TDS vs. SAM opinions

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    • I use TDS to cover 3 cities, SAMs to cover 2, and AA to cover one. I use mobile radar with my MRLS units, not for AA purposes. Overlapping TDS/SAM/AA has the best results for me, rather than stacking in one spot. I like TDS the best because it has nice range. On 2 games, the person I was stuck in a war with, would make a R/W pact with one of my neighbors and fly units through them to try and attack me from (what they perceived) a weaker area. Well his transports flew through the TDS range and never made it to its destination. It took about 10 transports before he realized what was happening.
      "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" -
    • I believe overlapping TDS with TDS has the same effect as overlapping TDS with SAM (as long as the two units are not stationed together). It's just that SAM units are cheaper to produce, while TDS have greater range and effectiveness against missiles.
      Maybe all the games I've been part of have been with bad tacticians, but I've never had an encounter with an enemy who was using air defense units (not using them in a way that messed me up...just using them at all).
      I tend to go TDS/TDS as opposed to TDS/SAM, because TDS is better against missiles, and while most players I've found aren't that into air defense, they LOVE missile combat...
      "The enemy cannot push a button, if you disable his hand."
      Sergeant Zim, Terran Federation
    • You are right, players love missile combat. You start out with AA to counter helicopters, then move up to SAMs to counter missiles and strike fighters, then TDS to counter it all. Opening part of the game, depending on geography requirements of the nation you are playing, I try researching all the units that require a level 1 (Army Base/Air Base), then research 2's and when I am up to level 3's you roll in Naval units (subs, than frigs, than destroyers IMHO). So you are going to produce alot of AA which is good, and they usually wind up leaving one or two in a city, and then one or two with each of my divisions. Since SAMS have a wider range, you can usually cover two cities or three if you put an air field between them all. I will only bring one or two cities up to Level 5 army base, which crank out the TDS 1 per day and a MRLS on the other.

      MRLS, look at the range of the artillery and the sight range (its less), the mobile radar helps it see beyond its sight range to engage the enemy sooner so that it has less of a chance of engaging that unit. Artillery division for me is 3-4 MRLS (or highest researched artillery), 1 mobile radar, 1 SAM, 1 AA, 1 TD, 1 MBT and 1 Spec Forc. It's a slow unit, but having two of those divisions as your "tip of the spear" is deadly. Depending on the enemy unit that may be trying to attack, say 2 armor and 1 inf, you could split the TD, MBT, and SpecForc from the stack to engage and slow the unit down to give the artillery more time to soften it up. Or you could bring in your strike fighters to lob a few CM on the unprotected units.
      "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" -