2024 TIBERIAN SUN VETERAN BALANCE STRATEGY GUIDE

 

 

 

RANDOM TACTICS AND STRATEGIES

 

 

The 2025 Tiberian Sun Strategy Guide was created to share some of the differences in the game when you choose a Veteran Balance Map. (It will say VET BAL in the map name.)

 

Many of the tricks or glitches in this guide might not be used much in competitive gameplay, but knowing tactical glitches can sometimes be useful in certain situations. When those situations arise, knowing a glitch or an obscure and rarely used tactic could change the momentum of a game, or even win it.

 

Let this guide serve as reference so you don't have to remember everything to jump right back into the game and play with the best players in the world.

 

Tiberian Sun Cash Tournaments and Cash games happen every day on CNCNET.ORG.

Choose your battles and opponents wisely if you are playing in cash tournaments, Commander. $$$

 

Before game checklist: Before every game, you should check a few things before starting.....check the map, check the game settings to see if they are “pro-settings”, check to see if the map is auto-ally, check who you are playing against, check the map for VET BAL, which means Veteran Balance is on that map, ask the host what the game rules are.

 

Press ALT+TAB to tab out of the game to accomplish something on your computer in an emergency.(like turning off internet videos and movies during a game)

 

Press TAB during a game to see the names of the players in the game, and the kill count.

 

There are 4 types of armor a unit can have. (Wood, Light, Heavy, Concrete) Each type of armor responds differently to different types of enemy fire. This armor type will affect the hit points it takes to destroy a unit. This is the reason (among other reasons) why the hitpoint chart was created.

 

Try to conserve units. After an attack, bring back expensive units to your base and heal them to keep them alive longer, possibly getting upgrades after they get enough kills.

 

Waypointed quick units inside your base make it harder for a Carryall to land. All the units moving under the landing zone can force the Carryall to land elsewhere.

 

All ranges of units and structures are Oval in shape (Example: The Stealth Generator) This means that every single unit has a longer range if you attack a building from the East or West, your units will be in range to attack a building sooner by doing this.

 

Set WP early: To save time later in the game, set Waypoint loops on the enemy base at the beginning of the game. Put them at the edges of their base in a confusing pattern, so it will be harder to know where the underground decoy units will surface next. (Or setting Waypoints for Carryall attacks or planes, or really anything involving a waypoint or waypoint loop.

 

Lure shoot through building: You can use infantry, tanks, or planes to lure a disrupter, devil tongue, ghost stalker, or mammoth Mk2 into attacking a building. If you walk behind the building within range of those vehicles, they will shoot at your units through their own building.

 

Stack plane sell deployed tank: You can stack planes on your deployed tanks and if you try to move the deployed tank, it will disappear under the plane and sell the deployed vehicle.

 

GDI can sell vehicles on the Service Depot for extra cash.

 

Send Stacked subs straight: Send stacked underground units straight to the enemy so hopefully they stay that way until arrival.

 

Nod can sell deployed vehicles when you stack a plane on the deployed vehicle and then try to move that deployed vehicle out from under the stacked plane, the vehicle will disappear, and you will get half your money back. (Example: Deploy Tick Tank, Stack Harpy on it, when you move tick tank it disappears and you get $400)

 

You can hide a stacked planes inside of bigger tanks like the Devil Tongue, or Mammoth MK2. The Orca Carryall and the Harpy hide the best because they are smaller.

 

Lift stuck harvs: If your tanks or harvesters get stuck on the map, send a Carryall to lift them and put them somewhere else. Obviously, this only works with GDI, because Nod does not have Carryalls.

 

CTRL fire stacked face same way: Control fire stacked tanks of the ground to get the vehicles to line up better and look more like 1 vehicle.

 

There are 4 possible game scenarios...

Nod vs Nod, Nod vs Gdi, Gdi vs Nod, and Gdi vs Gdi.

Each scenario is different. Each scenario might require different build orders. For example, if you are vs GDI, spread your buildings out so a Disrupter cant kill more than one building at once. This is not as important vs nod.

 

Keep APCs still when you are loading soldiers into them. If you move the APC after you send infantry into it, the infantry will walk to where the APC used to be and not enter it at the new location.

 

Setting Main buildings: Double left mouse click on a production facility to make it your main one. All the units will come out of that main factory. The one exception is if a tank is already coming out of a War Factory, your next tank will spawn from a different War Factory. When you set your MCV as a primary MCV, you can use the keyboard command H=Home to center the map view on it quickly.

 

Number defensive structures: Base defenses like the Laser, Sam Site, RPG Upgrade, Vulcan Cannon Upgrade, and Sam Upgrade can all be selected and target units. If you number your defensive buildings, they all need to be in range to for any of them to shoot the enemy unit you targeted. If one of them is out of range, none will shoot. (Aimable Sams in the game options allows you to manually target with sams, otherwise you can't).

 

Fake building highlight to attack: A random unit targeting a building can be used for any fake out attack, including Fake Out Engineer Force Sell Building attack.

 

1 sam vs GDI minimum: Fly a Carryall over the enemy base picking off units, if the enemy does not have one sam. Always make at least one sam for this reason.

 

Anti air CTRL returns if too far: If an anti-air unit is on CNTL+ALT waypoint defense and he starts chasing a plane, he will return to the waypoint loop if the plane flies too far away.

 

If you CNTL+ALT follow your Carryall, it will get distracted by enemy units nearby and attack them. After destroying the enemy unit, your units will continue to follow your Carryall (or plane).

 

You can CNTL+ALT follow a Carryall (or any plane) with backup reinforcements. Fast vehicles are best for this because they can keep up with the Carryall. (Attack Cycles and HoverMRLS)

 

 

MORE RANDOM TIPS:

 

Scout the map and enemy base as soon as possible. One infantry can scout the entire map if you Que him enough times. You need to see the enemy base, so you know what to build to defend the attacks he is about to send.

 

Defense can be better than offense: if you have to choose between pulling your attack off and defending your base. Setting the hotkeys for set bookmark 1 and view bookmark 1 can help you see the enemy base with one hotkey. This will help you attack and defend at the same time, minimizing scroll time across the map. (Really helpful on large maps)

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Offense can be better than defense: Attacking forces the enemy to make defenses and not attacking units as much, so it can be a kind of defense.

