posted 10-06-03 01:19 PM EDT (US)
The key to victory for the USA may be combined arms as stated by many people but the problem is that the USA is best when massed. You cannot get real good results with a few of these and a few of those unless the enemy does the same thing. The USA does not have any killer ground units (without special ability use which starts at 0) and has a poor choice for a ground detection unit. Vs the early rush I am still at a loss on how to handle either Germany or the UK. I have gone for the early engineer and tried placing mines but I always seem to guess wrong and waste money protecting my start site with mines. Vs a good hard push by German MG and 88mm gun combo almost all the US early units can easily be countered, except maybe the Ranger. The problem with the Ranger is that in small skirmishes in the beginning of the game most people are microing all their combat units and will notice the tell tale radio waves emitting from the Ranger unit and just move out of the blast area. I still am not sure how best to counter the early attack, not sure that you can call a German MG 88mm attack a rush.
Ways that I have beaten off the early attack.
1. Helpful UK teammate. Vs those pesky commandos a scan or 2 is all that is needed the workers can kill them off.
2. Luck. The attacker just went after the wrong targets and let me run my civ's around while they chased them. Got air out and hunted them down.
3. Not a rush. After a certain time it is no longer a rush and I have enough units out to take care of the early units. UK commando or German MG with little to no AA support.
4. Walls. They are cheap and if you have choke points this will stop most early units with ease. Especially on Empire Builder mode. I think this may be the best defense for the USA early in the game though I hear commandos can run through the woods. Too bad the USA has such lousy recon.
In general I am still working on the USA anti rush strategy.
How to use US air effectively.
Here are some tips on using US air power effectively. Note that many people will call you noob or tell you how best to use your air power but remember it is up to you.
1. Lots of fighters. I usually go for 20 fighters before expanding to bombers. Unless the enemy knows you are going heavy fighters they will be in for a big surprise. Even then most people tend to underestimate the ability of fighters to take out AA.
2. Get the University and the econ (forget the name) upgrade that cuts your building costs in half. This will allow you to make more air fields. and you need 4 - 6 to be really effective. I generally go for this once I have 6 - 8 fighters in my first airfield since the building costs 150 wood and the upgrade costs 300 gold and 300 wood.
3. You never have enough civ's on gold or wood. Expand before you need the resources and don't let your resources go to the enemy, fight for them.
4. Initially I go with 3 civ's on food and only use food for more civ's. Lately I have been adding a few more so I can support more than one TC, this helps allot but don't do it too early as you lose 6 civ's. A few Rangers for recon are handy also.
5. Upgraded health on fighters makes them last longer while flying through the heavy AA you are bound to run into.
6. Upgraded attack on bombers makes them very deadly.
7. Once you get the third air field up start making bombers. They are expensive so you need a really good econ going. If your really desperate you can give them the Mass production upgrade to get them out faster but the attack upgrade makes them really worth the money.
8. Never let an air field fill up. You should be producing from all your air fields at the same time, if one fills up move some planes.
9. Do not attack move with planes unless you are confident in you superiority. Your planes will chase targets and cause them to go in the wrong direction and break your force into small groups. Bombers will drop their bombs before they get to the target, and that is not a good thing.
10. Use a good mixture of fighters and bombers vs strong AA sites or unit masses. Fly over with the fighters to get the distraction and hit them hard with the bombers.
11. B-29's (nuke planes) work great with the speed upgrade. It allows the unit to fly past light AA cover with ease and possibly make it back.
12. Do not order your planes to land in the air field when there is still the threat of enemy air. Instead order them to fly back near the air field. If you run into enemy air and have already ordered them to land they will ignore any future orders and continue on with no ability to respond to threats.
13. Recon, recon, recon. Nothing is worse than flying over a hill and seeing 15 AA guns that you did not know where there. Send the sacrificial lamb if you must but the best way to recon is with Rangers. Get a few out and place them where they can watch the map.
14. Do not go straight from your air field to the enemy base. Start by rallying your air units in a safe central location. This will get them massed instead of spread out from the take off delay.
15. Some people think that your air units should be either attacking or guarding. It is tough balancing act to try and do this and there are some disadvantages to it but keep working on it and see what you think.
16. It is cheaper to build a C-47 (with Mass production upgrade) and air drop two tanks or a tank and a canon then it is to build them separately. You also need no food for the tanks this way. You can drop them in your base if that is where you want them, it is cheaper is the point.
17. Look for ways around heavy AA cover. With a large formation it may not be possible but you might be able to slip a B-29 in and that is always nice.
18. Try to head back to the air field before you run out of fuel so that you can control your return trip.
Well that is about all I have for now. Any comments?
