To all new players: expand expand expand!

So I have played about roughly 10 games now and i tend to see a lot of players do the same thing:

turtle in 1 spot (the spawn spot) and try and tech up.

Its better if you expand as fast as you can!

Not expanding will give you 10 times less the mass as your opponent which translates in 10 times less the build capacity thus 10 times less the power to defeat your opponent. You will be defeated within 10 minutes.

So I wanted to give new players a tip on how to begin the game and what you should build the first 5 mins.

Keep in mind im not a pro. But I did play a lot of Supcom.

Start with a power-gen and three mexes. Go for your first factory. make three engineers. With the engineers I start building mexes in all directions. With my ACU I start building some more power and more factories. Try to spot your opponent in the meantime with a couple of bots/ plains.
in the next 10 mins try and keep your power lvl in the plus. This means to que a lot of power-gens. probably about 20. let 1 or 2 engies take care of that. you will probably have enough mass since you are expanding fast.

And a good thing to note is: overflowing resources is a very bad bad thing! overflowing mass is wasted mass -->> build more factories or whatever! Energy is kind of OK to overflow. It fluctuates faster so having a bit of an overflow is normal.

I dont have a fixed build order yet. I guess a lot of good players/ pro's do. maybe they could fill us in.

If all the new players could expand a bit more and make more factories instead of trying to tech immediatly to t2 games will last longer and be more dynamic and fun. Atleast in my personal and humble oppinion.

Plus I dont defeat you in 10 mins

GL HF

We should call this the "Rule of 10".

awesome i like that. maybe we should check if its true

I play a lot of SupCom too. While I don't play a lot of ladder, I am a pretty beastly eco-whore and Setons air player.
This has me in a position where I am used to upgrading my econ and teching my army.

The problem for me is that as a new player, the lack of an overall battlefield perspective is really messing me up.
I am continually confused where my base is on the planet, where the enemy is, and if I am zoomed in on my base, I lose all battlefield perspective with no secondary monitor and minimap.

Do you have any advice on how I should adapt given my weaknesses?

You should make it your signature

Remember kids! the "Rule of 10".

funny thing is my game-name is "Iwillrulethisplanet"

Press C twice to go to the commander. Group your raiding and battle groups so that you can go to them quickly by doubletapping their hotkey.
Save camera positions above your enemies base by Shift+number and then recall the camera position with alt+number.

Good lord!
These things are implemented already?!?!?!
I couldn't find them in the GUI.

WAH!
***Happy dance!***

Also, Culverin, experiment with whether you like Pole locking Camera or not. I find it helps with orientation a lot. Others don't - see which is best for you.

I'm still trying to get a good build order out now. But if you start with 4 mass, build mex, energy, 3 mex, and a bot factory making only fabbers you be doing fine. Because metal and energy are lower at the start don't be afraid to walk your fabbers to the sweet spots on the map. Turrets now are well op so defend these sweet spots with 1 (2 if closer to the Enemy base) and a radar.

As the op says, never stop building and expanding. T2 resources are now essential instead of ant spam. 1 turret is worth it's weight in gold. Doxes weapon buff and speed makes them ideal for raiding all the undefended mexes around. Shellers will be used a lot more with their range against turrets.

The problem at the moment is that rushing advanced can work. The gap between basic and advanced eco is too great. When you get advanced metal around your spawn its roughly the same as littering a third of the planet with basic metal extractors.

However it doesn't make it a good idea. Anyone who attack before the first 10 minutes can cripple them. I only see this working in a ffa or if both sides do the same thing.

I am curious. Do you think its worth building ants at the moment? Dox do more damage, there faster, and there cheaper. They have the same hp/metal ratio. Dox are also smaller so you have a higher damage density. The only advantage with Ants is there range. If your playing competitively would you build ants?

Is that how Google Earth works?

Unsure. All I know is, pole lock camera is a Godsend for me.

It means up is North and down is South. Also if you tap n then it will point you towards north. I find that better then pole lock.

I'd definatly build ants for sure, but just not the same way I used to, before I would build over ten vehicle factories before I considered t2, but now its maybe 3. This is just my view for now anyhows, its been changing after each game, not many of the bettrer players seem to be playing so much right now. maybe waiting for a more stablke version.

I really wanna see you try against a proper expander. You got 10 times no chance

@ Culverin:

I try to use landmarks as a way of orientating. Like a group of 4 mexes that look appealing to expand to.
like "hey I wanna go there, its north/ south to where I am now". then If u start turning and turning the map and you get disorientated but you see the same points u know you are close to your base.

The thing is you can make your own landmarks. Imagine you have found your enemies base with a scout. Dont bring back your scout. Instead place it a bit north or south or whatever you like so you can find the base again.
This helps me orientate alot.

Another thing: when the world has turned and my base is upside down I use ALT+arrow key to get my base in the position I like best.

So far these are things I like to do for orientating.

I bet he does stand a chance. Also, the more planets in the system, the better your chances.

I didn't say it works well vs. a player who knows what they are doing in a 1v1 situation. Any raiding and you win.

But the gap is too big. If two equally skilled player don't upgrade at roughly the same time, the first one to upgrade wins.