovertanks against a lone destroyer, cruiser or even a Millenium, the ships are toast especially if you micromanage the battle well. These opportunities could occur early in the game or when the big ships stray off course. However, in most games the capital ships tend to be accompanied by lots of cheap scout ships. Now if there are not too many scout ships or if they are used poorly, your hovertanks could still win. But a smart opponent would use the scout ships to protect the bigger ships by gumming up the hovertanks and absorbing damage. Even in death, these scout ships protect the bigger ships because their wrecks take a while to float down to the bottom of the sea. So if the hovertanks can’t get their weapons in range of the capital ships and get bunched up, they will get torn apart by the ship’s longer ranged plasma shells. Also, even without scout ships around, the larger the fleet the more effective they are against hovercraft. In larger fleets, it won’t matter so much that one ship’s plasma shot flies over its intended target if it hits the hovertank behind it.
So 15 Anacondas vs. a Warlord on the open seas, the hovercraft win easy. 20 Anacondas vs. a Warlord and 14 Searchers, the ships win easy.
Hovercraft can be very effective against ships in some early game and raiding situations but as the game progresses they become less and less useful. Again, a combined arms approach will increase their utility. Mix in scout ships and use them to strip the big ships of their scout ship escorts to allow the hovertanks to get in and use their superior firepower. Add a few destroyers and subs for sub protection and use their longer ranged weapons to fire over/under the hovertanks. Or think of it this way. When you normally take on an enemy fleet you make scout ships, destroyers and subs anyway. Adding hovertanks can be the force multiplier that wins you the battle.
Note: Against ships Anacondas with its fast gauss shots are much more effective than Snappers whose ballistic cannon can miss targets just like ships do.
I would prefer not to use missile hovercraft to fight ships with scout ships being cheaper. But they can be used to fight scout ships and FMT’s fields early in the game. Since you can manually or radar target the enemy you can concentrate your firepower and be ten times more effective than simply moving your units in to attack. Metal-equal packs of Skeeters can be beaten by Slingers using this tactic. Another tactic to use when fighting scout ships is to move away from them and hope they follow. Hovercraft are fast enough that a few scout ship missiles will run out of fuel but yours will smash into them head-on. A large FMT field can be crushed by packs of 6 missile hovercraft using radar targeting (6 hovercraft missiles are just enough to kill a FMT). And once again, combining missile hovercraft with scout ships will make your forces much more effective with the ships providing LOS and absorbing damage.
Fun Notes: A hoverscout parked right next to a Millenium will kill it in about two minutes without getting a scratch. The hoverscout will kill a torpedo launcher in about half a minute if the other Commander isn’t watching.
Base Busting/Amphibious AssaultsCORE has a slight advantage here because the Snapper has a ballistic weapon. But taking on DT’d defenses such as HLT’s and MRPC’s is not the forte of our fast and lightly armored hovercraft. Even adding in rocket hovers is not much more effective because of their short range.
You’ll need (yet again) a combined arms approach. First soften up hard defenses with long range cruisers and/or bombers. Send in peepers and other scouts to provide LOS. Then send in the hovercraft. Contrary to some beliefs, I think it is more effective for hovercraft to use their speed to penetrate into the vital innards of the enemy base than to hold onto the beach.
Hovercraft require so much less micromanagement for amphibious assaults than using transports or amphibious tanks. There aren’t too many situations where you get a chance to play a Normandy style assault but if you do hovercraft should definitely be used.
Watching for ExplosionsMissile hovercraft have great range but rather weak armor. When raiding I am reluctant to move them in close where they might get spotted and chewed up. Without radar coverage, I use their great range to do a force fire on several arcs. I watch the greyed-out area of the map for explosions and if there is a hit I’ve found something to kill. This is very tough for a defender to counter. Also, if I have radar coverage and I attack a radar dot and the missile dives into the water then I have a better idea of what unit I am attacking, i.e. a torpedo launcher, sonar, tidal, Pelican, etc. Hit shift to find your target in the greyed-out area of the map and force fire just behind it to destroy your target.

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Maps for HovercraftThese are the maps I have actually used hovercraft in multiplayer games.
