Here is a list of common abbreviations used in Renegade: (alphabetical by abbreviation)

• afk = Away from Keyboard
• agt/guard = GDI Advanced Guard Tower
• air/strip/as = Nod Airstrip
• AOW = All Out War
• APB = Red Alert: A Path Beyond
• APC = Armored Personnel Carrier (from either team)
• arty/art/mobart = Artillery
• att/atk = Attack
• b2b = Base to Base, shooting from your base to the enemy base
• bar/barr/bars/brax/rax/barix = GDI Infantry Barracks
• BC = Black-Cell (and their servers)
• bh = Big Head (Cheat)
• bhs = Black Hand Sniper
• bk = BaseKill (killing buildings)
• bot = The computer-controlled "Host" that processes commands like !bind or !minelimit, or computer opponents in modded maps
• br = BrenBot, a second generation server moderation Bot created by Blazer
• BR.NET = BlazeRegulator.NET, an old bot that isn't used much any more
• bs= bullshit-lang
• CCM = Command and Conquer Mode - same as AOW
• chopper/heli = Helicopter, Orca or Apache
• CTF = Capture the flag
• CS = CloudyServ, a server moderation bot created by CloudyOne
• CW = Clan War/Clan Match
• cy/con/Conyard = Construction Yard
• DA = Dragonade, the server side modification used on Black-Cell.net's servers instead of SSGM
• def = Defend
• DM = DeathMatch
• doza = Mendoza
• DS = DragonServ, the bot used on Black-Cell.net's servers
• engie = Engineer
• flame/flamer/ftank (rarer)/bbq (=barbecue) = Flame Tank
• fr = Final Renegade (Cheat)
• ffs = For F***'s Sake - Lang
• fps = Frames Per Second
• ftw = For The Win
• fu = F*** you - Lang
• g3k = Geek - Insult
• gg = Good Game
• ggg/ggg! = Go Go Go
• gj = Good Job
• gt = Guard Tower/Good Try
• gta = Grand Theft Auto/Stealing teammate's vehicles
• gl = Good luck
• harv/harvy = Harvester
• hax = Hacks/Cheats
• hc/hillcamp/h2b = Hill Camping - camping on the hill on Hourglass and attacking the enemy base
• hon/hand = Hand of Nod
• hot/hottie = Hotwire
• hs = Headshot
• hummer/hum/humv = Hummvee
• inc = incoming
• ion/ICB = ion cannon beacon
• irc = Internet Relay Chat
• kbps = Kilobits per Second, an indication of how much data the server is sending your way
• lcg = Laser Chain Gun (as in LCG Black Hand)
• lang = Language (swearing)
• light/ltank/lt/lank = Light Tank
• lol = Laugh(ing) Out Loud
• mammy/mam = Mammoth Tank
• master = rank given to an Orca/apache flyer. Person with a medium experience lvl.
• mct = Master Control Terminal
• med = Medium Tank
• mrl = Mobile Rocket Launcher
• mine = Mine, proximity C4
• mob/mobi/n00bius = Mobius
• MPF = Multi Player Forums
• n1 = Nice One
• nj = Nice Job
• noob/n00b/n00bie/nub = Usually referes to a new player, a very bad player or both also the rank given to a person new to flying in Orca/Apache.
• noobjet = Ramjet Rifle/someone using a Ramjet Rifle to pick off people in 1 shot when the Barracks/Hand of Nod is destroyed or shooting vehicles with it
• np = No Problem
• NR = NightRegulator (another relatively common bot used on servers)
• ns = Nice Shot
• nt = Nice Try
• nuke/NSB = nuclear strike beacon
• ped = Beacon Pedestal in the Barracks and Hand of Nod, usually said to indicate a beacon has been placed on it.
• PIC = Personal Ion Cannon, also refers to the Prototype/Personal Ion Cannon Sydney
• pilot = A rank given to Orca/Apache drivers. A medium experienced flyer
• pp = Power Plant
• pro-master = highest rank of a Orca/Apache pilot. Given to only the best of their branch.
• pt = Purchase Terminal
• ob/oby/obi/obby = Nod Obelisk of Light
• omg = Oh My God
• rav/rave = Raveshaw
• ref/tib = Tiberium Refinery (either side)
• ren/renny = Renegade itself
• renalert = Renegade Alert
• rep = Repair
• rg = RenGuard
• rgr = Roger
• rookie = rank given to a Orca/Apache driver with a minimum of experience.
• RR = Renegade Resurrection
• rso = Rocket Soldier Officer
• sbh = Stealth Black Hand
• ss/screenie = screenshot (press your Print Screen key to take one)
• SSGM = Server Side Game Manager
• stfu = Shut The F*** Up - lang
• stank = Stealth Tank
• tech/techie = Technician
• tfg/tfr = Tiberium Fletchette Gun
• tib = Tiberium (Refinery, Harvester, Tiberium field, Tiberium weapon (as in tib rifle))
• tibref = Tiberium Refinery)
• th = Team Hampering/Doing things that hurt your own team
• tk = Type Kill - Killing a person while they were typing a message.
• tk (other) = Team Kill - Killing people in your own team
• ts = tank steal
• transport/trans = Transport Chopper
• ty/thx/tnx = Thank You
• veh/vech = Vehicle
• vtol = VTOL vehicle (i.e. Orca/Apache/Transport)
• wf/warf/war/fac/weps = GDI Weapons Factory

(P.S. Most clans are referred to by their clan tags in casual conversation.)

