This is the Official Colony Strategy Forum. I have gathered up some of the more indepth strategy from various topics in this section of the forum. It is a new starting place for all your Colony strategy needs.

Rules

1. All posts must either be a new strategy or a response to a strategy. (Other colony discussion can go elsewhere)

2. Constructive criticism is welcome as long as you are respectful.

3. Reposting some one else's strategy without giving credit will result in a ban.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strategies

List of Unit Weaknesses

gladiator are weak againts air
sakatas is weak againts sniper(except mod-sakata)
hover tank is weak againts phantom
all air unit is weak again sakata-MKII
Sniper weak againts non-chronite armor units
horde of scouts weak againts groditz
sphinx and medic weak againts roman
roman weak againts all tannk
lot of sakata weak agints missile
prides weak agints tank
all chronite armor unit weak againts sniper
far sniper waeak againt taks and air unit
sakata(except AA-gun)weak againts black queen

Credit: Verbian

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Cheating in earthquake and dogfight: since u cant make air units in earthquake or ground in dogfight, heres how you get around that(if u use this i consider u a cheater unless someone did it before u making u resort too it). What you need too do is memorys the hotkeys for every single unit, in a dogfight if u know the hotkey for a marine u can make one if you press it, its that simple.How too counter this glitch? there is no way.

-Exploding units: my most hated and the most anoying glitch ever, when u have a massive3 army(about 20 units) and u attack an enemy who has alot less, instead of a fight his units will just explode. Two armys of same size will instead self distruct 1 unit from each side.How too counter this glitch? always attack with a small army before it becomes too massive on both ends and the glitch occurs.

-Units randomly exploding: if ur units are in the middle of the field blockading the enemy(see blockade under strategy section) And they randomly start too explode, what happens is a video glitch, on ur screen ur units are no where neer the base but on everyone elses they are being fired at by the base. how too counter? move ur units all the way back and try it again usually helps.

Strategy's

-Blockade: Note, i coined this strategy. The blockade is as simple as this, make an army and place them at the center of the field, close enough too where the enemys troops spawn. What this does is kill any troops they try too make and prevents them from making a large army. if u do this right its an auto win.

Earthquake

- at this moment heres things you shouldnt do, dont make a blockade unless u have medics(this is not a contradiction of what i said about the bug, if ur tanks r close enough too the enemy they wont explode, only take dmg so medics will heal any dmg from a blockade)dont make a bank(hover tanks dont cost money) and dont make gladiators(why? hover tanks massacre them).What i do? 3 armory's making manpower and sometimes energy with an armory making hover tanks.

Dogfight

Blockade works nicely here, its gutsy but heres how u can make a blockade, make a forge(first thing u do) then instantly make a small army?(people make banks first usually so u have time too attack) and if done right they will not be able too make troops while ur partner gets his economic buildings up.

- heres what i do if i have time, Get an armory a generator(tier 2) Then build two forges, when needed auto build two scouts at a time.

-Lastly DO NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER build a black queen, they are the most useless thing u can have in dogfight and u will definatly loose if u do this, why? because black queens dont destroy groups of air units all at once like they do with ground units. and they will be pawned by scouts.

If you have knowledge about other tactics and stuff about colony please post it.

Hint: rank 1 is not the highest rank, its the lowest, i dont know if rank 5 is highes but i know u get it at a 77% win, i only have 82% so i cant say if theres a rank 6

Random strategy's

Snipers/earthquake
-during an earthquake fight here is a strategy that is really neat
Make about 12 snipers then make them run too the other side of the field(where hover tanks r) and shoot them, snipers have more range then hover so they will shoot withought getting his, if the hover start advance too get into range of the snipers, run back and then shoot again(snipers run faster than hovers).

- how too counter this? very hard but u can abuse a glitch, or do the normal way,1- have a big army, the sni9pers will just evaporate when they get near,2-Dont use any hover tanks then when the snipers get close too ur base spam build a few(better if ur fascist) hovers do splash dmg on snipers btw. u can also make snipers urself but ull need too make an army the same size as theirs.

Grouping up

This is quite simple and quick too exlain when u have a large group of troops press the fall back button and when they r all grouped up press advance then hold, ur army will be more efficient this way.

