RECLAIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h43m31s
On a map with mass that can be reclaimed, like stones, you need to have factories that send out engineers to grab the mass. You can use a patrol order, which you don’t need to worry about, or you can do an attack move order, which gives the engineers extra reclaim range. If you use attack-move, you then press shift so you can see the attack move order and drag the factory attack move order to another place. If you keep moving the order around, the engineers that have been produced will then keep moving and reclaiming, but this takes your APM. When you have reclaimed about half of the stuff that can be reclaimed, stop making more engineers for reclaiming. At that point, let your existing engies finish reclaiming the things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h51m33s
One advantage to have so many engineers reclaiming things is that you have build power around the map, that you can use to quickly build things like T1 anti-air turrets. If you are using gunships to raid, you want to kill engineers first before they can build up T1 anti-air.
THE TRANSITION TO T2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=37m02s
As soon as your tech 2 factory finishes, you want to try to get as much out of it by pushing out as many units as possible. The first few Tech 2 units (1-5) matter a lot, and are a lot more valuable than later Tech 2 units (like the 10th). So you want to assist your factory and crank out T2 units as soon as it gets online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h15m42s
Tech 2 transition: the goal is, once you are tech 2, put 100% of your unit production into tech 2. But for Cybran, you also want medusa, Zock says “count” as tech 2. (Zock doesn’t say this, but it is okay to produce land scouts.) You don’t want to keep making mantis, unless you are using them for raids (like the way you might use LABs at the start of a match.) You don’t want to get overrun. If you completely stop your unit production in order to switch to tech 2 support factories, you will be very vulnerable. There could be a full minute where you have zero unit production. So you may want to upgrade 1-2 at a time before upgrading the next ones to Tech 2 factories. Even so, if you have lots of Tech 1 units, and you don’t want to play super aggressive, you could upgrade all Tech 1 at once. The goal is to upgrade to Tech 2 as fast as possible. If it is safe (because you have enough units) you would upgrade every single factory to Tech 2 at the same time. It is convenient to upgrade them 2-3 at a time, instead of all at once, because you can judge how much strain it puts on your economy.
Similarly, with Tech 3, once you get a Tech 3 factory, stop making Tech 2 junk. (It is fine to keep using MMLs, flak, and deceivers once you get to Tech 3, but stop making Tech 2 tanks.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h40m12s
Would you ever increase your T1 production at the same time as you upgrade an HQ to T2? Only if you need to spend your mass super-badly. There can also be a situation where you start upgrading to T2 and you realize it was a mistake because you need more T1 units. You are vulnerable while you upgrade to T2 so you should try to make the upgrade happen as quickly as possible (lots of engineer assistance on the HQ). You should go to Tech 2 when you decide to go to Tech 2, not because of a habit or a simplistic rule.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h21m33s
Once both sides have T2 tanks, you don’t want to have mantis in the front of your army. The mantis won’t kill the enemy’s units, and they will just get in the way of your own T2 tanks. If you keep making mantis for your frontline force you are just wasting mass. You could pause the T1 factories (the ones making mantis) and use the mass to eco.
