sorry, hit submit.
anyway, this involves teching, or upgrading to get higher tier units. this is generally seen by the pros as a very poor way of playing. I could explain why, but I don't think it will help, but I will say that one reason it doesn't work, is that it loses field control, and also is very easy to copy.
the way most pro's play, they gain there advantage in a few ways. the most basic, and it was designed in the game, is field influence. this is the gain of influence from controlling areas in the field. if u don't know how this works, try to find out as soon as possible, either ask a pro in game, or search in google or something. the reason this is such an advantage, is that it gives u units for practically no cost. in theory, if two people fought perfectly, the one with more 'free' units would win. but it is deeper than that, influence units aren't just more units, they are unique units that can be used too acomplish things that normal units can't.
in addition to field inf (short for influence) there is also 'inning'. pinning, (aka blockading, spawn point trapping, and others) is where u put your units just out of range of the base defenses, so that they will shoot enemy units as they are made. this is a HUGE advantage, and if done correctly will pretty much mean victory in most cases. this is such an advantage because the enemy units can only attack u one by one, and therefore get crushed one by one. in addition, pinning will get u a significant amount of field inf. this is so significant that a tier 1 pin with inf units, executed properly, will beat a tier 3 pinbreak.
those are the big advantages too be gained, but there is another more subtle one. micro (short for micromanagement) is this advantage. micro is the control of units on the battlefield, generally to increase there performance or keep them from dying. micro is critical, and makes all the difference. there are many ways to micro, and I will list a few:
unit alignment - this one is probably the most basic, this is where u keep your units aligned straight, to provide more divisive fire, increasing there individual lifespan.
unit layering - pretty much the opposite from the last one, this is where u layer your units or spread them out, to minimize the effects of AoE attacks, such as missiles or cronite tanks.
invincible unit - ths is in some ways an expanded version of the last one, here u have a unit, prefferably missile resistant, in front of a group of meditechs. this means that that unit is much harder to kill, and is completely missile proof.
charging units - this is the counter to invincible units and other things. u use charge and hold to get passed some units to hit others.
these are the basics, but there are many more. the most basic micro is charging and holding. units set on advance have less range than units on hold, so charging and holding lets u get shots of from farther away.
in addition to al these ways of getting advantages, there is 'unit vs unit', or what units are effective against which, in a certain position. I won't explained this, as it is very complex, and people that don't know it to begin with, probably won't understand anyway.
now that I cleared that, let's move on too builds. I will go over the basics of 1v1 and 2v2 , then go over builds for them. everything written here is for normal mode, though might work in others. this is because normal offers the most options, and is therefore most interesting to play.
1v1:
in 1v1, you are responsible for everything. you need to make the right units at the right time, and micro them properly. successful builds in 1v1 tend to be very efficient, use all the resources, and have variants for different opponents. I will go over the builds by government, as that is the only difference between players.
capitalist
the most well known build here is obviously bank post, aka tdh build. this build is very powerful, and was the first to systematically develop counters for all builds known at the time. the basic variant is bank post hosp ops, but the build order and even build itself can change depending on the opponents build.
fascist
the basic fasc build is bank forge, then varianted to fit the enemy. against capitalists, u fight a post v forge micro battle, where u try to kill marines with charging Romans, then use the time gained to wreck the tanks with scouts. the most common way to develop the build is bank forge gen ops, make a pride, then demolish bank for a hosp, make meds and go for a pride pin. there are other builds, but u can learn them the hard way :P.
monarchy
this is the most flexible gov for 1v1, and has MANY builds. mon v cap: against capitalists, there are many builds that can provide a fight, most of them can be countered, but some are basicly desired by micro. such builds are: bank forge gen, bank forge arm, arm forge, bank post hosp, bank post arm, bank forge hosp, bank post ops, etc.... as I sad, most of these can be countered, but there is a very specific counter, that often relies on very good micro. mon v fasc: here there are even more builds, I won't go over them all, but it is my personal opinion that fasc SHOULD win here, but it is basicly decided by micro.
communist
this is a very interesting gov in 1v1, and basicly plays as a variant of cap. I won't explain it, as it is very tricky, but vs cap, it is basicly mirror with a slight time delay, and against everyone else it plays like cap with bonus influence.
I hope u enjoyed the 1v1 summery, mow lets move on to 2v2.
in 2v2 u are cooperating with your partner to achieve victory. this mode stil
requires micro, but it is more cooperative micro, where u time your units movements with your ally. good 2v2 games are much more rare than good 1v1 games, because you need four good players to be on at the same time. in 2v2, by far the most effective way to win is having one player as forge, and the other as post. this leads to battles that open with scout micr battles in the air and tanks holding the marines away, eventually developed into snipers on the ground. from there it can develop many ways, depending on the match up.
there are many variants for 2v2, and I won't go over them, at least not in this post.
thank you for reading the whole thing, and I hope liked it and that it helped you. this is only my opinion and the things I learned from experience, and therefore I might be inaccurate or wrong, but you may help with feedback. I will try to avoid posting again, as I find the forums a place full of nonsense, but I will probably see replies.
good luck and have fun in your future games,
~THE guest.
