Help for the n00bs

I'm a new PA player, and this is my first post. I played my first game last night against the AI. I was squashed, but not before I learned a lot about what NOT to do. I had expanded hard in the beginning and had a flourishing economy, per the tutorial I watched on PAmatches and had several factories up and running. I found that my biggest mistakes were:
1) Not keeping my factories running around the clock. (in watching playback afterwards, the AI swamped me with far fewer resources because his factories never quit running).
2) Not building proxy bases. The nuke came. It saw. It Conquered. Well, almost. But it was enough that my economy was destroyed.
3) Not understanding units and some jargon. This is still a bit of a problem. If anyone has a link to a list of the currently known units, strengths, build costs, etc. that can be downloaded, that would be awesome. I work full time and have a family, so I can't spend a lot of time online during the weekdays.
4) Not becoming agressive early. Think: best defense = good offense.

Just a few ideas from a fellow Noob. There are many strategies...but those I mentioned above were my early downfall. I absolutlely love this game, btw. Extraordinarily well done. First of the genre for me.

Don't be afraid to just queue up two engineers to build 20 tank facs around your base while you expand. If you are expanding mex fast enough, you'll be able to send a massive amount of units towards the enemy in no time. And there is no way they can match 20 tank factories, even with t2.

http://www.pa-db.com/
http://pamatches.com/wiki/

The first has more raw data. The second link is a little more friendly, however there is less information and some might be wrong.

Something I'd suggest to make life easier (especially against the ai) get orbital quite early. Orbital fabbers can build solar arrays which really help your economy and they're probably a bit safer up there (can't be nuked for one thing).

this was the first game you played, and first of the genre for you? and you lasted long enough to get nuked? you must be some kind of savant.... bravo, sir.

For 1 you can use the Auto Factory mod and for 3 the Unit Database mod. Both can be downloaded via the Planetary Annihilation Mod Manager (PAMM).

The PA DB is no longer maintained and should not be used.

I know there was a time when that was the case, but I haven't had any issues with it being outdated for a long time.

This one is also really helpful: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...SFNPZTFZS1pkdWJPbTVkNUJySXc&usp=sharing#gid=1

Pastats uses the same for as pa-dab and is usually updated within a few hours. If you check the build number in the top right hand corner of the pa-db website you know if you are getting the right information.

Well, thanks to this thread giving me the epiphany to ramp up my number of t1 factories (instead of just assisting a few factories with fabbers), I feel confident in saying my play has gone up a level. I just had a most surprising win over the AI by doing the following:

commander:

1. mex
2. energy
3. mex
4. bot factory -> infinite fabbers
5. energy -> until I get to t2

fabbers:

1. mex
2. assist comm
3. assist comm
4. air factory -> infinite fighters on whole planet patrol (for scouting & harass opponent air)
5. mex
6. bot & vehicle factories -> infinite units
7. bot & vehicle factories -> infinite units

from there i kept expanding to more mex points and plopping down 3 aa's and 2 laser turrets around each mex clump, as well as a couple factories. the comm assisted by 2 fabbers kept me in the green on energy for about as fast as I could build factories and set them to infinite unit production. I got to t2 bots but hardly got to use them.

The sheer number of units made all the difference. I was able to actually strategize and plot an intelligent attack, flanking the AI's base and probing for weaknesses. The attacks he made on my base were easily absorbed by my units without me having to micro too much. I did lose a few factories, but all in all it was full-steam-ahead the whole way, and on my first real push to his base (which I was already geared up for a 2nd push, and my 3rd wave w/ t2 bots was nearly complete...) I rolled over him. All of a sudden there was the AI comm, half dead already. I selected all my air and ground units and focused on the comm for the death blow. It was all almost too easy.

I didn't even get to use my flanking units or hit his base hard from the other angles. I looked at the clock and the game had taken 12 minutes.

I know, this is probably all old-hat to you veterans... but for me, making gobs of factories on infinite build (being supported by the comm on infinite energy build) made all the difference. I feel like I have as least a loose grasp on the mechanics of the game now, and can start focusing on what the game is really about - strategy and outsmarting your opponent! I might even try a flesh and blood match this weekend.