ANSWER ORE TRUCK CONTROL - RA ENCYCLOPEDIA

[CB]

** (Note that nearly everything below also applies to HARVESTERS in
C&C.)**

Eric Holby wrote:

> ello, all....
>
> here's the scenario on a hjk type map: i have refinery and a war
> factory on left side of map...and the same on right side of map. As
> the game progress's, i build ore trucks, of course. But the stupid
> things cross the entire map to dump their load...then go back across
> the map and get more ore! I thought these ore trucks were automatic
> (they go for nearest ore/gems and return to nearest refinerty). It's
> no fun running outta money with a tank rush on the horizon!
>
> eric

Answer from The RED ALERT ENCYCLOPEDIA & STRATEGY GUIDE ON LINE /
ANTS MISSIONS FULL GUIDE

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BChristopher

My dear and poor Eric,

You experience the
one-day-I'll-wreck-all-these-sucking-ore-trucks-in-hell syndrome we all
know. Before answering, I strongly recommend you for your mental health
to have an immediate and close relationship with your girl friend or an
Häagen-Dasz ice cream (maybe both).

Seriously now :

Ore trucks are one of the most stupid things ever built by man (with C&C
harvesters, of course).

I can't answer in details here in the NG but I'm pleased to announce my
soon-to-be-released Red Alert Encyclopedia & Strategy Guide will include
a special section about mastering ore trucks ! Because, Luke, the only
one to ask for, you are not !

But right now, here are ONLY a few info and tips from the RA
Encyclopedia (shortened) :

-If you let your OTs do of their own, they will start doing really
anything at one moment. The question is not "are they going ?" but
simply "when are they going ?". So you have to interfere, unless you're
very rich and can stand some weakness in your source of income.

-Don't let your OT choose itself a zone to harvest if there is a choice.
If you let it, it may change its mind very easily. Force it to harvest
somewhere, it will normally continue to harvest at that place until
there is no more ore.

-Force your ore truck to a certain refinery. You may have to stop all
your OT to do that, then select the OT you want and click on a refinery
(the "enter" green arrows symbol must appear over the refinery). It will
continue (quite often) to deliver ore at this refinery (at least for one
moment).

-The two above mean that, if you want to perfectly (hmmm....) control
your OT you have to assign BOTH a field and a refinery to it.

-You must understand that OTs "book" a refinery when they are full (by
radio or telepathy, no one knows). At that time you cannot send another
truck to the refinery (no more green arrows) until the first one has
unloaded or you have stopped or redirected it.
Assume one ore truck gets full. It immediately looks for a free refinery
(a refinery not yet booked by another OT), NOT the closest one (in fact,
if two refineries are free at the same time, the OT selects one
according to some internal stuff in the game engine, not to human good
sense). OTs are not smart enough to think they'd better go to a close
refinery and wait a little to deliver ore, they'd rather cross the
entire map instead. (That is called Artificial Intelligence... ha ha ha
ha ha - cough - ha ha ! Nervous laughter.). So if an OT at the end of
the map gets full one second before another OT close to the refinery
does the same, the first one "locks" the refinery and the other has to
wait without protesting for the first to cross the map and deliver....
(OT are politically very correct !). This can lead to extremely stupid -
and deadly - situations where your income lowers dangerously.

-Another thing the OTs are found of -really mad about- is traffic jam
near a refinery. You may find 3 or more full OTs stuck near the
refinery, keeping each other from unloading their cargoes.

-If one of the two situations above occurs, don't lose time. Do the
following or you're dead. Stop all the OTs if necessary (Ok you'll lose
a little time but you'll also gain a lot of by doing something clear at
last). Select a full one (or even not full if you just intend to clean
up the situation). Redirect it to the refinery you want. Do the same
with another if you have a second refinery, and so on. Put the others to
work again. When another one is full or when a refinery is free, direct
it to that refinery, and so on until all your trucks have been assigned
a refinery (they'll stay linked to it for a while -normally). Hope
you'll not get a tank rush during this time !

-If you want to gain time when you try to clear a traffic jam or some
OTs' insanity, do not stop ore trucks, just send them harvesting
somewhere else even if they are full. They are so stupid they'll get
there and realize only on the field that they are full ! At that moment
they'll get back to a refinery automatically. But, during this time,
you'll have cleared the situation.