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Attacking and putting pressure on the enemy can keep them from attacking you. They are too worried about defending your attacks to try to send their attack.

 

Try to prevent your base being scouted as long as possible. This makes sneaky attacks easier if the enemy cant see what you are building.

 

All Super Weapons shoot in fog: (Ion Cannon, Chemical Missile, Multi Missile, Drop Pods, Hunter Seeker can destroy targets veiled in the fog of war.)

 

Sell buildings for cash if you need it. (Refinery, Radar, Tech Center, Temple of Nod, etc...) Just make sure you dont need that building anymore because you unlocked its technology already. (Example: Sell radar after you have a war factory and component tower)

 

Power down buildings to save power if you have low power. Powering down buildings can save time in your build order. (Instead of having to waste money on more power plants)

 

Get rich as fast as possible so you can spam more units. Once you are rich enough spam all four categories simultaneously. (Infantry, Vehicles, Planes, New Buildings)

 

Always be building, Never stop building, Even when you are attacking, be building something.

A refinery is a great building to make while attacking.

 

Long game is about Tiberium control. Control the Tiberium Fields and you control the money.

 

Draw the enemy out of their base with distractions to weaken your enemys base defense.

 

Mix up units, they work better as a team. Each unit has its advantages and disadvantages, so they can help each other if you mix them.

 

SubAPC surface = no place building: You can not place a building, if a Subterranean APC is surfacing in that location.

 

No plane can be sent into the fog of war. (There are tricks to scout with planes however detailed in this guide)

 

No underground units can be sent into the fog of war. (Subterranean APC, Devil Tongue)

 

Colors on Radar: Your opponent might have difficulty seeing your units on his radar screen, if you choose a color on the map, that matches the background. ( Ice map = light blue, Forested map = green, Big Blunts Green map = dark blue).

 

WP helipad to location: If you put 1 waypoint on a helipad, a 2nd waypoint on the map somewhere, and send a plane to the helipad, the plane will land on the helipad and then fly to the 2nd waypoint location on the map.

 

Make the least defense possible, to defend an incoming attack. This saves time and money. Make sure to scout the enemy early to help you know what defensive units to build.

 

Units that heal in the tiberium are good for guarding the tiberium and/or harvesters near it.

 

Units that heal in the tiberium are good at hunting harvesters because they heal and last longer on the tiberium.

 

Press the "SPACE BAR" button during games to see all the keyboard commands. To change your keyboard commands, click on the options button in the top left corner of the screen. More information can be found on this topic on the CNCnet forums. Type !Help for Lobby commands in the main CNCnet lobby.

 

Planes can not Que like vehicles and infantry can, but they can follow waypoint loops.

 

The host of the game, should post the rules for the game, before the game. This is mostly done on modded maps like Giants of War. Old school westwood maps have no rules; however, In some pro games, MCV swap is not allowed. Make sure to ask what the rules are before a game.

 

Wash draw: In some pro games, a “wash” is not considered a proper win. A wash is where the losing side takes out at least one enemy on the winning team. Wash is usually a term used in 2v2 games on the Terraces map.

 

Name hiding can be a useful trick. Using different names, different computers, and different locations to play Tiberian Sun can keep enemies from learning how you play.

 

Usually, the more simultaneous attacks you send, the harder it is to defend. CNTL+ALT or the Guard G command, can help defend multiple attacks.

 

You will learn more from losing a game, than by winning one.

 

Ask questions after you lose a game, maybe you can learn why you lost. (Be careful taking advice, sometimes players cant explain what you did wrong, or might lie to you)

 

Try not to surrender early. If you know you are going to lose, use it as a learning experience. Practice your defense skills. Definitely do not surrender early in a team game. Give your allies a chance to win by taking as long as possible to die.

 

To text chat with all the players in the game, press ENTER on the keyboard. To only text chat with allies, press the BACKSPACE button. Chat distraction can be very effective. Sometimes chat distraction (a.k.a. “shit talk”) can help you distract the enemy. They are paying more attention to the text than to the game. Personally knowing your enemy can make chat distraction BRUTALLY effective. (Be gentle, we are all here to enjoy the game, your mean chat might backfire and make other players team up on you, or even worse get you banned if you are mean to players too much)

 

People might get upset if they lose a game, don't take their anger too seriously after winning a game. We all get mad sometimes.

 

In a team game, there are more opportunities to trade technology. (GDI and NOD swapping mcvs and buildings) If all players are of equal skill, this NOD GDI double tech sharing makes a team with both factions theoretically stronger. (More possibilities for combos and glitches with both tech)

 

 

To check a map for cheats, click on the blue [WARNING] button in the bottom middle of your screen in a game lobby.

 

Infantry that dies on tiberium can turn into an enemy visceroid, try not to let your infantry die on the tiberium.

 

Units used to smoke on low health, this feature would slow down units. It seems to have been patched, I could not get any damaged vehicles to smoke.

 

If you select too many units and send them somewhere on the map, some of the units will not listen.

Try not to send too large a group (hundreds of units can not be a group)

 

All the Hit points calculated in the table, were done with no repairing of the buildings. So if the table says it takes 5 hits to kill a building with a unit, that is when the building is not being repaired.

 

Buildings can lose 1 bar of health over time. This might not seem important, but it can change how many hit points it takes to kill that building. Keep your buildings repaired.

 

Eliminate Tech Tree Build Options: If your enemy has sold buildings after getting their tech options. Destroy the buildings that took advantage of those tech options before they sold. Example: Destroy a War factory after they sell radar, or destroy a barrack after they sell their temple of nod.

 

Put pressure on the enemy with early attacks, so that they are both distracted and forced to waste money on defensive units instead of attacking units. Being attacked early can ruin a planned build order pretty quickly because the enemy has to adapt.

 

Try to draw enemy units out of a base, before attacking in a different location. This might weaken their base defenses to the second attack.

