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The Early game (1v1)

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12 years ago
I am not sure if these go into this forum or general but w/e

I just added a new entry to my blog, should be especially appealing to people having trouble with the early 1v1 game. allot of it probably applies to team games as well. I am going to polish it some more over this week but at least it looks decent enough to publish now :P
http://emblis.blog.com/2012/02/22/how-to-survive-the-early-game/
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12 years ago
I approve.
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12 years ago
Your four priorities are spot on. You can also think of 2-4 as:
  • Acquire resource (Economy)
  • Stop your opponent from acquiring resource (Aggression)
  • Stop your opponent from stopping you from acquiring resource (Defense)

Those three different play-styles make up the crux of the strategic game, and share an RPS relationship between the three of them: defense > aggression > economy > defense.

The first priority you listed, Intel, has an interesting unique relationship with the others. Instead of directly taking part in the RPS of the other three, it serves to help you decide which of side the triangle to focus your play-style on. I.E., see a porc fortress and counter with fast expansion. (Also from a lower-level more detailed perspective, you can use it to determine your unit composition to counter your opponents play)

What is also interesting about intel is that, while investments in eco, aggro, and defense are pretty distinct, intel is often the second purpose of raiding or attacking.

So I agree with you, as a general rule you want to start the game with an aggressive mentality, and then be flexable with your playstyle as you get intel.
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12 years ago
You might have downplayed defences a bit too much. I often see people lose early because they built no defences.

At the start (if you made a constructor) you should have 2 llt/mt placed such that all sides of you factory are protected. When expanding you can do so with varied levels of defences. Maybe an mt every 2 mexes or an llt for each mex.

Watching replays to judge energy could be misleading because econ module is very common. Make sure to check the comm loadout or look at the resource bar numbers. Also on energy you could give a basic heuristic; early on you want about even metal and energy income which usually translates to 1 solar or 2 winds per mex.
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