Galactic Battlegrounds Tactical trainaing Manual Part 1

Exploration:

Exploring is the most vital part of any GB game. The importance of knowing the terrain and the outlay of the map is your key to success. In this tutorial I will demonstrate the basics you need to form a functional Expo game-play that will suit your needs.

Scouting and observation posts:

When you have decided to explore the map, and I must incline you do it rather quickly or you risk loosing the initiative, the first priority is to find the opponents base of operations.

To best way to achieve that is to send the speeder you always start the round with.

When you have found your future victims base you should immediately scout his perimeter then send the speeder crisscrossing the map in search for patches of extractable minerals, jedi holocrons and suitable locations to extract hard point defences.

How to setup hard point defences I will tell you in a later chapter.

Setting up Observation posts in a ring around you opponents base is vital since it will give you an early warning shall he attempt to march. Also post OP stations in 2 rings outside your own base for last moment warnings. Place the Ops on strategic places depending on the map at hand.

I can not begin to empathise on the important of good recon and observation posts all over the map, I rather see you use to many than to few. Also build 3-4 recon crafts and have then continually patrol the perimeters and vital access points on the map

When you see what he does before he does it then you know you have done enough.

Also some races have the spy ability

Get it ASAP if you can, after that you cant loose

What to gather first:

The primary thing you need to get is food and carbon, with these resources you can build all the basic structures, research the basic technology and build the basic troops and mechas.

When you have gotten that gathering production started you should immediately go to extract Nova crystals and fortify your outlying extraction points. Ore is fundamental BUT it is mainly used for building defensive so it is not top priority but nonetheless important since you do want to build walls and towers later on, believe me. ;)

The best way to mine a site is to build the gathering station about 3 squares from the patch and then mine it with about 5-7 workers depending on the size of the patch. More will only make them get in each others way, to few and you don’t mine enough.

What you are supposed to do with your newly acquired riches is a matter for later study.

How to secure mining posts:

When you have setup your mining post the best way to protect it against enemy attacks is to wall it in, make the walls as tight as possible to the mining station and put 1 laser tower in each corner and one anti air missile tower. There is no real need to make a gate if you do not want to since leavening the mining post is counter productive, loosening the mining post to

an enemy attack is nearly not as bad as it sounds. First it will take him time to overrun your walls and he will loose troops in the process, and you will have extra time to gather just a little bit more, and if lucky maybe even rush there with reinforcements and crush him against your own walls and turrets. When the mineral is out simply walk away and do it again on the next patch etc.

There is many ways to form a perimeter defence for a extraction site.

Standard square form defence is when you build your walls equal long on every side with one long side facing your opponents likely approach vector.

This shape is best if you plan on using the base for a outpost and minor troop garrison too.

The towers are dispersed evenly along the walls and at least 1 gate is required

Another way is diamond layout.

This is good when you plan on not holding the base for more then actual mining. A tower in each corner and a missile tower in the centre is enough to defend this. The diamond layout is the least used and best served when your back is against a mountain or lake.

The final version is the circle layout.

You only use this if your base is in grave risk and far from your troops. It lets you defend all sides without any lack of sight or defence. Disperse the towers evenly along the wall and have one missile tower in the middle, maybe even two. Also a fort should be placed inside the perimeter with siege cannons deployed as well.

This concludes the first part of the Tactical guide

LTCM SoulFlayer

Galactic battlegrounds Tactical guide part 2

By CPT SoulFlayer

Units

as you know there are several units in this game that are the same for all races so i will write a general guide then smaller subsections for each race. First off is the general unit.

Soldiers:

Troopers: basic infantry, good against other infantry and light mechas, uselsss againt heavier mechas and buildings. Make sure to have atleast a standing force of grunts non the less because you can use them to garrison turrets and fortress when the need arives. updateing them to repeater troopers is a must for them to have any use what so ever.

Anti air trooper: as the name says it is good for only 1 thing, and not even that it does very well, use this unit only if you are low on resources andthen only in groups of 10 or more since it takes that many Heavy AA troopers to shoot doen a fighter with 1 salvo, 2 salvos for bombers. notice that their missiles aint homing so if the intended target dies the rest of the salvo wont hit a thing even though there are other flyers nearby.

Grednadiers: probobly the least uysed trooper in the game, it shoots other troopers fairly well and can do some decent damage to light mechas, useless in any other meaning. use only as base defence and in huge groups. got good range though.

