Basic
GUIDE

To get started

How to start your base and first expansions

MAPPING QUICK LINKS

Commands used in this guide

Follow the below steps to get a good first impression of what the beginning of your game should roughly look like.

Metal

The 4 steps

The first things you need are:

  1. Metal from metal extractors
  2. Energy from solar collectors or wind generators
  3. Production of units from a factory
  4. Intel, by building radar and scouting
Check out each step in more detail below...

Metal

Metal is the scarcer of the two resources, requiring more time and space to acquire. Metal extractors are your primary production of metal. You should typically build 2-3 extractors before building anything else.

Metal extractors must be constructed on metal-rich deposits which are distributed across the map. Select a metal extractor in the build list or press F4 to reveal deposits in blue/green.

Metal extractors extract from an area, and must not be placed directly beside each other. Their range is indicated by a red circle. Pro tip: extraction ranges are usually larger than deposits, so extractors do not have to be perfectly centred on their deposits. Place extractors closer to your constructor to save time!

Metal may also be produced by converting energy. Learn more about Energy Converters.

Hold down shift to queue up multiple buildings in a row. Don't queue too many – remember to check what other units are doing!

Energy

Energy is a plentiful but crucial resource, used to build units and fire weapons. Keep a close eye on your resource bar to make sure you never run out.

Energy can be produced from many sources, most commonly from wind-generators and solar-collectors. You can also use geothermal powerplants and tidal-generators at tech level 1.

If average windspeed is above 10, Wind Generators are best.
If it's below 10, Solar Collectors are better.
If your are in water, you can build Tidal Generators

Hover your mouse over the windmill icon to see more info about wind energy generation.

Construction

Factories and construction units can construct additional buildings and units.

Depending on your strategy, start location and optionally your teammates, you will choose a factory to start with. Generally the order below is what is commonly used, though each map you fight on will have alternative advantages and disadvantages.

For the start of the game you can choose the following:

Bot Factory

The Bot Factory is called a Bot Lab. It produces bots which are relatively cheap and can traverse hilly terrain. Their low cost makes them great for scouting and rapid early expansion. However, bots have low armor and are not ideal for direct engagement with static defenses.

Vehicle Factory

The Factory for vehicles, called a Vehicle Plant, produces Vehicles and tanks, which are stronger, but overall slower than bots. If this fits your strategic plan, then vehicles can be your best bet.

Aircraft Factory

Aircraft are build in the Aircraft Plant and are both costly and weak; their benefit is in the element of surprise. Most units cannot target aircraft, so a lack of preparation may be catastrophic. Aircraft are best used once you're well established on the map, for surprise attacks and supporting allies. Construction aircraft build slowly, so prefer bot or vehicle constructors.

Shipyard

Shipyards are needed to build ships and submarines. Most often only viable when you play a water map. Ships, subs and amphibious units are expensive and metal hungry. Often not a wise choice for the first phase of your game.

There are more factories possible in BAR. In a later stage in the game you can also build Hovercraft, Seaplanes and Amphibious factories.

Intelligence

To be aware of any early attacks, called rushes, you need as much visual- and radar-intel as possible. So scouting with units is nice, but radar coverage is especially now very important.

Build radar towers a lot, since they are cheap and can provide crucial information of your enemies whereabouts and movement.

TIP: Also handy is to build one or two Light Laser Towers once you have metal, energy, production and intel.

If there are also Scavengers on your battleground, then radar is especially important because it will keep Scavengers away, as they operate in dark zones and don't initially show up in area's with radar or line of sight.