TB's RA2 Bible

Allied

Coming soon

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Soviet

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Soviet build

Soviet Build

Chapter 1: 1:1 1:2 1:3 1:4 1:5 1:6 1:7 1:8

Chapter 2: 2:1 2:2 2:3 2:4 2:5 2:6 2:7 2:8 2:9 2:10 2:11

Chapeter 3: 3:1 3:2 3:3 3:4 3:5 3:6 3:7 3:8 3:9 3:10

Chapter 4: 4:1 4:2 4:3 4:4 4:5 4:6 4:7 4:8 4:9 4:10 4:11 4:12 4:13 4:14 4:15 4:16 4:17

Chapter 5: 5:1 5:2 5:3 5:4 5:5 5:6 5:7 5:8 5:9 5:10 5:11 5:12 5:13 5:14 5:15 5:16 5:17

1:1. The biggest difference between allied and soviet miners is that allied miners can help make up for your build mistakes by chronoshifting back to a refinery after collecting ore. Soviet miners can not do this and if you make a build mistake as a soviet the impact on your cash can be increasingly more crippling on your funds to a much worse degree then if you are playing as allies. Soviet miners NEED to have a refinery at the patch they are gathering ore from or the resulting mid game trips to and from a second and third ore patch will leave you with insufficient funds for most of the game. When you take into consideration that the soviet game is based primarily on a sharp build up of tanks as fast as possible, it then makes sense that you need your miners to take the shortest possible trip from the refinery to the ore and back. For example, on heck freezes over you would most likely not win from any position against a good player unless you can AT LEAST build over your respective side of the cliff. That's where the money is, that's where your mid game survival is. If you don't get a refinery down there, your soviet miners will take unacceptably long trips around the cliffs to the ore and back. Your subsequent lack of funds will mean the game. I used that map as an example because of how bad your game goes right in the toilet if you CANT get over the cliff. As a soviet you can not be making mistakes like that and on any map, as your miner trips get longer your funds get shorter. If you are a soviet playing an ally, it may look as if though you have the upper hand in a game but if neither of you stretch your bases to your second and third ore patches, the ally will still make more cash. Why? because the allied miner trip is 50% shorter then the soviet miner trip. When gathering ore from distant patches (keeping in mind the allied miner only drives one way) if your opponent stops you from placing refineries next to distant ore patches or you simply don't do it, you probably aren't going to win even if your opponent also did not build properly. Half of the soviet game against any good player is in securing your rights to your respective second and third ore patches. And as you get better, securing your rights to your OPPONENTS respective second and third ore pathes.

1:2. On any given map the idea is the same. First of all, know the map your playing. Second of all, know where the first (or best) patch of ore is. Deploy conyard by hitting the "N" key then the "D" key and start your power plant. Before your power plant is done have your mouse over the spot you want to drop it, the second its ready hit the "Q" key, left click and place it, begin building barracks. When your barracks is ready place it the same as you did with the power plant and begin build a refinery and two dogs. Already you are building faster then 90% of players.

1:3. Scout properly and watch the progress of your refinery. do not lose a second in production. Again have your mouse over the spot you want your refinery to be BEFORE its ready. The second its done, "Q" key, left click, begin building a war factory. It should take no more then one half of one second to place a structure and begin another one.

1:4. Now that your war factory is building Think about where you are in the game because you most likely just got done making a huge tactical error. The following is The best tip I can give you at this point in the game and its a little thing that no one mentions and ive never seen two people talk about. I have also never seen any reference to it made any other guide. I have only seen about 50 or so players actually do it do yet I believe that anyone who has ever finished in the top ten honestly, knows about and employs this method.

"The shortest possible trip" ____________________________

1:5. As soon as you place your refinery you will start building your war factory and continue scouting, right? are you sure there's nothing you forgot? I'll show you what you forgot and what you probably didn't even know. This is essential if you are a soviet looking to be a top player. When you place your refinery watch your miner for a second. Notice what it did? or is it not strange to you that they tend to drive over the ore that's right in front of them to go gather ore from the same patch but from farther away? Well, that's what they do if left to do whatever they want. I know of people who played this game for years and NEVER put any emphasis on countering this problem. I think people don't understand how big this really because 99% of the time I know this is the reason I get accused of having cash hack. If you have not figured it out yet, I will spell it out for you.

