Some Total War Basics: Strategies & Mechanics

Me and my friend Sly have been playing Rome II for a combination of over 1,500 hours both in and out of Multiplayer. Sly origionally got me into the Total War scene a few years back and there has been no looking back. Sly by far has (literally) thousands more hours in combination over all Total War games than me and is where I've learned a lot, if not the vast majority of what I know of Total War- it's mechanics- and overall, how to effectively employ standard tactics and strategies.

This guide is aimed at those new to Rome II specifically, and those who began on Attilla and worked backwards to Rome II. Rome II's mechanics are different than Attilla's and failure to notice these large (yet subtle) difference can very easily cost you the game against a good player who is knowledgable in the game and how to manipulate it.

I'll keep things simple, and provide screenshots if I can. I will have to go back and update the guide as I edit it to give more and appropriate detail.

Remember, basic concepts are key- as well as knowing the basic functionality of the game itself.

Introduction, Overview and Future Content Additions

This section is important to review. I will explain how I will be addressing everything in the rest of the guide for you to better understand. I am designing this to not just be a reference book to skim through but also a guide you can read from start to finish.

Without any further introduction, here we go...

*Please note this is oriented towards Multiplayer, not AI.

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Starting off I will explain the terminology I will be using because to some they may simply be tomato-tomahto but in my context I will explicitly be using very 'seemingly' similiar words in very different ways and I do not want anyone to get confused by this.

"Strategy" - A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.
... To me, this means from start to finish of a battle. The strategy of the entire fight.

"Tactic" - An action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end.
... To me, this means a quick action during a battle to help the overall battle strategy.

"Flanking" - Be situated on each side of or on one side of (someone or something).
... To me, this means a deliberate attack to the direct side of a unit.

"Rear Attack/Charge" - See Flanking.
... To me, this means a deliberate attack from directly behind the unit. Not to be confused with a flank attack.

"Line of Sight" - A straight line along which an observer has unobstructed vision.
... To me, this means the unit's line of sight- not your camera. Just because you can see it doesn't mean your guys can attack it.

"Barrier / Wall" - A fence or other obstacle that prevents movement or access.
... To me, this means something that inhibits any/all unit movement, and/or skirmish firing ability.

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Overview:

Again, as you can already tell they are essentially interchangable but for the purpose of the guide I wanted to clarify how I would be using them. However, it is still fairly straight forward for all intents and purposes.

The overview of this guide is to understand the basic principles of how to play Rome II- mainly in Multiplayer. Everything from Multiplayer can be translated into Player v. AI combat and actually make some AI combat fairly trivial and in some cases- very predictable. I don't mean this in a mean way, but Rome II didn't break and AI records in their thought processing. The basics include viable basic strategies, unit counters, how to effectively employ unit types, how to properly attack units, and the break down of Rome II mechanics and functionalities in a cleanly laid out guide format.

I wanted to contribute back to the Rome II community and the best way I feel I can do this is to make a guide for new players to still get into it even after all these years from what I've learned, and from what others have taught me.

So, What Do These Stats Even Mean? (The Obvious and the Hidden)

Well, before I get you into the steps of how to properly counter things and using specific tactics it really helps to know what the heck the stats are you're looking at for units in the game. The way to look at stats is like playing a card game- seriously. Do you play Hearthstone by chance? Now, not to derail the topic but it's all about forcing your opponent into bad "trades" or doing something to cripple their ability to exploit any/all of your weaknesses.

So, look at Rome II stats like a card game if that helps. Also note that raw stats does by NO stretch of the imagination mean it will beat down with ease anything beneath it. In fact, the higher the stat of the unit the more scared you should be in committing it to specific battles. (Multiplayer standpoint). You should be very careful and deliberate where you commit your elite and costly units. Look at stats as raw potential- potential misuse, or an enemy properly countering it means those stats mean nothing.

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Now, listed are all the in-game unit stats. Some units do have "hidden" stat. Although not common, they are there.

Basic Stats:

• Melee Attack
  
• Weapon Damage
  
• Bonus v. Infantry
  
• Bonus v. Large
  
• Charge Bonus
  
• Melee Defense
  
• Armor
  
• Health
  
• Base Morale
  
• Armor Piercing
  
• Mass
  
• Ammunition
  
• Missle Damage
  
• Range
  
• Shots Per Minute

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Now, we can go back and forth on how they all calculate together- honestly it's not worth getting into depth with. We just need to go over the basics of it and you're more than fine. To fine-tune exactly what all these numbers mean and interact together would mean we'd need to (basically) look at their code and follow the equations. You can even argue that Mass isn't a stat but it actually plays a very important role for Cavalry and Elephants/Chariots, and I mean a very important roll, hence why I am including as a stat equal to the rest.

