How to Space Skirmish like a Pro

One of the main draws to the game is space skirmish matches. This guide will teach you what I have learned since the original Empire at War was released. This guide will focus on team matches since they are the most common and since 1v1 games are a whole different beast.

We will start off by going over the general mechanics of how matches flow (to get us into the right mindset), the different map types and how they differ from one another, and finally dive into faction specific tactics to really learn how to mess with your opponents and what to look out for in the different matchups.

Commentated 2v2 Replay Analysis

This is just a quick video to show what a modern 2v2 looks like in FoC.

Please leave any questions you have in the comments of this guide.

Multiplayer Mindset

Starwars Empire at War is an RTS unlike any other. It skips the base building and puts players straight into action right from the first second. This means that games typically last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Since this game is so different, lets first get into the same mindset.

Although this game may seem like a simple RTS with a low skill-cap, it is actually a fairly micro-intensive arena type game with battles spanning across the entire map when played with other amazing players. There is typically constant battles for different mines, raids/snipes against mines, constantly battling for vision, and the constant looming threat of an attempt to destroy the main base once a team thinks they have enough resources to do so.

On a typical map (only mines and turrets, no other capturables -- we'll dive into maps later), most matches start with both sides spreading out and fighting over the center mines. In tech 2, both sides begin a raid/defend phase where the goal is to 'snipe' a mine (destroy a mine without the intent to capture it) and to defend what you already have. In tech 3, there is a large power jump that causes the teching to slow down and players to start massing units and to begin making full pushes to capture mines. There is typically a fight at every mine at this point if both teams are equal. Also in tech 3, a team that is ahead may start stockpiling units for an attack against the opponent's main base. Techs 4 and 5 (if you make it to 5) are typically the same as tech 3, but tech 5 has another large power jump that is equivalent to the jump in tech 3.

The game ends when one team thinks they have enough of an advantage to do an all-in on their opponent's base.

Teamwork

Build queues are a very limited resource and it is important to build a variety of units. It is easy to get stuck with just queuing the best ship we have, but we must not forget to sneak in a corvette here and some fighters there. It is more important to have a balanced force everywhere than it is to have a big force at just one location.

When playing a team game, it is important to coordnate who is building what and when and to split the upgrades across the team to get them as quickly as possible. If the upgrading player has a lot of money, they can share the wealth with Shift-Y (default) to ensure everyone is always building something.

Avoid sending more than one fighter to a capturable unless it is a middle mine where you expect a fight. After building back mines, send your fighters forward to win as many fighter fights as possible. The goal is to have more mines than your opponent when the smoke clears. Use fighters not in battle to begin scouting and defending (covered later).

Lets take a 3v3 for an example of a quick mine snipe tactic. As soon as the team reaches tech 2, everyone can build a bomber at the same time while moving some fighers to a lightly or non-defended enemy mine, as soon as they are done building, everyone sends there bombers in and attacks the mine at the same time resulting in a quick mine snipe.

Teamplay can be as simple as one player builds a larger ship while the other builds anti-fighters or even just coordnating who is sending their heroes where to spead them out or to snipe an enemy hero that is alone.

To finish this part of the guide out, it is very important to mention tech ups in team games. It is very common to have just one player click the tech up button and become "the tech up guy". This will lose games and it can be hard for newer players to not even notice that this is why they are losing.

Players need to rotate who does tech ups so that all players have a fleet to work with. Again, this is a micro-intensive game and the less that each player has to control, the easier it will be to win battles. Additionally, and most importantly, a team should not tech up as soon as they can. It is far more important to build a handful of units and then to tech up.

This game is all about denying every mine on the map, that extra ship that the team builds can be the one that spreads the enemy too thin and gets a mine kill.

For some general rules-of-thumb:
2v2:
- t1 build 2 fighters before teching
- t2 build 2 bombers (if ahead) or a corvette before teching (if behind)

3v3:
- t1 build 1 fighter
- t2 build 1 bomber (if ahead) or a corvette (if behind)

4v4:
- t1 tech immediately
- t2 build 1 bomber

As the number of players increases, the teching player will have less of an impact by what they build, so they build less before teching. This holds true for t3 and above as well. But most teams will sit on t3 for a little before moving to t4 and so on (since t3 can hold off t4, especially when all of the players are churning out units -- however, t3 cannot hold off t5).

Fighting for Mines

Winning mines is all about scouting. Knowing which mines your opponent has, where their forces are, how many forces they 'should' have in reserves (built, but not on the field yet), and what mines your opponents are about to build are all vital pieces of information.

Before we go further, it is extreamly important to understand the snowball effect of the economy. Mines have an inherit value of the cost to build the mine and the time that the mine has been alive. For the sake of estimation, lets say that a mine is worth about twice the cost that it took to build (so around 1700 to 2000 credits). This means that sending 3 to 4 bombers to a mine is an even trade if both the bombers and the mine dies.

We'll get into hardpoints later, but just understand for now that when you buy a larger ship with hardpoints, each hardpoint has a value to it (ie, a turbo laser on the Nebulan-B is worth about 700 credits). With this in mind, it is also worth sending a t2 ship to a mine and it is still an even trade if you lose a few hardpoints.

