If I understand the situation correct there are plenty of new players that came with the beta launch that might be struggling to learn the game, as compared to how most of the alpha crowd have had some time learning, and in several cases experience from TA and SUPCOM as well. In an attempt to bridge this gap, I started writing something that could be posted here on the forums and where ever PA is being discussed. Before I put too much effort in I just wanted to see if anyone else is doing the same thing. If so, I'm sure I'm missing stuff and would be glad for all the input I could get. My though is to write something that will explain the basic functions of the game, particularly the economy, and not dig too heavy into the technicalities of different strategies as we are in beta and a lot of stuff are subject to change. So, if you would like to cooperate doing something that hopefully will raise the bar for the whole community a bit, feel free to post here or drop me a pm and we could try to coordinate our efforts. Also, any ideas on what should and shouldn't be covered in a tutorial at this stage are welcome, as is all criticisms. // a fellow gamer
Personally I think you are creating a rod for your own back here....what with all the updates and changes...Wait until the game is complete.... The game is really not that hard to pick up.
That is why i don't intend to get in to specific tactical depth, so far I'm just going for a basic description of how the economy works. Stuff that most of us who played TA and SUPCOM recognise at a glance but might be confusing to a new player. But all ideas welcome, if you think i should add something or leave something out just say so. I'll finish my draft in a bit and post it here later today.
if its of good quality it should be linked in the game's main menu. Most people dont know how to play this game at all xD they just build 3 metal spots and sit in their base, and are crushed if you attack them with more than 10 tanks. they wont have fun with the multiplayer part^^
It's probably a good idea, I'd assume most alpha players also played TA as well. Anyone new to RTS's is going to get rofl stomped, even by the AI.
Here comes the first draft, remember all feedback is appreciated. E + M = KABOOM Before we get to smashing planets into each other, we're going to have to learn how to deal with the economy in this game, because the planetary jet thrusters are very costly. Also the economy of PA is what sets it apart from the rest of the RTS you might have encountered (with the obvious exceptions of it's predecessors, Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander). At the top of your screen are two sets of numbers and bars, one for each resource in the game. The numbers indicate the income and spending of the corresponding resource. It could read that you have an income +100 of something at the same time you are spending -300 leaving you with a sum of -200 hitting your storage. And that's the final item on the top of your screen, the bars represent how much storage you have of each of the resources. With a large storage and a short burst of spending maybe -200 isn't that bad, but with an empty storage it's going to have effects on what you are trying to do. I'm going to start with ENERGY. Think of it as the electricity in your computer, without it nothing would be operating. In a similar way most of the things you use in game, for example the radar, are dependent on energy. But to build a new computer you need parts and the parts need raw material, like minerals and plastic. This is represented in the game as MASS (often referred to as metal). Things in the game run fine without it, but you can't build anything new. And seeing how the most common way to win this game is to produce more tanks, robots and guns than your opponent, you are going to need all the M you can get your hands on. More M means more factories, more rockets and more things that go boom. Another good point, if I might get slightly ahead of things, is to deny your opponent their resources. Maybe we will cover offensive play at another time. ENERGY is fairly simple to acquire. You go the build menu of your commander or your fabrication unit, locate the building named ENERGY PLANT and build it. You can build it anywhere you can put a building on any planet and they start producing E as soon as they are done. MASS comes from the little patches scattered about the map. (If you have default key bindings ctrl+n is a great visual aid to locate them). To get the M from the patches you have to build MASS EXTRACTORS (i'll just call them MEX) on the little patches. Same as with E, as soon as the building is up you get a steady income of M. So kind of the same but a bit more specific. The way resources are structured in this game has the effect of forcing you out in the field to get more M. One of the most common mistakes I see beginners make is to build 4 – 6 mex and then start building little square bases. Complete with walls, defense towers and everything in neat little order. It might look pretty and feel great, but the downside of this is that leaves your opponent with the rest of the planet and the all the M scattered about it. In other words, they get all the M and can build all the things that go pew pew and kaboom while you get a tight little square. So, recap time. The economy in game is fluid, you have to balance income with spending and there is storage to help you create buffers. With set income at set times the natural consequence is you can't build everything at once. There are a few ways to deal with this. The most basic one would be to focus on and make choices about what you want built and when. Maybe if you build some more MEX first, your income will grow and you can build all those factories later? Or maybe you really need a few more energy plants and have to halt the production of your factories? Stalling in MASS means slower build times How bad this is depends on the situation. If you have +100M income, no storage and spend -120 you will notice slightly slower build times. At +50 -500, nothing gets done and you are going to have to make some choices on what to build first. Stalling on ENERGY is far worse. Suddenly you have no radar and factories won't build, no matter how much M you have. No E in storage and big negative numbers will effectively cause you not to be able to use the M you are gathering so make sure that you at all times have a decent +E income and plenty of storage to deal with fluctuations in your economy. As the game works in it's current build, an ENERGY STORAGE isn't very expensive, gives a huge storage and is very helpful. On the other hand, if you are pondering building METAL STORAGE, you should just build another factory or more energy plants or something useful. M has to be put to use to get you to victory. To try and sum things up we could say that shortage of MASS has long term consequences, whereas shortage of ENERGY has more acute, short term consequences. Since everything costs resources you have to make choices. You can't build everything at once, work on your priorities.
