This posting will serve as an introduction to the art of strategy gaming. Regardless of the type of game one is playing, whether it be a Real Time Strategy game such as Age of Empires, or a Turn Based Strategy game such as Civilization, certain basic strategic decisions are involved.
To begin with, I will discuss Macro, which is the totality of the economic decisions one makes, and their impact on the likelihood of victory or defeat. There are usually three build orders a player can pursue: the Farmer’s Gambit, the Cheese, or the Balanced approach. Farmer’s Gambit essentially means that one is favoring economic buildings and neglecting military in the early game. Cheese means one is immediately building as many military units as possible. Balanced Macro is somewhere in between the two.
The three above strategies are essentially a game of rock-paper-scissors. A Farmer’s Gambit will usually have an extreme advantage over a Balanced build, which itself has an advantage over Cheese, which in turn has an advantage over the Farmer’s Gambit. So if you have scouted your opponent early, and know what build they have dedicated themselves to, you can easily adapt to it, thereby gaining an advantage. Again, the dynamic is: Cheese > Farmer; Farmer > Balanced; Balanced > Cheese.
The general point of the above three strategies is that the more one spends upon military in the early game, the more aggressive one has committed to being for the remainder of the game. If the military does not translate into early conquest, or damage done to one’s opponent’s economy, then the military-heavy build will fall ever farther behind, until one’s adversary’s economic advantage translates into a powerful late-game military advantage, and loss becomes nearly inevitable. In general, the longer the game lasts, the less likely it is that early military investments will have resulted in victory.
Now I will discuss Micro, which is the totality of one’s control over one’s military units. Superior Micro can easily turn a game to one’s favor, even when confronted with an opponent who has an economic advantage. As a general rule, Micro is most important in the first few minutes, and becomes gradually less so the longer the game goes on. Losing even a single unit in the opening seconds can translate into a significant advantage as the game progresses.
There are several strategic maneuvers which military units can engage in, which will either increase the damage they can deal, or prolong their life. In order of complexity, they are: Kiting, Strafing, Rushing, Focus Firing, Aggroing, Ganking, Harassment, and Flanking. Kiting is essentially a way for ranged units to attack while retreating. They retreat a few paces while rearming, fire at the pursuing units, then retreat a few more paces while again rearming, and fire again, ad infinitum. Strafing is a way for ranged units to avoid slower directed fire by moving orthogonally to the left or right to get out of its way. Rushing is a way for shorter ranged units to quickly close the distance between them and their longer ranged counterparts, thereby overcoming their disadvantage. Focus Firing is a way to quickly dispatch of a large group of units, by targeting each one in turn with all of one’s own units, instead of having each unit in one’s army firing at randomly chosen targets. Aggroing involves using one or more fast units to provoke the enemy into a wild goose chase, while other units continuously lay down fire on the hapless pursuers. Ganking is the strategy of ambushing solitary units, such as those on their way to resupply a larger army, thereby easily dispatching of them at very little cost to one’s own forces. Harassment involves the use of extremely fast units to sneak behind enemy lines and attack the opponent’s economy before retreating back to friendly territory. And Flanking is the ability to surround an army, attacking simultaneously both frontally and into one or more of its sides.
Now I will talk about unit composition, as it can prove essential to victory in many different scenarios. There are usually three types of combat units: Melee, Ranged, and Artillery. And again, the rock-paper-scissors makes its debut. Too many Ranged units fall prey to Artillery, as they clump together and get destroyed by splash damage. Similarly, too many Artillery units are easily chased down and dispatched by Melee units. And too many Melee units are easily picked off by Ranged units before they can close the distance necessary to attack. So if your adversary’s army relies too heavily on any one of the above units, you can choose the appropriate counter, and easily destroy their forces on the field of battle. Again, the dynamic is: Melee > Artillery; Artillery > Ranged; Ranged > Melee.
To conclude with, I will talk about general overall strategy. First, it is usually best to minimize the circumference of one’s territory as a ratio of its dimensions. In other words, perfectly square or circular territory is preferable to elongated rectangular or oval territory. This is due to the fact that resupply lines are far shorter for the square/circle that the rectangle/oval. If you are ever unsure about where or how to expand, doing so in a way that maintains balanced territorial dimensions is usually a better idea, particularly when facing multiple opponents.
Next, be sure to make use of Forward Operating Bases. If the front line is too far away from your unit production buildings, then it will take too long to resupply your army, and your offensive with dry up. However, if your production buildings are too close to the front line, they risk becoming a casualty, leaving you with no means to bolster your army. Correctly balancing that distance can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.
Also, when invading your opponent’s territory, be sure to have a balanced approach. Making a beeline through their territory is usually not the best strategy, as it makes your army very easy to flank, and leaves your resupply lines extremely vulnerable. So if you can make a detour or two to widen the front line, then that can often yield a far easier path to victory.
Finally, when waging a war of attrition, in which both sides are throwing massive amounts of military at one another, there are usually three phases to the conflict. The first is the entrenched phase, in which there are heavy losses, and a stagnant border between the two sides. The second is the momentum phase, in which one side begins to push and make noticeable gains. And the third is the gassed phase, in which the losing side’s resistance completely crumbles, and the triumphant side waltzes to victory. Often times the victor is not clear until that final phase, when the vanquished have finally exhausted the last of their resources, which can happen quite suddenly. So patience in the face of frustratingly slow progress is often rewarded.
Thus concludes my overview of strategy gaming. Best regards to those who made it this far, and I hope you all have fun out there!
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