Forged Alliance Forever

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-11T16:56:00+02:00

Ookey, I will avoid that in the future.

Statistics: Posted by Lieutenant Lich — 11 Aug 2017, 16:56

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-11T13:12:48+02:00

Damn thats some oddly specific advise.

Statistics: Posted by EcoNoob — 11 Aug 2017, 13:12

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-11T12:51:13+02:00

Lich King wrote:
1) put your first factory on attack move to a nearby cluster of trees/rocks that is ALSO closer to your enemy. Here's the picture to illustrate: http://imgur.com/a/IoCYV .

It would be better if you wouldn't recommend stuff like this.

New (bad) players have enough stuff they have to focus on which are way more important than this: When to scout, when to raid, when to build what unit, when to eco, when to tech, how to tech, how to be aggressive, how to defend versus aggressive attacks, etc etc

Focussing on this stuff is 100x more important.

Statistics: Posted by Farmsletje — 11 Aug 2017, 12:51

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-11T12:29:32+02:00

I'm in the same position Ploplo, up to 30~ games now but know I'm making so many mistakes

Statistics: Posted by Cataclysm — 11 Aug 2017, 12:29

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-07T15:53:10+02:00

Watched your replay and in the very beginning, there are 2 things to note in your build order (which is fine, just needs these two tweaks):

1) put your first factory on attack move to a nearby cluster of trees/rocks that is ALSO closer to your enemy. Here's the picture to illustrate: http://imgur.com/a/IoCYV .

Spoiler: show

2) Switch the order in your first factory. Put the unit first, then the scout: scout + lab --> lab + scout, scout + tank --> tank + scout. Scouts are the fastest units in the game so let them catch up to the tank/lab that needs intel - that way you save time and will reach the intended target a couple seconds earlier since your scout doesn't stand idle while the tank is being built.

3) Keep your first factory making engies. After it completes its initial build with lab scout and tank scout for raids, put engineer on repeat or sequence up 30-50 engies there. That way you will not be short of build power.
3a) You were a little slow to rebuild your mexes but I think that if you do the thing above you should be fine
3b) more reclaim - just pick out idle engies, tell them to move next to a clump of rocks/trees and set them on attack move.

4) Good that you drew conclusions yourself, self-criticism here is good since it will let you improve. And all that you concluded was correct.

5) Make an energy storage so you can overcharge with your ACU. An unupgraded ACU without OC is 20 tanks, with OC it's more since it can OC clusters of units, killing many with a single shot (no reclaim will remain though due to OC's area of effect)

6) Make radars. They will allow you to detect incoming raids. UEF will be outrun by Cybrans so you have 2 options: spam bombers in hopes of killing the incoming raid (doesn't really work because some AA in the mix or inties will kill the bombers and you've wasted mass) or making a radar and send tanks to where the raid is going. It would also allow you to detect cloaked Cybran scouts and labs/mantis that hide in the corners of the map.

Overall, not a bad game. Pick out 3 things to improve next time and do them next game. Then repeat the process: analyze, pick 3 things to improve upon next game and do them.

Statistics: Posted by Lieutenant Lich — 07 Aug 2017, 15:53

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-08-02T00:19:04+02:00

Well, i did some more games now, and i actually won two! Yayyy....

First one being a bore cause i had to break him turtling his base with ravagers and shields (GC eventually worked... yet probably was kind of one of the worst idea ever xD)

Second just now, despite having not secured my expansions at all and losing 1/3 of my map to 4 mantis and some extra mass points to 2 or 3 labs.... but i built more factorys and rushed his ACU with mine so it still worked out in the end.

