Diary of a Noob

[partymarty81]

Hi - This is for my own benefit to log my (hopeful) progress; however if anyone can offer any tips, I'll put at end of my ramblings a few points I'm thinking about to save all the waffle below.....

I stumbled across this game after a while, searching for something Command & Conqueresque (and Dune 2 before that!!) which consumed many an hour growing up. Needless to say after watching some action and buying the game am addicted; not so much with the game itself but the learning challenge which is clearly needed to play online to any sort of standard! Here's how I am getting on so far....

Week 1 - Mostly consisted of loading up the SP campaign, playing through to the end part of 1st mission and then getting a bit bored..... story modes have never been my thing. Since then started watching a lot of Youtube vids, starting with the Gyle Epic battles (so much to take in) and then stumbling across the learning vids by ZaphodX, Voodoo and Zock lessons (apologies if I got names wrong). Wow, so much to learn! Found my way to this site, which is a massive help to the learning cause. Jumped straight into a 1v1 ladder game, got matched against a 1200 rated opponent..... to be fair a 12 rated opponent would have done me - got finished off in no time. A wake up call; work to do! Instead decided to start playing 1v1 skirmish against CPU on easy (Finns Island map) to start practising what i can pick up from the videos and tutorials. Very hard in an action situation to stay calm and action a plan but then have only just started, still learning the basic mechanics and controls even so cannot expect much at this stage. Get to stage of instead of losing each time and making basic mistakes (not getting the mass points quick enough, when raided not replacing them and not getting enough units out there and pressing forward) - started winning by dominating air and bombers. Keep winning after that a few more but quickly realised it was by using same tactic and not learning other aspects of game so on to something new.

Week 2 - So after watching a lot more youtube..... decided that what i need to do is to start playing online with other noobs so played a game, 1v1v1 on a map i can only describe as dark, green with a shed load of small islands. Game creator said that it was no air so all navy - learned a new one here. Both other players used the Zui units early stages to halt my expansion (which was actually going ok) to hold me down, and then upgraded navy destroyers finished me off. No one likes losing but I guess improving is learning from mistakes. Played a game tonight on a custom map (Rush me if you can I think it was called?) - Anyway this was a 3v3 team game - decided to use the Zui's myself which actually worked a treat, beat down the guy's base and he then walked his commander into certain death, down to a 3v2 match up. After re-watching the replay (I got sniped by 5 strat bombers about 5 minutes later.....) I felt sick..... realisation that there was 6 mass extractors in easy each reach which I did not take; putting me and as such my time at a big disadvantage. Anyway the dissapointment aside; realise a couple of things. Need to know maps better to make sure I can take at least what I should take. Secondly, I have the ideas tactically of what I would like to do, my move worked and put the other team at a disadvantage. My lack of experience made silly errors (looking back) so must work more on basics.

Anyway - Points for me I am thinking about; 1) how to scout effectively using units and radar 2) mass extractor upgrading; heard on a video lesson and saw one player having mass extractor upgrades on pause, on the video i watched they glossed over it but from what I could gather there might me a way of automating this process? 3) need to learn unit differences of different races; the Zui invasions of 1st online game threw me and I AM ONLY ON TECH 1 RIGHT NOW

Thanks for any pointers, Gonna go put on some Youtube and try pick up some more info

party

[Mad`Mozart]

viewtopic.php?f=62&t=10081

Threw together some kind of a guide for 1v1 a while ago, it should give you some idea in what direction to improve

[JMorten]

Hi and welcome to the community!

Interesting diary, reminds of when i started to learn the game. Not that I'm done with learning it, I'm only average at best .

I have a tiny bit of advice. Lets say you start learning to play the guitar. What you do is, you practise alone and make progress. You think you are already doing good and then you want to jam with other musicians. It's at that point you realize that you are still focused on your own instrument and not being able to play your guitar subconciously and at the same time interacting with the other guys.

How is this problem solved? You have to learn playing guitar so well, that you can focus on other things that happen around you while playing, and not being forced to look where you have to put your finger next.

