How to build an effective army

This is one of the biggest problems many new players have when they first start playing Supreme Commander. By using better units and mixing them more efficiently will prevent you from huge unit losses. This is not a perfect "no-fail" guide, it is still up to players to decide what is right for each situation. Also this article is not saying one faction is better than all others, it is just saying that a faction may have better units in one area, such as land unit superiority. This is based on stats and overall player feedback. So here are some useful tips when playing your next game.

Land Army

• Dont make units you dont need. A common mistake for new players is mobile T1 AA. the best way to ensure you dont get smashed by gunhips is have an airforce of your own. Also dont make MMLs if you dont need them. They will usually not hit their target[especially if they are aeon], or do overkill, or the enemy will just move their force.
• If you are attacking a base make sure you have anti-air and shields, as gunships and bombers can slaughter a force that is caught unprepared and give your opponent free mass and veterancy.

The UEF Ground Forces

The UEF are often regarded as having the best land units overall. (This is based on averaged stats like armor and firepower) So here is where the UEF strengths are found.

T1 Strengths

• T1 Tanks have the most armor and the UEF Mech Marine is the best LAB stat wise.
• Anti-air is not the best but is still moderately good.
• Decent T1 artillery ability with shell-cam.
• Land Scout (Snoop) possesses extra health and damage than those of other factions.

T1 weaknesses

• Tanks are slow and not nimble.
• Scout has lower radar range than other T1 scouts.

T2 Strengths

• T2 Tanks still have the most armor.
• The Mongoose is a well rounded assault unit.
• Good anti-air and mobile shields.
• Riptide has high ROF letting it crush Auroras and Seraphim T1 mobile artillery easily.

T2 weaknesses

• Flak is the slowest firing and has its guns mounted backwards.
• Riptide has low range and is expensive compared to its factional counterparts.

T3 Strengths

• The Percival is a excellent Anti-base and experimental killer.

• T3 Assault Bots (Titans) have shields and high ROF, making them good for harassing T1 and assisting Percivals.

• The Spearhead is an excellent base assault unit especily in FAF, as it can overwhelm TMD and has excellent range.

T3 Weaknesses

• Titan is the weakest direct fire T3 unit in terms of DPS and health.
• Percival lacks ROF and does huge overkill against small units.

T4 Experimental Mobile Factory

• Arguably the most flexible experimental land-based unit in the game, the Fatboy is meant for long-range bombardment and reinforcing critical positions with quickly manufactured units. However, it lacks viable air defenses, making it a very lucrative target for even small groups of T2-T3 gunships, and any other land experimental that can get close enough to it will butcher the Fatboy. Two riot cannons will take care of small units that somehow evade the heavy bombardment cannons, but do not deal as much damage against T3 bots that get too close.
• Note: the Fatboy will fire only two cannons at its target when ordered to attack, meaning for maximum damage output, the Fatboy will have to be manually adjusted. Move it at a 45 degree angle to have 3 of its cannons firing and when used as base defense, always have it facing backwards so the units it produces are a shield between the Fatboy and an oncoming army. This also helps it escape.

The Aeon Ground Forces

T1 Strengths

• The Aurora floats and has high range, further than other T1 units and any basic ACU.
• The Scout can float and is faster than other factional scouts, making it essential and impeccable in its job.
• Fervor has high DPS, making it a great structure and T1 point defense killer.

T1 Weaknesses

• Aurora has low health and speed.
• Fervor has low damage radius, making it weak against mobile units.

T2 Strengths

• Obsidian has decent DPS and health, as well as a light personal shield.
• Hover tank has good range and rate of fire.
• Strong mobile shield that can hover.
• Good hovering mobile AA.

T2 Weaknesses

• Obsidian is expensive and has a low rate of fire, making it vulnerable to massed T1.
• Hover tank has low health and requires mobile shields to compensate.
• MML has low accuracy and ROF, making it ineffective against TMD.
• Mobile shields can be destroyed by rare air crashed from all air units above T1.

