A few noob questions from an old RTS player

[JoyDivision]

So I haven't played an RTS in about 15 years and thinking about getting back into it and I've got a few questions. I've peeked in the "Help! I'm new" thread and found most of the answers to the questions I had but there are still a few things I'd appreciate if some of the FAF could help shed some light on.

1) Are some mods considered standard? That is, are there mods that common enough that are used in more than half the games here? I've seen some replays and it seems like many folks use the "Engie" mod. Also, I'm not 100% certain what happens if player A has Engie mod and player B does not and they try to play a game.

2) Are there any unwritten rules regarding playing that I should know about? For instance, I used to play Total Annihilation back in the day and it was understood people wouldn't use their commander as a bomb. I ask because I've watched about 8 or 9 Seton's replays and I've seen tech sharing between allies only once. This struck me as unusual - if I am playing navy and I have a UEF teammate, I would always ask for an engineer to get shield boats. Is it just understood that if you pick a faction, you need to live with their weaknesses in order to balance out their strengths?

3) Many of the user-created maps do not show up properly on the game's mini-map (the units are there but against an entirely black background). Is this because I am doing something wrong or because so few players actually use the mini-map that map makers don't bother with having it work? If it is the latter, how do players quickly see where the enemy is if they are zoomed in on a particular area?

4) Is there a page somewhere on the internet that has *all* the keyboard commands and also how to do things like move the camera or share stuff like energy with allies? Maybe I didn't look through F1 closely enough but if i played a game and a teammate asked for energy, I wouldn't know how to help her out.

5) Related to #4. I know the period key (or is the comma?) key cycles through idle engineers. However what I'd like to do is to be able to see where my idle engineers are on the map at a given time rather than go through them one by one. Is there a way to do this?

6) How long did it take you to be able to quickly identify the Seraphim anti-nuke amongst all those weird shaped buildings that look the same?

Thanks!

[Astrofoo]

Hello and Welcome to FAF! I have tried to answer your questions as best as I can.

1.) FAF automatically updates to the mod of whatever game you join. There will never be a situation where you will join a game and not have the required mods. Now there are some UI mods known as GAZ_UI and Hotbuild that may be worth downloading for convenience.

2.) You are referring to naval mixing. The current stance here on the forums is that if people do not say it is not allowed then you can do it. However, in the higher level Setons games it is considered an unwritten and unspoken rule not to mix navies.(Whether this is necessary or not is purely an Academic discussion. You won't change the Seton's community...)

3.)The mini maps do not work on most of the custom made maps. This is known and most people either don't use the mini map, or use it with a black background. Personally I have never used the mini map and just played zoomed out at all times.

4.)All of those keybindings should be in F1. If not, maybe someone else has a comprehensive list.

5.) You can double click the idle engy button at the right hand side of your screen and it will select all idle engies.

6.)That's what strategic icons are for.

[ColonelSheppard]

0.) This is the Nomads forum, pls use the normal one, this thread is about to get closed
1.) what astro said
2.) There are NO UNWRITTEN RULES, list of banned exploits can be found in the announcement section, nothing that is not explicitly disallowed by the host of a game, or the unitrestrictions that are enabled, is allowed.
3.) Unfortunally there is no fix for this.
4.) F1, the back of your retail manual, or a PDF in the installation folder, if you want to change them you need GAZ_UI or something compareable
5.) GAZ_UI has a lot of options in terms of unitselection, maybe you find soemthing there
6.) Well once you see the seranuke it's probably too late anyway

[JoyDivision]

0.) This is the Nomads forum, pls use the normal one, this thread is about to get closed

My bad...clicked on General Discussions and didn't realize it was the "Nomads General Discussions." Can the thread be moved or should I repost?