USNC

Basic USNC Tips and Strategies

The UNSC is a mighty powerhouse, and a force to be reckoned with. They boast the availability of some of the most powerful units in the game, and also some very powerful Leader Powers. The UNSC is a bulging mass of force, but you cant just rely on that to win, you need to control, channel and direct that force to the enemy.

Early Game

UNSC early game can be summed up with three words: Warthogs, Warthogs and Warthogs! They are the key to any strategy. Being fast, nimble and cheap they are the perfect early game unit, so straight away; you’re going to want to que up 1-2 of these. Supply Pad or Reactor? SUPPLY PAD! Don’t be fooled by the temptation of extra tech level, because you simply can’t make use of it that early. Sure, having an upagred turret or quick Gunner sounds tempting, but trusts me, it’s not worth it. The Turret is stationary, and has a blind spot, so it won’t protect anything, and 1 Gunner hog is useless.

Your Early Build order should be: SP > Hog > Reactor > Hog > Gunner > Barracks (Or SP if there is no hook)

Now that doesn’t sound like a strong opening, but it is. Even though you’re trying to fund two build que’s on 1 SP, your failing to take into account the supply creates. Use your 3 hogs to collect as many as possible, and you’ll easily have enough resources to fund your operation.

With your Warthogs, clear out the nearby hooks, and run a single Marine to capture them. This will give you a massive eco boost!

Mid Game

You mid game is all about attacking and expanding. UNSC can do both at the same time, so why not go for it? You should have a small army of Warthogs by now, and at least Grenadier. This is your main fighting force. Warthogs are excellent building killers, to use them to clear a base, harass the enemy, and try to take down any of their buildings. Your main objective is to expand, and get Gauss Cannon.

Expand with the hogs, and start to build up a second base safely. To do so, keep pressure on the enemy with your warthogs, and use some other units as counters and back up. Hornets, Tanks and Marines will be your main fighting force at this point in time, but that may not be enough to win, so just keep pressure on them and continue work on your second base.

Late Game

Late game is where the real fun comes in. With Tech Units, Leader Powers and an Army the size of Wales, it’s time to finish the game.

Target expansions first, as these are often less defended, so they will be easy targets. You can even buy them from the enemy once you’ve destroyed them, but with such a large army, there may not be much point.

Don’t under estimate the usefulness of Hooks at this stage in time. These are a high priority, and you should capture them from the enemy when you can.

USNC Leaders

Each Leader in the UNSC needs to be played differently, and the right Leader has to be paired with the right player if you want to avoid losses. So chose wisely.

Forge

Forge is the most direct, and upfront leader to display his sheer power. He is the master of the ground, with special tanks, healing units, and a Leader Power that destroys anything at ground level. He holds the strongest Supply Pads, but this is a double edged sword. They may return a lot of resources, but they are costly to build, so Forge has no earl game eco. But, once he gets going, there’s no stopping him.

Forge is a Power House, that has a mass of money coming in straight away with his Large SP’s, but that’s actually kind of a bad thing. You see, they cost a lot to produce, and to pay for themselves. So Forges economy is weak early game, so you must defend. Once you hit Mid game, its smooth sailing.

Early Game

Turret!

Get a Turret up to start, but build at the opposite end of the turret. Turrets have blind spots, so its important to know where they are, and how to use them. Forge’s base is strong to start, so a very early rush will take a while to destroy a building, so they don’t need protection, what does need protection is buildings being built. So after your turret, place the buildings in the blind spot at first, and then near to the turret. Get two turrets next to each other. This leaves 1 very small blind spot, so its easy to kill enemy forces near it.

Build Order: Turret > SP > SP > Reactor > Barracks

Build another 1-2 Hogs at the start to help collect crates around the map. Playing defensively is pretty bad tactic, but Forge needs to early on, just to get things se up. With a couple Gunner hogs and Marines, start taking Hooks and clearing Bases. Use your Warthogs to stop the enemy getting their Hooks. If they do take them, build 2 Flame Squads, and 1 Marine, and pelican Drop it next to their Hook and capture it right from them.

Mid Game

Forges main goal is to get Tech 3, and a Vehicle Depo. A Vehicle Depo and Tech 3 can pretty much deal with what ever units the enemy has. This is also a good time to expand, as Forge is near unstoppable with two Bases. Check what your enemy is planning, and build the correct units.

Vehicles – Cobras and Scorpions

Air – Wolvs

Infantry – Scorpions

Remember you still have your Barracks, so a few flamers or Marines are an option to help out, and also to diversify your Army.

As your build up your Army, pile on the Pressure for the enemy. Don’t wait until you have a full force before you attack, do it straight away. Drive a couple Tanks to small groups of enemy units, and harass them. Park Cobras at key choke points. Use the Wolves to do hit and runs on their Air Fleets. Just do what ever you can to do damage to the enemy while you build up a force

Late Game

Once you have an Army big enough to handle the enemy, its time to end the game. If you have done well so far, then victory is assured. Roll your Army up to expansions first and take them out, this shouldn’t be Hard. When it comes to their Main base, place your units wisely - Cobras at the back and Tanks at the Front. Remember to take full advantage of the Wolves Volley attack – its best used against Buildings.

Anders

Anders is the tech Queen. Her research costs are drastically reduced, and so is their research time. This makes he a fantastic rushing leader, with a strong mid and late game. Her Leader power lacks…well power, but she makes up for it with her highly tech’d army. Anders Gremlin is seriously powerful, and put a halt to any vehicles.

Anders is a very powerful leader, who relies on speed and aggression to win.

