Gonna make this guide assuming you don't boost (even blues) and that you're not playing with active boosters either. Let's call it the 'Wait until tick 500, then I'll show you who's boss!' strategy,lol.
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Basic Startup
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Step 1 - When you first make your colony, go out of newbie protection immediately and skip the tutorial. It does not matter if you get conquered, it does not matter if you have your crystal stolen, just be patient
Step 2 - Go as high in farm level (you can make it to level 4 on all but 3tick worlds) as you can in the first tick because you get an influx of workers the tick after. Get to metal and oil level 3 with your startup resources also.
Step 3 - After these structures are completed and you get your influx of workers after the tick passes, you should have around 850 metal and 950 oil. You will be earning around 60 metal and 36 oil per tick. In 20 ticks you can go to level 4 metal.
Step 4 - Although it might be tempting to just max the resource structures before getting farm level 5, I strongly recommend that after getting metal level 4 that you wait until you can build farm level 5. In the long run, the workers will be more important. The key to this strategy is to have the best base income before you begin attacking people.
Step 5 - When you have level 5 farm, next is oil level 4, then metal level 5, then oil level 5. After this, get a few levels in the energy structure to get you started.
Ste 6 - Build a barracks so you can make infantry. Even though you may select a different chassis (chassis will be explained later) when you're fully setup, you should start with infantry to grab some newbie conquers.
Step 7 - Focus on getting the ranged structure done after you have the barracks completed.
After you've followed these 7 steps, you are just about ready to start your domination. Ensure that you have a few squads assembled before you rebel if your conquerer is relatively close.
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Your army
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You go wrong here, you might as well just change server because you could be wiped quite easily if you don't build your army correctly.
#1 - Armor to Range ratio. No matter what chassis you choose, you should have 66.67% range and 33.33% armor. In relation to individual chassis, this ratio equates to: Infantry = 20range 10 arm (You could go to 21/9 or 22/8, but for this scenario we'll keep it at the base). Vehicles = 10 range, 5 arm. Tanks = 7range, 3arm.
**** Here is an important point (just edited after I saw a few other guides) DO NOT BUILD DAMAGE! In any fight, you should be aiming to wipe your enemy in the first round.*****
#2 - Stick to one chassis ONLY! This is a crucial point. Ideally you want everyone in your alliance to only use the same chassis. If you are infantry and the rest of your alliance are tanks, when you fight together, your army will probably be wiped in a fight with any decent build. This is because your alliance mate's armor will protect the other tank guys in the alliance also, whereas your poor grunts will just have whatever armor you've built yourself.
#3 - Don't waste scans. Energy is a precious commodity when you start conquering, so if you see a guy that just came out of protection, check his statistics first. If he has zero units recruited, just go at him with any random unit you have lying around.
#4 - Expand, expand, expand. You will very quickly run out of conquers to get in your area so you will need to expand your horizons. Get the gate + radar structures completed and start throwing them up in strategic areas so that you can snap up conquers within a few ticks. One thing you should note though is that it is always a good idea to relocate conquers close to your colony. They will want revenge at some point and you don't want them to be within 5tick when your army is 12ticks away!
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That's about all I can think of as far as the basics are concerned, good luck!
