Core is so lame that Arm is for pussies
By Nemir
Core is lame.
In a Core Contingency game Arm have supremacy in every aspect of the game. Please assume for the moment I am talking of pre-Fark Total Annihilation. So Immolators, Fleas, and mobile missile defence are all a part of the game I am discussing, but not Farks nor Necros.
Before we start our dissertation, let us point out that Arm Commander and Arm Construction Units move faster. This means that they get out to metal and dig in with defences a little quicker than Core. This in turn means that Arm get a little more than 50% of the map's metal, which should be plenty enough to control the game.
You are obviously very aware of the superior raiding power the Flash gives Arm. That pressures Core into having to defend expansion much more, keeping their expansion much slower than Arm's. Again, more pressure on Core as they fall behind in the race for vital resources.
Once Core is on the back foot, you should find it relatively easy to take two thirds of the map. From there, the destruction of your enemy is academic. Simply outweigh them with strength of numbers.
Back that up with Big Bertha fire raining down on their limited territory and the game will be over very quickly.
What is more, there is almost no reason for Arm to build an Advanced Vehicle Plant. The Construction Kbots are almost as strong in terms of nanolather strength with more manoeuvrability and longer nano reach. This means more can fit around things and so help build units faster.
Nothing else of major significance comes out of the Advanced Vehicle Plant except perhaps the Mobile Missile Defence Unit, the Scarab.
If an Arm ground force meets a Core ground force of equal metal strength the Core ground force is almost always going to get toasted very, very quickly. It seems a given for level 1 units, but let me explain a little about the level two units that you may fear so much as an Arm player.
One Goliath costs 697 metal. 1 Sumo costs 844 metal. Goliath does 130 damage per second. A Sumo does 276 damage per second. A Maverick costs 492 metal. It does 400 damage per second.
Just to give you an idea, a Commander has 3000 hit points. If the Maverick gets D-gunned, but is lagged for just one second (very common in large battles to be lagged for at least three seconds) and got two seconds of shooting at the Commander, then that Commander has lost a third of his health, and that is to only one unit! Imagine what it would be if there were another three of them.
The other thing about Goliaths and Sumos is that they can miss much more frequently than Arm units seem to, as well. So while your pack of six Mavericks may meet 4 Goliaths, the Goliaths are likely to shoot each other trying to hit the Mavericks. Sumos do better, but they are so expensive that they are even more outnumbered. And all this takes place in a battle assuming even metal for both sides. Please remember that the Arm player by this stage should have heaps more metal than the Core player.
In a long range plasma duel, Arm wins 9997 out of 10000 unless the Core player has been smart enough to figure out where to place his Intimidator so it is out of range of the Arm’s Big Bertha. Only then will it be able to win, for only then will it be given enough time to hit the Big Bertha at all It’s accuracy sucks so much that I have seen many games where the Intimidator gets up and starts shooting before the Big Bertha is started and the Bertha still wins the duel. This is when the Intimidator spots and targets the Big Bertha from the time it is only 10% complete too.
In the air, Core has Rapiers, which do truly rock. However, they are vulnerable to air defence and ripped to shreds by Hawks. For that matter, Vamps are taken apart by Hawks too. It isn't pretty for the poor Core player, but it rocks if you are the Arm player. Simply by virtue of the Hawk supremacy, Arm own the air.
In the sea, it was a different story. I believe that Core really have a stronger navy than the Arm. Their boats just seem to be a little tougher and survive a little better than the Arm equivalents. After Core Contingency was released, there were two units that completely trashed this plan, though. Pelicans took over the surface of the water. Very little hits them properly, and they do quite a bit of damage in return, not only to ground, but to air units as well with their missile turrets. And under the surface, the fibber is a cruel, cruel creation. It renders submarines virtually invulnerable. Thus Arm have taken control of the sea too.
Therefore....
Arm is for pussies.
There is almost no challenge in winning a game with arm against a Core opponent. The only time a Core opponent has a chance is on a metal map. And only then if Farks are not involved, as metal maps are not a fight for territory they are simply about who can create and spend the most metal.
All Arm has to build are Vehicles for Flash and later Samsons, Kbots for Rockos, Advanced Kbots for Pelicans and/or Mavericks. There is no thought and no strategy in pretty much any of that.
To get any satisfaction out of winning a game of TA in an Arm versus Core war, either you have to win as Core or else give yourself lots of slight penalties (like playing with no more than four Mavericks or Pelicans at one time or something. I don’t know what you could do about it really; just something to make it even.)
The win/loss ratios of players with records in both Core and Arm on Boneyards back up my suggestions. Core ratios were always between 10% and 30% worse off than the Arm ratios.
Anyway, I think I am about done.
Chau
Nemir.
You can visit Nemir's great site, which includes a complete Total Annihilation Unit Database, here.
The article was taken from this thread.
