To all new players: expand expand expand!

if you have 10 k metal and 40 ants and I have 0 k metal and 40 + 40 ants I'll win.

Except when you spawn at the poles. I did the same as you for a while for the same orientation reasons I'm sure but trying to move around the poles became too much of a nuisance.

Not to mention the 4 vehicle labs you built instead of the 6 metal storages.

Stored energy has always had a pint, for the big guns that needed to fire, or as a buffer, but metal for some reason was never kept like that. It didn't matter if you went into the red so much. The 'solution' would be to have lack of metal have the same effect as lack of energy, i dunno how you will spin that though, or even if it should be done.

the only time i really see metal storage being really usefull is when there are multi planets and you want to have alot of metal stored up to help you build up another planet as quicky as possible instead of just having more units on the planet you started with but then the idea comes in well instead of building those storage plants you could have built more orbital and expanded to two planets or sent more builders to that one planet or even sent an attack force or an escort with your builders to other planets

I dont see how people just cannot grasp this concept, its sooooo simple =_=

Well, probably because so far I've only managed to be in slow games against an AI, meaning I havent had to worry about it. Until now in any RTS game I've played (aside from perimeter) I've had to wait until I had the resource amount to do anything.

Maybe the next patch will solve my connectivity issues so I can actually play against a human. Until then while I cant intuitively grasp the concept, I do understand the point in which that always spending seems to be better than having a buffer.

But that isn't what the bank is doing?

The bank is acting as a buffer if you lose your economy. Consider the start of the game in a simplified understanding of the economy

What you're advocating for is having a zero bank balance and a zero bank income. This means that your spending is at maximum.

If I hit one of your outlying mexes, your income is now at -7. That means your production will start being affected. You destroy my army that destroyed the mex.

If I have a full bank balance of 800, and an income of 7, you hitting one of my outlying mexes means my income is at zero. You have to wait almost two minutes for my production to start being affected. I destroyed your army that destroyed the mex.


It's a simplified example, clearly, but how is having a surplus ever a bad thing?

the reason people dont like using metal storage is compared to energy you can have an income of -300 with no real slow, however if you have an energy income of -3000 your production starts to die so having an energy buffer is far more cost effective then a metal buffer. i dont know the why or how this is i just know thats what happens

I understand now - I didn't realise the discussion was about building the metal storage building, I thought it was about metal storage as a concept.

This is the relevant quote from the economy thread:

I don't understand what that actually means, and there is no way in hell I'm reading the 40 page thread. If someone could clarify what the numbers and such are with the numbers used in the game, what prorated means (allocated proportionately/ - so as the deficit increases, the allocation per unit decreases?) and what "the remainder will be evenly split between all units and structures trying to use that resource" means, that would be great..


It looks like there is an in-balance in the equation used by the game code, if a deficit of 43 extractors isn't proportional to a deficit of 5 powergens.

because that surpluss could very easily be more tanks to protect these mexes, or to attack the opponents. you cannot have both an army and a bank in this situation. its one or the other.

Can you please read my other reply? I didn't understand that the "bank" was the metal storage structure, I thought it was the +800 from the commander, and that the 40+40 bots represented two factories producing 80 bots in the same amount of time as 1 factory producing 40 bots .

Hmm. So store energy but dont bother with the metal.