Harv(ester) Walking, you've probably heard of it and maybe even tried it, but not too many know how it's supposed to be done. Basically harv walking is walking behind the harvester with some infantry unit to the enemy base without getting killed by the base defenses. The best unit to harv walk is obviously the Stealth Black Hand, simply because other units are pretty easy to spot. However, as long as full radar is off, it's still possible to do it with other units, and no one really expects GDI to harv walk because you've got to be a stupendous badass to even consider it. That'll give you the advantage of surprise, at least. Getting a beacon placed with an SBH on some key building on a base defense map just might win the game. Sneaking in with a technician/hotwire is great as well, since they can destroy a building on their own

Harv Walking

So, harv walking works on maps with base defenses. It's possible to harv walk on City, Mesa, Field, Under, Glacier and even Hourglass not to mention all the fan maps out there.

The Basics

First, you might want to press 'F' for third person view so you can observe the situation better. Though it's sometimes better to have the first person view so you can definitely say if the base defenses will spot you. Wait for the harvester somewhere safe and go with it when it's going to return to dump its tiberium. Since you need to match your speed with the harvester, I recommend pressing and holding the jump key (default: space). This makes you 'jog' and go at a speed of a harvester...well, a little faster actually. As long as you're walking behind the harvester, it's OK to run at full speed and ride the harvester's back end, but if you're trying to go around it you want to match its speed as close as possible so the base defenses don't spot you. Try to keep the harvester between you and the base defenses. Like shown on this screenshot from Field.

Follow the harvester and depending on the map and where you want to go, follow a path. Here are a few paths on some maps.

City

You can get behind power plant, barracks, weapons factory and refinery easily. Just jog on the right side of the harvester and try to keep your eyes on the advanced guard tower.

This is how you should position yourself

At this point, start walking diagonally if you want to get to the PP. Just keep jogging on the right side of the harvester if you're heading for the Ref or WF. At about this point you're also safe behind the barracks, so you can just stop, wait for the harvester to go on and run to the barracks.

If you're going for the power plant, just keep looking at the AGT and jogging towards the PP.

At this point you should release space and run behind the power plant. If you do it correctly, the AGT won't notice you. This goes for all four buildings on this map.

Under

Getting behind WF and ref is possible without getting shot at. The AGT will most likely get a shot (and a missile as well then) at you if you try to get to the AGT. It's possible to run from behind the refinery to the power plant and from there to the barracks. But usually it's enough to nuke either the war factory or the power plant.

Jog behind the harvester and when you get closer to the AGT, move to the side, like that.

Here's a picture of being at the side of the harvester.

At this point (if not a bit sooner) you should release the jump button and start to run. Keep on going and run to the front left of the harvester.

Keep on looking at the AGT and keep your distance to the harvester. You don't want to get run over by it at this point. When you see the harvester is going behind the weapons factory and the AGT can no longer shoot at you, run for cover and you're safe behind the weapons factory. No one saw you and you can plan your nuking point in peace.

Now, if you can master these two, you can proably make up your own routes to places. I'd suggest practicing on Field, as it's probably the easiest map to harv walk on.

===Advanced Techniques===

(uhm...not really serious here, but these are doable...just takes a lot of luck or not-so-bright enemies to pull one off) Walking behind a mammoth tank:

Mammywalk to AGT, nuke it and steal the mammoth and cover your nuke with it.

Harvwalk on Hourglass:

This obviously only works with a chem trooper. But, it's doable.

Also, consider harvdriving with a stealth tank. It's actually pretty easy to do the same things with a stealth tank as you would with an SBH. This has obvious advantages, such as not getting damaged on tiberium (Mesa, Hourglass) and you can't get driven over by the harvester. You can become a stealthy technician even. And if you do pull it off, you'll have a tank covering your nuke. Though bear in mind that the stealth tank is much wider than an SBH. This means you can't get everywhere an SBH would. Buggies or Light Tanks also work very well for this as they have a very low profile and are quick.

Also, harv walking is NOT the same as ob walking or ob glitching. Sorry for the picture heavy guide, but I think they're neccessary.

Important Note

Harvester walking is against the rules on some servers and will get you kicked from the game. Please remember to always type the !rules command to check before you do it! You are expected to have read and understood the rules on most servers the moment you join. Also please remember not all rules are explicitly stated under the !rules command so alternatively you may wish to ask a moderator or check the server's website or forum. If in doubt, don't do it.

Setting up

Before you begin to mine you need to question yourself:

• Is there anyone else mining?
• How many doors are there?
• What's the mine limit?
• How many doors are covered by Base Defense and don't need mines?

You can simply ask in team chat if there is someone mining, but you need to know which buildings are on the map to know how many mines you can use per door. Also note that proximity mines are virtually ineffective against vehicles. If someone is rushing into your base with a vehicle, chances are that your mines won't stop them if they had enough health to get into your base otherwise. If you put mines out at vehicles entrances into your base, any APC coming in will clear them out and probably still make it to a structure intact, except now you've done them a favor because none of your building entrances are mined. Stick to mining buildings! You can see which buildings there are on the map by pressingJ. Now we need to know the mine limit, in regular Renegade it's 30. But server owners are able to set this limit. Type !c4 (!minelimit or !mlimit on some servers) on public chat to see the mine limit. Now divide the mine limit with the numbers of doors. When you have done this you know how many mines you can put per door. So we can now start the mining.