[list=1][]Gods of War - raiding, fighting ships, amphibious assaults.[]Coast to Coast - raiding, fighting ships, amphibious assaults.[]Hundred Isles - fighting ships with hovertanks supporting the ships.[]Evad River Confluence - raiding, amphibious assaults (nailed a Commander once too with Slingers).[]Red River - amphibious assaults.[]The Cold Place - raiding, fighting ships, amphibious assaults.[]Caldera’s Rim - fighting ships with hovertanks supporting the ships.[]Metal Isles - only once but I managed to get the hovercraft onto the other Commander’s island for a big surprise attack.[]Trout Farm - raiding, amphibious assaults.[]Painted Desert - (I just had to try this) raiding, fast response defense force.[]Acid Trip - control the acid pools, shorelines are a pain though.[/list]If only there were more appropriate acid maps to play. Since hovercraft can cross over acid pools just like it was water they would be a huge surprise to any opponent.
Suggestions to Improve HovercraftI will be the first to admit that hovercraft are “under-balanced”, no doubt about that. But I also think the solution is not to tweak the existing units armor and firepower (though a faster shot speed for the Snapper would be welcome). There are lots of other ways to make hovercraft more balanced.
Build them from Vehicle FactoriesI think the single biggest and easiest advance for hovercraft would be to simply allow them to be built from the regular and advanced vehicle factories. Scouts and missile hovercraft from the regular factory and hovertanks and rocket hovercraft from the advanced vehicle plant. Think of the possibilities. Now you won’t have to worry about investing the time and metal into a hovercraft platform factory and stifle your advancement to other level 2 factories. Now ARM would have to worry about being raided for once. I think it would be fairly easy change and it would be pretty balanced too. The build times on scout and missile hovercraft would be double that of a vehicle scout or missile truck because it’s coming from the slower vehicle plant.
Increase Turning and Slope Traversing CapabilitiesThese suck pretty much already. I would give hovercraft some of the highest turn rates in TA and a moderate increase in slope traversing capability. The units are weak enough that they don’t need to act spastic in combat.
New UnitsI know the third party community has made a lot of great new units. I’ll name some that have already been completed and other types I have thought of:
[list=1][]Floating hovercraft platform for use on all water type maps[]Anti-submarine hovercraft armed with 2 depth charges and a scout ship missile[]Radar, sonar and jamming hovercraft[]Plasma cannon armed artillery hovercraft[]Flakker, laser, flamer, paralyzer and Rocko/Storm armed types of hovercraft, some in combination with a guided missile.[*]Advanced C-hovercraft with land and naval build menus[/list]Fix the PelicanHehe, this would certainly increase hovercraft usage.
ConclusionTotal Annihilation is a great game with lots of units and strategies. Have fun and try out hovercraft. They will always offer you a furious battle and an interesting game.

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AppendixHovercraft Unit Information Table(Along with a few other units for comparative purposes)

[table=98%][tr][td=1,1,5%]
Side
[/td][td=1,1,14%]
Unit Name
[/td][td=1,1,13%]
Unit Function
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Metal
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Energy
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Build Time
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Armor
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Range
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Damage
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
AOE
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Weapon Type
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
Reload Rate
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
DTM Ratio
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]C-Hovercraft
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Construction
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
396
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
4,370
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
10,494
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
723
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Anaconda
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Gauss Tank
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
272
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2,856
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8,115
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
880
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
300
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
80
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
16
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.20
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.25
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Bear
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Transport
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
665
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
7,938
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
20,341
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,150
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Skimmer
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Scout
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
76
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,169
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,388
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
200
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
210
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
45
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.80
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.74
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Swatter
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Anti-Air Missile
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
120
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,444
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,747
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
375
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
650
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
49
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2.10
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.19
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Wombat
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Rocket
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
325
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,131
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
17,933
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
450
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
670
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
300
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
80
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
9.00
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.10
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Hovercraft Platform
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Factory
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2,007
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
5,277
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
18,520
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,005
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]C-Hovercraft
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Construction
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
390
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
4,455
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
11,028
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
740
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Nixer
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Rocket
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
318
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,352
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
19,124
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
460
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
650
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
320
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
80
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
9.00
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.11
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Scrubber
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Scout
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
72
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,252
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,547
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
200
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
230
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
40
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.80
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.69