1:6. When you place your refinery, immediately select the miner and order it to the CLOSEST POSSIBLE section of ore at that patch. Get it? Tell it to pick up the ore that is just at the edge of the patch and right next to your refinery. Your miner wont drive all over the patch for ore and you only have to give the order once, from then on it will keep going to the closest possible ore each time it returns to the patch. You will do this with each miner you produce wheather it comes from a refinery or a war factory. Order it to the closest possible ore and continue on with your build. I have this method totally mastered. All my miners move to a new patch of ore at the same time and when they get to it they cut a near perfect half moon shape into it. they do NOT make patchwork of the ore as your miners probably often do. Practice this in every game you play. See if you can remember to do it every time. It will give you a substantial production advantage if done properly.

1:7. The implications of this are unlimited. For example, if you are playing against another soviet. You can produce more of any given unit then your opponent can before running low on funds. this advantage will only become more one sided in your favor as the game progresses because each miner your opponent produces is one more miner that is taking longer trips on the average when compared to any given miner of yours. So when each of you has five miners on the map, the cash gap can between two players can be like night and day. On the average, your opponents five miners are all making trips that are longer then your five miners. One miner, small advantage, five miners, large advantage.

1:8. Here comes some simple math. On country swing for example, you and your opponent may both have four miners collecting ore from both of your respective first patches. If your opponent does not direct his miners as I have explained and you do, you would be able to support two war factories with with four miners while if your opponent then tried to match your build rate with his own four miners he would have insufficient funds up to twice as often as you do. Because his miners are not making the shortest possible trip to and from the ore and yours are, for the time being this difference can make your miners one to two times more valuable then his as yours are dropping off cash more often on the average. You will almost ALWAYS be able to afford two three or four warfacs faster then your opponent but with the same number of miners. This will often cause your opponent to follow your build because he will feel that if he does not match your number of war factories he will fall behind and be out produced. In his attempt to match your level of production his funds will screech to a halt when he builds a second warfac and he will be out produced. You, with an equal number of miners may be able to put down your second warfac and constantly produce tanks while building your next structure. By using this in combination with the "pause" method (seen 1/20) you will refine your build as a soviet so that you are never broke, never NOT building, and your opponent goes broke trying to keep up.

Continued from 1:4. ___________________

2:1. Picking up from where I left off, You have just placed your initial refinery and begun production of your war factory. Scout the rest of the map, I use two dogs because fewer is better but if one gets killed I DO replace him. You want to scout the map but at the same time you have to spend every penny of your starting cash with some thought behind it. DO NOT produce five dogs for scouting, that's 1000 cash gone. too much to spend that early if you don't have to.

2:2. When your war factory is ready, place it just as you did with all your other structures, have your mouse over the area it is to be placed and when its ready, "Q" key, left click, begin a second refinery and begin producing one miner. By now you should at least be able to see some of your opponents base. The most important structure to uncover is the war factory, mainly so you can see how many miners your opponent produces.

"The law of miner production" _____________________________

2:3. It makes no difference what map your on, one thing is always true. If your build is swift you can ALWAYS produce one more miner then your opponent. This is part of the reason its so important to uncover your opponents war factory. If he goes straight to tanks, you produce one miner. If he goes one miner you go two. If he goes two you go three. After three I recommend switching to tanks regardless of what your opponent does. You may think, "if I produce one miner and my opponent goes straight to tanks, he can rush me with greater numbers". No he cant.

2:4. Here some more simple math, If you build one miner from your war factory and your opponent goes straight to tanks, he can not produce any more then two tanks before your first miner is done and you begin production on your own tanks. we will then say he produces five more tanks and tries to rush. At this exact moment you will have five tanks to his seven and one extra miner. When you see the rush coming, produce two dogs and get a sentry gun ready to place but do not place it. Keeping your dogs in front of your tanks you position yourself to defend the rush and as soon as your opponents units come into range you place the sentry between your units and his while you counter rush.

