Romulan Counters to Bug Spam
Share and discuss your gameplay strategies.
posted on April 30th, 2014, 7:02 am
Hey all, I have a question...
My favorite race is the Romulans, and I've been playing a friend who loves using the Dominion. Recently, he's started to use Dominion bug spam for the early game. I've not been able to find a way to counter this.
By the time I build my mining facility at my first expansion, it gets attacked by around 3-4 bugs. Any ships I send to defend the facility are generally destroyed before they can cloak, mainly because (1) my ships are outnumbered, and (2) whenever a bug is close to being destroyed, it runs into my ships. He's able to replace his bugs quickly enough that he can ram my ships without too much of a loss in firepower.
According to the guide, I am supposed to use Letherhals to counter bugs. Unfortunately, not only do I have to wait until after I build a research facility to build Letherhals in the first place, but they seem to be utterly useless against bugs. They fire slowly, their disruptor ability barely scratches the shields, and one bug ramming the letherhal can destroy 75% of its health.
I've also tried simply letting my expansion get destroyed and mounting a counter-raid using my units. But this doesn't work either because he generally is able to get a turret operational at his expansion. If I attack it earlier (using just one unit) I am met with 2 bugs, where one bug rams my ship and the other finishes it off. If I'm lucky, the ship is able to escape, but by the time I've repaired he's got his turret operational and 3-4 bugs are already attacking my expansion.
So how the heck do I stop this?
Thanks!
My favorite race is the Romulans, and I've been playing a friend who loves using the Dominion. Recently, he's started to use Dominion bug spam for the early game. I've not been able to find a way to counter this.
By the time I build my mining facility at my first expansion, it gets attacked by around 3-4 bugs. Any ships I send to defend the facility are generally destroyed before they can cloak, mainly because (1) my ships are outnumbered, and (2) whenever a bug is close to being destroyed, it runs into my ships. He's able to replace his bugs quickly enough that he can ram my ships without too much of a loss in firepower.
According to the guide, I am supposed to use Letherhals to counter bugs. Unfortunately, not only do I have to wait until after I build a research facility to build Letherhals in the first place, but they seem to be utterly useless against bugs. They fire slowly, their disruptor ability barely scratches the shields, and one bug ramming the letherhal can destroy 75% of its health.
I've also tried simply letting my expansion get destroyed and mounting a counter-raid using my units. But this doesn't work either because he generally is able to get a turret operational at his expansion. If I attack it earlier (using just one unit) I am met with 2 bugs, where one bug rams my ship and the other finishes it off. If I'm lucky, the ship is able to escape, but by the time I've repaired he's got his turret operational and 3-4 bugs are already attacking my expansion.
So how the heck do I stop this?
Thanks!
posted on April 30th, 2014, 8:12 am
http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/strategy/romulan/helev
then > Leahval Rush (generalized)
There's also an important note:
Bear in mind that Leahval are the most cost ineffective of these units when not used constantly for harassment or for destroying medium ranged or Autonomous Defense AI units (such as the Intrepid, Excelsior, A-20 Attack Destroyer (bugs)
In addition:
Romulans aren't an easy race to play. You need to make use of your superior vision and specials at all times possible.
A bug Ram won't cost you 75% of a Leahvals health, also you want auto repair. If he still Rams, that's more or less good for you. Rhienns are a neat addition, especially with phase plates, but not necessary.
then > Leahval Rush (generalized)
There's also an important note:
Bear in mind that Leahval are the most cost ineffective of these units when not used constantly for harassment or for destroying medium ranged or Autonomous Defense AI units (such as the Intrepid, Excelsior, A-20 Attack Destroyer (bugs)
In addition:
Romulans aren't an easy race to play. You need to make use of your superior vision and specials at all times possible.
A bug Ram won't cost you 75% of a Leahvals health, also you want auto repair. If he still Rams, that's more or less good for you. Rhienns are a neat addition, especially with phase plates, but not necessary.
posted on April 30th, 2014, 8:16 am
you don't have to expand immediately in every game. your enemy is going for fast spam, you can't counter that with map control immediately. stay at first base and 1 yard spam leahvals. stay near your yard when not protecting your miners. keep your leahvals cloaked and following the bugs when they get on your side of the map. pick your ambush carefully.
also don't forget to build a couple of rhienns (i'd say first ship rhienn, then repeat "3 leahvals and 1 rhienn"). as you're main force will be leahvals you'll have to build the first research station, then you can research phase plates, which lets a rhienn tank the bugs and cloak away, making the bugs waste their fire. you can replace/compliment this with autorepair for the leahvals too if you prefer.
