Help for the n00bs

There are a lot of noobish PA players and just players that haven't haven't had the time to practice a ton and get good (aka me). I was wondering if some of the better players would like to give some suggestions based on their general line of strategic thought or things to avoid. Stuff like, how do you manage scouting? what's the best way to attack a well defened base? how about a well defened planet? how do you make sure you expand enough? how do you manage eco? what units do you find work best for X situation? Thanks!

Well you are to busy making awesome mods to play the game

I am still pretty bad compared to others but ok. I found that expanding and putting a couple things everywhere you expand helps. It makes it so you want to defend the spots you expand to.

True, although I've only made four. Actually my expansions frequently become weaknesses since I need them for metal but don't/can't defend them well enough.

I've found a lot or players seem to not flank enough since I attempt to push them with my land forces from all sides and scout with fighters which controls air space (unless they get up T2 air) and helps harass ground and their expansions while distracting them so I can expand anywhere I want xD which then allows me to build more units to overwhelm their army or if they are hiding behind walls and turrets I just get a nuke and keep scouting with my air force to counter what they are attempting to do with their smaller eco

That's usually what the better players end up doing to me. I guess the best counter is to do it myself and I'm going to just need to practice more to do that.

Are you after text-based tips or videos? There's a good and fairly short video on the Realm channel that thekiller put on where there's quite a lot of discussion on tactics etc. Not entirely shameless self-promotion but I do think it's a good video.

if you fancy.

Thanks, I'm pretty good with the basics already though so it wasn't as useful. My biggest issue is that I don't scale up my base and production as fast as everyone else. I was thinking of more text-based tips but shortish videos are also very welcome.

Any of the other noobs are welcome to post their questions here too. I'm sure many of us would benefit from the answers.

Also, what unit types do you focus on? I've found it helpful to focus on bots or tanks with some air for scouts, bombers, and gunships, but I'm not sure if bots or tanks are better with the new balance.

Noob question: How do I beat clopse?

I always get bot factory first then air right after, bot build 2 fabs then 2 dox then fabs rest of game, air factory patrol route around base with fighters on loop, use some of those fighters as soon as you can to scout for opponents base and to take down air fabbers (delays T2 air and other production)

I then also after getting some more power and sending teams of 2 fabbers out to expand everywhere around the planet build 4 bot factories one in each corner of my base as a fast reaction defense and to send around the whole planet to flank the main base of the person I am facing, once I have found the base I build normally 4 tank factory on the side of my base closest to them to help with main fighting front, send two groups of bots around the sides of the base to flank around close expansions then its just a mix of more bot or tank factory to help with ground battles (proxy bases near flanks are amazing) expanding my eco more, teching up asap to get increased eco and nukes and also getting some more air factories to control air superiority and better more constant scouting

Remember if you are in your opponents base they probably are not in yours :3

Well this was quite some time ago but when I faced him for the first time I beat him xD in that game what I had to do was defend against an early bot raid, raid back his eco expansions with my bots and produce an air force to take out his bombers then flank around with more bots where I could and then get a nuke and nuke his power supply twice at which point he moved his commander near my base supported by tanks and I nuked the tanks and finished off the commander

Feed him whisky.

So really a mixture of all three then? Thanks for all those tips. I'm definitely going to bookmark this thread and reread it again and again.

^^ I've found that a mix just covers all the bases and allows you to have the best advantages over certain things as later on in the game I even get a factory to produce one bomber one fighter (if they have no air at all just bombers) to patrol my base encase of small flanking bots or something and then I can pull them off patrol if I need something killed from above

but ya BOTS are great at fast defense and flanking raids (also a little tip for people having problem with bombers hitting clusters is a patrol area command over the spot where your units are clumped up makes all the units spread out from each other immediately)

TANKS I find to be great as the main push of the front lines and sometimes as proxy bases any where if you can build them close to the opponent their high health and better range allows them to soak up abit of dmg but its good idea to try to get some fighters to patrol around with them as it increases their fire range also a clummed group of tanks can deal more dmg at a further range then bots can however if you surround tanks their advantaged is lessened so I like to have reserves or side armies of bots to stop that from happening plus when I reach their base I can split them off and flank the sides or kill expansions of my other bots I sent out have not already done that

FIGHTERS are just good for scouting and air superiority build 2-3 factories of these when you can if the other guy is trying for an air force they also just make sure to fly over you opponents base every minute or so if they have no or limited air force (fear T2 air though at least at this point in time) also make sure they never land near your opponents army when you are scouting as you will lose all of them

BOMBERS are good for light raiding and discouraging others from raiding you and if you build up enough of them you can take out some buildings like pelters that are dmging your ground army from afar don't over rely on them though as good AA and fighters will take them out fast.

