Research priorities

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    • Research priorities

      OK, so I know this is a situation dependent question and depends on your country's location and production capabilities and what your allies are doing but do you have a preferred order of priorities for researching? Early game do you stick to the same thing every game?

      e.g. I read somewhere that AA guns should be picked up as soon as possible, officers can wait until mid game and tank destroyers are more important than tanks but don't know if that is good advice. Likewise I read to never research National Guard. Is that true and/or are there any research tracks that you would always avoid/never bother with?

      (This may have been answered in other threads but I couldn't find them - please redirect me if they do)
      " 'Peace?' said Vetinari. 'Ah, yes, defined as a period of time to allow for preparation for the next war.' " Sir Terry Pratchett
    • I have a suite of things I'm learning to research early in public games, and I have a rough order in which I do that research; but ... That research outline I roughly follow would probably be a disaster in an alliance challenge game, or if I wanted to try a different strategy in public games.

      I like to focus on air power; other successful public game players focus on naval strength; other successful public game players focus on ground troops.

      So my answers are, "Yes.", "It depends.", and "I don't really have a mental list of things that I don't research. That would be a much longer list than the list of things that I do research".

      However, I'll bet a nice lunch that you really wanted to either supply more information about your preferred playing-style(s), or ask playing-style questions, before asking these.
    • From my experience playing public games I have a doctrine specific research order.

      For Western Doctrine I go
      1. Naval Infantry (Western Doctrine gives them +3 HP and 10% more speed so they are the fastest infantry in the game at 1.6 move speed)
      2. Infantry Officer (Getting him out by the 2nd or 3rd day in game is huge when 90% of your army is still infantry)
      3. Armored Fighting Vehicles (Western Doctrine gives them +3 HP and research for them unlocks earlier)
      4. Mobile AA or Mobile SAMs (Depends really on what I see my opponents are focusing on, if I even see a Helicopter Gunship I am going Mobile AA, if not then Mobile SAMs)
      5. Air Superiority Fighters (Western Doctrine gives them +10% attack power to aircraft and helicopters making them on par with the Stealth version at max level)
      6. Theater Defense Systems (If the game is going past Day 20 and especially if it hits Day 30 you need these or else you can get wrecked by missiles)
      7. Naval tech ( Combination of either Destroyer and Frigate, Naval Patrol and Subs, Subs and Cruisers or the insane build Naval Patrol and ASW Helicopters)

      For European Doctrine
      1. Mechanized Infantry (The European Doctrine gives them +25% infantry damage and +10% speed making them the best infantry in the game hands down)
      2. Infantry Officer (See above)
      3. Tank Destroyers (European Doctrine gives them +5% damage to Armor and +3 HP making them the best anti air in the game along with Western Attack Helicopters)
      4. Mobile AA Vehicles (European Doctrine gives them +10% damage to helicopters and they cover the weaknesses well for your ground army)
      5. Strike Fighters (European Doctrine gives them +20% HP, they can seriously hold their own against ASF expect maybe against Western Doctrine ones, plus great ground attack)
      6. Theater Defense System (See above)
      7. Naval Tech (See above)

      For Eastern Doctrine
      1. Motorized or Mechanized Infantry (Eastern Doctrine has no really good base line infantry so I pick one depending on if I want offense or defense)
      2. Infantry Officer (See above)
      3. Main Battle Tanks or Armored Fighting Vehicles (Eastern Doctrine does get +5% attack power against armor and 10% speed making them the fastest and hardest hitting against armor but no airlift until Level 6 makes them really slow and why I sometimes pick AFV over them)
      4. Mobile SAMs (Eastern Doctrine gives them +20% damage to aircraft, you'd be crazy to not get these if there's any aircraft threat. Best SAMs in the game)
      5. ASF (they don't get any special aircraft bonuses sadly so ASF it is to cover helicopters)
      6. Theater Defense System (See above)
      7. Naval Tech (See above)
    • I do something completely different from CipherStrike (CS) & Hydralysk (H).

      Both would be unusual opponents to meet in a public game (In my (limited) experience, I've only seen 2 opponents who I think followed similar approaches).

      CS/H's anti-air units would cause me plenty of trouble if I faced them alone after they were able to field those units (on day ___?).

      On the other hand, some of my units would hopefully be effective enough to give me time to adapt if my (presumed) allies couldn't handle CS/H while I went after someone else. One example of that would be that in my recent games, my early ground troops are closer to 50% infantry than they are to 90% infantry.

      I have a successful friend who also takes a radically different path then CS/H. That friend puts naval research at or near the top of his list, not the bottom.

      So, I suggest studying the CS/H outlines above, and then asking yourself if they match the playing style you want to try to make successful, and if you can bring those plans to fruition soon enough in games that last as long as your typical game lasts, and if they will complement the style(s) of player(s) you hope to ally with.

      The answer might be a resounding , "Yes.", or it might be something else.

      Either CS or H would be an interesting opponent (or ally).

      The post was edited 3 times, last by KFGauss ().

    • Of course most of what I listed is if I end up playing a standard pace game, some rounds you have to get creative and I do try out experimental research orders. I would have to say the easiest doctrine in terms of choices is European and Western, while Eastern is kind of pushed to be ground heavy because their strengths are all in weird units.

      Mostly what determines the rate of speed I progress to anti air research is how close is the air threat and how powerful the air threat may be. If I am playing North/South America and the air threat is Europe/Africa/Middle East or Asia then you can delay anti air research. If it's closer to home like a neighboring nation then of course I'd tech it in faster.

