by Lemieux of No Unit (ŊЏ)
(First uploaded 24th December 2012 to RUSE game hub)

Credit: Eugen Systems... If you are reading this Eugen, please don't ♥♥♥♥ up a RUSE sequel if it ever comes to light, thanks :)

*(Everything in this tutorial is my personal opinion and beliefs and as such what I say may be disagreeable between players)*

1. Introduction
2. The Three Strategies
3. The Three Strategies - Air Superiority
4. The Three Strategies - Air Devastation
5. The Three Strategies - Air Harrassment
6. When to Close Air Support
7. Unit Doctrines

1. Introduction
I recently read ŊЏ | Virtous' Basic RUSE tutorial (9 months after it was written :/ ) which covers the basic strategy and teamwork of RUSE, and decided that I should contribute to the dying RUSE community as I have spent the last 2 years pounding the game. If you are new to RUSE and would like the extra help then I would recommend reading Virtous' tutorial as it provides a most valuable insight into the teamwork required to play RUSE without wasting your own and his time by telling you every possible contingency and the few possible counters that can be applied.

So as you can see by the title this will be my tutorial on how you should, or at least how I think you should, play air in RUSE.

To begin, air requires a certain vigilance to be able to fully cover your teammates as air is in all regards a supporting role for the army on the ground. If your teammate is being pounded by enemy air it is your sole responsibility to prevent that from happening, with the only exception being teammate's trucks driving without camo into silly places.

2. The Three Strategies

I say that there is three, but there are hundreds of different strategies that you can create by meshing together multiple ideas in order to create different balances. So I will say, there is three strategy extremes, like three points on a triangle. Each with their own weaknesses and strengths, and each able to be countered.

The first is - Air Superiority - which would be the complete and utter denial of enemy air presence throughout your, or more importantly your team's, area of control.

The second would be - Air Devastation - which would be the act of crippling the enemy's production capability and/ or economy with your ground attack aircraft early on in the game.

Lastly, but certainly not least is - Air Harrassment - which would be the act of harrassing the enemy so that the harrassed player has to waste resources that could otherwise do damage or assist his teammate.


Playing air effectively is not selecting the right build for the right job as much as it is finding the happy balance or "sweet spot" between the three to counter what your enemy is doing. To add, probably the best advice I could give for both air and any part of any strategy game is to counter, do not lead, and build what you have to not what you want to.

Credit: http://www.barryweekleyart.com


3. The Three Strategies - Air Superiority

Holding the air is probably the most difficult of the three due to the likelihood of the enemy having anti-aircraft and their own air units, and against more adept opponents, air decoys. Howver it is indeed very simple... build fighters. I could leave it at that but it can get more complex than that.

Superiority Build (UK):-
1 - Single airfield, as close to HQ as possible
2 - 3 x Supply depots
3 - Tech heavy fighters
4 - Decoy air force the sector in front of the enemy air player's HQ sector
5 - Crank 'dem Spits

Some people prefer double airfield, but I disagree with the idea as it leaves your team economically behind, which is never a good idea. There is never a need to have spitfires that quickly, early harrassment is the closest thing but that is best countered by hurricanes and decoys.

Now, when the enemy sends decoy air units at you you MUST ask your partner with the most effective AA base (i.e. France or Germany, no not USA as their artillery is almost useless) to build you 2-3 anti-aircraft guns.

Credit: http://www.303rdbg.com


3. The Three Strategies - Air Devastation

Air devastation is an extremely rare build and is unlikely to be used when their is an equal amount of air players, 1 air per team for example. However when the enemy make the critical mistake of forsaking air in their game they will be sorely punished by an Air Devastation build.

Devastation Build (UK):-
1 - Double airfield, as close to HQ as possible
2 - 2 x Supply depots for large distance to enemy, 1 x Supply depot for short distance to enemy
3 - Camouflage HQ sector (or hold the RUSE for a double blitz)
4 - Tech Wellington medium bomber
5 - Decoy air force the sector in front of the enemy air player's HQ sector (or hold the RUSE for a double blitz)
6 - Queue single air recon, take off as soon as built
7 - Start building wellingtons, attack as soon as built
8 - Blitz the sectors leading to closest enemy as your units move to attack.

"32 Bombers" Build (Italy):-
This is an extremely effective build if the enemy do not have air, and even more effective if you can borrow RUSEs from a teammate.
1 - Double airfield, as close to HQ as possible
2 - 1 x Supply depot
3 - Camouflage HQ sector
4 - Tech P108 medium bomber
5 - Queue air recon, take off as soon as built
6 - Build P108s, attack as soon as possible

Optional - Ask for a team member to do step 3 for you and build a decoy armour base then use a decoy tank attack.

The biggest problem with trying to devastate your opponents is enemy air, if the enemy builds any air at all then this strategy is rendered almost worthless, try to be vigilant and spot for enemy airfields and revert to an air superiority strategy.

Credit: http://larryselman.com


4. The Three Strategies - Air Harrassment

Probably the most underrated air strategy in the game and often done as a rush instead of harrassment, using paratroopers to harrass enemy logistic movements is extremely effective if done correctly. Another form of harrassment is the strategy made infamous by the feared Japan, truck sniping as I call it. Enemy air can hinder both of these but does not necessarily mean it will fail.

Paradrop Harrassment (UK):-
1 - Single airfield, as close to HQ as possible
2 - 2 x Supply depot (1 x if confident you can destroy the enemies)
3 - Drop 1 paratrooper on any depots you think you can get onto before enemy air can intercept
4 - Use both RUSEs to Blitz any sectors you fly through
5 - 3rd Depot

In order for this to be successful you will need to be quick, even if the enemy gets air you may still be able to harrass them if you get in the air and drop quick enough.