2:5. What about the two tank disadvantage? By the time his rush gets to you, you have built two tanks to compensate (one on small maps but the sentry gun makes up for that and a one tank disadvantage, seven to six, is nothing to worry about) This is why you can ALWAYS build one more miner then your opponent. At this point in the game (should it develop this way) you have the advantage by a miner. Your opponent will either pull back his rush or press on with the understanding that he will most likely not beat you if the rush fails.

2:6. However, a player of superior control CAN go straight to tanks and win with a disadvantage of one miner. Make sure you practice good tank control so as not to let that happen.

Continued from 2:2. ___________________

2:7. While your second refinery and first miner are producing there's not much to be done other then continue to scout out the map. Keep in mind what there is around you to work with and think ahead. Where will you be in five minutes? where's the second patch of ore? are you stretching your base in that direction? When playing against another soviet, you should also get a sentry gun ready at this point incase your opponent plans on droning you. You can always cancel the sentry gun if your opponent does not try.

2:8. Your first miner will be ready before your second refinery, if you see no tanks come out of your opponents war factory it means he has produced or is still producing a miner, you will begin a second miner and your second refinery will be ready shortly after. When your second refinery is ready, place it in the most advantageous spot possible. In other words, place it more on top of the ore then your first one was placed IF you can. Once your second refinery is placed, you will sell on of them. Keep whichever one you believe is in a better position. Before selling off one of your two refineries, begin producing a third refinery, then sell either refinery "A" or refinery "B". Place, Build, Sell is faster then Place, sell, build.

2:9. You want to continue along these lines until one of two things happens. A; Your opponent indicates his intent to get violent. or B; you have either four miners on a small map or five miners on a large one. Whatever the case may be, any and all additional structures you build should be placed to reach toward your mid and late game ore.

2:10. At the point of mid game (both sides are producing offensing units) you will produce a steady stream of tanks as well as the additional structures you may need before putting down a second war factory. If you are planning on a three minute rush I do not recommend building radar, go straight for a second war factory as soon as you have the four miners to support it. Some people wait until they have five miners. I recommend that only if you have low confidence. If you are unsure of your abilities then build a third refinery making your total number of miners five (two from the warfac and three from refineries) place your second war factory after your third refinery.

2:11. When it comes to building a additional war factories, some players put down a second when they have four miners, some put down a second when they have five miners. Whatever your preference one thing is certain. You can not support three war factories with five miners if you also intend to keep producing structures. You will need six miners.

"The pause method" __________________

3:1. Let us set up a hypothetical scenario. You are on country swing (any position) You have just placed your second war factory. You now have five miners one refinery and two war factories. If at this point you don't see a clear and definite wavering in the abilities of your opponent, you are probably going to need to out produce him. The reason many soviets blow the game while playing a skilled opponent is that they think six miners equals freedom to build everything at once. In other words. You have six miners and your opponent has six miners. You both have two war factories. You build tanks, a tesla coil. desolators, and a battle lab. Your opponent builds tanks and a third war factory. Who wins? your opponent does. Why? because you could not realistically produce on all four of your tabs (structures, defense, units, infantry) as a soviet unless you had about ten or so miners because no matter how many miners you have, they still have to physically travel to and from the refinery. In fact you will notice that even while building only tanks and another structure (2 tabs) you may still have insufficient funds some of the time EVEN if you have four miners or so. Remember the following, its a basic rule of thumb.

3:2. 3 miners 1 war factory = 1 tab steady, 2 using the pause method 4 miners 1 war factory = 1 tab steady, 2 using the pause method 5 miners 2 war factories = 2 tabs steady, 3 using the pause method 6 miners 2 war factories = 2 tabs steady, 3 or 4 using the pause method 7 miners 3 war factories = 2 tabs 3 steady at times or 4 using the pausing method 8 miners 3 war factories = 2 to 3 tabs steady at times or 4 using the pausing method 9 or more miners 3 war factories = All 4 tabs while pausing any given tab at times.