Now the snowball effect is when one team has more income than the other. If you have 2 mines up and I have 1, you can afford to spend more money on taking a mine than I can, putting me on the back foot. Note that this isn't a direct 2 to 1 advantage due to the build queue being limited. Since you can afford to spend more on taking mines, if I just defend then you will slowly win and be able to spend more and more on taking each mine. This is why most games don't make it to t5.

As a real game example, we were up 3 mines to 2 and were constantly bombing their 2nd mine (leaving it down most of the time for a 3 to 1 advantage). This gave us enough of an advantage to be able to afford sending t3 ships every minute to their last mine and leaving them with no income; thus ending the game dispite their successful snipes that destroyed 2 of our 3 mines (you can't win if you don't have any mines). All of this was possible due to scouting. So lets go over how to scout, when to snipe, and how to defend.

(go over fighting for vision, snipes, and managing multiple battles at the same time)
(turrets - uses, value, and vision - when to build a turret rather than a unit (more income than useable))

Map Types

(clustered mines, pirates, nebula, vision)

General Tactics

(bomber micro, hardpoint values and targeting, uses of heroes)

Faction Rambling

Just a small blurb from the top of my head. Maybe I'll refine this at some point. Please ask questions in the comments so I can expand on the important bits.

Imps and Con are very similar. They win straight up fights. Con is straight forward to play/the default go in and kill stuff style. Imps require tactical play about planning which mines to attack when. Rebs are more complicated and require a more baiting style where you make a show of force in one area to force the enemy to hyperspace in, then you get out of there or hold their forces in place while you hit somewhere else before they can catch up.

Con has insane mine-sniping ability and can go toe-to-toe with either faction when needed. They get early map control so they can rush the tech 1.5 units (pirates) out and take early map control. If they keep up the pressure, then the other factions have a hard time breaking out of it.

Imps have Thrawn which is a game winning power spike and they have the tie scouts for the remote ping ability (the 2nd best ability in the game behind Thrawn's). On top of solid units that win group fights (acclamator and victory). Oh, and the interdictors help lock down fights and force your opponent to do bad hyperspace jumps into fights (IE, make them warp in facing away from your forces instead of warping in and being able to engage right away).

Rebs have the best sustain and disengage in the game. They can nope out of a fight very quickly and move somewhere else leaving their opponent trying to follow without cap room to reinforce somewhere else (target the engines!). With decent micro and 15 minutes of practice you can get good with b-wings for taking out key hardpoints quickly with the s-foils closed. With the shield abilities, use it when low on shields and once full, turn it back off. By the time your shields are low again, you should be able to re-activate the ability. The engine boosts are super underused in multiplayer. Besides disengaging to hit a softer target, you can use them to get behind your opponent's ships and force them to turn. All of this is why I say the Rebs are the most complicated faction of the 3.

[__reth__]

Good call, updated -- thanks!

[CheeseLord]

considering this guide was made in 2021 i think its safe to say you can remove the wip, although idk if your even alive anymore or not.

[HarrierStrikes]

Buzz Droids go brrrr

[TheFourLees]

Oh don't even worry, I'm a full-time college student so I know how that feels. I have a massive group of friends that play as well so we can just screw around if you're cool with it. I can invite you to a discord server as well :)

[__reth__]

I play for fun on and off. I played a ton when it came out however many years ago and won enough 2v2 and 3v3s to feel confident enough to write something like this. It's the only RTS that's fun to think about.

I'm in! My schedule is somewhat limited, but definitely willing and it'll help me actually put more into the guide.

[TheFourLees]

I see, this is very interesting stuff! Do you play for fun or are you in a local competitive scene? I'm just so curious to learn more and discover more specific techniques to use in game! If you're willing, I'd be honored to friend you and talk to you more about this stuff in game!

[__reth__]

For fighting con fighters with your own fighters, try to stay alive. Win turrets if they are available, but don't over build them, you only need 1. When they drop the droids, try to get away and bait them into more of your fighters so you can kill them before they get their droids back.

Most con players will split their forces and try to build the mine when you run away, punish it by scouting it almost right after you run away and destroy it before it has too much health to fight.

Factions lose to con in an extended T1, so delaying the game and safely moving to T2 is the name of the game. I've definitely won games by staying in T1 as con after winning all of my opening fighter engagements. Not a faction to stand toe to toe against.

[__reth__]

@TheFourLess np! If it's completely undefended, then microed bombers are the fastest and cheapest way. Microed meaning click to attack, ass soon as they shoot their bombs, move them back to where they started so that they don't waste time flying around the mine and don't have to fly away from it to turn around. Then turn them around and repeat. With practice, you can intuit when they have reloaded and are ready to attack again.

If it is defended, then it depends on what it is defended by and what your goal is. Like just a hit, run, disable engines or are you trying to win material by almost destroying the ship(s)?

[TheFourLees]

Thank you for that, it is really helpful. When using scouts to find an undefended mine, is it best to use corvettes, bombers, or t3 frigates to attack? Or does it depend on winning the fighter engagements?

When in fighter engagements with the Con (cuz their fighters are goated), is having more numbers the best way to counter when corvettes are not available? Or is it more resourceful to retreat?

[__reth__]

For "How should each faction interact with one another in engagements (micro and macro)?", read the "Faction Rambling" section above.