The Double Marza Dreadnaught Play

Has it ever occurred to you just how quickly the Marza's Raze Planet ability annihilates planets? Very quickly. Two Marza Dreadnaughts with level 1 Raze can annihilate a Homeworld planet within a minute, give or take. I admit I've only used this opening a few times, but they've worked pretty well for me.

 

Right off the bat, I get a Marza dreadnaught, two colony ships, 1 military and civilian lab, and begin research corvettes. I then take some planets here and there, get a second civilian lab for nearby ice/volcano planets and max out fleet supply with corvettes. I then get another capital ship crew and fleet supply upgrade and build a second dreadnaught and max out of the fleet with more corvettes with flak. From there, I go on the offensive. The fleet is typically able to buy enough time for my dreadnaughts to bomb the planet into submission. For more info, the Raze ability does 80 damage per shot and kills have 10 population. Level 1 does 2 shots, level 2 does 4 shots and level 3 does 6 shots. In addition, the Marzas also do their normal planet sieging, doing 57 damage per projectile.

 

Opinions?

 

15,048 views 4 replies
Reply #1 Top

It depends on the map, but double cap starts are rather rough these days because of corvettes...basically, whoever spams the most corvettes early game wins...

The only reason you'd lead with two marzas is because you are extremely close, and if you're that close then it's pretty much all corvette rushing...if the other player does not invest in a 2nd cap, they will be outdoing you substantially in firepower and fleet size...you won't damage their HW enough with raze planet to make much of a difference....the corvettes will be all over you, forcing your marzas out...

As of v1.02, you're better off rushing with corvettes and gaining the upperhand...then, if you need to wipe out planets quickly (like, knock out a suicide player), use a marza as your 2nd cap...

For TEC, akkans, corsevs, and sovas are really the only viable openers, even on a cramped map...

That being said, this assumes you are going against someone who knows what they are doing...against a noob, a double marza rush will kill them more efficiently than any other start simply...but think of this as more "getting away with" a double marza start...

 

Reply #2 Top

The Vasari Vulkoras Desolator does a better job at this in my opinion. It has two abilities that affect planet damage and its siege platforms can fire independently of the capitalship, so you can still meneuver your capital ships while inflicting damage to the enemy homeworld (to snipe constructors and shipyards for example).

But anyways, yes two siege caps can be a brutal rush, especially against newer players who don't scout well. But its not as good as it used to be with corvettes, which means its much harder to get a damaged capitalship out of a fight.

Reply #3 Top

Back in Diplomacy, a double-Marza rush was fairly common; once you got both to level 6, dual Missile Barrage will wipe out any frigate or cruiser. Though double-Vulkoras was more common to sweep planets, you'd occassionally get dual Marzas with Raze Planets.

Double cap starts were really common before Rebellion. Corevettes just sweep this option off the table.

Reply #4 Top

Yeah, I've basically gotten to the point where if I lose my first cap, I don't even bother replacing it...

If it get to the late game and I manage to build a titan, I may invest in some Halcyons for TK push...but otherwise...SPAM SPAM SPAM CORVETTES...