Deploy - Jaques
Pre-deploy toughts:
As I haven't played against BoomStick earlier, I have pretty much nothing special to expect from him. Quick examination of his skills reveals that he is in the split second seat of veteran, and he has lost only 2 games of his 17. This means that he has quite a potential in him, and I should be careful, I'm not dealing with a pet shop boy here.The map we got was Trains: A quite balanced map towards each race and side. Plenty of cover but plenty of open areas too. Enough room for the bug guys to get around, but some small corridors for the small guys too. I'm blue, he's green.Hey, I used to work in a pet store! hehe j/k...Good point - 17-2 in codo League play is nothing to scoff at. Better be careful.-Nim
For a little better examination, he seems to have a slight advantage over taking the area into control. Damn.My opinion is that Blue is slightly favored - less cluttered ground (easier for tanks and other large units), access to the door-sides of the central buildings, more protection with considerable Military walls shielding the dz.-Nim
True, a little faster for Green to get to the center-Nim
Let's ponder the map for each race.
Machina has to work their way trough lots of walls to get out from the walls and get a clean missile fire area. I've seen missile-less mech armies before, and used them couple of times quite effectively, but this is the type of map that I wouldn't probably take mechs, and I believe he thinks the same. If he indeed takes mechs, scanners are going to be pesky. He DO have one firing area in his side, that he could put a MT in and get some cover. I, on the other hand, don't have such place ready, so if I would like to have such a place, I would need to build one myself.Spawn would be nasty in the right, but in the left they would have to cross some open areas. I believe that he can see the spawn possibility in the right too, so he might be either doing a defensible deploy against spawn, or a spawn deployment. This means that I need to react the same way, wouldn't want to get crushed by rush.True, and an AI is not my favorite wallbreaker. But then again as mentioned Blue has some decent protection with all the blue walls nearby.-Nim
Marines in this map are rather good choise as always. Plenty of walls in certain areas of the map will make gathering information quite hard, but I think that not too impossible. This map would reguire rather much of the every unit type to keep the whole map covered. Pretty impossible task even with 25 fp we have - 25 fp can't strech to 50. On the other hand, concentrating on certain parts of the map it might very possible to gain footholds. Got to be careful that enemy can't go around and strike at back then.Good call. Also, the lanes for Spawn to pass through aren't so great, and there would be some distance to cover in the open towards Green's deployment. Not great wall breaking options for Spawn would hinder them.-Nim
Greys could have potential also in theright area, as there are plenty of cover to strike from shadows. The open areas would be difficult with 'em. Also because of the size of the map, the returns for loading would be awfully long, and therefor they might get slaughtered in the way. A Saucer could solve the recharging problem, but it's an awfully expensive as a portable regen, and besides it's a pretty easy target from range. So the only way to use the greys is in the dense rightmost area, wich is also rather hazardous for spawn.Since one flank is quite open, shouldn't bee too hard to cover it or at least spot anything. Marines - the versatile choice. Almost never a bad choice.-Nim
Might not be the best map for Greys, but again I wouldn't underestimate them. With the way they can hide in the open, and never run out of Energy, they might not need a Regen. Also, there is the other tiny dz on the left - great spot for a forward Regen, if not for the walls and barbed wire, and Greys somewhat limited wallbreaking abilities as compared to Marines.-Nim
A diffucult decicion I need to make here.
Post-Deploy
Okay, I deployed marines, and went a little grunt heavy with my group. I know that special units are good, but grunts are the backbone of the marines, just like sentries are with greys. I deployed 9 grunts and 4 medics for closecombat purposes and laying some firecover. Medics have their own additional purpose. I also took 2 snipers to cover the large spaces, and 2 'naders to blast the enemy positions if I have a good huntch or spot. I took 1 commander alomg also for wall busting purposes mainly. If he has some heavy troops like tanks along, then Commander Mandella might come out handy. Morale shocking from him is also a bonus that I can possibly use in some time to distract him from my main group and get to stab him in the back. Hopefully.And so we will have a classic Marine-Spawn showdown. I wonder if 2 Naders would have been enough for you if you came up against Marines.-Nim
I deployed my group in the right area of the map so I hope to get the control of the area before he gets there.
Main tactics I have tought out currently is to storm the rightern sectors and continue there under the cover of the metal carts and buildings to strike him in the heart. Got to be careful that he won't try to strike me at my back at sometime.