1. YOUR COMMANDER
Commanders are terrible. Level 1 of your commander should have no modules and no weapon. You should definitely be using a support commander, because at least that will give you more metal to build useful things. Black Dawns don't give a fuck about your energy cell or lightning gun and will happily eat the extra 350 metal.
Let's say you don't listen to me and you want to have an expensive commander. That's fine, I'm not your boss, but under no circumstances should you morph a commander that doesn't have range modules on it. If your goal is to spend a lot of metal on a unit that isn't very effective, modules other than Advanced Targeting may seem like a good idea, but even then you would probably be better off with a Jugglenaut or a herd of Vandals. The 1200 DPS double shotgun commander is pretty funny, but it has less range than anything you might want to kill and less speed than anything you might want to escape. You basically just spent 4000 metal on a Jack.
2. GUNSHIPS
Gunships are good. Probably. One in every two or three games, you should start with a gunship factory. Don't do it in large games (5+ on enemy team) because someone will make planes and your entire factory will be rendered useless. Another consideration is that you shouldn't show any gunships to your enemy until you have a decent amount, like 800+ metal worth. If you start with a gnat and use it to scout, your enemy will make a Razor and your entire factory will be rendered useless.
A common misconception is that you need to start by rushing a Black Dawn; this is simply wrong. All gunships are exactly the same, since they all counter all ground units and die to all anti-air units (except Vandal). Four Banshees is basically the same thing as a Brawler, except for a minor difference in speed ("faster than all ground units" vs "faster than all ground units") and health ("doesn't matter" vs "doesn't matter").
Once you've properly rushed 800 metal in gunships, go kill someone's factory and/or commander. They won't be able to stop you because you have 800 metal of flying bullshit. Everyone else on their team will build Razors, and your entire factory will be rendered useless. You should probably reclaim it or something. This is not much fun for either player, but you probably come out ahead since they will spend like 2000 metal on AA before they figure out what's going on. Your team might still lose, but that's okay. You're in it for the long haul: for each player who quits Zero-K in frustration, that's one less person between you and the top 50.
3. AIRPLANES
If you are bad, use fixed-wing airplanes. They are perfect for newbies because it is entirely random whether your units decide to commit suicide by flying into hacksaws. This makes experienced and inexperienced players equally inept.
When you are playing planes, start with an Avenger and send it to the enemy base to scout. This is the only reasonable way to keep your teammate from getting killed by gunships. This also allows you to kill early Cranes made by silly people.
Don't be that guy. Cranes are terrible. Don't make them unless you're desperate. They cost a ton, die instantly to everything, and have no buildpower.
More tips to come!