 

Learn which build orders your enemy knows by playing many games with one person. Learn how they react and take notes. Over time you can build a decision tree profile for that player. If I do this, they do that. This can help you tweak your build order to each player. At the highest level of gameplay, like cash tournaments, this is almost a necesity. Learn the tricks they like to use too, so you can be ready for them.

 

Watch your video of your loss, and if the enemy streams videos, watch theirs too. This will give you 2 videos for each game to watch and you see the game from both perspectives.

 

Hotkey hand recording: Recording hand movements during gameplay might help people learn how you use hotkeys.

 

Using a stop watch every game, can warn you when certain build order attacks might be coming, this is most useful in early game play. As the long game evolves, this tactic is less useful because of variability of long games.

 

There is no reason to attack a self healing unit more than half health, if you can't finish it off. If you are harvester hunting, its better to take 2 harvesters to half health, than fail at killing one because it will just heal back to half health on its own. You can always come back later and hunt the harvesters with low health from your previous attack.

 

The self healing units are: Harvester, Weed Truck, Medic, Mammoth Mk2. The medic self heals to half health the fastest, the harvester does not heal as fast as the medic. The Mammoth MK2 has so much health that it self heals the slowest.

 

Dont chase on Tib damage: It doesn't make sense to chase a tiberium healing unit on tiberium with infantry that get hurt by tiberium. Do not engage tiberium healing units on the tiberium where they heal. Nod has more units that heal on the tiberium. The units that heal on tiberium are the GDI: ghost stalker NOD: Cyborg, Cyborg Commando, Mutant Hijacker, and Cyborg Reaper (Firestorm unit).

 

Nod Inf tib GDI tanks tib balance: Nod seems to have a tiberium fighting advantage with infantry, but its tanks cant deploy on tiberium, the game is pretty balanced.

 

Medic heal on tib: Maybe if you have a lot of medics, you can kill tiberium healing units on tiberium, because the medics will heal your infantry faster than the tiberium will heal tiberium healing units.

 

Buildings on fire lose health. Buildings catch fire when their health changes color. They get fire twice. Once when Green to Yellow, and once when Yellow to Red. Double fire exists when you dont let the first Green to yellow fire go out, before you hurt the building enough to go from yellow to red health. The more fire on a building, the more it is damaged. Buildings with 1 bar of red health can actually explode if you do not repair them in time.

 

Ref > stealth or sam: It is usually better to build a new Tiberium Refinery than a Stealth Generator or a Sam Site.

 

Keep your enemy poor, stay rich, control the tiberium on the map to win a long game.

 

Nod Anti Air to spam is Rocket Infantry, Stealth Tanks, and Sams. Put the Rocket Infantry and Stealth Tanks on a waypoint loop with CNTL+ALT so they automatically run around your base shooting planes.

 

GDI Anti Air to spam is Jump Jet Infantry, Hover Mrls, and Sam Upgrade (use CNTL+ALT and waypoint loop to make units automatically run around your base shooting planes.

 

Surround a Barracks with a wall or laser fence and no units will come out when you build them, unless you have a second Barracks (or Hand of Nod).

 

 

If you power down your Radar, you will not be able to see the radar map in the top right of your screen. Some pro players would rather have the cash from selling a radar, than see the radar map.

 

Stacked units are harder to see on the radar. You can make 50 planes or underground units look like 1 unit on the radar screen by stacking them.

 

Stack planes avoid FS sneaky: It is easier to sneak by Firestorm Generator Wall Sections, if you stack your planes.

 

Bans reveal building by landing: Banshee landing around stealthed invisible buildings can reveal the buildings location. The Banshee or other group of planes will land around the building. When your planes land and you see a big hole in the group, you know an invisible building might be blocking your planes from landing in that location.

(This trick also works with any large group of units, SubAPC is one example)

 

Stealth put units in APC: When you put units into an amphibious APC or Subterranean APC, try to do it under stealth or in the fog of war, or while your opponenet is distracted. This will make it harder for the enemy to know what units are inside. The enemy Mobile Sensor does not tell them if a APC is full or what kind of units are in it.

 

NOD AUTO ANTI AIR

Sam + Rocket Infantry and Stealth Tanks on a waypoint loop with CNTL+ALT

 

GDI AUTO ANTI AIR

Sam Upgrade + Jump Jet Infantry and Hover MRLS on a waypoint loop with CNTL+ALT

 

Adding planes to auto anti air defense with CNTL+ALT helps it defend infantry and vehicles too.

 

Mixing units is pro. A diverse group of units can back each other up, using each others strengths to cover each others weaknesses. (Especially if you know how and when to use each unit)

 

A good mix of units gives you more options offense and defense.

 

Unit attributes to Consider:

Unit speed, speed on different terrain, range, fire power damage, firing speed, health, armor type (armor type will affect health in different ways when attacked by different units, there are 4 armor types: wood, light, heavy, concrete)

 

Carryall fly invisible unit: Fly a stealthed vehicle out of stealth and land back in it. The vehicle will stay stealthed the whole time and remain stealthed in your base after you land the Carryall.

 

A-APC +JJ fly reveal stealth: Deploy a Sub APC with JJ inside in a stealthed enemy base. Now fly your JJ over the base and reveal their stealth. This tactic keeps your Jump Jet Infantry alive longer to scout stealth in the middle or back of an enemys base because they don't get killed by sams flying into the base at the front.

 

Fire kill building: If a building is on fire, and has low red health, it can explode long after it is attacked if you don't immediately repair it or heal it with an engineer. (Example: A Devil Tongue can dive up to 5 seconds before a building it just attacked explodes.)

 

Vehicles can CNTL+ALT follow planes in the air, but get confused after a while.

 

Units prevent place structure: If you are building near the enemy base, and you think you can guess where he might want to place his next building, move your units to that area, to prevent him from building there. (Try to avoid doing this to your ally on accident)

 

HIde apc behind warf: You can hide either type of APC behind a GDI War Factory.

 

Try pausing a unit on hold, while you are building it, to surprise the enemy. Example: waiting until a disrupter lands before unpausing a pre-built Cyborg Commando.

 

Most vehicles must face in the direction of a building before firing on it. This causes a slight time delay. Always face buildings before you shoot them to minimize the delay.

