Spring RTS Engine

Felix the Cat wrote:

Aun wrote:(AA) Do not dgun single lvl1 kbots! I've seen lots of people dgun peewees, AKs and even fleas, when the comm laser can kill them off in seconds. Resources are very precious at the start of the game, so do not waste them.

Remember that a regular corpse has a whole lot more metal than whatever might be left after a dgun shot.

Nothing...

The basics

I won't try to tell you what kind of game to play. Some games are "no-rush", meaning that you agree not to send big raiding parties until 5 to 30 minutes into the game.. No-rush makes for relaxed gameplay where you can focus on building proper defenses without having to worried that your construction parties get attacked, or your economy (mexes and energy production) from an unguarded angle.
I actually recommend it for beginners coz it allows you to check out the units.
But......:

Even in no-rush games, having a properly managed economy means you end up with bigger heavier guns when the fighting starts.

Nano-stalling is the way to lose any battle.

If at any time you use more energy or metal than you produce, you nano-stall. Everything slows down while the metal/energy is being supplied to the production proces... And it gets worse; without energy, plasma and laser weapons won't fire and mexes won't produce metal.

Economy units

Metal comes from metal extractors ("mex") or metal makers, energy comes from wind, solar, geo or fusions.
If you've built much more energy than you actually (will) use, adding some (moho) metal makers will boost your economy.

Wind-power fluctuates on most maps, and is seldomly stable above what a solar can give you (20e).
Wind-mills are also a liability in actual combat. If placed in groups (which you'd have to do if you wanna build enough of 'm quickly enough), and one gets shot/bombed, all in the group blow up.
Only in seperated diagonal lines can this chain-explosion be contained.

Now, solars on the other hand, are your friend.
They give off a stable energyflow, unless being shot at.
And they form a wreckage that's not easilly removed when they die.
Perfect for building defensive lines (as opposed to dragonteeth, which can be run over by heavy tanks).

Small, spread-out fields of advanced solars are hard to kill, and provide collectively enough power to keep your factories producing units if the enemy bombs all your fusions.. I usually try to get about 60-100 adv solars, 6 fusions and 2-3 adv fusions.

Early game

On a metal map like metalHeck (my fav), i almost always start of with a mex, then 3 solars, then 2 more mexes, 3 more solars, 2 more mexes, and THEN radar & LLTs or a factory. Immediately thereafter, more mexes, more solars, later assisting fusions. On metal maps, my com spends most of his time building economy (coz he's so damn fast at it), but on non-metal maps, i usually send it out building forward bases

On a non-metal map, i'd usually build a few fewer solars near the first mexes (because they are easy to attack in early game)..
Since you do need lots of solars, you could build 'm around your factories. Leave some court-yard space to fill up with guard constr bots (that help speed up the production of the factory) or nano-towers (same).
Put some lasers and anti-air behind the perimiter aswell, to keep the thing safe.

If you need more firepower near your factories, just let 'm produce heavy units.. Those can be re-used later in the game, while static defenses cannot.

The key is to grow your economy in parallel at all scales.
Keep your energy reserves full, keep your metal supply near half.
Keep the economy growing and (if you're not L1 rushed to death) go L2 a.s.a.p. With whatever is left over, build enough forces (esp mobile) to actually play war.

LLTs (all laser and plamsa weapons) simply wont fire if you use more energy than you produce. And when they get destroyed as a result of not-being-able-to-fire, you lose your investment in production-time, metal and energy aswell.

That's why you build 6 solars and some mexes before you even start on a factory. The factory that you build needs energy to build units.

What units you build depends on the balance of the mod you're playing, the map, your playing style and the circumstances (other players).

To generalize, you can build heavy or light units. Light ones are used for recon, to see what your enemy is doing. Heavier ones are used for base-defense (if real slow), or attack (if medium speed or heavy air).

Radar gets a lost more usefull if you know what the enemy dots are, and are doing.
Some players choose a game-color that's nearly the same as the background color for the map. I consider that cheating.

Base (de-)construction

If you have structures that can blow up when they die (geothermals, fusions, some stationary guns), then dont build anything directly next to it!
If it blows up (L1 mex & wind), don't build it in large groups..

Same goes for those shiny L3 kbots (mechs); most of them make a bang when they die, so keep 'm apart during battle, if you can.

Try to create bottlenecks wherever you can. Bottlenecks are places where the land (and structures on it) forces the enemy through a narrow passage.
Less units come out of a narrow passage, allowing you to point more guns at each unit. Heavy units often leave corpses, which further block the passage.

