Brood Brother |
 |
 |
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:06 pm Posts: 9684 Location: Montréal, QC, Canada
|
(nealhunt @ Jun. 05 2007,17:07)
QUOTE Chroma: ?As much as I hate to do it, I have another round of "why'd you do that?" questions. No problemo! ?*laugh*
Objectives: ?Why did you place the objectives where you did?
That means a quick opening move puts you across the "killing field" and into cover with restricted LoS. I specifically didn't want to go through that "killing field" area, even on a first move; with two very mobile Mechanized formations, the road could've had them on my "out of cover" Assault swarm, probably on Turn 1. ?I favoured having the "fortified hill" as a solid LOS blocker.
As noted, constricted areas favor the Nids. ?I would suggest keeping the T&H objectives close together. ?With a normal deployment, bringing them back near the center line means you can reach them quickly, putting the enemy on the defensive. ?It also makes it easier to push past them, knowing Nodes can pick them up if you've pushed too far forward.
If your opponent wants to run his T&H over on the opposite board edge at that point, let him. ?He only has companies so if he wants to take them he has to divert a serious amount of his army to do so. ?Divide and conquer. While my opponent placed the two Tyranid side objectives close together, I went for the deeper, 4 foot "split", to try and split his army. ?I knew I'd be focusing on the "tan" portion of the battlefield, especially with the Tyranid side objectives so close together. ?With Imperial Objective 2 placed off to the side, my opponent would have to divert one of his precious formations even to go take out a lone Node.
Against an army with larger formations, I don't like placing the T-n-H objectives to close together as one formation can control/contest both of them on occasion? I don't like making it easier for my opponent! ?*laugh*
In the building/ruins terrain, you have the advantage. ?You are mostly infantry and walkers. ?He is mostly vehicles and even the infantry have vehicles with them. The main problem is that the walkers can't get into the buildings! ?*laugh* ?This became frustratingly apparent when it was discovered that Carnifex and Assault Spawn can't actually close combat units in Bunkers, since they can't get in! ?In fact, if a Bunker is filled (three unit), even assaulting infantry can't get in at them! ?Since we've played so rarely with fortifications, it was an odd thing to discover in the heat of battle.
Nodes: ?Just a strategy note here. ?I think 2 of each are better than 5 LSNs. ?GSNs are much harder and chances are you'll need to keep one of the backfield objectives covered. ?They are more than worth the difference in price. ?Don't bring them in without a well-defined purpose. ?Most of the time it should be Turn 3, with placement based on what you will need to do to win that turn. I haven't used the Greater Nodes that often, I probably should.
I went with some earlier turn Lesser Nodes in the hope of spawning creatures in the IG backfield as well as being a "distraction" to the enemy.
===
Lictors: ?I don't understand the placement. ?Russ are a threat, but the Shadowswords can't do very much to you. ?I also don't understand activating them first. ?If they sit there the enemy has to react to them. ?That's their purpose. ?Assaulting with them was likely to result in exactly what happened. ?At the risk of sounding demeaning, you used your activation to kill them off so your enemy didn't need to. Well, I never expected to go first? it's just an assumption I work with when fielding Tyranids, and sometimes that limits me.
I actually feared the Shadowswords as "synapse killers" against whittled down swarms or Nodes. ?I didn't think I could take the Russes with the Lictors and, if I didn't activate them, the Shadowswords could just back up and blast them, so, I felt, it was "use 'em or lose 'em" at the time and I wanted to make some dent with them, even the Thunderbolts might have been able to see them off.
As well, I really wasn't used to playing with so few swarms/formations, so that put me off a bit. ?My opponent certainly had formations to "stall" with at the start of the game.
Also, it seems to me that the Mech infantry were a much greater threat. Yes, in retrospect, harassing the Mech HQ and Infantry would?ve been a better placement, though, again, the T-bolts could've cleared them before they could do something. ?Against such big formations, I just see the Lictors getting gunned down, even if the enemy is forced to base them.
One thing I *do* have to try and remember, is using Nexus Groups and Lictors in combined assaults. ?It seems combined assaults are rare with Tyranids, but I have to keep it in mind with Lictor placements.
Was firing on the Baneblades driven by LoS issues? ?It seems with the HQ in range to assault with major support that placing a BM on them would have been priority. Yep, it was LOS, the "fort" in the middle of the fortified section blocked it for the firing units in Nexus 1.
Thanks for the questions, Neal!
_________________ "EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer
Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?
|
|