Other "things" to consider below. They aren't technically "stats" so to speak, but they play an important role.

• Shields
  
• Bracing
  
• 'Shielded Flank'
  
• Morale Shocks
  
• Death of the General
  
• Missle Block Chance
  
• Army Losses

I can probably add more to that list in the future but those are subtle factors that knowing can make your life easier in Rome II.

Again, what do they mean:

• Melee Attack: How well the unit can "hit" the other unit it is attacking. If it has low attack you won't be shelling out the damage and "murderizing" the enemy any time soon. Low attack / high armor units are typically designed for defense and holding. (Typically spears and anti-large).
  
  
• Weapon Damage: How much damage the unit does when it does hit. More damage- the faster you kill things. The damage however doesn't mean much if it's negated by extremely heavy armored units or if they can't hit the unit at all.
  
  
• Bonus v. Infantry: How much extra damage the unit can cause v. another foot unit type.
  
  
• Bonus v. Large: How much extra damage the unit can cause v. Cavalry, Elephants, Chariots specifically. Typically spears and javelins for missles. (Javelins have a hidden bonus v. Large).
  
  
• Charge Bonus: Bonus damage given when a unit gets a good charge. Charges need to have a good straight line to the enemy on a preferrably flat plane or downhill. The faster the unit is going, and the straighter the charge the better the full bonus will be. A unit can very easily have it's charge "smothered" or "stolen" (Stolen meaning another unit intercepted your charge on it's way there negating your bonus almost entirely in most cases if done right.
  
  
• Melee Defense: How well a unit can avoid being hit by the other unit.
  
  
• Armor: How well the unit can negate incoming damage when hit.
  
  
• Base Morale: How likely the unit is to retreat. Higher the morale the more morale shock they can sustain without retreating. If a unit has low morale a seemingly "healthy" unit can suddenly route when conditions are right. Such as a rear charge into it for the "Attacked in the Rear" penalty, or Death of the General, so on. HP and size of the unit does play into the morale of the unit also but aren't felt in most cases until the unit is typically already half (or less) strength.
  
  
• Armor Piercing: How much damage a unit can do that avoids all armor negation by the enemy when it hits.
  
  
• Mass: How much "UMPH!" a unit has/unit weight. This impacts the unit speed and impact power on a charge. The more of a weight difference two units has the better or worse the charge is. Light Cavalry will do poorly against Super Heavy foot units, and Super Heavy Cavalry will do amazingly against Light foot Units.
  
  
• Ammunition: How much ammo the unit has.
  
  
• Missle Damage: Much like melee damage, however for skirmishers and their ranged attacks.
  
  
• Range: How far the unit can use it's missle attack.
  
  
• Shots Per Minutes: Fairly self explainatory.
  
  
• Health: HP of the unit. This is obscure because this is sort of ties all stats together. Even if you don't "lose men" you still take HP Damage. Once you begin to run out of unit HP- your men then begin to die off in the unit. So that elite unit being annoyed by a slinger that you parked there that hasn't lost a man yet? It's still taking damage that will heavily impact a big fight.

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So, thats all fine and dandy to get a very brief and basic grasp of things I guess. Now what? Well, now it is all about explaining things in a fairly rock, paper, scissors methodology in all honesty. I won't do unit reviews or army compositions, but basic principles.

Sword v. Spear v. Large v. Sword...

Okay, so it's not this black and white at all, but again basic concepts...

These are your unit types:

• Swords
  
• Spears
  
• Pikemen
  
• Cavalry (Melee, Archer, Skirmisher, and Shock (Charge based)).
  
• Chariots
  
• Elephants
  
• Artillery (Siege Equipment)
  
• Archers
  
• Slingers
  
• Skirmishers / "Javelins"
  
• Utility Units (Hex Bearers for Example)

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Swords are typically middle of the road armor and defense and higher in damage and attack. They come in all levels from fodder to elites. Spears are the same for the most part (both infantry), but swords are specficially designed for offense and spears more-so for defense. Main lines of spear units won't be killing things in any form of tremendous speeds unless the match-up is heavily one-sided (Spartan v. Celtic Swords for example).

