Noob (again) to FAF and first games

[Ploplo]

Hey awesome players!

I've finally built up the courage to try playing faf online,and earn most likely some awesome losses and fails to start

For some reason RTS games always make scared, but i've seen a lot of tutorials (mostly from Heaven ) and some games, and now after some little bot practice i want to test it for real, to see how i fare against others, and from where i can start improving after that.

I'll try to post my initial feelings towards what happens, as well as the results, might help processing the mind of a new Faf player.

As a general question, is there anything specific you would recommend for new players to focus on? I'll probably have some idea of what to improve after some games hopefully.

See you in games! (and in chat if i'm not too shy to post there)

[Professor]

Scout your enemies and don't sit in your base all day.

[biass]

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

[Ploplo]

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

[gumpy]

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.

[Mephi]

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.

[Ploplo]

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.

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 =)

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! =)

[Ploplo]

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.

[Voodoo]

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. ^^

[tatsu]

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