Arctic assault
Earlier today I played a really fun game on the map Arctic Refuge. It was the first time I have played on that map, and I found out I like it a lot. Mass deposits are fairly spread out, meaning you need to control large sections of the map to win, but there is still enough mass to get a good sized army going pretty quickly. Compared to other games I have played, I did a good job of balancing rapid expansion with harassment of my opponent. While he did build a forward position that was a thorn in my side for a large portion of the game, he otherwise was rather conservative with his expansion.
I played aggressively, sending my commander right up to the front lines and building a forward base right on his doorstep. This made for some harrowing moments, as he almost destroyed my position with his commander, but I was able to make him retreat. Shortly thereafter, he attacked my exposed commander with gunships, but I was held them off. Rather foolishly on my part, I neglected to build any tech 1 interceptors until I was already being attacked by his gunships. If I would have had just one air factory building them constantly in the very-early game, his gunships wouldn’t have even been a threat.
This game also highlighted the importance of good intelligence. My opponent tried to build a tech 2 tactical missile launcher in his base, which could have killed my commander before I knew what hit me. However, I saw it and was able to destroy it before it could fire. With my position secure for a few more minutes, and my enemy’s base surrounded, my victory was all but assured. I ended up basically overwhelming my opponent with huge waves of tanks. I also had a little help from a tactical missile launcher. My only regret was that my opponent disconnected before I could get the satisfaction of watching his commander go up in a nuclear explosion.
