General Q&A

[giantcorn]

I don't consider myself an expert but since a complaint was made in another website that rookies don't have alot of resources to get better, i'll offer my "expertise". Anyone else out there please feel free to give your opinions as well.

The topic should be limited to T1 and how to get a good start. Here is generally how i build in T1 (non-rush).

1. immediately queue 4 workers (unless TF of course). 3 workers build 3 houses. new workers go directly to carbon.

2. scout searches in circles around the base. as soon as food is found (nerfs, berries), take workers off carbon and put on food.

3. if there are more than 6 nerfs, build a nursery. all workers stay on carbon.

4. all new workers on food until i get 50 food before a new worker is complete (so worker production is continuous). usually around 9-10.

5. next 4-5 on carbon. build a carbon center when you have 100 carbon.

6. grab a few workers off berries and build a food center. if there is hunting, near animals. if fish, same. if not, on far side of my CC from enemy.

7. start farming. unless i have 15-20 nerfs i will farm. on nerf map, 3-4 farms is enough. on non-nerf map, 8-10.

8. keep workers coming. alternate carbon and farms. around 20-22 workers you should have 6 farms, 5-6 on hunting, and 10 or so on carbon.

9. one on nova. build nova pit.

10. make a few more farms. add another 1-2 on nova.

11. at 27-30 workers, go T2. you willl have anywhere between 600-900 food.

>i never go T2 unless i have at least 25 workers. even if you have 500 food, you will be slow to T3 or have no resources when you hit T2. if you are doing a fast T3, speed to T2 is not important. most important is that you spend almost no time in T2 (5-6 workers put up 2 buildings and then you click T3).

>you don't need to power core your CC. i see this sometimes by rookies. save the 200 carbon.

>do not build a troop center right away. another common mistake. a troop center should not be one of your 1st buildings, and you should not be making recruits. a powerless troop center in T1 is a waste of carbon. concentrate everything on econ. has 3-4 troop recruits ever saved you? i don't think so.

>do not wall in your entire town. strategic walling is fine. building the 2nd Great Wall means you are a Noob and will get crushed.

>scout, scout, scout. sending your scout to hang out at a friends CC is dumb. keep him moving all the time. look for your 2nd nova and ore pits, holocrons, enemies, etc.

>if there are lots of nerfs, don't eat them. it's tempting, but 12-16 nerfs in nurseries will produce 100 times more food in a long game if you curb your hunger early.

everybody has their own way of starting. this is mine. feel free to ask any general questions as to why i do this or that. anyone else can chime in with answers or constructive criticism. this thread is TO HELP ROOKIES, so no question is too stupid.

[AU_Andy_Ewok]

This should help a lot of people alot Giantcorn. Well done :)

[DarthMaulUK]

Hey corn - thanks.


I will gag you when you least expect it ok?! ;-p

DMUK
*joke between me and him incase anyone is worried*

[Kryllith]

This for against the computer or for other players? If you're going against just the computer I might suggest going ahead and building walls. The computer is rather anal about having a deep-seated need to tear down walls so it's rather easy to thrash them by using walls to absorb their attention. There's no need to spread the wall all over the map, of course, but it can be handy for your own base. Of course, it also depends on the civ you're playing, the civs you're playing against, the number of opponents, and the difficulty of them.

Of course, if you're going against human players then yeah, I can see not wanting to build too many. They're more likely to circumvent them with ships or fly over them in air transports anyway.

Kryllith

[jcb231]

I agree with most of what you said, but I always like to build a troop center reasonably early, so as to have SOMETHING with which to defend myself against an early rush. And yes, I have saved myself with less than a dozen troops. Nothing is more embarassing than having an opponent send three or four troops your way shortly after the start and you have nothing to swat them down with.

I also say that walls have their uses.....I have used "great walls of china" provided I have surplus resources. I mean, why not? They do slow down ground forces considerably , especially if you build several in a row. Building a three-four wall deep barrier with anti air turrets and laser turrets right behind it (especially if the only appraoch to your base by ground is a narrow corridor), and a shield generator or two covering the whole setup, can do some serious damage and seriously stall anything coming at you until you retaliate.

[Crazy_dog no.3]

I sart to develop my base first, then concentrate on defence, then raise an armed force of 120 units and attack.

[jgflg]

Not another 3 houser Corn. Oh well, everyone has there faults. Nice guide though, good basic stuff.