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Slinger
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Anti-Air Missile
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
115
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,542
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,747
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
395
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
600
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
46
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2.00
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.20
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Snapper
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Ballistic Tank
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
280
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,069
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8,564
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
850
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
290
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
85
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
B
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.30
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.23
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Turtle
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Transport
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
650
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
7,541
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
19,587
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,080
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Hovercraft Platform
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Factory
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,793
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
5,421
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
19,005
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
3,356
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,2,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,2,14%]Pelican
[/td][td=1,2,13%]Hovercraft Kbot
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
255
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
2,468
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
5,982
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
800
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
260
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
60
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.60
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
0.24
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,7%]
700
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
46
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2.00
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Triton
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Amphibious Tank
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
298
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2,300
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
6,112
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,230
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
320
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
127
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
B
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.90
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.22
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,2,5%]
ARM
[/td][td=1,2,14%]Skeeter
[/td][td=1,2,13%]Scout/Anti-Air
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
100
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
985
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
2,062
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
560
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
180
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
13
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.00
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
0.26
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,7%]
604
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
31
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2.40
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,1,14%]Crock
[/td][td=1,1,13%]Amphibious Tank
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
295
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2,310
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
6,119
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1,144
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
320
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
127
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
B
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
1.90
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.23
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,2,5%]
CORE
[/td][td=1,2,14%]Searcher
[/td][td=1,2,13%]Scout/Anti-Air
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
95
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
917
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
1,877
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
570
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
180
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
10
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
8
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
0.95
[/td][td=1,2,7%]
0.25
[/td][/tr][tr][td=1,1,7%]
590
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
32
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
48
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
L
[/td][td=1,1,7%]
2.50
[/td][/tr][/table]
AOE = area of effect. DTM Ratio = damage/reload rate/metal cost of unit. Weapon Type: L = line of sight, B = ballistic.
Unit DetailsConstruction HovercraftThe utility of these units have been severely compromised by Cavedog’s designers. Construction hovercraft cost almost as much metal as an Advanced C-unit but they can’t build level 3 structures and their worker time is as slow as a C-kbot (80 vs. 125 for a C-ship, 160 for an Adv C-Kbot). Their build distance is better than a FARK (70 vs. 60) but they are so big that they take up a lot of that space. They also have horrible turning and slope traversal capabilities on land. I suppose the designer’s felt a construction hovercraft that could build MT’s, MRPC’s and such would be more useful than one having a level 3 build menu. However, I think that argument is undercut by the simple fact that in order to build a hovercraft platform in the first place you would already have built C-units with these capabilities.
Still, there are a few of reasons to build them. If you are using the fast hovercraft strategy, a C-hover will allow you to colonize other islands, build tidals and FMT’s, and reclaim wrecks underwater. Construction hovercraft have the ability to build both land and sea level 2 structures. This may be useful in certain situations that need naval DT, FHLT’s, sonars, torpedo launchers, etc. (Too bad, they aren’t advanced C-units, it would have been really interesting to have them have both advanced land and naval build menus.) They have decent speed on water, are much better armored than C-planes, and subs and torpedo launchers won’t shoot at them like they would at C-ships. But when you play teams, it’s a lot better and cheaper to just ask your teammate to share a C-ship or C-plane.
I tend to build them only when I really need a C-unit and can’t bother to spend time or metal on another factory.
Hoverscouts (ARM Skimmer/CORE Scrubber)These two units have nearly identical attributes. If you recognize the raiding prowess of a Jeffy or Weasel you’ll love hoverscouts. Although they cost about twice as much metal they have more armor per metal than the Jeffy or Weasel so it will take a MT or Samson/Slasher 5 hits instead of just 2 to kill it (and a scout ship will need 7 missile hits). Their better armor and speed combined with a longer ranged laser with almost twice the firepower of a Jeffy or Weasel will allow them to wreak a lot of havoc on lightly defended mexes, solars and winds. They dish out 50-56 points of damage per tick so, if necessary, a hoverscout can fight and destroy a lone MT.
If only hoverscouts could be built from a vehicle plant they would be devastating on almost any map. But they don’t so your opportunities to use them are limited to certain situations and water maps. The key is to use their great speed to slip past defenders to reach vulnerable areas before a lot of MT’s are built. That is real tough when the hovercraft platform is a level 2 factory. So you’ll need to employ a fast hovercraft strategy. Hoverscouts should be the first couple of units built. Treat every hoverscout as on a suicide mission so their goal is maximize the amount of damage they inflict before dying.
In addition to base raiding, they are great on water maps for killing tidal farms, sonars and C-ships. If you can get 3-4 of them near a factory, shipyard or torpedo launcher it’ll be toast if you catch them undefended or the other Commander is distracted (3 of them can destroy any level 1 factory in less than 18 ticks).
