Advance Strategy

(Ciakgb) #41

no sweat man, sorry to be testy:) one terrible feature of multi is that you have to be friends before you can challenge, unless its a replay. I sent you a friend request, which your little bro must of refused! No big thing, but to the other person its like, “sniff, sniff, he doesn’t want to be my friend:(”

Anyway, in a nicer way, I do think going first is an enormous advantage. I play exclusively random maps, but other people don’t, so they have that advantage too (knowing the terrain durring toon selection). If anything, the new maps are worse–at least Old Town and Favella are.

I know everyone plays Old Town as a snipe, with my random thing I have to be prepared for that. I admit that I’ve ditched 2 meagans and go with 2 juans with friers and 3 meagans with pistols just so I have a chance if I go second at Old Town.

I do appreciate that you were trying to build people up to take advantange of what you mentioned about going second. I do think though that u really underestimate the problems of going second for certain play styles.

That’s it “friend” :slight_smile:

(Warchest_Andy) #42

Some maps offer a significant first turn advantage IMHO, especially if the player going first chose the map very deliberately and built their squad accordingly. Favela is a good example as controlling the choke-point confers a huge advantage. Embankment is another good example. It’s definitely not impossible to win on these maps when going second but against a competent player who chose toons to suit the map you are going to have a hard time.

Old Town is okay to go second. The problem with Old Town is that you either have to go sniper-heavy or accept that you are probably going to get chewed up. That and the fact that games on that map take forever unless one player decides to rush in (and die).

(Coup_de_grace) #43

I cant deny some maps are Sniper haven, and sniper setup does not require high-detailed micro management/estimation. And sniper setup generally can go against various opposing setups well. Because they also deal damage from a distance, unweary opponents also fail to recognize they are in the “Kill Zone”. Maybe some people do not do this, but i do not recommend walking in a battle not specially prepared for the specific map. “Don’t pick a fight you can’t win”. But we should never let the map decide our setup, because it would be way cool that we give our opponents the ‘awe-factor’ of being defeated by a completely un-conventional setup. A specially-tuned melee + pistols combatants team perhaps?
Let your creativity run wild =P

Some others WOULD play random due to the brain challenge it poses in disadvantageous positions. Its a good brain exercise too i suppose. But im way too lazy to think three steps ahead for it would take up to 20mins for me to find the best maneuvers to execute.

(Coup_de_grace) #44

It was totally hard to pull off a win without snipers at Old town at all i have to admit. At one of the many random matches i created i could not do a single thing. My opponent was gush + artillery sniping. My mid toons could not go anywhere, my light toons had no secure cover and i had no long range weapons. After rearranging the setup i did however won with 2 Hacque with heavy melee, Ivan with Hoo-Har and a basically contributed nothing Dee(took forever to navigate around old town). On the blue corner i was facing juan+pete+madame with snipers, and a gus. Fortunately for me the Lv 40 opponent made a tactical error enabling me to kill his commander off, securing some cover for myself. It couldn’t have been in my favour either if the melees were not Agent toons that could turn invisible.

Really difficult on Old town without snipers but it was worth Chain-saw Sledging to victory. Maybe some of you have other setups that worked well for you???

(Ciakgb) #45

I can win w my Meagan’s at old town if I go first. Also need the opponent to be a little wild with his artillery. The key is the one full cover square In the rocket zone. I might lose a few until he can no longer displace units from that square. The dead Meagan’s left enough mines to cover the entrance, I’ve won several take n holds this way.

The other technique is to wait until artillery is used up (thank god for the 3 nerf) and then move a ghosted unit to the safe square.

But yeah, if I know it’s going to be old town, I bring all the snipes like everyone else.

(Coup_de_grace) #46

Angela Merci

Stats :
Medic Type
Mid-Class Toon
14 Energy, 2 Energy per square movement
Heal (Active), Healing Aura (Passive)

Description:
RAD soldiers version of Norse mythology’s valkyrie, Angela whisks around the battlefield enchanting the wounded back to strength. Allies around her obtains comfort from her angelic chimes healing any wounds by 20 health. Eventhou she has limited mobility, she can provide some firepower and assault support when equipped with the Spray N’ Pray. Angela Merci plays primarily a support role in a team and excels best with melee for near range defense or either mid range engagements with SMGs.