Unbeatable blockade

This works anywhere if your lucky enough too do this right, make hover tanks, and get a teammate make anti air canno0ns and meditecs, then place your hovertanks just out of range of the enemys base so they kill any ground troops, place the medics a little behind the hovers(far enough so splash dmg wont affect them) and then place anti air cannons behind the hovers, at a place where they can shoot air units, why this is unbeatable? Because hover tanks are gonna be taking ALL the dmg, so if they spawn any air units and ground units theyll hit the tanks, and ull heal the tanks. also hover tanks r resistant too black queen misilles and reg missiles, so that wont kill them.
if you are ever able too do this try it, and while the blockade is up spawn some snipers, theylle shoot the base and stay behind the tanks

Bug exploitation

This is making the best out of a bad bug, the exploding one.
What you do? in an earthquake fight dont make hover tanks, even tho they are the stronguest, just make regular tanks, and spam them, what this does? whenever the enemy sends theyre ''superior'' army too attack you, the exploding bug will take effect, and 1 of ur troops and 1 of theyres will explode, the only thing is u have more than they do so u auto win, and u can make more quickly.

Credit: dieath

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#1:  Which type to be (capitalist, fascist, communist).  99% of the time, the answer is capitalist.  Here's why:
Beginning of most games you want to start with resources.  I've found that anyone who makes a small army first does terribly...because I always destroy the pathetic army and they're left with nothing.  So, starting with resources, you want to amass them as fast and much as possible, quickly upgrade your units and **** your opponents.  Now here are the specific strategies.

Missiles-the easy to do, partner with anyone you want strategy.
I personally use $ missiles.  My strat: Capitalist, create bank, get 50$, make 2nd bank, get 60$, make armory and start producing $, get 50$, make treasury, get 50$, make 2nd treasury, get 80$, make spec ops, get 300$, switch armory from $ to energy.  This process takes me roughly 2 minutes, it can be done incredibly fast if you use hotkeys (1234,qwer).  Your ally should be trying to keep them at bay, or just massing an army designed to destroy bases.  Why? Because you'll demolish their army with missiles.  IF THEY ARE GOOD, this may not work, and you will need to reconsider.  Here is the best anti-missile strategy:
One of your opponents creates mass sakata's and spreads them out over a good distance so that missile splash damage is not very effective.  Meanwhile, they build hovers, bq's, phantoms, glads, or other advanced units behind the wall of sakata's.  Against this, you must use your units wisely.  Perhaps use snipers or A25 Prides to take out sakata's, and then use missiles once their army is vulnerable (you shouldn't start firing missiles unless you have about 1000$ stored up for one of these fights.)

Ok, that's the somewhat nooby strategy.  Now for the more fun and more challenging strategy.  Myself and my brother decided to break it down to a science.  He made a chart describing exactly how many resources are made per second for each building, for each (capitalist, fascist, communist) and found out how many resources each unit took to make per second.  In each of these cases, the better units required far too many resources as fascist, because of the fast production rate.  Capitalists were the only people who could sustain productions well.  So, now we get to which units to make:
1st player Order of Operations:
Create Bank
Create Armory (produce $)
Make the bank a Treasury
Create Generator
Make Generator a Solar Panel
Create Forge
Upgrade Forge
Switch Armory to Energy Production
Create 6 or so Sakata's and have them hold ground in front of your ally's units.  (this is to protect against missiles) And have a few sakata's behind the line, to replace it should they mass missiles anyway.  After you have made enough sakata's to last you the rest of the game (as a wall and as anti-air) upgrade forge to final level.
Create Gladiators, keeping them behind your sakata line.  Your troop flow should be continuous.  As capitalists, you gain 1$ per second naturally, your treasury gives you 2$ per second.  Gladiators require 2.67 $ per second to produce.  Check.  Capitalists produce .4 energy per second, Solar Panel generates 2 energy per second, armory produces 1.13 energy per second, but needs to be switched on and off with man power.  Gladiator's require 2.67 energy per second.  Check.  Gladiator's require .67 man power per second.  Capitalists create .6 manpower per second, and your occasional armory man powers will boost that above .67.  Check.  You should now have a continuous flow of gladiators behind your sakata's, and if you notice them building up air, send sakata's, once they attack, back em up.  Once you have 10 gladiators, you and your ally should attack, and it's GG.