EXPANDING Always expand, keep expanding if you can't expand you messed up or you have taken over the planet and the opponent is off the planet or hiding behind turrets and armies xD just keep expanding while you flank and push on the opponent they will go defensive and not attack your fields normally also spread out your power fields when you can if you are not under constant raiding attacks from all sides, this will help stop nukes from being effective and you can also run your commander away from a surprising push though a power field as its hard to keep up with a commander while pushing units through the choke points of power and even harder to keep units targeted on the commander but yes expand every where you can an unextracted metal spot is wasted metal or metal your opponent will get. also if gives you vision across the planet

T2/ADVANCED I normally don't build many of the dmging units from these things and normally only get a bot Advanced factory to get advanced/T2 fabbers to get myself more metal and power and then building nukes and more T1/basic units as currently on single planets (I only play on single planets currently (bad computer and orbital annoys me)) the more units you have the more you can spread out and flank plus I have yet to really see a force of T2 units that can survive being surrounded by my basic/T1 units (unless its T2 air -.- ) and if I do I figure I could always nuke the army and then just flow in with my units anyway planets are big and 3d if you can take on something in one direction surround it and charge in or nuke it or just go around it and flank from other sides (last point is more for bases then armies)

NUKES I just find these a great then to put spare eco into as it gives you great flexibility in what you can hit when you need to hit it and if you control the air then nothing should snipe the launcher as for targets with nukes (MAKE SURE TO SCOUT BEFORE HAND) if you have two of them and there is no anti nuke sure go for the commander but if there is an anti nuke near the commander or you only have one nuke and no bombers to finish a commander off target power or their own nukes they might be building(only target nukes if you can't take them out with ground unit push or bombers) but if you target there energy it is very hard for them to recover in time to stop a ground push, another nuke or anything really as most people only have 1 field of power as they don't expand to multi bases and have a hard time defending their main base

These tips are for 1v1 on a single planet mainly as that is what I play on also FFA's is just chance and luck what happens there plus expanding is much much harder xD but good luck with these tips and use them well

I do not know why I'm giving away all my tatics right before another Turney but perhaps this will give some more people a standing chance for the pros (without having to go ubercannon spam or T2 air rush) I hope this helps you guys out and if you take these tips to heart you'll certainly stand a chance vs me ^^

Signed with love from
Murcanic

I'm a noob myself but I found, first thing's first :

making yourself comfortable.
the game's gotta run smooth and with the settings and mods that suit you best.

I mention mods because nowadays they're a one-click install and uninstall one-fruit-basket deal (literally) and they go a long ways plus the extra mile making you comfortable.

I think namely of the better system view first and foremost.

then auto-login wich is a do-it-yourself unfortunately but very simple:
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/autologin-do-it-yourself.56868/

then the auto-queue up mod (a very configurable one I just found out thanks to Quitch) which basically turns you into a player 4 times your original rank.

then the economy efficiency mod. (careful once you go black, there's no turning back! It really gets under your skin (but you won't be alone! I've noticed a couple devs also love this mod!))

then (if you have two or more screens) my new favorite : https://forums.uberent.com/threads/...ing-pa-pips-to-their-limits-and-beyond.56792/

and finally (I haven't reached this stage yet) if you're feeling like you want even more: the hotbuild 2

these will go long way.

then there's always my motto I tell all newcomers I meet on FaF but which seems to help people here too:

"consider that all the existing mass points in the system are your long lost family heirlooms. Yes, each and every one of them. and just as you've finally landed on the right system, someone is trying to steal them from you. Not only must you make sure you claim the majority in the short time it takes for them all to be gathered up by each party, but you must recover every last one, by whichever means necessary, use your teeth if necessary!"

this line of though not only assures you have sufficient economy but sets you in the right mentality for the scale at which to envision things.

hope this helps.

And if interested at all I'm currently looking for playmates.

- Carefully watch your resources at the beginning, and build more power than you think you need. A lot of people don't build enough P-gen's and end up power stalling hard, which especially at the beginning of the game murders your ability to expand. You will be forced to focus only on defending yourself, until you die.

- Scout regularly! Figure out where your enemy is early, and then try to contain them and watch for expansions. A lot of people only focus on growing their small base, and are completely caught off guard when they enemy makes a move.

- Make sure to expand. Grabbing additional resources can be hard, and harassment can be frustrating and make you say what's the point, but you need eco. T2 helps here, obviously, with how crazy T2 mexes are on return as well.

- Watch a handful of casted matches. I think I have seen basically every video @zaphodx has posted, along with a whole bunch of various videos from others like @oathalliance and @wpmarshall, so even though I'm mostly unable to play the game I know the rhythm/strategies.

- Play a lot! Be aggressive, lose, then figure out what went wrong and fix it. Practice, practice, practice (duh). There is no substitute for learning how to act under pressure, and no strategy/advice will work if you can't manage it under duress.

If you wish to and you have a microphone, we can set up a Teamspeak or Skype meeting and I can do a game with you, explain some tips and tricks to you. Depends on your current skill. If you want, I can tell you how to rush or how to play more stable.

If you want, send me a PM message and we can meet.

thanks for starting this thread, LS - and for the responses. very, very helpful!!

i'm realizing i totally need to step up my play. i don't think i've ever had as many factories built as seems to be the norm.

Wow, that is an awesome help! Thanks a planet-load!

Those are some really good suggestions too. Thanks!

Get him to press tilde (well, it'll be ` on the UK keyboard). I saw him lose a game to that key.