[DrGekko]

After completing this charming game on single player, I tried my luck at warring with real commanders online.... either I'm missing a trick here or I simply don't have enough time to master the game. I've had two attemts now at playing 1vs1 and 3vs3 and both times, within 10 minutes of trying to build defences and small army, low and behold, a massive onslought from the enemy ensues and my base is crippled to kingdom come. Could someone please list a few basic starter tips for online challenges so that my game can last more than 10 minutes???

[Dinky Dragon]

I stopped playing for the exact same reason . I got bored of people using rush tactics, a game should last at least 2 hours.

If youre game Ill go a few rounds with ya.

Get more than one base, and learn to counter wisely . Also take advantage of the Rock, Paper and Scissors mechanic.

[Billy Goodgun]

I've played a few local games and even managed to win a ranked match, but please don't think I'm any sort of expert. However, here are some basic pointers, if you don't already know this:

Don't forget that it makes a difference which leaders you use Take note of which ones your opponents are using to beat you - it may be that Anders or Cutter are better than Forge, for example (or whatever - but you take my point, I'm sure). Anders researches stuff quicker, IIRC. Cutter starts with an upgraded firebase. Forge starts with instant heavy supply pads (but you still pay 225 to build them).

Also, build supply pads. Build them fast. Grab an extra firebase as early as you can. If your enemy is going to rush you, rush them first - don't build towers, and make sure you build units before upgrading them. You can still upgrade them once they're "in the field," but all the upgrades in the world will count for nothing if you've only built one unit and it gets destroyed by a horde of enemy marine/grunt units!

That's probably about all I can think of to start with, but that might help a bit

[Droogie 2001]

Send me a FR as I am looking for someone to play online who does not use the Warthog rush.
I have also played with a few guys on the Forums and we have had some good games.

Also Dr Gecko. Maybe try the Deathmatch mode as this seems to level the playing field a bit more as you are both fully leveled out. Baiscally straight into the action which results in massive battles.
I tend to play against the AI which is actually quite good fun.
Had a unit count of 85 at one point, this was a 6 player game with no slow down.
I love this game but must admit I have been put off with playing against human players.
Still send me a friend request.

[Khimaros]

Gekko, i'm a lvl 41 and don't lose very often, so i can give you some very useful tips.
1.) Collect supply crates constantly with your units. I usually get an extra 1000 supply within 15 minutes, that's five extra banshees which will easily swing the first fight in your favour = win.

2.) Use the special features on the map ASAP! if there are free generators 1 squad of marines can save you 1000 credits or more. The map Beasley's Plateau has two base slots right next to your base, build supply pads on these ASAP and then go take your opponents. within 5 minutes of the game starting you will be collecting twice as much supply as your opponent = win.

3.) Pay attention to which leaders you're playing against and scout them often. This tells you exactly what units to build. Eg, if you're building tanks and see lots of hunters, blow up your factory - it's no use to you - get an airpad/summit and start cranking out air units.

4.) You have 3 options at the start of the game, you can't afford to do more than 1 of the following: Mass units for a rush. Tech. Expand. New players in Halo Wars all try to tech and don't scout. A good player doesn't necessarily rush you because it's cheap, they rush because they see you teching with no units and move in for the kill before you get whatever uber unit you're trying to get.

5.) Micro-manage your units during battles. Use focus fire, and if you see a unit being focus fired, move them to the back of your army. This not only saves your unit, it drags their whole army through yours whilst being shot constantly (and not shooting back) = WIN!

6.) Understand, from the first second of a match starting your oponent is entitled to show up and attack you whenever he wants. Never ever forget this and you'll be a much better player. Halo Wars is beautifully balanced and as long as you keep on the ball you've almost always got a chance of survival.

Any other questions just ask...

[The Bass]

I just got this game today and I've played through the first 10 missions on legendary campaign co-op so me and my buddy decided to have a few games online.

Why does this game have truskill? It is seemingly irrelevant after matching us with two Generals followed by two Colonels. Were we just unlucky or is that the state of Halo Wars online now? We won one game against equally new players and it was pretty fun but if 4/5 of the games will involve us getting owned until we learn all of the perfect strategies we won't be playing much longer.

Also two of the games had horrible lag with one booting everyone for getting out of sync...

[Droogie 2001]

I think that is probably the way the online game is now for Halo Wars.

Only the harden players or people still trying to get all of the achievements are left.
Funny I was going to go online last night as I haven't played in a while.

Unless you are playing friends then the game suffers from Warthog Rushes or any other kind of rush. Though there are ways to counteract these (I am not the person to ask this though!)
The quicker they kill you off the quicker they can go onto the next game.
It put me off playing and I have gone back to playing the AI!

Still its a good game and really must get back into it.

