Command & Conquer Red Alert Advanced Tanking (SGQ secrets revealed) - updated
34A Brief History Of GQ
GQ is an old skool secret recently popularised by Andrew Ford. It originates from ORA-ssanai (according to cousinsucky AKA ORA-Cle) and later, documented by JCFarmer. Also, if you look closely at some of ehy's videos, you can see him using GQ defensively between shifting tanks. Read on...
Is There Anything Stronger?
I stumbled upon an even stronger method which I initially shared with only one trusted player. Together we experimented with it and confirmed that its power lies in forcing your tanks to obey Q movement orders, whereas with standard GQ your tanks continue to follow old Q commands and become scattered.
This method is SGQ. S is used to reset your tank's orders before you place them in guard mode and Q them. It keeps your tanks tightly together so that you maximise the number of your tanks in firing range.
It should be used when your tanks are south of your opponent due to the firing range advantage, and not meshed together with your opponent's tanks. Because if they are meshed up, standard GQ works better.
The Key Sequence I Use For SGQ Tanking
Originally, I used WER shift 1 ctrl 1 SGQ SGQ*. But over time, my hand began hurting since it feels uncomfortable. Also from my research, mechanical keyboards can lead to finger pain, so I hope to buy a kinder keyboard soon (thank you Butcher for recommending Ducky keyboards). So I changed to the Fluffy method: WER 2343 SGQ* which is easier and faster to execute. I use the following fingers for each key:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing#/media/File:FingerHandPosUSA.gif
You can use sharpkeys to remap your keyboard:
https://www.randyrants.com/category/sharpkeys/
*How Often Do You Press SGQ Between Shifting Tanks Into Group?
It depends on a few things:
- The amount of time you have between shifting tanks (i.e. you have more time with 1 war factory, compared to 7 war factories due to slower tank production).
- The number of tanks you have in firing range. Watch your tanks closely, and press SGQ when your tanks can inflict maximum damage.
- Your tanks reloading period. If you press SGQ when your tanks are fully loaded and they are in firing range, they will all target the nearest enemy tank.
Do You Q Into or Back From Enemy Tanks?
If you have significantly more tanks than your opponent or more tanks in firing range, then you should Q INTO your opponent's tanks to kill them quickly. If you have fewer tanks than your opponent or fewer tanks in firing range, then you should Q BACK from your opponent's tanks to maintain your tank numbers.
Is There Anything Even Stronger?
Updated 18/06/2020: Not that I am aware of. There is one further method discovered by Lovehandles: move GQ, which after testing proves inferior to SGQ. This is due to 3 reasons:
1. You need to make more mouse clicks, thus making it harder to click the make tank button and maintain high tank production on maximum war factories. It takes 2 move commands to reset your waypoints, since 1 move command only resets them after the next waypoint has been completed. Tanks behave strangely with GQ!
2. The tank stopping time of G is the same as fast execution of SG. Either way, your tanks become vulnerable to attack for a split second.
3. The timing of combining mouse clicks with keyboard commands (synchronizing 2 hands) is harder than pure keyboard commands.
That said, we are still learning new things about the game after all these years, so there may be a better strategy. Perhaps a mix of SGQ and GQ is optimal. I wonder if Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will have different strategies.
Hope it helps, and if you have any queries, I will answer comments below.
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