As for damages, it takes 4-6 mines at most to kill any character. Mines do anywhere from about 45 to 65 damage to a person depending on their distance from the mine when it goes off. Therefore, never put more than 6 in any doorway to a building because you're wasting them. 5 is a good number, generally... if people survive those it'll only take a pistol shot or two to send them packing at that point. It's generally a good idea to consider Proximity C4 a deterrent to the enemy and an effective way to stop a one-man assault. An APC rush with multiple players won't be stopped by proximity C4, but hopefully one of the enemy players died, signalling you to investigate the death you caused.

Mining formations

There are different mining formations but there are some rules you have to keep before the mining formation is effective. When mining, one primary rule is not to place more than one mine on-top of eachother. If you do so, the second mine is entirely useless as when the first one blows, the second and any others on top of that disappear without detonating.

Don't put the mines too close at the door.

Do not place mines too close to the doors or enemy vehicles can 'ram' the door, blowing up the mines and clearing a path for infantry. You should place mines back from the doors sufficient so they cannot be detonated by vehicles.

Don't put the mines all over the place.

Do not place mines far apart, or too far from the doorway. You can see here how the enemy could easily avoid some of the mines by simply walking around them. Remember if you run a low end connection you may lag so take your time mining and do it properly or you might get !n00b'd.

Watch the limit.

This image will show you the a perfect defense, but it takes up too much of the mine limit, which makes other places unmined.

But I can't tell you it enough: Stick to the mine limit.

Should I mine to defend vs. vehicles?

This is not recommended. Mines only do about 30 points of damage to vehicles, regardless of the armor type, so at most if you used all 30 mines on an entrance you'd kill anything but a Mammoth, but your little trap will be a one-off shot and you'll leave the rest of the base undefended. People in public games do this a lot on Mesa, Field, Walls, and Under especially. This is futile, as you need to use a disproportionate amount of mines on vehicles to affect any sort of damage on them. It is a better idea to save them for building entrances or common foot entrances into your base, depending on the map.

Note, however, there are servers that run mods that allows the mine limit to be raised above 30. If the limit is raised above 30 on a map such as Walls, you may wish to mine the entrance as opposed to the doors to prevent stealthed units sneaking around your own forces and planting multipule beacons - particularly atop the Weapons Factory in the flying variation of the map. This can however easily be countered by sending in an APC to remove the mines quickly followed by a detachment of SBH (Stealthed Black Hands), or bringing an engineer to defuse a path through the mines. You should consult with your team mates when mining to consider the best advantage. Different maps call for different mining tactics.

Dealing with the n00bs

There are some players who do not keep themselves to the rules I posted above, they mine on strange places, use too many mines or mine other players. If they do so and it annoys you, then simple page him telling him to stop wasting the mines. If he doesn't stop then contact a moderator/vote kick him.

User Opinions

This tutorial covers "mining" in the sense of how to mine buildings. Proximity mines are most useful in defending buildings, but unless the server has a rule about where you put them...and as far as I know, not a single one does...you are allowed to use proximity mines for any purpose as long as it's for the benefit of your team. (NOTE: This does NOT make provisions for Flaming APCs - this tactic is banned on some servers.)

This means, for example, you could place them in the tunnel entrance on Walls Fly to defend your base from people trying to come in from there. Or at some strategic chokepoint in the middle of the map you think could be useful. If somebody thinks you are wasting mines, tell them why you have put them there. If you are told all mines are needed in the base, it's advisable to listen. At certain points in the game, for example if your team has most of its players defending already, or the opponent's base is being dominated and is nearly dead, you can be less cautious about where they are placed.

Don't forget that the best defense is an active one, so you should never rely purely on mines to keep your base defended.

In the last year or so I have been extensively playing clan games i.e. small games compared to public servers, and unlike public servers everyone is working in co-ordination. So I now present a strategy guide for small games, and here's City Flying.

These strategy guides all assume the starting credits are zero.

Before I actually begin the City Flying guide, I'm going to explain a principle by which I generally play. It's extremely simple, extremely effective, and it frankly baffles me that the vast majority of players in public servers don't seem to understand it.

My general Renegade principle

If your enemy has powerful and expensive weapons, destroy them before you attack his base. I'm being theoretical here, but here's a demonstration of what I mean. Let's say the map's Under and you're on Nod. Let's say there are a couple of GDI players who are camping in front of their AGT to defend the base. If you rush in with stanks, flamers or APCs intent on base destruction, you'll fail. The meds will smash up your rush and you won't kill a building. All you'll do is run out of money, while at the same time giving your enemy some nice fat points. Instead, get an artillery and some light tanks, and kill the med tanks first. Hit the weapon factory a couple of times with the artillery. This will force the med tanks to rush you, otherwise you would just get massive points... and when they rush, concentrate all your light tank/artillery fire on the med tanks. Then once the med tanks are destroyed, you'll have an artillery hitting the factory, a couple of light tanks ready to rush the AGT, and GDI can't do jack about it. Most likely, you'll kill one if not both buildings in that scenario. At the very least, you will build up a large points lead and get lots of cash for your next attack.