3:3. any one of the above can be changed in one very simple way. Assuming you are building a steady stream of tanks, take away one tab for every extra war factory you add. for example..

3:4. 5 miners 2 war factories = 2 tabs steady, 3 using the pause method BUT 5 miners 3 war factories = 1 tab steady (tanks) 2 using the pause method (extra refinery while pausing tanks if cash gets low or extra tanks while pausing refinery if cash gets low, get it?) 5 miners 4 war factories = 0 tabs steady. You will at some point begin to have insufficient funds even if you build only tanks and all five of your miners are on the same ore patch. It would take six miners (five for gems)

3:5. I basically just described what pausing is but I will now explain exactly how to do it. The trick to pausing a tab correctly is to do it while you still have cash. In doing so, you will avoid having to cancel that tab. Here's an example of what I mean. You have four miners and two war factories. You are building rhino tanks at a steady pace while building a refinery for a fifth miner. As your cash begins to run low you have 2 options. Pause the refinery or pause your tanks. You should pause one or the other when your cash goes below 500 or so. By pausing one tab you slow down your rate of spend thus allowing another tab to continue producing while your miners bring back cash, you then resume building on two tabs. Pause one so the other can continue until cash is dropped off at which point you resume both. pausing a tab for as little as 6 or 7 seconds at a time can be more then sufficient. The point is that if you DID NOT pause a tab your funds would be insufficient and you would not be able to build anything until cash was dropped off. You should NEVER allow this to happen.

3:6. Because I have good control, I will almost always pause my tanks in order to allow a structure to finish. This is good to do if you want your next refinery to finish without a hitch. It also works the other way for those of you who would rather not pause your tanks, even for a second. You may notice your funds running low, see that your miners are still collecting ore, and pause your structure for several seconds so that your tank production will not be halted. Once cash is dropped off you will then resume construction of and complete your structure. If you DID NOT pause either tab, you would run out of cash and have to wait for your miners before you could continue building anything at all. One, then the other, is better then waiting for both.

3:7. pausing is mainly for the earlier stages of the game to compensate for lack of miners. But it can be done at any stage of the game and for any reason. By pausing what you believe to be the less necessary of two tabs, you allow what you believe is the more necessary of two tabs to continue producing until cash is dropped off.

3:8. Fortunately RA2 is user friendly. When you hear "insufficient funds" DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Don't just ACKNOWLEDGE it. Lets say you have 0 cash. you have five tanks producing, one of them is half way done. You also have a refinery producing, it is also half way done. You Have four miners out collecting. How do you fix your situation? You cancel the refinery and immediately start it again. In doing so you put 1000 cash in the bank and that should definitely be enough for you to continue your tanks, start the refinery again and produce on both tabs until cash arrives. By pausing make sure you NEVER have insufficient funds. By canceling you make a big mistake smaller.

3:9. Pausing, if you ever do it at all, should never have to be done but during the early game. It should never be done more then two or three times and never for more then ten seconds at a time. If you need to pause a tab numerous times to avoid insufficient funds it probably means you made a build mistake or your miners are driving all over the ore patch.

3:10. After using this method regularly you will become more familiar with how much you can and can not build and when. You will become so good with cash that you will eventually learn pausing is not even necessary. Maybe once or twice is all. You will learn when to NOT build even though you have to cash to do so, because you will remember, "last time this made me go broke" and you will wait seven or eight seconds first. I prefer to let people learn from experience and so I will leave this where it. practice pausing and practice avoiding the need to pause or even cancel tabs. They entire purpose of the pause method is to ensure that you NEVER have insufficient funds. If you ever have insufficient funds, you either made a build mistake or you are pausing tabs too late.

Continued from 2:11. ____________________

4:1. By now you are producing tanks at a steady pace. If you do not have radar yet, you should build it and you should most DEFINITELY build it if your opponent has it. Once you have radar do you begin building desolators? no. Why? Because of everything I just got done talking about. At this point you are producing tanks but you are not yet done producing structures. Build desolators only if your opponent both has them and you believe he is intends to rush soon. If not you can counter with a few drones for the time being while you continue on with your base and rush build up.