Although just a tad slower than scout ships I’ve used a neat trick for evading them. Just queue their routes over land and the ships will pile into the shore trying to chase them (if they spot them at all). I once had a Swatter slip past half a dozen Skeeters on Gods of War. Another shot would have killed it but it managed to get ashore far enough that the Skeeter missiles began to hit the ground and the Swatter wiped out all the mexes and a few winds before finally dying.
If you’re in a pinch and metal constrained you can use hoverscouts to fight Pelicans. For the metal, you could have 3.5 Swatters for every Pelican. Get them in close and let them duke it out. Unfortunately, (and this is from experience) you can’t expect to use them regularly for Pelican fighting because it is nearly impossible to make enough of them due to build time (you’ll be lucky to get 3 Swatters per minute to 2 Pelicans unassisted).
Hoverscout turning, slope traversal and weapon aiming abilities are very good. Sometimes, if the hoverscout is moving at maximum speed, its weapon may have trouble aiming and firing at targets. And at other times it seems the hoverscout runs into the one spot on the beach that bogs them down. Other than that these units have no defects.
Hovertanks (ARM Anaconda/CORE Snapper)The ARM Anaconda is a gauss armed hovertank with great speed and decent firepower and armor for the metal. It outguns any ship for the metal and fires well while on the run. One Commander has used Anacondas frequently on Painted Desert to smash into and destroy MT fields. The key to that tactic was to use the Anaconda’s speed to bring its superior firepower into play and overcome the greater range of the slower firing MT’s. Its only disadvantage, like other gauss armed units, is the tendency of its shots to hit the ground instead of the target on sloped terrain (i.e. Gods of War) and the inability to destroy DT or wreckage or shoot over them.
The CORE Snapper is a plasma cannon armed hovertank similar to the Anaconda. The Snapper’s ballistic weapon and armor combined with its speed make it better than the Anaconda for amphibious assaults and way better than a Crock. If you use the artillery bug on the Snapper it will have a range of over 600 when firing 180 degrees to the rear. Unfortunately, the shot speed of the Snapper is a little slow and shots may often miss small moving targets such as scout ships and Pelicans. I have often used Snappers to fight Pelicans with decent but not great success. The Pelican is definitely superior on a one on one fight if it’s moving. Otherwise the two have nearly equal firepower. So to make the best of the fight, use the Snapper’s speed to maneuver superior numbers in. Better yet, mix in a few Searchers to absorb damage. If you can’t afford to micromanage the battle, the Snapper is your choice. (Note: the Anaconda with its fast gauss rounds is great for fighting Pelicans.)
Missile Hovercraft (ARM Swatter/CORE Slinger)The ARM Swatter is probably the deadliest hovercraft around so it’s a good thing for CORE that many ARM Commanders have overlooked this unit in favor of the Pelican. Why? The missile on the ARM Swatter has the longest range of any non-ship mobile unit that is manually targetable (655 vs. 600 for a Samson or Slasher). It also inflicts the largest amount of damage of any non-ship missile (49 vs. 46 for MT’s and 40-41 for Samsons/Slashers). Damage per tick is 25 vs. 16 for a Samson or 50% more! And it takes the hovercraft platform 19 ticks unassisted to build one, the same as a vehicle plant producing a Samson unassisted. Now combine all this with great speed and maneuverability, the LOS of hoverscouts and amphibious abilities and you have one heck of a dangerous raider. I’ve even tried them once on Painted Desert and used their speed to ignore MT’s and penetrate all the way to the back of my opponent’s base.
I have definitely built more CORE Slingers than any other Commander in the history of TA. Similar too but slightly less capable than the Swatter, the Slinger has proven to be a great raider, decent defender and swift Commander assassin for the CORE. As my primary answer to Pelicans on Gods of War, these units have proven their worth time and time again. Regrettably, Slingers have an annoying bug. Its weapon is mounted on a platform that needs to rise up before turning and firing. Sometimes, the missile launcher gets stuck in the up position but won’t fire, ever again. I think it occurs when I give it too many force fire orders.
Every unit is deadlier in swarms but for missile hovercraft it is especially true. A single Swatter or Slinger is useful for picking off mexes and winds, get a couple of them together and they can be base busters or Commander assassins. Eight Slingers can kill a Commander in less than 18 ticks and I’ve done it many times on Gods of War and Coast to Coast (even one guy on Evad River Confluence). Why so easy? Because they have so much speed and range. Most victims turn towards the hovercraft to d-gun only to find me moving them away while plastering them with missiles. Some walk into the water to get the missiles to smack into the water but they stick their heads out to use the d-gun. A force fire targeted behind the victim’s head and BOOM!