So, lets take this analogy to FAF. My recommendation is you pick one specific faction first. It can be the faction which appeals to you most relating to unit design, or which fits your playstyle most. UEF is often recommended for beginners, because their weapons are self-explanatory and are closest to what we have today as weaponry.
Seraphim are also recommended, because they have less units than the other factions.

The important thing is you pick one faction and settle with it for the start. Then you learn all about that faction. Make a sandbox game and build everything there is and compare build costs, hp, dps and other stats. Micro units around the map and have them ground fire to get a feeling for how to control them and in which angle and intervals they fire their weapons.

Some properties inherent in factions aren't so obvious, so I recommend you also watch the corresponding faction tutorial by BRNKoINSANITY, who is excellent at explaining stuff (here Seraphim):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksbZpcCP6TI

Ok now you got that down, you know your faction and which units are a good choice in what circumstances and what they are capable of doing.

Next thing i would recommend learning is economy (eco). There is plenty of information out there how to eco. Easiest way to learn this is to watch typical eco games like Gap of Rohan, Phantom or Thermo /Voodoo maps. Also air spot (the one in the back most of the time) on Setons / Twin river / Wonder is often interesting to watch for that.
Watch replays of these games, figure out who is top on mass income. Grap a pencil and a blank sheet, observe and write down the steps, how they accomplish this. Watch more replays, try it out in sandbox, get it working as a routine. Take in consideration that patches are applied every now and then so you might need to sort the steps new or in different order.

If you know your faction well and know how to eco, and get the routine to make it work subconciously while paying attention to other stuff, you can really start to play the game. You can now experience what the other musicians are doing and can interact with them by playing your instrument, without searching for notes or looking at the fretboard all the time.

You can then improve further by learning specific maps. Where is important reclaim, what are good strategies for that map? What is your start build order?
You can also concentrate on a specific game mode e.g. 1vs1, teamgames, land wars, phantom and so on. Each game mode offers new insights and leads to acquiring new skills. In teamgames you learn how to give resources and units to an ally and how to come up with a coherent team strategy (if it works well). In land wars you learn to play with experimentals, tml and Sacu's intensively and get to know those units better. In Phantom you can learn to predict well what the eco of an opponent looks like.

I wish you a good time in the FAF community and don't forget the most important rule of all: Have fun!!

Edit: Forum bot:

Your post looks too spamy for a new user, please remove off-site URLs.

Well, thank you

[biass]

So, lets take this analogy to FAF. My recommendation is you pick one specific faction first. It can be the faction which appeals to you most relating to unit design, or which fits your playstyle most. UEF is often recommended for beginners, because their weapons are self-explanatory and are closest to what we have today as weaponry.
Seraphim are also recommended, because they have less units than the other factions.

The important thing is you pick one faction and settle with it for the start. Then you learn all about that faction. Make a sandbox game and build everything there is and compare build costs, hp, dps and other stats. Micro units around the map and have them ground fire to get a feeling for how to control them and in which angle and intervals they fire their weapons.

Next thing i would recommend learning is economy (eco). There is plenty of information out there how to eco. Easiest way to learn this is to watch typical eco games like Gap of Rohan, Phantom or Thermo /Voodoo maps. Also air spot (the one in the back most of the time) on Setons / Twin river / Wonder is often interesting to watch for that.
Watch replays of these games, figure out who is top on mass income. Grap a pencil and a blank sheet, observe and write down the steps, how they accomplish this. Watch more replays, try it out in sandbox, get it working as a routine. Take in consideration that patches are applied every now and then so you might need to sort the steps new or in different order.

https://youtu.be/BLikP6BDH5w

i would also say uef because their t1 and early t2 land are bit a bit more carefree, but go with whatever you choose, you'll learn what happens through playing

but i dont think writing it down for eco is too good, because someone has probably written it down for you
that is, in our wiki, or on the forums

i also wouldnt recommend sticking yourself down into a hole of doing the same thing over and over, you'll get stuck
just have a bit of a think, if stalling mass, how to get more mass?
collect more mass (reclaim, build t1 mexes)
or use less (turn off factories, etc)

if you are of the reading variety: http://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?tit ... ing_SupCom

