Jeep:
Light and very weak, don't forget that the jeep is the faster
unit in the game (if you don't consider the bomber, but
that's another story). With it you can do early scouting
while you don't have spies or snipers ready to fight, and
quickly weaken the enemy just when nobody have many troops
yet. Another great strategy for the jeep, specially in open
maps is trapping the enemy mortars. Once the enemy move
ahead to fight you, he generally will leave the toughs/snipers
in the front and the mortars behind, so if you have one
jeep group you can easily outflank and get them unprotected
- generally even getting away with it. This will severely
hamper the enemy force's efficiency, so try to master this
powerful tactic. You can also do it with light tanks, which
are more flexible and resistant, but much slower.
Light
Tank:
Largely disregarded as a second-hand unit,
the light tank is the answer for the crowds plight: a terrific
tough killer. It takes many rocket shots and moves quickly
toward the toughs, which simply lose their ability to attack
once the light tank get closer than their minrange. the
light tanks are very powerful units, specially when 'en
masse', but can't substitute the toughs for mobile AA protection.
Medium
Tank: The
first real "tank" available for your army, since
it fires rockets instead of using twin machine guns like
the light tank. Nice reload and above average resitance,
they aren't as slow as toughs and surpass them in cost-effectiveness.
The problem is that they, as any expensive and long-buildtime
unit, are hard to be made in numbers, so never leave them
alone in the battlefield. Also never trust on medium tanks
against massed toughs, 'coz the toughs have larger firing
range than the medium. Nevertheless, covered by some toughs
to divide enemy fire and offer great AA protection, the
medium tanks offer a tremendous attack power that shouldn't
be taken lightly.
Heavy
Tank: This
massive beast sports impressive range, armour and attack
power, but is very slow and requires careful protection
since it can't handle a large number of robots by itself
due to a not-that-large splash range for his shot - differently
from his original Z version. You can use heavy tanks to
quick and easily put down tank gun or bunker forests unharmed.
The biggest tip, both for the Heavy Tank and the Medium
Tank, is that if you notice the enemy mobile forces will
overpower your own, start moving the tanks(s) away from
the enemy. While the robots will have to stop to aim and
shoot, the Tanks will keep getting out of their range while
firing relentlessly.
Mortar
Tank: The
mortar tank is not only the best mobile ranged artillery
in the game, with decent speed and high reload rate, but
also the best "crowd control" unit in Z:SS. Its
plasma shot explosion spreads along a large area when it
lands, generally killing tons of psychos or toughs in no
time. To avoid mortar fire when using large robot forces,
get used to using the "X" shortcut (scatter) in
the keyboard. Generally, the best companion for the mortar
are a couple snipers and many psychos, which are good to
attract enemy troops toward your mortars fire, and light
tanks to fight the pesky jeeps that'll try to destroy them
and offer some decent AA. Before you ask why psychos and
not toughs, think for a moment: at the bottom line, the
mortar fire is what will kill the enemy troops - but also
your own. Would you rather lose psychos or toughs? ;)
Next: Steel Soldiers Vehicles
- Part 2