It is for multiplayer, although besides the walling part, you can use the rest for playing the computer as well as it is good econ management that he's preaching.

And he's not talking about never building a troop center, but building one right away as your first or second building, which often happens with rookies. Of course you'll eventually want at least one troop center up with power core.

Another thing I would add, as a general rule of thumb, is leave farm space around your CC. Never build houses, nurseries, troop centers, etc., within at least a one farm range.


Mithras

[jgflg]

Oh, also, one more thing is to learn the hotkeys. I can't overstate how important this is to do. It may seem like a pain at the start, but it makes life a lot easier in the long run. I know a few good players that never learned more than a few, but they're rare.

[AU_Andy_Ewok]

1 - Power cores are not needed for fortresses

2 - Power cores aren't need for Command Centres.

3 - Don't build all your houses in a nice preety square. They can be used as walls and early warning points. They aren't usefull in a big square behind your base.

4 - Build more than one military building. For example if you want a mech army build like 4 + mech Factories.

Would anyone like a guide to booming and expanding your economy?

[giantcorn]

yes, i am a 3 house builder, but mainly because it kills some time while my scout looks for food and the lag clears up. 2 house building is fine too.

for Kryllith, i am strongly against major walling in T1. if it is rivers and there is a single point to wall, that is fine. i will even wall easy access to my carbon if necessary, but in general a few houses should do the trick. walling in T1 can be counter-productive as it eats up carbon and takes time away from collecting food and carbon.

i also think good scouting is the best defense. if you see your opponent is making troop centers, get one up yourself. if you see a nursery, make a few troops immediately to stop the mounty rush. if you see two troop centers, you will get trooper rushed, so build another yourself, get to T2, upgrade to trooper and get range, and then pump out troopers.

for jcb, this is against human opponents, namely inters or higher. walling 3-4 deep and making turrets galore is a complete waste of time. all it takes are pummells and cannons to take them down. the resources are much better spent making attacking units. sitting and defending is the biggest favor you can do an opponent. while you bottle yourself in, he can boom and simply pound you into submission.

the biggest mistake most rookies make is thinking that they can beat a human opponent the same way you beat the computer. as soon as you start to wall yourself in you have lost. the attacking player will always win the game as he will continue to find resources on the open map while you are confined to a small space.

[stormtroop]

i straight away build a farm then send 10 workers carbon 5 nova 5 ore.i then later on put nova fatorys near the resorces biut i build a troop center some prefab shelters e.t.c then i concintrate on my army and attack

[Kryllith]

Originally posted by giantcorn

for Kryllith, i am strongly against major walling in T1. if it is rivers and there is a single point to wall, that is fine. i will even wall easy access to my carbon if necessary, but in general a few houses should do the trick. walling in T1 can be counter-productive as it eats up carbon and takes time away from collecting food and carbon.

i also think good scouting is the best defense. if you see your opponent is making troop centers, get one up yourself. if you see a nursery, make a few troops immediately to stop the mounty rush. if you see two troop centers, you will get trooper rushed, so build another yourself, get to T2, upgrade to trooper and get range, and then pump out troopers.

the biggest mistake most rookies make is thinking that they can beat a human opponent the same way you beat the computer. as soon as you start to wall yourself in you have lost. the attacking player will always win the game as he will continue to find resources on the open map while you are confined to a small space.
Sorry for the confusion, but truth be known I've never walled in T1. I don't want to waste resources which I could better use to build buildings, troops, whatever (even if it's only 2 carbon per wall). I do wall during T2 though, since the walls are a lot stronger and can generally be fully upgraded to shield walls. Of course, I use the environments to aid my wall as much as possible (until the resources are used up or levels by artillery or something.)

I also agree that scouting is good, both in terms of scouting and in being an annoyance. Though I'm just as liable to send my scout elsewhere to view more of the map after I get a glance at what my opponents are doing.

I agree that it's silly to play human opponents the way you would a computer opponent. Walling the initial base still has it's uses though. Course, I'm not one to sit around in my base once the walls have been built. I like the protection it affords my primary base, but by no means am I going to let it interfere with my expansion.

Kryllith

[stormtroop]

me myself when i play online games i send about 5 scouts out at a time to exsplore land quick so the enmey cant send a big army later on in the game to crush your scouts.wicked