Spears can also be seen as important utility units specifically utilized to fight/ward off cavalry and other large units (Chariots and Elephants). Spears may not be the best at tearing down a Legion but they can surely tear down a Cavalry unit if the fight is favorable (and you managed to avoid being charged for such a transgression).

Pikemen are not to be confused with spears, as pikemen are again seen as utility units. Pikemen are essentially anti-everything when used properly. When in a Pike Phalanx and roughly 3-4 ranks deep a Pike unit head-on is essentially untouchable from the front. If a pike unit is in a phalanx and is not severely weakened, or is at least 2-3 ranks deep do not attack head-long into it. Truth be told, you may tear down a pike unit eventually from piling in on it head-on but your casualties sustained versus the one pike you killed, I can assure you that you've lost the battle. Pikemen are however extremely vulnerable to missle fire (even head-on) and from being attacked by (basically anything) from the flanks/rear.

I made the rock/paper/scissors reference, and it may be starting to show now by what I meant.

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Cavalry is it's own world of units since it's just like taking foot soldiers and dropping them onto a horse... Sort of. Melee Cavalry isn't to be confused with making a frontline of Cavalry- no. Melee Cavalry is generally designed for killing other enemy cavalry units (Typically they have a decent Bonus v. Large). Melee cavalry will also do well against skirmisher units if it manages to get itself into the unit properly.

The second most used type of cavalry is generally Shock Cavalry which isn't designed to stay in a fight, but based on what the name suggests is it's meant to charge, retreat, repeat. If a melee cavalry gets into a fight with a shock cavalry, typically the shock cavalry will lose the engagement if the shock cavalry does not get a good charge, or is not supported by infantry in the engagement. Shock cavlary is designed specifically for clean rear charges into medium/light infantry. Unopposed a single shock cavalry unit can cause hundreds of casualties by "cycle charging" already engaged infantry.

Lastly is skirmisher cavalry. This is a paragraph on both Skirmisher and Archer cavalry. They are just like their foot infantry counterparts however on a horse! However this does have the implication that they are now a "Large" target to the game. They will be easily killed off by Javelins, and spears like all the other cavalry as well before it. Note that cavalry units are smaller than foot infantry units. Generally a toe-to-toe engagement between archer cavalry and an Archer outright the Archer will always win since the Archer has more men. Cavalry like this should be used mostly to harass and pick away at enemy infantry flanks/rear.

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Chariots are glass cannons like Elephants. Chariots and Elephants both rely on momentum and movement with their Mass to kill enemy units (in astronominal numbers) if used correctly. To do this, with the way Rome II is programmed, you need to keep clicking places for the unit to move. Click a unit to attack, plow into it, and find another unit and click the next one. If the Chariot gets "bogged down" into a heavy unit - not as much for the elephant but equally as dangerous- your men will suddenly also begin to die as well (And at times alarmingly fast). Chariots and Elephants are very similiar except Elephants can run berzerk and once in berzerk they CAN kill your own units as well.

Artillery is just that. Truth be told, from a Multiplayer standpoint this is a waste of gold and a unit slot. However if you know your enemy is going to be bringing a lot of pikemen, one ballista (Not the Giant Ballista) may be a good investment. Remember what I stated about Pikemen? Park it a few feet away and let the Pikmen feel the pain. You get free siege equipment in a multiplayer siege battle- don't buy any otherwise.

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Archers, Slingers and Skirmishers are all different in all aspects down to how they can even aim...

Starting with Skirmishers. Skirmishers have low ammo, low range, high damage. They have a Bonus v. Large and are amazing at killing cavalry, elephants, chariots, and infantry from the rear.

Archers are next with higher range, good ammo, and medium damage. Archers do vary a lot in ability so some archers are very weak to others. (Cretans and Syrians for example are top-tier). They can shoot over walls and buildings with the appropriate angle. Archers are poor at hitting moving units, and poor at shooting infantry head-on. Archers are the bit of the jack of all trades.

Slingers are last with good ammo, higher range, and good damage. This may seem odd as they are just throwing rocks but Slingers do have Armor Piercing damage. Slingers can only shoot with a direct line of sight, and cannot shoot over obstacles. Slingers are also half decent at hitting moving units. They aren't "great" but they hit far more often than an Archer.

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Pure utility units are few and far inbetween and honestly not worth bringing in Multiplayer. These units are like Hex Bearers- not enough men to matter, with no true stats.