T3 Strengths

• Assault bot has decent health, firepower, rate of fire, and flexibility.
• Mobile Artillery has good accuracy and doesn't need to deploy to fire, making moving attacks deadly.
• Shield disruptor can hover, takes up little transport space, and has powerful anti-shield capabilities.
• Decent sniper bot.

T3 Weaknesses

• Artillery has a low rate of fire and low AOE.
• Sniper bot is fragile and inferior to its Seraphim counterpart.
• No real counter to the heavy assault bots except massed Harbingers.

T4 Experimental Sacred Assault Bot

• The Galactic Colossus is one of the most powerful and sturdiest experimental units in the game, and can mow down a T3 force quite easily. It lacks anti-air and any torpedoes, so it can be avoided by a good player. Use it to rampage through an enemy base and to destroy ACUs. However, it is weak against Cybran Loyalists, since they will paralyze the Colossus if crushed by its tractor claws, and any air units. A single T3 bomber may have trouble single-handedly stopping the Collossus, and will need some time to do some realizable damage. If a Colossus runs into a large T3 force, it can crush it underfoot (literally).
• The Galactic Colossus had a short range, so it lacks the capabillity to counter Monkeylords and Fatboys before they start dealing damage to it. However, if it can engage another experimental in close quarters combat, it will rape it.

The Cybran Ground Forces

T1 Strengths

• Fast and flexible T1 bot, able to assist construction and repair other units.
• Cloaked and fast scout.
• Mobile artillery has EMP effect, freezing enemies.

T1 Weaknesses

• Artillery has low ROF and damage.
• Light assault bot has low hp.
• Scout has no weapon and can be detected and neutralized by other scouts.

T2 Strengths

• Viper MML has high ROF and its missiles split when intercepted.
• Mobile Stealth field is unique and allows for hidden fire bases and TML silos if one cannot build any counterintel structures.
• Hoplite takes up little space on a transport and has good ROF and speed.
• Wagner is a very decent amphibious tank, with a torpedo launcher as well as two above-land weapons.
• Rhino has good ROF and DPS.
• Fire beetle good for assassinations.

T2 Weaknesses

• No mobile shields. This alone causes the cybrans downfall in T3 battles because shields are just so mass effective. There is no cost effective cybran counter to a UEF wall of mobile shields and Percivals.
• Rhino lacks health. (fixed in FAF)
• Viper has slightly lower health and DPS than counterparts. 
• Banger has overkill.

T3 Strengths

• Loyalist has good DPS, tactical missile deflector, and good ROF and speed. It outclasses the Titan in every way and can shred countless T1 and T2 units.
• Brick has high ROF, torpedoes, and anti-torpedoes, making it very useful in almost any situation and deadly against massed T1s.
• Trebuchet has higher ROF and AOE than counterparts making it effective against overlapping shields.

T3 Weaknesses

• Trebuchet is inaccurate and has low DPS and health.
• Still no shields.
• Loyalist the only unshielded siege/assault bot at T3, making it worse at hit-and-run tactics.

T4 Experimental Monkeylord and Megalith

• The Monkeylord has outstanding DPS, making it it the best unit to destroy Paragons and other high end units. It has stealth, torpedoes, long range bolters, and anti-air, and is relatively cheap for its job. However, it lacks health- though that can be made up for with veterancy- and consumes some energy to run its stealth.
• The Megalith is a monster, and quite possibly the best experimental unit in the game, able to knock out battleships and cruisers from far away, shred through T3 bots, defend itself from T3 aircraft (by getting out of their way. Don't expect it to actually take them down), and even assasinate other experimentals. It is however, poorly optimized for base assaults, due to low ROF and regeneration, and its primary anti-air is poor, making additional anti-air nessessary; its anti air is the worst of all anti-air wielding experimentals.