Strategy + Skill usage:
Providing a healing umbrella to “berserkers” on the battlefield, Angela Merci has limited firepower capability. Thus, much offensive action is from her allies which can render her to be labeled weak. However Commanders who assign Angela into action will definitely walk out of the battlefield with most of his/her toons intact. “No one gets left behind.” is Angela’s moto. Positioning Angela at every end of the turn to enable her 3 square radius healing aura to always provide ‘healing prayers’ to allies in secure cover will assure the lifespan of any toon. Her healing aura also transcends space and laws of physics still providing a helpful 20 HP heal to any toons behind large or small obstacles as long as they remain within a 3 square radius.

Angela is a helpful support in Shoot n’ Hide tactics, ensuring her allies are always at full health. Even if the opponent executes a forced rush-in damage barrage, any medium or heavy toon will be a severely difficult target to eliminate at full health. If the opponent fails to eliminate the WELL covered toon (emphasis on positioning and intuition) the wounded toon can simply pull back from harms way and be nursed back to health. Multiple heal repetition can frustrate your opponents and they will try to eliminate Angela first. With clever planning and a carefully calculated risk estimation, one can use Angela as a decoy, intentionally positioning her in a non secure cover making it seem like a careless mistake. The opponent MIGHT be drawn in closer to eliminate Angela enabling your allies to target any toons that falls within your line of fire. However, any formation with Angela should have a substancial amount of firepower to lay down enough damage for the kill. Every toon is also a valuable chess piece and much care is needed to extend their lifespan especially if light toons are involved. AOE skills like Frags, Toxic Grenades, Molotovs or even the fearful Orbital Strike to smoke out your well covered toon will be meet with minimal effect.

In lower tiered battles, Spray N’ Pray can provide a good amount of punch with 21-35 damage according to a range of 6 to 1. Melee weapons with knockback effects can be useful for close encounters. It is also possible to carry twin Angelas into battle to provide more “healing umbrellas” or even to heal the other Angela twin. Be sure to have enough firepower or opponents will try to muscle their way in. A final word about healing aura is the priority healing order. No matter if you are engulfed in flames or stung with toxins, the healing effect comes in precedence before the damaging effect. That’s good news if the opponent is unable to dish out more damage and intend to rely on DoT effect for the kill.

(Coup_de_grace) #47

Side Tips:

No matter you go 1st or 2nd, the first engagement is the initial highlight of the match. This holds very true for high tier 26point matches where multiple toons and skills can easily eliminate your toons. The swift elimination of your opponent’s toon will cut off a portion of his/her firepower. It will be a greater bonus if the killed toon is a sniper or a toon with bothersome skills. Why do experts complain of stalemates on certain maps? Because they know the importance of the 1st engagement. Every expert knows one little mistake can be fatal, resulting in the ‘sky burial’ of their precious toon.

It would come to a point where you would try to make a break thru to either break the stalemate or make an early kill, rushing toons to lay as much damage possible to make the kill ignoring taking cover. However, be sure to predict before hand if that targeted toon is worth the effort in the long run, and at what cost would this rush cost you. If this mad rush would not cost you the death of a toon that would be the best possible outcome. But if it does cost you a toon, is it worth the sacrifice? Would this toon be useful to you in later turns of the game? Would it cost you more than one toon making that move? Never underestimate your opponents ability to pull off something devastating. I personally have encountered cases where my opponents made an early preemptive strike taking down a full HP Ivan in cover. Centering all snipers firepower, Frag, Explosive Arrow, and even direct Artillery Strikes to take Ivan down in a turn. It was a commendable effort, since Ivan was arguably in a prime spot to easily harass him in the next turn. But the cost of that move was both of his sniper toons. I may have lost one key player, but he lost 2. The moral of this example is SURVIVAL. It isn’t about making kills to add to your kill count. But surviving to fight another turn. Many commanders only has their mindset to dealing as much damage as possible, eventhou their toon is currently in a disadvantageous position. Not only do they fail to make a kill, it results in the death of that toon. Sometimes when attacking yields no significant advantage, retreating or saving the energy for defense is the wiser decision.

