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Strategy to the M.A.X.

 

Writing a strategy guide for a game can be a proposition fraught with peril. In

this essay I will attempt to avoid that peril and provide some helpful hints

based on basic strategy and how it is implemented, or avoided, in M.A.X..

 

In general, I will be dealing with long term games of conquest, the Custom

Games. The tactical scenarios included with the game often have divergent

strategies and special lineups of units that might or might not ever arise in a

standard conquest game.

 

How It Works

 

The first thing to keep firmly in mind with M.A.X. is that it was purposely

designed to emulate a chess game with a lot more variety of units and terrain.

It doesn't look much like a chess game, but certain elements stand out.

 

For instance, attack and damage are constants. In chess, if a unit moves into a

square (is in range of the square) the piece already in that square is taken. In

M.A.X., if a unit is in range of another unit and shoots at it, the target will

be hit. Unlike chess the target may not be instantly destroyed, but it will be

hit for a certain amount of damage. This damage is always the same from any one

unit. Only upgrading the unit can change the damage it does.

 

Thus, if you are used to games where a frontal assault by a few units might

succeed because there is a chance the opposition will miss and a chance that the

damage the hits do will be small, erase that mindset now. In the worlds of

M.A.X., targeting is an exact science and munitions are manufactured to rigorous

tolerances. The sights will put the shell into the best possible spot and the

shell will always do its exact amount of damage.

 

Obviously, Electronic CounterMeasures are useless in M.A.X.. Sighting devices

cannot be fooled. It's a hard fact that a M.A.X. Commander has to learn to live

with.

 

The Right Unit For the Right Job

 

There is no such thing as the ultimate unit available to the M.A.X. Commander.

Every unit has its uses and liabilities and every unit can be upgraded far

beyond its base attribute levels. Tanks and Assault Guns, with their ability to

partially move and still fire, are excellent for open field battles with lots of

movement. Put them up against implaced, well-supplied-and-informed missile units

and they become so much debris. Ground Attack planes are devastating against

undefended ground and sea units, but drop like flies when anti-air units are

present and prepared. Implaced anti-air units are virtually invincible against a

reasonable number of ground attack planes, but cannot do anything if they are

caught moving. Move your mobile anti-air weapons and you leave your other units

wide open for the ground attack planes.

 

Some of these weaknesses are obvious, some are not so obvious and are, in fact,

game balance decisions. Here are some hard-learned lessons we can pass on so you

don't have to learn them in the middle of a battle.

 

* Keep mobile radar scanners or scouts with your long range units so they can

make the best use of their range.

Protect moving groups against ground attack planes with fighters, not mobile

anti-aircraft.

* Do not put tanks in the first line of a beachhead defense force unless you

just want to provide targets for enemy ships. Pull your tanks back and keep them

as a reaction for against breakthroughs. If you are defending a small area,

don't build tanks, build gun turrets and mobile units with long range weapons.

* If you are facing a foe without much air capacity, you can use scouts instead

of escorts to provide information for gunboats and missile cruisers.

* Submarines can be devastating to a sea-based power. Corvettes and-Ground

Attack Planes dedicated to protecting shipyards and docks and sea mines may seem

like a needless expense until these facilities start blowing up in your back

yard. Of course, a sea mine field is also a good investment.

 

* Mine fields are always useful as a protection. Your units are not affected by

them and the only enemy units that can find them (without blowing up in the

process) are very fragile. The best use of minefields is in front of a position

that can be protected by infantry and scouts to take care of surveyors and

minelayers.

 

* Infiltrators are always useful. Even if they just keep an enemy from using an

eco-sphere for a few turns, their contribution can be invaluable. Remember that

Armored Personnel Carriers are amphibious and virtually invisible unless on

land. The only real failing of the infiltrator is that its ability to take over

or disable enemy units contains the game's sole concession to probabilities.

There is always the chance of failure, and the chance that failure will bring

discovery and disaster.

 

 

 

Strategic Upgrading

 

The right upgrade to units can make all the difference in a long-term game and

in some of the tactical scenarios we have provided with the game. But what

should you be putting your research and upgrade time into buying?

 

* Attack adds to the damage done by a combat vehicle's weapon. It can make a

definite difference, especially if multiple upgrades are purchased. Enemy units

designed to be able to absorb two or more hits suddenly start blowing up early.

This can be very discomfiting. And, of course, it is absolutely necessary if the

enemy has invested in armor upgrades.

 

* Range is a costly upgrade. It is also vital. For tanks, remember to upgrade

the scan (also costly) as well as the range. Having tanks with a range and scan

of 5 when everyone else has 4 will make all the difference.

 

* Small increases in Armor and Hit Points are not very significant and cost

accordingly. Go for a second upgrade in these elements. It can make the

difference in being destroyed in two shots or taking two hits and getting back

to a repair unit to fight again.

 

* Speed is relatively cheap upgrade and can make a significant difference,

particularly for units that are normally slow. Fast tanks are always

frightening, and fast repair units and supply trucks can make the difference

between a blitzkrieg and a deliberate advance.

 

* Shots are the most expensive upgrade for a combat vehicle because they can

make all the difference. A missile crawler with two shots can suddenly both move

and fireÑa deadly attack combined with mobility. Buying an extra shot with a

vehicle is always worth it, if you can afford it.

 

What to Build First?

 

A M.A.X. Commander who has just landed on a planet has two imperatives. Build a

successful colony and defend the colony. Unfortunately, this is the classic guns

and butter problem. You have only so many resources and only so much to do with

them in a restricted period of time. Likely as not, the opposition is going to

find you early and you have to be ready to defend your colonists. But you have

to have colonists to defend or it is pointless to build up a major defense

force.