Anyway, bear that principle in mind as you read on...

Early Game: Getting money quickly

The most important thing for both sides as the game begins is to acquire money as quickly as you can. There are three ways to do this: gathering crates, attacking the enemy harvester, and defending your own. Crates are much more important on City Flying than any other map. Firstly because they are easily accessible, secondly because City Flying crates are twice as valuable as other maps (excepting Mesa). On most maps, a crate will either give you 100 credits or an ammo refill. On City Flying (or Mesa), they give you either 200 credits or 100 credits and a refill.

While most of your troops should focus on the harvester issue (which I'm about to get to), you should always be vigilant for which side the crate spawns at so you can snag it instead of your opponent. Moving on to harvesters. In a perfect world you will destroy the enemy harvester and protect your own, but it isn't likely you'll do both against a good opposing team. For GDI, you should rush the field immediately with GDI soldiers, with perhaps an engineer or grenadier in the mix as well. GDI soldiers can easily dominate the map early on. For Nod, using Nod soldiers isn't such a great idea since Nod's automatic rifles are pathetic compared to their GDI counterpart. Most of your team should use engineers instead. This is where having good pistol abilities is a big advantage. If your team is good with infantry and your opposing team isn't, you can kill off their soldiers at the start, earning yourself a good thirty seconds in which to attack the enemy harvester with C4. It will also help to ensure your own harvester survives.

It is sometimes a worthwhile idea for one player to buy a Humm-vee, Buggy or APC early on. This can dominate the field in the early game, and makes it virtually certain that you will kill their harvester a couple of times, hopefully defend your own, and continue to gather those all-important crates. Buying the aforementioned vehicles to actually rush your opponent is something I'll get to later.

What you need

Here's a general outline of the units you need on City Flying, once you've got money. For GDI: One Orca, one Havoc, remaining players should buy medium tanks. For Nod: One Apache, one Sakura, remaining players should buy light tanks. These unit combinations might not seem obvious to most public-server players, but read on and you'll see why this is the best thing to do.

Buying units with the intention of rushing your enemy's base to kill buildings straight away is a really, really bad idea. It might work in a server where most players don't really bother working in co-ordination, but at the top level of play it's a blunder. If you were to mass APCs and try to rush the powerplant, for example, and your opponent had the unit combinations I mentioned above, they will rip your APCs to shreds before you even get close. Remember the Principle. Destroy your enemy's units before you try attacking his base... because once you've killed their vehicles, they can't stop you. At the top level of play, it comes down to a fight between an Orca, a Havoc and Medium Tanks vs an Apache, a Sakura and light tanks. Instead of going straight for basekill, take the field with the aforementioned units. Control the central area of the map, kill their harvester every time it comes out (I'll explain the importance of this shortly), try to protect your own if you can... but most importantly, your opposing team is probably going to do the same. It is your objective to take out your enemy's vehicles before you try to do anything else.

Sniping

The Havoc/Sakura is probably the most important asset for your team on this map. You need someone skilled at sniping otherwise you are probably doomed against a good opponent. Now, you may be thinking it doesn't take any kind of skill to shoot down an Orca/Apache with a ramjet. While that's indisputably true, remember that your opponent will also have a sniper and sooner or later the two snipers are going to tangle. The winner of that fight can often determine the course of the game. Here's why: Again, remember the Principle. For the sake of argument, let's say GDI has an Orca, a Havoc and two Med Tanks on the field. Nod has an Apache, a Sakura and two Light Tanks. Let's assume the snipers fight each other and the Havoc wins. GDI now has an Orca, a Havoc and two mediums against an Apache and two lights. The Apache is a sitting duck now for the Orca and the Havoc, meaning he's either forced to retreat or he's going to get shot down. Either way, you've taken an Apache out of the field too, so it's now an Orca and two meds against two lights. The Orca alone is enough to rip apart the light tanks. This is why it is so important to have a skilled person wielding your team's ramjet. Simply killing your opposing team's sniper can spell doom for the rest of their team.

Once you first buy your ramjet, you should position yourself in the tunnels on your own side of the field. This gives you a decent cover of the map and also keeps you more-or-less safe against opposing vehicles. For now, just cover your teammates against the opposing Orca/Apache, and sit tight until you have 500-600 credits. Once you do, head back to base and buy an APC or a Light Tank. Then you should move onto the bridge, like so...

Sit tight here for a while. You can give good coverage of most of the map against your opponent's Orca/Apache. Sooner or later your enemy's sniper will probably appear on the other side of the bridge, in which case it is your mission to pick him off.

Flying

As a general rule, your Orca or Apache should roam the map to wherever you're needed. In the early game, it is common for the sniper to camp in the tunnels, so you should use the bridge as cover while you keep the field under control with your orca/apache. Generally just keep your tanks and your sniper covered, keep enemy tanks away from your base, and kill their harvester. When you have another 350 credits, go back and buy yourself a hotwire/technician. Later on, the snipers tend to move to the bridge once they can afford vehicles for themselves, in which case you can stay underneath the bridge to keep yourself safe, although it does limit your mobility.

Using Tanks

You should always have a Medium Tank or Light Tank here.