(Coup_de_grace) #48

Side Tips:

Now that the C4 has received a considerable boost in damage dealing 110-89-76-34 it adds a degree of threat to it being deployed. One alternate usage of c4 would be to deploy it on purpose near the commander opponent. This would force the opponent to disperse that area when C4 gets revealed. Surely they dont wanna stay around to get nuked right? If they dont intend to retreat then you would still be forcing your opponent to waste a fair deal of energy to destroy the C4, effectively putting them in a conundrum whether should they spend the energy attacking you or the C4. If they do retreat from the position, you would also gain a “ground zero” an area where opponents will not thread on. Assuming you chased them off a good piece of land where they are ample of covers for defense and offense it would be a good base indeed to hole up.

Always try to be creative, dont set your mind on using skills and maneuvers with a fixed habitual practice.

(Ciakgb) #49

Good tip! I got two suds (or is it spuds, I’m still confused) in prep for the update. Have to break them out again! Too bad he’s In that awful 250 hp malaise.

(Beasttekkers) #50

Sudsy is one of my favourite toons his c4 is very handy for killing big groups of enemy’s

(Coup_de_grace) #51

Juan DaCova

Stats :
Sniper Assault Type
Heavy-Class Toon
18 Energy, 3 Energy per square movement
Flaming Nova & Ghost Skill

Description :
“The Desert Scorpion” is renowned for his lethality as well as his secrecy. Three strikes of sniper venom will send any light infantry back to Asgard. What Juan lacks in mobility is compensated with massive firepower. On the board, Juan is a major piece. Although he is buffed with HP, care should be taken to not lose this unit lightly. Comes with a default Persuader Club.

Strategy :
Juan has only one role, as a heavy assault unit dealing as much damage as possible. Naturally positioning, taking cover and strategy is the key factor in using Juan. A simple yet effective way in using Juan is to position him to cover an alley or an area. Juan is a pounce-kill predator much suited for defending area engagements rather than advancing forward attacks due to his limited mobility. If you find yourself unable to deal substancial damage, simply defend your position. Juan will counter-attack with his energy dealing a fair amount of damage. This will also allow the opponent to be drawn nearer into your line of fire saving energy on mobility.
The alternative would be to navigate Juan into firing positions that predicted advancing opponents would hide to take cover e.g: half & low cover. A simple Artillery or any knock-back skill will come in handy to push the opponent toon out into the open to take full damage.
Straight forward and simple to master, Juan works well with all sniper rifles. To get the best out of him either go for Botherer SR or Electri-Fryer.
If you feel like going Flintstone-ish you can also go invisible with a melee weapon for a whack-a-mole match.

Skill :
Juan is slow on his feet so unless you have a major position close by you want to navigate to in 10 STEPS using ghost will not take you far. Neither can you attempt to be ambitious to circle around to the back flank. You can use ghost to escape from a pinch, e.g low life or harassed by close range toons to reposition and heal Juan back to health. I find the best use of Ghost for Juan is the “scare factor”. For example, Juan and another toon approach from the left flank, while all the rest advance from the right flank. The opponent will have to either retreat or advance to one of the weaker flank to handle one side at a time. But at Juan’s end he goes invisible, so attacking Juan is impossible. The opponent will be conflicted, because if he continues to stay in that position Juan will suddenly appear and make a quick kill. Advancing to the other side would also be difficult and slow due to the rest of the team putting pressure. If he doesn’t put enough distance Juan can still advance far enough to catch up and attack. When this tactic is employed, be sure to take good cover for the opponent will attempt to get ‘radical’ or risk annihilation. Juan can either forward to an optimum position with widest area line of fire, or simply remain static. Opponent could attempt to swarm all to Juan’s end to reduce rifle effective range, so not advancing in Invi mode will allow you some distance to deal the maximum possible damage.

Flamin Nova is most effective in ‘smoking’ opponents out of good positions when used together with other AOE skills to multiply the ‘stay & risk death’ effect. However primary damage is reduced by range. You would want Molotov to hit on the spot for maximum damage whenever possible.

(Sandman77) #52

Old Town, I use Daves =:P

(Coup_de_grace) #53

Its been awhile since i’ve thrown tactic marbles to the crowd. After taking a break, and running a habitual 14 tier games i’ve acquired some interesting insights. Some things have changed, but the basics of warfare in RAD universe remains the same. In this post i will attempt to list out all possible actions based on situation at hand.

