2024 TIBERIAN SUN STRATEGY GUIDE 

 

TIBERIAN SUN ECONOMY MANAGEMENT 

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Micromanagement of economy: Logistics and Micromanagement is just as important as combat in Tiberian Sun. Micro control of Harvesters can change the outcome of a game. If your Harvesters are attacked, return them to base quickly. Use a Carryall to save your Harvesters from the enemy fire if you are GDI or have a GDI ally in a team game.

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Control the Tiberium fields = control the game: Whoever defends and controls the Tiberium patches, will eventually starve the enemy of money, and win the game. (Note: This tactic is for long games on maps that have normal Tiberium Fields, not maps like "Giants of War" that have infinite Tiberium at the enemy's base).

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Blue Tiberium is more valuable: Blue Vinifera Tiberium is worth more money than green Riparius Tiberium. One truckload of Green Riparius Tiberium is worth $700. One truckload of Vinifera Blue Tiberium is worth $1120. (Exactly $420 more) It might be wise to expand your base to Blue Tiberium even if it is not closer to the enemy base. (to control the middle)

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Ref or Silo Destroyed = lose money: If a Tiberium Refinery or Tiberium Silo full of Tiberium is destroyed, you will lose the money inside it, even if you have extra empty Tiberium Refineries or Tiberium Silos. (Make sure to sell full Tiberium Refineries and Tiberium Silos before they are destroyed!)

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Sell Silo = money transfer to other Ref/Silo: If you sell a Silo with money in it, the money transfers to your other Refinerys and Silos.

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Full green tib Ref = $2000: A Tiberium Refinery full of green Tiberium = $2000

 

Full blue tib Ref = $3200: A Tiberium Refinery full of blue Tiberium = $3200

 

Full green tib Silo = $1500: A Tiberium Silo full of green Tiberium = $1500

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Full blue tib Silo = $2400: A Tiberium Silo full of blue Tiberium = $2400

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Combinations of blue/green tib in Ref/Silo = dif. amounts: If a Tiberium Refinery has both blue and green Tiberium in it, then the value of the money inside it will be between $2000 and $3200. If a Tiberium Silo has both blue and green Tiberium inside it, then the value of the money inside that Tiberium Silo will be between $1500 and $2400.

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Sell building with no Ref = keep credits not in Ref/Silo: If you sell a building and have no extra Tiberium Refinery or Silo to transfer the money into, you can still keep the money credits.

 

Carryall Harv to eat enemy tib: You can use your Carryalls to send your Harvesters to your enemy's blue Tiberium to save your own for later and eat up his valuable blue Tiberium faster. (Works great with Harvester Bombs too.)

 

Two lanes between Refs: Leave at least two lanes of traffic between Tiberium Refineries so that the Harvesters do not get jammed up waiting in line.

 

Harvesters eat near the last tib harvested after dump:  Harvesters will automatically return to the area where they last harvested Tiberium after dumping. Over time this can cause the harvester to eat Tiberium that is far away from your base as the Harvester creeps further and further away to eat Tiberium.

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Harv eats north: Harvesters tend to travel north to eat Tiberium. You can place your Tiberium Refinery at the north side of a Tiberium patch to limit the Harvester creeping over time.

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Harvester Pathfinding: Sometimes Harvesters do not listen and take weird routes to Tiberium. If a Tiberium field is on a cliff that is closer to your Tiberium Refinery, the Harvester might drive a long way around the cliff edge to get to that Tiberium patch. Make sure to keep an eye on your Harvesters to make sure they take the shortest routes to Tiberium.If soldiers are in the way, the Harvester might try to drive around them or drive in weird directions to pathfind. If enemy units get in the way of your Harvesters, drive your Harvester very short distances in front of the enemy units towards your destination. You can hold the ALT key and target soldiers to drive in the correct direction too.

 

3+ Harv blue/green Harv dumps = full Ref: Three or more Harvester dumps of blue or green Tiberium should fill up a Refinery or Silo.

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Tiberium fields dictate outbuild strategy: The map placement of Tiberium can change your strategy. Does the map have a lot of Tiberium or little. Try to outbuild to the more valuable blue Tiberium first.