 

Power down: Sometimes you want to keep a building, but it uses too much power. Just power it down instead of selling it. You can always power it back up later when you can build some Power Plants.

 

Planes will spawn off the map if you have planes occupying all of your Helipads. If your base is near the left side of the map, the planes spawn from the left side of the map. If your base is near the right side of the map, the planes will spawn from off screen on the right side of the map. No matter which direction the planes come from, they will randomly choose to enter the map at different locations in terms of north or south. (north west, south west, north east, south east)

 

Use the plane spawning off map on purpose if planes seem to be scouting the enemy base for you, and your planes are surviving his sams.

 

Build in team mate's base = defense: In team games, you can outbuild into your team mate's base for protection. Send a MCV on a Carryall to his base for a safe extra base or to help your ally defend.

 

Superweapon looks for low health buildings: Low health buildings that have not been repaired, can be excellent targets for superweapons. Buildings will sometimes lose 1 bar of health over time, even if not attacked. Look for this when your super weapons are ready.

 

All superweapons can hit planes on the ground, especially if they are in a tight group. This is one of the most epic uses of super weapons.Be careful with the Chemical Missile and Multi Missile, an enemy can lure you into wasting it on his groups of units by moving the units when they see or hear the missiles.

 

Reinforce closer outbuild faster: The closer your outbuild is to your original base, the easier it is to send reinforcements. (Less distance to travel)

 

Carryall outbuild to enemy tib: Outbuild to enemy tiberium patches and defend them so the enemy can't fill his harvesters. Carryalls with MCVs ,are the fastest way to outbuild.

 

Power down before EMP frozen = cant power up: If you power down a building before it is EMPd, you can not power it back up until the effects from the EMP wear off.

 

Heal MCV for ally after giving: Send some Engineers to heal your ally's Construction yard that you just gave to them. They can be a big target for the enemy in a game.

 

In a team game, chat with your allies about who to attack first. Coordinate your attacks to eliminate the best player on the other team. This is not mandatory, but usually the best course of action in a team game.

 

Talking on teamspeak or discord is faster and easier than trying to type while playing.

 

Be respectful during pro games and use BACKSPACE spectator chat, and not ENTER chat to all.

 

Power down sams prevent ALT crash: To prevent the enemy from ALT crashing his planes into your buildings, power down or sell your sams, and move all anti air units away from the plane. Once your enemy sends his planes back to his base, turn your sams back on so they hit the plane while its leaving. (maybe)

 

Sometimes its better to run past a scout so that you can shoot it before it enters your base. (Example: If your infantry are chasing a Cyborg to your base, try running in front of it into your base entrance so that you might be able to block the Cyborg from entering your base. After you block the Cyborg you can destroy it)

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MK2, DT, Diz friendly fire: The Mammoth MK2, Ghost Stalker, Devil Tongue, and Disrupter all hurt your own units with their attacks, be careful not to damage your own units in an attack.

 

Base watch enemy with set & view Bookmark 1: Watch the enemy base with view bookmark 1 hotkey constantly. This is called base watching and it helps you see stuff your enemy is building. Example: see his base go stealth. This view enemy base hotkey helps you attack and defend simultaneously so you dont have to scroll across the map. H= home is for your main base view (set the mcv to primary by double left mouse clicking it, to set it as Home)

 

Use super weapons to destroy a building, if your planes can't quite destroy it. The Super Weapons can finish the job nicely.

 

Send units on radar screen faster: Its hard to see units on the radar screen in the top right corner of the game screen, but if you can send units to kill enemy units by clicking on the radar screen, you don't have to scroll across the map.

 

Every $1,000 Aproximately equals 13-15 game seconds (On game speed =7, depending on the lag.) You can use this number to roughly estimate build order times.

 

Land a tank on a Helipad with the Carryall, and render the Helipad useless. When the Carryall takes off (it can't land on a Helipad) send it somewhere remote on the map. When your Carryall lands the tank, the Helipad remains glitched until you move the tank or it dies. (This trick only works on your helipads and your ally's Helipads.

 

Sam/Laser glitch Carryall land: A nod sam or laser do not need a component tower to be built first, so these are better for glitching Carryall landings than RPG upgrade or GDI Sam upgrade.

 

Layering defensive ranges: The length of range of a unit can determine the order in which you place it on the ground in your defenses. (Ranges Longest to Shortest: Artillery, Obelisk, Tick Tank, Laser.) Place the Longer range units behind short range units, so they work together.

 

Make minimum defense: Only make enough defensive units to defend the enemy's attack units. Save your money for other things like Tiberium Refineries and Harvesters.

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Waypoint colors: red, lb, yellow, green, grey, blue, purple, aqua, magenta, orange, white, dark green. (this is the order in which the different color waypoints usually appear. You can use this information to coordinate numbered units to different auto-waypoint attacks. (Example: sub1 uses red sub2 uses lb color, etc......It helps you remember where each sub is going and when to deploy it.)

 

Remember enemy scout/place fog: Try to remember where the enemy has scouted in a game. Use this information to place new buildings in the fog of war. (Or hide units there)

 

MK picks sams off, keep tight: Consider placing Sams near the middle of your base so that a Mammoth MK2 can't fly around the perimeter of your base and pick them off 1 by 1.

 

Target the Carryall over vehicle: A Carryall has much less health to anti-air units, than a tank has. Always target the Carryall first so that the MK2 or Disrupter can't fly away. You can send one group of units after the vehicle, and another anti air group of units after the Carryall.

 

Target Diz over MK2: If you are simultaneously attacked by a MK2 and Disrupter, always target the Disrupter first. The Disrupter can destroy buildings faster than a MK2 and it has less health so it will die faster.

 

You can place a building over a Carryall sitting on a vehicle. This trick can be used to hide your units, or to confuse the enemy by building a building on top of their Carryall/Vehicle combo. If the enemy isn't paying attention when you do this, they might not know where there Carryall and tank went. The Temple of Nod and other large buildings are the best at hiding units. (If you double click the Carryall to release the vehicle while the building is hiding it, it will not. The Carryall will however release the tank if you sell the building on top of it.