For fighting Pelicans and destroying sonars, tidals, shipyards and torpedo launchers you will need to force fire the missile behind the target. In battle against Pelicans, you will need a lot of micromanagement but their great range and better numbers helps compensate for this. Again, mixing in some scout ships to absorb damage will help. For fighting planes you can think of these guys as mobile FMT’s.
These are the most useful and versatile hovercraft units in the game.
Rocket Hovercraft (ARM Wombat/CORE Nixer)These are the only artillery type units in the hovercraft arsenal and they are pretty decent units. They actually have better armor/metal and damage/tick/metal ratios than MERLs or Diplomats. But their weapon range is too short and because hovercraft are generally used on fairly flat and wide water maps, ships such as destroyers, cruisers and even frigates are generally more effective. They do make semi-decent raiders when jammed (each rocket can kill a FMT) and they can supplement a force of hovertanks and missile hovercraft to knock out DT’d HLT’s or LRPC’s. I recall one time someone had FW’d in a Big Bertha about 3 rows deep on Gods of War. I had six cruisers on it but their shells kept hitting the top of the first row of FW’s so the Wombat or Nixer would have been useful there. Their turning capabilities are pretty poor, if you’re using them for hit and run it’s best to have them retreat at an angle vs. a full 180 degrees because they tend to try and turn first and then move.
Usually, it is a better strategy to use a combined arms approach with bombers or heavy ships than to make rocket hovercraft.
Hovertransports (ARM Bear/CORE Turtle)I’ve never used these units in multiplayer and can’t ever imagine doing so. They have horrible turning and slope traversal capabilities not to mention they never seem to load or unload units when you order them to, even if they are standing right next to them. Plus, it’s difficult select these units once they are loaded, you usually need to drag a box around them.
Some Commanders have suggested using them to load a couple of crawling bombs and sending them in to self destruct next to some important or valuable enemy units. Frankly, I can’t see this working very often, these hovertransports are pretty slow and their armor is not very strong plus it’s just too much micromanagement.
Transports do have a strange ability to pick up enemy units around them. I’ve seen Commanders use the transport ship to pick up Pelicans, but I think the hovertransport is too buggy to even do that right.
Hovercraft PlatformNot much to say here other than the curious but pleasant fact that the CORE hovercraft platform is 214 metal cheaper than the ARM version and has more armor. Heck, ARM already has the Pelican and better hovercraft anyway.
Map StrategiesGods of WarIn 1v1, the single best counter to the fast hovercraft strategy is a really skilled bomber that keeps flying off-screen. I like playing CORE and I am not skilled enough for dogfighting plus the Avenger is inferior to the Freedom Fighter. So I suffer the bombing raids. My usual build order to fight the bomber (which takes longer for the hovercraft platform to be built) for the lower left island is 3 winds, 1 mex, 1 wind, radar, vehicle plant, 2 mexes, reclaim plant, wind, mex, reclaim rock, 2 winds, guard out C-vehicle, mm and reclaim factory. I make 2-3 Slashers and then 1 C-vehicle. The Slashers can easily handle a marauding fighter but the bomber is tricky which is why the radar is there. I hot key the Slashers and wait for his blip to show up. If I can target him on radar they can get two volleys off to kill it with a loss of one wind and mex usually. You’ll need to keep a little reserve of metal in order to rebuild bombed out mexes. If I nail the bomber with little loss the C-vehicle can start making MT’s while the Commander finishes the hovercraft platform and he can reclaim the Slashers for the metal.
Even though my opponent will usually have a C-plane reclaim all the rocks on this map it is not a major setback because that first bomber set him back in resource production and he tends to have very little in defense (planes have a real tough time fighting Slingers). Raid his base from several directions and watch out for the Commander’s d-gun. There’s almost no way to defend his mexes. If you get a chance, park a Slinger at each island to kill off his C-planes.
Now in a 2v2 where one player goes hovers and the other air or sea, hovercraft are much deadlier especially if you share resources to get it up in under 4 minutes. One player could raid with hovercraft while the other can build a LRPC or go level 2 ships. I wish I had a steady partner for these games but I remember one game where it was 2v2, CORE vs. ARM with pretty good players (LOC_Niceguy was one of the ARM Commanders I recall) and my hovercraft supported by my partner’s ships just overran their bases.

[ronic]

hmmmmmmmm