The Seraphim Ground Forces

The Seraphim are sort of weak in the T1 sense, lacking early rushing tactics without a decent light assault bot. They make up for it with a decent tank and a unique scout.

T1 Strengths

• Medium Tank Thaam is an extremely fast tank with decent hitpoints and good range. This makes it excellent as an early raid unit and for kiting slower tanks, albeit at a higher cost than a light assault bot.
• The scout Selen can be set to "Hold Fire" and be used to block mass deposits and hydrocarbon patches, due to its combined stealth and cloak while stationary. Can defeat other scouts easily and outrange LABs.
• The Zthuee hovers and can thus travel across water. It also combines the best aspects of the Fervor and the Lobo, utilizing a fragmentation shell and high DPS.

T1 Weaknesses

• Most obvious is that Seraphim lacks a light assault bot and thus lacks the ability for early, cheap raiding. The Selen needs to outnumber opposition almost 2 to 1 to defeat other faction LABs.
• The Zthuee can hover but no other T1 units of the Seraphim can, leaving the Zthuee unescorted on water or on opposing shores so care must be taken when using them.
• Thaam lacks ROF meaning that every shot which misses it's target can mean the difference between life and death.

T2 Strengths

• The Ilshavoh T2 assault bot is an incredibly powerful land unit in early T2. Its high rate of fire and excellent damage allows it to combat both T1 swarms and heavier T2 threats, while still possessing a good amount of hitpoints. Rushing to T2 land is a very viable strategy for Seraphim simply for the power of the Ilshavoh.
• Decent mobile AA.

T2 Weaknesses

• The Seraphim lacks any T2 defensive unit similar to the Cybran Deceiver and the mobile shield units of UEF and Aeon.
• The Hovertank Yenzyne is commonly known to be the weakest of all amphibious tanks in the game due to low range and ROF.

T3 Strengths

• Siege tank is cost effective and excellent.
• Sniper bot is flexible and dangerous, better than its Aeon counterpart.
• T3 Mobile shields hover and have very good protection capabilities, allowing Siege tanks paired with them to stand a chance against Armoured Assault Bots (Percivals and Bricks).

T3 Weaknesses

• Siege tank is slow and unwieldy, and on an individual basis inferior to Armored Assault.
• Shield generator is not as cost-affective as its T2 Aeon counterpart.
• Lack of any raider unit and direct equivalent to Armored Assault Bots, making their land units limited in direct fire combat.
• Shields are high maintenance in terms of power.

T4 Experimental Assault bot

• The Ythotha is an average assault bot compared to others. It has more dps and less hp than its Aeon counterpart, and less dps and more hp than the infamous Monkeylord. It has the best AA of the land experimentals,but its most distinguishing feature is its unique ability to release an Othuy, an energy being that randomly damages surrounding units, even friendlies, and can allow it to play havoc on an unshielded base, making an attack with the Ythotha that penetrates an enemy base very damaging.

Air Force

• Send scouts with interceptors because interceptors can fire farther then they can see so a scout will allow maximum effectiveness.
• Always send interceptors with bombers or gunships, as bombers and gunships cost mass.
• T3 is not always better then T1.

The UEF Air Force

T1 Strengths

• Bomber can "stall" factories, and has high health.
• Decent interceptor.
• Heaviest units period in terms of armor.

T2 Strengths

• Amazing fighter-bomber.
• Stinger is a very good gunship, and can be a light transport or can be loaded up with a mech marine for more DPS or a Sky Boxer for on-demand Flak AA.
• Transport has high hp, and is very efficient.

T3 Strengths

• Sturdiest bomber, ASF, and spy plane.
• Only T3 transport, which has shields, AAMs, and huge transport size.

The Aeon Air Force

T1 strengths

• Bomber has EMP effect to bomb.

T1 Weaknesses

• T1 transport cannot carry ACUs, making escapes at T1 harder for Aeon commanders.

