Well what I could of done is build Nufai, (Grounds Air) and I am wondering if that would counter that Dervish ability with Nufai just grounding them as they start. Just wish I would of thought of it when I had the recourses to pull it off. That and I should have forced my way out of my corner instead of that B line to his base
Fyi i am Kinth
i also have this in my view N vs H was tired when i posted it so dosen't look as fancy as this
This post has been edited by Nakaro: Dec 16 2007, 21:50 PM
It's a pity people are playing ladder. Splits the community imo.
On the topic of the replay, the heirarchy player was far too dependant on walkers. Units might get annihilated by that ability the dervish has but the novus player kept wasting it on walkers and if he'd gone tier 2 mutagens + nufai he could have grounded the dervishes and fairly easily won. Lost one raiding is a good idea, but on such a large map, you need to be prepared for an air or vehicle based opening. Basically you need saucers/defilers and nufai...
What a fantastic response! You posted some strategy! Like I said, devirishes are not overpowered. The hierarchy has a lot of good anti air capability.
Fun stuff. It's pretty cool watching good players adapt and learn within the course of one game.
I'd like to add a guest review, if I may.
Kinth (Hierarchy) at the Southwest vs Samodelkin (Novus) at the Northeast
What starts out as mundane spam turns into brilliant mixed unit tactics and counters. See machine magnets and superweapons brought to bear. Just when you think the battle is out of steam, it has much more to offer.
Both players go relatively heavy econ from the get go, which is a smart move given a larger (4 player) map with more time before you'll see your enemy. Kinth ironically goes for map control very aggressively as Hierarchy while Samodelkin as Novus opts for a slow and steady base creep with no disconnected expansions. A light variant rush catches Kinth unprepared, but having few eggs in one basket, he persists without distraction. Both players explore attacks primarily with just one unit type, Dervishes and Lost Ones respectively, as they take advantage of special abilities en mass. Mid game, Samodelkin seems to have the upper hand, but can a multi-front walker assault or a deep research Hierarchy turn the tide?
Kinth
Nice work with the early land grab. Just be sure you dig in enough to hold it before spreading yourself thin. Land grabbing isn't Hierarchy's forte, so when doing this against a Novus opponent, you'll either need to harass and distract or supplement your base and expansions with some defenses.
As soon as you notice the Dervish-fest, you should begin selecting key locations to defend with Gravitic turrets. Also, upgrade them ASAP (except in battle--they go offline when upgrading). You eventually got around to this, but this is the only hard counter Hierarchy has against air. Spreading out as you did, you can't afford to protect everything immediately, but choose key locations to protect: an Arrival Site, an area with several Reapers, and/or your walkers. If you had captured the abandoned military turrets they would have supplemented your anti-air capabilities tremendously. Even a fully anti-air configured walker struggles with mass Dervishes (though you would have been more effective against them optimizing for range and firing rate instead of damage absorption with the armor pieces). So, consider building upgraded Gravitics (in small clusters, if you can afford it) near your walkers' stomping grounds. Late game, your trust in upgraded Gravitics pays off tremendously.
Don't send a production configured walker into a base if you can help it. Production hard points pop very quickly and don't provide much protection to your vulnerable sockets. If you're going to invest in eight cost optimizers (across two walkers) you should be in serious unit production mode. It takes a good number of units for those hard points to pay for themselves, so consider holding production walkers back until they do so. Be sure to take advantage of all of the unit types a walker can produce (especially if upgraded for production)--a few Grunts with plasma grenades can be surprisingly effective.
Nice work with the early Lost Ones assaults. Going for his Flow Generator was a smart move. Also, phasing out before friendly fire damage from the bombs or the Dervishes showed that you were on your toes.
If you can, focus your Foos (saucers) on one enemy at a time. It's hard with fast moving Dervishes, but your opponent wasn't moving them much during battle. In a 3 vs 12, try to pick off one and then run away. Even if your saucers are caught, you'll have pulled the Dervishes away from your walker and bought time for more upgrades to get built on it.
You're right, Nufai would have been a better choice against mass Dervish Jets. Just be sure he has a bit of backup (doesn't take much), to make the tendrils ability most effective.
