[TaviRider]

I've just written a strategy article at the Supreme Commander Wiki, and I'd love to get feedback, corrections, criticisms and such from SCL folks. The article is here.

The article is a general guide to anti-air strategy. I'd like to add a section on factional differences to describe what's most effective, but I'm not experienced enough with UEF and Cybran AA to write it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-TaviRider

[sanhosee]

First of all: I am by no way the best one to tell about this, but...

From my observations it seems that Cybran T1 AA is the only one that actually hits something. UEF and Aeon counterparts shouldn't be built unless you have bombers flying over your place and cannot build interceptors, or your interceptors are destroyed one-by-one when they are built.

Generally said, I feel that you should always ensure you have a decent amount of interceptors until you reach T2, when building ground-based anti-air comes a pausible solution, however I feel that building interceptors is still the best way to defend against air attacks. In long fights, T3 air superiority fighters kill lots of interceptors (or that's what I've heard, haven't yet witnessed it), so building those SAMs might not be a bad idea.

I repeat... this is by no way sure information. Better to have a confirmation from someone who actually knows how to play this game.

[Siyko]

It's a nice guide, but its pretty generalized. Even without faction differences, theres the specific differences between rail-type, flak-type, and missle-type, or the differences between the fighters.

Some notes about specific defenses, like if you expect a soul ripper and need obscene DPS, SAM launcher would be your best bet, but if you want to shoot down strat bombers quickly before they can reach anything, flak would probably be more effective because of its fast projectile, how t1 rail AA has virtually nil chance of shooting down a scout plane, etc

[TaviRider]

Excellent observations, thanks sanhosee and Siyko. If either of you are interested in contributing to the article, I could use the help! Otherwise I'll try to add some of that information in a few days.

-TaviRider

[sanhosee]

I'm intrested to some point; however, because I have my university entrance exams (well, tomorrow) I haven't been able to play supcom very much.That will change in the near future(tomorrow! ;>).

So basically... Yeah, if you think I could help, I'll try to contribute.

[TaviRider]

Originally Posted by sanhosee

I'm intrested to some point; however, because I have my university entrance exams (well, tomorrow) I haven't been able to play supcom very much.That will change in the near future(tomorrow! ;>).

So basically... Yeah, if you think I could help, I'll try to contribute.

Aboslutely, I think your contributions would help! And good luck on the exams. I'm glad you've got your priorities straight.

[Total_Inhalation]

I have done some tests recently on the effectiveness of various interceptors and Air Superiority Fighters. Feel free to use this if you find it usefull.

Note: The number of units for any given test are based on the fact that an Air Superiority Fighter costs roughly ten times what an interceptor costs. In the tests with a Soul Ripper, the SR was used to demonstrate how much pure damage could be done by the various aircraft.


Pure damage
300 prowler vs Soul Ripper = SR dead in 18 seconds with 300 prowler remaining
300 Cyclone vs Soul Ripper= SR dead in 20 seconds with 300 Cyclone remaining
300 Conservator vs Soul Ripper = SR dead in 15 seconds with 300 Corona remaining
30 Gemini vs Soul Ripper = SR dead in 8 minutes with 30 gemini remaining
30 Wasp vs Soul Ripper = SR dead in 3 minutes with 30 Wasp remaining
30 Corona vs Soul Ripper= SR dead in 1 minute with 30 Corona remaining

Interceptor vs Interceptor
20 Cyclone vs 20 prowler = cyclone dead in 20 seconds with 14 prowler remaining
20 conservator vs 20 prowler = conservator dead in 55 seconds with 4 prowlers remaining
20 conservator vs 20 cyclone = cyclone dead in 30 seconds with 6 conservator remaining

Interceptor vs Air superiority (incomplete)
30 Gemini vs 300 prowler = Gemini dead in 40 seconds with 276 prowlers remaining


My Conclusions
The UEF Cyclone is cleary the worst of all T1 interceptors in these tests. Taking the most time to kill the SR (20 Seconds compared to 15 and 18 for the Prowler and Conservator respectively), and losing to a same sized force of other faction's interceptors.
The Cybran Prowler came out a clear winner in interceptor vs interceptor, however the Aeon Conservator took slightly less time to kill the SR.
There was only one test with interceptor vs Air Superiority fighter. But the results are clear. You can build 10 intys for every 1 ASF, and the intys will decimate the ASF at that ratio, and they also killed the SR much faster. The Aeon Corona was the only ASF that came close to matching inty's killing power in the SR test, but still took three times as long as the worst inty (the cyclone).
Perhaps fittingly, the race with the best Interceptor (Cybran) also has the worst ASF (the Shit-tastik Gemini), which took a grand total of 8 minutes to kill one SR. More than long enough for it to rape your base, smoke a cigarette, and go back in for sloppy seconds.


I may do aditional tests if anyone finds this usefull.

[sanhosee]

Ok, I survived the test -which was brought to us straight from hell, I must say- and will try to start contributing.