How do I play this game?

[Cosmic Castaway A90]

The title of my post may seem like a very odd question, but I don't really have another way to put it. I've had my eye on OTC since it's EA days, and with the recent sale I figured I'd give it a go. Looking at the negative reviews for the game it seemed that most of the negatives were due to a difficulty in understanding how to play. Understandable, since this isn't a very traditional RTS, and money/resource management can be a tricky thing to control. "No worries" I thought, I can spend some time learning the ropes, and I'd like a different kind of RTS.

What I was unprepared for was how little I truly knew about what I was doing. To keep things semi-short, my own (and what could very well be the majority) of issues with playing this game come from two areas: the random generation, and a massive dependency on game-knowledge. Now on their own, these two traits aren't guaranteed to be daunting aspects of gameplay. But when combined with split-second decision making, they quickly become a barrier to playing the game.

Placing your HQ just off of the right place all but ensures you a loss. Taking a split second longer to think about where you're about to place a mine ensures you a loss. Not being able to read the resources on the map, determine which of the various companies to choose from, while also checking the market prices of resources at the start of the game, as well as observing the options for the black market all at the same time, also, ensures a loss. All of this needs to be done within the game's opening seconds.

Not even MOBA's require this much knowledge, this quickly, in the game's opening 30 seconds. Even other RTS's don't require that level of speed with that number of variables. And I'm talking about a player just getting their feet on the ground, doing well is another story, but this about not being wiped off the map from the very start.

I feel like there truly is a gem of a game here, I really do. I'm sure if you know plenty about economics you can get the most out of this game from the start. When everything is working, it seems like it could be one of the best RTS's out there. But even after playing the tutorial missions, and turning the A.I. down to nearly the lowest of settings, I can not for the life of me figure out what in the world I'm supposed to do.

The random resources and the random selection of companies doesn't do new players any favors. I can't focus on one faction to learn how to play the game. What if I don't get the Robotic corporation this game? Guess I'll concede and pray for the next match. If I don't find the right resources on a map? Concede and pray. If I find the right resources and have Robotic corp, but another player beats me to those resources? Concede, exit game, search up some tutorials to try and understand what I'm doing wrong, follow that advice, start a new match, and lose another match. It seems like a player needs perfect knowledge of how to play at least 3 factions before they can even hope to play several matches where they survive past the early game.

So, in essence, how does one get their feet firmly planted on Martian soil with OTC? Because for myself, looking up videos and reddit posts aren't doing me many favors.

[YoureUhPeein]

I literally just bought and haven't played any of it yet. For stuff like this I usually check out quill18. He is pretty good at explaining what is going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUnmhPhiWI

[drynyn]

I have the same issue really. I have to tune the difficulty right down just to have a chance at winning. Keep in mind that there is a pause button. You can take as long as you want to place your starting base.

I find the campaign mode to be easier, since you can purchase and stack bonuses over time as ell as manage your advantages to your style of play. The earlier games are generally slower and easier so you can work out your strategies.

[Rhahi]

This is indeed a difficult game that requires a rewiring of how you perceive the information each game gives. Price of each goods, resource deposits and reasonable founding spots, opponent actions and black market vulnerabilities and opportunities... You'll have to keep eye on which goods will be required soon and which goods are making the most money, how to deal with debt generated from power, fuel, and life support. I had to go through them slowly. I find Zultar and philothanic's (on both YT and twitch) videos helpful as they are frequent casters of tournament games. The semi-official offworld discord community has also been a good place to have fun and improve my games along with other offworlders.

[Uncle Gamer]

I feel ya.

Its a tough game - no - the toughest RTS I had ever played.

The other one is Stellaris.

[Cubit32]

I think this video by Philothanic should be implemented in the tutorials. It's requirement to learn the content of this video if you want to compete in 1v1 or FFA ranked que.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOSpzITyFGg

I also highly recommend watching replays:
for 1v1 (my replays)
http://www.offworldgame.com/metaverse#/personas/43d20e7e-1260-4d76-9133-ba4f80e21248/1v1/match-log

for FFA (deathtacticus replays)
http://www.offworldgame.com/metaverse#/personas/03afc096-23fe-4da5-a05c-9598856b24ff/4p_ffa/match-log

if you don't know how something in the game works, don't just wait for days and weeks on end to figure it out. Find it out first before you continue. Otherwise you'll be stuck at the same level for a very long time.

[Kay of Sauvage]

I just made a new guide. I didn't really like the other ones, since they seemed to be outdated, full of step-by-step instructions on what to build (instead of why or how to think and make your own decisions), or I just plain disagreed with the advice they gave.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1146344676

Feel free to offer criticisms or suggestions on anything you'd like to see.

[Cosmic Castaway A90]

Thank you all for the responses! I've been checking out your suggestions, and I'm slowly getting better. I still get bought out, but I'm actually surviving through the early game. Keep the tips coming, I'd love for this thread to help out more members of the community!

[Kay of Sauvage]

Cosmic, I watched your most recently available replay (09/24/17, which lasted until Sol 5, 15:40). The biggest thing I see is that you aren't selling the materials that you don't need. You had lots of carbon, silicon, and extra aluminum, etc. Selling those things would have allowed you to upgrade your HQ much faster. You can hold ctrl + shift and click the sell button for a resource to turn on auto-sell, and it will sell what arrives at your HQ automatically.

You founded next to the only carbon available on the map, but you upgraded too slow and someone took the best tile of it from you.

Also, you went after far away level 3 silicon tiles, and it was actually losing you money on transportation costs (and you built up stockpiles of hundreds of it without selling it). There was quite a lot of silicon spread around that map, so you could have ignored it, as it really didn't offer you any special advantage, so you might as well let the other corporations provide it.

Your best bet would have been to just claim those carbon tiles next to you. Either build quarries or factories on them, just to protect them.

[pavig]

Play the AI on low difficulty and pause a lot to contemplate until you start to figure things out. Every game you will learn something new about how all the systems interrelate, and eventually you will internalize enough rules to be able to read the game state without thinking too hard. Step back and think slower and the game will become more clear. When things mess up and you don't know why it can even help to watch your own replays. :)

The best trick I learned early in the game was to occasionally pause, look at the market, then hit tab a few times to look at what my competitors and the colony are building. The [?] button top right will show a resource tree you can use for reference. You can figure what is in demand, what is being produced, and make guesses about which prices are going up or down in the near future.

...oh, and never let yourself get into D level debt. (unless you REALLY know what you're doing. :) )

OTC is one of the hardest but fairest games in my collection, and it takes some time to develop expertise. Every positive has a negative side, so upgrading too fast is just as bad as upgrading too slow, overproducing a resource reduces profit, debt can be a great tool or terrible burden, etc. Stick with it and the basics will become second nature, you'll stop making noob mistakes, and start making expert mistakes. :)

[pavig]

...oh, and this guy does good/useful commentaries, especially of the new player tournament, as well as great tutorials on mechanics... such as:
https://youtu.be/hbPqeYpGmK8