Building the BEST anti-alien artillery general
Aug 4, 2016 9:32:25 GMT
Singlemalt and Quintus Fabius like this
Post by Ancien Régime on Aug 4, 2016 9:32:25 GMT
Hi comrades, I haven't been on this forum for quite a while so I'm not sure if similar guides have already been posted before, but I'm going to assume that is not the case. In this guide I will go through ALL the skills that are applicable to an artillery general, and that are not obsolete (having absolutely zero effect) in a game against aliens. Each of these skills will be discussed and analysed; at the end I will give you some recommendations as to what combination of skills to put onto your anti-alien artillery eye-patch general. So here we go...
All discussion is based on level 4 of the skills. All underlined skills are the ones I think are decent enough for you to consider buying.
Defensive Skills
Supply: +8 hp/turn, very good skill although it doesn't have any significant impact in the short term.
Ace Forces:more useful in campaign missions, where you have units of lower levels to assign your general to. In conquest, ultimately you'll have all the tech upgrades and this skill becomes useless. (Update: I realised that that max level you can upgrade your units to by technology is 3, not 5. So this skill would NOT be useless!) This skill is, like Erich von Manstein said, very good defensively in the short term, because you get quick bursts of extra health. In conquest, this skill is less desirable.
Defense Tactic: although only 10% chance to trigger, this skill might be more useful than Supply in the campaign, since it will probably prevent more damage than the amount Supply can make up for. Now here's the catch: since this game, like most other software, uses a pseudo-random generator, the 10% chance is not reliable. In practice when I experimented with this skill, sometimes it triggered only about 5%-7% of the time. So whether to trust the game's probability mechanism or not, I'll leave that to you.
Fortification: personally I don't see much value in this skill, since it doesn't heal the general himself. The amount of city hp this skill heals won't make too much of a difference either.
Terrain Skills
Plain Fighting: absolutely the most useful terrain skill, and a must-have against aliens. Since desert/mountain/jungle terrains don't provide any defensive benefits against aliens, there is no reason whatsoever to position your general on these terrains just for the sake of being on these terrains...
Street Fighting: so this skill stacks with Plain Fighting when the general is in a city. So yeah, pretty damn good... and kind of broken too..
Desert Fighting: how about no.
Mountain Fighting: a situational skill in non-alien games, but pointless in alien games.
Jungle Fighting: a situational skill in non-alien games, but pointless in alien games.
Offensive Skills
Artillery Barrage: when fighting against aliens, the chances are your general will frequently be on low health, so this skill is fantastic to have.
Artillery Leader: when the game says "fatal blow", it really means "maximum possible damage", and not "critical strike". Plus since we're fighting aliens, meaning you'll probably be putting your artillery general on a rocket artillery, meaning he gets to attack once per turn, meaning this skill is even less desirable. Not recommended.
Explosives: enables your general to take down cities and alien towers quickly, so very nice to have.
Economy Skills
Industrial Expert, Economic Expert, Oil Expert: you want none of these; you want to focus this general's skills on combat and not economy.
"Useless" Skills
Sailor: err...... no. No no no.
I'm pretty sure Shelter Expert and Camouflage are useless against aliens too, but it has been mentioned before that aliens sometimes use airstrikes - if someone can confirm this then I guess you could consider Camouflage, but I still don't recommend it.
So to sum it up, a good anti-alien artillery general's skill combination could be Plain Fighting, Street Fighting, Explosives, Artillery Barrage and Supply. (I changed my mind and decided not to trust the game's pseudo-random generator.) Alternatively, you could probably try swapping Artillery Barrage for Defense Tactic to build a strong general that's balanced between offensive and defensive skills, and can adapt to commanding any types of units. All this is my personal opinion so it's probably not perfect; if you have any suggestions please make sure to leave a comment!
All discussion is based on level 4 of the skills. All underlined skills are the ones I think are decent enough for you to consider buying.
Defensive Skills
Supply: +8 hp/turn, very good skill although it doesn't have any significant impact in the short term.
Ace Forces:
Defense Tactic: although only 10% chance to trigger, this skill might be more useful than Supply in the campaign, since it will probably prevent more damage than the amount Supply can make up for. Now here's the catch: since this game, like most other software, uses a pseudo-random generator, the 10% chance is not reliable. In practice when I experimented with this skill, sometimes it triggered only about 5%-7% of the time. So whether to trust the game's probability mechanism or not, I'll leave that to you.
Fortification: personally I don't see much value in this skill, since it doesn't heal the general himself. The amount of city hp this skill heals won't make too much of a difference either.
Terrain Skills
Plain Fighting: absolutely the most useful terrain skill, and a must-have against aliens. Since desert/mountain/jungle terrains don't provide any defensive benefits against aliens, there is no reason whatsoever to position your general on these terrains just for the sake of being on these terrains...
Street Fighting: so this skill stacks with Plain Fighting when the general is in a city. So yeah, pretty damn good... and kind of broken too..
Desert Fighting: how about no.
Mountain Fighting: a situational skill in non-alien games, but pointless in alien games.
Jungle Fighting: a situational skill in non-alien games, but pointless in alien games.
Offensive Skills
Artillery Barrage: when fighting against aliens, the chances are your general will frequently be on low health, so this skill is fantastic to have.
Artillery Leader: when the game says "fatal blow", it really means "maximum possible damage", and not "critical strike". Plus since we're fighting aliens, meaning you'll probably be putting your artillery general on a rocket artillery, meaning he gets to attack once per turn, meaning this skill is even less desirable. Not recommended.
Explosives: enables your general to take down cities and alien towers quickly, so very nice to have.
Economy Skills
Industrial Expert, Economic Expert, Oil Expert: you want none of these; you want to focus this general's skills on combat and not economy.
"Useless" Skills
Sailor: err...... no. No no no.
I'm pretty sure Shelter Expert and Camouflage are useless against aliens too, but it has been mentioned before that aliens sometimes use airstrikes - if someone can confirm this then I guess you could consider Camouflage, but I still don't recommend it.
So to sum it up, a good anti-alien artillery general's skill combination could be Plain Fighting, Street Fighting, Explosives, Artillery Barrage and Supply. (I changed my mind and decided not to trust the game's pseudo-random generator.) Alternatively, you could probably try swapping Artillery Barrage for Defense Tactic to build a strong general that's balanced between offensive and defensive skills, and can adapt to commanding any types of units. All this is my personal opinion so it's probably not perfect; if you have any suggestions please make sure to leave a comment!