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Comparison and contrast between ZK and Starcraft or other RTS games.

[HelpForRtsPlayers]

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Introduction


This list outlines some of the main differences and similarities between ZK and Starcraft (other games could be added here as well). It could give a head start to players learning ZK who are already familiar with popular RTS games.

Details



Units and UI



Give Attack Orders rarely


Nearly all mobile units can fire while moving. This means that instead of giving attack commands you should focus on the positioning of your units. Micromanagement is mostly done with Move Orders.

Right+Drag to give Move Orders


A normal right click will give a move order. But Right-Click+Drag will give a line-move order which positions your units along a line. This is a much more powerful way of giving move orders and quickly deploying formations. Units cannot fire through each other and AoE weapons are common so using line-move is required.


'Attack-Move' and 'Patrol' Orders enable Unit AI


Long ranged units with an Attack-Move or Patrol command will automatically kite. Short ranged units will attempt to dodge shots. This behaviour is not as good as a player could implement but it means units can be ignored for some seconds.

Economy


Queue Construction


Shift queuing units and structures does not reserve the resources as it does in Starcraft. Queues have no downsides.


Resources are Spent Continuously, not in Batches


Constructors and factories work by constantly draining resources to add the the progress of a project. If you are trying to drain more than your income each project will take longer.

Metal and Energy costs are equal


The cost value of a unit is both its Metal and Energy cost. As a rule of thumb try to have slightly more energy income than metal income. Both resources are equally required for production; energy is also required for some unit abilities.

Reclaim


The wreckage of dead units can be reclaimed for metal. This is an important part of the economy. Map features such as rocks and trees can also often be reclaimed.

Game Flow


Constantly Expand


Expansion in Zero-K is about taking control of an area and building Metal Extractors. This should be done gradually throughout the game in multiple directions at once. Defense for each Metal Extractor should be no more than a Defender or Lotus. Your Commander is a powerful tool for expanding and defending the most pressured edge of your territory.

Constantly Raid


Raiding is similarly gradual. Raid the outlying Metal Extractors, not the base.
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CZrankAdminLicho
Edits: 1
First: 9 years ago
Last: 9 years ago
MYrankAdminHistidine
Edits: 1
First: 9 years ago
Last: 9 years ago
DErankKlon
Edits: 1
First: 9 years ago
Last: 9 years ago
PLrankAdminSprung
Edits: 2
First: 8 years ago
Last: 8 years ago
USrankWelmoor
Edits: 1
First: 8 years ago
Last: 8 years ago
DErank[2up]knorke
Edits: 3
First: 8 years ago
Last: 8 years ago
RUrankAdminikinz
Edits: 1
First: 8 years ago
Last: 8 years ago
LTrank[pikts]wolas
Edits: 3
First: 8 years ago
Last: 8 years ago
Skasi
9 years ago
Uh actually DErankKlon, I wouldn't write "quickly". The command itself is slower than SC's move order. "more powerful" is still true though.
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DErankKlon
9 years ago
quickly refers to the formations, not the move order as such. so this is true i think.
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DErank[2up]knorke
8 years ago

+6 / -0

CHrankAdminDeinFreund
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
Wat is the system behind these wiki tags? Why is HelpForRtsPlayers a tag? Shouldn't it be [Tutorial] or [Guide] or something that also applies to other articles?
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DErank[2up]knorke
8 years ago
replied in the wiki-thread: http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/22473?postID=158284#158284
+0 / -0


RUrankFirepluk
8 years ago
zk has lobsters!
+2 / -0
RUrankaspc
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
3 attack modes.

There are 3 items for primitive- and/or lazy-minded:

a) No (or flat) tech tree. So
b) no support building and researches required for any unit/ability.
c) Resources are infinite [for those who like to throw random cannon fodder onto enemy].

a + b + c -> kill enemy's eco (primarily raid mexes) and you win (most of times).
+0 / -0
Skasi
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
quote:
no support building (...) required for any unit/ability.

Support building for bombers:
Support building for assaults and factories:
Support building for cloakers and shields:
Support building for artillery and everything:
Support building for Roach/Tick:
Mandatory support building for DDM/Anni/Behe: [?]

quote:
Resources are infinite

Their availability is not. There's only so many metal extractors you can build and only so much economy you can protect. Buildpower, APM, attention/focus, FPS and other things are limited resources as well.
+2 / -1
LTrank[pikts]wolas
8 years ago
Does gifv work on zklobby? All these tutorials would be like 100 times clearer with them.
+0 / -0

CHrankAdminDeinFreund
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
RUrankAdminikinz Why would you remove the image? Image(s) make the text much more attractive to read.

LTrank[pikts]wolas There's the [vid ] tag that you can use for videos. MP4 works, so that's another alternative to gif that doesn't use that much bandwidth.
+1 / -0
DErank[2up]knorke
8 years ago
maybe RUrankAdminikinz could have given a reason for his edit in the "Summary" field, if this wiki had a "summary" field for edits.
+0 / -0
LTrank[pikts]wolas
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
I m not talking about gifs I m talking about gifv. http://i.imgur.com/zvATqgs.gifv It acts as gif but uses less bandwidth, technically its webm but u got idea.

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Skasi
8 years ago
You're talking about .webm
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LTrank[pikts]wolas
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
Difference is that they should autoplay http://imgur.com/gallery/AMxFv so they act more like gifs and less like videos no sound, no play button etc.
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Skasi
8 years ago
They autoplay because the video element is told to:
<video preload="auto" autoplay="autoplay" muted="muted" loop="loop" webkit-playsinline="">
+0 / -0
LTrank[pikts]wolas
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
STOP SKASI. Stop treating me like idiot. I know what damn webm, video, whatever is. When people write GIFV they actually mean all above u wrote SHORTENED. Nobody writes lets have short whatever format videos without sound that autoplay instantly after pages loads. People write lets use GIFVS.

I just wanted to say gifv is direct replacement for gif as obvious at it is. Not going into how its implemented. For example short video "move formation" like 3s long. Easier to understand than wall of text.
+0 / -0

CHrankAdminDeinFreund
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)
Video:
[vid]http://i.imgur.com/TcsFlxz.webm[/vid]



Autoplay video:
[gifv]http://i.imgur.com/TcsFlxz.webm[/gifv]



Gif:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/TcsFlxz.gif[/img]

+3 / -0
DErank[2up]knorke
8 years ago
If someone knows something about video/gif things then add to http://zero-k.info/Wiki/formatting

This page is kinda low-importance article and more opinions than facts. So if someone wants to play around with wiki stuff in semi-serious setting, this would be good place.
+0 / -0
LTrank[pikts]wolas
8 years ago
(edited 8 years ago)


I dont know if this works on zkl. But on FF it looks ok. I mean tutorial above.
+1 / -0
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