here be strategy

odds and ends:

ultimatum and widow have trouble killing krows

outlaws on 'off' mode will still attack if in range but can be cloaked

raised ogre is godly more effective vs raiders/chix as its projectile loves going downwards
giving it much better range and hit chances

merlins do almost double single target damage at close range due to no spread

combat teleport.. globe can be placed before transporting the djini (dejinn ~ teleporter) troops can be tasked to guard the globe..
and on transport death the teleporter will survive the fall and instantly re-link with globe.. the guarding units will teleport
and a factory can be set to guard the globe

As VS shield ball, I'd say build up a bertha first over merlin, similar DPS and cost. But merlin needs more attention.

if you think something is op also post how to counter it

and i will add it to the list

dirtbags can be countered by facswitch to spider

and halted with a raised stardust and a stinger

unless you mean dirtbags are the counter to troll coms =D

disagreements are welcomed

Another problem that Smokey has not addressed is a raised Crab healed from behind.

A Crab in armoured form has an insane amount of hp and rising it greatly extends its range. If its then healed from behind by cons, you have in essence something much like a 'lite' Cerberus.

The problems as I see it are manyfold. It's virtually immune to riots and skirmishers because they can't reach it. It can match range with much more vulnerable artillery and out duel them. It's so tough that you can spend a fortune in Eos to try and get rid of it. The further problem is that even if you kill it, the cons supporting it are likely to scoop up the ~800 metal from its shell.

It's not that raised Crab can't be dealt with - it can - the problem is that there's no COST EFFECTIVE way of doing so.

Stuff I've found useful:

1) Tremor. Matching the Crab in cost, Tremor won't kill it, but it will get rid of the spire, which is what makes it so dangerous in the first place.

2) Kill the supporting cons. With the crazy regen out of the way, it becomes vulnerable to being chipped away at. I find a slamcom is pretty good at withstanding the Crab fire, and disintegrating the support cons. Cloaked riots will probably also do the trick.

3) Impaler, Raven spam. A whole bunch of these will kill it. But at 700 each for Impalers, you might be looking at 5-6000 in metal to counter what is a 1600 metal unit.

4) Freeze and destroy. Trepak recently tried this out on my Crab, widowing or emp'ing it and then rushing a mob of redbacks to kill the crab. This could work well, assuming that the Crab player doesn't have more units supporting it.

5) Another Crab. A higher Crab will dominate a lower one.

6) Lift and dump. This is pretty cool, using a Hercules to lift th enemy Crab and dump it somewhere its useless. If there's AA, however, its not going to work

and probably the best single method: 7) Krow bombardment from the top. But again, you're using a 3500 metal unit to counter a 1600 metal one.

Astran have you heared of sumo or two skittles? both cost-effective vs spiked crabe (if you add cost for terraform)

for Crabs i find the jugglenaut to be really powerful in countering them and they have the health to out last once it starts moving and loses its armor bouns.

[GBC]1v0ry_k1ng just build loads of builders to get rid of terra or go striders and get a scorpion to climb over and destroy any enimies then use norm builders to repair

my favourite counter to the crab is a jugglenaut set to pull, has hp to get in and pull in the crab making it unarmered where you can easily kill it, however, you still need to be careful since it can still destroy your army if it's clumped up due to the large aoe dmg

A side note - razors, hold fire or not, are ineffective against felons (shieldballs) if shieldballer is using smart targeting widget (springfiles.com, luaui scripts category). Same apply for haldberds, or other things meant to waste felon charges.

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How to counter on a budget

(WIP:: this is not finished and is confusing.. expected completion date 2 weeks)

MAIN MENU ||||>> shows an enemy 'factory selector'.. enemy unit selector is shown under in Aqua color.. sub column's shows each factory's cheapest 'unit counter' able to defeat the enemies unit with only ai

EXAMPLE SELECTION:
MAIN MENU Cloakbot Factory Conjurer Shieldbots ~ Dirtbag

TRANSLATION OF EXAMPLE SELECTION:
enemy Conjurer made from Cloakbot Factory: can be killed by Shieldbots factory with Dirtbags

:: MAIN FACTORY COUNTER GETS NEMESIS BANNER :: *<^>*

MAIN MENU ||||>>[Spoiler]
storage:[Spoiler]