  1. Advance
    Plan your approach. If it is a long empty map, don’t assign slow moving toons to thread that path. It will take a slow toon many turns to reach the front lines. Limitation in movement also might leave your toon exposed unable to reach cover. Assign the right toon with the right skills and the right weapon for the job. But always be fluid in planning tatics, or it is simple to ‘read’ your movements.
    Objective: Deny opponent map control(flag by end of turn), limit opponent navigation space, reach good defending spots 1st, safeguard weak flanks(that threatens your position).

ok, so you took your turn second. your opponent has got you squeezed. You have not much room to advance without getting toons shot off. What now?

  1. Hold
    There is no cover at the front lines that you can reach, there is no opponents you can shoot at either. The next best option you have is to hold your line. Hold your formation. The toons and weapons your opponents has brought to the board is now set. Weight your strengths to your opponents. Rearrange and re-position your toons as you see fit to gain the advantage or reduce any disadvantage. Advance as close as possible taking SECURE cover and assessing possible toon killing attacks your opponent could possibly dish out. Then hold your position. Energy saved can also be used while in defending stage if attacked upon.
    Objective: Avoid getting First Blood (losing 1st toon), hold position to deny opponent any further advance(or risk being push too back from objective ground), get in striking position(for offensive action or strike at anticipated opponent position)

You hold your ground, your opponent not having any good moves to make also holds ground. This isn’t the Siege of Stalingrad, so it is time something is done to break the stalemate. Time to pressure your opponent’s position, so next comes…

  1. Flank
    Flanking is relatively straight forward. Simply put, you reposition a toon with a significant amount of threat(or any threat you can muster), around the side end(or weakest link) of the formation and threaten to harm/kill a toon. Your opponent will be forced to either attack, retreat or reinforce the threatened flank. That will force some movement at the opponent camp. Flanking can always be pre-planned anyTIMe, any CHANCE, and need not be after HOLD. Be watchful of repositioning your toons used to flank, as this may weaken your line of defense. What use is marching out your battalion but leaving your castle unguarded? Attacking choices can be done by toon skills or direct attacks.
    Objective: Force opponent frontline re-arrangement, hurt if killing not possible to pressure enemy lines, eliminate or hurt Primary Targets(medics, snipers & commander).

what other options do you have if you cant afford to spare a toon to flank?

  1. Blitzkrieg
    " I don’t know who you are. I don’t care what you want. If you’re looking for rockets, I can tell you I’m not giving it without a fight; but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills my toons have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for chumps like you."
    1st things first, target a enemy toon that is worth the while. No point getting the opponent harmed only to be healed back to health the next turn. Also, if you are gonna strike, make it a kill. Depending on the deck of cards you have there are several combos you can make.
    Frag-Frag-Artillery
    Frag-Attack-Toxic
    Artillery-Frag-Snipe
    The possibilities is too many to list~ If you brought a Light Melee unit, you can spearhead an attack after combined direct/indirect attacks. Light Melee units can travel far(run up to opponents face), and melee weapons is bound to outclass most projectile weapons.
    Objective: Break opponent line of defence, Kill if possible, Force a retreat/engagement.

Sometimes we don’t have a long deck of cards, and we just have to use what we have when the opportunity rises. In the gridlocks of war, we need a hero. So,

  1. Be a Hero
    Take one for the team!!! That doesn’t mean your just run up to attack only to be killed the next round. What it means is that by careful considered risk and damage assessment you make a spearhead attack. Few things to consider include: How much damage can your opponent dish out? Will your toon DIE? Can you recover from the damage you have taken? You can’t always be in ‘preserve-life’ mode. Your toons get hurt so what? By forging a hero you have surprised your opponent and kill an important target. You get hurt but even without heal you will live to fight another round. Always keeping a safe distance away playing it too safe makes you a predicable commander. Bound to be ambushed and countered upon.
    Ivan is one toon that works out well being the hero, catch one or more in the concussion and with 300Pounds under his belt he is bound to survive. Follow up with other toons support and reinforcement.
    Objective: Take down, Surprise attack(change of tactics), Break frontlines, Kill critical targets.