Basic Scenerios

Okay, so this is going to actually get into "how to play". Now, I'm not necessarily going to go over any actual tactics or army builds. This is simply strategic theory on how to combat units and turn them into favorable situations. Again, if you remember what I said about comparing this to a card game- then you'll remember that the idea in the end is to force your opponent into bad trades.

Plain and simple. Force them to do things they do not want to do.

The art is in how to make them do it in such a way you can exploit it to give yourself the upper hand.

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I'll go over some scenerios and in the process it will explain why a well composed army is needed to properly combat most enemy armies. There is no true science or "meta" to this, do some science- lose or win some battles and figure out what composition works for you and your play style. There is no one size fits all, or one army wins all build or tactic.

Now I'll go over the real high-level basics again. Let's imagine you're in a flat field with two infantry armies- one is a heavy Roman infantry army and the other is a heavy Arverni army (A "Barbarian" faction). Now, if you reference the stats we briefly touched on you'll notice Romans are not built for a charge, so whats the tip you off to? It means they're not designed to charge in and fight. They're designed to brace. Look at the barbarian units now, you'll notice a far higher charge damage- barbarians are meant to charge!

So what can we figure from this? You being the Roman here, you know you don't want to give those Barbarians the ability to simply charge your men as you brace. Why would you give your enemy such an easy run at it? This is where we introduce "fodder" units.

"Fodder Units" are low tier infantry that are very inexpensive. For Rome, this is a Hastati. Make a thin line in front of your troops for example and that Hastati is now an obstruction to all your units behind it for the Barbarians.

Now the Barbarian, if he's smart, then he won't charge in and they'll attempt to deal with that Hastati by either effectively skirmishing or tossing in his own fodder unit to rid of it to clear a path.

... Thats where the game of chess begins, and your creativity needs to take over. There are so many combinations and situations it's physically impossible for me to address them all in-depth. However, I hope that simple scenerio and knowledge got the juices flowing.

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Now, let's take a different scenerio. A bit more of a unique scenerio. Let's say you're Rome again and your enemy has an army composed of Pikemen and are skirmish heavy with some token cavalry for mobility.

Well, if you remember Pikmen are a fools folley if you go head-long into them and you'd simply stand there as you got shot to shreds. So, clearly thats out of the picture- the opponent has denied you any and all forms of a standard head-on engagement with infantry. Or did he?

This is where we get a little more creative.

So, we can obviously go around the pikes- thats fairly clear, but then he'd just change directions as we get shot. Well, this is a predicament.

So what if we can go around his pikes and also keep them fixed? Well, thats when we utilize more fodder units essentially. The key to defeating pikes is obviously flanking, but specifically exploiting the fact that they can't attack from multiple angles either.

You can park one, maybe two infantry units right in front of their army for example to fix their pike(s). Then the rest of your army can move to envelop theirs- you then turn the tables on them in most circumstances and force them to either open the front to the infantry head-on, or expose their flanks.

This is a play on Rome II's functionality for Pikes. Or do that same tactic, however at the same time focus your skirmishers on one specific pike in the front of the line. Essentially putting a timer on the center collapsing while the flanks are being pressured. Unless their skirmishers hold advantage in which case you need to act quickly.

Also, remember- all pike boxes can be broken if you're creative enough. Look at the edges/corners carefully.
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In a nutshell, keep the following things in mind:

- Invest in a good solid main-line of infantry. Your main line is meant to get beat-up and essentially force your opponent to "deal" with your forces, but don't bank on the main line to out-right win your battle. Invest in enough- but not all.

- Bring a viable and flexible skirmisher core. For Rome II, typically 3-4 skirmishers/archer/slinger units is enough. 3 is about the staple number for Rome II battles, however change this accordingly. I never advise going over 5 as the unit infantry-skirmisher ratio will be heavily out of balance and protecting that many with your now lacking infantry will be hard.

- Depending on your play style and enemy faction, Cavalry should be typically 2 - 4 units. Again, dependent on intended use but the staple number I'd ballpark is a safe 3 - 4 cavalry units.

- As for spears- obviously it depends on faction. If you're Sparta this is sort of out of the question so to speak, but for Rome as an example is 2 spear units typically. (2 Triarii). Rome lacks a lot of anti-large infantry and if you're short on good cost-effective cavalry Triarii (or spears in general) are great for supporting your lack-luster cavalry. Just note tying your cavalry to support of a spear unit will degrade your speed and flexibility of that cavalry unit.

