Experience, etc. (newbie thread)

Well, as you've probably already gathered, I'm new here -- as a lone traveler from the depths of the Turn-Based world, I've come to try my hand at Zero-K; it simply seemed too good to miss. In essence, I might not be as keen on your abbreviated jargon and statistical dialects as an advanced player would be, but I'll trust that this won't keep you from sharing a little practical advice -- especially since I'm hardly illiterate when it comes to strategy. And let's face it: you were all "newbies" once.

Introductions aside, however, I do have a few tangible problems to address. I don't seem to be receiving any experience through single player; by now, I've played a rather decent number of games, but none of them are getting logged into my account.
When I open the Zero-K lobby, I'm automatically logged in to my profile (checked the settings), but trying to log into the Zero-K site itself (in the same window) gives me an invalid username message.
Note that I've chosen to place the Spring engine inside a different folder (instead of the default "My games/spring" location. I'm not sure if that has to do anything. In any case, a "My games" folder is automatically recreated (with an empty "spring" folder inside it) every time I open the Zero-K lobby. Is there any way to avoid that?

And here's a practical question: is zooming out/in on an area the only way to move quickly from one side of the map to another? Clicking on the map itself doesn't seem to do anything.

You can also shift-scroll or ctrl-scroll to move it faster. Also applies to keys.

The singleplay tab is all local and not communicated to the server which means that XP isn't calculated from those games. You can host games through the multiplayer tab and add bots. These will give XP and because it runs on the server you will also have access to your custom commanders.

A problem with the browser in the lobby could be due to outdated Internet Explorer. Your best option is probably to set the lobby to use an external browser for those tabs.

By placing the spring engine in a different location do you mean that you told the entire install to go somewhere else? Does a folder exist somewhere else with reasonable subfolders (engine, demos, packages, pool, LuaUI, base and perhaps others).

I think it is encouraging that those are the only issues you have found so far. I think you should try out multiplayer at some point because we are mostly multiplayer focused, but I'd say that to everyone.

important jargon:

'run your boy' - move your commander out of danger
'shiny' - your team is about to be nuked
'going singu' - your team mate is going to be useless this game
'going trollcom' - your team mate is going to be useless this game
'banshits' - light gunships will shortly brutalize you unless you have AA

Thank you all for your help -- I didn't expect to receive so many answers.

quote: By placing the spring engine in a different location do you mean that you told the entire install to go somewhere else? Does a folder exist somewhere else with reasonable subfolders (engine, demos, packages, pool, LuaUI, base and perhaps others).

The Spring folder is nested in a different location, but everything else is there. (AI, cache, engine, demos, engine, Zero-K.exe, etc.)

quote: I would also recommend reading the Unit Classes, Basic Economy Guide, and Help for Other RTS Players (still useful for non-RTS-players) pages on the manual, as well as the first two pages under Strategy Guides.

Let's say I'm the type of player who likes to know what he's doing before jumping blindly into the fray. In other words, I've already taken upon myself to read the entire manual, including the individual unit discussions.
But while that means I know something about Zero-K's theoretical bases, I still have something of a hard time putting them into practice. So here are some of my questions:

- How do you add an AI bot in multiplayer games? (And how long is Autohost supposed to take before starting up?)

- Units tend to form chaotic clusters whenever they aren't moving. Is there any way to automate putting them into formations? (I know it's possible manually, but they keep breaking formation when I move them.)
Is there a way to keep different unit types separate within a same group? And is there any way to set factory-fresh units moving automatically to different places according to their types?

- What would be the best method to prevent an early resource deficiency? I usually start building units not too long after the first mex/energy structure is created, which puts something of a strain on production until the next structures are built.

- How do you efficiently exploit the reclaim mechanic? While I can easily snag the metal remains on my side of the board, most battles occur somewhere near the center, or on the enemy side, where I'm not too keen on sending constructors for scavenging.

- What's the deal with defenses? Every manual I've read hammers in the "no porcing" refrain, and I never really prioritize defense, but placing the occasional laser tower in the areas into which I'm expanding has sometimes proved helpful.