4:2. When your first patch of ore is almost dead you MUST have a refinery ready to be place right next to your second patch of ore. neglecting to do so will cost you the game many times. When you place your refinery next to the new patch you will order each of your miners to the new ore patch one at a time after they drop off a last load at the old patch. Once all miners have made the transition to the new patch, sell the one or two refineries you had ad the old patch and then build, place and KEEP a second refinery next to the new patch. Having followed this section correctly up to this point, you should already have a large number of tanks. At the point you refine the second ore patch and abandon the old one your cash will skyrocket. now is the time to stop producing everything but offensive units. No more structures, no more sentry guns, no more nothing but tanks and desolators. If however, your opponent has more war factories then you do, you should even it up if you don't believe you can win with what you have.

4:3. Although you are now producing tanks like a madman and think you will never go broke, you should still know where your next ore patch is. Now that you aren't producing structures, there's no reason you can not move your conyard to the next patch and cover it with your rush. most times that's exactly what may will do. If repacks are not on, the best way to stretch long distances is with barracks. And trust me, you can build up or down most any cliff on any map, don't let those get in your way. When your second patch of ore is running low get that refinery built and make the transition the same way you did from the first patch to the second.

4:4. Lots of cash, lots of tanks, lots of desolators, four war factories, but still your opponent is keeping up and the ore is almost totally gone? That's your fault not mine. No build can substitute good control. Only though many games combined with reading and comprehending the later sections of this guide will you understand what to do with what a good build provides.

Building Vs Allies __________________

4:5. The main difference to your build will be that you are probably going to need anti air of some type, at some point. You want to have as little as possible anti air while whatever ally your playing (if he's good) wants to force you to build as much anti air as possible. Your build will be generally the same but if you know for a fact that your opponent is producing racketeers on a large scale, you are going to need one to several flack cannons. The reason for this is that even though you may have plenty of flack tracks, your opponent will stick you in your base with the rocketeers because as soon as you leave your base, the rocketeers will destroy it and if you leave your flack at your base the rocketeers will attack your tanks. You need both flack tracks and flack cannons.

4:6. The best way to get it done if you know your opponent is going to be hostile from the air is by producing flack tracks early. A skilled ally will most definitely attack you with either his first rocketeer or a small group of them very fast. What he's trying to do is not win the game, but force you to build a flack or flack tracks. He will then get his rocketeer(s) home before you kill them if he can. What he just did was force you to spend cash on something OTHER then tanks, in doing so the build up of your rush is hindered. It is better to use flack tracks to cover the air early for two reasons. The first being that you are going to need flack tracks later on anyway. The second reason being that you may then get a flack cannon ready at your own behest, rather then using a flack cannon to cover at a higher price and risking that the rocketeers will simply attack any other interests you may have on the map. The best anti air is mobile anti air.

4:7. Once you have a flack cannon ready, do not place it until you can no longer cover your base with flack tracks alone. Once your base is too large to cover it all with flack tracks you will place the flack cannon at one side of your base, protect your tanks and the other side of your base with your flack tracks, and get another flack cannon ready at your next earliest convenience. The reason for this is that in the event of an air attack by harriers or eagles, you will pull your flack tracks back to flack cannon "A" and place flack cannon "B" in the flight path of the enemy planes as they com into range (most likely they are pursuing the flack tracks if your opponent is Korea)

4:8. You should now fully understand how to use Flack tracks and flack cannons in combination. When your eventual attack is ready to go, make sure every square inch of your base is covered with flack cannons as you will be bringing all your flack tracks in with your tanks.

4:9. If your enemy has a large amount of rocketeers I recommend at least two more power plants then you need to support the flack cannons. This will give you time to decide wheather or not you will need to make a few flack tracks at your base if the situation gets starts to get thick.

4:10. All of the above have one true thing in common. You don't want to have to do any of them. Flack slows down your rush build up and forces you to spend cash on what you can not fight with. Building flack cannons can also disrupt your build order badly if your playing an ally who really knows how to turn the pressure up from the air.

