@Newcomers

Welcome Commanders and Conquerers to the Commander and Conquer red/alert game!  

Newcomer´s Guide

This guide introduces the major aspects of realtime multiplayer RA1 gaming. As a beginner you are here to learn and improve, which already shows a good mindset. In the end it is a choice, being openminded and friendly or insulting and angry towards others. 

Starting a game and GG / good game

It is about playing, so u wanna join different game rooms. Some hosts don't know you (yet) and will probably kick you out of the room in the beginning. Try to write them a personal message and ask for a spot. If you are very new ask to spectate the game and learn like this by watching others first. If you insult them in a message, the chance is high they might remember your name and kick you always upfollowing. So be gentle. Often people will tell that somebody lags, in this case close your browser-windows and try to reduce parallel programs as much as possible. Another great improvement is using a LAN-cable instead of WIFI, which normally has a less stable connection. 

There are a lot of different game settings possible, but some are considered "nuub/newbish" (a nasty term for newcomer). standard settings include 10.000cash, game speed 7 and most setting options deactivated (an own guide on this should follow soon). 

You can play alone in a 1x1 fight, but probably you end up in a team-game 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4. The more players the more lag and the more chance to hide mistakes and blame others for loosing. therefore experienced players prefer 1x1 and 2x2s, because the skill level is shown much more directly, the challenge is bigger. Try to play in a team-senseful way, be a team-player. that includes don't run with your army all alone versus the full enemy team. That results in a so-called sandwiched, where your army gets in-between the enemy and quickly killed of. Try to attack as a team. Use the chat-function to coordinate if needed. Sometimes you are not automatically allied with your mates, so select a team unit or building and press A –– the magical hotkey for allying. 

When the game is over, it is generally a good idea and sign of sportsmanship to say gg for good game in the chat. Respect is a two-way street, so as looser you gg to the winner for winning and as winner u gg the loosers for also playing well with effort and that it was a nice game. vgg is a variation for very good game. Ezz is an insult for easy to win. 

Generally, as a newcomer, don't assume other more experienced players to cheat somehow. They in 99/100 cases just have more game knowledge and/or their game speed is higher, so they overpower you. The aim should be to get yourself better instead of blaming and insulting and accusing. However, some players made a career out of blaming always everyone for anything –– with even a hidden smile on the unshown face. So relax, every meal needs a bit of salt. Just don't get salty. 

 Game Knowledge

In order to improve you need to know, where and how to improve –– and to practice. The experience part of the game, the pragmatics to know, what works in a certain situation and what is a bad idea, sets apart the top-level players from the common folk. But if you never tried all the things, how shall you know? There is a range of tactics, that for a beginner´s guide are too complex to get into details, but need to be mentioned to show where the trip of improving is going to.

To name some defensive tactics: have a scattered group of infantry, repair damaged buildings, use engineers to repair them, sell to get money before the building is ultimately destroyed, use GQ in your base to kill enemy tanks, block entrances with tanks and buildings, build smart, have a depot for security and so on and on. 

To name some offensive tactics: scouting well, using grenadiers in early game, rushing with a small tank group, give damage smartly (enemy truck, vital buildings like refinery, construction yard, just 1 small power) and not stupidly (like there are 3 big powers, so attack something else), put engineers in an APC to take enemy building, use Tanja, use different tank types like lights or mammoths, use helis or planes or boats, use helicopters transport or boat transport for tanks or tanjas or engineers or whatever works.

This listing is not complete, but should any new player give certain ideas what to try. Besides these tactics, one could separate certain game knowledge under the umbrella of game mechanics and experienced skills. Among those skills are for example to Q your tanks, meaning: give your tanks in a group moving and showing commands in a coordinated fashion. To GQ  and SGQ your tanks, meaning to include additional commands as guard and stop into your tanking besides the Q. For all these topics exist specific and detailed guides in this blog, look them up. 

