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A Guide to Empire Structure Placement on Infinity Isle!

By JulzzZ - 1st October 2012 - 01:04 AM

Welcome Commanders! As with previous editions this series, they take a look at effective structure placement on the official auto-match & ladder map pool. In this guide, JulzzZ takes us through the standard procedures when placing the Empire's Nanocores!

Structure Placement for the Rising Sun on Infinity Isle


Click above for a larger image of the map itself...

Infinity Isle is one of (if not the) smallest maps within the game itself, and is used quite extensively in 1v1 play. With it's central plateau, players are pit against each other head-to-head in what can make for an intensive stand off of forces.

For all purposes of this guide the following standard build-order is used as an example. As a point of reference, here's the build-order itself:
IPB Image


Generator Placement:

The first building in an Empire build-order is usually a Generator core to allow for the fastest building of Refineries.

As a general rule on any map (and for the quickest possible completion) the first Generator core should be deployed right in front of the MCV when it's built.


Walling:

After the first Generator is deployed, it's advisable to start the process of walling-in. To perform the build order and wall with no delay can be difficult, but with a little practice this will become second nature. However there is a certain way to wall as Empire, which will be discussed in the Refinery section.

Dojo core(s) Placement:

In a standard Empire build-order, as the Generator core s finished building it’s time to build three consecutive Dojos. Remember: Use the way-point from the MCV whilst the Nano-core is being built to select the desired destination. This ensures that no time is wasted if you are distracted from the build-order and forget to order the core to move, & also shaves off the one second delay cores have when exiting the MCV.

- Dojo #1: The first Dojo should be deployed in a position closest in facing the enemy, but at the same time enough room for your Refinery cores to still get quick access to the ore nodes.

Having a Dojo in this position will allow you to build a Burst Drone and an Imperial Warrior before any Dogs or Bears can camp outside your Dojo to kill any Infantry you may build.


- Dojo #2: The second dojo should be placed up on the central plateau and right next to the Oil Derrick. This is to reduce the ground it takes to reach the Oil Derrick, which in turn reduces the risk to your Engineer.

However, the facing position depends on what faction you are playing against and even if you play against random. Scouting with a Burst Drone from the first Dojo will reveal what faction you're up against. Each positioning will be explained below...
  • In a IPB Image Vs IPB Image Match-up:

    The Dojo should be facing in the direction of the example in the image. The benefits of this placement is that if the enemy tries to camp (or block) the entrance to your Dojo with their own mobile Dojo-core then the path they have to take is longer which in turn buys a few seconds of time in order build some Tank Busters to counter. It’s also quicker access to the mini garrison, should it be needed.

  • In a IPB Image Vs IPB Image or IPB Image Match-up:

    The Dojo should be placed in the same location, the only difference being in that it faces different direction so that the Dogs or Bears cannot hide when trying to lock down your Dojo.

    As such, they will be easy pickings for your Imperial Warriors coming out of the first Dojo.
- Dojo #3: The positioning of the third Dojo also depends on the opponents faction...
  • In a IPB Image Vs IPB Image Match-up:

    Place it near the top of the ramp up to the central plateau as shown in the image.

    Doing so allows for quick preparation of an Infantry force to pressure the Soviet player with while you expand, or plan to push entirely to win.

  • In a IPB Image Vs IPB Image or IPB Image Match-up:

    The third Dojo should be placed at the enemies natural Oil Derrick on the other side of the map.

    The only difference between the match-up between the two factions is that you can send and deploy the Dojo against Empire right away, whereas against Allies you need to build Imperial Warriors to help secure ground control to get the Dojo into that position.

Refinery Core(s):

Once the Generator is up and running then the next step is to build two Refineries, one for each starting ore node. The first Refinery-core that is produced should be deployed at the nearest ore node spot, which in this map will always be the bottom ore node.

Then place the second Refinery core at the ore node in the top. However, when starting to wall-in the Refineries, make sure that your Wall doesn’t block off the shortest path from the MCV to the ore node. This wastes some precious seconds in the opening game and will ultimately delay the Mecha Bay. After the refinery at the top is deployed, the build radius will have extended. Remember to finish walling it up!

An Example of Correct and Incorrect Walling

As seen in the above example, the path the Refinery-core has to make to its destination is quite a bit further when the direct path is blocked. Walling-in this way both allows to you to place the wall hub and build the wall on the opposing side of the Refinery, while also ensuring the fastest possible deployment of the core - the faster the Refinery is up, the sooner your economy is up and running which equates to more money for unit production!

For the other Refinery (the top, or northern-most, one) there's only space to build wall segments across the back of the Refinery.

In order to not delay the Refinery-core destined for that ore-node (not even by a second), only place one wall segment and focus on walling in the other Refinery till you can fully wall-in the top Refinery.


The Mecha-Bay:

The Mecha-bay is the main production structure of the Empire faction, and no matter what strategy used a Mecha bay is nearly always included.

While your Refineries are still deploying, move your MCV and deploy it close enough to a Refinery so that you can deploy the Mecha bay right away. Doing this saves the Nano-core's traveling time whilst also making sure it doesn't take any damage (or become infected by a Terror Drone!).

Having a Mecha-bay so close to at least one of the Refineries will help minimise any damage the Ore-Collector(s) may take and you won’t have to worry about Terror-Drones for that Refinery.


Generator #2:

This extra Generator can either be constructed after the second Refinery, or after the Mecha bay. If it's an Empire mirror-match, then it's advisable to deploy Mecha-bay first before the Generator for quick production of Tengus. In match-ups against the Allies or Soviets, deploy it after your second Refinery.

Deploying the Generator core somewhere far away and out of reach such as in the sea is risky. That said, the benefits from such placement is that it can pay off if the opponent opts for an early-game push or is left with only ground-based units. Sometimes it even be a game-winning decision if it comes down to a race of destroying the last remaining structures in a match.


Third Refinery Core:

Against Allies or Soviets, your early-game push might be effective and your units may still be causing trouble in their base (or keeping them occupied). In such a situation it's advisable to expand your economy by building a 3rd Refinery before your Mecha bay and deploy it in the furthest location in the sea.

However whether you should do this depends on the situation, so it's only recommended for more experienced players as you will only learn whether you should or not from experience. If you’re not experienced, after you build a few Tengus opt to upgrade the Mecha-bay to Tier-2, and then build your third Refinery AFTER the upgrade is complete.

By the time the Mecha-bay is deployed, the main purpose from your Dojos should be accomplished so sell them off for some credits and Imperial Warriors. Depending on the situation (i.e. what information scouting the opponent gives you) it may be desirable to keep the one deployed back in the main base for further use.

Starting out on the opposite location

With a few adjusts on directional positioning, all the information from above is directly applicable to the opposite starting location. Remember to change which direction a structure is facing you need to click both mouse buttons and 'flick' the cursor in the desired direction.

Practice Makes Perfect
Multi-tasking all this at once (and on top of unit/player interaction) can be overwhelming to start with, and will take some practice in order to perform it effectively and efficiently. Load up Infinity Isle in a Skirmish match (alone or against AI, it's up to you) to practice the foundations and then try them out online. All the best & GLHF!