A tank here serves a vital function: it can destroy the enemy harvester every time it moves on to the field. For GDI, it has the additional advantage of making it impossible for Nod to sneak a stealth tank past you that way. Another player should always be covering the opposite side with a medium/light tank. Once one of your tank drivers has 1000, it is usually a good idea for someone to go back and buy a second sniper. The second sniper should stay on ground level, while your first sniper covers the bridge. This makes it an extremely dicey prospect for the enemy Orca/Apache to move onto the field. However, the downside to this tactic is you will not be able to fix your own tank, relying on someone else to do it for you.

Why killing their harvester is so important

There are two reasons. Firstly it's a safe and easy source of points, but more importantly it cripples their cash flow. As I have already mentioned, your objective on City Flying is to destroy your opponents' units. If you take out one of their tanks, big deal... they will soon afford another. However, if you take out one of their tanks AND you've been killing their harvester every time it moves onto the field, one player on their team has nothing to do other than run around like a monkey looking for crates... so in effect, you now have the advantage of numbers, if only temporarily.

Once they do start having cash flow problems, you should focus on the next stage of your gameplan, which is Moving Up.

(As a side note, if the game's going your way and you are OK for money, consider blocking your own harvester by jamming a buggy/humvee at the refinery bay. This will stop your opponent getting easy money/points by attacking your harvester, and also prevents harv walking - although harv walking on City Flying isn't really that much of a threat at the top level of play)

Moving Up

It isn't a great idea to move much further forward than these positions to begin with, and here's why. If, once you have your medium tanks, you just move all the way forward and attack Nod buildings, you're easy prey for their Apache and Light Tanks, and your team's Orca will have a tough job covering you. Instead, your team should sit tight in the field for a while until you kill at least one of their units. Usually the next stage in the game is determined by the two snipers fighting each other. If your sniper is victorious, your Orca will have free rein of the map (at least, until they can afford a replacement ramjet), so your Medium Tanks can move safely forward and start attacking the Nod base. Once you have the opportunity, your tanks should move up to these spots, while your Orca/Apache covers them.

Your bridge sniper can also move all the way up to their base. If he has a Light Tank he can hit the weapons factory. If not, he can simply keep the Orca covered.

Move up with the GDI APC/Havoc; because when a Nod player buys a vehicle, he's extremely vulnerable to snipers while he runs to the airstrip pad to collect it. If he buys an apache, for example, you can snipe him off before he reaches it, and then destroy the vacant apache so he's just wasted 900 credits.

Stealth Tanks

Stealth Tanks are also an option I haven't mentioned yet. They're also a rather large gamble: using a stank will usually either win you the game, or cost you the game. If you want to learn how to effectively use a stealth tank on City Flying at the top level of play, you should forget everything you've seen in public servers. Trying to sneak into their base on your own, while feasible in public servers, will not work in a clan game. Massing stealth tanks with your entire team and trying to rush the barracks is also a doomed strategy. There is one thing stanks excel at, and it's giving your sniper the element of surprise. If your sniper isn't short of cash, consider buying a stealth tank for his sakura. This way, you can catch their Orca by surprise and rip him apart before he knows where you are (your Apache should help out) While stealth tanks pack more punch against buildings than light tanks, they are much flimsier and have a shorter range, which is why light tanks are better as a general rule. A light tank is perfectly capable of destroying a medium tank in a one-on-one situation, but with a stank it's unlikely. So, stealth tanks are something you can occasionally pull out of your sleeve, but they should not be the core of your strategy: Light tanks should be.

In the last year or so I have been extensively playing clan games i.e. small games compared to public servers, and unlike public servers everyone is working in co-ordination. So I now present a strategy guide for small games, starting with Field.

These strategy guides all assume the starting credits are zero.

My general Renegade principle

Before I actually begin the Field guide, I'm going to explain a principle by which I generally play. It's extremely simple, extremely effective, and it frankly baffles me that the vast majority of players in public servers don't seem to understand it.

The principle is this. If your enemy has powerful and expensive weapons, destroy them before you attack his base. I'm being theoretical here, but here's a demonstration of what I mean. Let's say the map's Under and you're on Nod. Let's say there are a couple of GDI players who are camping in front of their AGT to defend the base. If you rush in with stanks, flamers or APCs intent on base destruction, you'll fail. The meds will smash up your rush and you won't kill a building. All you'll do is run out of money, while at the same time giving your enemy some nice fat points. Instead, get an artillery and some light tanks, and kill the med tanks first. Hit the weapon factory a couple of times with the artillery. This will force the med tanks to rush you, otherwise you would just get massive points... and when they rush, concentrate all your light tank/artillery fire on the med tanks. Then once the med tanks are destroyed, you'll have an artillery hitting the factory, a couple of light tanks ready to rush the AGT, and GDI can't do jack shit about it. Most likely, you'll kill one if not both buildings in that scenario. At the very least, you will build up a large points lead and get lots of cash for your next attack.

Anyway, bear that principle in mind as you read on...

GDI

To begin, GDI needs to get money quickly. There are three ways to do this: attack the Nod harvester, grenade the refinery, or grenade the airstrip. Generally the best option is to kill the enemy harvester, since it'll cut their cash flow for a while as well as increasing yours. Also, Nod only gets negligible money for fixing their harvester compared to fixing the refinery or airstrip when there are grenadiers attacking it. The most efficient job is one grenadier backed up by a soldier or two. Of course, be aware that Nod may try to ref hop you, or attack your harvester.