 Game Mechanics

However the most basic and important knowledge is the so called game mechanic. It includes the general awareness of which units (soldiers, dog, tanks, v2, ...) do exist and deal which damage to a type of building (wooden, armored) or type of unit. It includes the so-called tech tree, to know which building you need to have build to unlock a new building or unit for production, e.g. the mammoth tank needs the tech center been build. Besides these general points, each unit and building has by the settings an own limit/speed of production, which is essential to know! That means to have more structures of a certain building allows more production of units and so on. To improve this skill and apply it seems to be the broadest road to success. As Milo famously put it: "How produces the most, wins". See the conditions for 1 unit production per 1 second: 

normal infantry -> 2 barracks for maximum production speed

engineer -> 4 barracks 

Tanja -> 8 barracks 

dog -> 1 barrack and 1 kennel 

allied small tanks -> 5 war factories for maximum production

allied medium tanks -> 6 war factories 

sowjet heavy tanks -> 7 war factories 

sowjet mammoth tanks -> 12 war factories 

These are just the maximum conditions for some units. Use this super helpful link for more details (Redalert Building Times). If u have less than the maximum amount of facilities your production will be slower. However it is not linear. Generally the first new buildings of the same typ speed up the most, often there is a plateau, till we reach the maximum speed: 

allied small tanks -> 9–4–3–2–1 sec /each per new building

allied medium tanks -> 10–5–3–2-2–1 sec

sowjet heavy tanks ->  12–6–4–3–2-2–1 sec

In words: The 2nd war factory cuts the production time in half, the 3rd to 33%. Allies produce quicker initially and need less war factories in total for maximum production, their strength therefor is tanking and it should be used accordingly.

With 4/5 factories the allied medium and with 5/6 factories the sowjet heavy tank get produced the same time. That leads to certain considering when to do things like an extra truck needed for money, or security depot. Or switching from tanking to building, which as sowjets after war factory 5 makes much more sense then after the 6th, because the 6th didn't really change the tanking in the meanwhile. A clear examply of the amount of structures and their plateau-ing, between having 8 or 11 factories is no difference, is:

mammoth tanks -> 22–11–7–5–4–3–3–2–2–2–2–1 sec

 Speedy clicking

It is called a real-time game, so in realtime u have to achieve many things. The quicker you are the better you are. Speed is the big mountain of improving. Just to know, how many factories you need to maximum production, does not result in maximum production alone. You need to click the production button on the sidebar each and overtime in the most efficient way: as soon as re-clickable! That takes training and focus. Don't get distracted by the game developing, an enemy attacking, your dog sniffing you, your girlfriend wanting to show you a tictoc etc. 

Stress in game is the biggest enemy of maximum production click speed. Therefor it is always a good idea to keep your enemy busy and distracted with attacks. The more distraction the more mistakes someone makes, which for you is good. If one site can produce more, ezz overpowering. 

What is true for units is true for structures: if completely build-up, don't let them sit in the sidebar but put them as fast as possible in your base. Each new structures improves something: the energy, the money, the production speed. If the structures is for unit production, WITH a new structure you leveling up your speed. So click on the unit-field once, that stops it, and again to re-start it. Like this the "new" production speed is used for the remaining building time.

The final goal is to maximize yourself. Get the needed amount of structures to produce with the maximum speed and click it. However, that is still not the end. Experienced players produce simultaneously different things: soldiers AND tanks, tanks AND teslas, tanks AND helis. V2 And rocket soldiers AND helis! It is getting complicated and multifactorial. Multiproduction needs great focus and click accuracy, besides some helpful sidebar settings (wider settings make it harder to click, shorter resolutions don't give so many simultaneously shown sidewindows).

 Economics

A redalert saying goes like this: "No money, no funny!" Your can have all the knowledge and will to click, but its no money in the bank, nothing happens (true also for energy). You get money with your refinery and its truck. A silo is not forced, but needed for optimization. Build one for getting better cashflow. We differentiate between infinite and finite money maps.

Infinite money maps (goldrush, P4, ...) have a strip or source of unlimited ore. First fix your truck to drive closest to your refinery. It is a newcomer sign not to fix truck, and it wastes time and money. One silo is handy, best build after the first war factory to get your 1st tank quicker. Between war factory 3–5 make one extra truck if you are full tanking, otherwise you get broke. If you don't get broke without extra truck it is a sign, that you don't click maximal. After reaching maximum production facilities of tanks make a second and/or third refinery for sufficient money. Depending on what you are doing (multiproducing) u may need more. 

Finite money maps (liquid, path, hjk, ...) demand a much higher money management. To optimize your income is a long road of improving there. Try first to re-direct your truck to closer ore/gems to reduce the driving time. You may every 10-30secs repeat such a redirecting at least in the beginning. More refineries and extra trucks are helping and in most cases essential. We differentiate between ore-maps and gem-maps.