 

Nod's weakness is power. Always target Nod's power plants. Make sure to power down defensive buildings you are not using. You can always power up a defensive structure when you need it.

 

Nod's terrain advantage is on flat ground, roads, and pavement.

 

Different color tiberium can be worth different amounts of money depending on the map. Usually Green tiberium is the least valuable, followed by blue, and red (the most valuable). It really depends on the map. Make sure to test any tiberium amounts on a new map.

 

There are 18 green bars of health on a MCV, WARF, or REF.

 

Send every new plane built to hunt Harvesters or attack. Do not leave new planes with full ammo sitting on the Helipad.

 

If you have low power, you will build slower. It is not quite 50% slower, more like 10-20% slower on red power.

 

Power Plants generate more power when they have more health. Damaging a Power Plant will lower your base power. Healing the Power Plant will increase your power generation.

 

Don't kill ally when giving MCV: Power down your defensive structures and move your units from an area before you unally a teammate to give them a new base to steal with their Engineers. Doing this will keep your ally's Engineers and new base alive during the transition.

 

A= Ally: Sometimes you will need to ally or unally a team mate. (this is done a lot during MCV base swap). Click on your Team mate and press “A” to unally them. Also, use “A” to re-ally your team mate.

 

Ask before take: Ask a team mate before you steal any of their buildings.

 

APC soldiers death on tib warf pave: Any APC dies on the pavement in front of WARF, REF, or Tiberium Waste Facility, and the units inside the APC will die too.

 

Moving APC die = soldiers die: Stop a APC if you cant outrun the attacker. If your APC dies while it is moving, the units inside will die too.

 

Plane can land if delete WP: If you delete the Waypoints your planes are using, they will land where they are and not return to your Helipad unless you send them manually.

 

Press “X” to scatter units after they exit a APC, this will spread them out and make them last longer because its harder to kill them all at once, if they are spread out.

 

Spread out all units on the map. The enemy will sometimes wait for you to group a bunch of units before he sends his super weapon to destroy all of them at once.

 

Some buidings can not be powered down. ( Tiberium Waste Facility, Power Plant, Tech Center, Gate, Wall, Firestorm Wall Sections, etc...)

 

"Q" leave/return: To leave a building and come back to it to attack it automatically, send the vehicle on a “Q” after shooting a building, and it will return afterwards to keep shooting that building.

 

PB Titans: A few orca bombers + Mammoth Mk2 flying on a Carryall can own Titans. Wait for the titans to group up to attack, and power bomb them from behind with the Orca Bomber.

 

GDI & Nod Sam range = same: The range of both Nod and GDI sams is the same. It is roughly the size of the Stealth Generator's coverage area. It was difficult to figure this out because when you highlight either sam, the range is not indicated. (Like it is when you highlight the Stealth Generator)

 

Deep terrain subs: On maps with a lot of variability in the height of terrain, SubAPCs and Devil Tongues can take longer to fully dive and fully surface. This can affect where a unit surfaces if you press the “S”=stop button.(Terraces is an example of one of these maps, it is much easier and faster to dive/surface on a map like BBG, than Terraces)

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Both underground units (SubAPC, and Devil Tongue) can spin dive or fast dive. To spin dive, send the underground unit far away on the map somewhere in the opposite direction as the SubAPC is currently facing. To dive quickly, send the SubAPC or Devil Tongue in the same direction as it is currently facing, far away on the map a long distance so it dives and doesn't drive on the surface.

 

No deploy on Ref/ Warf pave: You can't deploy units, if the APC is sitting on the pavement in front of the REF,WARF, or Tiberium Waste Facility.

 

Sams can hit cliffs if they are too close to the edges. Use this to your advantage and fly toward or away from Sams near cliffsides. (This trick only works when the Sam is on the lower side of the cliff only)

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Ground rush distracts planes from your base: If you are about to be attacked by planes, you can send a ground rush to the enemy base so the enemy is forced to shoot your rushing vehicles instead of your buildings. Example: Sending a group of Titans to the enemy when Banshees are coming.

 

Send infantry fodder in front of tank spam to take some of the artillery damage for the tanks.Tell Artillery to aim for tanks manually, if there is infantry fodder in front. This is easier if you number the Artillery as a group.

 

Soldiers can not enter a stacked Subterranean APC or Amphibious APC. Put the units inside the APCs before you stack them. (with the Service Depot)

 

GDI outbuild EMP bunk Nod: GDI's answer to a bunking Nod is to outbuild near the bunked base and use a EMP Cannon to freeze their defenses before you attack. (Nod usually bunks with artillery and sams in later gameplay)

 

Stacked tanks can not deploy. (Sorry Artillery stacking doesn't work)

 

Stacked MCVs can not deploy.

 

Stacked planes can not all reload on a Helipad.

 

Most Super weapon no hit underground: Most super weapons can't hit units while they are travelling underground. (The Hunter Seeker might be able to)

 

Art blow tib early: Nod's first unit that can blow up tiberium is the Artillery. The Artillery takes longer than the GDI Disc Thrower to be built. (This gives GDI a slight early advantage blowing up blue tiberium.

 

Units tend not to travel in a straight path over long distances. When precision driving is important, send the vehicle in baby steps to make sure it travels where you want it to. (Example: Precision driving is important near ice terrain where you tanks can fall into the water if they go the wrong way) You can also use Q or Waypoints for precision driving.

 

Stealthed Sams take longer to shoot planes because they must unstealth first. Consider turning off your Stealth Generator if you have a lot of Sams and the enemy already knows where your buildings are.

 

FS+pave = bunked vs nod: Firestorm surrounding a base that has pavement in it, can be a hard GDI base to attack.

 

GDI loves pavement vs Nod: There are more pavement tricks against Nod than GDI because of underground units.

 

Damage same at any range: It does not matter how far away a tank is from a target, it will deal the same amount of damage to a target in the same amount of time, no matter how far away it is. So....most of the time, you will want to attack with tanks from the maximum distance possible. (One exception is driving quickly right up next to an Artillery so it can't hit your Attack Cycle)

 

Waypoint units that heal in the tiberium = hands free healing.

