I'm sad to say no one here has been helpful. Luckily, I continue to trade well with him as Cybran myself. The internet fails me, as always.

I've been playing alot of 1v1s versus my friend. Both of us are longtime RTS players and have played FAF before, but not as much until recently. In the past few days, we have played roughly 12 or so games. I play UEF, he plays Cybran.

Famously, Mantis spam was broken and as far as I can tell, it remains broken. The games I have won have inevitably been on maps where the rush distance is longer, the gaps easier to defend, or when I also played Cybran. Otherwise, I just get steamrolled by hundreds of mantis. He has a few radar and artillery in there to be sure, and if I get bombers he's smart enough to get AA.

Like I said, when I played Cybran (in a fit of pique, to make a point), I flattened him.

At this point, it's unclear what I'm missing. Mantis eat my Strykers for breakfast. He generally does runbys, so even if they destroy a bunch, a few get through. Arty misses as often as the Strykers. The ACU can only be in one place at a time, and if it is protecting the core base, the outskirts get eaten anyway. Even reclaim does not seem to be enough.

I suspect I'm not getting gun upgrade fast enough? But I'm just straightforwardly asking how to beat the t1 mantises