In the last game that I played, a very long game on Walls_Flying.mix, our side (GDI) was left with nothing but our Power Plant. For a while, Nod was only missing the Hand of Nod, until we took out the Air Strip.

With 8 minutes left in the game after the last failed assault on the GDI Power Plant, Nod had the slimmest of leads. In the last minute of the game, I don't know if we had gained the upper hand in the battlefield, or if this was due to me, but while standing on the top of the Power Plant, I saw one Nod engineer who had slipped past everyone else. I was able to dispatch the engineer very easily by simply jumping down and following him around. He died seconds before the game ended, GDI won the game, and I was MVP.

If that had not been Walls_Flying.mix, I would've never been able to see the engineer coming fast enough to react and squelch that last minute threat, which may have put us in the lead as well. The walls are not enough on either of the Walls maps, since you can't count on an absolute blockade of the tunnels in that kind of situation.

Unfortunately, not all of the new architecture allows for great vantage points. The best ones on Walls_Flying.mix seem to be the GDI Infantry Barracks, the Nod Air Strip and the Power Plants. The central structure on that map, while it offers the best vantage point of the entire map, also separates you from the rest of the game. The only thing you can interract with are the aircraft and other snipers or would be sniper-removers.

As for City_Flying.mix, one terrain strategy to keep in mind is that the Apaches and the ORCAS both could easily sneak up on the other base by flying underneath the central section of the highway (you don't get spotted by the traffic directy above you, though perhaps heard), and fit through the gaps between the buildings. As far as vantage points, the large skysc****rs on either side of each teams' base serve as a detriment to defenders. Don't unload passengers on the top of them, as you'll probably get spotted (or shot) while descending the never-ending rampway. What's more, on Nod's side, the turrets can even spot you, and those don't get taken out by destroying the Power Plant.

These skyscrappers do also act as great cover for the air vehicles, as well as the ground vehicles. Even if you're within Turret range on the Nod base, they're still sluggish enough that you can easily dodge their fire (only for the ORCAs of course, as the transport helicopter is too slow to effectively strafe) and return fire.

More later as I think of it.

- Sparks

By the way, here's the stats for that game I mentioned before. Now that I remember more, I wasn't any higher than 3rd place that game, and that was before I started nesting ontop of the Power Plant, so my rank would have only fallen after that unless other people were killing teammates (not likely).

Here's the link to that performance. http://renchat4.westwood.com/RenegadeGameInfo/InfoController/?game_id=76855256&action=get_game_details&page=0

Stopping that Nod Engineer must have been considered gamesaving, to rise so much. Props to the teammates, though. banwa, maxwellms and opstorm especially. As for jualala, you seem to forever be my antagonist; thanks for the fun. ubermoo was good at blowing up our buildings and xxforcer.. don't buy Light Tanks so often.

To switch gears, though, does anyone feel forced into the Engineer/Hotwire/Technician class when they play? The game that I just mentioned that happened last night was the only one where I didn't start out buying a Technician and minning everything immediately. Don't know if anyone ever did, though we definitely never mined the Tiberium Refinery, since it was taken out immediately. But does anyone got any "old war stories" about the Engineer classes?