The light dragonteeth wont work effectively because heavy tanks just destroy 'm when they drive over them. The heavy perimiter blockade unit (forgot name) does work, but takes ages to build in lines.
If you see someone building those heavy fortifications in the field, it pays to have some tanks harass his workers (constr units). It'll force him to change strategy.

On flat land, you could use L1 solars as a way to create a bottleneck, at least until heavy tanks/mechs come into play (which can munch up even the rubble and move through it).
On a metalmap, having a row of solars can be 'augmented later' by adding a row of armed metal extractors before the solars. Now your 'static defense' produces metal, energy, and shoots violently at attackers.
I've used these types of rows, and am very pleased with how fast they munch up large L1 groups or even heavier L2 units.
Leave some room behind the solars (towards your base, to add anti-air. 2 anti-bomber turrets and 3 flak gives you an effective no-fly zone).

I won't even begin about armed moho metal extractors (AA Core); in the current AA balance (v1.44), rows of more than 4 eat up the heaviest units in the game for lunch when they get in reach. They even have some anti-air capability.

Know thy enemy

Units have their strenghts and weaknesses, and therefore are either prey or predator of other unit types.
There are other posts that explain which units work best against which others, for each mod. I'll try to stay mod-unspecific here..

Beginners often simply build units and keep them in their base, hoping to build some force that can take out the enemy in one swoop.
It often doesn't work, because you build stuff that is easilly destroyed by what the other guy builds.

So if you're going to build 20 tanks, you'd better send 2 of 'm to the enemy to see how he reacts to them.
Those 2 tanks will tell you a lot about what the other guy is doing, and experience will tell you how to overcome his units.

Does he use brawlers against 'm? Add mobile flak to your force.
Does he flood'm with L1 kbots? Add levelers to the force.

Experienced players also 'build up a hidden army', but they do it while they are pounding the enemy with other units.
That's to keep the enemy distracted and busy, while the 'killing army' is being built. While it's being built, experienced players vary the 'normal' (or distracting) attacks. Again, to confuse and keep the enemy busy. But also for reconnaissance.
By varying the angle of attack on his base, you see what else he is up to, if he is building a secret force himself, and where his defense perimiter is weakest (opposed to your attacking force).

Munitions delivery

In TA-spring (like most other RTSs), all units can fire all of their guns until they are completely dead.

So 3 heavy guns of yours finish off 1 of the enemy more quickly than 2 or 1. That means that the 'victim' has less time to shoot himself, and damages whatever he shoots at less before he dies.

And you don't want him to hit 2 of your units with one shot either. That most often happens when you simply have a group of units 'moved somewhere'. They huddle together in a group at the destination. Then something like an (AA Arm) Fatboy comes along and decimates your unitgroup. Or an inaccurate weapon pointed at unit A kills unit B, which is just as bad.

The best way to avoid this is to keep 'm moving. In lines.
To line up groups, use right-click and drag to position them on a line (shorter lines with lots of units create 'blocks', also usefull), and then give them a destination (also right-click-and-drag) somewhere else.
The bigger the front, the more units you have actually firing at the enemy. Shock the enemy to keep yourself healthy, sorta say...

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness

20 tanks might seem very usefull, but if your enemy knows you like gollies and builds super-heavy lasers, and/or some other tank-munching stuff, you'd better know how to counter that anti-tank arsenal of his first.

Is he building air, at all? Send in just 4/5 of your 20 tanks to see if he counters with gunships (brawlers/rapiers).. If he does, your other tanks will need about 6 mobile flak to protect 'm. Mix up the tanks & flak by selecting the whole group and moving it into a line (right-click-drag).

Is he building 4 or more superheavy lasers (annihilators/doomsday machines)? Better bring in some mobile longrange artillery, or some bombers if his anti-air defense isn't fully built up yet..

--updated once.. continued soon in another post, with more advanced tactics.

Not a bad metal map play tutorial, albiet a little bit biased towards certain stratigies.

I'd have to say to official AA build goes, mex, 40-60 worth of energy structures, mex, L1 fac, LLT. Depending on the map you might be able to get away with getting that LLT later, but on most maps you won't want to give your opponents the oppertunity to get fleas or weasles into your base. A single well placed LLT makes a massive difference.

What about core armed mexes and the like? Worth it or not?

Soulless1 wrote:What about core armed mexes and the like? Worth it or not?

They are really worth if your facing a enemy that is likely raid alot, yes. They kill flashes like no tommorw. Offcourse, 5-6 flashes will kill it, but not without a fight. I try to use em when istabisling a front line, since they are so flash and early weponary resitant.


