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4.5: The Zipper | [Back to the WarGuide]
Ever since I bought Total annihilation, I have been attracted to zippers, they are fast, small in size ,cheap, and are also armed with a decent weapon. But the most attractive characteristic of the zipper is its speed. My style of play favours speed over brute force, stealth over quantity, and infiltration over the grinding juggernaut. But in the beginning, I couldn't make full use of the zippers properly, I used them in the most basic methods, small group raids attacking enemy solars and metal extractors, scouts, and spotters. But my at the back of my mind, I knew the zippers harboured more potential than those functions that I stated. So, I eventually gave up in trying to find creative new ways of using zippers as they seem to die too easily. So, I played CORE exclusively, as CORE had powerful units that could crack most bases. As I played more and more, I began to undertand how the different units move, react, their damage potential, how their size effects them in battle, speed, etc. With my experience in playing TA, I finally came up with one of the most effective tactics in using zippers. And this essay will explain in in-depth detail how I use this highly underated and neglected unit, to win my battles. Economic Stranglehold This strategy concentrates mainly upon limiting your opponent's metal resources and his/her production ability. Key targets are metal makers, metal extractors, Mohos, fusion, geothermal, any production facility and especially construction units. And it works extremely well with the infiltration tactic. The principle is to wear your opponent down, as every structure you destroy will force him to replace them, replacing lost structures require resources, construction units, TIME, and especially... micromanagement. All this takes away from your opponent his ability to mounting an effective offensive, build a large army, and best of all forcing him into a defensive position, due to lack of resources. Infiltration The zipper infiltration tactic is similair to the original stormtrooper tactic used during the first world war. The Germans were the masters of infiltration and encirclement. And their tactic was to use small but highly trained and mobile infantry to bypass heavily fortified positions, surround it and tackle it with larger follow up units. The zippers follow the same principle. First i would build a large task force of level one kbots, majority will be thuds, rockos and jethros. This units are used to absorb enemy fire. They are not expected to penetrate enemy fortifications, but just to attact as much enemy fire as possible. As enemy guns are trained upon the level one kbots, the zippers will penetrate the enemies front line defences with no losses to head as deep toward his base as possible. Defences are always less intense and are usually not of the same quality (most people do not make HLTs to the rear of their base) as front line defenses. Timing is important, as your level one units can only give your zippers a limited window of opportunity for them to slip through. Once the zippers have bypassed the front line, the zippers will raid, destroying any targets that have relevance to your strategy , do not get side tracked by enemy fire. Zippers tend to die fairly fast, but in my games, i use at least 20+ and have about 20 level one kbots to absorb enemy fire. Also, the level one kbots must be under jammer cover if they are to maximize their life span. The longer your level one kbots live, the better your chances for inserting the zippers through those heavily defended bases. Confusing Enemy Defenses Zippers are also wonderful for attracting enemy fire, just before your units crash into your opponents front line. Build a fair sized zipper task force ( 30+) and send your main army group towards your enemies base. Just before your ground units strike the front line, set your zippers loose and have them penetrate into your opponent's base. All enemy guns will be targeted upon the zippers, which gives your front line troops time to knock out those defences. Always keep the zippers moving. At this time you can also call in air strikes on key targets as your bombers will receive less flak as the zippers will attract missile tower fire. Note, I have tried this tactic several times and it is not as effective as the infiltration tactic above. Of all the tactics I have experimented with, I find these to be the most effective. When executed properly, your oppnent will be realing from the damage the zippers caused. As the zippers require very little metal, you can make a large task force of them in a short amount of time, thus allowing you to apply pressure on your opponent.