I got my butt kicked on very easy

[jeffnz]

In 2010-2012 I played Age Of Mythology on an out-dated machine and I managed to get good at playing the different factions. I am familiar with RTS but I suck at 0 AD. I installed the game (not from source this time) and I managed to advance into the 2nd age, then I was gathering resources and building more stuff when I was attacked, which stalled my progress to the point that I decided to quit. What is the best way to defend? Should I prioritise the blacksmith upgrades, guard towers or should I build a specific mixture of infantry?

Different games have different rules. In Command & Conquer 3 buildings cost a lot of money, so it pays to only build one war factory. 8-bit Armies is different, because each additional motorpool (war factory) gives you a 1x bonus, so you can stack the bonus and get 4x unit production. 8-bit Armies relies on unit spam. CnC 3 relies on slow base expansion and units are strongly biased: being anti-infantry or anti-tank ... you cannot mob enemy units because of the strict balance, unit spam is awful in CnC 3 and doesn't work very well. I'm not sure where I'd rank 0 AD on these things.

[sphyrth]

Here's a generic faction-agnostic guide to help you get started.

 

[Servo]

I play the game for fun but I'm capable of beating 3 Hardest AI. I don't play multiplayer coz my skills are really not enough to compete and IMO the gameplay suits really well on single player mode. 

I normally don't destroy them(AI) rather just neutralize and enjoy their attacks on my nicely built base in the later part. 0AD AI by far is the easiest AI I've ever encountered among the RTS games I've played but the most enjoyable single player type of PC game I have had. 

My strategy is very simple and did the same on RoN, AoE 2, Civ 5, BFME and many others. Offense is the best Defense. 

In this game all you have to do is raid with cavalry without let up. If the map has hostile animals set the raiding unit to "flee when attacked" stance to lessen damage and set to aggressive when raiding enemy. The objective of the raid is to get as many units to follow your raider retreating back to your base and get slaughtered. Target the women as priority and citizen-soldiers with empty resources as possible. Also try to entice his cavalry gatherer to follow too. Retreat when your raider is around 50% HP but don't proceed directly to your base so you will have time to prepare defense. I don't use towers because I want my units get promoted asap. It depends on how many AIs you're playing against but I assign at least 2 cavalry raider per enemy at start. 

Imo the best way to familiarize the game when you're new is setting it to very low resources at start (100 each F, W, S & M) for your mind to be able to think just fine. If you can't handle micro very well set speed variably too to your liking. In my game I had this data previously... but has gone to more than 5000 killed without unit and building losses. 

[mapkoc]

You can kill a very hard AI very easily.  Just make a couple of horses very early and run around the perimeter of the enemy base. All its soldiers will start following. Bring then some men and kill chasing units and capture and destroy buildings. Don't stop moving cav in circles. The AI will stop trying soon. It gets pretty boring playing vs AI.

[Servo]

I have fun playing 0AD against AI than watching boring multiplayer games on YouTube. Yes it's boring against 1 AI since it's easy to beat the hardest but try against 3 or more hardest then you will see it's not boring. It's still not hard to beat 3 Hardest but if you let them reach level 3 with more resources or trade carts and close to maximum population then you will see the difficulty. 

In that picture of my game I let them reached level 3 and average 10 trade carts each they are spamming units like crazy. Their attacks seemed coordinated though predictable. I got bored just trying to defend and kill but when I started attacking to finish the game their units are spammed nonstop. I can finish them off but I will suffer more losses. I have to harvest the remaining resources in my territory too to sustain my offensive. 

[sphyrth]

You guys are teaching the greatest exploit. That ain't fair, man!

On the flipside, though, it was hilarious seeing how everybody was going "After them!" while you were busy mustering up your pikemen. When I first saw your replay going against 8 (I think it was eight) Very Hard AIs, I was imagining a comedic chase background music.

[Lion.Kanzen]

9 hours ago, Servo said:

I have fun playing 0AD against AI than watching boring multiplayer games on YouTube. Yes it's boring against 1 AI since it's easy to beat the hardest but try against 3 or more hardest then you will see it's not boring. It's still not hard to beat 3 Hardest but if you let them reach level 3 with more resources or trade carts and close to maximum population then you will see the difficulty. 

In that picture of my game I let them reached level 3 and average 10 trade carts each they are spamming units like crazy. Their attacks seemed coordinated though predictable. I got bored just trying to defend and kill but when I started attacking to finish the game their units are spammed nonstop. I can finish them off but I will suffer more losses. I have to harvest the remaining resources in my territory too to sustain my offensive. 

Try to Defeat @borg- may be he isn't boring  

[Servo]

IMO the fun, challenge and gameplay excitement is not on the multiplayer mode. I don't train myself either to play competitively as you can see I don't chop all trees, make more farms/buildings nor gather metal. I have never seen the beauty of the game in multi. Therefore I don't plan on playing multiplayer. 

Whether it's a pro game or not the videos look the same. No walls allowed then you rather play RoN having better game mechanics. The activity is more on just building structures and then train armies then battle. Just become quick/fast, think a little bit and you will do good. The game becomes predictable like when you play the AI. The game is quite fast in normal the your unit can easily explore, the units can be easily acquired that it's very easy to field a disorganized army to battle in a disorganized manner/event. 

Borg and the best players are really good but there games are honesty boring. 

[Palaiogos]

For me, 0 AD has the hardest treaty AI, but the easiest Rush AI. To beat any AI, just rush citizen soldiers like crazy at their base. The only problem is that past the 15 minute mark it becomes nigh-impossible, as it can easily out produce you.