 

Ref/Silo fill in order they were built: Tiberium Refineries and Tiberium Silos fill in the order that they were built. Always try to destroy the enemy's first Tiberium Refinery because it will have more money in it. Scout the enemy fast and try to watch the order in which the enemy builds his Tiberium Refinery so you can steal the one with the most money with Engineers.

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Blue Tiberium = Harv bomb: Vinifera Blue Tiberium is volatile and makes Harvester Bombs more explosive. The enemy might try to kill your valuable Harvesters that are filled with blue Tiberium when they are next to your buildings. Keep an eye on the enemy's Harvesters so that you can do the same thing. (You can not see if an enemy Harvester is full of Blue Tiberium, but you can see if your Harvester is.)

 

Enemy sees how full Silo is = predict economy: If an enemy has full Tiberium Silos, you might be able to predict how much money an opponent might have. If the enemy built two Tiberium Refineries and then one Tiberium Silo, you know the Tiberium Refineries are full if the silo starts filling up. You can not see if a Tiberium Silo is full of blue or green Tiberium, but if you watch the enemy Harvesters, you might be able to know whether green or blue Tiberium is in the enemy Tiberium Silo.

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Sell the easily damaged Silo: Tiberium Silos are easily destroyed. For this reason, (and the economy prediction tactic listed above) many players like to sell them.

 

Outbuild to closer/bigger tib patches first: Obviously, building out to bigger and closer Tiberium patches is a good idea, especially if they are blue Tiberium, which is more valuable.

 

Stopped Harvs: Sometimes your Harvesters will stop. This can happen after they have finished fully eating a Tiberium patch or if a Tiberium Refinery they were using was destroyed. Make sure to watch them and keep them moving.

 

Harv stuck on water edge: Sometimes Harvesters can get stuck next to the water terrain or in other areas. Nod is more affected by this because GDI can simply use a Carryall to move the Harvester somewhere else. Nod just loses a Harvester. In a team game with a GDI ally, you can ask a GDI ally to lift your Harvester with a Carryall. If you have both Nod and GDI technology you can do the same thing. (Note: this might have been patched).

 

Gaurd Tiberium = enemy Harv no eat: You can send tanks, planes or other units to guard Tiberium patches before you outbuild to them. This can keep enemy Harvesters off your Tiberium. Waypoints from your base to outbuild Tiberium locations can help you send units without having to scroll across the map. Set them up early in the game.

 

Build Ref close to Tiberium: Build Tiberium Refineries as close to the patch of Tiberium as possible to limit driving distance of Harvesters and get faster money $$$.

 

Pavement = speedy Harv: Build pavement between your Tiberium Refinery and the Tiberium patch your Harvesters are eating to speed up your economy. Harvesters drive faster on Pavement. 

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Terrain = speedy Harv: Build Tiberium Refinerys near downhill areas, dirt roads, roads, and flat terrain to speed up your Harvesters. If these types of terrain are in between your Tiberium Refinery and the Tiberium patch the Harvester is eating, your economy will build faster.

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Manually control Harvesters: Controlling your Harvesters is very important. This is called micro management of economy. When your Harvester is finished dumping its Tiberium in the Tiberium Refinery, send it to the closest Tiberium Patch, ideally a blue Tiberium patch. This will minimize the distance your Harvesters have to travel to harvest more Tiberium money.

 

Tib around tib tree regenerates: Eat the Tiberium in the 8 cells immediately around a Tiberium Tree. This Tiberium regenerates and makes your Tiberium patches last longer. This is true for both green and blue Tiberium patches.

 

One Harv dumping per item being built: A general rule is that you should have at least one Harvester dumping Tiberium for every item you are building. This is just a general rule. You do not want to run out of money. If you hear a voice say "insufficient funds", all of your items being built will pause. (Example: If you are building 4 things at one time, four or more Harvesters should be dumping in Tiberium Refineries, so you will probably need 8 or more Harvesters so that one is always dumping while the other is harvesting). This is just a general rule. Sometimes in a game you might need more or less Harvesters, depending on build order strategies of you and the enemy,.

(Note: Try to keep more than $100 Credits in your account or you won't be able to build as fast because of “Insufficient Funds”.)

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First Harvs eat enough Tib to place next Ref: In early game, you can send your first Harvesters to eat enough Tiberium so that your second or third Tiberium Refinery can be built right next to the Tiberium. This strategy can allow you to build your Tiberium Refinery even closer to the Tiberium.