 

Face building to shoot: The fastest way to shoot a building with any vehicle is to first face the building before you shoot at it. This minimizes time delays when a vehicle has to turn around to shoot a building (or turn around the turret on the tank to face the building)

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The game timer in the information panel speeds up or slows down depending on your speed level setting. Speed 7 game timer is the fastest speed setting, and the game timer is faster than actual seconds. Game speed 4 or 5 looks more like actual seconds in the game timer. (Use the game timer to record times, not a stop watch, because it will not change times, when the game lags giving you different results depending on the lag.)

 

Alt+F4 ends the game really fast. But it is not polite to the other players. Surrendering is the more polite way to end games.

 

Nod likes longer distance maps for bunking.

 

GDI likes small maps for rushing faster ground units.

 

Nod likes a lot of Tiberium nearby for bunking.

 

You can “Q” a unit onto a waypoint chain, and the unit will transition from the “Q” to the waypoint chain and finish the last waypoint (14 is the most waypoints you can have in a row)

 

You should assume that the enemy will attack you while you are trying to attack them. Send your attacks to staging points so that you can defend their attack before you actually attack.

 

Delay enemy knowing if you are GDI or Nod: If you only send normal Infantry early and delay sending Disc Throwers, Rocket Infantry, Cyborgs, or Jump Jet Infantry, then the enemy will not know if you are GDI or Nod for a longer time. (This only applies when you choose a random (???) team instead of choosing Nod or GDI. Its harder to make defenses if you don't know whether the enemy is Nod or GDI.

 

Build glitch: To build glitch across a wall or cliffside edge into an area that is too far from your base to normally build, click back and forth from the white area next to your base where you can build, to the red area where you want to build. If you click fast enough back and forth, sometimes you can get your building to build in a red area that is too far from your base. This is sometimes done on Terraces map in top left position.

 

Print out maps: To learn the maps better you can print a picture of each map so that you have a quick reference to look at before games.

 

Large map = Titans slow: Nod has more time to send rushes and not have to defend Titan rush in large maps. You can send a few rushes before getting Titan defenses up. (Disrupters are more likely)

 

Write down how your opponent responds to various attacks so that you can remember how they reacted and maybe use that to your advantage next game.

 

Combining speeds in rush: In combination rushes you can send slow units ahead of fast units or send them first, so that the different speed units arrive at the enemy base at the same time. Example: send Disc Throwers before you send Infantry, build the Disc Throwers first and send them, so that the faster Infantry catch up to them from behind and arrive at the enemy base at the same time.

 

Select too many units, some no listen: When you start sending hundreds of infantry and tanks some of them might not listen to your command. There is a limit to how many units you can send at one time. If any units don't listen to your command, just highlight a smaller group size and send them in groups.

 

Scout refs, stay ahead on money: If you have the enemy scouted try to keep up with Refineries and Harvester count, and keep your base just as rich. If you have scouted the enemy you can see what they are attacking with. Now you can build only the minimum defenses needed to defend the exact attack they created.

 

GDI likes low Tiberium and far away Tiberium, because it has the Carryall to expand faster.

Immediately build your next building after placing the last building.

 

Longer games are more likely to lag and slow down with so many units on the map at one time.

Sometimes destroying a lot of the units currently on a map can speed up an online game.

 

You can use a waypoint chain in a zig zag formation at the edge of fog, to make planes scout through the fog automatically by following the waypoints back and forth into the fog slightly more on each turn of the waypoint zigzag.

 

Set your defense up on “G”= Guard before you attack so they can defend you while you are attacking. Moving them around a little or putting your defensive units on waypoint loops can be confusing to the enemy.

 

Knowing Armor Types and Weapon Damages can help you predict what building or unit that will be targeted by the enemy. (Example: you see Artillery coming and know they are devastating to wood armor. It is highly likely that they will attack your wooden armor structures like power plants.)

 

How would you attack your base? This information can help you predict what the enemy might do.

 

Large map = tech fast: In big maps focus on getting your Technology Center early. You have more time before a Infantry or Tank rush poses a threat in large maps. Focus on air units and subterranean underground units. Faster units are also more useful on large maps.

 

Power down and lose targeting: All ground base defenses will not remember which unit you targeted, if you power it down and back on. (laser, vulcan, rpg, obelisk)

 

Pause or cancel building for cash: You can pause units or buildings to help complete other things to build, when you are low on cash, Or.......you can cancel building them, which gives you more money.

 

Nod expands sooner: If Nod needs a MCV to expand to a new tiberium patch because it is blocked by cliffs and cant build out to the new patch, then Nod must build it sooner than GDI. (Because GDI Carryalls can fly the slow MCV to a new tiberium patch faster.)

 

Early staged Infantry rush can be annoying if other Carryall units are flying around too.

 

The score is meaningless in a game. You win a game by destroying all of the enemy structures and units on the map.

 

A win is a win, no matter how fast or cheap the build order, or if it was from chat distraction.

 

DC is auto win: A disconnect is considered a win for the other player that did not disconnect.

 

Chat Distraction a.k.a. “shit talk” is a strategy some players like to use. They will use diversions, distractions, put downs to try to demoralize weak team members and make them quit. Some pros will lie to new players and make up ridiculous rules. If a player is known to quit early, sometimes they will be targeted with chat distraction on purpose forcing a quit. Knowing the personality profile of your opponent or personal information you have about a player can aid in your chat distraction tactics.

 

Train your teammates and new players so that you have good team mates. Practice games with them so that you get real time team tactic training.

 

Simultaneous multitasking is very important in Tiberian Sun. How many unit groups can you simultaneously juggle? Theoretically, if your left hand is on the number pad, you should be able to coordinate 10 different groups (1-10) at the same time. A gaming mouse, a gaming keyboard, and programmable macro keys can help you multitask and juggle multiple groups quickly.

 

Sell ref = inf rush?: When you sell a Tiberium Refinery you get 5 Infantry and $1000, it might be a good time to send an Infantry rush with other units to back them up.

 

Early losses can be less important, if you stay ahead of the enemy with your economy. Stay richer than the enemy at all times. Always be Harvester hunting.