2nd Player Order of Operations:
Wait for 60$
Make Armory and produce $ (1.13 $/s)
Make Armory and produce $ (1.13 $/s)
Make Hospital and produce Manpower (1.33 mp/s)
Make Outpost
Upgrade Outpost to Barracks
Upgrade Barracks to Arsenal
Switch one Armory to produce energy
Begin making a Black Queen: They require 2 $/s 3.33 mp/s and 1.67 e/s
You should be producing 2.13 $/s 1.93 mp/s and 1.53 e/s.  As you can see, this is not a sustainable unit, you have to switch your $ armory to manpower to nearly make enough manpower.  However, Continuous flow is not required.  Just make as many as you feel necessary (about 5 should be good) and if you notice your opponent making lots of ground units, send the bq's forward, fire missiles, and retreat. (your ally will also advance with sakata's and gladiators, just in case, and retreat with you as well.)  After making as many black queens as you desire, switch focus to Hover Tanks.  These are literally impossible to sustain.  They require 10 mp/s and 3.33 e/s.  Switch your $ armory to manpower, and you might destroy one armory and replace it with a solar panel.  This should provide for 3.06 mp/s and 2.4 e/s.  With this you should be producing one hover tank every 9 seconds. (takes 3 seconds to produce) so make one, wait 6 seconds, make one etc.

If you've read all that, and comprehend it, I recommend you find a reliable partner and try it out.  It's incredibly fun and satisfying, and since I've started using the strategy, I've had a nearly perfect win record.  (You might ask "what are those times you lost?"  Myself and my brother were still getting used to it, and had not began to use hover tanks or gladiators.  Opponent made Hovers and sakata's and we didn't have any anti-hover tanks.)

Credit: Lifemaster

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Talking about forge. In 2v2 games, I always play as defencive and support, so I will give you a couple of tips for Forge Defencive tactics.
DefenciveI think when you use Forge right, it can be the best defence deployment structure. I mean. You know the A-25 Gladiator(or whatever the number is), that guy has the toughest armor I have ever seen and comes out of Forge. It can take up to 5 missles on it. Of corse it dies 1v1 against a Hover Tank, but if you noticed, it takes about 4 or 5 shots to kill it, while Hover Tank vs Hover Tank, the first one who makes 3 shots wins... I believe that Gladiator can be used as a "shield wall", by putting them in numbers(like 5 or 6) up front, hovers in the back and meds at the far back to repair the "wall".
Support: Airborn
As a support, Forge can be used for airborn attacks. When you have about 10 phantoms, the opponent will need about 6 AA sakatas to take them out. Note that Mod. Phantom now costs 35 influence, it would be easy to get strong airborn strike. By the way, combining Scouts with Phantoms could be a good idea, as Scouts can serve as airborn vs airborn. You can also get Gladiators to kill opposing Scouts faster(Sakata Mk-II has a  slower movements speed and a little slower fire rate then Gladiator).
Support: Ground
For ground support, one unit that is best to use is Sakata Spider, which deals splash anti-armor(I believe) and is good against Hover Tanks. While you ally's Hover Tanks are catching up, you Sakata Spiders be the first wave of damage, by weakening the opposing defence force, followed by the main offencive by Hover Tanks. Using airborn here can be a great idea, as if there are things that shoot air and ground(A-27 Pride, Groditz), can be a bit confused who to shoot, shooting both makes the vulnerable and gives them slower firerate for some reason.
Defence: Sniper Shield
(Use this for games like Safe Skies, in which Snipers are the main damage dealers) Create massive amounts of titanium units, as sniper positron cannon is weak against them. If your opponent has massive amounts of snipers, you can make massive amounts of Romans, and let your ally to put stuff like Hover Tanks or mass Snipers: the wave can be lethal for the opponent, as if the snipers will deal little damage to the shield, while your allied units will take opposing snipers out. By the way, this sometimes works on Prides too.

