Strategy:Static Vs Mobile Defense (Supreme Commander)

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Static Defense.

Static Defense is the term used to describe buildings, turrets and stationary artillery batteries such as the Point Defense and Anti Air Flak Cannons. The purpose of these buildings is simply to serve as a first wave defense against invading forces, as well as an early warning system should you not have any spy-planes, air scouts or radars in place. Often times if you build up your static defenses enough, you'll find yourself in a position to defend against even great swarms of enemies. It allows you to turtle up within an enclosed portion of land to build up your forces, or to build up an experimental, strategic nuclear arms silo or a long ranged offensive artillery battery. Considering how fast it is to build a relatively powerful, this gives Static Defense an edge that most commander should never pass up on.

Merits of Static Defense.

• Easily the fastest way to defend your starting base.
• Is powerful enough to kill swaths of enemies before succumbing to destruction.
• Often serves great as a front line of defense against invading armies.
• Also provides a second line of defense should your Mobile Defense be pre-occupied.
• With the proper design you can cover all flanks.

Issues with Static Defense.

• Static Defenses can easily be countered. A T2 gunship or frigate will make short work of a T2 Point Defense Encampment. A T1/T2 Artillery/Missle Launcher or a T2 Frigate will make short work of a T2 Flak Cannon. A T2 Gunship or a T1/T2 Artillery/Missile Launcher will decimate any Torpedo Launchers within range.
• Static Defense can easily be ignored, and simply bypassed. Going around anti air is easy if the design is flawed. Going behind enemy defenses is simple with a couple of transport ships.
• Static Defenses are especially weak against long-ranged projectiles. T3 Artillery is especially useful in battering down heavily turtled bases.
• Even with a good design, if even one hole is punched through your static defense, you're exposed.
• No matter how awesome you consider your defense, there will always be a way to break it. With static defenses, it takes time to rebuild that which was broken.

Suggested Static Defense Buildings and their uses.

• T1 Point Defense - This point defense is crucial in the early game's gold rush. For every mass extraction site that is clearly too far away from your main base, you should leave behind a single T1 Point Defense. This protects it from being claimed by enemy Engineers, and tends to distract enemy units who've come to destroy it long enough for you to react.

• T2 Point Defense - Is the first thing you should build around your entire main base. This will prevent all T2 rushes against you. Even if your enemy manages to bust through your Point Defenses you should by this time have rallied enough units to counter-attack them before they can do some real damage to your economy. It's also a good idea to place one or two of these near every MEX site thats outside of your main base.

• T2 Anti-Air Flak Artillery - Crucial. A lot of people have a love affair with Gunships, and nothing stops them cold in their tracks like a couple of these babies. You will really only need one or two of them to force them to think twice, but you may want to build more if they're particularly persistent. Of course, you should stop building these once you're able to build:

• T2 Heavy Torpedo Launcher - Magnificent if anything gets into it's range. It'll make short work of any silly submarine, and will drop frigates before they can do any real damage. Destroyers are a pest though, since they can easily pick these off with it's extremely long range. Considering this building is cheap though, it wouldn't hurt to build one or two to keep your Naval Bases from being targeted first. Although if you're the UEF, I'd suggest building a bundle of these. You'll need them to maintain naval superiority, especially if you're up against the Aeon.

• T3 Anti Aircraft - Surface to Air Missle Launcher - Definitely one of my favorite static defense buildings. I place one of these everywhere I go. Even in the middle of no where to really catch my enemies off guard. It takes a couple of strategic bombers to counter one of these babies, and even then, your enemy will have wasted a load of mass when you take down one of those very expensive bombers. It also forces your enemy to focus on land battles when he realizes that you've got SAM sites all over the place.

Static Defense Buildings to Avoid.

• T1 Anti Aircraft Turret - While this anti-aircraft building is fairly crucial for the early game gold rushes. Especially if you know that your rival decided to build an airbase instead of a land factory first. You'll find that it's uses are limited due to it's somewhat poor accuracy. Stop building these the moment you get a couple of T2 engineers out.

• T1 Torpedo Launcher - Unless you're playing as the UEF, you may want to avoid this building entirely. It's essentially a very cheap immobile submarine with a few extra hit points. Considering how easy it is to destroy with just a pair of Frigates, it's definitely not worth the cost. I mention UEF as an exception, because the UEF has a rather poor selection of Naval Units in the T1 Bracket.

