BAR handles unit transport differently from SupCom. You can get useful ferry-style routes going, but the setup looks a bit different from what old-school RTS players expect.
Tags: beyond all reason, transport, ferry, micro, air unit, water
SupCom had a clean ferry waypoint system where you marked pickup and drop points, dropped your units on the marker, and the transports handled all the loading, unloading, and shuttling automatically. Beyond All Reason does not work that way.
There is no built-in waypoint-based ferry routing. You manage transports through direct orders. The good news is you can approximate ferry behavior with the right commands.
You can give transports an area load and area unload order set to repeat. Once set up, the transport cycles between the two areas on its own, loading whatever friendly units are in the pickup zone and dropping them at the destination.
The mechanics look like this:
Units still need to walk into the pickup zone themselves. They do not pathfind to the transport like in a true waypoint ferry system. Keep your units grouped near the pickup area for smooth cycles.
Water transport adds a layer of complexity you do not face with air transports. Ships are slower, water maps often have contested crossings, and transports make easy targets if left undefended.
Air transports tend to be faster and more flexible. They ignore terrain and do not need to navigate waterways. The trade-off is higher cost and vulnerability to anti-air. For quick drops across a contested front, air transports usually win out. For bulk, slow-moving convoys of heavy units across calm water, water ferries carry the heavier freight at lower energy cost.
Match the transport type to the situation. Do not default to water just because the map has oceans, and do not burn your economy on air transports for short hops when a few gunships get the job done cheaper and quicker.
Balance updates can shift how good transports are at different points in a patch cycle. The BAR changelog on the official site covers broad strokes, but the most reliable source for knowing what is live right now is the merged pull releases on GitHub. Check closed release pull requests to see which changes have actually landed in the current build.
Stay current. A transport strategy that dominated one patch may shift after the next update.
For a deeper look at transport play and micro management, the BAR community has produced video tutorials that break down effective air and transport strategies. Check out the content from this channel for visual walk-throughs of the techniques covered here.
Transport discipline matters more than people admit. Teams that coordinate crossings, call out what they are moving, and time their pushes together win games that disjointed teams throw away. A community built around clear communication and mutual patience turns water maps from frustrating choke points into coordinated team victories.
[Crd] One of the few places where you can for sure coordinate with people in matches with a good supportive attitude. Everybody tends to be understanding and constructive.
Creed of Champions focuses on exactly that kind of team play. Competitive without the toxicity, teamwork-first, and serious about helping players develop their transport game alongside everything else. If that sounds like your kind of environment, come have a look.