- If you're facing a charge-based enemy invest in 2 - 3 token fodder units to screen from a head-on charge and buy you time to close the gap with them. If you're close enough, simply toss them at the enemy to hold them there for a second (probably literally) just to get your infantry into the fight.

- DO. NOT. BLOB.

- SERIOUSLY. NEVER.

Always Remember the Basics in the Field

Always remember the basics...

This is a very brief section where it is just that- remember the basics.

Now, what I mean by the basics is to do a couple things. This includes ammunition management, reduce or stop flanking and rear charges, maintain a solid front, engage in "good trades".

Again this is oriented towards multiplayer because the AI isn't exactly "smart" so to speak so it's rather tough to say how to act against them. As far as the AI is concerned they can simply target your nearest unit and then mob the unit. Fighting the AI makes pikemen very useful- since they'll actually just run into it until the entire army has been obliderated.

The Flanks, The Rear, The Blobbing, And the Pull-Through

The Flanks:

Now, flanking is important because simply put- you kill them faster. You will have more men in your unit attacking their unit than theirs attacking yours. This is another one of those subjects where you can get in depth on the gives and takes of this, as you "wrapped" their flank is clearly beneficial however it also opens your flank up to skirmish fire which is also a common tactic.

Examples of abusing this mechanic are things like putting a Triarii in square formation in front of a line of soldiers with javelins. Now, when you charge the Triarii (because you essentially need to) your unit partially envelops the Triarii square with how the unit is set up. Your men then face the Triarii- turning them sideways to the Javelins and making a very clean shot into your men.

You may not always be able to find an open flank of your opponent, but if you're crafty enough- you can force them to.

The Rear:

Much like the flank, this one is fairly obvious. It's about being hit in the rear from another unit. Now, this melds together a bit with a flank charge. Essentially the bonus of a rear charge is that the unit you're charging will have no brace from the charge and will take full damage in combination with the charge damage of the unit you attacked with. Not to mention this can inflict a severe morale penalty to the unit if it's not disciplined.

The Blobbing:

This is strictly speaking for Rome II, as well as specific situations but generally the rule of thumb is to never blob. In essence what I mean by this is never commit more than you need to because you get diminishing returns initially and later on it begins to compound any damage you receive.

If I park one Legion in an alley and you send three Thorax Swords down to attack it all at once all three units will be attempting to engage my Legion all at once. You fatigue and "damage" three full units of Thorax whereas I only engaged a single Legion. Now, you may be able to win this fight no problem- however as the fight goes on if you want to look at it critically you now have 17 untouched units whereas I have 19 left. This effect begins to compound quickly if you're not careful.

Also, skirmish fire also effects an area- not a specific unit alone. If you blob those three Thorax Swords and an arrow volley comes in- all three of your units will take damage and casualties. If you committed one unit then that same lone arrow volley would only hit one unit. Minimizing my effectiveness in skirmishing and minimizing your losses.

The Pull-Through:

Pull-Through and Blobbing are the two death sentences in multiplayer in most cases. Picture a meat grinder and then picture you trying to send a unit through it and trying to get out unscathed. It won't happen.

When you spam-click the location behind the unit you are attacking the unit that is attacking you in return gets all free hits against your unit. Your men disengage from the enemy and attempt to "run by" the enemy- in this case- through them. Now picture about one hundred enemy soldiers all doing damage ticks against the hundred targets you're trying to force through. Try it in a custom battle sometime- if your enemy has a high enough attack chances are your unit will lose about 30-40 men in a blink of an eye.

Note, if the enemy line is only 1-2 men thick and it's not a pike chances are you can pull it off with minimal damage. I'm mainly speaking in the case of 3+ men deep enemy formations.

If it's a Pike unit- the way the mechanics are don't even bother. If it's a 1 man thick pike go head-on into the pike and attack it. The "kick back" from the pike will be minimal and a pike becomes fairly ineffective when it's that thin.

Sieges 101: Flying Rocks and Hot Oil

I'm going to open up on Sieges with this one:

.... Don't use skirmishers against seige equipment. Picture of why.... Over here!



