Supcom FA Standard Operating Manual

[SeraphimLeftNut]

DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD without following the proper format
As you play FA you realize simple truths that when implemented have a significant positive effect on your gameplay.
These rules/tricks/realizations allow the player to affect the game in a more efficient way. Each player has their own list of rules(pet peeves), which they must follow.
Sometimes the player realizes that some of these pet peeves are actually hurting their game.

In this thread I will list all the rules that I follow that I can think of. I invite you to post your rules/tricks/realizations or to talk about your previous pet peeves that you realized were unnecessary.

Please use the following format:

Come up with a short name for your rule etc. and put it in a separate line in bold.
Then write explanation/whatever you want underneath.

Example:

Do not underestimate the t1 engie

A t1 engineer that is building t1 structures, such as factories/pgens/mexes/pds uses approximately 4 mass/second, which is the same as a t1 land factory.
Furthermore the t1 engineer uses x2 as much energy as the t1 land factory with the same amount of mass.
Therefore, to maximize your land spam, don't use many t1 engies to build your base.
Also, when you power stall pause the engineers making factories.

Example:

Select all idle engies on screen

One of my favorite hotkeys in the game. The spacebar on my last laptop does not work anymore. If you have't tried it, try it.

Example:

Get close to enemy ACU and draw fire with your ACU

When going head to head in ACU/t1 land spam battles, the number one rule is to target enemy units and not the enemy ACU.
Once you get a slight advantage in either acu health or number of t1 units, it becomes ok for your ACU to target enemy ACU.
In order to prevent your enemy from targetting your t1 units move your ACU as close to the enemy ACU as possible, so that it chooses your ACU as the next best target.
This will force the enemy to continuously retarget your t1 units with their ACU, leading to wasted shots/wasted attention/pathfinding problems.
Ideally you want the enemy acu to be facing and firing at your ACU with your t1 units behind the enemy ACU blocking its movements.

Example:

Don't kite with T1 tanks except the auroras

When you retreat with a group of t1 tanks there is a period when they do not fire as the slow turret attempts to retarget.

Example:

Use all of your mass
This is the critical rule for build orders. "Your mass" includes the mass you start with, any early reclaim that is available and mass from any nearby mexes.
Don't get too fanatical about following this rule later in the game. Often times it is better to save some mass, scout and then quickly convert it into whatever project is critical at the moment. i.e. mass in storage is ok later in the game, with scouting and with plenty of build capacity.

more to follow

Looking forward to your reading your posts

[manread]

I'm an average rank on ladder and global so some of this is something I'm still trying to work into my gameplay.

Always queue a transport

So when I make an air factory (and im excluding maps like theta here for obvious reasons) I always put a transport in the queue at some point, you never know when it will come in handy, such as dropping engies off to a recently created mass field or dropping in the back of your opponents base.

Always build t1 scouts, even after you finish T1 spam

Something I've been trying to work into my T2 and sometimes T3 spam (mainly when I remeber to do so) is to put T1 scouts in my queue so that when i push into an opponents base I more than likely have some form of radar coverage in/around my units. This is helpful for spotting PD before your units rush into it and stray groups of units you can easily destroy (and you dont have air scouts).

Reclaim your T1 pgens

When you start getting T2 gpens reclaim your T1 pgens when you have the spare energy to do so, also makes sure you dont stall while building additional T2 pgens (credit to kalvirox for teaching me this).

Dont play sim city

Another thing I'm working on is not playing sim city as much (I always have ~3 times the number of build commands than move commands) and micro'ing units more. For example when I see that my units are in an engagement 1-2 move orders then focusing on something that needs building is not the thing to do, also sim city means you are zoomed in more and therefore more likely to miss raids/drops etc.

Watch your scouts

Yet another thing I'm working on. When you scout your opponents base actually look at what the scout if flying over, many a time I've missed something critical such as an exp rush because I wasnt watching what my scout was flying over, even watching what your opponent is building in their factory can help you predict their next move and counter appropriatly.


Thats all I can think of right now.

[belatedcube]

AIR PLAYER MUST SCOUT
I play air quite a bit on twin rivers and I feel it is my responsiblity to do a LOT of scouting.
When I am not air I get seriously annoyed when they don't do a lot of scouting (especially during late game) so when I am air I feel like early and late game demands a lot of scouting from the air player (mid game can be taken care of by others because then they can easily afford scouts)
No turtling unless emergency
I think I started being really against turtling a while after playing on FAF. I have seen multiple times where firebases and pds fail when they could have built tanks instead and done better.
It seriously annoys me when my teamates turtle because they can't assist me in any attacks till T3 or exp games.
Only exceptions are when a large army is about to attack and you don't have enough units to respond.
If you have auroras or range bots YOU MUST MICRO THEM
I have seen players not micro there auroras and the auroras die most of the time because they aren't microed. I have also used range bots and microed them and I can kill lots of units without spending a lot of mass.

[Ceneraii]

Block overcharges for fun and profit
You can use your commander to block enemy overcharges against important targets like t2 pd by standing infront of it.

As the game goes on longer, things that happened early have an exponential payoff
It's important to do things as efficiently as possible early on, because every second you save turns into more saved seconds later on. This is especially critical in the first few minutes.

Always be scouting
You should always be checking up on what your enemy is doing. You can't formulate a plan or know his weaknesses if you don't look. This also relates to intel in general; have it! This also applies the other way, don't let your enemy scout without effort, if he does scout you do something to pull his attention away, destroy his radars and stealth fields!