      You have to be pretty adaptable with research orders depending on what you are facing or reading in the newspaper. Trying to guess what the opponent may due is risky since if you are wrong you are in a bad spot. My general research order works because it covers basics which is infantry, armor, and anti air. That will get you through the beginning of the game after that it's a counter play game and whoever counters the other more tends to win out
    • I play defensively (well didn't play for a long time) and I prefer mobility. So naturally I research units that can fly day 1 or very soon. I also like to have enough options so I usually want all that have 30 min research time.
      I want airforce, AA and arty.
      I pretty much neglect navy if playing Flashpoint or Euro-Asian country in World map.
      But you can't have everything at start, you have to wage carefully.

      Btw defensive play style requires at least one or preferably two options for alfa strike (arty, airforce or both).
      And then my mobile and defensive units take cities without melee fights and wait in bunkers.
    • You need to have some unit of each category

      so research infantory first
      then strike fighter
      then any ship
      then anti air preferably sam
      then any artillery preferably MRL

      after that you can go for tanks or missiles also tdd in late game.It is also good to have Radar

      Use your 1 research slot for upgrading inf and the second for new units like strike fighters /ships. Once inf is level 6 then you can upgrade other units.

      This advice is for public game where you have unreliable allies. In alliance games you can distribute units research among allies.
      I am the best player of this game that was and ever will be
    • My priority is first research a UAV, have to se whats going on and found that they are better than the mobile radars.
      next research my armour and mechanised infantry.
      then planes
      then ships


      i know my research priorities arent the best but thats what works for me.
      It is the rule in war if you are ten times the enemy's strength - SURROUND THEM
      If five times - ATTACK THEM
      If double, be able to - DIVIDE THEM
      If equal - ENGAGE THEM
      If fewer be able to - EVADE THEM
      If weaker be able to - AVOID THEM
    • strangeworld57 wrote:

      My priority is first research a UAV, have to se whats going on and found that they are better than the mobile radars.
      next research my armour and mechanised infantry.
      then planes
      then ships


      i know my research priorities arent the best but thats what works for me.
      No, ... just, no.
      *** The Creator of Zombie Farming ***
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      "Death comes to us all. Shall I deal you in?" - DoD
    • Dealer of Death wrote:

      strangeworld57 wrote:

      My priority is first research a UAV, have to se whats going on and found that they are better than the mobile radars.
      No, ... just, no.
      DoD - Can you say more about your reasons for liking slow moving units that find dots, so much more than you like UAVs. Neither is perfect, and I can imagine some reasons for preferring either one; but you seem to have caught an exceptionally strong case of Radar Love, so you might know something I don't.
    • KFGauss wrote:

      Dealer of Death wrote:

      strangeworld57 wrote:

      My priority is first research a UAV, have to se whats going on and found that they are better than the mobile radars.
      No, ... just, no.
      DoD - Can you say more about your reasons for liking slow moving units that find dots, so much more than you like UAVs. Neither is perfect, and I can imagine some reasons for preferring either one; but you seem to have caught an exceptionally strong case of Radar Love, so you might know something I don't.
      Because, any player worth his salt has good amounts of as high a level ASFs as possible, making all but the highest level UAVs so much junk as targets.

      The only time I employ UAVs as a serious tool is maxed out

      If you read my thread about UAV incursions, you'd know, even if I'm already at war with 13 countries, one of those slow moving pieces of junk's vision crosses my territory=WAR
      *** The Creator of Zombie Farming ***
      The KING of CoN News!!!
      The "Get off my lawn!" cranky CoN Forums Poster - not affiliated with Dorado in any way


      "Death comes to us all. Shall I deal you in?" - DoD
    • the problem of UAV is that they require to put themselves in danger to actually get reco and they are pretty easy to shoot down.

      I don't mean that they are useless, far from it, and i love them, but against anyone with a bit of knoweldge, drones will not get the slightest bit of information until you can get them to stealth, which is in mid game.

      All SAMs will one shot them with ease, often without letting you enough time to see the troops you were recoing, and of course, even a single ASF will shoot them down without putting any stack at risk.

      They also are pretty easy to avoid with airplanes, and to ensure that the enemy only sees partial information.

      Radars, on the other hands, sure they don't give you what is in the stack, but they give you a general vision of things, how they move, where they are, and how to maneuver at a bigger scale. They do that from a relatively safe distance, which ensure a constant low BUT reliable level of intel on the frontline.

      "My radar tells me if something bad is approaching, and where to reco if i want some more juicy informations".

      UAV only ? Too easy to render 100% blind both in offense and defense.

      Of course, now, taking into consideration that we are (as always) speaking of public games, then of course... no airforce, inactive players, infantry/mbt spam only...

      =========

      On a more general approach, playing without radar reduces significantly the efficiency of all support/air units and make them incredibly vulnerable to all kind of ambushes. It's really not a question of UAV vs Radar, here.
      It's more a question of "Radar then UAV".
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.
    • Opulon - OK & Thanks - Those are the reasons I suspected

      If I extrapolate my current PUBLIC game experiences, my approach would remain UAV before radars, because (so far) the odds of running into an opponent with AA have been very low. I've never needed to build a Radar yet (maybe once, but it wasn't useful? I forget.).

      If I were to encounter an opponent with AA (either in the CoN News or in a battle) who couldn't be attacked by allied ground troops, I would have to scramble to adapt.

      Of course, if I had played 50 public games instead of 7, and if my current experiences had been repeated across all 50, I would be writing this more confidently.

      It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 43 games.

      If I ever join and alliances, I'll need to shed some bad habits. :)

      KFG