Cloacked mexxes are also usefull, but F4 shows their position esaly. But they do stun units when they die, so you could use em to slow down rushes... Or just rely on that they do so.

armed mexes are a decent supplement to LLTs on the front lines; i've used them many a time on Comet Catcher etc... same for Exploiters. However, your defense/offense shoudl be strong enough up front that you can focus on building regular mexes in everywhere else in your territory (armed mexxes are very expensive and more buildimt e tc)

Aun wrote:

Felix the Cat wrote:

Aun wrote:(AA) Do not dgun single lvl1 kbots! I've seen lots of people dgun peewees, AKs and even fleas, when the comm laser can kill them off in seconds. Resources are very precious at the start of the game, so do not waste them.

Remember that a regular corpse has a whole lot more metal than whatever might be left after a dgun shot.

Nothing...

If there's a group of, say, Peewees, and you dgun them, occasionally one or two will have their final death be due to explosions of fellow Peewees rather than the dgun. In that case, they leave behind the tiny amount of metal in the metal-dust-on-the-ground corpse.

[edit] I tend to disagree with a lot of the long tutorial on this page, but it makes some good points.

It's worth noting here that (according to what I've been told, and it seems to be true) wind generators are more efficient than solars when the average wind is above 7; if it's below 7, you're better off with solars. In addition, watch the wind spread and especially the minimum wind. If the wind is 0-30, you need solars or else you risk losing your entire energy supply if the wind is at zero. To contrast, if the wind is 10-15, you don't need solars for pure energy production purposes, though they can be useful as walls still.

I would disagree with starting with 6 solars and a mex before building your factory; you need that factory early, while you still have your starting metal.

Nanostalling on metal is tolerable on many maps because of low metal content; nanostalling on energy is NEVER tolerable. If you find yourself out of energy, turn off all metal makers and stop all non-essential production, and immediately build energy producing structures.

I usually set three or four cons to build a large (5x5 or so) block of advanced solars; the constant increase in energy takes care of my needs.

As you increase energy production, remember to increase the number of metal makers you have. Remember: a full energy bar is a wasted energy bar. Ideally, you want to use slightly less than you make. If you find yourself with lots of excess energy and nothing to do with it, build energy storages so you have more flexibility in the future, when you may want to build energy-intensive things.

Speaking of building energy-intensive things, metal generators (free metal makers in AA) are very good. However, they cost a large outflow of energy to build, so ensure that you have sufficient income so as to not to stall. They are currently very efficient (as in, more efficient than moho mexes); look out for the changelog in the next few versions, as I bet they'll be nerfed a bit. Remember that they chain-explode, so space them out A LOT. (On the other hand, you can take the viewpoint that I do, which is that if they are made to chain-explode, I'm probably losing the game anyways, because it means that my base is overrun.)

CTRL-B is your friend. Use it. Idle cons are wasted cons. Remember to reclaim trees, rocks, wreckages, etc. until your bars are full if you do have idle cons but are stalling on something and so cannot build more.

Dragons' Eyes (cloaked perimiter cams) are underused. Build them in front of all of your defenses. If you have LOS to an enemy, your fire is very accurate. In addition, they are excellent for spotting snipers.

Know what sorts of units to combine and what sorts to use separately. Use speed to judge combinations. It's bad news on the battlefield if you have one unit going 5 km/h and another going 50 (i.e. Fatboy vs. Flash). Use fast units to aggressively scout and gain LOS for your slower, heavy units.

Don't be afraid to use tactics. Tactics are good. If your enemy has a large mass of peewees that he is using to defend his base, then split your attack force - send half in front of his defenders to draw them off, and send the other half to rampage through his undefended base. I slaughtered a superior enemy on Altored Divide this way just the other day.

Never use the same attack twice. If you rush Peewees at your enemy's defenses and they are unsuccessful, don't do it again and expect a different result, or I will call you slow in the head. Use a different tactic or a different unit, or attack a different area. There are two exceptions to this rule: if your attack is successful, and if you are trying to lull your enemy into complacency.

Reserves are good, reserves are great, reserves make me want to master Spring! Keep some units back when you attack. There are lots of things you can do with reserves. Your attack fizzled out just as you broke through? Send in the reserves. Your attack is drawing off a lot of his forces? Use reserves to attack elsewhere. The enemy is attacking from elsewhere? Use reserves to counter it. Unexpected raiders in your base? You can kill them with reserves. I try to keep several groups of units in reserves. Fast units make the best reserves - Flashes, Fidos, and Recluses. They can respond to threats quickly and forcefully.

