Topography affects the outcome of battle greatly. Sometimes you can plan to use
the lay of the land to your advantage (or at least against your opponent), and sometimes
you must adjust while the battle rages.
- Fleeing troops could be a trap
- Choose a target based on the greatest returns
Killing small groups of units with a large army is generally worth it. You need
to be careful though; sometimes your opponent may use a small group of units as
a ruse to lay an ambush, delay your army briefly, or to lead your creatures away
from better targets. Using your army to destroy an undefended enemy lab is a lot
better use of time and resources than chasing down some fleeing Cheetah-Scorpions.
High ground is good
The design of a particular map can be used to your advantage in combat. High ground
gives an attack bonus to direct range and artillery units, so place these units
(either when attacking or in defense) on high approaches. Choke points are really
good places to defend since you will be able to engage portions of the enemy army
at a time when you cannot be flanked. Use flying units in rugged and winding terrain
as they can easily engage their targets while other unit types would have difficulty.
Flying units also have the ability to avoid chokepoints and quickly move to any
part of the map to support and attack or defend a location.
Tailor your army to the map
Tailoring an army to a given map is your best chance of success. The amount of resources
on a map can play a crucial role when creating an effective army. A map with limited
geysers tends to mean you are harvesting less Electricity, thus slowing down high-cost
research for leveling up. A way to keep your level times fast on a map with minimal
geysers is to create creatures that have a limited number of abilities and thus
use very little Electricity. When your creatures have fewer abilities they will
cost a smaller amount of Electricity, and you can use that surplus to speed up your
level research times.
As distance and the number of possible spots where your enemy is located increase,
so does your possibility of “booming.” Having higher level creatures is preferable
on maps that encourage “booming” because it is possible to speed past the early
levels quickly and then pump out your deadliest creatures.
The routes to the enemy base and the number of expansions can also determine what
type of creatures you want to build. On the Red Beach map, amphibian creatures only
travel half the distance of a creature on land to reach the enemy base because they
can swim across a channel that separates you from the enemy base. This has some
major strategic implications! So look at the map and determine what type of creatures
will be the most mobile!
