Metal

Metal extractors are the primary source of metal income. Metal extractors are placed onto metal spots, and will produce between 1-3 metal per second, depending on the map.

Most player starts have 3 metal spots, and players will usually expand and acquire 10-20 metal spots. As teams expand, they will start fighting the opposing team over metal spots. Metal is the most limited resource in most games, so the team that controls the largest portion of the map will have a large resource advantage.

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Reclaiming‍

Is a good way to supplement your metal income.

• Some maps have features, such as rocks, which can be reclaimed for an early metal boost.
• Units and buildings leave behind wreckage when destroyed, and provide 1/3 to 2/3 of their metal cost when reclaimed.
• Any builder can reclaim wreckage.
• Fully built units, even enemy units, can be reclaimed, but at a much slower rate than wreckage.
• A commander wreckage provides 1250 metal, which is a very large amount in the early-mid game and is usually worth fighting over.

Be aware that a poorly planned attack can give your opponent a boost in metal, helping your opponent more than harming them.

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Metal Making

Energy Converters, also known as Metal Makers, which can create metal from (a lot of) energy

They are a way to slowly increase your metal income at a high energy cost, and are used primarily if expansion becomes too difficult.

An early energy converter paired with an advanced solar will take approximately 8 minutes to produce as much metal as its cost. Energy converters can be used late game as a slow but reliable way to exponentially improve your economy.

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Energy

Energy is produced by energy production buildings, that tend to be expensive and fragile. Improving your energy income requires using resources and build power, but does not require players to expand.

Because of this, there is no upper limit to the amount of energy you can produce within your starting base. Energy storage is not nearly as effective as metal storage, so there isn't much benefit to building more energy than you need, unlike with metal. Having 1-2 energy converters can be useful for getting some value from this excess energy.

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Windmills and tidals

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Have a low metal and energy cost, and can be used to form the entirety of a player's early energy economy on maps that support them.

Pressing 'I' shows the map settings, including tidal and wind incomes. Wind sometimes has a high variance in how much energy it generates, which can cause periods of low power if you do not have energy storage or other stable energy sources. Tidal generators will produce a stable energy income, though the amount varies between maps.

If the average wind value is > 7, then windmills are likely better than basic solars.

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Solar Collectors‍

Solar collectors are best built early game, when you have more metal than energy, or as an emergency source of energy if you are stalling, as they have no energy cost, but have a high metal cost.

Solar collectors always produce 20 energy.

‍Advanced solar collectors Have a very high energy cost, but are much more metal efficient than basic solars. Advanced solars are useful for slowly expanding an existing energy base, but should not be built when energy production is urgent.

Advanced solar collectors always produce 75 energy.

‍Geothermal powerplants are similar to Advanced solar collectors, in that they cost a lot of energy and are best for expanding an energy economy, but they also have a limitation of only being build-able on geothermal spots.

(Techlevel 1) Geothermal powerplants always produce 300 energy!

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Buildpower

Every construction unit and every lab has a certain amount of build power, which determines how quickly it builds, repairs, and reclaims.

As your energy and metal economies expand, you will need to get more build power in order to spend your resources. The starting commander has a large amount of build power, and it along with a few construction units are enough early game. Mid game, additional construction units or construction turrets will be needed to spend resources quickly enough. Late game, a large amount of construction turrets can be used to help your labs quickly build large units.

Build power is different from the other resources in that it is not global. You can decide where and on what your construction units will spend their build power.

Typically, it is best to have a large amount of build power in your base to build units, and a large amount near the front line to build defenses, reclaim, and repair. It is more difficult to expand front line build power, which is a large reason why many players will send their commander to the front lines.

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Repairing and resurrecting units

These are methods that can be used to artificially boost military production without actually producing resources. It is possible for a player with a weak economy to fight on even ground against a player with a stronger economy by properly using repair and resurrect.

A player's base can be heavily damaged with the player still having the chance to recover. When recovering, the player should first focus on rebuilding the main resource they are lacking (metal, energy, or build power). Rebuilding can usually be done more quickly than many players would expect.

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Construction turrets

Are a much better solution to supplement your buildpower than additional factories. Ideally, you build your initial factory, then have constructing units / construction turrets assist it until you can go T2. Making multiples of the same factory or both bot and vehicle factories is something we see new players do quite often and it is very wasteful / inefficient.

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Resource Sharing

These are handled by a smart widget, there are two sliders up on the power bar, the red one is the level you share power with your allies, the yellow one is the level metal makers kick in at. Another thing I've seen newbies do is make entirely too many metal makers in the early game, because they see that oh I still have power to spare. If you have 10 metal makers, those will eat 700 energy if they are all on at the same time. Don't build an excess of metal makers unless you already have a huge energy economy up and running.

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T2 Insights

Large economy boost

With Tech level 2 (T2), build Advanced metal extractors which provide 4x the metal. The starting investment needed is large, and if you add the cost for the T2 Factory, the T2 constructor, and the cost of the first few T2 Advanced metal extractors, it can end up costing 4000 metal.

Make sure to have some metal stored up (1000-2000), and at least an income of +20 metal and +500 energy before going T2.

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Share T2 Constructors

Often, the number one benefit of going T2 is the Advanced Metal Extractors that you can build. This requires a large investment though.

It follows that if you went T2 and your allies have not yet (they were busy making tanks to fight the enemy while you probably stayed out of that fight), it is very useful for the team if you make additional T2 construction units and give them to your allies. They aren't cheap, so only give 1 per player.

You can give units by selecting a unit, and double clicking the ''Share'' button next to their name.

Sharing your T2 constructors saves your teammates the investment for that 4000 metal of the process, but get a huge boost in metal production.

Spamming T1 tanks with a T2 eco wins games often.

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_{Written by Zecrus and Nubshiggy - BaNa}

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