[Tuk3r]

whats this game like? i was/still a massive red alert fan on the pc, loved the epic battles that lasted a few hours which ended in a huge battle at the end, really brilliant stuff, gawd i miss those days! anyways, is this anything like the old red alert series? i tried the lord of the rings style red alert game but i never really got into it, maybe because i couldnt associate with the characters/infantry etc? it just didnt click with me tbh, im itching for my red alert fix again!

[The Bass]

Originally Posted by Tuk3r

whats this game like? i was/still a massive red alert fan on the pc, loved the epic battles that lasted a few hours which ended in a huge battle at the end, really brilliant stuff, gawd i miss those days! anyways, is this anything like the old red alert series? i tried the lord of the rings style red alert game but i never really got into it, maybe because i couldnt associate with the characters/infantry etc? it just didnt click with me tbh, im itching for my red alert fix again!

I think it is pretty good for a console RTS. It was designed to be faster paced than some of the PC games where you are just researching for an hour before even building any troops however I am told that the online fights against equally matched opponents can often be 1-2 hours long with neither side backing down. The online is up to 3v3 with the campaign just 2 player co-op I believe.

As I said before I have completed the first 10/15 missions in co-op and I have found it an enjoyable experience. Most missions have varied objectives and side objectives that don't just boil down to kill all enemies so it keeps it interesting. I would suggest trying the demo to see how you find it but I'm an old C&C player and would recommend this game .

[Tuk3r]

thanks for the advice, looks like ill be picking this up then! can always trust a fellow c&c players adivce!

[The Bass]

Well I made it to 950G in this game last night with the only original achievement left being for attaining General rank with 2,400,000 XP. After some perseverance I managed to get some good strategies and got my win/lose to 80% but I still only get around 2000 XP for a 30 min+ game. That works out at around 600 hours of play time to General ! I wonder if anyone here has such a ridiculous achievement?

I could spend quite a long time talking about all of the strategies I've tried, what works and what didn't (and I am happy to if someone would like to know).

For now I will just say that you should try and play with at least one other person in a 2v2/3v3 and have one person playing as the Doc solely focused on building Hornets and then Hawks with the other person using Forge, building a barracks and some infantry inc chain gun Spartans to fend off rushes at either base and then aiming for Grizzly tanks. By the 10-15 min mark you should have 20 Hawks and 13 Grizzly tanks with 3 Spartans in.

After that it's all about coordinating your attack, using disruption bombs to stop your enemy cryo bombing the Hawks, reacting to enemy Hawks/Vampires with your own cryo bomb and Wolverines from Forge (even if it means have 8 Grizzlys and 8 Wolverines), focusing all fire on Scarabs (which aren't that powerful after being hit by 10 Grizzly canister shells) and using carpet bombs on Locusts and Cobras.

Another essential trick that most people don't use is to build another 2-4 reactors on a secondary base. When attacking someone's starting base you should always focus on taking out the reactors first as that cripples the enemy and to stop the same happening to you make sure you don't just have 2 double reactors on your first base (and keep reactors away from each other on the same base, 2 double reactors next to each other is an easy target for a MAC blast).

Finally if you easily shrug off a large attack and still have many units left it is the perfect time to counter attack. Rebuild any units that were lost whilst sending the rest to the enemy base to stop them before they have chance to rebuild an army.

And that is just 1/4 of the strategy I use now, without any inclusion of my previous ones! Hope this works for the few people out there still playing.

[The Bass]

I don't know if anyone still plays this game but just to let people know:

The 4th update for Halo Wars will be released on the morning of December 18th on Xbox LIVE. Players will be able to automatically download the update when they start their Xbox after the Title Update has been released. This Update includes balance changes and fixes for bugs and exploits.

Some of the changes include:

Balance:
Grunts now do more damage to air units
The Scarab now has 25% more health and does 25% more damage
Gremlins now requires 2 reactors to be built
The Arbiter now takes 25% more damage while raging
Hunters now focus their Assault Beam much faster
Brute Chopper is more effective vs. air

Bug Fixes:
The Cryo/Reactor Glitch has been fixed
The Multiplayer Lobby should now work better for people with misaligned controllers
Y-Abilities should no longer have their cooldowns reset erroneously
Profiles that had problems accruing points in Multiplayer should now be able to gain points properly

And, more importantly, it has reduced the XP required for the General rank from 2,400,000 to 960,000 . If you managed to get to 1,000,000 and gave up like I did you can get your General by playing a single game and getting 1XP. Now I just need to buy the DLC and I'll have all the achieves for all three Halo games .

[1LeeDenton]

Sorry for the post resurrection, but I picked this up cheap on the forums and the game has been delivered today. Anyone fancy some coop action?