- "Naked expanding" can be very useful, but how are you expected to carry out progressive, non-"naked" expansion? I've given up on garrisoning units near my structures long ago (it's ineffective and difficult to manage), and light defenses do their job but are too easily overrun. What are the other options?

- How long, on average, should one take to build their army? I know constant kamikaze assault is rarely useful, but sitting around to wait for units isn't either. And what should I do with my remaining units after a successful assault?

- Is spamming a decent strategy in Zero-K? I'd be the first to know that spamming alone never works against a real player, but unilateral spamming sessions against the AI very often seems to lead to a quick victory.

Chaotic clusters: Lots of line-move orders to keep units in sensible positions. Generally you do not want 'formations', as such, as where units need to be change dramatically in response to enemy movements. You won't get napoleonic boxes of units marching into eachother, such formations are totally ineffective in Zero-K anyway.

- Priority: Put your factory on low priority at the start of the game, then expand quickly with your commander.

- Reclaim: You need to be constantly gaining enemy territory to take advantage of reclaim, or bait the enemy into attacking you where you are strong. When you kill a commander or large army, try to press forward and secure the area with your army, cons, and static defenses. Fight armies on your side, kill economy on his side (This also allows you to use your static-d).

- Defense: The major mistake new players make is to build a ring of defenses around their starting 3 metal extractors. Much better is building a wall of defenses down the middle of the map but players even get over-zealous with this, cramming it with shields and Doomsday Machines. The huge range of highly effective defensive structures are not a 'trap', they all exist for a reason, but you can't win by defending the enemy to death.

- Expanding: Spot enemy movement using radar, and build light defenses as you expand. Try to build them in a forward position, protecting the expansion behind them. The best way to defend is with a front line of defensive towers and a central position in the middle of the map with your forces, allowing them to react to the left or the right to enemy movement. 1 llt/defender every 1-3 metal extractors is fairly standard, but the more you can skimp on them the better: Which is why you need to learn how to naked expand if you ever manage to press the enemy so hard they stop raiding you.

- Zero-K is incredibly aggressive. There is actually a lot of kind of kamikaze assaulting. In a real game, you rarely stay out of combat for more than a minute. This does not mean pouring from the factory into his defenses, it means building up a progressively larger roaming force constantly probing for weaknesses and skirmishing with the enemy.

- What is spamming? Using all of your resources to make large armies is absolutely necessary. Resources in stockpile are wasted. Cheap units remain viable for most of the game, so making lots of a small units is often better than over-extending yourself on one large one. Spamming only a single unit type is usually non viable against an enemy who knows how to counter it, but certain units lend themselves to this quite well (The ravager is an example).

If you can reliably beat CAI in 10-15 minutes you are as ready for multiplayer as you are going to be. I don't fault you for wanting to prepare but if you're anxious about being bad the first time you play, you can't help that much. Embrace your badness. Enjoy losing. Play against people who are better than you and marvel at the incredibly things they pull off, how murderously they butcher you and the ridiculous range of strategies that are viable in this game. Copy them mercilessly every time they beat you (Which will be a lot) and realize that you'll be seeing and learning something totally new each game. There is always someone better than you, unless you are Godde.

Welcome to Zero-K!

quote: I'm the type of player who likes to know what he's doing before jumping blindly into the fray.

Me too! Alas, our inclinations here serve us poorly with Zero-K. While the game is well-documented in many important aspects, there are tons of little things that you can only find out the hard way: trial, error, experience, and most of all just plain doing stuff.

quote: How do you add an AI bot in multiplayer games?

If you're using Zero-K Lobby (ZKL) then when you are in the chat tab in a battle room, there will be a button in the lower-left corner that says "Add bots/config". Click there, the rest should be fairly easy to work out. If you're using some other lobby it will be somewhat different.