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Blue/green tib dump at same speed: Vinifera Blue Tiberium and Riparius Green Tiberium dump in a Tiberium Refinery at the same rate.

 

Full green tib cell = 7 mini harvests, full blue tib = 11: You can quickly eat and run 7 times on a full green Tiberium square, 10-11 on a fully blue Tiberium square. (not sure if this information is helpful)

 

Ice maps have less tib: Tiberium grows best in Temperate climates, this is why ice maps might not usually have as much Tiberium on them.

 

Six full green/blue harvests = full Harvester ($125/$200): Six full green Tiberium patch harvests by a Harvester will fill the Harvester completely with Tiberium.This full green tib square eating = $125 each. Six full blue square patch also fill up the harvester completely, and each one full square eatings of Blue Tiberium = $200 each.

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Guard = Auto eat closest Tib: You can press “G” guard while the Harvester is leaving a Tiberium Refinery to make it eat the closest tiberium. He doesn't pause slightly if you press “G” right as he is leaving the pavement of the Tiberium Refinery.

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Harvester harvest timer for green tib = 8 seconds + drive time: Three full harvests of green Tiberium will fill your Harvester. 
 

• 3 seconds to finish harvesting the first green cell of Tiberium

• 3 seconds to finish harvesting the second green cell of Tiberium

• 2 seconds to finish harvesting the third green cell of Tiberium

• + the time it takes to drive to each new cell of Tiberium.

 

Harvester harvest timer for blue tib = 7-11 seconds + drive time: Blue Tiberium takes longer to fill a harvester, it requires four full harvests:
 

• 2-3 seconds to finish harvesting the first green cell of Tiberium

• 2-3 seconds to finish harvesting the second green cell of Tiberium

• 2-3 seconds to finish harvesting the third green cell of Tiberium

• 1-2 seconds to finish harvesting the fourth green cell of Tiberium

• +  the time it takes to drive to each new cell of Tiberium.

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Tib patch runs out = send harvs to new patch: Move Harvesters to new Tiberium patches when your old patch runs out.

 

Tib patch runs out = outbuild to new one: Build new Tiberium Refineries near new Tiberium patches right before your current Tiberium patch runs out of Tiberium. Send a few Harvesters to the new Tiberium patch before you build your new Tiberium Refinery near the new Tiberium patch, so that your harvester is ready to dump right when your new Tiberium Refinery in the outbuild location is setup.

 

Build Ref between two outbuild locations: If you build a Tiberium Refinery in between your second and third Tiberium patch expansions. Your Tiberium Refinery will be closer to your third Tiberium patch when your second Tiberium patch runs out. Now, you won't need to sell the Tiberium Refinery when your second expansion Tiberium patch runs out.

 

Expand towards the enemy: If you expand your base toward Tiberium patches that are in the direction of the enemy, you might be able to reach the enemy base or enemy Tiberium fields with a EMP Cannon. 

 

Eat 16 tib cells around the 8 regen cells = auto eat regen tib: Eat the 16 Tiberium cells around the 8 regenerating Tiberium cells that surround the Tiberium Tree. Now, you can send one Harvester to only eat the 8 regenerating Tiberium cells and he will ONLY eat those regenerating cells. This happens because one Harvester will not eat all of the regenerating 8 cells before it has to dump its Tiberium. The regenerating cells will regenerate before it dumps and comes back. Two Harvesters might eat all of the regenerating Tib so keep an eye on your harvesters if you send two or more to eat the 8 regenerating Tiberium cells surrounding the Tiberium tree. 

 

Low tib map = less Ref/Harvs per attacks: On low Tiberium maps, more early Harvesters will finish eating a small Tiberium patch faster. This means you will have to build out faster when your Tiberium patch is used up. You can't just make Tiberium Refineries and Harvesters the whole game. You will need to adjust the number of early Harvesters you make and send an attack instead so that you don't eat all of your Tiberium without even attacking the enemy or making defensive units.

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Farther Harv from base = Harv hunted: If your Harvesters are travelling far away from your base, they become likely candidates for Harvester hunting because it takes you longer to get there to defend them. Hunt the enemy Harvesters that are far away from the enemy base so that it takes longer for the enemy to send defensive units or drive the Harvester back to their base.