When you have T1 and T2, don’t move your whole army together. Move your rhinos up front as a concentrated fighting force. Keep the mantis behind, in case there is an all-in engagement. If he overruns your rhinos you can bring the mantis in as well. Until then, keep them out of the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h12m37s
When you transition to T2, you stop making T1. That is true regardless of your economic situation. It doesn’t matter if you are ahead or behind in economy. Just stop making the T1 tanks once you can make T2 tanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h15m00s
You want to make the transition complete as soon as possible, which means no more mantis. You can have a factory making mantis if you want to use them as raiding units, because they are fast. Zock’s example is to send out 3 mantis on a raiding mission to attack outlying T1 mexes. The point is to stop making mantis for use in combat once you can make rhinos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h26m22s
Zock would avoid ecoing heavily AND upgrading to T2 at the same time. Do one, then the other. You can eco first, or you can go to T2 first. But if you try to do both at the same time, you will end up ecoing more slowly and it will take longer to finish your T2 factory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=28m05s
Transition to Tech 2: you have to decide whether you can win with Tech 1. If not, then move to Tech 2 instead of building more T1 factories. If you can just make a few more T1 factories and spam units to defeat your opponent, then you can do that. But if both players make more and more T1 units, it stops being feasible to win with T1. So you should stop making T1 factories, and move to T2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h54m18s
Some people go to Tech 2 very early. It is still a good idea to go tech 2 to match them, even if they are going very early. If you see your opponent going tech 2, you will usually have more tech 1 units than your opponent. You can try to use your tech 1 units to do damage. Especially if it is an early switch to tech 2, you might have a significant tank advantage. But you should not produce any more additional tech 1 units. By the time your new tech 1 units arrived at the front line, he would have tech 2 at the front line. You punish him with your existing tech 1 units, stop making tech 1 units, and transition to tech 2 as fast as you can. If you can’t punish your opponent for going tech 2, then it wasn’t a mistake for them to go tech 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=32m50s
At some point, think about: do you actually want more T1 factories, do you want more T1 units? Ask yourself this question. If the answer is “no,” then you go tech 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h52m16s
Here you can see the problem with having too many T1 tanks: they can’t all shoot at once and they will block each other. The tank blob is too big to be fully effective. If those were a mass-equivalent number of t2 tanks they could all be shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h10m14s
The rule for Tech 2 factories is: the first unit out should be a T2 engineer. If you’re getting attacked and you have an immediate need for T2 combat units so you don’t just die, get the combat units. Otherwise, get a T2 engineer first, or two. Queue up 1-2 T2 engineers and then 30 T2 tanks. At some point, you should notice your Tech 2 engineer, you will want to give it an order (make a TMD, make a T2 pgen, etc.) and that should remind you to pay attention to your T2 factory to update the build queue. Tech 2 power is one of the best things about going to T2. Even if your first unit is not a T2 engie, you should queue them because you always want a T2 engineer eventually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=28m30s
There is no rule to always make your Tech 2 headquarters after the 5th factory. There are a number of factors. It depends on the play style, the map, and the situation. If there is too much pressure on you (you need more t1 units so your commander doesn’t die) then don’t start upgrading a headquarters to tech 2. Ask yourself if having 10 more T1 units would make a difference for you. Can you actually win something with more tech 1, like taking away an expansion from your opponent? If not, then make Tech 2. A very simple rule, how to not lose against Tech 2: if your opponent is Tech 2, as soon as you see that, you also go Tech 2. If you don’t scout it too late, your Tech 2 will be in time against his Tech 2. You can also go Tech 2 before your opponent if you feel safe doing it. One good rule for new players is just to wait for your opponent to go Tech 2 before you do. Then you don’t have to worry while you are playing about when to go Tech 2. You can focus on other things.
THE TRANSITION TO T3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h28m38s
When you get a T3 factory up, you want to stop making T2 tanks/bots because T2 direct fire units are very inefficient against T3. (Note: this video is from early 2016, before the “T3 rebalance” happened, but it is probably still valid advice.) Just stop your T2 factories completely. T3 factories have much more build power than T2, so you don’t need very many of them to spend the same amount of mass.
You can still make flak, MMLs, deceivers, mobile shields, and T2 engineers. If the flak or MMLs are going to be part of your unit composition, make them out of the T3 factories. You don’t need to have a T2 factory cranking out flak next to a T3 factory making Percivals. (Zock does not specifically say this, but I think if you just want a couple units, like you want a T2 engineer for some special purpose, or you want to make a couple flaks for your base, it is perfectly fine to use your T2 factories to build that. There is no absolute rule that you are forbidden to use your T2 factories for any purpose. But according to Zock, your war production should only come out of T3 factories.)
In contrast to the transition to Tech 2, where you may have a need to keep making T1 units, once you get to the T3 stage, you can immediately completely stop making T2 tanks/bots. By the time you transition to T3, you should have enough engies to assist your T3 factory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h16m17s
Zock describes using transports to move his first bricks from the T3 factory. He says a weaker player would just have them walk out of the factory. (By using transports, Zock gets his first bricks into the fight much faster. This goes back to what Zock was saying about your first five T2 units coming out of the T2 factory being more important than the next five. The same thing applies to the first five T3 units to come out of your T3 factory. They are more important so if you can transport them to get them into the fight faster that is an important benefit.)