4:11. Tip; In times of surplus, you may fill your flack tracks with flack troops. This works especially well if your playing Korea. A good Korean player can and will attack and kill as many as ten or more flack tracks at once without taking more then a loss or two at most. You may fill your flack tracks with anywhere between two and five flack troops a piece and act none the wiser when an you see six eagles headed toward your six flack tracks. Select the flack tracks, hit that "D" key and watch what happens.

"MCV sell" __________

4:12. If you have to win games like this your in serious trouble as far as skill goes but I will give you the best order I know of. Deploy conyard, Power, Barracks, Refinery, War factory. Some people will go straight to tanks, I believe this is a mistake because you will only have two miners to sustain your rush. The key to winning like this is a sharp, sustained rush.

4:13. After you lay down your war factory, start another refinery and produce one miner, then tanks. when your second refinery is done, place it, sell it, sell your MCV, produce a few dogs and start the engineer you got from selling your mcv running toward your opponents base some players will make a flack track for the engineer and the several conscripts though I don't think that's a good idea, producing a flack track defeats the purpose of what your trying to do which is have more tanks then your opponent.

4:14. You now have three miners, one refinery, one war factory and your cash is not going to run out until the patch of ore you are collecting from is dead because you are only building steady on one tab.

4:15. The "do's" of this are as follows. Do, remember to bring every conscript and dog you have. If the rush doesn't work your dead, don't go off half cocked. Do, confront all enemy units directly. Screwing around, trying to jockey for position against enemy tanks, trying to lure in enemy fodder and kill it, forget all that, that's what you do in a regular game. You are confronting a force that can not possibly match yours at this point. Move in, get your units together and go straight in fodder first. Your only tactical move should be the possible need to flank sentry guns. Do, go for the miners. After you have killed all enemy units, go straight for your opponents miners if you don't have more then five or six tanks. Sentry guns and drones or pillboxes and rocketeers are bad news for a smaller group of rhinos. If your unsure of your ability to finish off a base with the number of tanks you have left after confrontation, go straight for the miners, get as many as you can. Your second wave will surely finish the job.

4:16. The "do not's" of this are as follows. Do not, build a second war factory. As much as I wish you could it just is not realistic. try as you may you will have insufficient funds any way you slice it. The only way to build a second war factory is to go, Deploy conyard, power, barracks, refinery, war factory, one miner, war factory, sell MCV. If you do that your funds will not run out initially yet you will only have one build up before your cash hits 0 and when your cash hits 0 during an MCV sell/rush, your dead. From then on it will be, two tanks "insufficient funds" two tanks "insufficient funds" two tanks "insufficient funds". You need a steady stream of tanks. Do not, Build radar. Once again, it would be nice but building it throws a monkey wrench in the works. Plus, the only reason you would build radar is to produce desolators. Tanks and desolators? impossible. Do not, waste your engineer. You get one free engineer out of this, make it count. If you can get him to your opponents base it can mean the game. Your opponent will have to confront a stronger force AND stop an engineer.

4:17. Countering an MCV sell is childs play. Deploy conyard, power, barracks, refinery, war factory, one miner, refinery, sell, couple of dogs, sentry gun ready, then STOP. Produce only tanks right along with your opponent and ride out the rush. You will stop the rush because you have the advantage of base defense. Because you stopped producing structures you will have the cash to keep covering your defending force with sentry gun after sentry gun. Your opponent will soon swing himself out. Resume building, finish the game.

"Actual Build orders" _____________________

5:1. Small map (2) example, Little big lake (TOP) Deploy conyard Power Barracks (scout, sentry gun, sell if not needed) Refinery (order miner to gems) War factory (Miner, order to gems, tanks, flack?) Refinery (sell, order miner to gems) Refinery (sell, transition to ore when all miners are done with gems) Power Radar Battle lab Naval yard Dreadnaught at about five minutes

5:2. "Once you take control of the water you will be rushed. Get a sentry gun ready and maybe two or three desolators if you can afford them. The game rarely goes past this point but if it does and you need to switch to another ore patch, I recommend moving the the ore patch located southwest of your conyard. It is more easily accessible and you can counter a rush on your miners most effectively from that location.

