.svg)
Commands 2.0
Control
Give you all the possible insight into the most useful commands inside of BAR. See sections below.
Default select
Left-click on a unit to change your selection to that unit. Selecting a unit will deslect all other units. Left-click anywhere on the map to deselect all units.
Selection Box
Left-click and drag to draw a selection box.
All units within the white border will become your selection. Again, use shift to avoid deselecting your previous selection.
Add to selection
Hold shift to add units to your existing selection, without deselecting what you already have selected.
Remove from selection
Hold control to remove units from your selection, either by clicking or dragging.
.svg "in-game cursor")
The Move-Order is the most used and probably also the most versatile command.
You can combine move with various keyboard-keys or drag a line or queue up commands while holding down SHIFT very easily.
Move
Simple Right Mouse click. Move (hotkey: M) instructs units to travel to a waypoint. For factories, this sets a waypoint for units it constructs. Right-click on the map to give a move command to your selected units.
Right Mouse + Drag to "draw" a custom formation. Selected units will be given waypoints evenly spread along the line you drew. See, BAR is for artists too! So-called "custom formations" are the best way to spread out your units.
Move Line Drag is superior because:
A) you can avoid splash damage
B) you can put your units where they can shoot the enemy.
Also very powerful is the Fight Line Drag, which works similar, but with the Fight Command.
Normal Attack
When you have selected units that have a weapon, you can Right-Click on any enemy unit to order an attack. The attack command can be given on the map and mini-map. Once the targetted unit is destroyed the command will be removed.
Queue up multiple attacks
While holding down SHIFT you can issue multiple attacks in a row. All units will attack the set target in that order. When not in firing range, units will attack all other units that come into range. The attack command will ignore firing stances "Return Fire" and "Hold Fire".
Only for units that have the option to do area attacks.
For specific units only, mostly artillery.
Ideal for Bombers, or quick selection of larger groups of enemies.
Only use this when you have Line of Sight (LoS) or good radar coverage.
Lost targets (outside of LoS or radar) are lost forever.
When bombers loose their target(s) they do idle fly-bys while getting hammered by AA.
Very useful for Bombers and Artillery. Make sure you first scout the area with scout (planes) so you know where draw your bombing lines.
When done right, you can get devastating results:
Very handy if you don't want your units to run through dangerous areas full of enemies, but keep their distance.
Also works with Right Mouse Drag, to draw a line, just like the Move Line Drag command.
You can use Fight with construction and resurrect units as well.
Fight
Combat units = Move and stop to attack when enemies are within firing range
Construction units = Move and stop to Repair or Assist everything on the movement path
Resurrect units = Move and stop to Repair or Reclaim everything on the movement path
ALT + Fight
Resurrect units = Move and stop to Repair or Resurrect everything on the movement path
Guard instructs a unit to persistently follow another unit.
When guarding other units, constructors will also repair them. If a constructor is guarding another constructor or a lab, they will also assist with construction.
The default behavior for right-clicking on your units (or an ally's unit) is to instruct the selected units to guard that unit. Note that constructors will instead repair damaged units.
Use this command to restrict Nano Turrets to assisting a high-priority lab/constructor. Note: Guard commands only end when the guarded units are destroyed!
Try to avoid using guard commands in the middle of an order queue.
Patrol between 2 (or more) points
When you have units in your selection you can press "P" for the Patrol Command. Click with your Left Mouse and your units with patrol between their current and the clicked position.
Patrolling units are in "Fight-mode" and will assault any enemy units in the area or their patrol.
Patrol is also very useful for construction- and resurrect-units. They will repair and reclaim metal and energy along the patrol-route, and only reclaim when resources are low.
TIP: You can set multiple patrolling waypoints while holding down SHIFT when placing the Patrol-commands.
Usually you first will use a Move command to the startposition of the patrol-route. Then, while holding down SHIFT, press "P" and the click all waypoints. Units will repeat this patrol route.
PS. Colors for movement-lines are green for Move, purple for Fight and red for Attack.
.svg "in-game cursor")
Building Lines can be useful in various situations
Just hold down Shift and drag a line of the building or unit that you want to construct.
Building Split can be crucial when you need stuff fast
When you have multiple constructors selected, just hold down SHIFT and SPACE and drag a line (or grid with SHIFT + ALT) and the entire queue will be split across all of the selected constuctor units.
So this will make construction a long line of defenses or a windfarm faster (in a way).
You can Quick-Insert a build order for a unit in an existing factory build-queue.
This way, you don't need to erase all previously queued units. You can even use this with Factories that are on "Repeat".
Use ALT and left-click on the unit you need.
The factory will produce that unit next, only once, and then will continue with the rest of the queue. Very useful!
