From Cold War Crisis Wiki

This is a page in which some strategies will be listed that were used in both online and offline play. A player can mix and mingle between mentioned strategies or even create their own. These strategies will only work if used in the correct condition, and please note that not all of these strategies work on all targets.

Contents 1 Shortcuts you should know 1.1 Group units - Ctrl+1-10 1.2 Set formation - Ctrl+F 1.3 Guard order - G 1.4 Scatter - X 2 Artificial Intelligence Strategies 3 Side Specific 3.1 USA 3.2 USSR 4 Defensive Strategies 4.1 Defense against infantry 4.2 Defense against armoured targets 4.3 Defense against air targets 5 Offensive strategies 5.1 Combined assault 5.2 Armoured assault 5.3 Infantry assaults 5.4 Air assault

Shortcuts you should know

Group units - Ctrl+1-10

Allows for quick selecting of units by group. Very handy if you want to have your assault army to be quickly availible if you are busy with other stuff. Select the units you want to group, and press Ctrl + any number from 1 to 10 to group them. To recall a selected group, press the number of that group(without the Ctrl) and voila, there is the group. All in-game units can be grouped, even buildings.

Set formation - Ctrl+F

Pressing this button combination while having two or more units selected while hold them in formation, meaning the next time you issue an attack order to them they will move according to their current formation. Note that the formation will not change based on direction, which would generate awkward results if the area you are moving to is filled with obstacles. It will also force all units to move at slowest unit's max speed, meaning it will allow all units to move concurrently and at the same speed, allowing you to avoid units (such as infantry) falling behind.

Guard order - G

While this is obviously useful in defense, it is also very useful in offenses, what it basically does is order the unit to attack all units in any given area, including structures. This will allow your units to continuously attack a enemy base while you manage something else, very useful for artillery as it can order it to identify targets and fire at them in the fog of war. Be sure to active the "Double-click guard" option from the Settings menu.

Scatter - X

A rather useful order that immediately orders all selected units to scatter outwards, this is very useful if you want to spread units to cover up an area (especially infantry) or just want to scatter all your units before an artillery attack or an airstrike commences.

Artificial Intelligence Strategies Specified article that should help your understand that evil genius of an AI Skleni has created. Click on the title to go to its respective article.

Side Specific

USA

The USA side focuses more on aircraft and less on its ground units, you will most likely lose against a USSR tank battalion if you counter it with one of yours. But with the support of aircraft you can get satisfying results, for example if you send a single M1A1 Abrams tank backed up by an AH-1F Cobra you will most likely take out more enemy units before getting killed. In a nutshell, always use your airforce, even the available aircraft with the first general point is good enough to counter most USSR units. Infantry are also good at facing armoured units regardless of their type, so if used correctly they can wipe out a whole battalion of tanks coming your way.

USSR

When using the USSR side, the player should focus more on their armoured units such as tanks and artillery units. Even though the USSR has its own airforce that is capable of going against the USA's, the USSR player should focus less on using it because it is most likely inferior. On the other hand, armoured units featured for the USSR are superior to the armoured units featured for the USA in every single way, but if you use them the wrong way (For example using the best units in the frontline leaving them vulnerable to the most powerful attacks) you will lose that advantage. So always support your armoured battalions with infantry.

Defensive Strategies

Defense is important, especially late in-game when heavy assaults could be occurring.

Defense against infantry

• Defensive structures are notably the most efficient at taking out infantry with minimum losses.
• It's always wise to counter infantry with infantry, as they are cheap and fast to produce.
• Vehicles can support infantry in various ways, such as embarking a medic inside a transport which heals everyone around the transport. Officers can detect stealthed units when inside a transport too, so don't put your officers at the frontline.
• Helicopters are quite effective against infantry, but be careful when using them, as only two infantry-fired-AA missiles can take down any helicopter.
• Close air support aircraft are good at supporting infantry, namely the A-10 and the Su-25. Bombers could be used too, but they're a last resort as they can take out your own troops too.

Defense against armoured targets

• Defensive structures, as mentioned they can take out vehicles easily. Even the heavier targets.
• Anti-Armour infantry can do a good job against most light armoured targets. But note that heavy targets can't be taken out easily with Anti-Armour infantry.
• Armoured units are the most effective way to deal with other armoured targets, as both sides feature a variety for this purpose. The most notably efficient ones in both sides are the TOW Humvee and the AT-5 BRDM-2
• Helicopters, most precisely tank-killers can take out most if not all armoured targets with a single hit of their missiles. It's never wise to use them in an area filled with Anti-Air though, even the presence of AA infantry is a threat to helicopters.
• Jets, namely the close air support ones: Su-25, A-10 and Su-25T. It is worth mentioning that the latter two can take out all armoured targets with a single hit of their missiles. But note that those three are vulnerable to Anti-Air infantry as they fly low, though they are more heavily armoured than helicopters. Bombers can do the job too, the F-16 for example is suited for clustered targets, while the F-111 sports a large armament of 4 guided bombs that can take exactly that much units out.

Defense against air targets

• Defensive structures again, they could save your life when an AC-130 Gunship drops by your base.
• Anti-Air infantry can fire at air targets, though only helicopters and low-flying jets.
• Anti-Air vehicles are very effective at taking out said units. Though it is wiser to shoot missiles than lead on fast moving air targets. Always buy the camouflage upgrade if you plan on stationing them.
• Use your own airforce, namely the Air superiority fighters like the F-15 and the SU-27

Offensive strategies

Offense strategies always depend on what kind of obstacles you will be facing, so use each or all of those strategies accordingly.

Combined assault

• Never use a single unit-type for your assaults, as it is highly likely that your opponent will use that against you in countering your assault.
• This assault should cover all basic threats that you predict you will come across.
• Station your troops at the front, they can scout for enemy structures and enemy units that your armoured forces can fire at utilizing their high range but low view sight.
• It's always wise to load up infantry-carrying vehicles with medics and engineers to backup both your infantry and armoured units.
• Always have your jets in the air when beginning the assault, you never know when you will need them to backup your forces.

Armoured assault

• Comprise your forces of all vehicle types and make sure that you can face all threats.
• Always bring engineers or embark some in your infantry-carrying vehicles, as they can repair your vehicles.
• It's also wise to bring helicopters to deal with targets that are harder to take out.
• Position your artillery accordingly and make sure they are well protected, order them to fire only when they are needed because when they fire they reveal their position to the enemy making them vulnerable to the enemy.

Infantry assaults

• Your troops are more successful when in prone position, as they can hide themselves from the enemy and fire further.
• Never pit your infantry against heavy targets, as you will risk both revealing your position and losing your troops.
• Don't fire unless you have to, especially if you are planning a stealthy approach.
• Always scout for enemy defenses. They can take out your entire army of infantry very easily.

Air assault

• Before you start an air assault, always make sure that there are no AA units stationed at the location. If there are, take them out with artillery or a mixture between the EF-111 Raven and the F-4G Wild Weasel.
• Shoot down any interceptors you might come across if you plan on keeping your aircraft intact.
• Choose your targets wisely, you can disable the entire enemy battalion by destroying their fuel depots, but be careful that they might already have captured civilian fuel depots!
• Always use the appropriate aircraft for the appropriate role.
• Follow the bombing with a sweep across the base with your helicopters to take out any remaining targets.