5:3. Little big lake (BOTTOM) Deploy conyard PowerBarracks (scout, sentry gun, sell if not needed) Refinery (next to gems) War factory (close to gems, miner, tanks, flack?) Refinery (next to gems, sell) Refinery (next to the ore patch on your right. Keep two refineries for the time being, you still have gems at this point) Power (move the three miners you have at the gems one by one to the ore patch on your right as the drop off the last gems) Sell refinery at the gems Radar Battle lab Naval yard Dreadnaught at about five minutes

5:4. "Again, in taking control of the water you will most definitely be rushed. Ready a sentry gun and maybe some desolators. your opponent will most likely try to come straight down on you from the north which is what you want. If the game goes deeper and you need to move to another patch of ore, the patch to the northeast (other side of lake) is meant to be taken by bottom. With either of these two build orders, your opponent may not necessarily even try to compete over the water but build a second war factory instead. Practice good control and practice this map. In time you will learn how to incorporate a second war factory AND naval yard with battle lab when using these build orders. As I described, its all about pausing tabs. If your good you will figure this out.

5:5. Tips for Little big lake; When you begin your dreadnaught, pause ANY tabs that may hinder its progress (preferably tanks if you can) If you decide to build a second war factory, do so only after taking control of the water. You will need either to build another power plant or sell your battle lab. I sell the lab. Be especially attentive to your miners if you are on the bottom and they have to refine the northeast patch. This position is the most easily accessible to your opponent. Beware of your opponent (north) sending a splinter group of rhinos east then south.

5:6. Medium map (4) example, Country swing (TOP) Deploy conyard Power Barracks (scout, sentry gun, sell if not needed) Refinery War factory (two miners, tanks, flack?) Refinery (sell garrison a house?) Refinery (sell garrison again?) Refinery (keep) Power (towards second patch of ore) Radar (towards second patch of ore) Power (towards second patch of ore) War factory (still reaching toward second patch if you need to) War factory War factory Refinery (second patch, sell one at first patch) Refinery (second patch, sell remaining refinery at first patch when ore is gone and move all miners to the second patch

You may then stop everything and go...

Power War factory (at which point you have eight miners and five war factories) War factory (necessary? or would battle lab, kiore be better?)

5:7. You may also move your conyard to the cliff on your respective side and build, barracks then a refinery in the crevasse for gems. Some people go for the gems early which I do not recommend but if you are intent on doing it, its easiest from bottom left.

5:8. Country swing (BOTTOM) Deploy conyard Power Barracks (scout, sentry gun, sell if not needed) Refinery War factory (two miners, tanks, flack?) Refinery (sell, garrison a house?) Refinery (sell, garrison?) Refinery (keep)

5:9. If you are bottom left you may then stretch north to the cliff and place a refinery in the crevasse faster then if you started from any other position. If you decide to do this, I recommend placing your fourth refinery in the crevasse rather then building another one specifically for that purpose. If you did build another one, by the time you placed two refineries on your second patch of ore (located to the east) you would have nine miners. Nine is too many.

Power (towards second patch of ore) Radar (towards second patch of ore) Power (towards second patch of ore) War factory (still reaching toward second patch if you need to) War factory War factory Refinery (second patch, sell one at first patch) Refinery (second patch, sell remaining refinery at first patch when ore is gone and move all miners to the second patch

But first...

5:10. "can you also get the gems on the other side of the river in the crevasse? sell the refinery and move the miner to your second ore patch if you do not believe your opponent will allow it"

5:11. The more war factories you can put down in a row the better but if you are not confident enough to wait so long as these builds require, try this instead.

5:12. Country swing (TOP or BOTTOM) Deploy conyard Power Barracks (scout Refinery (two miners, tanks, flack?) War factory Refinery (sell) Refinery (keep) Power War factory

5:13. You may then stop everything but tank production (flack when needed) Wait about 15 seconds and begin building toward the second patch of ore. You wait because when you have five miners two refineries and two warfacs, your cash will increase as long as you build only tanks. After 10-15 seconds or so, Multiple ore drop offs will allow you to resume steady production of both tanks and structures (pausing has also been avoided) It is less expensive but more dangerous to simply move your conyard to the second patch of ore after laying down your second war factory. Do so only if you have scouted well. In any case, your next goal is to place two refineries at the new patch of ore, move your original five miners to the new patch of ore when the first patch is dead, and sell the two refineries at the first patch of ore.