A word on critical targets. Sniper-commander-dave lined up against you. And you have a Medic-commander in deck. Sniper can only attack from one angle. If they can’t attack you from the northern face, it is unlikely a sniper can reposition to the flank and have energy to attack (map dependent). Thus, a sniper is quite limited in use in that sense(which some compensate with more than one). Commander with AR can only attack face front but as a medium toon, it has limited movement. It is not difficult to escape or take what tiny grunt of a single attack commander unit can dish out. Because medium toon has limited movement any attack against you will also equally leave the opponent exposed and within attacking reach(little energy left to take cover after attack). A Dave on the other hand can be a considerable amount of threat in such situation. Light toons can run circles around you and still have energy to attack and take cover. A Frag in store will also force you to take secure cover or risk a sniper shot. The basic and most obvious strategy is to let commander be the hero, medic keeps healing and eliminate Dave 1st.

To be Continued…

(Coup_de_grace) #54

You have no good moves of any above listed??? :(:(:(Are your enemies bearing down on you with fangs drawn?? Bleeding from that AoE skill??

pack your tents, it’s a good time to:

  1. Retreat !!!:penguin::stroggtapir:
    Live to fight another day. There is no cowardice in retreating. For centuries great commanders have feint a retreat only to execute a perfect counter-offensive. Knowing that the odds are against you there is no rational trying to force a hold or advance further. I’ve played with many opponents, many fail to recognize retreating as an option. Instead they do mostly silly actions like a “death-rush”. IF the mad rush can successfully kill an important enemy, fine. I guess an Eye for an Eye. Hopefully it is an important eye you took in exchange for your own less important eye. I prefer not to have anyone sacrificed, but hey “Climbing Silver” is a sanctioned move.
    List of skills that compliments Retreat include: Sniper Ghosting, Mine-Laying retreat, Shoot & Run(light toons).
    Objective: retreat to heal/survive, re-position, Escape bad spot/situation.

Sometimes the moves you make isn’t an A-B-C listed movement. You need to pull a combined move effort. One such move is:

  1. Retardation, Delay
    If you are stuck on the 5th floor of a burning building and the only choice is to jump, you know the best chance of survival is to aim for soft ground. Or obstacles along the fall to retard the impact. Same goes for warfare. Your slow Heavy-Toon just can’t get around to that cover in one turn. If left in the open, you know it is goodbye ol’ pal. So you pull some unorthodox move, dampen the damage; retard your opponents movement. This is a situational move, as they are conditions that needs to be met to be able to execute. Throw down a Deployable-Cover at a single entry pathway, or at a single entry cover spot, and your opponent has got no choice but to destroy the cover blocking his/her movement. Most likely the range-equipped poor toon will take 2-3 turns to destroy the 250HP concrete block.

A few things is achieved by this move.
i. Locked-In opponent :mad: is indirectly knocked out of battle for a few turns.
ii. Deployable-Cover blocks opponent’s attacking Line-of-Sight. (Multiple if lucky)
iii. Change of Attack Focus. (multiple toons attacking Concrete to destroy it faster)
iv. Damage Substitution. (deploy as make-shift cover for exposed toon, substitute 250HP that toon would have taken)
v. Delay & Slow advance.
vi. Buy time or breathing room.

A few skills compliments this action: Healing Crate, Deployable Cover, Pharma-Harma, Shield-o-Bot, TELE-grenade, Concussion, Knock-Backs, Squirt Gushing

Note that this move can also be used for Offensive Plans just as useful as Defensive Response. Be warned thou, Deployable-Cover knows not the difference of Tangos from Friendlies. The cover will work just as well as a cover for your opponent. You are not here for CHARITY are you???:D:D:D
A final desperate option also includes Opponent Disposition. Lets say you know either direction your critical life toon runs, it will be exposed and killed next turn. Opponent’s sniper is very movement fluid, able to reach you at a just nice of 6 movement squares and 6 Energy spent to shoot at your toon. Last resort measure? Artillery that sniper toon to push it back a square. Now it needs to spend 7 Energy on movement to get in attacking range. Left with only 5 Energy, this light toon can’t attack you with the weapon it is currently equipped. Your toon survives the turn. Waste of the only 3 times use Artillery? Probably not, if your toon that survived is worth the effort and can still contribute to the team down the road.
Objective: Pathway Block, Delay, Reduce damage taken, disrupt opponent pace/initiative.