AIR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h27m46s
Corsairs are nice, you can use them even if you don’t have air control. If your opponent has unshielded power generators, you can send them in (on a suicide mission) to snipe the power, and that can win you the game. But if you don’t have air control, you should only use them to snipe power. You shouldn’t just make lots of corsairs when you lack air control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h53m26s
On 10x10 maps, you don’t want to make too many air factories too early. Five air factories early is too many. But a second air factory early is not terrible. If you’re going tech 2 air, you want a second air factory. (Zock doesn’t say why, but I think the point is so you can keep making interceptors so you don’t lose air control, because then you won’t be able to use your fancy Tech 2 air toys. Or perhaps he means you should have a T2 support factory so you can make more T2 air units, faster. I don’t know.) If you want more transports, it can be good to build them from a second air factory. But (at least for 20x20 maps) your first transport should come out of your first air factory. With Tech 2 air, you don’t want to make gunships on an infinite queue. You want to queue up about 15 only. Because after you start doing damage with them, your opponent will make a lot of flak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h29m58s
Mixing mobile AA into your tank forces: it’s not bad. For tech 1, Zock normally doesn’t do it unless he is losing air. The problem of course is that you will have fewer tanks. (Every mobile AA could have been a tank.) Having mobile AA with your tank forces can help to reduce risk of taking damage from air and reduce the amount of attention you need to pay to the game. It’s easier to let your mobile AA kill t1 bombers than to constantly move interceptors around the map to deal with them. For tech 2: Zock will mix flak in. If he has air control, he will make 1 flak for every 10 t2 tanks. If he does not have air control, he will make 1 flak for every 5 t2 tanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h02m00s
When you are ahead, you want to get air control. When you are ahead, air snipes are the main cause of death. Taking air control is not only good by itself, but it is an extra layer of security. And, air is the fastest way to win the game, if you decide to end it. When you decide you want to kill your opponent, you make some gunships, fighter/bombers, or strat bombers.
BEING AGGRESSIVE AND BEING DEFENSIVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h33m30s
One way to get ahead is to be aggressive, which is to make attacks in order to try to hurt your enemy. The other way is to be more defensive and put more economy into eco. If your opponent is putting 5% of their economy into eco, you put 10% in to eco and just have 5% fewer units. You can still defend well with 5% fewer units.
Aggression can be more risky. If aggression fails, you can leave behind reclaim. If you make a mistake with aggression you can give the game over to your opponent. But if you hang back and eco, that style of play is more forgiving of mistakes. Being defensive and out-ecoing your opponent can be a more boring way to play potentially. It is a matter of preference. Being aggressive, or out-ecoing your opponent, are both legitimate ways to play the game.
Also, you can shift back and forth between the two strategies. It can be good to move back and forth between both strategies (aggression vs. ecoing) rather than investing all of your resources into a single strategy. It’s better to have a mix than to do just one thing. (Zock does not specifically say this, but I think it’s obvious: if you only do one thing, you will be more predictable.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwwVVS5aGeA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=2h14m07s
Timing: if you are building more units from the start of the game, or if your opponent pauses or slows unit production for some reason, you may have a unit advantage (meaning: more units on the field than your opponent). Presumably, whatever he is spending his mass on instead will benefit him eventually. So if you wait too long, your unit advantage will disappear.
The example shown in the video is: Zock paused his factories in order to upgrade his land factory HQ to T3, so for a brief time, his opponent had unit advantage. His opponent (the student) attacked at the right time, taking advantage of the opportunity. If the student had held back, soon Zock would start making Bricks, and then the student would no longer have a unit advantage. During this brief time, there was a window of opportunity to attack Zock with more effectiveness.
