FAF as a noob.

[ZaphodX]

GAZ_UI is really useful, it gives you a reclaim window (how much you have reclaimed) and allows you to share templates between all factions instead of having to make templates for every faction separately. I don't really think anything else is essential. Also maybe try checking out Zulan's hotbuild and the mass fab manager mod.

[Eukanuba]

OP's attitude is excellent and he will do very well.

The one specific thing that nobody has mentioned is watching your own replays. If you can't understand why you lost then watching the game from the other player's point of view is invaluable.

Of course if you do know why you lost then the only thing you can do is insult yourself and try not to do it again.

As for UI mods, GAZ_UI and Supreme Economy are very commonly used. As is Zulan's Hotbuild but I don't use that so I couldn't give any advice there. I have also found the Advanced Strategic Icons mod incredibly useful - it makes the icons big and ugly, but never again will you miss important buildings or underestimate the power of the incoming radar blips.

Supreme Economy: https://sites.google.com/site/supecono/
Big Ugly Awesome Icons: http://faforever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=2740&sid=9b43af7db50eef84f88063a8d9291f11

Not sure the correct versions of the other mods, but here is a good place to start, also the GPG forums may be of help.

[Cuddles]

Thanks, the only reason I sent the flak to battle ground units was because I couldn't see the icons properly in the heat of the moment.

It is listed in the "Help! I'm new!" thread.

GAZ_UI: http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?p=414706 - widely considered the best UI mod, it adds lots of subtle (and not so subtle!) tweaks to improve the UI's performance and usability. It's a UI mod, so it won't desync the game while playing online.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=537

I don't want to go into this too deep but the OP started with:

Stuff you should have

Then immediately said:

These are things that most of us already have and swear by:

And then that vague description and more links to go into and and and.... Let me explain this in another way before I make uberge3k sound bad.

Purely as new guy who also took the time to glance at the forums and what the community is about:

The overall community wants balanced games and a great investment has been made in both balancing the units/structures in game and it also shows in the hosted matched where players want's to play with people on the same skill. It's is a part of FAF, you could almost say it is what defines it.

Something that works against that is the UI mods. Has it been determined if it gives a clear advantage? If yes, then it is not just something that "...things that most of us already have and swear by...". It is a must have and should be part of the standard package. If it still up in the air, is it excluded from competitions? I don't want to train in one way and then have to compete in another.

I hope I'm clear in my explanations. Sorry to the mods, this now a completely newbie thread instead of just a simple introduction, you can move it.

[Eukanuba]

Your points are valid to an extent, however SupCom was designed from the ground up to be heavily moddable, and it is accepted that any UI mod (with a few very rare exceptions) is fine for use in all situations.

Note that it is not essential to use mods to be competitive, watch Zock's livestreams and you'll see he doesn't use any and still manages to be one of the best players.

Some UI mods have been integrated into FAF as a whole, for example the mod that shows the players' ratings in the score panel, and also Hotstats.

All a UI mod can really do is give you better visibility of information that is already there, and therefore give you more time to play the game and less time wrestling with the UI like certain other inexplicably popular "RTS" games.

The one mod I could not do without is Supreme Economy (specifically the Mex Manager portion of it, which is also available separately). This lists all the mexes and their tech levels in a sidebar, and makes it much easier not to lose your mexes, and much easier to remember to keep upgrading. Without the mod, a lot of people select all their mexes, upgrade all at once then immediately pause them, and send a detachment of engineers round to assist one after the other.

TL:DR; using UI mods is entirely permitted albeit not essential to play the game well, but they can help you increase your enjoyment and effective skill level.

[Softly]

watch Zock's livestreams and you'll see he doesn't use any and still manages to be one of the best players.

lol?

UI mods can give an advantage. Its up to the individual whether or not that is the case. I still think the strategy side of the game is still more important in determining the victor than any UI mod.

[Cuddles]

Cool UI mods is a must try at least then and it's up to me to find one that works for I guess, I will certainly start with those posted.

As a side issue, am I the only one that wonders how they screwed SC2 up? I never new about Supreme Commander or anything about the series before I played SC2. My first thoughts after watching the FAF casts was how did they screw up a good game like this and turn it into SC2. I still play SC2, but only because it's the only fun RTS on a console.

[ColonelSheppard]

UI mods is defenitly not a must have
some like it, maybe it's really better, but i wont have a significant impact on your level of playing (at least i think this)
i'm not finished with figuring out things yet, (5 years) but some got the game quite fast i.e. blackheart (at least i think he did join only ~1/2 or 1 year ago)

[Cuddles]

I think my biggest problem is that I will probably play this as I do SC2 out of habit. I'm used too only being able to assist with three engineers and experimental units gets built in a factory. Also - Cybren owns everything

FA has epic battles on PC. SC2 on XBOX lags like a boss in large battles and that's the way it is. I prefer to think it's Cybren might, their technology decimates the XBOX (*suspected of being engineered at a UEF research facility ), The XBOX just can't render the pure awesomeness.

[Softly]

The Xbox was host to some epic Supreme Commander 1 battles.

[AyNaku]

it's nice to hear this, i'd like to ask you, if you maybe can tell me, whats the most difficult thing for you on FA/FAF or what you think is for other newbies
(i'm the guy with the video tutorials)

For me as a newbie, the most difficult thing is the TASK SATURATION. It's a full-time job just to manage my eco and expand. But then I also need to pay attention to the raiding units that I sent out instead of just sending them out and forgetting about them, and I also have to do something about enemy raids/attacks coming in on me at a time and location where I wasn't ready to meet them...whoops I should have a radar up by now and I don't, plus he killed my scouts...and there is my ACU just sitting there where I sent him to where I thought the battlefront would be, I need to give him some other orders...oops, I have two engineers and one factory not doing anything either, I need to give them orders...oh great, now my opponent is using Bombers and I don't have any anti-air, I need to requeue my factory orders...darn -- while my attention was diverted doing that, I forgot to set up a PGen spam and now my power is stalling...darn it again - all my units are deploying from the factories at a useless location on the map far from where I need them NOW; I have to keep grabbing them and giving them move orders, as if I didn't have enough things to do....now why is that reclaim in the middle still available - I thought I queued an engie to get that, he must have killed the engie first, and what happened to those Mexs I built?...oops - I should have built a Power Storage - or get that reclaim and upgrade a Mex, or...etc., etc....