Credit: Gadriel

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Infinite Romans:
[Set to Fascists]
1. Build a Bank
2. Build a Forge (Don't build units yet!)
3. Build a Generator (Making energy)
4. Build another Generator (Making energy)
5. Upgrade both Generators
6. Collect At least $90 from Bank
7. Destroy Bank
8. Build another Generator and upgrade it (Making energy)
9. INFINITE ROMANS!  (Deploy Romans from Forge)

Infinite Marines:
[Set to Communists]
1. Build a Bank
2. Build a Outpost (Don't build units yet!)
3. Build an Armory (Set to "Plan Financial Support")
4. Build another Armory (Set both Armories to "Planning Reinforcements")
5. INFINITE MARINES! (Deploy Marines from Outpost)

Infinite Scouts:
[Set to Fascists]
1. Build a Bank (Making money)
2. Build a Forge (Don't build units yet!)
3. Upgrade Bank to a Treasury (Making money)
3. Build a Generator (Making energy)
4. Build another Generator (Making energy)
5. Upgrade both Generators (Making energy)
9. INFINITE SCOUTS!  (Deploy Scouts from Forge)

Almost Infinite Snipers:
[Set to Capitalist]
1. Build a Bank (Making money)
2. Build a Bunker (Don't build units yet! Unless you need to.)
3. Build a Hospital (Making manpower)
4. Build another Hospital (Making manpower)
5. Upgrade Bunker to Barracks (Don't build units yet! Unless you need to.)
6. Upgrade both Hospitals to War Sanctums (Making manpower)
7. ALMOST INFINITE SNIPERS!  (Deploy Snipers from Barracks)

Credit: kacboy

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is simply a guide on how to counter a specific type of unit, if you don't know the best ways.

Feel free to object or add something.

Romans
Missles own these guys (black queens included) If it's early in the game, break out air units, preferably phantoms. Tanks also do a good job. (Romans have weak range and low unit damage)

Scouts
Sakata MII wipe them easily. Marines also do a good job in masses.

Phantoms
Sakata MII, or scouts/black queens. Missles work too.

Sakata MII
Any ground unit will take care of it, hover tanks are the best.

Sakata Spider
Massed tanks can kill it before it gets in range, air units also do a good job.

Gladiators
Hover tanks. Period.

Marines
Tanks are best for this job. Black Queens and missles are also fine.

Chronite Tank
Any air unit will kill this, because they are so slow. Missles will take them out too.

Snipers
Get any stronger unit within range and that'll do it. Missles work just fine as well.

Groditz
Missles, tanks, phantoms are also stronger than groditz in forms of machine gun fire.

Hover tanks
Phantoms work wonder here.

Black Queens
Strongest counter is probably Sakata MII or Gladiators.

Misc Tips -

1. Missles will kill the following in one hit: Romans, scouts, phantoms, sakata spiders, marines, chronite tanks, snipers and groditz.

2. Don't use forge/forge.

3. Armories are actually cheaper resource structures than banks and generators because it doesn't require upgrading. (and provide more than tier-1 resource structures)

Credit: firetail_madness

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colony Game Manual

Because you are ask too much in lobby chat, Colony's incomplete game manual.

Here is a quick run down of the game. When you start you can choose three governments. The only difference between them is the resource income you get. Here is what you get from each race every 5 seconds and the bonuses:

Capitalist: 5 Money, 3 Manpower, 2 Energy, extra resources for every resource building.
Fascist: 4 Money, 2 Manpower, 4 Energy, kills net you cash.
Communist: 3 Money, 5 Manpower. 2 Energy, 35% faster build apparently.

The game is set up for 2v2. You will control four bases, either on the left side or the right side of the field. You select a base and choose what to build.

You have four resources. Money, Manpower, Energy and the Purple thing, I think it stands for POWER! (its actually called influence but that doesn't sound as cool).

POWER! caps at 100, or so I heard, and you get it from building units and killing the dudes on the other side.

PROTIP: If you hold "Shift" when you select an option to build, the option is automatically put into auto-build mode, meaning that as soon as the order is finished, it will do it again if it has the resources. If it doesn't, it cancels the order. You can also cancel it manually at any time.

PROTIP: You can select your units on the field and give them orders, to Advance, Charge, Hold, or Fall Back. If you want to win, unit micro-management is key.

PROTIP: Use 'X' to toggle the rally point on or off.

PROTIP: Hotkeys are 1, 2, 3, 4 for the top row and Q, W, E, R for the bottom row.

Unit Tech Tree
Buildings

Arms Branch (Outpost/Barracks/Arsenal)
Military building, units from this branch are usually human based and vehicle based. You can build Marines, Chronite Tanks, Medics, Snipers, Groditz, and Black Queens from this branch. Upgrading from Barracks to Arsenal requires that you have an Armoury though.

