How does one get good at an RTS?

I can't seem to get good at any RTS that I try.

I have tried Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and Company of Heroes.   I can't ever win a game online, and when I try to play the computer, I can't win unless I rush.

 How can anyone get good at these games?  I can't seem to improve and I don't know why.  I feel frustrated because I have tried for a long time at these games and I have even looked at guides online.

Anyone have any advice? 

Just keep playing and you'll learn by your mistakes, however by the time you get good you'll find the game boring.Terrorantula

Just play with some friends of yours and that way it'll be ALOT more fun because people online tend to be very good at the game with the RTS genre. So yeh watch tournament games and learn the keyboard shortcuts and most importantly learn from mistakes in the past.

You'll have fun once you've worked out the best tactics.


Like on Company of heroes i worked out that to win everytime as a allie all you need to do is rush with flamethrower mechanics and plant howitzer's down and bomb the crap outta his base conastantly. Never lost since but it gets very boring.

The people who play RTS games online (and mostly true with FPSs, etc.) are the people who are very good at the game, and thus think they have a chance to do particularly well. (i'm generalizing a little).

When I play RTS games with people I know, I always kick their butts, but when I play online (seldom), I generally lose. (sometimes pretty overwhelmingly).

In terms of beating the computer, all it takes is a bit of perserverance to learn the factions/armies/races and their units, and then learning how the computer is programmed to play.  This is much easier said than done, because each game is quite vastly different (play Dawn of War: Dark Crusade --- best RTS ever!), so you've just gotta have the patience to play over and over again, and learn from your mistakes by watching replays (if possible) that will show you what the computer did better than you.

company of heroes is a bad rts to train with - the AI is awesome and it takes a lot of work to keep control of the map, even on easy

but generally to getgood at rts games i'd recommend:

1; learn all the armies and their units, what the units do and how they should be used - a lot of rts games have specific units that are vulnerable to specific damage (say, a tank will take damage from explosives but not gunfire, so using riflemen to shoot at a tank is stupid, but lobbing a stickbomb will put it down fast) - learn the units, learn their counters

2. learn the maps - even if you gotta play on the same map over and over and over (this is actually recommended when you're low skill) - if you just know where the best places on the map to defend are, where the enemy is and where he'll come from, where the resources are, you immediately have an advantage over yourself if you didn't know the maps

3. the build queue is important, early on in the game you usually have to do specific things in a specific order (like, say, build a barracks, then 2 infantry units then a builder then a utility building - in that order every time), the best way is to just save a replay and watch what the AI does, if you can copy the ai for the first minute or two, you're atuomatically as good as they are for at least 2 minutes

4. be quick - never sit around wasting time, get your buildings out fast, scout fast, secure resources fast - you should never be sitting around watching in rts games

5. learn to micromanage, company of heroes is a fine example of a micromanagement heavy game - you gotta teep tabs on morale, use special abilities, keep your guys behind cover, put the right units on the right units, use your own special abilities - in coh, if you simply grab an army and send it into attack, it'll likely be obliterated - you gotta use your units, order them around, command their every action (that's another reason coh is hard to learn, micro is a challenge until you're already good with the foundation)

6. be expansive - don't turtle in your base, you gotta get out there, use expendable units or specialist scout units to scout the map, if you know where your enemy is attacking from, you can move out to meet him on your terms, and the more of the map you hold, the more resources you hold - and the more of the map you can see, the better you can judge your enemy's overall movements

if you can do all of these, you're already a good player... i've put them in order of (what i feel is) importance, so focus on 1, 2 and 3 first and you'll notice a significant skill increase straight away

Many rts games vary, however theirs usually some very basic general tactics u can use:

Collecters- Any game were u collect resources, always build a large number of units to collect them. Depending on the game and population limit try to have 5-10 collecters of each resource type (or more if your playing something like starcraft)

Troops vs Buildings - 90% of the games, building a larger army is more effective than building defensive buildings.

Abilities- Many troops have special abilities. Learning the best time to use these can often turn the tide of battle.

Hot Keys+ Number Grouping - Try to memorize these, they'll make building army's and bases much faster, and easier when u learn them. Number grouping is done by clicking multiple units, holding shift and pressing a number. When u press the said number, every grouped unit still alive well be selected. Useful not only for when ur attacking with a large army, but also wen u need to build troops and micromanage a battle.

3 Play types:
Rush
Boom
Turtle
Rush players are pretty self explanatory, build a army asap and invade, ending the game quickly, and before they have time to build proper defence.
Boom build up their technology asap. They'll build a variety of defense and tech, eventually unleashing the strongest troops in the game.
Turtle these players absolutely suck as teammates. They build heavy defence waiting for an enemy attack. How they win is yet to be discovered.

Well, as you mentioned Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander (I think this applies to others but i'm not sure) I suggest watching replays. Supreme Commander is very similar to TA. there was a program people used a while back to record their TA games to watch again. As a SupCom fan I can tell you. this saved me months. Forget tactics in chat rooms guides and forums. Find a good player and watch what they do.

