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C&C 4: The Counter System, Part I

By R Schneider - 25th March 2010 - 00:53 AM

Tiberian Twilight uses a straight-forward "hard counter" system, by which each unit is particularly vulnerable to a particular type of weapon. The vulnerability depends on the unit's armor, which is one of Light, Medium, Medium Air, Heavy or Reinforced. Each armor class is countered by exactly one weapon class. Weapon classes are Gun, Cannon, Rocket, Laser and Blast. The following table describes the abstract counter system.

The abstract counter system


LightMediumMed. AirHeavyReinf.Crawler
Gungoodneutralneutralpoorpoorpoor
Cannonneutralgoodcan't hitneutralpoorpoor
Rocketneutralneutralgoodneutralpoorpoor
Laserpoorneutralneutralgoodpoorgood
Blastneutralneutralneutralneutralgoodpoor


The game actually extends to you the courtesy of indicating whether you are about to give a good or a terrible attack order, provided you have only units with one weapon class selected:

IPB Image Good counter: Your weapon deals excellent damage against the target.
IPB Image Neutral counter: Meh.
IPB Image Poor counter: Your weapon is virtually useless against that target.

Usage


Suppose you are facing unit X. First, look up X's armor in the Armor Tables below. Then, use the above table to determine what kind of weapon you need to counter X. Finally, find an appropriately armed unit in your arsenal by using the Counters Lists further below.

So far you have only found a counter, but not necessarily a hard counter, i.e. one which isn't itself countered by X. To see which of your possible counters is preferable against X, you could check in the Counters Lists what kind of weapons X has, and check in the Armor Tables how your potential counters are armored, and then pick the one against which X has the weakest weapon.

We will be bringing you a dedicated table of hard counters only in the near future.

Armor: GDI


Offense UnitsSupport Units
TalonLightOrcaMedium Aircraft
WolfMediumSheppardMedium
HunterMediumHurricaneMedium Aircraft
Titan MKIIMediumSpannerLight
BulldogLightPaladinMedium Aircraft
StrikerLightHammerheadHeavy
ShockwaveMediumConductorMedium
SandstormMediumFirehawkMedium Aircraft
CommandoLightKodiakHeavy
Mammoth TankHeavyThunderheadHeavy
RefractorHeavyArchangelHeavy
MastodonHeavy


Defense UnitsDefense Structures
DozerLightOutpostHeavy
Spartan TankMediumBunkerHeavy *
Zone LancerLightGuardian CannonHeavy *
Zone TrooperLightMissile TurretHeavy *
Zone EnforcerLightTunnelReinforced
Zone DefenderLightFalcon MLRSReinforced
Zone RaiderLightFocus BeamReinforced
ArmadilloHeavySkystrike ArtilleryReinforced
Zone CaptainLightCrystal ShieldReinforced
RhinoHeavyIon CannonReinforced
JuggernautMedium


Armor: Nod


Offense UnitsSupport Units
RaiderLightVenomLight
MantisMediumCobraMedium Aircraft
AvengerMediumMarauderMedium
ScorpionMediumScalpelMedium Aircraft
Attack BikeLightTyrantMedium
Spider TankLightSalamanderHeavy
Flame TankMediumHijackerLight
Stealth TankMediumVertigoMedium Aircraft
Cyborg Cmdo.LightLeviathanHeavy
AvatarHeavyBasiliskHeavy
SpecterMediumMedusaHeavy
WidowHeavy


Defense UnitsDefense Structures
SlaveLightOutpostHeavy
CenturionMediumBunkerHeavy *
ReaperLightViper TurretHeavy *
EnlightenedLightRocket PodHeavy *
DevoutLightBurrow TunnelReinforced
AscendedLightFlame ColumnReinforced
Black HandLightObelisk of LightReinforced
ReckonerMediumIncineratorReinforced
High ConfessorLightDisruption TowerReinforced
AftershockHeavyTemple of NodReinforced
UnderminerHeavy


Note. Structures marked (*) can be upgraded to Reinforced armor at tier 2.

Once you know which kind of opposition you are facing, look up an appropriate counter from your arsenal using the following lists. The counter's own armor class is given in parentheses:

L = Light, M = Medium, H = Heavy, R = Reinforced, A = Medium Air.

Armament: Which counter do I pick?


GDI Offense

Gun: Wolf (M), Bulldog (L)
Cannon: Hunter (M), Commando (L), Mammoth (H)
Rocket: Talon (L), Sandstorm (M), Commando (L), Mammoth (H), Mastodon (H)
Laser: Titan MKII (M), Striker (L), Refractor (H)
Blast: Shockwave (M), Mastodon (H)

GDI Defense

Gun: Zone Enforcer (L), Armadillo (H)
Cannon: Spartan Tank (M), Zone Trooper (L), Guardian Cannon (H/R)
Rocket: Zone Defender (L), Missile Turret (H/R), Falcon MLRS ®
Laser: Zone Lancer (L), Zone Raider (L), Focus Beam ®
Blast: Zone Raider (L), Zone Captain (L), Rhino (H), Juggernaut (M), Skystrike Artillery ®

GDI Support

Gun: Hurricane (A), Hammerhead (H)
Cannon: Sheppard (M)
Rocket: Orca (A), Hammerhead (H), Firehawk (A)
Laser: Paladin (A), Thunderhead (H)
Blast: Firehawk (A), Kodiak (H)

Nod Offense

Gun: Raider (L)
Cannon: Avenger (M), Avatar (H)
Rocket: Mantis (M), Attack Bike (L), Stealth Tank (M)
Laser: Scorpion (M), Spider Tank (L), Cyborg Commando (L), Widow (H)
Blast: Flame Tank (M), Specter (M)

Nod Defense

Gun: Devout (L)
Cannon: Centurion (M), Enlightened (L), Viper Turret (H/R)
Rocket: Ascended (L), Rocket Pod (H/R)
Laser: Reaper (L), Obelisk of Light ®
Blast: Black Hand (L), High Confessor (L), Aftershock (H), Underminer (H), Flame Column ®, Incinerator ®

Nod Support

Gun: Marauder (M)
Cannon: Cobra (A)
Rocket: Venom (L), Salamander (H)
Laser: Tyrant (M), Basilisk (H)
Blast: Vertigo (A), Leviathan (H), Medusa (H)

Printer-friendly version


If you do not have a second screen next to your C&C 4 battle control, you may want to print out the counter tables. We provide a printer-friendly version for that purpose:

Download as PDF


Example


Suppose you are GDI Offense and you are facing the good, old Scorpion. What to do? Checking the Armor Table for Nod, we see that the Scorpion has "Medium" armor, so we need a Cannon. The Counters Lists reveal that as GDI Offense we can pick the Hunter, the Commando or the Mammoth.

If we want to be more careful, we check the Counters Lists for the Scorpion and see that it has Laser Damage, so we don't want to send a Heavy unit against it. So the Hunter and the Commando are our preferred, hard counters, but if you have a spare Mammoth around, you know that it can also deal good damage to the Scorpions.

Discuss the counter system in our forums.