T2 Strengths

• Mercies are deadly ACU killers.
• Combat fighter is decent for its cost.
• Gunship has high dps.
• Torpedo bomber has non blockable depth charges.

T2 Weaknesses

• No reusable bomber unit.
• Mercies susceptible to Flak and even T1 AA.
• Combat fighter has a blind spot and is inflexible in its role.

T3 Strengths

• Bomber is very good for sniping ACUs and experimental units.
• AA gunship is sturdy and hard to kill, especially in numbers.
• Powerful torpedo bomber.
• ASF can fire about 30 degrees further  than other ASFs.

T3 weaknesses

• Bomber lacks AOE.
• Spy plane is the worst.

T4 Experimental aircraft carrier

• The czar is one of the most flexible and powerful air units in the game, with an impressive laser, depth charges, decent anti-air, and aircraft refueling capabilities. It is also very impressive in that when it crashes, it falls on what it was shooting at, making it superb at sniping high priority targets.

The Cybran Air Force

The Cybrans are often regarded as having the best Air units overall. (This based on stats and abilites, for example almost all their T3 air can stealth from RADAR, with the exception of the Wailer, that instead have jamming).

T1 Strengths

• Cybrans are well known for their overall cheaper unit costs. This is a advantage in T1 air because there is little other factional difference at T1 air.
• Cybrans have a T1 Gunship. This advantage is invaluable.
• Bomber has large spread and AOE, making it invalueble for raids.

T1 Weaknesses

• Interceptor has lowest health and lowest DPS.
• Units have lower health than factional equivalents.

T2 Strengths

• Their T2 gunship is the only gunship with area of effect. So it is great against units and closely bunched buildings, especially violatile structures.3 T2 gunships will kill 2 UEF broadswords if AOE is managed correctly.
• The Corsair's main weapon are homing missiles, whether attacking ground or air they can be effective.
• The Dragon Fly (T2 air transport) has a useful ground attack because of its EMP effect.(This is a advantage because all T2 air transports have weak weapons, but at least the dragon fly's weapon is useful.)

T2 Weaknesses

• Corsair's AA missiles have only 1/3 the dps of other fighter/bombers.
• Units have the lowest health.

T3 Strengths

• Every Cyban T3 Air unit has stealth[excluding the Wailer], making them easier to utilize for ambushes.
• Their T3 Spy Plane has Sonar for finding subs and free stealth making it by far the best of the 4.
• The Cybran T3 gunship has Jamming which can protect it from SAM sites, and a marginally better AA gun than the broadsword, for fighting off T1. Jamming can allow feint attacks.
• The Cybran Gemini has missiles, which are homing and as opposed to the plain direct fire weapon mounted on the other ASFs, results in less shots missed and a higher effective DPS

​T3 weaknesses

• ASF is weak at gaining air superiority over bases with Omni and ASFs with more health.
• Spy plane has low health and fuel.
• Units have lower health.

T4 Experimental gunship

• The soul ripper has outstanding DPS and health, as well as decent AA. It even has more damage than a GC, but is expensive, vulnerable to SAMs, flak, and is often an unexpected mass basket for your enemy when killed. However, if your enemy's base is defended with only a few SAMs and flak cannons, you can guide the Soul Ripper over, smash the defenses, and once unopposed, have fun! It is possible to take down even a heavily shielded base with this thing.

The Seraphim Air Force

T1 Strengths

• The T1 transport Vish can transport 8 units instead of the usual 6 for other factions. This makes it more viable as a powerful airdrop unit. An artillery drop on unprotected power generators can be devastating and if you energy stall your opponent they may never be able to recover.
• Interceptor has the best damage and is overall the best interceptor.
• Scout has deathcam, making it usable to even T3.
• Bomber has more health, DPS, and radius than its Aeon counterpart.

T1 Weaknesses

• The lack of a light assault bot removes the use as a Ghetto gunship unless you trade with an ally or capture an enemy unit.