Last of the Ace in the deck of cards is a tricky one. Requires some premonition, keen instincts and calculated risk management. Pull it off and it’s simply brilliant, fail and it could mean certain death.

  1. Deception
    The game of shadows is a difficult one to elaborate on nor taught. It simply involves ones own creativity, timing, and resource at hand. The most common of all is Agent’s “Ghosting”. I find many use ghost in a predicable fashion. They ghost and advance as far as possible forward to get in attacking range. Mind you, your opponent can still damage you in invisible mode just as easy if you are predicable. Why not ghost and stay still instead? That’s one way of a simple deception. You camp and prey at a suitable position (currently at or nearby), wait for an opponent worth breaking invisible and make the kill. If you are lucky the opponent may even think you are a typical opponent and waste skills trying to smoke you out. Deception could be achieved with the simplest of things. Like baiting. Bait an opponent in engaging you(and not die) and have your own counter-attack ready to attack the baited opponent. Or simply keep that baited toon occupied focused on killing the bait 1st!!! Possibilities are endless with the skills in store. Take your time to response, experiment with possibilities on your turn before deciding your final move, timing is crucial as a chance may not come twice. Nor should you pull the same trick twice (or should you?) depending on how gullible you can exploit your opponent’s character and patience. :3

When in battle the basic is to Out-range (firepower), or else you better Out-Run (mobility). If you lack both you better Out-Class (team setup). All not in favour? Better make sure you Out-Smart (tactics)then :slight_smile:

(Coup_de_grace) #55

NEXT: In-depth counter offensive measures

(MrHaaaax) #56

My, this is very helpful! Kudos to you, Coup de grâce! But can you merge all these post to the OP?

(Coup_de_grace) #57

In martial arts, the art of parry is just as important in attacking. This can be demonstrated quite well in MMA sports. Where some are strong in kicking but weak against ground submissions. Where else some fighters are skilled in defending against such attacks and even escape from such submission attacks. Same goes for the art of warfare.

There are tactics that over lap in last post for counter tactics like usage of Blocking & Delays which i will not repeat. At this point it should be more or less understood the importance and how to utilise such actions. Instead i will focus on other counter tactics for specific situations.

  1. Counter Ghost
    Ghosting is a common skill seen employed on the field, with most teams having at least one Agent toon. Recently debuffed to 2 turns the fear factor derived from it is slightly less but no less deadly in the right hands.

The very 1st step in countering “Ghosting” is to actually identify WHEN it will be done. & Smoke him out immediately.
i) Using Detection Probes (Commander Squad Skill)
Many would think that these probes is kinda useless. I would agree, it doesn’t do much except to reveal. Thankfully it doesn’t take 2Pts to equip. But at a 5 square radius with proper position estimation it does its intended job well. So the problem isn’t the probes cause we can deploy it 5 squares away either. The crucial element is WHEN.:rolleyes:
This need a little understanding of the current battlefield situation. What you need to watch out for is when the ghost toon or the whole opposing team is in a pinch. It can be in terms of offensive, defensive or manoeuvres. Quite oftenly, a sniper toon from mid-to-heavy type would find themselves restricted from movement. Particularly to reach a good attacking spots and be able to take cover. Attempts to move around to flank is also obvious to plain sight and not difficult to evade or relocate by opponents. That’s when most Agents will use “Ghost” to allow moving around without cover nor opponents knowledge to defend against. Recognising these moments is important.:cool:
Simply make a informative guess where the toon might be headed to flank or advance and deploy a probe covering a good area of possibilities around there. A simple Toon Energy calculation can also help identify how far a “Ghosted” toon could be. If you guessed right and the opponent really did use “Ghost”, the twinkle of revelation will be your cue to kill the exposed toon standing in the open.

ii) Physical Ghost
Did your opponent Ghost on the spot with its left over energy? Invisible is not INVINCIBLE. Ghost toons can still take damage of all forms. And can still be movement blocked!!! Throw down a crate or with a toon block the Agent’s advance/movement. It can force the agent to reveal itself to destroy the obstruction, force other toons to destroy on Agents behalf or force Agent to detour a further path. Simple and easy to be done when landscape permits. Opponent’s toon waste a turn of Ghost and your flank is safe for the next turn. UAVs can do both, blocking and threaten a reveal in a 2 square radius.

