Tips & tricks

This guide is for players that are new to Ground Control multiplayer. It covers all the basics while attempting to keep it simple. Ground Control offers many different options, but beginners should not try tactics that only highly skilled veteran may be able to pull off occasionally. In this guide we stick to basics that work for everyone, all the time. After you have mastered basics, you can move on and try other ways, there will be plenty of room for experimentation.

• General information
  • House rules
  • Special weapons
  • Equipment
  • Hotkeys
  • Video settings
• Army configuration
  • APC
  • Infantry
  • Radar
  • Medium hoverdynes
  • Beams
  • Scouts
  • Artillery
  • Drones
• Game play
  • Start of game
  • In combat

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G E N E R A L   I N F O R M A T I O N :

House rules:

By default there is no-air-rule unless specifically said otherwise. That means no air units. Also avoid taking anti-air units as they are useless.

Standard game is deathmatch that ends then one side is wiped out, or then time runs out, whichever happens first. If time runs out, then team with higher score wins.

Special weapons:

For winning you have to destroy as many enemy units as possible. Best way to do it are special weapons, which can be used limited number of times, but even single well aimed salvo can sometimes wipe out whole enemy squad.

Equipment:

Another thing you need for winning is keeping you own units alive, for that you need special equipment, which similarly have limited number of uses. OND has shields, which provide full invulnerability against everything for 10 seconds, this followed by cool down (90 secs) before shields can be used again. Crays have Anti-missile system (AMS), which lasts 30 seconds and has no cool down, but is completely useless against beams, OND infantry, mines, and standard weaponry of tanks on both sides.

Hotkeys:

There are plenty of those, but here are most important. It may be good idea to reconfigure your controls if you find them awkward, that is purely about personal taste:

You should have these at hand all the time, ready to use at any moment:

Use special weapon: default = W

Use special equipment: default = E

Those you should be able to find in short time:

Show entity range: default = R
(Show entity range shows you both vision (blue) and firing range (red) of unit. Can be used for any unit, but most useful with radar.)

Chat:

everyone = ENTER
team chat = SHIFT + ENTER

Force fire order: default = CTRL+CLICK
Force fire allows you to aim to some spot on ground, very useful with artillery.

The rest you can do just fine with mouse at beginning, although more tasks you can handle through hotkeys, faster your gameplay will get.

Video Settings:

Video -> Video Options -> View distance bar = move this to maximum.
Video -> Video mode ->Resolution-> 800×600 is a good one to chose. You may be tempted to set a 1024×768 but this is a bit too big to aim fine.

The rest you do not really need, feel free set other bars at minimum and to turn off all radio buttons (high quality sky etc.).

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Y O U R   A R M Y :

At beginning use exclusively Order of the New Dawn (OND) units.

Frankly this cannot be emphasized strongly enough. One of the first things you need to learn is how to maneuver your units properly, and with slow ass crays you simply get massacred before you learn anything. The rest of the guide will assume that you use OND as suggested.

APC. A default unit, that you will always have one. Only unit which can repair other units and transport infantry. Has practically no firepower. Keep out of harms way at all costs. Enemy APC is a high priority target.

Infantry

Set on speed
Special weapon: Focused laser pulse
Equipment: Radar

Always bring one infantry squad with radar. Infantry squad should have anti-tank special weapon, and stay in the APC most of time, being its last line of defence if necessary. They are slow and defenceless against special weapons, so they should independently operate only on hilly terrain where vehicles cannot attack them easily, or on later stages of game then everyone are running out of special weapons.

Radar. Reason why you definitely need that infantry squad is radar. Success in GC multiplayer heavily depends on combination of vision and speed/coordination. Radar provides you with vision over a large area (check out its range, R by default), basically creating stationary “base”. Near that you can spread out majority of your army, without worrying that it gets blown into pieces before you even noticed approaching enemy. Obviously enemy radar is high priority target in combat. Radar should be placed in location where terrain provides cover for it, like behind hills, rocks, trees, in holes etc. Just do not put it in open field where enemy can see it from far away.

Now to the rest of your army:

Medium hoverdynes
Set on speed
Special weapon: moonburst
Equipment: shields

This frontline unit has whole package: firepower, speed and survivability. They are ideally suited for hit-and-run attacks taking maximum out from their specials. Unsurprisingly OND meds are unit that you will meet in GC more often then any other unit, and frontline combat is usually meds vs meds. Do not keep squads too close to each other, have them spread out, 1-2 may also stay in reserve closer to APC. Timing of your specials use (that is why you need those hotkeys) and movement direction in relation to enemy are crucial for success. Also it should be noted that moonburst has nice splash damage making meds excellent for wiping out infantry.