Mounted troops: good against other troops and mechas. uses a flame thrower that has no range what so ever, vulnerable while they are getting to the site of the combat, but while there they can wreck huge damage and they do have good armor.

Mech factory units:

These units form the backbone of your army, use them well and you wont loose the fight.

Scout: good for only what it names says, it is fast but lacks virtually any armament or armor worth mentoining. notice however that it can be used to harass your oppononets explorations bases and mineral centers. packs the same weapons as a lv.2 trooper and the same armor.

Anti person Mech: quite good mech actually, does some serious damage to soldiers and can take alot of punishment for their guns, not very good against other mechs but they can be a threat since they can take some capital beating although they cant make much damage. useless against buildings.

Anti mech mech: good against any other mechanical units, be it other mech or hvy weapons or boats. it got decent range, can take alot of damage and give ample back in return.

This mech can beused against turrets too since it has very good hwy armor. lacks the rnage to be good vs boats. costs only food and carbon wich also is a plus. the most used allround mech in the game and a personal favourite of mine. some races has 2 guns on their mech, but dont be fooled, they all do the same damage.

assult mech: the walking/rolling titan of the game, has huge amout of health, tuff armor and one **** of a gun/guns. the only downside is that it is SLOW and it costs alot. but 10 of these can take down a base in no time. only anti mech mechs can huts this behemoth, (or other assult mechs ofcourse) this mech has blast area on its shot and it can go through more then one unit per shot, making it able to take out 15-20 troopers per blast. It is also the ideal housewrecker since it makes full damage to buildings aswell, best turret killer there is. it suffers from poor rate of fire and beeing so expensive though.

Hwy Weapons units:

These units are your artillery, use them with care and they wont let you down, but remember, they are slow and lack any CQC weapons.

Pummel: this is your future battering ram, use these to knock down walls and turrets, fortress or other dangeround instalations. they lack any kind of weapons save for their pummel and that can kill units too but it is not recomended. their laser armour makes them impervious to ANY blaster based weapons. the only way to kill a pummel is by anti mech units or Jedi/sith knights. Extremely slow moving hampers it effectivity over long ranges

Artillery: Does what the name says, good against units of all types, moderate against buildings and hwy armoured installations. slow and vulnerable around the clock. has a minimum distance to shoot.

Anti air Mech: a Much better chouce then the trooper, but costs more. the choice is up to you.

Flying units:

As the name says they fly ;) they are mostly fast, aint slowed by the terrain and their only weakness is that they cant take a slingshot worth of damage before they go down.

Fighter: good allround plane, shoots down eacother like flies. 1 hit is enough to kill them from another fighter or hwy anti air mech/ship. these units are fast and can be great to

Bomber: ground killer, slow and vulnerable to air attacks, best used to kill of blaster turrets and mechs. when you can bomb the buildigns opf a base you have already won.

Transpots, slow and unarmed, can carry your units acros the battlefield.

Naval units:

these units travel the sea, has some decent firepower and heavy armor. good for coastalö dominance.

fishing boat: can fish on the patches. unarmed

Frigate: completely worthless little ship, can only shoot ground at a short range.

Destroyer: the equalent of the anti mech mech but for naval units. decent range and fire power.

Cruiser: hwy bombardment ship, great range and supreme friepower, good for base killing from a range. has aminimum shooting distance though, expensive and slow

Anti air ship: best anti air unit there is, unarmed for ground fights.

transport ship, equialent of the flyer but for water

Pummel ship; same as on land but for water, can pummel things on the coasal lines too, if they are REALLY close to the water.

Misc units:

Worker: your builder and lifeblood, gahters resources, protect them at all costs.

Medic: heals soldiers

Jedi/sith: good melee units, great blaster defence, good for killing everything ;) only ones that can get the holocrons.

Jedi/sith master: mages of the game, as good in melee as the knight, but got loads of magics too, Turning enemy unit/structure beeing the best.

Deplyable cannon: staiton bombardment cannon, good for walls and non moving object only, can be packed up and moved if needed. does not shoot automatically on anmything in range. built in the fortress.

Racial special units:

Empire:

Has probe droids, liek a scouting hwy trooper, fast and agile. also has Drak trooper as special unit, built in the fortress. like a upgraded stormtrooper, mostly useless.

Rebels:

has the speeder from episode 5, cheap and fast allaround fighter, better then your regular fighter, Also has bothan spynet. what your opponent sees you see. CHEATING!!!! ;)

Trade federation:

has Destroyermech from episode 1, best killer in the game period. also has better Trade functions then other races.