I still felt like a complete idiot in those games, but it does not help to compare to the usual youtube videos and replays i see ^^

Things i need to improve very importantly imo:
-Thinking what i'm doing with expansions more than just sending one engi to build mexes: adding some tanks to defend, building factory or pd (then radar etc...)
-Not leaving groups of units left behind when they could push somewhere
-Scale production earlier, otherwise i end up with too much mass and i panic upgrade a mex, but can't for too long cause i generally don't have the power for it
-In that last game, i built 3rd air, he did not have air, but i did not react to switch to more bombers early enough.
-I always seem to lack engies, be it at base or to reclaim, even though i'm mixing some in my armies. I guess i should queue some in one of my factory at base when i need them there?
-I'm sending some air scouts sometimes... but i should actually look at what i'm scouting and use the intel

tatsu wrote:
and this youtuber :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJYYaF ... vgJAqrhC2A

I've already watched like... all his tutorials, half the replay reviews, and a lot of POVs.... it's my go-to watch when i'm bored on transports =)

I'll link the replay of that last game since it's quite short, if someone has the courage to watch my (shameful) gameplay ^^

Statistics: Posted by Ploplo — 02 Aug 2017, 00:19

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T19:16:13+02:00

Voodoo wrote:
I mean if your opponent has less tanks than you, it means he is noobish or he is doing something else e.g. preparing a snipe.

This is probably the most important moment when you need to scout: when you're winning.
Once you have an advantage and feel in control of the battle, thats when you should pause and take a look at what your opponent is doing.
You need to make sure you can push the advantage and can avoid all snipes.

Knowing what can kill you is a lot more important when you're winning than when you're losing.
Since its quite hard to get out of a losing situation anyway.

Statistics: Posted by KeyBlue — 27 Jul 2017, 19:16

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T18:40:18+02:00

I think you'll like these two threads :
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12913
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14860

and this youtuber :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJYYaF ... vgJAqrhC2A

Statistics: Posted by tatsu — 27 Jul 2017, 18:40

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T16:53:55+02:00

I would try something different if I were you. E.g. you spawn on a 5x5 map. You have Cybran and your opponent Aeon. So I would try a t1 land rush. That means all you need is a good build. Build around 7 factories and try to just rush your opponent. You can also try to build only 3 land factories and the 3. one rushes on t2 land but that is a little bit difficult.

All are writting, you have to scout all the time. This isn't wrong but it's a pain. You forget it or you don't have the time and so on. I normally don't care. It is enough if you are scouting for a t2 air in minute 7 and 12. I mean if your opponent has less tanks than you, it means he is noobish or he is doing something else e.g. preparing a snipe.

So I want to say it's more important in my eyes to focus on your own strategy. The best on 10x10 water maps is a fast t2 navy. So I would just build this one as fast as possible. I don't care what my opponent is doing in this time. I mean you have enough to do with your own base.

What to do on 10x10 land maps? Just go for t3 land. It is indeed possible that your opponent could rush you but that isn't happening a lot.

As a side note, I can't count how often my ACU walked alone in an army or get sniped as I forgot to scout. ^^

Statistics: Posted by Voodoo — 27 Jul 2017, 16:53

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T16:38:16+02:00

As for remarks i can already do on my gameplay, and possible (vast) improvements:

-I have a good enough idea of generic build orders which allowed me to make the beginning work somewhat, but less so on the map specifif things. Like the big rocks on Eye of the Storm i only got on second game. Still i have to see more on this

-Scouting: I mix some scouts in land armies, i sometimes built radar and othertimes completely forgot. I also built air scouts... that stayed at my base most of the time cause i forgot them I definitely felt the lack of intel at points

-I don't know how to handle inties ,how to use them and how to micro them

-I felt somewhat in control in break, and in general in testing in 5x5 maps. But i tend to be easily lost in 10x10 and more, as there is too much to manage at once and i need to get used to how to play those.

Statistics: Posted by Ploplo — 27 Jul 2017, 16:38

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T14:19:56+02:00

So i finally did my first ladder games.... it was not pretty

First one against someone with around 1300, so i had pretty much no chance
Also i started 30 seconds late because of not knowing how i'd be notified when it found a game, and i wasn't really focused ^^

It was on Eye of the Storm, i still tried and did what i could, but i was quickly overwhelmed on navy and then too much spam to handle.

