The Heavy Troop Transport, or HTT, is Expansion’s primary end game tech, and the most common way of capturing bases in Allegiance. Well executed htt runs can be nearly impossible to stop, where as htt runs set up poorly are laughably easy to destroy. In this guide we will be explaining how to create a successful htt run.

A low sig HTT run can be tricky to pull off, it is just as much about the preparation as it is in making the run itself. In an ideal world, when you grab a HTT you will have a buddy in a scout going ahead, clearing probes and checking for eyes. If you don’t have any friends you will need to plan your route ahead of time and clear your own probes. When you are planning your route keep in mind the following:

Position of the green door. Looking forward, see where the green door is, see if it’s in line with the aleph and if you can just go straight for the base or if you need to get into the sector and move around in order to get lined up.
Bases that can get in your way. Note any bases like refs or teles that may eye you along the way. If you can’t avoid these, picking them off with a solo bbr may be necessary.
Look for good asteroids to hide behind. In a perfect world, there’s a rock just in front of the enemies green door. You can use this to avoid eye, allowing you to get a lot closer before getting eyed than you normally would. Combine a good rock with a bios HTT + hvy cloak and sometimes you can cap a base without ever getting eyed. A smart enemy will probe these rocks, so have your scout go ahead to keep things clear.
Staying hard to find. When you get into a sector and you are waiting either for a distraction or more support, fly above or below the plane (just like you would with a sb). To do this, in F3 select yourself, hold down the right mouse button and drag up or down, this will put your autopilot above or below the plane.

The forced cap requires brute force; it helps to have a skill and/or tech advantage vs the enemy team. Things that will make your run a success:

Hvy Ints camping the red door of the enemy base. Combine with prox and don’t let the enemy launch from its base. If one person gets out, usually its better to stay camping as you can do a lot more damage there than chasing someone down.
Multiple runs and/or distractions. Coordinate with your commander and/or other HTT pilots, have a distraction run pull the enemy team away from your target while you and the main force make their move. Having the comm push a conn can also act as a good distraction.
Large scale run. Sometimes you just need to do a massive run with nans, hvy ints and just push. This is mostly only recommended if the aleph is close to the green door. In this case, treat it like a large scale bomb run – deprobe, go through the aleph without eye, and avoid prox. The main difference is that people will actively try to ram you away from the green door, sidethrusting can be surprisingly effective at avoiding people boosting towards you. As a support role, it is important to keep the HTT going fast, however once you get close to the door, DO NOT RAM unless you are 100% positive it will send the HTT directly into the base.