Starting Multiplayer Games?

[thephilosopher]

Out of curiosity, when do all of you think a person is ready to start doing multiplayer games? Right away? Only after beating the AI at a certain level?

 

At the moment, I can easily defeat the AI on Sandbox or Very Easy mode. I can also win most of the time on Easy. I haven't yet tried playing the AI at a greater difficulty setting than Easy.

[sarcoma]

You can start right away but stick to noob games, won't be fun for anyone if you have to face experienced players.

Even if you beat 2 very hard petras, MP is different.

You won't learn much that way.

Watch tutorial videos in yt: build orders, eco guides, etc.

And join higher level games as spectator.

[LetswaveaBook]

1 minute ago, sarcoma said:

Even if you beat 2 very hard petras, MP is different.

A very important aspect of multiplayer RTS gaming, is how quickly you can produce units. That is something you can practise on single player.

So some general advices are: Keep the ammounts of resources in the bank low by spending them on useful things on the field. It is better to have 20 more infantry than having 1k wood and food in the bankt. Also keep your production buildings working as much as you can. Also learn some basic hotkeys/use of control groups. Specifically for 0AD, use batch training (when a building is selected, press shift on the keyboard) for batches of less than 10 units. If you have resources for larger batches, you should probably prioritize making more buildings.

Also as sarcoma said, you can spectate games to see how other people develop their economy.

[thephilosopher]

I've definitely had the impression that there were strict limits to how much one can learn by playing the AI. I've watched lots of Tom0ad's videos of MP games, and it's obvious that the best players play very differently from the AI. The AI plays way too defensively and isn't able to pump out units quickly after initial units are defeated.

[thephilosopher]

6 minutes ago, LetswaveaBook said:

So some general advices are: Keep the ammounts of resources in the bank low by spending them on useful things on the field. It is better to have 20 more infantry than having 1k wood and food in the bank.

Yeah, this is something I'm starting to learn. Even in games I've lost to the AI, I was still way ahead on resources. That seems to be a sign I'm not making enough soldiers.