Tempest Rising is finally here, reigniting traditional RTS with high production values and a pitch-perfect imitation of Command & Conquer topped with new ideas and improvements of its own. Slipgate Ironworks’ game isn’t a walk in the park, however, so we’ve put together a breezy but comprehensive list of tips and tricks that should improve your chances of survival both offline and online.
This new real-time strategy title is equal parts old and modern, marrying the best of classics from the early 2000s with a more welcoming approach to base and unit management that doesn’t sacrifice depth in favor of reaching more players. On top of that, its alternate-history, post-WWIII scenario has more than a few surprising sci-fi elements, so we highly encourage playing through the two campaigns (one per faction) first.
Whether you prefer playing as the GDF or the Tempest Dynasty, most of these tips and tricks will be useful as you learn the ropes of Tempest Rising and get used to its most unique features and the gameplay flow.
Save some credits early on
While Tempest Rising isn’t complex at all on the money-making front (there’s only one resource, Tempest, which automatically gets turned into credits), you burn through it pretty fast.
Depending on the skirmish and multiplayer settings, you’ll start with more or less credits, but the recommended strategy outside the story campaign is the same: Get some power up, put the harvesters to good use, and invest into more of them right away. If you try to rush the Barracks building and infantry units to surprise the enemy (who won’t be nearby anyway), chances are you’ll cripple your growth past the first few minutes, as harvesters are more expensive than they look.
Get used to how building works
The second point is directly related to the first one. In Tempest Rising, raising buildings and training/fabricating units ‘absorbs’ credits to ‘feed’ the process. This means the required money isn’t removed all at once, but ‘drained’ from your coffers as buildings and units are produced.
This also means you can’t pay for a bunch of stuff and forget about it until it’s built/trained. By setting new blueprints and ordering more units, you’re enlarging a queue that stops if credits aren’t sufficient and resumes when harvesters grab more Tempest and load it into the resource-gathering hub of your faction.
There’s also the matter of Dynasty having to manually drop blueprints on the base to instantly raise the building which have been constructed. This can be used tactically and prevents in-progress buildings from being damaged, but it also means the faction requires more of your attention than GDF, which is the beginner-friendly one.
Invest in turrets
Turrets are weak individually, but they’re great at keeping the AI busy and delaying major enemy assaults. Bundle together a bunch of them (they don’t require a lot of space) and you’ll do some serious damage to an enemy force before it can even scratch the center of your base. Don’t underestimate how useful they are.
Another neat trick is calling down a beacon as the GDF and building several turrets in quick succession inside the area it marks as ‘building-friendly’ away from your main base. This can be used to play aggressively and grow your borders in a more proactive way.
Look for the high ground
Tempest Rising’s maps might seem simple and traditional at first, but don’t underestimate the importance of rising above your opponent… literally.
Any human unit or vehicle placed on hills and elevations that you can access normally will gain extra view range, which means they’ll start shooting at the enemy sooner than the enemy will start shooting back at them. Those extra seconds can often be the difference between winning or losing a key scuffle, so stay on top of the opponent whenever possible.
Use the movement options
When playing classical RTS, there’s always the temptation to just stack up massive armies and hurl them all at once at the enemy base. This is a bad idea in most scenarios for many reasons, but let’s focus on a key thing that Tempest Rising does really well: movement speed and behavior.
The game encourages from the get-go using the “a” key (and not right click as usual) to move the units around, as that will make them advance to the designated position while stopping to clear all enemies in their way. This means they won’t get to the position first while being shot at and then start fighting. It’s imperative you get used to this.
Then, familiarize yourself with all the unit positions available (aggressive, defensive, patrols, etc.) and, more importantly, with the options to control the speed of mixed unit groups. For example, you can tell a group to move at the same speed so the faster vehicles don’t get blown up because they got there quicker than everyone else and didn’t have support.
Tanks can run over people
The usual behavior you expect from all ground units in RTS games is getting stuck when they find an obstacle, so they move around them. In Tempest Rising, however, tanks can do more than flatten entire groups with their shells; they can also go over infantry units, instantly killing them.
This only applies to the heavier vehicles and top-tier tanks, so don’t try to pull it off with jeeps. Experiment with the heavies of each faction and make them go straight through small enemy groups if they’re just puny soldiers.
You can’t just spam the same units repeatedly
As impressive as tanks and other late-game units in Tempest Rising are, we really encourage that you do your homework and learn the strengths and weaknesses of each one as you play. While other RTS titles let you work out effective strategies with just a handful of unit types and upgraded infantry, Tempest Rising really punishes walking into the wrong fight badly prepared. Example: Flamethrowers literally melt through infantry, even when they’re inside a guard tower.
You might be yelling your vehicles are “made of paper” before you pay attention to why they’re going down so far and how you should counter the counter. Think of a far more complex game of rock paper scissors that you have to play on top of everything else. Take deep breaths and take your time.
Don’t forget about doctrines
You might believe these active and passive bonuses aren’t as important in skirmishes and multiplayer as they’re in the two campaigns, but you’d be dead wrong. Put some credits into them whenever possible and you’ll gain access to actions and passives that will keep your opponents on their toes and give you much-needed boosts.
Again, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with everything they offer to both factions, which is why we highly encourage at least some hours playing through the campaigns before you jump into the online and Normal/Hard AI action. Tempest Rising is deceptively simple at first glance, which is what makes it so easy to recommend… and hard to master.
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