The "new" thing

[Woundworth]

So in my recent games I have seen a lot of massing of one creature. The best came when someone had a level 3 unit that was a upper half of a chimp and the lower half of a tiger. His ranged attack hurt me bad.

His WHOLE army were these thing. Another one was all shark-owls in a 3 v 3 game.

Then there is the NEW unit of choice by a lot of people. The half lobster half shark combo. You run them into the base and they just attack your lab non-stop. It is a good strat, I am not saying that I am so mad that it has gone this way, I am just wondering if anyone has some ideas on how to fight against this.

I happen to like having variety in my army and thought I would post here to see if anyone else has been encountering this and what they did to stop it.

[GIMPbeowulf]

For the tiger/chimp things it's no prob... just some good armor fast meeles; they'll slaughter themselves. Lobsters with cheetah legs would work well at that level.

For the shark owls... you should be using radar or scouting so it shouldn't catch you completely by surprise since it takes so long to do. Just spam AA towers all over the place (they're cheap) and make ranged units.

If someone is massing lots of a single creature just pick the counter and you can dominate them, no prob. It's about the biggest mistake they can make.

[Timeless]

In 3 on 3 games, it's much easier to mass units like this since you can mass ranged while your allies mass air and melee, etc. I'm fairly new to the 3v3 games, but I can tell you that scouting your enemies and ascertaining their plans is KEY. If you see them teching up, perhaps give a quick tell to one of your nearby allies and strike while they are still vulnerable. From what I have seen people in these larger games like to tech as fast as possible, then hit you with mega level 4 and 5 units, but while they are teching have almost no units to defend themselves. If they are smart about it, their allies are getting units early to fight with to protect the guy that's teching to the higher levels. Fine. Bring the battle to them earlier, when they are less ready. Make them pay for their lack of early game units. Three level 2 and 3 opponents should absolutely crush the team that's decided to tech to level 5 for these end game units, but communication with your allies and constant scouting is the only way to make it happen.

In 1on1 or 2on2 games, however, I find the better players like to mix their units and fight as soon as they have 3 to 5 level 2 units. Smaller skirmishes are smarter because if you lose, you can quickly rebound with the appropriate units to counter, especially if you are fighting an opponent that likes to mass 1 unit and nothing else. In the games I have most enjoyed, I will often win a small skirmish, only to find my opponent now pumping out units that beat mine, ie artillery vs my ranged or melee to counter my artillery. I see this and do the same, both of us clawing for an advantage, one skirmish after another, often going like this for 15 to 20 minutes. Because we are constantly battling, until one player can pull off a decisive advantage (sneak attack to knock out their electricy generator or expansion, special ability usage that allows you to break the rock, paper, scissors mold, etc...), neither of us are usually able to MASS any one particular unit. To even try would be foolish.

Massing is a valid strategy, but it's mostly used by those that lack imagination or the knowledge to use their entire arsenal, nor do they understand how to use specials. They are banking on pure brutal force. Keep mixing those army units up like you do, win or lose, because in the long run you will be much more skilled than the guy who refuses to do anything but make a million chamenas or something similar.

[Imperial]

Ya the great thing about this game is there seems to be a counter to everything. If they are massing shark/lobsters you can mass ranged units. If they are massing shark/owls you just build a ton of AA towers to rip them to shreds.

[Commodore-SLS]

If they plan to mass shark-somethings, they should be dead.

[Timeless]

Exactly, only you summed it up in one sentence and I wrote a freaking book. lol. Sometimes, I go overboard.

[warlock1111]

you, but thats why we luvs ya tempest. as for defending the lab, i think its important to make sure its completely surrounded by a fance, except on the side where your men return minerals from. by surrounding it, you give less areas to be attacked, and when you see the attack coming you can also start a few henchment to standing in an area to repair. if they have mass melee the only answer is mass ranged, and be ready for him. the only thing you really hafta worry about is repairing that lab faster than he can destroy it, cuz once his army is gone that counter attack you have with ranged is really gonna hurt.