Mobile Defense.

Mobile Defense is essentially using your units in a defensive role. This can range anywhere from using your Interceptors as your main Anti-Air force, and submarines as your main Anti-Naval force. While this can be very expensive, it is also very flexible, and any resoundingly successful defenses can lead to very powerful offenses. The flexibility of a Mobile Defense proves to be even more useful when a hole is punched through one of your bases' flanks. Unlike static defenses, you can quickly reorganize your troops and send them into the fray to plug up the hole. Did I mention that the Mobile Defense's main attribute is that it allows you to spread vastly faster than static defense? You'll easily be able to take more MEX tiles than an enemy who stops to create a Static Defense building every time he builds a Mass Extractor.

Merits of Mobile Defense.

• Mobility is easily the most important benefit to a Mobile Defense. The ability to move your defenses to where they're needed the most can be game saving.
• T1 Fighters are extremely cost efficient, making them far more useful than their Static Defense Counterparts. (T1 Anti Aircraft) In fact, their usefulness remains until your enemy starts using T3 Air Superiority Fighter Jets in the late game.
• Allows you to spread much faster than a Static Defense.
• Allows you to control more area than a Static Defense.

Issues with Mobile Defense.

• Mobile Defenses tend to be weaker than their Static Defense Counterparts. Many of them also have some significant counter-units.
• Mobile Defenses can be very expensive to maintain if you start taking losses.
• Some units such as a T3 Air-Superiority Fighter can take a very long time to build, so if you find yourself running short, you may find yourself defenseless very fast.

Suggested Mobile Defense Units and their uses.

• T1 Land Scout - With a radar as good as this, they're definitely the main support unit that every base and MEX site should have. It certainly saves you from having to waste time and valuable energy to build a T1 Radar station. Best of all, even if they become obselete with the T3 Radar, you can use them as a suicide scout unit to test your enemies land defenses and save on some Spy Planes!

• T1 Interceptor - Easily the best defense unit in the game, even more so than any of the Static Defenses. The reason is because it essentially shuts down all air travel over your main base for the duration of the entire early and mid game. They're fast, effective and most of all, cheap. So drop all of your leftover T1 engineers on the Airbase set to continuous interceptor building, and enjoy having safe skies for the majority of the game.

• T1 Mobile Light Artillery - Especially if you're the UEF, the Mobile Light Artillery should be included in every land force. They are the perfect support unit for Heavy Tanks and Assault Bots, and they're even more invaluable as Land Defense units thanks to their great range and splash damage. Use them for defense. You'll love them.

• T2 Mobile Anti Aircraft Flak Artillery - These beauties are life savers if you find yourself short of interceptors. Just one or two of these will make short work of a pack of Gunships that're terrorizing your MEX sites. I personally make it a habit to always have one of these guys at every MEX site specifically for the purpose of preventing Gunship raids from doing any damage. Interceptors are fast, but they can't be everywhere at once, especially if they get caught up chasing a bomber half way across the map.

• T2 Engineer - I bet you're saying "HUH!?" when I mention this as a powerful mobile defensive unit. However these suckers can sneak in the occasional Point Defense or Flak Cannon in the middle of a heated battle between two large forces. Just make sure to bring two or three of these suckers to make the building process go fast enough for it to be actually effective. Even against T3 units, you can turn the tide of a battle with a well placed Point Defense. Just don't try using them in your invasion force. They're too slow for that.

• T2 Heavy Tank - One or two at every MEX site should suffice. It won't stop a huge assault force, but it will at the very least prevent any interloping raiding squads from stealing an invaluable T3 Mass Extractor. Just make sure to back them up with a few T1 Light Artillery Units or a Point Defense Building.

• T3 Siege Assault Bot - These guys are heavenly defenders against everything except Air Units. They take a great deal of punishment, so even if they can't kill off an invading force, they can at the very least soak up enough damage to allow you to react with the rest of your mobile defense force. Put at least three on every MEX site, and you should feel secure against most land and sea invasions.

Mobile Defense Units to Avoid.

• T1 Mobile Anti-Air Gun - I think this unit is terrible for all three factions. They do bad damage, and frankly they have the worst accuracy of any gun in the game, including the Frigates Anti-Aircraft Gun. I only use these if I'm in a serious pinch against a raid of Gunships.

This article was written by, --Dairuka 08:10, 7 January 2008 (PST)

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