Assuming your harvester made it back safely the first time, you'll probably have around 500 credits or more if you've done a lot of grenading. One person should buy an MRLS at this point... and take it here.

This is a brilliant spot to deploy your MRLS, since you can hit any Nod vehicle which leaves base (including killing the harvester every time it comes out, which is a HUGE help), especially the Artillery (which is Nod's most dangerous weapon on Field)... a good MRLS player can easily wreck an arty before he does any damage. You're also relatively safe from return fire from a Nod Artillery since the hill will protect you somewhat, and anything else has to come close to hit you.

Meanwhile, your GDI teammates should continue to grenade the refinery and airstrip. By doing this they will soon have enough money for med tanks. If you have done a good amount of grenading, you should have your meds at roughly the same time as Nod can afford light tanks. Get your meds out onto the field as soon as possible, because you don't want to leave your MRLS on his own to get rushed by light tanks. You might think it's a good idea for someone to mine up at the start, but it really isn't. You need meds, and lots of them. An extra med tank is better than mining your base. Aside from anything else, if you have enough firepower in the field, Nod won't be able to rush your AGT anyway. You can always mine up later.

Good spots for med tanks are here

and here

The spot by the bunker is affectionately known by clan players as "the med hill". It's really quite a nice spot to use a med tank, because you can easily hit any Nod tank coming out of their base, but it's difficult for Nod to hit you back. By the waterfall is also a great spot. While you don't actually have a hill to cower behind like the first two screenshots, you can retreat to near the waterfall when you're damaged. If an artillery/light tank wants to hit you, he has to come all the way out of his base... where he's vulnerable to attack from MRLS and med tanks in the spots I've already mentioned.

Anyway, regarding the principle I mentioned earlier. If you just moved up to the edge of Nod base right at the start and hit the Hand of Nod for points, you're asking for trouble because it's surprisingly easy for a teched arty (i.e. an artillery who is constantly healed by a technician) and a few light tanks to clear the area of GDI vehicles. However, if you hang back in the field, using the hills as I've shown, force Nod to come to you and also kill the Nod harvester every time it comes out, you've basically got the game in the bag. And once you've killed a few arties and lights, they won't have any money (due to the fact their harvester never makes it back). When this is the case, you can move up with your meds and MRLS, and hit the Hand. Rushing the obelisk is also an option.

Playing by this method, you only really need to watch out for harv walking (When your harvester goes back every couple of minutes, spare a quick glance to check there isn't a technician there... You can also block your harvester later on if you're OK for money) and nukes at the barracks/refinery. If you hear a nuke being deployed, one person should go back while the others hold the field. But be wary, because sometimes if Nod's having a tough time taking the field back from you, they might lay a fake nuke just so one or more GDI players will go back to check on the base, which will make it a lot easier for them to take the field, which is 1000 credits well spent.

Let's assume you try to take the field as above, but you fail and lose your vehicles. Nod will take the field with an artillery and some lights and start hitting your WF. In this situation, your course of action should be to fix the WF (and take potshots at the light tanks with a tank, if you can afford one) until everyone on your team has a med, possibly with one MRLS. Now, if you rush out in a rabble, you'll get owned. You need to rush out with all the meds at the same time, and most importantly of all, call your target. (This is where teamspeak comes in so handy). If all your meds concentrate on an individual light tank/artillery at a time, you'll probably take the upper hand. Whenever a med tank drops, the driver can heal his teammates, and possibly try to remote an enemy vehicle too, which will help no end. This is your best chance of taking the field back. A lot of people in public servers think you should let your weapon factory die every time there's an artillery hitting it. While that might work in a public server full of idiots where nobody works in co-ordination, it will never work at a high level of play, I guarantee it.

Nod

As the game begins, you basically have two options. Either you can concentrate on killing their harvester with engineers, or you can stop GDI from grenading your base / harvester. (While it may be possible to do both, it's a lot easier said than done... so pick one of the two goals and focus on doing it) If you take the second option, just get some Nod soldiers / shotgunners / engineers in the tunnel and have someone watching the harvester too. If you can stop GDI from getting any grenadier money, you have a big advantage because Nod's best tanks cost less than GDI's.

If your harvester survives (and GDI will be trying to prevent that), you'll have somewhere between 500-600 credits each when it dumps. One player should buy an arty while the rest get light tanks. (In larger games, say six or seven players on your team or more, get two arties). If you've played the opening game well, you'll have your tanks on the field before GDI have their meds, though they will quite likely have an MRLS waiting for you. If that's the case, keep your artillery safe for the moment, rush the MRLS with light tanks and kill it quickly so the arty can move out. Like GDI, Nod can also make great use of the terrain on Field. Light tanks here...

are a good idea, while your artillery should stay at the back hill for now, like so...

Nod vehicles using the hills in this position are extremely hard to hit with a rushing medium tank, since all he'll see is the tip of your turret. Add to that the fact you can move back and forth, and he'll have a really tough time hitting you until they get close, by which time your team will have chewed half their armour away.

