Buildings and Construction
Avoid Urban Sprawl. As you expand your base, it’s easy to make the mistake of spreading it out too far. This makes it more difficult to guard against sneak attacks. Instead of simply adding on to your primary base, consider building a secondary base and keeping them both relatively compact. Protecting a smaller base is easier, and should one of your Headquarters be lost you’ll have a backup already in place. This is an especially useful tactic when you’re playing as the Allies because the you can produce a Force Shield Generator for every Headquarters you build.
Don’t Get Boxed In. While sprawl is bad, you also don’t want to jam buildings in too tightly just to keep the size of base manageable. Two buildings placed too closely stand a greater chance of both being damaged by a bomb or artillery bombardment. Leave enough room between buildings to place defensive bunkers — a strategically placed bunker can protect two buildings this way. You also want to leave room troops or vehicles to move between buildings if necessary.
Invest in Your Properties. When you reach Tech Level 2, several types of buildings can be upgraded. Airfields can be enhanced to house four rather than two aircraft; power-producing buildings can be improved to generate more electricity; German and Russian weapons facilities must be upgraded in order to produce better armored units. Make the upgrading of buildings SOP (standard operating procedure).
Build Cash Cows. Each nation has a building that has an upgrade to allow it to generate income. The Allied Aero Research Facility, the Germans Research Lab, and the Russian Gulag all provide you with income so long as they’re operational. These buildings should be given extremely priority in your building plans when playing on a map with no capturable resources.
Take Control. By taking control of defensive bunkers, you increase their firepower—but lost the ability to issue commands to the rest of your units. Recommended for emergency situations when a defensive bunker stands between an enemy and your base or other important building.
Expand and Conquer. Send Engineers out to build defensive bunkers far from your base to create surprises for scouting parties or to back up your units guarding an important position.
Have a Backup Plan. The only thing worse than losing your Headquarters during a battle is losing your Headquarters and not having a second one in already built for just such an emergency. Although you should have at least two HQs once a battle is rolling no matter what side you choose to play as, but there’s an added incentive if you control the Allied forces: you can build another Force Shield Generator (you’re allowed per HQ you).
