A Nice, Simple Guide for Noobs in Multiplayer

TL;DR, practice on bots and git gud.

The Core

This'll be nice and short. People don't like losing a game because their teammate didn't know what they were doing. This isn't a ragepost, this is some helpful advice from a fellow player trying to help you to avoid unnecessary grief and verbal abuse. Even if you enjoy getting into a totally hopeless fight against players who will wipe the floor with you, your teammates won't enjoy it. If you must go PvP, be a decent person and go 1v1.

If you're new to the game, for the love of any deity you choose, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT hop straight into PvP team (2v2, 3v3, 4v4) automatch. Play at least 100 hours first against bots. People will probably get annoyed at you even in PvE automatch if you're new, so it's probably best to play a bit of the Campaign, and some skirmishes against bots in Custom match. There are no great secrets which can turn you from a noob to a pro in as long as it takes to read them. I will, however, include a short list of basic tips at the end of this guide which may spare you an hour or two of learning the hard way.

Play a few games (say, 50 hours worth) offline against AI, then if you fancy train up in PvE automatch. A useful metric for whether you're any good is whether you can defeat a 'Hard' AI in 1v1. There are many guides out there which will lie to you, and say something like 'ten tips to become a good player', but the reality is there's nothing which can make you a good player than actually playing the game. Success comes from experience, though a little luck can help.

Some Extra Tips

I'm not a cruel man; as promised, here are some basic tips of the kind you might find in other guides:
- Munitions are nice, but fuel is paramount. Fuel income can often determine the outcome of a game. The only resource worth more than fuel is Victory Points.
- Micromanage your troops. Use control groups to help with this.
- Focus fire on a single squad/vehicle, as when it dies, the enemy has less firepower. This is much more effective than having each squad target one enemy each.
- Since everybody uses focus fire, you can and should retreat your squad only when that squad is about to die. This may sound obvious, but I see a lot of players retreating their entire infantry blob as soon as one squad is about to die.
- Help your teammates. Really. If your teammate is crippled, he won't be able to help you when you're in a pickle.
- Don't waste manpower in attacks which won't succeed. Look for a flank if possible.
- Even more important than the tip above; you should rarely, if ever, be sitting idle. If an enemy has retreated all his troops, push forward and exploit the time he's taking to heal is his troops to capture some territory and advance the frontline. Don't be content with controlling half the map, as you could be wasting the opportunity to starve your opponent of useful resources.
- Situational awareness is paramount, especially in 1v1 where the whole map demands your attention. Keep checking the minimap, and also pay attention to the top right where your units as well as their health are displayed. Not paying attention could cost you a whole squad, or more.
- Cover. So important. Cover protects your troops from fire, and cover can and often will make the difference between winning or losing an infantry skirmish. Buildings provide the most cover possible (not sure if greater than green cover, but certainly at least equal).
- An expansion on the above. Often objectives will have 'key' buildings near them, and controlling these key buildings is vital in the early game and can in the long run determine whether you win or lose the match.

[Mr Centuries]

@Stierlitz and thats why rts's will never make a comeback

[Kill3rCat [1st FORECON]]

Kek

[StierlitZ]

Personally I'd just recommend them to go kill themselves