So I was going to make a tutorial, but I realised that I'm not 100% on what a good way to start a game is, and I'd like to ask you guys how you prefer to do it. Assumptions: You have the default Strike Commander, three mex spots and you're going Cloaky Bots. And it's 1v1.

Personally, I would build:
1- Cloaky Bot Factory (queue up 5 Glaives, 1 Rector on repeat)
2- Mex
3- 2-3 windgens
4- Mex
5- Radar
6- Lotus
7- 2-3 windgens
8- Mex

1- mex
2- factory
3- 1 con, then raiders on repeat
4- 2x mex
5- 1-2x solars
6- 3-5x winds
7- radar

Con sometimes does the last 2.

If map is small, your start is spread out and you don't have a good anti-raider raider, make up to 1 llt + 1 defender before expanding. If map is large, your start is close together and you have a good anti-raider such as scorcher or bandit, defend your base with radar + raiders.

Comm expands forward, towards the enemy, relying on his own weapon to defend the mexes behind him until metal is back into the positive.

Con expands sideways, defended by raiders, trying to stay in defended territory or making LLT's as he goes if he can't. Sometimes con loops back around to assist factory/make energy depending on my income and whether there is any more expansion to take.

Once I'm in positive metal income, I make a solar next to each extractor and ensure all routes have at least 1 LLT on them, that the base has at least 2 turrets (LLT/MT) in it if i didn't start with them.

There are a lot of good strategies that skip the early con or don't comm expand but i favor getting my income up quickly so I can sustain the -20 BP you start with.

Skasi,
"5) Move to the closest hill (not backwards!), plop radar"

You want to put radar specifically on a hill. Does it work better in high places?

radar line of sight works the same as "real" LOS It get blocked by mountains and can see more behind one if it is on a higher position

Ooh, thanks for this info, gentlemen!

I always lived under the impression the radar has a fixed sensor radius and that's that.

I've read all the guides and unit information and cannot confirm it was mentioned there. This information is not readily available to everyone. Maybe the radar mechanics should be explained briefly in the unit description?

It puts the command at the start of the queue. Usually it takes some time before I can decide on a factory, so I want my commander to build mexes meanwhile.

Shift+space usually puts the command between the two closest (so you could areamex a couple of mexes, then shift+space windgens or solars between and your commander would build stuff with as little walking as possible). But that doesn't work with areamex since the latest mex-placement change. :(

Done, Sotha. It's not long, but clear. :)

I'm not a good player so this may not be good advice, but when I was starting out I put some thought and experimentation into an initial build order. My goal was to maximize early econ production under the very circumstances you describe (which is what a new player would likely be doing). Here's what I came up with.

Pregame: Start immediately adjacent to a mex spot in a cluster of three. Time spent walking is time you're not making metal or units.

Com: Facplop Cloaky Bots
Com: Area mex the three mex spots

While the Com is walking and building, get your factory making units:

Fac: Turn on repeat and turn off auto-factory-assist (should set these by default using "Initial States" in the Game Menu)
Fac: Set a waypoint a short ways ahead of the fac
Fac: Alt-queue a glaive
Fac: Alt-queue three rectors
Fac: Alt-queue four more glaives
Fac: Queue your early-game unit mix. Example: two glaives, zeus, two glaives, warrior, two glaives, zeus, two glaives, rector.

Alt-queue says "add this unit to the queue after the currently building unit, and don't add it to the repeat loop". This sequence will produce five glaives, followed by three rectors, followed by your mix on repeat.

Once you've got your factory busy, add to your Commander's to-do list:

Com: Space-queue two solars next to each mex
Com: Shift-queue assisting the factory

Space-queue inserts the solars into the build queue, so that the Com will build them in the right place and time as he's working on the mexes already in his queue. [ [i]Second Edit: See below for clarification.[/i] ] Shift-queue adds the factory assist order to the end of the queue, so that once he's done building his three mexes and six solars he'll contribute his buildpower to the factory.

If you work fast, you can get all these build orders queued up while the glaives are coming out.

Spread the glaives out in a line somewhat ahead of your base to get some forward visibility and defense, but not too far - they aren't scouting, they're protecting.

As the rectors come out, give them build orders:

Rector #1: Cap mexes. Queue up a long series of nothing but mexes, starting with the closest ones and working in a single general direction outward (i.e. don't have him going back and forth).

Rector #2: Follow behind #1 and add two solars per mex.

Rector #3: Go directly to the best close spot for a radar (a nearby hill if there is one, or the edge of a clear space if there isn't one) and put up a radar and a defensive tower. Then start following in the general direction of Rectors #1 and #2 and add defensive towers and radars wherever it seems they'd be useful.

Give each Rector a long series of build orders all at once, so that they stay busy for a long time without further intervention.

As the Rectors set off on their tasks, use the Glaives to protect them. Don't just set them to guard - use them to spot and clear the territory ahead of where they're going, and keep them close enough to cover the builders but far enough ahead that you can intercept approaching threats.

---

With this build order I'm trying to do the following:

a) Minimize idle buildpower
b) Minimize m-stalling
c) Minimize e-stalling
d) Maximize output of useful units
e) Protect against early scouting and rushes
f) Maximize territorial control and economic expansion (i.e. GET MOAR MEXES!!)
g) Minimize the micromanagement - use automation and long queues of identical actions to reduce the amount of decision-making and mouse-clicking you have to do

What I'm not doing here is scouting. But it would be easy to take one or two of the first Glaives and send them off towards the enemy instead of guarding the base. Maybe add another initial Glaive to compensate so that you've got one or two scouting and four or five defending.

Also, if you can keep up with the micro, you could add another two Rectors to the initial set and send them off to build mexes and solars (one just doing mexes, the other following behind just doing solars) in the opposite direction from the first pair. The problem with that is now you have two fronts to protect, and not enough glaives to cover both fronts.

The nice thing about this build order is that it generates a ton of productive activity in your base while giving you just a few things to concentrate on - in the early stages, mostly you'll be driving your Glaives around exploring the territory near your base and protecting your builders, while your builders just go on doing their thing without your attention.

>Don't you stall metal like mad? Three rectors right at start.. seriously?

No, because their buildpower is idle a lot due to walking time. So they don't drain your metal like they would if they were just standing around assisting your factory. By the time the third one comes out, you've got enough income to support the rate at which they can build more income.

>Long build orders are a waste of apm, usually.

At that point in my build order there's nothing else to spend APM on anyway. And while they might not make it all they way, they could, and will be more likely to if you keep them protected. But yeah, the first casualty of battle is the plan and all that...

i tried starts with 2 cons, and even then i stall metal like crazy.
3 rector

3 * 5

15
comm 10
factory 10

thats a whopping 35 buildpower! on 3 mexes you are hardly getting 10
there has to be a lot of walking to do on the map you have in mind

i'd stick with one maybe two constructors at start

>I've just chosen the factory and right click-dragged a line where I want my new units. For some reason this works poorly

Right-click-drag works differently for a single unit than it does for a group of units. A group will move to the line in formation and spread out across the line. A single unit will travel along the line and stop at the end of the line.

Selecting the factory counts as selecting a single unit. So the factory is giving each of its newly-built units an order to travel to the start of your line, then travel along the line, then stop.

Not at all what you wanted, I'm sure.

>When they don't get to the rally point, they do not get assigned the hotkey I've given to the unit types

There's an option to assign your units to an autogroup as soon as they leave the factory instead of when they reach the rally point. I highly recommend it, and I'm not sure why it's not the default.