How to Counter an Engi Rush - with Sovs
An engi is walking towards your base:
- Make a dog then eat the engi.
- If it's too late to make a dog because the engi is close to your building, place a sentry down near the engi. You should always have a sentry gun ready as soon as you have your barracks up. You can always cancel it if you need the money.
- If you don't have enough money for a sentry, sell the building, you'll be much better off than letting your opponent capture it.
- If the engi is going for your MCV and you don't have any dogs or sentries, repack your MCV (or sell it if repack is disabled).
- You can also use walls but I find it annoying having to place a wall down then scout, place another wall down, build, another wall, scout... and so on. It can also be a waste of money, ie. you wall your MCV but your opponent engis your War Factory. And further more, if you decide to move your MCV later on in the match, you will have to first sell part of your wall (careful not to sell the MCV!).
- Make a drone. These are the only units fast enough to catch traks and IFV's. You won't be out-tanked because they've made a trak/IFV.
- If your drone doesn't catch it on time, have your sentry ready and place it down as soon as the trak/ifv stops next to one of your buildings. Click on your sentry then aim your cursor at the back of the trak/IFV. (very important!). As soon as the engi comes out, click on it. I emphasized clicking on your sentry and manually aiming at the engi because sometimes, for some weird reason, the sentry will automatically attack the vehicle even though the engi is closer.
- Do NOT use drones. The IFVs will always be running together and can quickly fix that drone counter-attack with one zap.
- At this point of the game, you will only have 1 War Factory. Move your tanks near it. The reason for this is to scare your opponent from attacking your War Factory because you can easily sell and rebuild your power and Barracks, and you can repack your MCV (and maybe even run over the engis with it). But if you lose your one & only War Factory, especially on an open map where tesla troopers are useless... gg! But of course, try not to have to sell or repack by placing the sentry and manually attacking as I mentioned above.
- Droning 2 engi IFVs isn't all bad, just do it as they are closer to your base. If they stop to fix each other, kill them with your tanks. (Added by DylHole)
- If the trak/IFV is next to your building, you won't have enough time to manually point & click, so you must drone it before it gets there.
- Probably best to move your tanks next to your War Factory (as above).
- Dogs are great against WP engis too, they can eat them before they walk into the building. (Added by DylHole)
- Good luck!
- Probably best to protect your War Factory again. You'll probably have to sell.
- (This is rare but if anyone has any suggestions, they are much more than welcome!)
This is another tough one to counter. You must make sure to scout and observe your opponent with every spare second you have. This is the only way to know what's inside that trak.
- Try to drone the flak trak asap. If your drone fails, cancel whatever you're currently building and make a service depot, as well as a sentry gun. Place the sentry gun next to your Construction Yard. If/when the flak trak reaches it, repack then repair your droned MCV on your depot. Your sentry gun and drone should be enough to destroy the flak trak and kill the engineer. This takes practice because you won't have time to think!
- These are ALWAYS used to attack your MCV, if they attack something else, it's because they've failed.
- If you see an engi AND a drone deployed, unless you have conscripts around your MCV, do NOT repack. Place your sentry down next to your MCV then manually attack the engi. While you're waiting for the trak to deploy, you can of course try to counter it with the 1 or 2 tanks that you have, and maybe bring your drone back after it failed to catch it, but if your micro sux like mine does, just focus on killing the engi with your sentry.
- Make 3-5 conscripts and place them around your MCV, aswell as tanks. Conscripts make great fodders so most likely/hopefully the drone won't jump in your MCV but kill one of your conscripts. Which is a much better alternative. If it's a small map, just sell your MCV as soon as the trak deploys and you got yourself a sell-MCV rush, not to mention the fact that your opponent is already behind for making a trak, engi and drone. (Added by DylHole)
- Move your tanks to your conyard, and when he deploys his flak track, hopefully the drone will attack a tank. It'll cost you a tank, but it will allow you to safely repack your conyard. Although a sentry gun will cost you less (500), it's also more risky. I opt for sacrifing one tank, b/c in the end you loose 900 credits, while they loose 1500 (trak+drone+engi), a deal anybody would make (Added by truefeel). Right after repacking your conyard, you'll have to quickly force-fire your droned tank with your other tanks, miners, garrisoned structure or whatever units you have nearby. Furthermore, you'll need to constantly watch their now failed engi and make sure it doesn't try to capture a different building. This counter is doable but you'll need good micro skills to do it successfully.
- Wall both your MCV and power together and put a few conscripts around your barracks. By doing this, you'll only have to worry about your War Factory, which, so long as it does not affect your BO, you can place near a garrisoned building (if any). (Added by AaSoVGoD).
- Just quit the match and never re that player again. Saves a lot of frustration (Added by Mikoz). Doing this will either encourage that player to stop engi-rushing, or make them think, "Well that was easy, I'll just keep doing it to climb the ladder quickly!". Either way, in future games, they aren't gonna get any more excitement or points from you.
Edited by fir3w0rx, 26 September 2015 - 11:51 AM.