Micro is magical
Attack land armies by having yours perpendicular to theirs. Don't patrol air, fly your interceptors behind the enemy, zigzag your navy. Always have some t1 arty in your t1 and t2 armies so the enemy is forced to micro their troops. Remember, you want as much of your stuff shooting at the enemy, while having as little as possible of his stuff shooting yours!

Use your units
If you made units, use them. If they are sitting around doing nothing, it's just wasted mass. Especially on lower tech level units lose effective value every second. The same goes for teching and eco as well (albeit this is more 1v1 focused): Do you really want to spend that mass on tech/eco, or can it do more for you on the field? Think about cost effectiveness of everything.

Concentrate your buildpower and resources
Time is a resource in FA, remember that. If you concentrate your buildpower you will be able to convert resources into useful stuff much faster. Don't need it anymore? Reclaim it! Units and buildings can become useless, but mass never does.

Think about what your opponent is doing
I think this was my biggest and most important realisation. It's good to have a strategy of your own, but your opponent will try to counter it and execute his own plan. Try to anticipate this, I have won many games just by thinking ahead and trying to figure out what my opponent is really trying to do and having the counter ready for his plan, or already being prepared for how he will counter me for a surprise turn around.

[justmakenewgame]

Dont read forum

[Hawkei]

Don't spam power.
Power generators cost mass and unused generators are a waste. If you build a land factory make 2 pgens. If you make an air factory make 5 pgens. Integrate your power construction into your factory construction queue and you will never have too much power.

LAB's are made for Micro
If you make LAB's you must micro them. LAB's are able to draw large amounts of fire and win small engagements if they are microed. But without this, they are wasted.

Air Superiority does not equal Airspace Control
There is a key difference between having more planes, and actually controlling the airspace.

Watch your ACU!
The whole point of the game is to kill the enemy ACU while keeping yours safe. A neglected ACU sent to the rear is a perfect target for sniping.

[SeraphimLeftNut]

Choose the correct path for the ACU asap

The path that your ACU takes during the game, how quickly it traverses it and what it does on its way should be part of your initial planning when you are first spawned on the map.
It is best to have multiple options, but many maps have standard optimal paths for the ACU. This is one of the easiest things to take from the replays of better players.
The path should claim as many mexes and reclaim spots as possible, while denying the same for the enemy.
One of the key pieces of scouting information you want to get early is what ACU path your enemy has chosen.
If you see that your ACU will meet the enemy ACU early on then you want to push really hard with T1 land spam and try to get the early win.
If you see that the two ACU's will be on opposite sides of the map, then you want to think about expanding fast with engineers and making t1 pds in the path of the enemy ACU.
Also if you choose to use strong t1 land spam with ACU's far from eachother, then the enemy base becomes the primary target, if you put enough pressure you can get the enemy ACU to return to base and leave you map control.
Also if the two ACU's are on opposite sides of the map then rushing t2 land or teching becomes an option.(assuming you continue to scout looking for big t1 land spams or for the enemy ACU that is charging into your base)
The final destination of your ACU should be either the enemy base or a strategically important position that has defensive assets such as ponds to hide the ACU in.

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. " BAMF

[-_V_-]

T3 Air is NOT autowin
This myth must die. AA in current balance are super efficient, I'd even say OP.


GalaSnipe
If galacticfear is in opposite team, first goal is to kill him, no matter what the costs is. Then you can play the game

[SeraphimLeftNut]

The value of an expanding engineer increases with its proximity to uncapped mexes and reclaim, and with increasing distance to the factory that made it

On maps with spread out mexes, killing and protecting expansion engineers is the whole game.

The bigger the T1 land spam, the more arty you will need

There is definitely an asymptote here.

Only engage when you will win

Do not engage with inferior forces. Do not engage in an unfavorable position. (intel, supporting navy, etc.)
Do not engage when you will not be able to reclaim the battle field or when the enemy has a good chance to take that reclaim from you.
Do not engage if you have no idea why you are doing it.

Retreat, reinforce your army with the necessary units and counter attack the force that just attacked you.

Also since you know you will win every one of your engagements, you should have engineers moving to the battle position, before the battle takes place.

Only fight where you have radar and/or visual coverage

Many units have weapon ranges that exceed their visual range. Getting the first shots on the enemy when their units are still outside of your visual range is often critical in battles, sinces the army that starts losing units first is also first to begin losing its firepower. Then the difference in unit numbers between the two armies increases at an exponensial rate.

You can see your units alot better than your enemy (theoretically)

Hide behind the fog of war at every opportunity.
Precise move orders around the enemy that exploit the fog of war are much more valuable than precise placement of units in your own base.

Do not chase raiding units, meet them at their destination

Turn your chasing units into raiding units.

Instead of the second t2 pgen, have that t2 engie make a couple t1 air factories

Unless you are an ecowhore of course.

Never kill noobs in team games

They are your secret agents. You can always count on the Hague tribunal manned by FAF mods, to condemn and punish all of your enemys, that attempt to remove their fifth column by force.

[fetterfool]

Rally the troops!

This is a tactics thing....figure out where you want your troops to rally. Choke point nearby? Rally on your side of the choke. Perhaps just short of middle of battlefield is a good rally point? You can make a decision of when to charge and when to try and lure some mass into your side of the map. Maybe 5 of your 6 facts rally on south side of small map, and 6th rallies up top. When I am playing 5x5s i constantly change where my troops rally, opponents will get attacked from one angle once or twice and fortify that angle. Just change where you are attacking from periodically.