Guide to Balanced Annihilation - Average players + - Page 2

Guide to Balanced Annihilation - Average players +

Discuss game development here, from a distinct game project to an accessible third-party mutator, down to the interaction and design of individual units if you like.

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jellyman
Posts: 265
Joined: 13 Nov 2005, 07:36

Post by jellyman »

I read it all. I think I know most of it. But some of it I don't do because I'm too lazy, and I think the comments about every second counts in initial build order is something I should pay more attention to my starts, because I'm one that starts with more energy than strictly needed for 'e stall safety'.

I wouldn't mind some comments on micro technique, and how top players balance focusing on combat units and economy building etc.

Also on com rushing I think number of players is a big factor - many players require at least some to come push, and you can easily set up a hard to breakdown wall of coms and llts, making it hard for the enemy to raid vulnerable economic zones. With few players and wide open spaces raiders can slip past the com and do nasty damage to your factory and energy farm if you are not careful.

Another factor in push vs stay at home is com ends vs com continues. Although com ends never stops me from com pushing, it just makes me more careful. A good preparation on any map is too make sure you know the starting conditions such as d-gun limit, game ends of continues on com death. Also wind and tidal value. A wind average of around 7 is approximately the same cost effectiveness as solars. But windmills are much more vulnerable to raiding, and produce a variable ouptut. And think about who is on your team. If that 1 stipe noobie is starting next to you. Prepare for the chance he will get badly pwned and you could be fighting a war on two fronts.
DemO
Posts: 541
Joined: 18 Jul 2006, 02:05

Post by DemO »

Alright. Thanks for the comments pretty much what I expected.

So far as it being text only goes, that's because I only started this guide, I'm planning on making it pretty extensive (as you should be able to tell from what I've done so far) so people can look up whichever part(s) they want to improve on if they need some advice. I dont expect many people to read the whole guide because its going to be LONG and time consuming, but I'd like to put emphasis on "AVERAGE PLAYERS +"

This guide is geared towards people who have a reasonable grasp of how to play already, so it's more specific on the finer points which - if you want to improve you begin to think about and pay attention to.

A lot of it is likely to be more about the thought processes behind playing so players can learn to think up their own approaches - it's important to establish your own playing style, so I won't tell you exclusively how to play, what to build, and in what order, but I'll give examples to put people down the right track.

So far as images go, that's something I'll focus on later, but first I'm going to try and work through the text element of the guide when I have spare time. I'm also thinking about making specific replays to tie in with particular aspects of the guide for examples where it may well be easier and more understandable if I simply show people what I mean through a replay.

@ jellyman - The contents of the guide so far only cover a first section, and the list is seceptible to change and I'll add things in as they come to mind. I'm going to try and cover the majority of aspects to playing, including like you say, micro. Simply I havn't made a full contents list yet because I'm going to work on particular sections and add new ones as I have time.

Certain parts of this guide will apply to new players aswell as more experienced, so it's not totally alien for new players to understand - or I'm going to try and make it that way by editing and making summary's/key points eventually (somewhat like ivory's XTA guide).

Basically, this is WIP so theres a whole load of stuff still to be done. Suggestions are welcome, but keep in mind that if something isn't on the contents/covered in the guide then it's simply because I havn't got round to doing it yet.

If people don't want to read this that's entirely up to them. I'm not trying to make this guide to appeal to everyone in this community, it's as much for my own benefit (refreshing my memory and I enjoy writing this sort of stuff when I'm bored) as it is for whoever else wants to read it.

Its your choice, so if you don't want to read it, GTFO.
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Lolsquad_Steven
Posts: 488
Joined: 27 Jun 2006, 17:55

Post by Lolsquad_Steven »

I think a guide to micro would be awesome.
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LordMatt
Posts: 3393
Joined: 15 May 2005, 04:26

Post by LordMatt »

You're the one to make it. :P
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det
Moderator
Posts: 737
Joined: 26 Nov 2005, 11:22

Post by det »

I read the whole thing. It makes clear the balances of every descision you make in the early game. Nice job.
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TradeMark
Posts: 4867
Joined: 17 Feb 2006, 15:58

Post by TradeMark »

Yeah, too much text... such "guides for noobs" shouldnt have much text, just pictures -.-

You cant learn the game by reading xD Really.
Radja
Posts: 70
Joined: 30 Dec 2006, 19:48

Post by Radja »

pics are good when you cant figure out stuff, like identifying chokepoints, placing defenses correctly, etc; i dont think that a guide that helps you to burn each second is suitable for people who arent comfortable enough with the basics

anyway, i think that "educative" replays would be better than static images
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Pxtl
Posts: 6112
Joined: 23 Oct 2004, 01:43

Post by Pxtl »

Yes. I think a big feature would be to focus on small sections discussing common tasks and how they work out - like the inevitable "Comm-build-war" that happens when you get two commrushes colliding - it is important to know about the use of the Arm Beamer as a middleground between the LLT and the HLT.
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Lolsquad_Steven
Posts: 488
Joined: 27 Jun 2006, 17:55

Post by Lolsquad_Steven »

I thought this was for average players +.
manored
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Joined: 15 Nov 2006, 00:37

Post by manored »

Lolsquad_Steven wrote:I thought this was for average players +.
It works for noobs too but we dont have real hope of many noobs reading it so... :P
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Ishach
Posts: 1670
Joined: 02 May 2006, 06:44

Post by Ishach »

when i started playing i read pretty much every single thing I could about AA 5 times over (not a joke).

As demo said, the guide is for average+ players who want to move to higher levels of skill, and those levels of skill you need some patience and drive more than the average player.

In short, anyone who wants to be a great player will have no problem putting in the time to read and learn from other great players.
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1v0ry_k1ng
Posts: 4656
Joined: 10 Mar 2006, 10:24

Post by 1v0ry_k1ng »

Ishach wrote:when i started playing i read pretty much every single thing I could about AA 5 times over (not a joke).

As demo said, the guide is for average+ players who want to move to higher levels of skill, and those levels of skill you need some patience and drive more than the average player.

In short, anyone who wants to be a great player will have no problem putting in the time to read and learn from other great players.
I read everything I can find about every mod I play before I even play it.
Being in the know is the way to play well.
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