1. Build order.

2. Methods of Attack

3.Terrain

4. Endgames

essentially most RTS games have a system that can be applied. Build this then that.. This is not definite, as it's a game, and things change. But, I was getting destroyed in Supcom. After a week of watching replays and trying out diff things i saw, i started to dominate. Single player and AI can never beat me. Never. 3-5 Supreme AI allied against me get annihilated. So I'm forced to go online to get wasted and have people eat me. I'm no pro at all. But I know how to play.

This to me is the best advice anyone gave me...you can work it out on your own. but, this takes ages..and as someone said. You'll be bored of the game by then...

Ill give you an example in StarCraft step by step

Pick Zerg (cheap and rush)

1. build tons of drones to gather, 1 extractor, 1 spawning pool
2. build some zergling, scout the map
3. build hydralisk den
4. build a hydralisk army (at least 25)
5. build 2 more hatcheries
6. (Brood War) use lurkers to protect ur base from early ground attacks
7. RUSH 1 base at a time
   

The key to this strategy is to do this quick. You can change the order of 4, 5, 6, or 7.  Zerg sucks in the air, so rush them quick will prevent from them building Stargates and Starports. Also remember to upgrade ur hydralisk if you have money. If the enemy starts building wraiths, scouts, and other air units, keep using the hydralisk rush.  Its better than mutalisks or devourers.  If you have money you could build a greater spire and get guardians.  They are the best unit to clear out bases.  When using guardians make sure they don't have any wraiths or scouts around or they will die quick.  

Thats one of my strategies.  You should think of one yourself.  Choose a faction that you know well. You should look at all aspects of the faction (eg: Good at air, bad vs this faction, cheap, quick mining) and think of all the scernerios before using the strategy. 

You practice! :) As said before, practice with some friends, its more fun and you all get better.

In some games you will not get better by watching replays or reading strategy guides. Some games are so versitile that nothing can be predicted. Therefore learn by failing.

Many rts games vary, however theirs usually some very basic general tactics u can use:

Collecters-
Any game were u collect resources, always build a large number of units
to collect them. Depending on the game and population limit try to have
5-10 collecters of each resource type (or more if your playing
something like starcraft)

Troops vs Buildings - 90% of the games, building a larger army is more effective than building defensive buildings.

Abilities- Many troops have special abilities. Learning the best time to use these can often turn the tide of battle.

Hot
Keys+ Number Grouping - Try to memorize these, they'll make building
army's and bases much faster, and easier when u learn them. Number
grouping is done by clicking multiple units, holding shift and pressing
a number. When u press the said number, every grouped unit still alive
well be selected. Useful not only for when ur attacking with a large
army, but also wen u need to build troops and micromanage a battle.

3 Play types:
Rush
Boom
Turtle
Rush
players are pretty self explanatory, build a army asap and invade,
ending the game quickly, and before they have time to build proper
defence.
Boom build up their technology asap. They'll build a
variety of defense and tech, eventually unleashing the strongest troops
in the game.
Turtle these players absolutely suck as teammates. They
build heavy defence waiting for an enemy attack. How they win is yet to
be discovered.

timma25

Ill agree with the first part and the add to your playing method:

My experience tells me it is best to mix the three, start by putting some pressure on you opponent, attack with a small force to force him into spending extra resources on defence.

At the same time, building some base defence can save your arse if you get caught with your pants down.

And the booming thing is of course what you do in the mean time. :)

I can't seem to get good at any RTS that I try.

I have tried Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and Company of Heroes.   I can't ever win a game online, and when I try to play the computer, I can't win unless I rush.

 How can anyone get good at these games?  I can't seem to improve and I don't know why.  I feel frustrated because I have tried for a long time at these games and I have even looked at guides online.

Anyone have any advice? 

Ninja_Dog

 edit - Also, I don't mind losing, but I HATE when people whine and complain about you either beating them, or about you not being good enough. Its a lose lose situation.

Yeah. practice makes perfect. BUT never practice against a AI. NEVER!azoo12

watch video of good ppl and well and your own matches.

learn all the keyboard shortcuts.

RTS's are about micromanagement and economics most of the time.  the battles sometimes just become a numbers game.

learn the right build orders for the strategy you want to use. then work on minimizing the time it takes you to get to where you want.

I lost plenty of times in multiplayer CoH before I started to become better at it... My opinion? Determination and alot of practice. Memorising the hotkeys like what pwilletts says will also come in handy... Hope this helps

[QUOTE="Terrorantula"]Just keep playing and you'll learn by your mistakes, however by the time you get good you'll find the game boring.Ninja_Dog

I have the same problem. I remmember someone in the CoH multiplayer lobby saying "no-one playes single player anymore" and giveing that as a reason for them to not put any single player in if they made a CoH expansion pack. I can just never get used to rush tactics or I get kicked for a bad ping.