How to win Zero-k multiplayer

Zero-k is a strategic game of building an economy and destroying your opponents. Zero-k is a action game about microing your units to overcome the in game counter structure. Zero-k is a game of army management where if you build the right counters you win. Zero-k is a many great deal of things that isolating 'how to win' is basically impossible, because the reasons that a player or team wins can change from game to game.

Everyone loves to give advice to other players how to play better, and everyone loves saying what the best strategy in the game is. There is no one definitive answer to the 'best strategy' when we're talking about what units beat what other units. For example, reavers beat glaives because they have a high damage AOE, but glaives can beat reavers that are isolated by fanning out and closing the gap while avoiding the AOE damage. You cannot simply spam reavers to beat glaive spam. But glaive spam only works against reaver spam for a couple of key reasons- having more glaives and having better positioning. Positioning is solved by micro. building more reavers is solved by macro.

A lot of players have some problems with macro, and they say that a unit is uncounterable not because it is uncounterable, but because they have failed in the economic game and cannot field any counters. Just because you can make 1 reaver, doesn't mean you can stop 10 glaives. When you're drip droping on 14m/s early game or even later on, you can't just say a 2000 metal Grizzly is OP because it kills your 3 scorchers. Having a strong economy is the best assistant to fighting the enemy by allowing you to field a reasonable counter.

People have trouble conceptualizing how strong economies are in zero-k and how it impacts military might. Very often, it's better to just build more mexes than to reinforce your territory with static defenses. Instead of defending some outlying mexes from enemy raiders, you can try and kill more of their mexes. Without an economy, your enemy cannot field counters to your units, and you can just roll them over with cheep spam that moves fast and deals high damage. https://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/709266 in this game I gave my ally advice: 'Naked expand untill 40m/s then work from there' and that sums up a great economic strategy.

Give tips about how players could think about the economy.

- Be Godde

I often try give tips during team games and it helps, and those who reject them usually are new and offended or just not a team spirited player, these are not strategy tips as every one has their own and your not gonna change that with a single label. Most common things to remind I find is.

Mexes, nearly every game I have to point out a few mexes left uncapped..
cap/recap mexes asap, always. This make a difference!

Get available mexes asap before considering huge energy overdrive.

Don't suicide, sending the wrong army into all die and feed enemy metal, get support or correct counters before attack, retreat is always an option

Starting factories and placement of players, get this right and your already half way to winning. Ensure air player and spread of skills along the map. Ensure enough players start front, push expand from the start

Get some light aa, even if you air teammate looks comfortable getting some light aa will further help save you from enemy air and it will assist your air player in winning engagements. 1razor or a few pickets all your need. It will deter.

Some little ones: always shield your berthas, get grid up only after a some reasonable energy - pylons are waste without actual energy, no storage spam, radar on front line always, air scout base - try to get a patrolling owl on front line - you may not need that anti nuke. Support falling flanks (falling flanks can be great if U win them back and gain lots of reclaim, games are often lost because a flank has attacked too deep, too early, only to be all lost after backup arrives..nom nom).

For 1v1 is much different.. yes just be godde

In all seriousness here we go


TIP: Build Your Factory FIRST with your commander since it is instantly placed and then expand your economy with him.


1) Always build a constructor OR a scout/raider type unit. These should be the FIRST 2 units you make ideally.

2) Send scout/raider to scout to see what factory the enemy has and/or potentially harass enemy metal extractors or constructors

3) Have constructor start expanding your economy


4) Start building raider type/fast attack units unless the enemy is rushing a riot unit or their commander( this is what the scout was for) in which case start making skirmishers or defenses if they will be getting close to your base. During the game keep an eye on what units you come across in your fights and make appropriate counter units.


5) Have the raider units either DEFEND your constructor and commander that are expanding AND/OR attack/attempt to harass enemy eco/constructors


TIP: The goal is to continue expanding your economy throughout the game while slowing down the enemies expansion, once you outdo their economy decently the game will go heavily in your favor usually


6) Make some caretakers for every 10 metal once you pass 15-20 metal. Additionally have a couple constructors coming from the fac occasionally to reclaim or help build eco.



7) Around 25-30 metal income make a second factory, preferably airplanes in order to rush 5-6 ravens to either snipe enemy commander, enemy fac(atleast 6 ravens if they have caretakers), or snipe enemy caretakers or large power producing structures


Tip: Always have a bit more energy then metal and try to connect metal extractor points to energy grids in order to boost their metal income, this is called overdriving and is very useful for generating extra metal


Tip: Try to reclaim dead units as quickly as you can for that metal boost and to deny the enemy from reclaiming it


Tip: Try to harass or "Distract" the enemy often in order to try and expand while keeping them pre-occupied


Tip: Make 1 Lotus nearby groups of Metal Extractors in order to provide some possible defense

took me over 700 games to realize the counter to most situations, just keep grinding

"Send constructors to reclaim wrecks after winning battles"

if you have good micro you should send a few of them during an attack.. reclaiming as you take losses on an approach

i find i loose less cons this way.. if my army is dead i have recovered allot of metal and can retreat cons before enemy reinforcements fill the hole.. but if i send my cons after a battle they tend to get cleaned up forcing me to throw in more troops to defend them.

Here's my short manual on how to win teamgames 6v6+

1) Talk your allies into assisting a fencer push
2) Pump fencers on repeat, walk into enemy base with your bros at your shoulder
3) Build porc on their ruins as they resign
4) Next game, they don't expect you to do this again because noone does that. Do it again.
5) Third game, they really don't expect you to keep being so silly and predictable. Rush fencers again.
6) Fourth game, either spectate, or rush Krow instead.

Really in big games if own 60% of the map, enemy eco will not save them in time. Unless your team grows complacent

My view of how to win? Pin-point opponent's economy structure, Big Bertha or anything else easily to stop opponents production, either units or metal or energy. Let the front win once for all. Always scout for weakpoint.

Some things that help me in team games:

• Don't have a bad attitude. If you talk about how badly your team is going to lose before the game starts, it doesn't make you look smart, it just makes you look like an asshole.
• Don't engage with teammates with bad attitudes. If somebody says you suck, ask them for advice. If they don't give you any, it's probably because they don't know what you should be doing either. It doesn't make them look smart, it makes them look like an asshole. Ignore them, report them if they are particularly hateful.
• Don't play team games when you know most of the players in the lobby have bad attitudes. This is the stuff losing streaks are made of.
• If a teammate is struggling and you see what they need to do, help them out. Sometimes just saying "build riots" (without being condescending) is enough to make a big difference.