 

Blue Harvs cut in line before green Harvs: If you only have one Tiberium Refinery and low credits. Sometimes you might want to stop a Harvester with green tiberium from dumping its load in the Tiberium Refinery, if you have a second Harvester with blue Tiberium. (Blue Tiberium = more $$$)

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Fastest money build order /Save money on scouts: The fastest way to get rich is to build one Tiberium Refinery and one War Factory. After this, build more Tiberium Refineries and Harvesters. You can save money on Light Infantry scouts to help fund this build order. This build order works best on large maps that slow down infantry rushes because they have to walk farther to reach your base. This build order requires a large initial Tiberium patch too.

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Ref before Barracks/Hand of Nod: You can build a Tiberium Refinery before building your Barracks or Hand of Nod to start harvesting Tiberium sooner. This tactic works best on large maps where enemy scouts take longer to reach your base. If the map is large enough, you will have time to make anti scouts.

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New Harvs auto eat tib patch: Newly built Harvesters coming out of the War Factory now find Tiberium automatically. In the original game you had to send the newly built Harvesters to eat Tiberium manually.

 

Build War Factory near Tiberium = fast harvest: Newly built Harvesters can reach Tiberium sooner if you build the War Factory near a Tiberium patch. They go to the closest Tiberium so make sure to build your first War Factory close to your first Tiberium patch that you want to start eating.

 

Consider not selling Tiberium Refinerys: Some players prefer not to sell Tiberium Refinerys so that they have more Harvesters dumping at one time, and have Spare Tiberium Refineries in case the enemy destroys one, you have extras left over.

 

Consider selling Tiberium Refinerys: Some players like to sell early Tiberium Refinerys because it gives you $1000 and five Light Infantry when you sell a Tiberium Refinery.

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1, 2, or 3 Harvs per Ref: Theoretically, you would want to have one Tiberium Refinery for every harvester, so none of your Harvesters would ever have to wait in line while other Harvesters are dumping. Some players prefer to sell Tiberium Refineries for cash and have 2-3 Harvesters per Tiberium Refinery.

 

Need cash = sell Ref or other buildings: Sell Refineries or other buildings if you need cash.

 

Harvs on multiple patches: You can send Harvesters to new Tiberium patches early before your first Tiberium patch runs out. This tactic can make your initial Tiberium Patch last longer, and also spreads your Harvesters out so that the enemy can not kill them all in one location with a Mammoth MK2 or Cyborg Commando.

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Need One Ref to eat tib: Your Harvesters will not eat Tiberium unless you have at least one Tiberium Refinery. Make sure to fill your Harvesters or stop a few full spare Harvesters from dumping if you suspect that your last Tiberium Refinery is about to be destroyed and you have no Construction Yard to build a new one. This allows you to dump Tiberium in an ally's Tiberium Refinery if you have a Tiberium Silo or to create blue Harvester bombs before your last Tiberium Refinery is destroyed.

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Dump Tiberium in Ally's Ref = you get money: As long as you have one Tiberium Silo or Tiberium Refinery, you can dump your Harvester in a team mate's Tiberium Refinery and still make money. The money will transfer to your Tiberium Silo or Tiberium Refinery. Your Harvester will not be able to eat more Tiberium if you do not have a Tiberium Refinery, but you can dump any Harvesters that already had Tiberium in them into your Ally's Tiberium Refinery. 

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Harv dumping dies if Ref destroyed: If a Tiberium Refinery is destroyed will a Harvester is dumping, both the Tiberium Refinery and the Harvester will be destroyed. Wait unit a Harvester is Dumping in a Tiberium Refinery before you destroy it and you will destroy both.

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Harv can die while dumping and not destory Ref: If you destroy a Harvester dumping Tiberium in a Tiberium Refinery, the Tiberium Refinery might not be destroyed.

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Block enemy Harvesters: You can slow the enemy's economy by blocking their Tiberium Refinery with walls, Laser Fences, or Gates.

 

Block enemy Tiberium Fields: You can block Tiberium Fields with Walls, Laser Fences, or Gates so that the enemy's Harvester can not reach them.

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To learn more about the Harvester and Tiberium Refinery, make sure to check out the following link:

https://tiberiansunguide.wixsite.com/tiberiansunguide/shared-structures

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