Every. Single. Arrow. is a wasted shot. You can use fire arrows to burn down the equipment but you're expending ammo on a unit they got for free and if they manually control it they can send your skirmishers through an absolute gauntlet of seige weapon fire at point-blank range and drain all their ammo long before you burn their equipment down. Not to mention the risk of being shot by arrow towers at the same time. Simply ride out the hailstorm of fire and use your free equipment to disable their defenses. If they got it for free, you want to disable it for free.

Second- don't go through gates unless you (literally) have no options. You'll lose dozens of men to oil, and chances are remember above about the blobbing and the alleyway scenerio? That'll happen, and they'll do it to you without remorse and you'll basically be helpless to stop it.

I also recommend attacking from different angles.

It's a very careful balance of expanding to cover ground so far you are isolated, divided and killed piece by piece and it's another to open up just in range where you can still support your men. If you sort of funnel yourself in a head-on fight you can't win (as put below) then you're not going to be having a good time.



Seiges are the ultimate in the game of chess because each move needs to be methodical and you need to look for different avenues to attack as well as seeing if you can find how they can flank you and watch your sides and rear. All too often I see everyone get tunnel vision down one single road and I can very easy stop their army with - like that Legion scenerio above - post a unit to hold, and then begin to move a token force down various roads in stealth to pick off skirmishers, cavalry, or get a rear charge on some idle elite unit that was left there in "safety".

You need to be very aware of avenues of attack, and in return use as many of them as you can to effectively engage them.

[BlockChange]

IVE got a beginner guide for Rome 2 DOnt Buuy , Dont Install , Life without Rome 2 is the way to go.

[Energy Addict]

Hey guys,

Not sure how many this will reach but due to a dare by Sly some time back, I've actually begun the creation of a full digitalized guide on this.... More thorough than the Steam version. If desired, I can see if I can host the guide somehow (standard Word document or something). Unfortunately, the Steam Guides format isn't honestly well suited for large-scale guides so I was looking for another medium to provide content to. Oddly enough, going back to basics works even if it does have it's hurdles.

Is there anything you guys would like to see elaborated on more?

[気 Mantikko マンティコー]

It was about time for such a guide! I haven't played Rome or Attila, but Shogun 2 and i think it is still very helpful because i got insight into the game mechanics. You may have no elephants or skirmishers in Japan, but understanding how armour works let's me employ my forces way more reasonable. I also got hints for situations that are never mentioned in the game wiki (which got poor to no explanations about mechanics). "Yari wall" = pikemen, so you have to attack them in the rear, whenever possible. Long range sniper units are called "skirmishing infantry" (as opposed to "line infantry") suggesting a different tactical use and maybe even hidden mechanics. Last but not least, i was always wondering what some of the veteran updates in multiplayer mode are useful for - "missile damage" is never explained, now i would guess it increases effectiveness against armoured units but is still useless against high defence stats. thanks!

[Lewted HoseTW]

I like it. Its very well put. I'm looking forward to seeing more from both of you in the future.

[Energy Addict]

Hello everyone!

I just wrapped up the guide. It has a bit of things missing from it that I'd like to cover however I wanted to update it just enough where there is enough content to make it worth a read, although I admit I still need to go through it soon and really start putting in more detail towards the last 3 sections.

If anyone wanted anything in specific brought up just let me know.

[Colorjuice14]

Yea thanks.

[Energy Addict]

@General Howe; I'll complete it seeing as there is now actually a lot of people viewing it. In all honestly, I slowed down and didn't put this down as a priority since well, Rome II is an older game and the player base isn't as riveting as she used to be so figured the guide might of been a moot point. However, seeing interest in it I'll make sure to begin working on it further for you all. :)

[Colorjuice14]

nice guide, hope to see it completed in the future

[Neo]

Ehhh these tactics make good sense... But for a total war game? Face it doing any of those things may not turn out great and even so you might end up finding the AI doing something bullshit related to get around it.

[Energy Addict]

Releasing the initial block of information. Only about 35% done. Please feel free to point out any typos or information requests. Just remember, this is a very high-level overview for barebones beginners and refreshers for intermediates. The remaining sections will be filled out in the coming days and pictures in the coming week.

Potential of a YouTube video or two as well; depending if requested.

Just looking to give back to the community and really help people out. Again, not looking for open debates here as this is still to some extent a game of chance. Your experience may not be the same as someone elses even with the exact same units, map, and fighting style.

I'm just looking to help inform anyone willing to learn and create a clear, and fairly explainative guide without getting into too much jargon or setting and learning curve. The game overall is simple once you grasp the simple concepts.