Dealing with Scallop Mass

Currently the Scallop unit from the Amphibious Operations lab stacks ridiculously well in underwater engagements, able to avoid all non-torpedo fire, whilst having comparable range to everything except a sniper sub. When put with Clams for repairs and resurrection and Anglers to deal with any air (namely, Shadows), Scallops completely dominate all sea warfare with almost no exceptions. There are a few very good ways to deal with them, however;

-- Try terraforming small 3x3 platforms out of the water and placing your static torp launchers on them. This makes them completely immune to torpedo fire meaning the only thing you should have to worry about are Grizzlies which can be dealt with by your own torpedoes.

-- Make a wall or trench on the sea floor using terraforming; since amphibious bots walk on the bottom, they will be stopped by terrain features. Whilst enemy Clams can Restore the terrain to make it pathable again, this gives you precious seconds to lay into them. You can make beaches and other access points sheer cliffs to prevent them from walking up on them, as well. If you make your walls high enough you can put buildings like winds on top of it to prevent his clams from terraforming it back.

-- Buy a Shield Bot Factory and make several "Aspis" Shield Walkers. Shields work underwater to block torpedoes, giving your troops a massive edge in underwater combat. This is a blessing if you are playing Ships too because torpedo boats and subs both are very unwieldy and extremely easy to pick off. Protect everything you can with shields and you're set.

-- "Shadow" Precision Bombers can strike targets underwater, and due to the nature of Scallops and Clams to pack tightly together, their precision bombs with small AoE can wipe out clusters of them with ease. Only thing to watch out for are Anglers, which will swat you like a fly. Try using decoy planes to make them waste their missile packs; it's easy to do this 'cause they have to pop out of the water before they can shoot, and by the time they do they are likely to discharge every missile they've got on a single target.


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If you are playing Ships and you see Scallop mass with Clams, it's probably time to switch facs; the stack is simply impossible to beat with unwieldy torpedo boats and submarines that can't properly retreat. He has superior mobility, support and firepower, so you need to change tactics to beat him. Torpedo boats die by the dozens if thrown against Scallops, and he can simply pick up every one you destroy with his Clams. Not to mention the attacks of both those and Submarines are simply too spread out to be used effectively. But switch your battle plan to amphibious bots of your own, paired together with shield walkers, and you've got it made.

Yes, I realize we have the Sniper Submarine, but how many shots -- how many Scallops -- can one take down before it has to retreat? All the while the entire stack is marching inexorably towards your infrastructure. You may be able to beat it with enough sniper subs, but it's usually a better idea to try something else. Sniper subs are just too easy to swarm and surround for my liking.

The real problem here is that Scallops can perfectly use the Death Ball tactic to create an unstoppable, steamrolling clump of torpedo-firing death that also regenerates automatically due to being in 'salt water'. Ships really have nothing to use except sniper subs; Hunters can dispatch them if isolated but Scallops are NEVER alone. Ships need a buff or a new unit to compensate for this shift in balance.

-- I would suggest buffing the Hunter somewhat; leave its damage the same, but give it slight AoE and extra health. Due to the isolated nature of ship-to-ship combat the AoE won't be useful against anything except amphibious bots. Against Scallop packs it will help, though they're still likely to lose in a pitched battle. All he has to do is deploy them into a thin skirmish line. Buffing Hunters is the best option IMO as they're the only real practical unit a ship player can make as a defense against Scallops; regular subs will be chased down and scrapped immediately due to them all having similar range. Another possibility is to cut the cost of the Hunter to 420 or so instead of 450, as Scallops are also cheaper than Hunters, rounding out their better-in-every-way stats & mechanics.

PLEASE FOR THE SAKE OF SEA BALANCE! Don't buff Hunters even further. Typhoons are completely obsolete already!

Scallops have become dominant with the insane UW regeneration speed. Setokaiva is wrong when mentioning "Clams for repairs" - you only need them to resurrect things, anything else is a complete waste of energy.

Hunter's problem is its inability to hit units that move on the sea floor. Its torpedo always crashes into the ground before reaching a target.

Scallops are not spammed or grouped more than Typhoons, so AOE would make them more efficient against both equally.

Frog's idea is the same as buffing Rocko's AOE to increase their efficiency against Bouys, or Avenger's AOE to increase their efficiency against Rapiers and so on. Only affects balance when their target is controlled by nubs who don't know how to use custom formations and even then only because of the current engine version's group hugging.

Frankly, I haven't met any problems with scallops playing as ships. Everything I played ships and enemy went amph or hover, I just out and out steamrolled them.

He goes amph -> spam hunters and a few snakes + 1 enforcer
He goes hover -> enforcer spam

Add shredder and skeeters to taste.

Since you make more than cost easily, the initial engagements are completely tilted your way. You just pwn them, then sit on the wreck field while rushing to reclaim it. -> more hunters -> slippery slope till you own the sea

A single enforcer will pwn an ungodly number of bouys given some screening units like your hunters (and ships can tank like nobody's business), get 2 if he starts spamming them.
If you reach the shore, he's getting amphs on the shore, swap to enforcers. They kill everything except grizzly, and with efficient usage of the high ship hp, you can retreat/repair the enforcers so you build your line of death.
-> 8-10 enforcers will kill even banthas and getting that many isn't too hard on sea


The key is to press your initial advantage so he cannot build his deathball. Ships dictate the terms of the engagement well into mid-game, and by the time he's building enough clams and scallops to counter hunters, you should have enough eco to churn out sniper subs.

How about letting clams only ressurect on land? or having to use 3x more energy undervater due to "denser transfer medium"

also why can`t ships ressurect too? since they can`t leave the water it hardly seems like a major buff

The ressing is fine just ships dont have any riots so swarms take them out easily.

Except for the fact they dont hit underwater (tiny detail?)

there is something they could add to be riot under water you know the stupid things they used in ww2 kinda like motars but they are for under water and they fall to the bottom of the sea and blow up ? or depth charges lol

Hovers can hit surfaced amphs alrightey, especially since the floating amph cannot move except up-down. Maces pwn surfaced buoys, to which they fail on land, and i'ma not even talk about scalpels' instagibbing potential.