Queues are very(!) useful
You can make sequences of orders like build, move, repair, guard etc. This is very helpful in planning a base expansion, as well as planning a strategical / tactical attack.
Making a queue
While holding down SHIFT, issue your commands in your desired sequence. All commands will be executed one by one. This can be any command like construction, movement, attack, reclaim, repair, etc.
If turn on the Repeat command (green), then the unit will repeat/loop the sequence forever
Remove from queue
While holding SHIFT, issue a new construction on an existing item in the queue. This will remove / delete that one from the queue.
Quick build
You can also quickly build something in front of your existing queue. Check out how this works on the Queues Add in Front.
If a construction unit has a (long) queue setup, but you need to quickly build an Anti-Air defense for example.
Use ''Space'' and issue the priority build order
This will build this order 'in front of the original queue'.
The construction unit wil immediately go to the new build-order, construct the AA defense, and it will keep the initial queue in it's memory. After completion, it will go back to it's initial build-queue.
Z, X, C, V - for quick building of most frequently used structures. Press multiple times to get all the choices (z, zz,zzz, etc). See the infographic above.
The easiest way to reclaim is to use use your Right Mouse button when hovering over a reclaimable object.
You can also queue multiple reclaim commands with SHIFT + Right mouse click on any reclaimable object.
Even faster is holding down the Right Mouse button and dragging a circle, for Area Reclaim.
You can also reclaim units one by one with E + Left Mouse click
Select a construction unit and drag a circle (while hovering over a reclaimable object) to reclaim everything (of the same type) within the circle.
Reclaim Area is a contextual Reclaim Command
So it will reclaim only what is directly underneath your cursor (metal or energy). Hold right mouse and drag an area to reclaim all features of that type in the area you select.
You can also Queue multiple circles with SHIFT. (or see command queuing)
TIP: If you want to keep reclaiming an area you can also turn on REPEAT.
You can repair units by selecting a construction or resurrect unit and use Right Mouse click on any (damaged or unfinished) unit.
You can also use Right Mouse Drag to draw a circle in which every unit will be repaired.
TIP: If you want to keep repairing units, f.e. always within a circle on your front line, you can toggle REPEAT so repairs will always be done.
This is needed because with REPEAR |OFF, when all units are repaired the repair-command will end. If a next wave of enemies roll in and do damage, with REPEAT ON the repairs will recommence again when new damage is found.
.svg "in-game cursor")
You can upgrade T1 metal extractors one by one by simply selection a T2 Contruction unit and Right Click on any T1 mex to start upgrading.
TIP: Faster and easier could be the Upgrade Mex Area Command
Activate Repeat to make units continuously repeat their command or command queue.
This can be pretty handy, for example when you want to patrol without fighting, to stay on the move. This also helps with assist/repair bots, when used in combination with the Fight command » They will keep checking the area for things to do.
There are 3 Stances you can toggle between:
- Fire at Will
- Hold Fire
- Return Fire
Low Trajectory
Is the default and usually faster.
High trajectory
Optional setting which does more area damage, but can take longer to reload.
High Trajectory can be useful when terrain or other units/buildings are blocking.
The Wait command is very useful, since you can put factories or any unit on hold, without removing all of it's orders.
You can temporary pause Factories / Construction on hold to free up some resources.
You can also coordinate attacks/movement and let some units hold their positions, only to strike at the exact right time.
The Commander's Disintegrator Gun (DGun) is the ultimate weapon, destroying everything on contact.
Select this special attack with the "D" key, left-click to set a target, and watch your enemies melt in a ball of fire!
The DGun uses a significant amount of energy (500), and takes 1 second to reload.
Select a resurrection unit (Bot or Sub) and Right Click on any wreckage to revive that fallen unit.
Resurrection costs quite some energy, so make sure you have enough of that.
TIP: You can resurrect a lot faster (and more) with the Area Resurrect Command
PS. You can only resurrect wreckages that are still partly in tact. Rubble and debris cannot be resurrected.
You can draw lines by just dragging your mouse while holding down Q.
You can also add Labels, which work as pings.
You can do this by double clicking with your left mouse button, and then type the label text.
Alternatively you can double tap Q, which will also add a label.
You can also erase all drawings on the entire map by clicking the eraser icon in the bottom right corner of your screen.
You can clear and disable all drawings by doing CTRL+Click on this icon.
Pings are very useful for your allies.
You can quickly notify your team of urgent or important events/locations. Your allies will see and hear a noticable ping on their map and mini-map.
Just hold down Q and click your middle mouse button to ping your entire team. Your allies can then easily hit F3 to go to the latest Ping.
You can also add Labels, which are pings with text.
You can double tap Q and type your text for the ping, or double click with your left mouse, while holding down Q.
