Got it, Slingshots are only against massed infantry. Can I use them against Scrin infantry?
Only if you have nothing else to use. There are four factions against which Slingshots are not the best manspam counter. Three of them are the Scrin factions and the fourth is the Steel Talons. Disintegrators inflict damage when they are crushed, so unless they are really clumped up, the Slingshots will not be cost-effective. They also cannot crush Shock Troops or Buzzers, and though they are faster than Cultists, Hammerheads are a better counter. If you have Slingshots on hand against Traveler and wish to crush Cultists, go for it, but don't build them specifically to counter Scrin infantry; that's what Hammerheads are for.
As for the Steel Talons, they do not have any kind of infantry upgrades, so AP Ammo weapons will work quite well against them. Also, Steel Talons rocketspam tends to be accompanied by Titans, which do a lot of damage to Slingshots due to the 150% cannon penalty of the Slingshot, as well as the stomp factor. If you have spare Slingshots lying around and need a fast counter, use them, but not as a first option.
What about the Black Hand? I watched -Schelle build Slingshots and he still got rolled by Technique's Black Hand manspam, even with 5 charging at once.
I'm not going to lie, Black Hand manspam is hard to beat, even with Slingshot crushing. The Confessors add a nice rate-of-fire bonus to the Militant Rocket squads and the added flame damage is pretty rough too. There were two points at which -Schelle tried to use Slingshots, once with 5, and once with 3. Neither effectively cleaned out the manspam. The main reason for this was that -Schelle lost the scouting game. He had a second War Factory that he wasn't using and didn't scout the manspam or base move until there were 15 Rocket Militia headed towards his expansion.
For the actual Slingshot-crushing part, -Schelle had the right numbers, but the wrong micro. On his 5-Slingshot crush, two of them ended up moving through empty space, slicing in front of the manspam arc rather than across it. Also, his Slingshots did not move in formation and so the first two were picked off before the others were even close. The one Slingshot that did manage to slip into the ranks of Technique's manspam easily killed its cost by crushing before being blasted.
His second crush attempt, with 3 Slingshots, was far more effective. If you look closely at the screenshot, you'll see that Technique lost over 10 Rocket Militia squads plus a Confessor Cabal to just 3 Slingshots. That's cost-effective, but the problem was that Technique had at least more 15 Rocket Militia remaining. In my humble opinion, Slingshot crushing didn't cost -Schelle the game. Given that he didn't have AP Ammo, Slingshot crushing was his best option and when it was used correctly, it was cost-effective. Against a lesser player, a small slip in micro can be forgiven, but at very high levels of play, mistakes like that can decide games. This particular strategy takes practice, micro, and timing; it's not as simple as Q-moving all the Black Hand infantry for sure, but it can be successful.
Originally, this tip was written before that game, and then delayed until I could analyze the tactic's use in that game. Form your own opinions about the viability of the tactic, but especially in the -Schelle versus Technique game, Slingshots were more cost-effective than un-upgraded APCs. Without turning this into a tip about that individual game, here's some illustrative screenshots.
The 5 Slingshots approached in a loose formation and didn't carve into the heart of the manspam.
Results: It wasn't cost effective.
3 flanking Slingshots, while way outnumbered, used the recommended formation move to approach together.
Look at all those bodies!What's the right ratio of Slingshots to APCs or Watchtowers?
I would say 1 Slingshot for every 2 APCs or Watchtowers you build, or maybe 1 to 1 if you only have 1 War Factory. Somewhere in between 1 to 2 and 1 to 1. Very rarely should you charge manspam directly with Slingshots. Ideally, you want the manspam to engage your APCs or other units and buildings first to draw their fire and then flank with the Slingshots. Competent manspammers usually employ a formation move to place all their units in a nice firing arc to maximize damage and minimize the danger of head-on crushing. Flanking Slingshots take advantage of that arc by sweeping along its length and mowing down the infantry.
Do NOT overspend on Slingshots, especially if your opponent kept his War Factory. Building 10 Slingshots that crush a dozen Rocket Militia is not only cost-ineffective, but will do nothing to those Attack Bikes or Scorpions that
will be coming next. There is a fine balance between buying enough Slingshots to deal with the manspam without losing them before they can crush and overspending on them.
If your opponent brings 20 Missile Squads with Composite Armor (8000 + 1500), a good counter would be 6 AP Ammo APCs (4200 + 2000) and 4 Slingshots (4000). With good micro, flanking Slingshots will be able to crush a large portion of the Missile Squads. Even if the Missile Squads scatter, they are not firing while on the move and they will have to focus on dealing with the Slingshots instead of shooting your other anti-infantry weapons. Move your APCs in behind the Slingshots and take potshots at the remaining infantry who are scattering as fast as possible. If necessary, hide the Slingshots behind a building or off to the side until you are ready to use them.
5 flanking Slingshots are a far more effective counter to manspam than the equivalent in more Wolverines would be.My Slingshots are getting killed before they crush! This doesn't work!
First, are you flanking? Charging head-on into the infantry will likely not work, especially if your opponent is careful to avoid overkill. Second, how many Slingshots are you using against the rampaging hordes? Using only 1 or 2 Slingshots against a force of 15-20 rocket squads will likely get the Slingshots destroyed before they can crush enough infantry, but 3 or 4 are impossible to destroy before the Slingshots move in and start crushing because of how fast Slingshots are.
Other important questions: Am I using formation-move to keep the Slingshots moving together? A flanking line abreast of 3 Slingshots can smear most arc formations of infantry, while a 2x2 formation works better if your opponent knocks out one. Head for the largest and most-clumped formation of infantry and then immediately reverse-move back over your original path if you missed some on the first charge. Also, is your War Factory being camped? A Slingshot that is targeted before it can start its crushing run is useless. Draw the rockets away from the Slingshots in order to make use of their crushing power.
