Roms vs Dom B8 rush

posted on October 7th, 2010, 1:34 pm

Was just playing Elim and got my arse kicked by his B8 start.  I gave him gg in about 10 mins because he already had at least 3 B8s (maybe more) vs my 1 Generix frigate and 1 shrike.  He stole the shrike (my mistake cloaking) and the frigate dropped quite quickly.

I know the Skrike was a mistake, i had it queued and should have canceled it as soon as i spotted the B8s, so perhaps I could have got 2 frigates out.  But 2 frigates I believe would have still fallen to the 3 frigates looking at comparative damage.

So, whats a good strat against B8?  Disruptor Rhiens i'm not sure I could get more that 2 of those out in the same time as his 3 Frigates... but is this possible?  Leahvals?  They are not listed as a counter and getting to Energy Reeling would take a lot of time.  Alternatives?

By the way, I normally play as Helev, just selected Murial this time for a change.

posted on October 7th, 2010, 1:56 pm

Cehlear?

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on October 7th, 2010, 2:11 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on October 7th, 2010, 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Fast Leahval strategy can eat up the B-8 Rush quite easily since there won't be any B-8's around other than the prototype for a good while. You can even start out by attacking asap with the first Leahval, punishing the miner that is trying to build a dilithium refinery at the expansion . That will setback the production of B8s nicely.

Rushing Spectre (with only 1 Rhienn) can get you 2 Spectre and a Rhienn in the same amount of time as that one frigate, or rushing Frigate can get you 2 Rhienn and a Frigate (and soon to be a second).

Eliminating the B8 rush is usually about halting resources until you can get something resistant - don't go just by counters . As Romulan you should have more than ample chance to go around harassing with little fear.

EDIT: seems my text got cut off 

[Elim]

posted on October 7th, 2010, 2:28 pm

Last edited by Elim on October 7th, 2010, 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, dominus is completely right, these build ups will pretty much even the chances, then its only a matter of micro...   Btw, all dominion proxy yard build ups are pretty strong, but without them, dominion doesn't really stand a chance aginst cloacking races.

posted on October 7th, 2010, 4:31 pm

absolutly true. If you can hinder the Dominion from using its proxy yard you have good chances to win.

posted on October 7th, 2010, 7:50 pm

So basically earlier aggression from me would have been the key to at least holding him off?  Hyper aggressiveness does seem to the be the key from what I have seen in a lot of replays especially in 1v1 or 2v2 games.

posted on October 7th, 2010, 7:53 pm

Well if you're Roms then you can ALWAYS know where the B8's are.  Splitting your ships up so that you can attack mining whereever the B8's are NOT is pretty key in my opinion.  3 Rhienns are great at destroying miners in packs.  When you know that the B8's cannot get to you, you can attack the miners at will and run before they can stop you.

posted on October 7th, 2010, 7:57 pm

Being aggressive against the Dominion is always key imo, as the Dominion are the most aggressive race in multiplayer. It fits Elim, as he's the most aggressive player I've ever seen. 

posted on October 8th, 2010, 5:03 am

Ah, its one of my main problems then.  I've always been too much of a turtle-er.  Really I should stick to playing Feds as they would fit my style more... but that is soooo boring.

posted on October 8th, 2010, 5:20 am

Haha I would say that Klingons/Roms are really the most aggressive .

  Making sure that you keep tabs on the B-8's is very important and destroying ANYTHING left unguarded is the way to go.  You engage those B-8's when you're good and ready .  Warbirds will NEVER die to B-8's either for the record .

posted on October 8th, 2010, 5:32 am

Well, Dominion are the most aggressive advancers: if you leave them alone they can race ahead to powerful but cheap ships.

Playing AGAINST a dominion requires the most aggressive strategy of all the races.

posted on October 8th, 2010, 5:39 am

I do love playing as the Roms    Guess i'm just going to have to start punching myself in the face before games to get into an aggressive mood. 

posted on October 8th, 2010, 5:50 am

Splitting your ships up so that you can attack mining whereever the B8's are NOT is pretty key in my opinion.

keep in mind that the yard is somethimes a problem. Miners can be repaired quickly and even 1 offensive ship can last a long time to push back the Rhienns...at least in very early game. I think 5 Rhienns work best to take out Miners since they can take them down before they go to a yard.

posted on October 8th, 2010, 7:29 pm

W/e works for you.  5 Rhienns seems like a lot to me.  2 Frigates or 3-5 Rhienns will destroy miners quickly and be able to escape rapidly as well.

posted on October 9th, 2010, 8:08 am

I was practicing this and I found you really need at least 3 to take the miners in a reasonable amount of time before support arrives, you may get 1-3 depending on how far away the enemy ships are.  With 5 it should be easy enough to take out 3 miners before support arrives unless it is sitting near the mining, at least you would always get one.

Less than 3 and you are going to have little chance.  More than 5 is probably overkill.