Fabbers…how many to build and when

I bought PA a few days before launch, and have been trying to get better ever since. I tend to do OK as part of a team game, but in PA Stats 1v1s I get crushed almost every time. At first I thought it was just that I didn't have enough factories; focusing more on that made me perform better but I still wasn't winning. I think my bigger problem is that I don't build enough fabbers. I build 2 or 3 at start, and try to expand, but they inevitably get destroyed by the enemy, and I have trouble replacing them because all my factories are busy producing dox/bolo/etc. How do you guys make sure you always have fabbers? How many do you build and when?

If you are rushing hard then build maybe 1-3 at the start and then plunge your eco into units. Honestly it is fine to have your first factory nonstop building engineers the entire game, but be careful against early game rushes.

Build one factory at the beginning that builds infinite fabbers, that is a good strategy that many people does.

Early game?

I build 3, and replace them when they are killed.

Towards mid game I might put fabbers into my factory ques to keep some spare when the enemy inevitably kills some at expansion bases and at my main base.

Late game, I could have hundreds, if not like a few dozen advanced ones to effectively and permanently replace them.

The key is to early on have few fabbers as possible to keep your factorys running constantly, pumping out troops and such, as well as keeping my eco from crashing until I have it well and truly up and running.

Okay, thanks for the tip. I was afraid that doing just that would put me at a disadvantage in terms of fighting units.

On an unrelated note, does anyone know how many posts I need to make before I can use an image in my signature? I am trying to add my Ballistic Logistics sig and it won't let me.

I haven't played vanilla in a while so I suppose it has changed. Back when I played I always build 5 fabs, then again the economy changes must have made this much more, so you don't need as much.

I *think* it's 10.

Alrighty, off to spew my irrelevant opinions.

Soon you'll be a pro like me.

Infinite fabbers is not a good idea with high speed 1v1s, you really just need to make sure the fabbers are protected.

You could build lots of dox or tanks with wasted metal on a 4th or 5th fab.

On the off chance you're not familiar with the finer points of the controls, control clicking a fabber in the factory menu will add a single fabber to the front of the queue, allowing you to replace the one you lost without repeatedly building more.

Sorry if that's patronizing or you already knew it, but it's the kind of thing that a lot of new players simply never get told.

Nope, I heard about that once but totally forgot, thanks!

I go with two early fabbers, certainly wouldn't go for more than three. Infinite fabbers is no longer a good idea because the early game is so aggressive now and you're forcing yourself to build energy plants that your opponent doesn't have to build, thus they'll outnumber you in battle and kill all those fabbers.

I'll give my 2 cents.

The build I would suggest is a 2 fabber variation.

1st fabber on metal only, 2nd fabber builds radar then energy only.

Your commander can nearly spam factories at that point if you put up 2 factory 1 metal and 3 energy first.


Then when your metal gets to the positive above those building (protect your metal fabber and metal fields with aggression). Then Ctrl que 3 more fabbers to either build metal/energy/assist commander with factories (around minute 5-6).

This f is a good macro build for beginners, because once you set up your 2 fabbers and commander to build, you can forget about Eco for a while and focus on your micro.

Feel free to message me on steam if you ever want to practice.

Edit: read my post here about pastats replay watching if you want to get gud:
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/pa-stats-1v1-ladder-map-pool.64263/page-2

Anyone suggesting continuous build just fabbers from a factory doesn't know what they're talking about

Build 2-4 at the start of the game, before any other units. Then, if you lose a fabricator (or preferably, about to lose a fabricator), select one of your factories that has nearly finished whatever it is it's building, hold down CTRL, and click once to build one more fabricator. This'll get the unit prioritised over whatever else is in the factories build loop, and then once it's done, it'll vanish off the list.

If you feel like you can't micro-manage that much (and/or can't notice when you lose a fabber very quickly), then build 2-3 at the start, then queue up about 10 Dox or a few tanks and have it all on repeat. That way you should get a "safe" supply of fabricators that are protected by units when they come off the production line, and you won't get too many. You could even set a camera anchor nearby or put the factory in a ctrl group so that you can find your fabber supply really quickly and easily.

A more interesting question I think would be which fabber types you should build. Whatever your first factory is? Land only? Depends on map terrain?

Land preferred, as random fighters murder air starts.

I've been having reasonable luck with land fac -> 2 fabbers -> ground forces and air factory -> 2 scouts -> 1 fabber -> air forces as required, as a starting order. land fabbers are quicker but the air fabber can nip out and get a few mex that are outside of the enemies most direct route to my base. If I lose the latter I probably wouldn't replace it.

But don't random bombers murder land fabbers?

It seems that either way you need air to stop them.

Bombers can be annoying, but bombers a somewhat slower, and attack slower, where as fighters have that "why do missiles, suddenly appear" effect where your fabbers just evaporate.