T2 Strengths

• The fighter/bomber of Seraphim, Notha, is much more powerful than its price reveals. It effectively replaces any T1 Interceptor or Bomber.
• The Vishala T2 transport holds 4 more units than Aeon and Cybran T2 transports, and 2 more units than the UEF T2 transport.

T2 Weaknesses

• None except their gunship lacks anything that defines it from its factional counterparts.

T3 Strengths

• The Seraphim Spy plane, the Iaselen has SONAR in addition to RADAR, sharing this ability with the Cybran Spook.
• Best ASF in terms of stats.

T3 Weaknesses

• Lack of any T3 gunship lowers their air-to-ground support capabilities.

Experimentals Strengths

• The Seraphim Experimental Bomber, affectionately called the Ahwassa, is FAST. Compared to the Aeon's Czar or the Cybran's Soul Ripper, rendering it more immune to ASFs and air defences. Also,when shot down, it effectively becomes something equivalent to a meteorite: highly destructive and unstoppable. It also has decent AA capabilities. Guaranteed to make your opponent cry in frustation should you finish building it, and he forgot to mass T1~T3 AA Planes.

Experimentals Weakness

• It should be noted that the Ahwassa is less effective against singular targets that can withstand its first run. It has low DPS and a slow turning speed, making it less suited for attacking a location repeatedly.
• Remember, due to momentum of the Ahwassa, very rarely a crash will result in destruction,or otherwise leveling of desired structures/units/ACU/etc. It will instead land quite a distance from point of destruction of the Ahwassa, unlike the CZAR which will turn everything underneath it into rubble.

Naval

• Nearly all ships are weak towards air so having cruisers and/or air support is recommended.
• Battleships have the farthest attack range of any naval unit, to use them effectively treat them more like mobile artillery not like a front line attack unit.
• Subs are perfect versus any navel fleet without torpedo support(or little or no defense).

The UEF Navy

The UEF navy has quite a fun array of units to choose from. You may not find it as effective as other factionary navies, but has its own perks. Such as having the best armour in the game, this allows the UEF to win most ship to ship conflicts.

T1 Strengths

• Tigershark is the best T1 sub with highest health and the most DPS on its deck gun.
• Thunderhead has the most health of all the factions frigates and has a jamming suite.

T1 Weakness

• Thunderhead has very slightly less damage.

T2 Strengths

• Governor cruiser has 3 different weapon systems, which includes tactical missles, SAM missle launchers, and a deck gun.
• Valiant class destroyer has high health and the most DPS on its surface guns.
• Torpedo boat has very effective anti-torpedo system.
• The Bulwark has a large shield radius.

T2 Weakness

• UEF destroyer has very weak torpedo's and torpedo defence system and would rely on other units to defeat submarines.
• Cooper torpedo boat can be destroyed by surface weapons to create a weakness to subs.
• Governor cruiser has weakest anti-air weapons of all the factions cruisers.
• The Bulwark is expensive for the protection it gives.

T3 Strengths

• Summit class battleships has the most range and highest health of all the battleships, but is the slowest.
• Neptune is effective against large numbers of lower tier units.

The Neptune class battlecruiser has low accuracy at times, and is very frusturating in terms of actually hitting an enemy. But once you start hitting a ship with the beams on the UEF battlecruiser, it deals immense damage.

The Aeon Navy

The Aeon are often regarded as having the best naval units overall.(This based on Stats and Abilities)

T1 Strengths

• The Beacon is Aeon's frigate and is a dedicated anti-surface vessel. It is equipped with dual Quantum Cannons and has a higher DPS than other units of its type.
• The Shard is the least expensive naval unit in the game by far, it is also far more effective against air units than any of the other factions' frigates, despite its low HP.

