Noob needs help

[CypressX15]

Hey, i've just recently started playin emperor online w/the atreidis, and i cannot win, my opponent always has a higher econ., more vehicles etc etc, and i can't get a foothold fast enough to defend...i want to ask some of you higher up atreidis to list like the first 10 or so things you do for a succesfull game.

[Gunseng_Harkonnen]

To playing as Atreides, you should build at first barrack, fast make some kindjals and snipers and put on cliff. Then build factory and rafinery. Upgrade rafinery and you will have already three harvester, don`t wait with upgrading cos later you will need a LOT of money.

1. Have two rafineries. Its more important against human player cos he too build good defence, usually without wall and with strong vehicles.

2. Have minos in defence with mangooses. Mangooses should be in backup to shot down any air units. Minos works to against mass attack, they can start shooting while enemy is far from main defence if you put them on rocks around base.

3. If you have spicefield near base always have some units as defence on cliff if they aren`t near main defence entry.

4. When you will have upgraded rafinery, build new facrory, you will have more vehicles in the same time. If you play with big amount of money, first build two factories. Or upgrade in the same time of building.

5. If you build turrets build gun, they can face early rush with some minos.

[Navaros]

Hey, i've just recently started playin emperor online w/the atreidis, and i cannot win, my opponent always has a higher econ., more vehicles etc etc, and i can't get a foothold fast enough to defend...i want to ask some of you higher up atreidis to list like the first 10 or so things you do for a succesfull game.

It depends what type of game you are talking about. Do you mean for Quickmatch games? Skirmish games? If it is skirmish games then specify what settings you are talking about.

Atreides are weak in the early game and you definitely have to lay down buildings just as fast as your opponent or you will lose for sure. If you are more specific about what settings you are playing on and what problems you are having people would be able to help you better.

[CypressX15]

The games i usually see and play in are the 10-30k fisher plains games, no one really seems to be playing ne thing else, i build as fast as i can...First: i lay down my mcv towards the back of the base, then i build a barracks and upgrade it so i can pump out a decent amount of kindjals/snipers to defend against an early rush. I build a factory and upgrade that also so i can get a mino, then i go with a couple of mongooses. I build a refinery upgrade it fully, and build another one, all the while pumping out mongooses and mino's, but the opponent still manages to get things built ten times ahead of me, and usually rushes me in mid-game with 20-30 gunships, or if i am playing the atreidis, i get slaughtered with a mino-hoard (Minos, airdrones, mongooses and smaller anti infantry)

[Timenn]

Don't forget you build twice as fast with 3 factories above 1. And the Gunship rush is truely a pain. The only way to defeat that is having a big army, and rush the Harkonnen. Or another way to take out the Hangars, and the Conyard, and the Helipads!

[Navaros]

The games i usually see and play in are the 10-30k fisher plains games, no one really seems to be playing ne thing else, i build as fast as i can...First: i lay down my mcv towards the back of the base, then i build a barracks and upgrade it so i can pump out a decent amount of kindjals/snipers to defend against an early rush. I build a factory and upgrade that also so i can get a mino, then i go with a couple of mongooses. I build a refinery upgrade it fully, and build another one, all the while pumping out mongooses and mino's, but the opponent still manages to get things built ten times ahead of me, and usually rushes me in mid-game with 20-30 gunships, or if i am playing the atreidis, i get slaughtered with a mino-hoard (Minos, airdrones, mongooses and smaller anti infantry)

Your first mistake is moving your MCV to the back. That is a waste of build-time. In *some* cases you may wanna move it back a few inches, but that is only if it is really really close to an entrance. Most if not all of the time, you should deploy your MCV immediately.