Don't run a Reaper away from a Redirection Turret that it's already engaging, just move to minimum attack range and then resume the reap!
Good call using a Science Walker against Redirection Turrets since its beam can't be redirected. However, use range upgrades to attack it from afar, so the turret's own shots can't reach you.
Nice job with the Mass Drop on soft targets. You didn't have the units to pull a combo punch and you maximized the damage with your location choice.
Good try with the late game tech!
Samodelkin
Good job putting the pressure on early. For mid-game, unit diversity would have made you more effective. Just a few vehicles post-rush or infantry would have rounded out your capabilities nicely. When playing Novus, I prefer spidering out a bit more aggressively and starting some expansions. Your Dervish Jets allowed you to exert map-wide dominance even though that game plan doesn't let you get the economic advantage of map control. If instead you are going to try to dig in at your starting location (rather a challenge as Novus vs Hierarchy), you'll need to secure the bottlenecks into your base. If there's any map with defensible starting positions, this is it. From your location, the northern cul-de-sac is a great spot to try to secure, with a good amount of resources and a capturable radar scan (valuable to Novus who can't perform this function with any native abilities).
That early Dervish spin attack was wasted on the phased Lost Ones. If you had a Hacker, you could have kicked the Lost Ones out of phase and made them attackable (bonus points for making them phase into a structure and die). Without a Hacker, go ahead and chase down those Lost Ones. Their phase will soon expire and you'll be able to attack. As it was, the Lost Ones your opponent parked just outside your base came back again and again to bomb you.
Destroy Glyphs as soon as you see them. If you catch it early, you can destroy an expensive walker or superweapon with one shot.
Nice hit and run while waiting for the Dervish spin attack to recharge. Good micro in attacking Gravitics first when you encountered them. However, be prepared for Dervish spam to lose its luster as other players learn to counter it. A good squadron of Dervish Jets will always have its place, but it won't be ubiquitous. To your defense, you quickly diversified your units late game, once your opponent's strategy demanded it.
With a cluster of units, place at least one Inverter into shield mode before battle starts. (You eventually did this, but your first squad was mostly lost). Note that shields (Inverter or Kamal Rex's) won't block certain attacks like the orange Foo globes. Good adaptation to using this technique!
Attack walker crown (upper) hard points instead of legs to kill it quickly, especially when the legs aren't equipped with weapons.
Nice job with the EMP followed by the hard assault combo.
When using your Antimatter Tank's vent core, drive up into the area you're assaulting, so more of the damage will hit your enemy.
Recap
This is a game worth watching. I'd score it about average, relative to recent games I've been in, but still entertaining. Also, there is plenty to learn from this game. Wubbed.
BTW, the "Preview" button doesn't seem to work when composing a reply.
This post has been edited by slab: Dec 17 2007, 01:02 AM
Novus could have won this early if he had hunted reapers/ carvers earlier.
And He didn't use his mobility he kept attacking head on when he could have flew or flowed to the back of the heirachy base with ease and whipped things out.
Novus could have won this early if he had hunted reapers/ carvers earlier.
And He didn't use his mobility he kept attacking head on when he could have flew or flowed to the back of the heirachy base with ease and whipped things out.
In my expirience, if I do this often times I find my whole base wiped out by walkers by the time I return. It kind of depends, but I see what you're saying. May I ask which is your favorite replay involving Novus?
I haven't yet bought the game. I've heard that heirarchy are particularly weak to air units. Other than static defenses and the use of a certain hero what can be done to deal with air units and is it feasible.
This was my first replay with UaW. I thought I'd see much more from the Hierarchy, didn't, saw much more from Novus than expected.
Novus just seemed to really have control of everything from controlling groups to using special abilities. I don't play Novus and can't really say any pros or cons, but seemed to be a good job. I'd recommend this replay for any new Novus player
Hierarchy.. special abilities man. I saw a group of about 12 lost ones sit at the edge of his base and pew, pew, pew building while not phased. Finally phased they ran through the base to drop 3 bombs when the rest had died off from lack of micro'ing the phase ability.
Someone said it and it's true, too much reliance on Walkers.
Fyi i am Kinth
i also have this in my view N vs H was tired when i posted it so dosen't look as fancy as this