T2 Strengths

• The Vesper is the toughest of the 3 specialized T2 anti-naval units, together with the Cybran Barracuda Submarine Hunter and the UEF Cooper Torpedo Boat.
• The Exodus Class is a destroyer that is inexpensive and well armed although it has no capability to defend against air attacks, the Exodus Class is a superior naval engagement unit.
• The Infinity Class has extremely powerful AA, better than any naval unit except the Seraphim Ithalua.

T3 Strengths

• The Aeon have a T3 Missile Ship, nicknamed the Torrent Class which has a impressive ROF, making this vessel is able to overwhelm shields and tactical missile defenses quite easily.
• Battleship can double as a Battlecruiser with its high DPS and speed.

T3 weaknesses

• The Omen Class Battleship's weapons have the shortest range of any battleship and the Omen is the only battleship that doesn't have an onboard air defense system. While it is the fastest of the four battleships this advantage is small.
• Worst missile submarine (though only marginally).

T4 Experimental Battleship

• The Aeon are the only faction that has a Experimental Battleship, nicknamed the Tempest. It is also a battleship, a factory, a submarine unit and an anti-torpedo unit all in one unit. This makes the Tempest a powerful Naval unit and is the one of the strongest sea-borne vessels.
• It is best used for bombarding bases and making support units or engineers to reclaim after a naval battle as it is quite weak in combat and can be beaten easily with a UEF summit class battleship for less than 1/3rd the mass. It is even worse when submerged because the summit can hit it with gound fire.

The Cybran Navy

To be completed.

This needs work

The Seraphim Navy

The Seraphim are regarded as having some of the strongest naval vessels if used correctly. It would be most unwise of the Seraphim player to have a lack navy on water maps.

T1 Strengths

• The Seraphim Frigate, Hau-Esel, has a very high ROF , making it excellent for cleaning up light surface units such as engineer swarms or light hovertanks.
• The Sou-istle, the Seraphim T1 sub, is equipped with torpedo defences. The defences are quite weak, however, so do not rely on them for any substantial advantage.

T2 Strengths

Once you get into T2 the Seraphim navy really starts to shine.

• The T2 destroyer Uashavoh is submersible with considerable torpedo power. This makes it a very flexible unit, capable of engaging both subs and surface targets, as well as bombarding low beachlines. Beware though that its beam weapons can hit ground due to the low firing arc of the beam.
• Ithalua, the Seraphim Cruiser, is the single most powerful AA power on the sea, with exception to the Seraphim T3 sub hunter. In addition, its long range tactical cruise missiles can wreak complete havoc and allow you to bombard enemy bases and firebases with impunity from the safety of the sea. Make sure to protect it well, as it lacks any means to defeat a naval threat. It's also unique in the sense that its AA are FLAK-based, which makes it excellent for killing clusters of gunships or other tightly grouped airplanes. It is also able to destroy submarines by bombing the water near them with its tactical missiles.

T2 Weaknesses

• Both T2 naval vessels of the Seraphim requires fairly much attention to play well. They are both weak and require either escort (Cruiser) or careful micromanagement (Destroyer) to function properly. This is especially true for the submerging destroyer.
• The Cruiser's flak can be inaccurate and has trouble hitting faster air units, especially T3. However, their T3 sub-hunter Yathsou is more than capable of killing anything that flies; with its ridiculous anti-air capabilities, the Seraphim shouldn't have a problem with sea-based air defence once they reach T3.

T3 Strengths

• The Hauthuum Battleship carries a strategic missile launcher that does not give off a launch warning when fired. This can be used to launch "stealth" nuke attacks. Due to the high trajectory of the launched nuke, a strategic missile defense will launch three missiles at it before actually destroying it. This can be used as a very expensive way to drain SMDs.
• The Yathsou subhunter is arguably the most powerful naval vessel in the game that is not experimental. It is capable of engaging any vessel in the sea and come out on top, and its powerful AA when surfaced is absolutely devastating to airplanes. A Seraphim in T3 without these subs will soon lose whatever naval superiority they had.
• The mobile shield can be spammed to create a wall capable of soaking up thosands of damager per second