Command & Conquer

Yes a Crawler is a weapon and it builds and repairs other weapons. Like any weapon you got to know things about it and develop skills in using it. It's also like a big piece of cheese that attracts people who want to kill Crawlers.

It takes skill to use your Crawler and your units effectively, and this also within a team if your playing Multiplayer games. If you don't have the skills and your team also doesn't, then someone like Cruilty and his team will do something like the following. For Incia and others who do have C&C4 the replay is available to download and view via this link.
http://www.gamereplays.org/commandan...&profile_name=

http://members.wideband.net.au/safca...lersKilled.jpg

That's true, but you need to consider why the crawler needs a weapon instead of being a mobile war factory/barracks/airfield.

The Crawler goes back to the days of Tiberium Sun Firestorm. There it tended to be seen as a mobile structure to build fighting units, and there the units protected it, plus the player had to be more carefully in regards to its position regarding the enemy.

The modern version by adding a weapon plus other features, the modern Crawler could be used alongside fighting units to compliment them. BUT still the player has to be careful plus also have skill in using it in that role along with their other fighting units, this also within their team when playing multiplayer team games and that also requires some skill to function and work as a team by each team member.

Anyway, here is an image from the start of a mission in Tiberium Sun Firestorm, where players deployed their early version Crawler and then went hunting harvesters as seen below.

http://members.wideband.net.au/safca...rHunting01.jpg

Interesting, but at least you need to realise why the crawler needs to have a weapon, to which (my) answer is to free more units for the battlefield

To me a Crawler in a way does not free units for the battlefield, but tends to suppliment the firepower of the the other units that are there, plus the other things I previously mentioned, and it's also a big piece of cheese plus a meat shield, and used so that your other units can get some repair and get some more shots in if the enemy focus goes towards the Crawler.

12 years ago I played Tiberium Sun Firestorm when the early version Crawler did NOT have a weapon. Due to that and that it could be easily be destroyed I kept it back somewhat from the battle, but still close enough so it can produce fighting units close to the battle, this so that the fighting units did not have much traveling time to get to the battle.

Today as the modern Crawler does have a weapon plus other features, that just means I can bring it directly into the fight to suppliment the firepower of the fighting units. BUT still is a point where you must decide to pack it up to retreat or to move forward. In what you do comes from practical experience and skill with the game. Like any unit in the battlefield, be it infantry, or tank, or Crawler, or whatever, there is a point where you must decide to pack it up to retreat or to move forward, this depending of the flow of battle at that particular time.

OK then, but if you have any thoughts or tips then please post them. in the meantime i tend to keep the crawler in unpacked mode in combat, but still keeping some units in the queue so if five units get lost i can unpack my crawler and discharge five more units into the fight. this is harder with the defence crawler as its weapon only appears in packed mode, so i use a different strategy where i make a base and send waves of infantry and tanks into the fight.

The GDI offence crawler has too much weaponry while too little damage of each weaponry. The nod crawlers are the opposite. I think they should at least have the weaponry/ damage thing balanced out.