Gungans:

Mesa show yousa whos da boss! has the waling sheild dino from EP1, sweet ;) also their workers can swim and funtion as fishing boats too. (my fav race)

Wookies:

their units have a few more HP then the other races. have berserkers. melee fighters that can take any trooper and turn him to shreds, can go toe to toe with a jedi and have a decent chance of walking away. great housecleanrs too, can dismantle anything in a few seconds.

Royal Naboo:

Crusaders, fast Close quarter Guys that can tear a building down in notime, totally useless in any other fashion, plus is that they have sheilds when upgraded.

This concludes the second part

By LTCM SoiulFlayer

Galactic Battlegrounds Tactical trainaing Manual Part 3

In this Part i will adress generall hints and tips:

Base layouts:

One of the most important thing you can think of when you play Galactic Battlegrounds is to organise your base properly,

Having your base look like an anthill is both confusing for you and harder to defend.

My advice on how to shape your base you can break down into 3 steps.

First: Scout the area, (since you ALWAYS start with a scout unit this aint no problem) and check from where your base is

accessible and where to best lay down your defences (lay them quite a bit away so you have room to expand and they cant stand at the wall lobbing nasty things at you) and then judge what routes it is mopst likly that he will attack from.

Secondly: Erect a perimiter defence (very basic) and then start building your houses acordingly, keeping all the non productive houses AWAY from the front.

Third: Build in straight lines. think of your base as to overlook a grid, since ALL houses are indeed Square this will make you use the maximum amount of aviable space, remember not to build TO tight since you want them to be able to walk back and forth.

Buildings:

What you need to think about when you build your base is that it has to be nible and efficient. it doesn't matter if it is large as long as you got all angles coverd. my advice on WHAT to build is as follows

2 Warcenters

2 Reseach centers

3 barracks

3 mech factories

3 heavy weapons factories

1-6 airbases depending on how much you plan to use them.

Then you bild additional shelters to fit your population.

Also never build close to your Command center, it should be surronded by 2 rows of farms. atleast.

ok, this may sound much but you are not ment to have this in the blink of an eye, but when you end the game (hopefully by winning) you should have something like this, you can have more ofcourse if you feel the need for it and less, if you know you will never use soldiers then 1 barrack is enough (you might want this to build last minute defence while waiting for the heavy folks to come home).

Why should you have these many houses you ask? well i know you build units very fast in this game so your question is valid, well think like this. when he has built 1 mech to reinforce his army, you have built 3, when he can research 1 upgrade at a time you can do 2, ofcourse this requiers that you have the income to match this. duuuh ;)

Resources:

Remember that resources is the key to EVERYTHING in GB. primarly you need carbon and food. so always build the carbon centers close to the woods and build new ones as your workers have to harvest it further and further away. minimum of 20 carbon gatherers.

when it comes to food always try and use the fishing spots there is since it gives the best food around (we all love smoked Salmon) and have atleast 15 farms around your CC.

When it comes to Ore and Nova, this might sound crazy but mine the nova/ore furthest away first. ok it is risky, but he who nothing dares..... this will result in that when he has mined all his nova close to his base you have mined the next logical expansion step for him and still you have the patches within your base left to use at the end of the game, This tactic has won me quite a few battles.

Army:

A common missconception when playing these type of games is that numbers is all. Belive me when i say that is NOT so. the key to win is to use the right unit against your opponent, Bashing it out with a multitude of fighters IS fun but you will take looses, maybe even be over runned. So for example try and lure him towards your towers or support units, you catch the idea soon enough.

Also the heaviest is not always the best, many spend HUGE amount of resources to build those nice 20 heavy assult mechs, well let them. you will win all the more easy since mech destroyers can kill them quite easy if deployed correctly, also air etc etc, you know it here too sooner or later. So if you now DO plan to use 20 mechs to kick some serious but remember to ALWAYS bring in additional support, such as a wing of fighters guarding just out of sigt (back to the lure tactic again) or anti air troopers etc etc.

Surprise:

Remember that a clever rouse might hand you the victory very easy, say that you attack with a small force somewhere, the logical response is to rush there with all your might and crush the weak army, well then the REAL attack comes from behind, you will not kill his army, but you might just have enough time to do some serious structural damage.

Remember that Fresh intel is the key to victory, scout his base, and scout it often, it might cost you a fighters or two, but you will know the placement of his turrets

This concludes the 3rd part of the Tactical Guide

LTCM SoulFlayer