edit: yep as above, as romulan you should be on the attack if possible. dominion anti cloak is good, but expensive and not early game, clobber them with that advantage.
also don't forget to build a couple of rhienns (i'd say first ship rhienn, then repeat "3 leahvals and 1 rhienn"). as you're main force will be leahvals you'll have to build the first research station, then you can research phase plates, which lets a rhienn tank the bugs and cloak away, making the bugs waste their fire. you can replace/compliment this with autorepair for the leahvals too if you prefer.
edit: yep as above, as romulan you should be on the attack if possible. dominion anti cloak is good, but expensive and not early game, clobber them with that advantage.
posted on April 30th, 2014, 11:02 am
I do like to build a yard at my exp, before the mining. it gives you a ability to repair your ships. few rhiens to start with, then some leahavals... strong counter to dominion bug spam. oh and research auto repair and phaseplates 
posted on April 30th, 2014, 6:23 pm
You absolutely need to research auto-repair for your Leahvals as soon as possible. Once you have that, you should be able to take on bugs 2 to 1, as they are triply-disadvantaged; they take more damage, deal considerably less damage, and Leahvals can stay in combat longer. Save the snipe ability for bugs that are almost dead and on a collision course.
posted on April 30th, 2014, 7:34 pm
Hey guys,
Thanks for the suggestions! The auto repair in particular will definitely help, it should be able to fully repair any damage from collisions pretty quickly. I'll be playing him later tonight and I'll probably post the results then. This is what I'm thinking:
- Use (general) Leverathal Rush strategy
- Build a shipyard at my expansion for the reinens (hopefully a warbird yard, but its possible I won't have the funds for anything but a star yard).
- Hopefully the leverathals will be able to hold him off/attack him effectively enough to get me successfully into mid game.
Thanks for the suggestions! The auto repair in particular will definitely help, it should be able to fully repair any damage from collisions pretty quickly. I'll be playing him later tonight and I'll probably post the results then. This is what I'm thinking:
- Use (general) Leverathal Rush strategy
- Build a shipyard at my expansion for the reinens (hopefully a warbird yard, but its possible I won't have the funds for anything but a star yard).
- Hopefully the leverathals will be able to hold him off/attack him effectively enough to get me successfully into mid game.
posted on May 1st, 2014, 5:56 am
Use beam rhienn rush, the multi targetting disruptor is... "therapeutic" against lost of small ships.
posted on May 1st, 2014, 8:22 am
Y Wing Driver wrote:...
- Build a shipyard at my expansion for the reinens (hopefully a warbird yard, but its possible I won't have the funds for anything but a star yard).....
Depending on the map, this will get you killed.
Same goes for fast tech to Disruptor Rhienns (they're awesome late game though ^^)
posted on May 1st, 2014, 6:45 pm
Rhienns are only bad if they are faced against only 2 kinds of ships: Birds of prey OR monsoons, otherwise there is nothing viable that an unskilled player can do against the disruptor refit rush!
posted on May 1st, 2014, 10:27 pm
Another thing to remember as Romulans is that he won't be able to detect your scout for a long, long time. Every game you play should begin with flying it straight to his starbase and seeing what he is building.
Warbirds are very difficult to use against Dominion in 3.2.7, because he gets bugs, S2, and powerful late-game cloak detect. If you're willing to learn a slightly altered system, I recommend you try my balance Mod where I try to smooth out some of the rough edges, balance wise: //www.fleetops.net/forums/modifica ... on-1-12559
One final bit of advice: in a Romulan 1v1 your first priority should be getting ship kills. If you're facing bug spam with Leahvals, your ships are faster than his. That means that you can chase him freely, and once you get enough ships to make him turn back, you can chase him all the way across the map getting kills. When he retreats, don't let him just leave. Go for the kill.
Warbirds are very difficult to use against Dominion in 3.2.7, because he gets bugs, S2, and powerful late-game cloak detect. If you're willing to learn a slightly altered system, I recommend you try my balance Mod where I try to smooth out some of the rough edges, balance wise: //www.fleetops.net/forums/modifica ... on-1-12559
One final bit of advice: in a Romulan 1v1 your first priority should be getting ship kills. If you're facing bug spam with Leahvals, your ships are faster than his. That means that you can chase him freely, and once you get enough ships to make him turn back, you can chase him all the way across the map getting kills. When he retreats, don't let him just leave. Go for the kill.
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