**Halo Wars 2: building a UNSC army that can actually stay in the fight**

**Halo Wars 2: building a UNSC army that can actually stay in the fight** A Scorpion is a great tank. It is not a replacement for an economy, anti-air or knowing what is waiting outside the base. The UNSC has enough specialized units that you can usually answer an enemy army without copying it. The useful question is which part of your army is missing, not which expensive unit you can afford next. **Get information while the base is building** Send the starting force to nearby supplies and power while construction runs. Use a fast unit to look at the approaches and enemy expansion sites. Keep that scout alive; seeing the next army matters more than getting a few shots into a building. For a straightforward learning game, establish supply income, a Generator and enough infantry to collect and contest nearby ground. Add production for a job you can identify. If enemy infantry are approaching, respond to them rather than saving every resource for a distant late-game plan. This is a flexible opening, not a fixed tournament build order. Maps, leaders and enemy pressure change what is affordable and safe. Check the base whenever you finish a fight. Are you short on supplies, short on power or simply not using your production? Those need different fixes. Another Generator does not solve a supply shortage, and another Garage does little if the existing one is idle because you cannot afford its units. **Give the army a main force and a few specific answers** Use a core force that can move together and fight the expected opposition. Then add counters instead of splitting population equally across every unit in the menu. - Marines provide the early infantry foundation and can take objectives. - Hellbringers are useful against infantry and defended close-range positions, but need help reaching their targets. - Snipers pick off infantry from range. Put other units between them and attackers. - Cyclopes are anti-vehicle specialists in Halo Wars 2; do not carry their original Halo Wars role into this game. - Wolverines cover hostile aircraft. Keep them with the army rather than stranded behind the front. - Scorpions provide heavy ground firepower. - Nightingales supply healing support. Protect them from enemy anti-air. - Kodiaks provide artillery when deployed. They need protection and useful sightlines, not an order to lead the charge. Read the unit panel's matchup information when choosing the next addition. A specialist helps when the intended target is present. A large collection of anti-air units will not automatically win a ground battle. **Keep the support units out of the first collision** Move the combat line into contact first. Bring healing and artillery behind it, then concentrate fire on the threats that can remove those support units. A common losing exchange is to select everything, send it through a narrow approach and allow the support aircraft or artillery to arrive before the tanks. Use separate selections or control groups for units whose jobs require different positions. If a tank survives with low health, pull it out of concentrated fire and heal it. Replacing an entire army after each fight costs production time as well as resources. Keeping experienced units alive also preserves the value of their veterancy. Leave space between expensive units when the opponent has area damage. The moment a targeting effect appears under the formation, move. Winning the small firefight is not worth losing the whole army to the ability behind it. **Expand after creating room to defend it** A second base should help you sustain the next stage of the match. Take one after a useful fight, when your army can cover its construction or when scouting shows the opponent is occupied elsewhere. Build the income and production you need there. A new base full of unused building slots is an investment you have not finished making. Keep a path home. If every unit is committed to a slow siege across the map, a small attack on your economy can become expensive before the main army returns. A mobile reserve or nearby counter units can buy that time without making you abandon the offensive immediately. **Use leader powers to finish a job** Check whether a power needs resources as well as an available cooldown. Keep a reserve if the plan depends on healing, reinforcements or a strike. Use damage abilities when enemies are committed to a position, not while they are freely moving away. Support a deployment with the army already on the ground. Reinforcements dropped into a losing fight one squad at a time are easy to remove. Leader-specific units and powers change these choices. Learn the shared economy and counters first, then adjust around the leader rather than assuming every UNSC commander has an identical roster. After a loss, look for the concrete cause: no detection, no anti-air, an idle economy, exposed healers or a fight taken outside support range. Fix that piece before replacing the whole army plan.