Second and third games were against the same player (around 950 rating).

Second on Eye of the Storm again. I managed to get a bit more map control and expansions, but i completely let him the center, lost air pretty fast, and then got my acu overwhelmed.

Third on Break, i felt much more at ease with the smaller map, had good enough map control at first, but then i was behind on eco, and was overwhelmed at t2 stage with my acu a little too isolated and killed.

Well the games were still interesting, and i already identified a TON of things to improve. I'll probably watch the replay of that last game too to see the difference between him and me.

Mephi wrote:
2. Hotkeys! Yes i know, its a hard business until you learn them, but it really improves your gameplay by a great margin, because you can use your spare time on other things, like scouting or judging your situation.

I had started to set them up at least for the early game, but i completely forgot to use them
I'll have to take that habit and it's gonna be better indeed =)

Mephi wrote:
3. Play as much as possible zoomed out. Most of the time it is enough to see the icons, even if the graphics are still pretty . Zoomed out, you can easier macro and spot enemy unit movements like attacks, snipes or drops.

Right now i'm using the mini-map too but it generally is a bit too small for me to react fast to what i see. Otherwise i try to stay far away enough that i can see things, and i'm not zoomed in too much i think.

Thank you everyone for the tips so far! =)

Statistics: Posted by Ploplo — 27 Jul 2017, 14:19

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T09:51:06+02:00

Welcome (back) to FAF

3 little tips from my side:

1. as gumpy wrote already watching replays is very important, especially if you lost a game. If you want to watch replays from better players to improve, i would advise you to watch replays from players with around 200-400 rating more than you(min rating i advise ~1200), because even higher ranges can be a bit overwhelming. Even though it might be the case, that you learn things, which you have to un-learn again when you become better.

2. Hotkeys! Yes i know, its a hard business until you learn them, but it really improves your gameplay by a great margin, because you can use your spare time on other things, like scouting or judging your situation.

3. Play as much as possible zoomed out. Most of the time it is enough to see the icons, even if the graphics are still pretty . Zoomed out, you can easier macro and spot enemy unit movements like attacks, snipes or drops.

Statistics: Posted by Mephi — 27 Jul 2017, 09:51

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-27T01:19:46+02:00

Hey OP

it took me a good 30 games from AI play to get to a unretarded level of play vs other players. And then 100 games to get to an acceptable level of play in 1kish games.

For me the best thing you can do is to watch replays especially when you're playing folk better than you and see what they do differently. I didn't find watching pros helpful as the game play between a noob and a pro is massive. Their apm, map awareness and build orders are at a different level.

Also don't get disheartened by salty players, they're everywhere but don't let it get to you.

Statistics: Posted by gumpy — 27 Jul 2017, 01:19

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-26T11:29:07+02:00

biass wrote:
Hey, im a trainer, welcome to multiplayer but be aware you might need to "unlearn" things you used against ai

I recommend at first just trying to keep at least half of the map (with units) under your control and learning to scout/make radars, go from there

Well i havn't played against ai all that much, because it's not really interesting and indeed i know it's not the same.

I'll remember those, scouting is something i do see pop up all the time, and i know i'll have to get used to it. And i'll probably come see a trainer at some point, but only after having played (probably lost) some games to have an idea of what i have to improve.

Tried playing yesterday but it was very late so i did not find an automatch game, i'll try again today at a more reasonable time =p

Statistics: Posted by Ploplo — 26 Jul 2017, 11:29

Re: Noob (again) to FAF and first games

2017-07-26T07:57:22+02:00

Hey, im a trainer, welcome to multiplayer but be aware you might need to "unlearn" things you used against ai

I recommend at first just trying to keep at least half of the map (with units) under your control and learning to scout/make radars, go from there

Statistics: Posted by biass — 26 Jul 2017, 07:57