Robotics Branch (Forge/Manufactory/Mechanics Terminal)
Military building, units from this branch include andriods and fliers. You can build Romans, Scouts, Sakata Spiders, Sakata Mk II, Phantoms, and also create clones to boost your manpower. Upgrading from Manufactory to Mechanics Terminal requires that you have an Armoury though.

Hospital
You need this building to make Meditecs. You can also boost your manpower by treating the ill. You can also summon 10 medics when you have enough POWER!

Bank (Can upgrade to Treasury)
Make money.

Generator (Can upgrade to Solar Grid)
Generates energy. The Solar Grid allows you to build a modded Sakatas from maximum POWER!

Armoury
Requirement for Tier 3 building upgrades, and several units. Can be used to boost any resource, but at a slower rate and less in quantity than the Tier 2 resource buildings. It also builds a modded Phantoms from maximum POWER!

Special Operations
You can launch missiles from here. You can also summon a squad of 2 SpecOps, 4 Snipers and 2 Medics when you reach maximum POWER!

Units

Marine
Built from: Outpost / Barracks / Arsenal
Armour: Light
Normal single damage against ground targets. Carry a ****load of stingers up their ***** and can pwn most air units that don't pwn them first.

SpecOps
Built from: Hospital
Armour: Much better than the Marines at least.
Same as the Marines but tougher. Probably trained by RUSSEL CROWE! Now isn't that scary?

Chronite Tank
Built from: Outpost / Barracks / Arsenal
Armour: Heavy
AoE damage against ground targets only. Great against groups of lightly armoured infantry. Will WTF PWN infantry that come in range.

Medic (Requires Hospital)
Built from: Hospital
Armour: Light
Can heal any friendly ground unit from a range. Has no attack!

Sniper
Built from: Barracks / Arsenal
Armour: Light
Long range, armour-piercing attack, to both ground and air. Good as defence or support offence. Can out-range enemy base defences as well.

Groditz Walker (Requires Armoury, or Arsenal)
Built from: Barracks / Arsenal
Armour: Heavy
Rapid machine guns. Decent against all kinds of units.

Hover Tank
Built from: Arsenal
Armour: Medium
Fires deadly single-target armour piercing shells. Good against ground armour. No air weapons. ******* child of a Sniper and a Chronite Tank.

Black Queen
Built from: Arsenal
Armour: Heavy
Air Unit. Has strong singular anti-air missiles. Can drop a massive AoE anti-surface bomb from long range. Bombs has long reload time (10 seconds). Nukes will scratch the paint.

Roman
Built from: Forge / Manufactory / Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Medium
Decent ground attack rifle, with a minor splash radius. Cannot attack air. More durable than Marines, but less range.

Scout
Built from: Forge / Manufactory / Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Medium
Fast air unit. It has anti-armour weapons, for both ground and air, but does moderate damage. Medium rate of fire. Marines will **** them.

Phantom
Built from: Manufactory / Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Medium
Spams bullets on to the surface, doing some AoE damage on ground targets. Best used against infantry. Cannot defend itself against other air units.

Modded Phantom
Built from: Armoury
Armour: Medium
Spams more damaging bullets and has more health. Great anti-surface unit. Does not have air defences though.

Sakata Spider
Built from: Manufactory / Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Heavy
Fast, heavily armoured androids. Single target weapon. Self-healing technology. Cannot attack air. Low health though.

Modded Sakata
Built from: Solar Grid
Armour: Heavy
A better, tougher, damage-ier Sakata that fires explosive rounds. Oh yeah.

Sakata Mk II
Built from Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Heavy
Same body as the Sakata Spider, except it has different weapons. It has anti-air cannons, but now cannot attack ground units.

Gladiator RUSSEL CROWE
Built from Mechanics Terminal
Armour: Heavy
The ultimate ground unit. NUKES CANNOT KILL RUSSEL CROWE! They don't even scratch him!

Credit: Krinlab? (source needs confirmation)

--Further locked discussions on Colony--

Discussion 1

Discussion 2

Discussion 3

Well, I need your guys' feedback on this stuff. I do not play colony. So, what I'll end up doing is remaking the topic in a few days (after the weekend).

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!

If there is a strategy that is really worth going in the original post then post it here and mark it for me. Please make sure to credit the correct person.

Soymaster has done a perfect job doing that.