 

Find, Fix, Flank, Finish

 

Run on tib = heal faster?: Running units that heal on tiberium across the tiberium heals them faster than just standing idle on tiberium.(not 100% sure about this)

 

Set primary building: To set a building to primary, double click it with left mouse click.

 

The more you subdivide groups, and have more groups (up to 10) the harder it is for the enemy to defend 10 different attacks all at once.

 

Economy Tech Match: This tactic involves making Tiberium Refineries and Harvesters until your opponent gets a Technology Center. After the enemy gets a Technology Center, you should build one too, “matching their tech”.

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If you number your production buildings, you can select them faster to send new units to a new area on the map.

 

CTRL+ALT anti scout: With CNTL+ALT you can send units to a location far away, and your units will guard that location when they get there. This is great for setting up anti-scout infantry in early game.

 

Anticipate when the enemy has to outbuild, and attack him then. Prevent the outbuild if you can or just enjoy that he can't defend as well when he is spending all his money on outbuilding at the moment.

 

Try to fight over the enemy Tiberium. Every shot that happens over Tiberium will erase some of their Tiberium Patch

 

Don't blow your tib: Avoid fighting on top of your Tiberium especially if it is explosive blue Tiberium. You will lose your Tiberium and it might all explode if its blue and catches on fire.

 

CTRL+ALT defend building: You can send units to defend certain buildings with CNTRL+ALT. Select the unit, hold CNTL+ALT, and click on the building you want them to defend.

 

Does the enemy always rebuild the building you just destroyed? Use this information to your advantage . You do not always have to rebuild the same building that was just destroyed. Sometimes it makes more sense to build a different building. It depends on the game and situation.

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Switch up outbuild location if destroyed maybe: If your outbuild is getting destroyed in the middle of the map. Try outbuilding in a different direction to a new Tiberium patch farther away from the fighting in the middle of the map. Try to hide outbuilds in the fog of war so your enemy can not see it.

 

Try not to watch the action too much, you probably need to be doing something else and letting units guard automatically.

 

Spare MCV or Warf?: Some players think that a spare War Factory is better than a spare MCV because you can make another MCV with expansion Warf or pump Titans from expansion.

 

Units commonly used together, get assigned hotkeys that are close together.

 

You can stage units closer to the enemy for later use. This works better if you hide those units in the fog of war or behind terrain/buildings. (Example: staging Orca Bomber near the enemy so you can quickly back up your Titan rush)

 

Flat land to deploy: Vehicles can not deploy on steep hills, they need flat land to deploy.

 

3 tanks on ref pave = block ref: Three vehicles stopped in front of a Tiberium Refinery can block a Tiberium Refinery. You have to stop each one on the pavement in front of the Tiberium Refinery to block harveters from dumping.

 

Layer your defenses with overlapping fields of fire.

 

Prestaging units using the alt production:: You can click on a Barracks, War Factory, or Helipad and then click on the map somewhere. Now every new unit that comes out of that building will automatically travel to that location on the map when it is built. This can send units automatically to anywhere on the map. (like near the enemy base) You no longer need to use the ALT button to do this, this was patched by cncet.org.

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The Information Panel shows the veteran status of enemy units. Setting this hotkey is important.

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Try to remember where you have been scouted and keep your production buildings out of view by building in the fog of war.

 

Minimum Defense: Keep building only enough defensive forces to defend what the enemy has to attack with. Do this while you are attacking.

 

You can trick opponents with custom maps by adding secrets to the map. Before a game, always look at the blue warning button at the bottom center of your screen. It should say “No Cheats” which means the map you are playing is legitimate.

 

Surround vehicles that have to turn to shoot at stuff. You can surround them with your own vehicles or with Infantry, Laser, RPG Upgrade, Vulcan Cannon, and Obelisk of Light. They will waste time turning to shoot your stuff, this is delay time that they are not actually shooting at you.

 

Breaking contact to heal units keeps your units alive for later attacks.

 

Deployed vehicle lures auto eng from buildings: Deployed vehicles can lure Auto Engineers sent to your base if they are closer to the Surfacing SubterraneanAPC than the building they targeted.

 

The enemy might be less likely to sell a Construction Yard or War Factory like they would a Tiberium Refinery, if you send Engineers. This is not always true, but sometimes they don't want to sell those buildings if there are no spares.

 

DRAWD: Defend, Reinforce, Attack, Withdrawal, Delay

 

Prestaging healing units like the MRV or Medic near the enemy can heal your units faster than retreating all the way back to your base.

 

Back up soldiers and vehicles with air support. Try to draw enemy units out from their base and the protection of their Sams.

 

You can setup ambushes in the thick forests where units can hide among the trees. You can also hide Medics or MRVs in the forest to secretly heal your units.

 

Team game: Sometimes you attack the strongest opponent on the other team first, sometimes you double team the weakest opponent if you think they might quit early.

 

Counter build orders: Know why your build order works to counter the current enemy build order.

 

Cheap units first maybe: You might want to start by rushing with cheaper units in the beginning, gradually ramping up your rushes to more expensive units. Example start rushing with cheap infantry and attack buggies, then follow up with more expensive Attack Cycles, Tick Tanks, or Artillery rushes in early game.

 

Try mixing up your building placement to confuse the enemy before he can fully scout you.

 

Right click pause build: Right click once on the thing you are building to pause it. Right click it again to cancel the build.

 

The "Construction Complete" sound lets you know to place your building. Its better if you never need to use this sound warning and just remember about how long it takes to build each building. There is a small amount of wasted time if you wait for the “Construction Complete” warning, the time it takes to scroll options screen on the right side of the screen with your mouse is wasted.

 

Try to predict what the enemy will do by looking at all the units and buildings and tiberium on the map. Any amout of correct predictions can be valuable.

 

Remember where the enemy has scouted and try to hide your buildings in the fog of war for as long as possible.

 

Know your enemy and have counter attack ideas in mind before the game starts.

 

Shadows of units hiding behind buildings or trees can sometimes stick out. This can give away their position to the enemy

 

Feinting Retreat: Keeping units moving on waypoints near the enemy base is distracting and confusing hit and run tactics. You can fake out like you are running away so that the enemy thinks he has time to place buildings and micromanage economy, only to come back with fast units and keep attacking.