You want to take advantage of the opportunity created by having unit advantage. You want to convert your unit advantage into other advantages—for example, by raiding your opponent’s mexes. Another way to use your unit advantage is to pause unit production and focus on ecoing, because you can effectively defend yourself with the units that you already have. You don’t want to miss these opportunities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=26m46s
If you choose aggression instead of ecoing, you do need to attack your opponent. But then you need to scout, or maintain radar coverage, so you are not surprised when you attack. It is not necessarily a mistake to choose aggression over economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WFQxymNMA&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=19m54s
If you don’t eco, you need to go all-in. If you build up a fighting force (including: getting the gun upgrade for your commander) then you need to attack your opponent. If you just wait for your opponent to out-eco you, that is wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h33m55s
Send all of your units to one place? Only if you are going all-in. Even if it’s 90% in one place and 10% in other places, that is better than 100% in one place. It’s not really a question of ratio or percentages. You want to have enough units to hold your stuff. That is going to depend on where your opponent’s units are. When you are ahead, you want to distribute your units widely to prevent your opponent from taking anything, rather than collecting them in just one place to prepare for a push.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h29m24s
Some players have a problem of lacking aggression. They make an effort to be more aggressive. If they then get into a situation where they are ahead of their opponent, there might be no use for aggression in that situation. But they have it in their head that they need to be aggressive. If you are trying to be more aggressive in the way you play, there are still times when you should back off from that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=10m03s
You should not feel like every single game you must be aggressive. Before every act of aggression, you should ask yourself if you think it’s a good idea. You only have a limited amount of attention while you are playing, but this is a good use of your brain power during the game. Questioning yourself is a very good way to improve while you play. Some other players launch attacks mindlessly. Zock does not like that. (Note from the author: Zock’s way is not the only way to play. I gathered these notes to share his ideas but you should also consider other ways of playing. Perhaps you try out mindless aggression some time and see how it works for you.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h51m43s
When map control is fairly even, you can tell who is ahead by counting who has more T2 mass extractors. If you can maintain as much map control as your opponent, and get more T2 mass extractors than your opponent, you should be winning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h27m23s
When you are ahead, you can use your units just to keep control of the area. You don’t have to attack your opponent. You can just park them in a good place to surround your opponent, so he can’t slip units out past them. You shouldn’t go in for the kill early. You just build up your units and slowly move them closer and closer to your opponent’s base. You put a rope around your opponent’s neck and you slowly tighten it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h04m03s
Different people react differently to being under pressure. Even if you are good in theory, if you perform poorly under pressure, that is something you need to work on. You want to pressure your opponent. Players often underestimate the amount of pressure that their opponent is under. When you put your opponent under pressure it won’t feel like pressure to you. From your perspective, it feels easy, so it is common to overlook that from your opponent’s position, it feels terrible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h32m58s
You can’t always stop the enemy from taking something. If you try to stop the wrong thing, you over-commit and you can lose a significant battle. The example in this lesson is that the two ACUs are on opposite sides of the map. The student does not have enough units to stop the enemy ACU from taking an expansion. The correct perspective is to accept that you can’t stop the enemy ACU from taking it. You should still use units to harass and raid the enemy. You can use a few tanks to deny him from getting the expansion with engineers. If he has to send his ACU in order to get the expansion, you are getting a benefit from that: you are denying his ACU from being somewhere else and you are slowing him down. Just by slowing down your opponent from getting the 4-mex expansion, you get an economic lead, which you can invest into extra tanks or t2 mexes.
SCOUTING AND RADAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=25m35s
You scout before you attack, then you decide whether you should attack or not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=25m45
If you send units forward, but you see that it would be a bad attack, you retreat them. It’s not so bad to make a mistake. The important thing is to fix the mistake by retreating. Don’t try to avoid making mistakes. Just focus on fixing them. Trying to avoid mistakes in the first place is stressful. You will develop better as a player by fixing your mistakes as they happen. It is the same for economic mistakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=27m25s
Create a habit of scouting. Have air scouts in your queue. Have a hotkey for scouts. It’s really hard to watch all of your scouts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=23m20s
Sending scout planes is very important but it is also important for the player to look at what the scout plane sees. If you don’t look, you lose the benefit of having the scout plane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=1h08m12s
Air scouts are good if you are planning an attack (to look at what is there to decide whether you want to attack) but radar is better if you are being defensive with your units. That way you can see the enemy army coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=12m30s
You can attack your opponent without radar/scouting. If you expect your opponent to play well, he will do certain things, which makes him predictable. You can proactively send units based on what you expect your opponent to do. Against bad opponents, it is very hard to predict their actions because they make a lot of mistakes. It is easier to scout them, find their mistakes, and punish them for it. For example, a good player would use his units. But a bad player might have an idle army. So if you don’t see enemy units on the field, you can’t assume that a bad opponent didn’t make them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=35m17s
If you don’t know what to do: look at what advantages you have, do what you need to do to make sure you keep them, and look at what advantages your opponent has, and do something to take away those advantages. That is a safe way to try to win. Zock recommends to always try to end the game in a safe way. If you try to end it fast, more often than not, you screw up and you will lose. Don’t try to kill your opponent. Take everything away from him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcP-2px8yPw&list=PLJclJGPtIxW1Znl4idf8EEdHMnTzDJ810&t=18m59s
When you have the same or more units than your opponent, the question is where on the map you should be aggressive. Scout your opponent, see where their units are, where their ACU is, to decide where to attack.