Hello friends, fellow gamers and nooblings
When the original C&C Renegade came out in 2002 I was fat, headed right for puberty and also cream my pants excited to finally go first person shooter on my favorite strategy series. Fast forward 12 years, I am no longer fat, I stopped playing the original Renegade a long time ago and don#t have much time now (as Molecular Biology degrees are very much like pretty, yet demanding women: they require all your time, energy and attention, it's all about hormones and you're screwed in either case), yet I still am absolutely in favor of this project and it was like the best idea evar.
The only problem with a nice round of Renegade once in a while is, and I'll try to say this politely: people still fucking suck at this. I understand that some of you were still in your diapers when the original Renegade appeared and that's not your fault. I would like to accelerate the process of "people sucking slightly" less with the next milestone being "people being kinda good at this" and the final goal being "people having at least some idea of where their ass is located" - and I don't believe it'll get any better than that because it wasn't even back in the original days so whatever. Hence this little guide to some standard game tactics, which is neither complete nor intended to be complete – it is simply a primer on how to not completely suck at this game. I will do so by simply telling you of how we did things back when Westwood still was a thing. Which, by the way, totally works as the team here at Renegade X seems to have gone through a lot of effort to retain the original game mechanics.
Okay, here goes:
BASIC NOTES ON GAME DYNAMICS
A) This is a team based game which relies on coordinated, structured action. There are very few things a single player can do on his/her own which will be game changing (for example successfully setting and defending a Nuke/Ion beacon or holding off all enemy aircraft with a high power sniper). Of these few things most won’t work if the other team has their shit even halfway together.
That means: team up and communicate. And THAT means: read and use the fucking teamchat. (Note to developers: PLEASE let there be a short chat history so you don’t have to watch the window THAT carefully all the time). That’s about it. If you can do that you might as well not read on and figure it all out from there because it’s what it all boils down to - but I don’t have much hope that that will happen, so read on.
B) If you buy a vehicle go as an engineer. That way you can repair your own vehicle (ALWAYS DO SO UNDER BASE DEFENSE COVER IF PLAYING AS GDI – SEE C) or, in case your vehicle is killed by another vehicle, get out and retaliate with timer C4/ remote C4. OR in case you’re
with a bunch of other vehicles and yours is destroyed: get out and keep the other ones alive.
C) You do NOT get out of your vehicle to repair your vehicle UNLESS you are playing on Nod. Why? Because I’m a stealth black hand and will steal your fucking tank.
D) Aircraft are generally a bad idea as the cost tons of money and are relatively vulnerable. They have their uses in special cases (Sniper shuttle on Walls Flying) but you are generally much better off if you go for the cheaper, more durable ground vehicles. Also: aircraft are never a good counter to aircraft. Want to take out and apache/orca? Go buy Havoc/Sakura and kill them all.
EARLY GAME
1. Attack Harvester/Defend Harvester
This is a nobrainer and will result in a significant advantage in terms of cash for your team if you are both able to destroy the enemy harvester and defend your own one. You will need at least 2 engineers (1 repairing your harvester, 1 setting C4 to the enemy harvester), a couple of riflemen and a few flamer/grenadiers. Ideally at the beginning of the round (ON A MAP WITH BASE DEFENSES) the whole team runs for the harvesters with a small portion defending your team’s harv and the other one trying to blow up the enemy’s - and 1-2 staying in base . On a map without base defenses your best option is to defend your own harvester with a team of 3-4 with the rest sticking to base and attacking the enemy base.
How to defend your harv: kill of enemy in this order: engineers, flamers/grenadiers, riflemen – have engineers stay with the harv, the rest can go on to try and attack the enemy harv.
How to attack enemy harv: approach shooting at enemy soldiers present but do not get delayed by them. Approach harvester and set timer C4 FIRST THING (including engineers). Riflemen then turn around and shoot whoever is there, flamer/grenadiers attack harv, engineers plant and detonate remote C4.
2. Footmen rush:
(Requires map without base defenses)
Gather 4-6 people and go for a designated target. For example Hand of Nod or Weapons Factory on Islands/Walls Flying. Go in sneaky (no shooting), approach central control terminal and set timed C4. 5 Successfully detonated C4s will kill a building. Take engineers with remote C4 for good measure. Do not detonate remote C4 before the timed charges explode. Set timed charges as quickly as possible with the least interval in between. Kill off anything that moves once you’re detected. As long as you keep engineers from defusing the set C4 you’re good. The remote C4 should only be a precaution, not a necessity.
3. APC rush
Step one: buy APC. Step two: fill up with engineers (and technicians/hotwires if available). Step three: drive to base defenses. Step four: engineers execute standard demolition protocol (timed C4, followed by remote C4), APC blocks doors as long as possible (so you only have to deal with any enemies which actually respawn inside the building you’re in. The best way to do this – if friendly fire is off – is for one of the engineers to simply detonate remote C4 (will die in the process)
Best defense: Mine base defenses, keep a tank at base entrance to block of any incoming APC (as in: ram the damn thing and let base defenses shoot it to pieces)
4. MLRS/Mobile artillery rush
Get together 3-4 of these, go for a building. Rather difficult and easy to counter as these vehicles are easily damages. Take engineers and hurry the fuck up (works nice on Hand of Nod or Weapons Factory on Field)
Best defense: Medium to high profile footmen, especially sakura/havoc (which might not be available that early, in that case go for other sniper)
MIDGAME
5. Tankrush
Get 4-5 people to buy tanks (light, medium, flame, stealth) and rush for base defenses. Flametanks work wonders on the advanced guard tower, Medium tank will withstand one Obelisk shot. Do not stop for anything (! – not even killing off a harvester), go straight for base defenses and kill them off.
Best defense: Same as APC rush, but more tanks.
What won’t work: Footmen
6. Nukes/Ion Beacons
Basic idea: Plant a beacon, park a vehicle on top of it and defend it. Enemy team can’t defuse a beacon which has a tank on top. Best to take a second vehicle as backup, works well with APCs and medium/light tanks.
6a. Stealthnuke (Stealthtank):
Buy stealth tank and nuke, drive tank to enemy base. Plant nuke, get into tank. Drive over approaching engineers/hotwires (don’t shoot unless you are attacked by a vehicle or offensive footman), park your tank on the beacon.
6b. Stealthnuke (Stealth Black Hand)
Play stealth black hand, buy nuke. Sneak to enemy base (save your sprinting stamina for the last bit – this feature is new, btw and it is awesome), set nuke, immediately set timed C4 next to it/on top of it. Get out of view and recloak. Shoot any approaching engineer on sight to keep distracting them (stay away from your C4). This works especially well on Weapons factory on walls flying.
7. Tank occupation
Throw 3-4 tanks into the open field and add a few engineers which keep them repaired. Coordinate attacks so you all shoot at the same thing. Kill off any enemy harvester (and anything else, for that matter). Just keep that up for a while, your team will gain the upper hand.
Best defense: high profile antitank footmen (Raveshaw, Sydney) with other tanks.
LATE GAME
8. Tank siege (7 often evolves into this)
Block enemy base main entrance with tanks, keep shooting at whatever moves or buildings, if nothing moves. Works best with mammoths and a few engineers for support. Go to 9 as soon as possible when playing on field - or the game gets boring.
Best defense: see 7.
9. Mammoth rush
The holy grail to ending all these fucking boring field matches. If there are 3-4 mammoths in front of Nod base and no significant vehicle opposition: just go for the damn obelisk. A mammoth takes two obelisk shots do be destroyed
Best defense: See 7, also block incoming mammoths with tanks AND cram the obelisk with technicians.