Beam platforms

Set on speed
Special weapon: focus prism
Equipment: shields

Those guys have really good speed and range, making them perfect for hammering enemy units at distance. Generally you should not place them on frontline too close to enemy as the have a quite weak armor, they have excellent range, use it for your advantage. Their speed and special weapon makes them also very useful for killing enemy solo units (APC, artillery, drone) that you manage to catch in open. Also cray AMS is absolutely useless against beams. On other hand, keep distance from enemy infantry, if they try to attack you, then pull beams back a bit and send squad of meds to obliterate them.

This rounds up you basic units. Medium hoverdynes at frontline, beams to cover them from distance, and one infantry squad with radar, is good beginning configuration.

Now few more units that you can start using as you become more confident. I will not give detailed settings here, you can check them from unit guide. Also it is never wrong to configure your OND units for speed, no matter what unit it is.

Scout hoverdynes

Fast unit with very good vision. Usually used for mining in early game and later for just scouting and harassing softer targets. Special weapon relatively effective against infantry and can be also used against poorly armoured vehicles like artillery or other scouts. Has no defence except their speed. Can be a bit hard to handle fully effectively in beginning, generally you should not use them if you are not planning to use mines. Do not bring more than 1 squad.

Heavy hoverdynes

More armour than meds, but less speed and firepower. Having single squad of them may be handy in some situations (clearing mines, for example), but it is usually better to take another squad of meds instead.

Artillery

Support unit with lots of firepower over long range, can be also used for clearing mines with forced fire. Unfortunately, enemy can easily avoid its fire in most cases. Also very vulnerable as they are slow and have no shields. Never use arty on open maps like DM1_Desert or DM6_Wartornwastes. Even on hilly maps beginners should not bring more than 1 unit.

Drone

Sneaky unit which can see through terrain obstacles just like radar. Unfortunately it has a smaller range, making it hard to master. Useless against infantry Avoid using it on open maps like DM1_Desert or DM6_Wartornwastes. Even on hilly maps beginners should not bring more than 1 unit.

That’s it.

Never use light hoverdynes or templars.

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G A M E P L A Y :

• Start of game:

1) Dropzones are random in most maps so look around at the very beginning where enemy dropships land. That is their starting location. Sometimes it is also said in team chat (something like: “bottom right”).

2) As soon as your units are on ground, select them all and put them into line formation.

3) Load infantry into APC.

4) Move out, other units can already get going while inf gets in APC.

5) Spread out your army. Closer the enemy starting location is, faster you have to do it. Keeping units close together is just asking for being massacred en masse.

6) Deploy radar. If you teammates have deployed several already with good coverage, then you may keep yours at reserve. View vision range of radar (point at it + R).

• In combat:

Keep your units moving all the time then engaging enemy. Also try to move laterally in relation to enemy, that is not straight towards or away from enemy but more to side. This makes it far harder to hit your squads with specials.

Shields give you 10 second invulnerability against everything, including mines. Use those 10 seconds wisely as you cannot use shields immediately again after it is over. Also enemy unit that activates shields will become vulnerable in 10 seconds, be ready to exploit it if he fails to disengage in time.

Rotate frontline units. Meds that just used their shields should pull back while another fresh squad takes over. Squads with damaged units should pull back to APC and get repaired. Do not block a route for your team’s attacking or retreating squads.

Keep your APC alive at all costs.

Defend your radar, but be ready to retreat and fall back from your positions if you are getting completely overrun.

Regularly check minimap, otherwise your army may be wiped out in flanking move before you notice it. But that works both ways, enemy that is involved in heavy combat in one area is distracted and vulnerable for surprise attacks in other directions.

If reasonably possible, try to target enemy support units (APC, arty, drone, rockets, beams, jaegers) as higher priority over frontline units.

If enemy has scouts, then there are mines somewhere, so be careful. Mines can be anywhere, but most standard locations are in spots where they are hard to spot (like grass in DM1_Desert), choke points, and corners which units pass then going around some terrain obstacle, like hill.

If you have any questions, then always feel free to ask them from veterans.

Have fun!

compilation by Sarvik

Note: large parts of this guide are based on several other guides and informative posts taken from archive of GC forums and Regnum Irae forums. Original authors of those posts include: J. VonDawn, Bobba Fett, Ironstone, Major, Bazuka, Flak Cannon and probably some more who I forgot.