Early Game

Your build order should be: SP>Reactor>(Barracks)>SP

Que up 2 Hogs, a SP and a Reactor as soon as the game starts, and then begin collecting nearby creates. Once your Reactor has finished, upgrade the Hogs with Gunner, and begin to attack the enemy. Your aim is not to win, but to harass, and get them to defend their base. So don’t be afraid of running away if there is even the first sign of defense. Meanwhile, if there is a Hook, build a Barracks and run a Marine squad to it. You may need to help them with the Warthogs. Your enemy will probably go for their hook as well, so try and stop them with your Hogs. Against Covenant, attack their base to draw back their leader, or get them to build early turrets. Against UNSC, just kill the Marine as its running to the Hook. If you enemy captures the hook, you can easily take it with 1 marine and your Hogs. Run the marine into a nearby garrisonable tower to draw the enemy fire, then use the Hogs to take out the enemy in the Hook you’re your using your Hogs to harass, then use a couple Flame Squads to take the Hook.

Mid Game

Once you’ve fought the enemy over map control, your main goal now is to expand, and stop enemy expansions. So, while harassing the enemy, keep making Hogs until you have about 5-6, and then try to expand, and stop your enemy expanding. Your priority is to stop the enemy expanding, so make sure you’ve done that before you try to expand. While doing this, on your main base, get Tech 2, and Upgrade your Hogs. Now, check what units the enemy is building, and build the correct counter.

Air – Hogs and Marines

Infantry – Hogs and Flamers

Vehicles – Gremlins and Hornets (Hornets will be last resort. Gremlins, with maybe a couple Turrets and a Spartan will hold off most Vehicles at this Stage.

As you see, you can counter everything with just a Barracks, and your main base. That’s why the second base is so important, because you need the build que to produce 2x Hogs/Gremlins and upgrade them.

When you’re getting attacked, unless you absolutely need the Hogs, then use them to attack the enemy base. 1, to prevent reinforcements. 2, to bring the enemy back, as Hogs do the most building damage in the game. Once they see their base getting destroyed much faster than yours is, thee enemyl probably retreat back to Base, and give you more time to build up.

Late Game

This is when you end the game. You need Tech 3 to win, and once you have it, Gauss Cannon should be your first upgrade. Your check list should be:

1. Good sized army of Gauss


2. Some counter units, upgraded to level 2-3


3. Reserves Upgrade


4. 2 Bases.

Once you’ve got that, and assuming you didn’t let your enemy do what they want, then its highly unlikely they will win. Attack with counter units, and get your Hogs ripping down their base. The counter units are there to hold back the enemy force; while you’re Hogs do all the work. Don’t worry about losing a lot of Units, because Anders only uses cheap, easily produced units, so you can replace them quickly. By the time you’ve lost a fair few units, it’s likely the enemy would of lost the majority of their base, so you can replace your army much quicker, and go straight back to attacking.

Summary

In conclusion, your main aim is to get 2 bases, total map control and a good size force of Hogs. The whole time harass with what you have at every opportunity!

Cutter

Cutter is a quite riot, and severely underestimated. The Elephant is a good all round unit that can hold off a rush, expand and clear hooks. Combine that with his extra base sockets, and he has a massive eco boost, even more so than Forge! His Leader power is by far the best for the UNSC.

Cutter is the Under dog in UNSC. He is the hardest to master, but he is a very powerful leader when used correctly.

Early Game

The Elephant is a key part of early game, so build one straight away, and que up two Supply Pads. When your Elephant is done, head for a local hook, or stay back to defend if you suspect an early attack. A good way to use the Elephant for defense is to defend a turret. Build an early turret, and then park the elephant near a blank turret while it’s building. This makes it very hard for the enemy to stop you making 2 turrets, and 2 turrets defend an early base well.

Now, get a reactor and upgrade your Sp’s and now use the Elephant to gain map control. Once you’ve got your hooks, head over to an expansion, and with a couple marines or flamer gain the second base.

Another good idea is to get a Spartan or two to help out, and capture early enemy vehicles. If you want to attack the enemy hook, place a Spartan in the hook. Spartans are near invincible in hooks early game.

Mid Game

This is where you decide on your units to build, and to do so, you scout and get the correct counters built. Cutter is a good defender with the Mac blast, because it deals with a fair few units, so its acceptable to invest a little more money into building up, rather than units. But don’t take this as an excuse to build no units at all. Learn the power of the Mac and what it can and cant deal with.

On your second base, build up more resources, units and Tech. Don’t do the typical thing and head straight for ODST, but do make it a goal, unless of course the enemy is massing anti infantry units. ODST are AMAZING!

Remember to keep harassing with the Elephant and other units you have. A good early force is 3-4 Hornets or a couple Scorps, backed up with Spartans. This is an easy and powerful force to get, combined with the Mac, it could be a game ender.

Late Game

If you’ve made it to late game, then you should be near or have ODST. ODST are the game ender is most cases. They can either win the game with their power, or force the enemy to get loads of anti infantry units and defense, meaning you can easily just build some tanks and finish the game.

A good use of ODST is to storm in with a powerful force, and use ODST to replace fallen units, and keep pressure on the enemy. Don’t rely heavily on the ODST unit, although powerful, they die easy, and you quickly run of out money trying to keep up pressure.

Keep your Mac upgraded as high as you can, its super powerful, even with just 1 upgrade!

Keep pressure on with your correct units, and dropping on ODST, and firing Mac Blasts and the enemy will fall.

Written by I FJ I