The classic tactic is to put your constructor to work on a Light Vehicle plant

while the Engineer works on storage units for the mining station and connectors

between the plant and the mine. Extra constructors (which generally don't have

supplies at the start of a game) need to be put to work on the habitats and

other colonial buildings like eco-spheres, training halls, barracks and research

centers. Extra engineers need to set up some fixed defenses, like anti-air,

radar, and missile installations.

Early on, you also need a heavy unit plant to build the major fighting vehicles

and an air unit factory. Don't forget things like depots, hangers, and, where

appropriate, shipyards and docks. Everything is necessary except in special

circumstances.

Once you have these facilities working, you are left with deciding which units

to build in them. In the early game, scouts are always useful. Extra surveyors

can be good if there is a lot of area to check for vital resources. Engineers

and supply trucks are good. If you get into a fight early on, then bulldozers

should be built as soon as possible to take advantage of the debris. Sometimes

the debris you pick up off a battlefield can keep a colony alive until the

second and third mining stations are built.

Which air unit to build is always a good question. Air units are fragile.

Anti-Air units are very powerful. Sometimes the best investment is Air

Transports to haul your units around the map and set up in out-of-the-way places

for unexpected attacks on the enemy. An AWACs is an excellent investment,

especially if protected by a flock of fighters. Upgrading the scan of an AWACs

might be very important in the later stages of a game, to avoid being brought

down by anti-air units with extended range.

As stated earlier, Ground Attack Planes can be devastating. Since airplanes

never have to land except to rearm and be repaired in this game, they are best

used at the fringes of a conflict, taking out constructors and engineers trying

to build new facilities, moving columns of enemy units without fighter support,

and wayward surveyors and scouts. They don't have a lot of use in straight

conflict unless the enemy has somehow been deprived of anti-air units through an

active ground offense or gunboat bombardment. In such cases, they can range

throughout the enemy position and destroy his strategic facilities.

However. if the player is using the right clan and can produce them early, enemy

ground units are easy meat for the Ground Attack plane if the opposition hasn't

built any anti-air units.

Also, ground attack planes with upgraded range and good intelligence are

probably the best answer to the anti-air problem. Anti-air is often only as good

as its supporting radar. Take out enemy radar and your ground attack planes have

a longer lifetime on a battlefield.

 

Passive Defense

 

In a game with a lot of units running around, it is easy to lose track of the

fixed defenses and the passive defensive. Implaced artillery, missiles, radar,

and anti-air have obvious uses. Other elements, such as concrete blocks and

mines, can seem like superfluous afterthoughts.

 

The main use for these two elements is in channeling the approach of an enemy

force. As the tips for the game state, it is not necessary to fill up every

square of the map grid with a mine to create anxiety in an attacking opponent.

If one unit blows up in an area, the whole area is suspect until it has been

sweptÑa laborious process. Use a few scattered mines to make an opponent channel

an attack into an area covered by every weapon the defender owns.

 

Concrete blocks are less subtle, but also less easy to eliminate. An enemy

trying for a quick knockout can be very frustrated by the blocks, particularly

if he doesn't have the long range detection gear to see them until he is in

mid-attack.

 

Intelligence Gathering

 

In M.A.X., Intelligence gathering is essentially the employment of lots of radar

and the use of infiltrators. It is never a bad idea to upgrade radar range and

build radar units, both fixed and moving. Mobile Scanners are quite capable of

operating at all times, unlike mobile anti-aircraft units, and the information

they bring in on the move can be vital to an attacking force or to a colonial

force trying to get the lay of the land. One unit that can provide knowledge of

an enemy's location and composition is worth three combat units flailing about

blindly without a clue. Remember this when determining what units you will

build.

 

 

 

Interesting Initial Deployments

 

Common unit selection for an initial mining station colony follows the ones

shown in the training scenarios. Constructor, Engineer, a couple of scouts, a

surveyor, and perhaps a couple of tanks and an assault gun. This is a balanced

group meant to handle threats from similar balanced groups.

 

But here are a couple of other possibilities you might want to try.

 

* The Scout Horde is a deployment that fills up with scouts, perhaps a bit

upgraded in Attack and Speed. A new colony group can have up to about 8 of these

vehicles. If you think you are going to land near an enemy colony, this is an

ideal force to swarm his defenses and destroy his mining station and power

generator and building vehicles before he knows what hit him. You are, however,

putting everything on a fall of the cards that puts you close to your

opposition. If he is far enough away to have time to build more scouts and other

heavier units, you may be destroyed easily when you finally make contact.

 

* The Defenders option calls for extra construction vehicles, very few scouts

(maybe just one) a scanner and a couple of missile crawlers and or rocket

launchers. The plan is to sit tight, call very little attention to yourself, and

destroy anything that gets close. It might work best on an island off to the

side of a planetary map. A Defender will probably lose to a Scout Horde unless

he has had time to build.

 

* The Heavy Metal option does away with scouts entirely in order to add another

tank or two or assault gun. Use tanks in teams of two to do your exploring and

hit anything you find as hard as you can. It's a reconnaissance in force tactic

and chancy, but it might mean destroying an enemy before he can get started.

This will work best on a world with lots of connected land, though it might also

work on a landing area that's a large island. And, of course, if you build a

light vehicle plant early, you will have scouts to take care of wider scouting

after you secure the immediate area.