Again, it might be tempting to move all the way up straight away and pointwhore off the WF, but it's really a bad idea. If you move right up to GDI base, they'll easily own your tanks with their meds. Instead, chill out behind the hills for now, kill the GDI harvester every time it comes out, and wait for GDI to rush you with med tanks. Just as it is true for GDI, it is vitally important for everyone on Nod to focus on the same target. This is where the artillery's range and power, and the light tank's low profile come into play. When a light tank is behind the hill as shown above, it can easily hit an oncoming med tank, and use the hill to shield itself from the med tank's return fire. This means a med tank has to get close to do some effective damage. And the artillery is out of med tank range anyway. By concentrating your firepower on one GDI tank at a time, hopefully you will hold the field. Probably losing a few lights in the process.

Once you've killed all of GDI's tanks, they'll be broke (this is why it's important to kill the harvester every time it comes out). Once they can't afford anything decent, you can move up, like so...

The artillery can pound the WF, the lights can rush the AGT if they feel like it, or just hit the WF as well and hold the field. If the lights rush while GDI has nothing to defend with, then chances are either the AGT or the factory will die. It's plain sailing once that happens.

Anyway, for the sake of argument let's say you lose the field, and GDI takes over with meds and maybe an MRLS. You need a teched arty here, and a couple of lights. One artillery should stay in the Nod base entrance with a technician giving him constant repairs. This will either destroy GDI tanks or make them fall back into the field, and once they do that, other Nod players can rush out with light tanks.

Other strategies

Don't bother using stanks, it really is a bad idea. While you might sneak past GDI one game out of ten, the other nine times it'll do your team more harm than good because light tanks and artillery do a much better job, and are cheaper. Nuking the barracks or refinery is a possibility, but don't use that as the focal point of your gameplan, instead just pull it out of your sleeve every now and again to surprise your opponents. Like I mentioned earlier, if you're having trouble taking the field back from GDI, consider laying a fake nuke. Hopefully this will cause one or more GDI players to go back and check on the barracks/refinery. With less GDI firepower on the field, you'll take the field back a lot easier.

In the last year or so I have been extensively playing clan games i.e. small games compared to public servers, and unlike public servers everyone is working in co-ordination. So I now present my second strategy guide for small games, for Volcano.

These strategy guides all assume the starting credits are zero.

My general Renegade principle

Before I actually begin the Volcano guide, I'm going to explain a principle by which I generally play. It's extremely simple, extremely effective, and it frankly baffles me that the vast majority of players in public servers don't seem to understand it.

The principle is this. If your enemy has powerful and expensive weapons, destroy them before you attack his base. I'm being theoretical here, but here's a demonstration of what I mean. Let's say the map's Under and you're on Nod. Let's say there are a couple of GDI players who are camping in front of their AGT to defend the base. If you rush in with stanks, flamers or APCs intent on base destruction, you'll fail. The meds will smash up your rush and you won't kill a building. All you'll do is run out of money, while at the same time giving your enemy some nice fat points. Instead, get an artillery and some light tanks, and kill the med tanks first. Hit the weapon factory a couple of times with the artillery. This will force the med tanks to rush you, otherwise you would just get massive points... and when they rush, concentrate all your light tank/artillery fire on the med tanks. Then once the med tanks are destroyed, you'll have an artillery hitting the factory, a couple of light tanks ready to rush the AGT, and GDI can't do jack about it. Most likely, you'll kill one if not both buildings in that scenario. At the very least, you will build up a large points lead and get lots of cash for your next attack.

Anyway, bear that principle in mind as you read on...

Early game

As the game begins, all players should rush with engineers through the tunnels. If you're GDI, it's sometimes wise to mix a soldier in there too. (Don't bother doing that with Nod, since Nod automatic rifles are pathetic and you're better off with the engineer pistol). If it's a large game (ie 8 or more players), add in a shotgunner or two.

If you can take out a building at the start, that's great. But it isn't really that likely. Your main goal is to get money quickly. Here are some guidelines for C4'ing, assuming you're an engineer.

1. If there are no enemies nearby as you run into the enemy building and you have a teammate with you, use your timed c4 first, then both your remotes, but don't detonate your remotes until the timer goes off (or until an enemy discovers you). This'll allow you and your teammate to take the building. 2. If there are no enemies nearby and you're on your own, use your timed c4 first, plant both your remotes on the MCT and detonate immediately, killing yourself. This way you'll get back to base straight away, which you really need to do, since the enemy will be trying to remote your buildings just as you're doing. Whether or not the timed c4 will go off really depends whether the enemy gets lucky spawns or not. 3. If there is an enemy soldier around you as you're running into the building, forget your timed c4 because he'll easily disarm it after he's killed you. Just use your remotes.

Pistol skills are very important on Volcano, because if you're really good with a pistol, and the enemy(s) you encounter in the tunnel suck with a pistol, you'll get your remotes off. Once one team gets remotes off, they will probably keep getting remotes off, because if someone remotes your building someone has to stop and fix it. While you're fixing up your building for ten seconds or however long it takes, your opponent is already halfway through the tunnel and about to remote another of your buildings. Like I said, pistol skill is important. Don't forget it only takes four pistol headshots to kill a basic infantry, so get good with your pistol and you can take enemies down in a flash.