-If you want to reactivate an OT that is stuck or do not want to go to a
free refinery (this may happens), do the same as above, send it
harvesting even if already full !

-Keep free space around your refinery. OTs are big fat mammas who need
room to move.

-Keep an eye on OTs to see if the escorting units do not keep them from
maneuvering (this may happen especially if you have assigned fast units
to OTs' protection : units are too close to the OTs).

-Build a refinery a bit outside the base. But if you do so, WATCH OUT
FOR A TANYAS' RAID OR THIEVES' RUSH !!!!!! (Or any sympathetic move from
this formely-known-to-be-your-friend sewer rat who now wants to crush
you at all prices and rule the world...). Outside refineries, Luke,
protecting, you must !

-Remember it is no use to keep several OTs when the ore fields are
exhausted. Take back money by selling some. That helps ! You can also
attempt an OT rush in the enemy base (to crush soldiers, or call the
fire of cruisers inside their own base - I love that -, and so on.) This
will be discussed in the RA Encyclopedia.

-It seems that, if you build a refinery at the upper left corner of a
gems or ore field, this field will be processed first by the OT created
with the refinery.

-How many OT per refinery ? That's an old debate from the time of early
C&C. In fact this depends on the way you use money, the layout of ore
fields and of your base, the terrain,... Note that AI (you know,
Artificial Intelligence... ha ha ha ha ha - re-cough - ha ha ! another
nervous laughter) mainly builds new refineries instead of only new OTs
(and this time it is not so stupid). Under some conditions you may have
five OTs assigned to only one refinery, but, generally, you take a risk
if you assign more than 3 OTs to the same refinery.

-Must you harvest close to your base at the beginning or far from it ?
It depends on the map and the amount of money you choose with your
friends to begin the game with. If you have a lot of money, you may
harvest further and keep the fields close to your base for harvesting
fast when the situation goes bleak. You need to get used to the game to
make the right choice every time.

Did I help, Eric ? I hope so. Please tell me.

Christopher Barnsley

If you have time, take a look at the Ants Mission Guide (and soon the
beginning of the RA Encyclopedia) :
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BChristopher

[Eric Holby]

On Sat, 07 Jun 1997 18:48:06 +0200, CB <10171...@compuserve.com>
wrote:

>-Must you harvest close to your base at the beginning or far from it ?
>It depends on the map and the amount of money you choose with your
>friends to begin the game with. If you have a lot of money, you may
>harvest further and keep the fields close to your base for harvesting
>fast when the situation goes bleak. You need to get used to the game to
>make the right choice every time.
>
>Did I help, Eric ? I hope so. Please tell me.
>
>Christopher Barnsley
>
>If you have time, take a look at the Ants Mission Guide (and soon the
>beginning of the RA Encyclopedia) :
>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BChristopher
>

yes...it helps. Now i know it's not just me...it's the AI !!
From your suggestions, i can help my problem out a little now.
thanx

eric

[FunnyCum]

Wow.. I read this whole thing.. This is really something! You helped
me too! =D
Anyways, I saw on your web site that you can use the Ant missions for
Multi-player, can you pls send me E-MAIL on how to be able to do that?
Thank you very very much!! :))))))
BTW: I don't have the rules.ini file.

On Sat, 07 Jun 1997 18:48:06 +0200, CB <10171...@compuserve.com>
wrote:

>** (Note that nearly everything below also applies to HARVESTERS in

>C&C.)**
>
>Eric Holby wrote:
>
>> ello, all....
>>
>> here's the scenario on a hjk type map: i have refinery and a war
>> factory on left side of map...and the same on right side of map. As
>> the game progress's, i build ore trucks, of course. But the stupid
>> things cross the entire map to dump their load...then go back across
>> the map and get more ore! I thought these ore trucks were automatic
>> (they go for nearest ore/gems and return to nearest refinerty). It's
>> no fun running outta money with a tank rush on the horizon!
>>
>> eric
>
>Answer from The RED ALERT ENCYCLOPEDIA & STRATEGY GUIDE ON LINE /
>ANTS MISSIONS FULL GUIDE
>
>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BChristopher
>
>My dear and poor Eric,
>
>You experience the
>one-day-I'll-wreck-all-these-sucking-ore-trucks-in-hell syndrome we all
>know. Before answering, I strongly recommend you for your mental health
>to have an immediate and close relationship with your girl friend or an

>HÄagen-Dasz ice cream (maybe both).