No-Rushing in Real-Time Strategy Games

So are we allowed rushing or not?

No Rushing is a very popular rule in real-time strategy games. The idea is that all players agree on a set amount of time at the beginning of which no one can attack. There is often game setting that allows you to do so, but you can likely trust the other players as well. Most players favor no rushing, and so it is usually respected.

It is important that you understand how to take advantage of the no rushing time. Instead of dividing up your resources between securing more and producing a force, you must spend all your resources on securing resources.

This means you must first become familiar about the scenario or map you are playing on. You have to know where each resource is and how to extract them.

You must now ask yourself these questions. You need to figure out how much you will produce in the allotted time, and how you will spend those resources. You must spend all your resources before the no-rush time is depleted. Therefore, if a production building can only produce tanks slowly, then you should build more production buildings. You must be careful to not spend too much on such buildings, as any uneccesary resources spent will decrease the overall strength of your force.

I recommend you perform these calculations beforehand, as the time not spent counting can be spent on securing more resources and troops.

Once you have a considerable force, you should then strategically attack the enemy with literally everything you have. If there are key buildings or fortifications that should be taken out, consider them before your attack. If your force needs to be engaged in a fight against an opposing force, then you should really just go ahead and do so. If you've properly built your troops, then you should be able to take on the force and carry on with your attack. If your troops survive the attack - which they should - there should be no real defences to stand in your way.

Key lesson? Preparation before the match, and then unhesitating execution.

Why Ambushes are Deadly in Real-Time Strategy Games

Why are ambushes so effective in dispatching your enemies? Here is a brief summary of why you should consider setting ambushes when you play a strategy games.

Ambushing is very similar to how a hunter hunts their prey. They set a trap, and wait for their prey to fall into the trap, making the kill very easy. Ambushing is the art of hiding your troops, and waiting for your enemies to pass a favorable spot for a skirmish before attacking first.

Firstly, a proper ambush applies the element of surprise. After launching an ambush, your enemies would become disarrayed while your troops are carrying out their duties with the most deadly efficiency. This means that you will be able to cause a substantial amount of damage before your enemy gets their bearings. At this time, you should have already wiped out most of the oppositional troops before they can make a significant difference.

Let’s put ambushing into a scenario. You are hiding twenty infantry units in the forest. A small strike force crosses the forest path. The strike force composes of thirty-five infantry units. As get closer to your troops’ position, they exit their hiding spots and fire. The twenty infantry manage to neutralize fourteen infantry within the first bullet barrage. The enemy infantry are scattered and confused, randomly shooting. They manage to nick four of your infantry. Your infantry launch another barrage of bullets, taking out a larger amount of infantry now that they can aim for their target. They neutralize sixteen of the enemy infantry. The enemy is left with five infantry units. They are too small a force to do considerable damage, and surrender.

Of course in a video game, the rules and gameplay may vary. Nevertheless, the option to set an ambush is always a tactic that should not be ignored. There are games where ambush attacks would cause more damage, or may surprise an enemy unit and render it unresponsive for several seconds. There are even scenarios where you can place a few infantry in ambush and destroy tanks when they launch the surprise. No matter what ambushing does, do it.

In real-time strategy games, hiding your troops may literally hide your units! R.U.S.E., for example, allows you to place artillery and infantry in forests. This hides the units from the enemy’s eyes. Whenever a unit discloses their position to attack, they also gain a 30% damage boost, which allows less deadly units to do much more damage, especially en masse! On top of all that, and because this is a video game, the units go back into hiding, allowing them to use the damage boost until they exit the forested area or are destroyed.

If you haven’t gotten the gist of the article yet, use ambushes as much as you can. Depending on your game, your units can become stronger, you can make your enemy disorganized, you can make your enemy scared (actual factor in certain games), and many other kinds of advantages that a strategist like you appreciate.

Stay updated with Decent Gamer. In the near future, many examples of ambushes will be further elaborated and explained.

Taking Advantage of Chokepoints in Strategy Games

Strategy war games almost always have scenarios where there are chokepoints. Chokepoints can be a huge advantage to winning a strategy game. This article will explain what a chokepoint is and how it can be used.

A chokepoint is a small narrow path where enemy troops have to funnel through in order to reach another area. These chokepoints are usually bridges or paths between forests and mountains. Basically, chokepoints are where you can expect enemy soldiers to move through in some point of the game.

To take advantage of this, you should try to overwhelm and dominate chokepoints as soon as possible. This will cause your enemy to be cut off from a passageway. This also makes you more maneuverable. If the enemy can’t get there and you can, you can collect resources or create a strike force, or do something useful with the space your enemy doesn’t have.

One of the best examples of using a chokepoint is playing on Advance Wars. I’ll quickly explain a scenario that I encountered during gameplay. In short, there was a bridge. The enemy had tanks, but I only had infantry. I had more resources, but I needed time to build ordnance. I placed the infantry on the bridge to stall the tanks and wait for reinforcements. In the time my infantry bought, I was able to produce more and even stronger tanks than the enemy, which provided me a very easy win.

In another example, chokepoints can also be used as excellent spots to hold an ambush. As explained above, the enemy and you will some point have to traverse through chokepoints on the map. Say that a chokepoint is made due to forests on either side of the road. You know that the enemy will be sending a large battalion of tanks and infantry. In response, before the enemy send the attack, you place your own infantry equipped with anti-tank and personnel weapons (explosives all the way!) behind the bushes and trees. As the battalion moves through the forest, your ambush can quickly eliminate the opposing forces, or at the very least do very significant damage.

Chokepoints in strategy games are tactical positions that should be held early on in the game to provide an advantage in the middle-game stage. Just remember, whoever gets to the chokepoint first owns it!