Ore only maps are broke as fuck. If you don't sell cy and go for suicide rush attack, you need at least +2 extra trucks, otherwise instantly broke. Normal build order would be power-barracks-ref-war-war2-power2-ref2-ref3... . Try different versions to see, what all does not work on ore maps. If you spec experienced players you will see a certain variety (+3/4 trucks, or ref-war-ref2-war2, but in-between limits of possibility. 

Gem only maps are money wise better. One extra truck at start or after the first tank is needed, a 2nd extra truck after the 3rd war factory. Normal build order would be ref-war-war2-war3-war4-ref2-war5-war6... . Some experienced players will use some variations like another extra truck, or delayed extra truck to quicker rush, but in-between limits of possibility. Learn the classics, than experiment more around seems a generally useful advice.

Mixed gem-ore-maps demand a mix of another extra truck, but nor so much as on pure ore-map, another refinery but nor +3 as on pure ore-map. Generally try to re-direct your trucks to the gems in the mixed field (arena map is a great example of it). 

 Building / Cying

You start with one construction yard (cy) the game and produce further buildings. But the more cys you have, the quicker the production of buildings goes –– similar to the units, explained above. The strategy of playing with more and more buildings aims to produce certain buildings the quickest like war factories, which allow either to quicker produce units or other buildings that can be used as offensive like Tesla, flame tower, turret and pillbox.

Crawling is the name used for build towards your enemy base and attack it with structures. Key to this strategy is to know, how many cys you need to maxispeed produce a building and so to be the most deadly. That does not (!) mean u cannot or shall not in any case attack sooner than u reached the number of cys to achieve this. The numbers are for 1 building per second:

flame tower -> 4 cys needed for maximal speed production

tesla -> 10 cys

pillbox -> 3 cys

turret -> 4 cys

In words: If you build attack with 2 cys towards/in the enemy base you can half the construction time, but optimally you can produce new buildings with the shown numbers. Every additional cy helps to cut the building time. The above mentioned trick of pause-rebuild to let a construction process take the "new" time after you deployed another cy works also. This trick is most efficient in the beginning, when the 2nd cy cuts half the time, then to stop-reclick can result in several seconds time gain in production. 

The full list of cy-number to production time by building type is exhausting and difficult to remember. Therefore most just remember the certain numbers needed for attack structures. Besides this, two other numbers of extra cys are in wide use:

+1 cy -> used at start (early extra cy) for overall advantage

+3 cy -> good for early attack structures or on low money maps

+7 cy -> mix between great building speed and attack time

+10 cy -> standard full cyed number for maximum tesla-attack

+12 cy -> either used by superpros who want to build refineries and other buildings maxispeed, or used by people with math issues ^^

The purpose of better building speed is in the end to attack. So reflect on your strategy for the time and the amount of cys needed. In redalert every aspects comes with a counter aspect. If you go full cy from start you are not (!) helping your team attacking the enemy. But maybe your defense is needed when the enemy goes on a counterattack. Consider the impact of your decisions not only on you, but on your team also.

 Idealism versus Realism? Pragmatism!

In other guides you will find the distinction between building and tanking more black and white. That is not totally true. It is true to say, that a far better play will easily win you with only tanking. But that does not mean, tanking only is sufficient for every type of game. Most maps demand a mix of tanking and building (hybrid). Both help each other. +1 or +3 extra cy help a tanker a lot, either in the beginning to build up quickly to full number of war factories. Or in mid-later game to add on to tanks some Tesla, ships, helis etc. Accordingly most builders use not only Teslas to attack, but include tanks or V2 into their strategy. But those units need to be controlled and managed also, so you cannot dodge that kind of skillset. It is an Idealism to think that just one type of play style will win all matches in the end. The Realism of redalert is, it is a long journey of improving. Surely, for the beginner´s there is a lot to learn, but so is the speed of improvement quicker and more visible. But don't misunderstand the need of bettering even on top level players. How once gets from top50 into top10 range, lots of work and repetition went into it. In the end, we are all improvers after many many pragmatic  ggs. 

If u liked, what you read, come around more regular and take a look into other more specific guides and leave a comment.

 

Cheers Rusty