Make sure you counter what your enemy is doing. If you are gonna face a Mino hoard you need a Mino hoard of your own. Like Timenn said always get three factories since they will allow you to match his unit production, and not just factories, get three of each subhouse building too (except for Tlieaxu and Ix and Guild, one is enough in those cases,unless you are an Ix-bomb or Leech nut :) ) and in the long game make sure you always have enough money. If you are getting the "Insufficient Funds" message after the game has been going for 10 minutes or longer, you need more harvesters and carryalls. The best way to get them is by building Refineries and upgrading them fully. Of course if you just build Refineries at the start in lieu of units to defend yourself, you are also going to lose. The key is to have enough units to counter your enemy and also have as much money as possible.

[Taqwa11]

Well, I usually play as Atreides. I'm not one of the very, very best, but I do ok. As Navaros says, it's hard to suggest much when we don't know what specific problems you are having against which house. Here are just some basic ideas:Vs. Hark--Mech up. Unless you have some very good infantry rock, early infantry is so susceptible to a buzzsaw rush. However, that said, a few kindjal behind some sandbikes, backed up by a mino and maybe a machine gun turret can hold off a buzzsaw rush with ease. The key is unit balance and placement. Against Hark, build a lot of air drones if you see the enemy concentrating on gunships. Some people seem to think that a lot of gunships make Hark unbeatable. Not true. As long as my Atreides army has money coming in, I almost always beat a Hark player who concentrates too heavily on gunships because the air drones totally nullify any gunship attack as long as you know when it's coming and catch it BEFORE it reaches your base. Not only do you kill most of the gunships before they reach your buildings, but you kill the rest of them before they can fly their slow asses back home. Against Hark, Sard Elites are simply fantastic because they are air and ground fighters, and they take out anything from pesky missile tanks to those big Hark devastators with ease. Fremen warriors to kill enemy Feds are good, but it's better to concentrate on Sard Elites than Feds against Hark. The key to a good Hark player's success is balance, balance, balance. If you let a good Hark player get a big, balanced army, you are in trouble. And the Hark Inkvine catapult--often neglected by inferior Hark players--makes turtling in your base very painful.Against Ordos, pack your base entrances with a good balance of infantry early. Feds are great. Regular Sards are also very effective. Sard Elites are Ok, but unlike the regular sards they blow up when they shoot lasertanks--a good tradeoff in terms of economy, but still it sucks to lose your sard elites. Against Ordos, infantry early is key--don't even think about pumping out lots of mongeese or going for straight minos against Ordos early because they will kill you with their speedy units that recuperate. Against Ordos, Kindjal are totally awesome, but you have to back them up with infantry killers or the Ordos chem troopers will have the kindjal for lunch. Also, if you see a bunch of dust scouts or chem troopers coming your way early, one well-placed machine gun turret with snipers and regular Atreides infantry next to it can make all the difference between game over and a decent game.Against Atreides, you better tech up to minos and pump them out if that's what your opponent is doing. Also, many Atreides games are decided by who uses his air drones the best to take out the enemy economy. Unless your Atreides opponent is pumping out a lot of sandbikes and mongeese while neglecting mino builds, don't even bother with spending a lot of money on regular infantry because you'll be wasting money on units that the enemy minos will eat alive and use to veteranize themselves.Those are just a few little keys to Atreides success. I suggest you also look at Emprworm's Thoxen strategy thread in this same forum because it is a great basic Atreides strategy. However, depending on what the enemy is using for subhouses, there are so many very different counters that no one could help you with all of them. Also, map selection plays a big part against different opponents. The real key to Emp, as with any RTS, is experience: with it you will be one of the best if you have any kind of talent at RTS games. The only difference between most of us and the top 20 players is experience gained by playing A LOT and learning how to adapt on the fly. That's why they call it REAL TIME strategy--you have to react in real time, not in turns.I hope this helped a bit. It's just so hard to recommend specific strategies. I can not emphasize EXPERIENCE enough. However, take these basics from me, even if I'm not a QM player and I don't even claim to be one of the very best. At least I win the majority of my games--something like six games out of ten, so even if I'm not the best, I know the basics, and for some of us winning the majority of our games is well worth the effort even if we never become the very best.