 

Watch the enemy base so you can see what he is building. Sometimes knowing what building he is likely going to build next can help you figure out where that building might be placed. You can drive over these places and slow your enemy when he cant build there.

 

Check behind enemy buildings for hidden units and structures.

 

It is usually a good time to attack when the enemy is about to place a building. Remember, your opponent is likely building about as fast as you are. So even if they are in the fog of war, you can use your base to asssume when they might need to place a building or do a rush.

 

Speed =7 is 52 frames per second on average.

 

Feinting is where you fake like you are going to attack. This forces the opponent to make defenses even if you pull back and don't even attack.

 

Nod Bans over new Warf rush: If you are Nod and lose your War Factory, but have the capability to make Banshees, you might want to consider building more Banshee instead of replacing your War Factory.

 

Gate guards come to mcv/warf if scouted: There is no need to guard a gate opening with infantry if your base is already scouted. Once you are scouted, pull all the infantry from the gate and surround your important buildings (mcv/warf)

 

Tank predict squish path: Vehicles can sometimes anticipate which way your soldiers will try to run from them and run over them. Example: Driving the Harvester to where you think the soldier will be soon instead of where he is now.

 

Protect Buildings with units by highlighting your unit and holding CNTL+ALT, and then left mouse clicking on the building you want your unit to protect.

 

Push refs back: If you see that the enemy is about to build a Tiberium Refinery, you can attack the building that he is building off of. This makes him have to place Tiberium Refinery farther away from the Tiberium. Example: You destroy a Tiberium Silo in your enemy's outbuild so he has to place his refinery farther away from the Tiberium, he was using the silo to build closer to the tiberium.

 

Structure dies = unit building may be lost: If a structure is destroyed while you are building a unit, you will lose that unit if you don't have a backup production building. You will get the money back for the unit.

 

Keep your enemy occupied defending so they have less time for other activities like attacking or micro managing their economy.

 

Sometimes its better to save your unit and keep it alive by escaping, than to destroy a building. You can always come back later if you save your units.

 

Hitpoint Matrix is non VB: All of the hitpoints in the Hitpoint Matrix are from one unit that has no veteran upgrades.

 

Try to avoid eating your ally's tiberium unless you ask politely during the game with “Backspace Allies Chat button”.

 

E+G = fast defense for subs or carryall attacks.

 

Place Barracks north of your Construction Yard right next to it. This way engineers can quickly come and and go into your mcv. (Even Engineers on build pause)

 

Send a Harvester Bomb Decoy for your early GDI Amphibious APC Engineer Attack.

 

Scroll bar build option planning: Before your current structure is done building, scroll the side bar options to the next building so you are ready to click it after placing a new building. This saves scroll time after you place your current building. Move the side bar building options closer to the location of your current building. This minimizes the time it takes to scroll the mouse back over to the building options after you place a building. (Whether or not you are using the Place Building Hotkey)

 

Try to avoid Visceroids, Fiends, Mutants, and Floaters on the map so they do not chase and attack your units.

 

Getting the enemy to the point of being unteched is a mini goal in Tiberian Sun. If the enemy has no MCV and an unteched War Factory, they can no longer build new buildings. If you become unteched, try spamming units directly to the enemy. Titans are probably the best vehicle spam when you lose your MCV.

 

In dynamic formations, range, speed, and rate of fire come into play. Faster vehicles are more dynamic and can attack different areas on the map faster.

 

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TRAIN

 

Only the front car of a train will crush your units. If you drive onto the railroad tracks after the first traincar passes, your units can survive.

 

Kill trains immediately so they don't run over any of your units accidently on the train tracks.

 

If you kill the first car on the train, the train can no longer move.

 

Run your units on the sides of tunnels to avoid being squished by the train. All tunnels are 3 cells wide and the train only goes down the middle cell. The left and the right sides of the tunnels are safe from the train destroying your units.

 

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TUNNEL

 

Lure waypoint looped planes into firing on your tanks and re-enter the tunnel. This tactic can waste your planes ammo as they shoot at your tanks which are safe in the tunnel.

 

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BRIDGES

 

Lure planes into firing on your tanks as your tanks go under a bridge. This minimizes the damage your tanks can receive while safely under the bridge and waste's your enemy's plane ammo, if he has Sensor Array deployed and his planes can see the units in the tunnel.

 

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ION STORMS

 

Ion Storms will destroy any unit flying in the air when they come.

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Ion Storms are only on some special maps that have included them.

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CIVILIAN

 

Lure enemy units into Civilian structures and units by firing on them and getting the enemy to chase you.

 

You can build near Civilian defenses to help keep a civilian buffer between you and the enemy.

 

You can steal Civilian vehicles with the Mutant Hijacker. The Civilian Bus can hold up to 20 soldiers!

The enemy might not expect your soldiers to arrive in a Civilian vehicle if he did not see you load them up.

 

Visceroids, Fiends, Mutants, Civilians, and Floaters can all be lured into killing the enemy base if you shoot them and then run to the enemy base. The Jump jet infantry is great for this tactic.

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You can hide units behind Civilian Buildings.

 

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CHAT DISTRACTION TACTICS

 

GG = fake give up: You can say “GG” in the chat, this might make the enemy think you are giving up early. = Chat Distraction

 

"Has left the game" text trick: This next chat distraction technique makes it look like you left the game. It can trick your opponent into surrending by quitting. >>>> “YOUR SCREEN NAME HERE: Has left the game”

 

Know thy enemy chat distraction: If you know a player well, chat distraction can be more effective. Don't Shit talk the other players too much or it might backfire on you. This is a last ditch effort technique to be used sparingly.

 

Backspace chat spectator: Some of the pros will not let you spectate if you chat too much. Use Backspace to chat with other spectators when you are spectating a game. Spectator chat distraction might get you banned from games.

 

Funny, interesting, or entertaining chat is also effective at distracting other players.

 

Microphone Chat Distraction: If you are on Discord or Teamspeak you can talk to the other players and distract them from the game.​​​​​​​​