You may then go...

Power Radar War factory War factory, for a total of two refineries, seven miners and four war factories. Halt all production but that of offensive units.

5:14. Tips for Country swing; If you aren't building toward the cliff or your second patch of your, you should be building toward the middle. An attack from either the left or right should be all but impossible and the one who reaches the middle with tanks, desolators and a sentry gun will have a clear offensive advantage. From this position, try to eye ball the minimum safe firing distance for a v3. You may be able to reach structures from where you can not be hit back. Similarly, a v3 may be used to knock out a refinery placed into the crevasse by your opponent. If you DO decide to tech up and bring out a kirov, build two not one. At the point in the game your enemies base is spread wide and you should have at least three war factories. Two kirovs can be produced very fast and you can split them up making your opponent scramble to cover two sides of his base. He may also attack the second your first kirov is produced. If he does, cancel the second Kirov and go back to tanks.

5:15. Large map (6-8) example, heck freezes over (TOP RIGHT). Deploy conyard Power Barracks (scout, sentry gun, sell if not needed) Refinery (next to gems/ore, get gems) War factory (close to gems/ore, miner get gems, tanks, flack?) Refinery (next to gems/ore, sell) Refinery (again next to the gems/ore but building downward)

After you get the gems the ore is in a strip doing downward and there is a tree that may get in the way of your placing, kill the tree ahead of time as it DOES have a tendency to be right where you want your refinery to go. you then go...

Power (directly under conyard) Barracks (directly under the power plant you just placed and right on the edge of the cliff)

Your first patch of ore still have some left and your cash is good so...

Radar (placed over the edge of the cliff, a few desolators if there is pressure) Refinery (also over the side of the cliff, right next to the ore)

Right about this time your miners should be finishing off the first patch of ore. As they drop off the last of the cash send them to the next ore patch you just refined by sending them around the cliff south east. don't let them go west then south, it takes longer and they do it sometimes.

War factory (Now building toward the east to get to the last level of cliff)

5:16. You should now not have any trouble going over the last level of cliff by building off your second war factory to the south east. Power plant, barracks, barracks over the cliff. Barracks, barracks, barracks over the cliff, whatever you prefer. Its what you do once you GET down there that counts. If you manage to build right up to the gems and place a refinery, do not send all your miners to the gems, it will cause a terrible lapse in cash. watch your miners (the ones collecting ore from the second level) and send them down one by one as they drop off cash.

You now have six miners and they will all be on the gems within a minute. Make sure your power will suffice and...

War factory War factory War factory

5:17. Tips for heck freezes over; Heck freezes over has more good potentially good build orders then any other map, from the middle you can build anywhere you want. What direction you got to the middle from makes no difference. Once your there you can build north, south, east or west, back up the cliff to the second level opposite the side you came from. Infact, I once observed a very good game in which one player built from bottom left to top right. He went down to the second level, down to the gems, continued building toward top right, back up to the second level, back up to the top level using the same path you would use to get to the gems from top right. Part of the key to being a good heck player is understanding there is ALWAYS more cash. You don't stop just because you got the middle.

"Submitted build orders" ________________________

-Submitted by Aeg1gtank Medium map (4) example, Montana Dmz (BOTTOM RIGHT)

Deploy conyard Power Barracks (2 dogs, 1 engineer (get Para drop) or what ever takes ur fancy Refinery at gems below MCV War factory (below port if you got it, build miner drone then tanks) Refinery (at gems below war factory) Refinery (at the big patch of gems) Send your miners from the gem patch at your base to the big gem patch Power War factory (above Para drop) war factory (to the left of the previous one) Now you can fit another war factory in with no money trouble, but build a refinery and then you have five miners on the gems. Take the game from there, if u lose ur a newb

More build orders to be added. Soviet section two to come.

Writen by: T.B

Edited by: Law-less