[JMorten]

but i dont think writing it down for eco is too good, because someone has probably written it down for you
that is, in our wiki, or on the forums

It certainly won't work for everyone, but it worked for me. Now I have a nice "progress sheet" lying next to me when playing made up of two columns: Eco and "misc". "Misc" says when is the point to get tele defense or t3 sams as a reminder to prevent snipes. This isn't precise ofc but it helps to know at what point of the game you have to expect certain snipes and to take precautions. It's more a reminder really. It also says how to reclaim my pgens fast after upgrading RAS and such things.

Eco is just the steps. E.g. get all mex to t2--->then put mass storage around --> then get them to t3.

At the start it was helpful to have the sheet lying next to me while playing. The benefit of writing up such a sheet yourself is that your write it in your own style and you know where to look. Personally I remember stuff better when I write it down + think about in what form and not just read it. Not saying that works for everyone else though.

After a while it turns out I don't need the sheet lying next to me anymore. It became routine.

I am aware gameplay has to be kept dynamic because you don't always have the time to follow steps in a game, but once you are in a good position and can ecowhore, you can best do it most efficiently and it is a good idea to not have to think too much what to do then in what order I'd say. And yeah, I'm pretty sure about that .

[biass]

What ever works for you my man ^.^

[JMorten]

Some more specific advice:

1) how to scout effectively using units and radar

Best way to scout are t1 and t3 scout planes. Make use of them a lot. A good idea is to schedule a scout plane in the air factorys build queue, e.g. one Scout two Interceptors and then toggle infinite build. That way you always have some scouts at your disposal without the need to baby sit production.

Another option for superior intel is to make an air factory only build landscouts and give the factory a move order / waypoint over the enemy main base, or even all around the map in a pattern. The scout planes get produced and fly straight to fullfill their intel mission.

Radar coverage is very important to anticipate offensives, drops and snipes. It also allows your long range weapons to engage the enemy without line of sight; the radar signatures are sufficient to make them fire their weapons. So build radar around the map, and don't forget to upgrade them or build new ones as you progress in tech level.

2) mass extractor upgrading; heard on a video lesson and saw one player having mass extractor upgrades on pause, on the video i watched they glossed over it but from what I could gather there might me a way of automating this process?

I can only recommend using the mex-overlay. Open FAF, open the tab "vault" and select "mods" on top. Now search the following UI-mods:

Common Mod Tools
EcoManager v7.0
(UIMassFabManagerFA)

If you haven't used those already, they make organising eco a ton easier. Those are UI mods, they are allowed in all game modes.

Launch a game and go to options. Under Gameplay it should say "EM:Autoshare-ON", so when you overflow mass it will directly be transferred to your teammates and isn't lost.
Under "Interface: EM Show MEXoverlay- ON". This option shows a tiny number on every mex, and also the colour of the number changes, while upgrading and so on. There has to be a guide somewhere just google it. Now you don't have to select every mex on its own to see what it is doing. This will help you improve speed at mex-upgrading A LOT.

The Mass fab manager is also helpful for eco, won't go into detail here.

3) need to learn unit differences of different races

As I already mentioned, focus on one faction first, but ofc in the long run you will need to develop an understanding of the other factions too, when fighting them or siding with them in a team. Again, I can only recommend BRNKoINSANITY's faction tutorials, where a lot of stuff is covered.

[PhilipJFry]

Common Mod Tools
EcoManager v7.0
Launch a game and go to options. Under Gameplay it should say "EM:Autoshare-ON", so when you overflow mass it will directly be transferred to your teammates and isn't lost.

You do overflow mass and energy to your team even without the Ecomanager.

[JMorten]

Wow ok wasn't aware of that thanks for the heads up

[PhilipJFry]

Just for your information:
The auto-overflow feature in the Ecomanager makes you send resources to your teammate in need (only if that person is using the mod as well tho) at a certain threshold instead of just when your storage is full.
The threshold can also be changed during the game if so desired.