One thing to watch out for - there are many different AIs, but there are only three that work with Zero-K: CAI, Chickens, and Null AI. Those are the only ones that ZKL will let you add. If you're using a different lobby you'll probably have other options for AIs to add, but don't do it; they won't work.

quote: they keep breaking formation when I move them

If you mean that you move them into formation, but then they don't stay put once you've moved them: units whose movestate is "Maneuver" or "Roam" instead of "Hold Position" will leave their assigned spot and chase down enemies that come close enough. Most times you want that, sometimes you don't. Set the movestate button accordingly. Fiddling with movestate will consume some of your micromanagement attention budget.

If you mean that they break formation while you are moving them - that's the nature of the pathfinding in the Spring engine. When you give a move command you're telling a unit to go to a spot, but you don't have any control over the path by which it will get to that spot, so a nice block formation will drift and wobble as it moves from one place to another. Also, different units will move at different speeds, so part of your formation will race ahead of the other part.

You can have the entire formation move more-or-less as a block by using ctrl-move. They'll still wobble a bit, but they'll all move at the same speed.

However, as neat as all this is, this probably isn't what you want to do. Use line moves for everything. You'll have much better control over where your units go, and the formation that you want them to be in is usually a line anyway; it maximizes their firing opportunities and minimizes their vulnerability to enemy fire and area effect attacks.

quote: Is there a way to keep different unit types separate within a same group?

Groups and formations are not necessarily related. A group is just a set of units that you can quickly select with a numbered hotkey (1, 2, 3, etc). There are other ways to select sets of units independently of the groups that you've assigned them to. For example: Click on one unit. Then press ctrl-X. That will select all units of the same type that are currently within your view. Now give them a move order; they'll start marching off one way, even while the rest of their "group" is still moving some other way.

Ctrl-Z will select all units of the same type anywhere on the map. This is often very handy. There are other handy selection hotkeys, and you can create your own if you don't like the default ones. See here, here, and here.

quote: And is there any way to set factory-fresh units moving automatically to different places according to their types?

Not that I know of. It would be possible to write a widget to do this, but I don't think anyone has done so yet.

quote: What would be the best method to prevent an early resource deficiency?

Part of the fun is figuring that out for yourself. :) But as Saktoth says, set your factory priority to low so that whatever your commander is building (mexes and energy, usually) will take priority. Whatever metal income is available after that, or when he's walking instead of building, will go to your factory for unit production. As long as your factory is on low priority you probably want to start producing units right away; even having just one or two in the very first few seconds can make a difference in what happens next.

quote: I'm not too keen on sending constructors for scavenging.

That's what they're for. You need to protect them, but you need them close to the front lines because THAT'S WHERE THE METAL IS. Get them eating the wreckage from the battles as quickly as you can. Metal is life. Go get it.

quote: What's the deal with defenses?

Defense is good. Use it. But use it appropriately. You can't win the game with defense, and if you use too much it will take metal away from the thing that WILL win you the game - expansion. New players make fortresses out of defense, don't expand, and lose. Don't do that. DO use it to reinforce places where you know you will be attacked and you know you want to hold, and even then don't use more than you need.

METAL IS LIFE. Spend it wisely.

quote: how are you expected to carry out progressive, non-"naked" expansion?

You must know what is threatened by enemy forces. Which means you must know where those forces are. Which means you need scouting and radar. This is something that, I think, many ZK players underappreciate. Once you know what's under threat, position forces (and defenses!) to protect those and naked expand elsewhere.

And while you're at it: now that you know where the enemy forces are, go attack where they aren't and wreck their stuff.

quote: How long, on average, should one take to build their army? I know constant kamikaze assault is rarely useful, but sitting around to wait for units isn't either.

You've answered your own question. Don't send your units off to die, and don't leave them sitting around. Attack as soon as you have a force which can successfully attack. How big is that? It's situational. If you've been scouting and building radar then you'll know someplace where they are weak (or someplace which is vital to control) and how strong they are at that place. Attack there once your forces are strong enough to win there.

Don't make losing attacks. That only feeds metal to your enemy. METAL IS LIFE; keep all of yours, take all of theirs.

Good Luck Have Fun!