Mix unit types. 10 Flashes, 5 Shellshockers, and 5 Slashers are more likely to be successful (if properly managed) than 20 Flashes. Use artillery to destroy an enemy's defenses and then rush through the opening with your fast units; if your enemy is advancing, defend in front of him with Fatboys and Bulldogs (prefereably mixed with stationary defenders or in good defensive terrain, like behind a bottleneck or on top of a hill) and circle to the back with Fidos and Recluses. This is especially good if your enemy is mixing Dominator L2 rocket kbots with Pyros or some other faster unit; your mobile force - your cavalry, so to speak - can destroy his longer ranged, slower units (like Dominators) that would ordinarily pound your defenses to pieces, while your defenses should handle Pyros if they are not backed up with the Dominators.

Soulless1 wrote:What about core armed mexes and the like? Worth it or not?

Depends on the map... They are a little pricy for antiraid, but they can mean the difference between a lost mex and a held line if you can somehow manage to work them into your front line. Of course they also have alot more hitpoints so they are better against L1 rushes since they take longer to kill.

They are pretty good for metal maps because you can use them instead of LLTs. They have alot more health and will get you metal income as they protect your front lines.

random thing

dont put radars (especially long range) behind a hill and expect them to give you radar coverage - everyone seems to do it (even a few stars)

use L to see your radar coverage, radar doesnt go through mountains people!

a lot of people seem to believe that radar gives you los/coverage regardless of where you put it

Kixxe wrote:

Soulless1 wrote:What about core armed mexes and the like? Worth it or not?

.....
Cloacked mexxes are also usefull, but F4 shows their position esaly. But they do stun units when they die, so you could use em to slow down rushes... Or just rely on that they do so.

remember that in AA for the cloackable mexes drain you out 20 energy per tic to be fully functional and cloacked!! (that its the high price u have to pay for cloackability)

allways play with L key on (so u have constant line of sight). Too bad that on some desert maps green radar indicator is so bright that eyes hurt.

press F4 aswell then :)

Remember kids, whenever you see any unit under my control approch one of your units, just self d. You ll just die tired if you try to fight.

It's a war of inromation, infromation-denial, and disinformation.


If you have good radar coverage that is a very big advantage, if you can actualy see inside your enemy base that is typicaly crippling to your enemy, when you know what he's doing at all times you can behave apropriately to always counter it with minimal losses.

Likewise, make sure your enemy cannot see you, radar towers should be a priority target, and you should make sure nothing gets by your front lines because even if it's weapons arent damaging, what it sees could cause a major advantage for your enemy. Try to hide your attacks, mountians provide an excelent way to do this because there is a radar "shadow" behind them, you can stage your armies behind mountians or build secondary bases there.

Finaly, if you give your enemy infromation, make it wrong infromation. Move youar armies aroud to attack from a different direction than your base is in, or when there are more than two teams attack enemy A from the direction of enemy B, hopefully drawing them into conflict and taking pressure off you. When you think your enemty has radar coverage of your area use the fact that he canot see what you have to your advantage, set up masses of cheap yunits as if planning your attack from one direction, causing your enemy to move forces to defent from there, while fewer strong units, possibly hidden by a mountian or jammer, attack them from another direaction.

Expand asap, use comm aggressively, get good radar coverage, attack and harras your opponent constantly > win

Simple

BigSteve wrote:Expand asap, use comm aggressively, get good radar coverage, attack and harras your opponent constantly > win

Simple

Yeah, so it's better to "Expand asap, use comm aggressively, get good radar coverage, attack and harras your opponent constantly" then to win right?

I think he meant "= win". But either way, losing practicing those skills is alot more valuble then just losing.

oh yeah

if you think your gonna lose a bit of territory, try sticking dragon eyes down if possible, at least if you then lost a section you can see what the enemy is doing there

Be carefull with your commander on a Commander Dead = END game

Hide him, Cloak him, Build decoys

Going for the kill

most pepole can't learn to differ whats a fatal blow and whats a mild wound that can be laserated.



Pepole, including me ofen think that your enemy is crippeled beyond repair because you kill lots of his infrasturucture or he lost a lot of land. THIS IS OFEN NOT THE CASE!

I myself have lost one or two games just because i thougt i was gonna win, for example when killing the middle in Small divide and start massing level 1 to try to finish him...

The enemy can gain some advanges bye moving back, the enemy now has to defend less area while having a medium enconomy can tech boom extremly fast since he has no way off attacking! Don't rush blindly in with attacks just because the wind blows your way. Don't stop doing everything else just to push more money into the tank maker.


Exploit the upertunity, but use your head and take caution. Cute fuzzy rabbits fight for their life when cornerd.