Here's a second episode of my attempted tutorial to basic PA. An attempt at a deeper look at tactics. As always i appreciate all feedback, all opinions and voices welcome. Disclaimer One: Before I start talking about play styles and what to prefer, I want to make sure that everyone understands that this preference is from a specific perspective, namely that which wins you games. If you have other ways to play this game that you enjoy, this is in no way intended to say that your play style is bad and mine is good or some rubbish like that. All I am trying to do here is try to help investigate what makes an effective competitive way of playing the game that would win games and competitions, not what is more or less “right” or “wrong” in any strange moral ways or whatever it is folks like to argue about. As far as I am concerned, if you are having fun, you're doing it right. Disclaimer Two: All build orders and unit preferences are subject to change. As PA is in beta, still being developed and balanced, units will be added and changed many times more before the final version of the game comes out. Even then the good folks of Uber Entertainment will probably not be strangers to patching and balancing the game further. Therefore, this guide is written with as few detailed advice as possible but I will put some beta specific stuff in there, with any luck they might be relevant for a week or two. Please look at pa-db.com and pamatches.com for more up to date technical info and a look at how others play the game. If you enjoy evaluating numbers, there is a nice PA stats mod to download and install. Offense is the best defense. I know the great variety of defensive towers and structures makes the thought of building fortress-like bases impenetrable to anything that could possibly come crawing out of your enemies factories very tempting. The only problem is that in a game like this, where planets come crashing out of the skies, the idea of impenetrable fortresses is obsolete. What always stays relevant, no matter what strategies may be trending or what build or version the game might be in, is to see and understand what your opponent does. If you know what they are doing, it won't surprise you and it allows you to act on it in the most effective way. To your opponent it will seems as though you are a step ahead of them, no matter what they do. If someone is spamming t1 factories or rushing t2, going air, kbot or vehicles, that is absolutely crucial information. If you see something coming and know what it is, it won't surprise you. In a game like this with a thousand things to do at once, minimizing stress is very valuable. And just like a boxer who sees a hook coming but dodges it and counters with an uppercut, you can use all the information from scouting to spot your opponents weaknesses and hit them where it really hurts. Your little pack of 15 units might get smashed to bits by a single laser tower behind a few pesky walls but they might also wreck your opponents expansion or a whole field of PGens (thus crippling their eco) if you know where to send them. So how do you scout? Seeing how kbots are faster than vehicles and have lower metal cost they are a common choice for first factory. The fabrication units walk faster and thus help you expand faster, and the offensive units can double as scout units but still pack enough punch do some damage. A common choice for second factory is air, where the anti air planes serve as great scouts and are very useful mobile anti air. After that you could choose kbot or vehicle factories depending on what style of fighting you intend on doing. Vehicles are slower but sturdier, kbots faster but need to move to dodge bullets. However, there is no rule against building defensive towers. If there is was rule it might be something like, try not to build a tower unless you know it's going to kill something. A laser tower near your first factory might give some sense of comfort but would do a lot more use closer to your opponent killing their units. In other words, put the metal to good use, a tower you built that never fired a shot should be seen as wasted metal, get reclaimed and put into attacking units or towers withing range of enemy units. Abbreviations used in this text: MEX - Metal Extractor PGen – Power Generator eco - economy TL;DR ? Your commander should do this if it has 4x metal near spawn. MEX → PGen → 3x MEX → kbot factory only building fabrication units → 4xPGen → Energy Storage → air factory. At this point you should have a fabber supporting your commander building PGens. Numerous fabrication bots, in pairs, should be building MEX all over the map. Eco should now allow for 4 – 5 new factories of choice. Expand like hell. Don't stall on E. Don't waste metal.
Some things that need changing: 1. Whats a kbot? 2. Fabricator bots have the same max speed as fabricator vehicles currently (will likely change at some point). They in fact have exactly the same stats except for decrease in cost, and higher health (will definitely change). 3. The opening BO now is generally looking like 2x MEX → PGen → 2x MEX if you have no walking distance to the mexes at all. If you have a walking distance, you could potentially delay the PGen until after the 3rd MEX. What happens after you build the fabricator factory is personal preference. I tend to keep my commander building PGens only, and use fabricators to build the air factory. One of the changes im expecting eventually when balance is going on fully, is that the fabricator factory will be built first. Generally pretty good though.
Kbot is the old TA word for robot. I seem to get lingo mixed up in TA SUPCOM and PA... Thanks for the help. I'm a bit busy ATM but hoping to get this done later today.