Make sure that auto-attack on buildings is checked in your options otherwise you will not kill any depots.

Try to target depots furthest away from his HQ, this will allow time for your units to destroy the depot. Do not capture unless he is sending tanks or anything other than infantry at you.

"♥♥♥♥ING JAPAN AIR RUSH NOOB!" (Japan):-
1 - Single or double airfield, either works but double is obviously faster
2 - 2 x Supply depots
3 - 1 Zero, snipe any trucks that do not have camo
4 - Blitz sectors that you fly through
5 - Air recon
6 - Decoy air attack
7 - 2 Zero
8 - 3rd Depot

Do not target the truck with your first Zero until you are fairly close, but not too close otherwise the plane will fly awkwardly, this leaves some uncertainty in your opponent as to whether or not your plane is a decoy or real.

Credit: http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/stuka-attack-a-hermann.jpg


5. When to Close Air Support

Close air support is generally an inefficient means of dealing with a threat, the high cost in relation to the damage output means that a ground defence against armour threats is more efficient. However, there is not always time so sometimes it is better to build fighter-bombers to neutralise the threat. The only nation that would not adhere to this would be Germany, Stukas... ♥♥♥♥. up. everything. Use them, a lot. Never stop using them, they are the best fighter bomber in the game and would be more efficient than building an AT base and teching past the almost useless PAK 36s.

If you are playing air vs air, you have multiple significant victories, your team are ahead or equal on income, then I would suggest that you could help your teammates with fighter-bombers to shift the balance in your team's favour.

One last thing, never tech up your fighter-bombers, there is never a need. There is always something more efficient than teching them up.

6 - The Unspoken Hierarchy

The unspoken hierarchy is what I believe to be the decision making process employed during team games that every top player knows, without having to discuss it with other people.

Now, since R.U.S.E. is an awfully balanced game (which is a virtue not a vice) it is important for victory that your team is optimised and each nation is providing it's strongest area for the team. In this sense you do not want to have a Soviet air force attempting to clear the skies for British tanks. You want each nation playing to their strengths so that you can negate any possible weakness of nation or inbalance in the game which can lead to an instant defeat... I'm looking at you Soviet infantry!

Nation is the most important factor concerning who goes air. A UK player will almost always go air for his team at some point during the game. On a map like Strategist if a UK is on flank it is usually best to open with ground and hold down the bridge, the closest friendly tries to support you and allow you to transition into air. I suppose it is about evaluating possible threat, if there is a likelihood of being attacked on the ground before a friendly can defend then you are forced to open with ground.

I will give scorings to help you decide in which case who would be best, not as a tool for use in
game but more as a rough indication.

I would create the nation hierarchy as so:-

• United Kingdom - X
  
• Japan - 9
  
• Germany - 7
  
• Italy - 5
  
• USA - 4
  
• Soviet Union - 1
  
• France - X

UK is an indefinite air player in most cases, while France is an indefinite ground player in almost all cases.

... and position hierarchy for Centre of Gravity:-

• Centre - 2
  
• Left - 1
  
• Right - 0

... and skill:-

• Proven and better - 1
  
• Horrible, don't ever play air again player - X

Position is very important, I will use Centre of Gravity as an example as it is probably the most neutral and balanced map in the game. If you had...

Left - France (X)
Middle - USA (6)
Right - Italy (5)

... and equal player skill.

It would be a matter of position in this scenario because Italy and USA are such a close choice, despite Italy being a slightly better nation for taking the role, the USA is in the centre of the map making for quicker deployment to the forward sectors for Italy ground and a generally better base for air control.

7 - Winning the Air Game

Upon achieving complete control of the skies, to the point your opponent won't dare attack you, it is generally a good idea to subsidise your team a little. As the ground game can be extremely volatile it is best that the ground player shy away from building admins as much as possible and allow the hopefully winning air player to return the favour of their depot building by subsidising them with some admins. If the game is close building admins may actually lose you the game but at the same time NOT building admins may also lose you the game in the long run, so it is the air player's job to win the air game and at the same time provide a long-term income plan in case the game drags on for longer than usual.

Credit: Unknown

8. Unit Doctrines

Fighters - Simply have enough fighters to win the engagement before committing to an attack. Strafe any building trucks that you see and you know are real, even if you will lose the unit, you can ignore strafing trucks you believe to be Russian barracks, unless they are moving to a threatening position. Can be used to strafe units to route them when they threaten other friendly units, or any soft target that is a severe threat, however do not strafe when they enemy has a strong air presence. If you MUST strafe to relieve pressure on your teammate, blitz your way out of there or you will take heavy losses which is likely to weaken you for the rest of the game.

Fighter-bombers - Should be used primarily to kill enemy recon as your teammate moves in ground units or is being attacked. Should also be used to kill high value targets such as expensive artillery, and to defend your base from an armour or even soft target attack. Should only be built when air superiority is achieved.

Bombers - Target enemy supplies before anything else, and to help a failing ally by bombing threatening soft targets such as infantry or AT. Can also be used to bomb out AA, use your fighters strafe them first to route them, one fighter on each or two on wooded AA. Do not strafe if the enemy has a strong air presence, that is the quickest way to lose half or all of your air force.

Paratroopers - General harrassment or capping buildings behind enemy lines. When the para is landed try to avoid engagements as much as possible. Target undefended areas and try to make your enemy waste more money defending your harrassment.

Air Recon - Used to assist advancing teammates by checking towns that may be occupied by enemy infantry. Can also be used to accompany bombers on a flanking attack on the enemy's HQ or secondary HQ. Do not send out on it's own.