iii) Erratic Position Change
Dependent on map, you may not need to worry about many position or flanks the Agent can route to. Or you have ample secure cover of different exposed sides. A simple position change and from a East-South exposed you have yourself a West-South exposed. It is quite impossible for the Sniper to be able to route from West to East to attack you. Move to the map edge and you can be rest assured you have your back or sides covered. It all depends on the map and how you assess the situation. You may change position after Agent has remain in Ghost in its second turn, as it would seem likely that it went a particular further flank to attack. Relocation could also be possible in an agressive advance.

iv) Royal Flush Beats Full House
Your opponent used Ghost against your Agent? You Ghost after him then. After two turns, his Agent toon will be revealed 1st and you are free to break invisibility as opportunity permits to counter. You may immediately Ghost your turn or in next turn.

v) Others
Block Line of Sight(disturb target sights), Close sniper gap distance(drop damage), Retreat (delay)

(Coup_de_grace) #58
  1. Counter Cover
    Here is your situation. Opponent is a mobile toon and have a good cover spot that you can neither flank or have enough movement to muscle in. Landscape is against you and the toon keeps popping shots at you and hide back in cover. You can neither Artillery nor Frag the toon out to kill it. Its time to call in reinforcements.

Orbital Strike - Rain of Destruction
Stats:
Level 32 Skill
8 Energy, 2 Times Use
Range of 3, AoE of 2
Specialty : GPS Targeting

Description:
If you have not reached Level 32, here is an explanation of why you should be for the prize in hand. Orbital Strike requires 8 Energy for each use. That leaves just 6 Energy for Commander unit to maneuver. This skill has a max targeting range of 3 up to ONE. Once the strike is launched, the laser shot from the heavens impacts the targeted square with so much impact that all units alive, friendly or…dead within a radius of 2 is dealt with a huge damage up to 98pts. Lightning may not strike twice at the same spot, but you are blessed with the possibility to smite your opponent twice. This Buddha’s Palm knows not friend or foe, but still bows to the awesome walls/fence/sandbag of map cover. Only map covers can withstand the shockforce, deployed covers or shield-o-bots still take full damage and can’t block anyone hiding behind it from getting hurt. Typical damage ranges from 88-96, and differ only slightly if a different set of moves is rearranged in execution. Finally the Ace of this skill is that it ignores Line of Sight. You don’t need to traditionally be able to “see” where you are targeting. You simply radio the coordinates and watch your foes take the wrath.

Strategy:
89pts of damage is alot, but not enough to kill a full life toon. It can give your opponent a shock, as he/she might not have expected you to equipped that skill. But we want the toon dead, unable to retreat to recover from medics healing. So executing a combo to finish it off is important. This is usually the case with Light Toons, who are very mobile to get good spots but fragile. Slap the toon with the orbital strike and most likely the toon will also be forced to abandon the position or face a second round of wrath.
Also useful if a toon attempts to use your Deployable Cover without paying rent. Strike your own cover to gain access to the toon hiding behind it (if destroyed) while also hurting the toon.

An Ace is best used when the time is right.

Don’t reveal your skill early on, especially if you are only able to hurt and not kill. It is not very difficult to stay out of range or heal back the life lost. Sometimes you can strike one in range already, but you predicted that the next turn another toon will join that “Cozy Cover”. So be patient and maximize its potential. Orbital Strike is best combo-ed with other Indirect Attacks like Frag, Toxic or Flamin Nova.
You can also possibly reveal your skill when you need to finish of an already hurt toon. Opponent toon may have postponed healing because it constantly takes secure cover. But it is that very air of confidence that may spell the end for that quarter-life toon and remove an agile thorn from your hind.

*Final word about this skill (if it is still unclear) is that you will not get hurt from Orbital Strike if there is default landscape covers (even Red Low Covers) between you and the impact point. You may strike at one square beside you targeting the toon hiding behind that cover. Your foe will get the full damage but you are safe from harm.

Orbital Strike is a dangerous (and under-rated) skill that should be cautioned of in 20 or 26pt games.