Now. The harvesters dump at the same time for both teams, and will leave you with around 500-600 credits if you didn't get any C4 money. If you did get some remotes off, obviously you'll have 200-400 more. This is why you need good pistol skills at the start... Let's say neither side managed to get any C4s off. GDI could rush with APCs and Nod would buy arties. That could go either way, really. But if GDI got C4s off while Nod didn't, they'd have med tanks against arties, so GDI would probably win that fight... and end up with med tanks in Nod base while Nod team has no money. If Nod got their C4's off, there's the possibility of causing havoc with a flamer or stank.

Mining

Only one person should really be mining, so you know exactly how many mines you've used, what's mined and what isn't. It's also a bad idea for more than one person to spend those 350 credits. The others should buy vehicles.

Of course, once the Hotwire/technician has mined up, he can try to sneak into enemy base.

It is generally a better idea to mine the two tunnel entrances than to mine the building doors, because it's quicker and you don't need to worry about overmining. If someone's watching the base, they can just spare a quick glance at the tunnel entrances. If the mines are gone, check your buildings because there's a hotwire/tech around. Also, if you see a player's score go up by 30 every couple of seconds, they're disarming mines and someone should intervene. If you notice this happening but aren't in a position to do anything about it, e.g. if you're in a tank fight somewhere else, let your team know so someone else can check up on it. (This is where teamspeak comes in handy) If there's one building which positively has to be mined, it is the POWERPLANT. This is the most important building for both GDI and Nod - lose it and you're screwed. Second most important is probably Weapons Factory / Airstrip.

GDI

When your harv dumps, if you're GDI someone needs to buy an APC straight away. (If somebody managed to get all their engineer C4 on a building, they'll be able to do this before the harv dumps... and that's a really good thing for GDI, as you'll soon see) If you're quick, lucky or both, hopefully you can get your APC here...

before Nod has a vehicle. If you can achieve this, GDI has a massive advantage, because with one APC you have effectively stopped their entire usage of tanks. For Nod to buy a tank when your APC is there is stupidity, since you could just kill him as he ran to collect it, which would leave you free to hijack the Nod tank. If you've "blocked the Airstrip" as above, the APC can just keep Nod infantry busy while the rest of GDI rush with med tanks, MRLS, or sneak with a hotwire. Don't forget the possibility of piling engineers into your initial APC. If you have three engineers in one APC, use the "remote rush". I.E. forget your timed c4, just rush into a building and everyone remotes it straight away. Three engineers can instantly kill a building this way, assuming it isn't mined.

Let's say you didn't manage to block the airstrip (most likely, because Nod bought a vehicle before your APC got there). If they bought a vehicle, it would most likely be an artillery. Taking on an arty one on one with a GDI APC isn't that good of an idea, since there will probably be other Nod players running around who can give repairs to the artillery. Just try to keep it busy while the rest of GDI bring in med tanks. Once the cavalry arrives, the APC can kill any technicians who are fixing the arty, which'll make the med's jobs much easier.

GDI's basic strategy on Volcano is med tanks, and lots of them. But someone needs an APC at the start, and don't forget to have someone whose job it is to defend against techs. If you're a med tank in Nod base, try to keep a mental note of how many Nod players are in their base (fixing, or trying to kill your med). If there are, say, two Nod players unaccounted for, let your teammates know so someone can keep a watchful eye on the tunnels. The absolutely worst thing a team can do on Volcano is fail to communicate.

Nod

As you've read for GDI, blocking the airstrip is an extremely effective tactic.... so you must stop GDI doing it to you. If GDI didn't get C4 money, you probably shouldn't have a problem affording an artillery before GDI has their APC in your base. SOMEONE ON NOD ABSOLUTELY MUST BUY AN ARTILLERY AS SOON AS THEY CAN AFFORD TO.

Let's say you couldn't get an artillery, and GDI has managed to APC block you. If Nod players are already in the tunnels with engineers/technicians, then they should continue their sneaking efforts and hopefully kill a building. Other Nod players should shelter inside the buildings. Try to have at least one player in each building (unless it's a small game), in case GDI tries to remote rush a building. If you see multiple engineers running into a building, the best way to stop them remote rushing you is using your own remotes to kill the engineers. One person, or two at the most, should buy Laser Chaingunners to attack the APC. You probably won't kill it, but you can push it back and force him to repair behind cover. This is your opportunity to buy an artillery and regain control of your airstrip.

If you got C4 money, then one or more players may be able to sneak a stank into GDI base. Otherwise go with artillery and maybe a light tank or two. As with GDI, have someone mine the base and they can also sneak with their technician. A "teched arty" works well on Volcano i.e. one Artillery and one Technician giving him constant repairs. A med tank is virtually guaranteed to lose against a teched Arty, so they'll need two meds... which is expensive, whereas a teched arty isn't. If you manage to get an artillery here,

that's good news because GDI can't really buy any more tanks until they've dealt with your artillery. This tactic doesn't work as well as GDI's APC block, because GDI soldiers in groups can easily kill an artillery, but it can be worthwhile. Also, obviously an artillery is a direct threat to buildings, whereas an APC isn't. Nod's basic strategy for Volcano starts off with artillery, and work your way up to stanks/flamers with arty support. Only really have one person trying to sneak at any one time, otherwise GDI will overrun your tanks with their mediums.

Nuking with an APC or SBH is also a possibility, but not a particularly good one.