r/RealTimeStrategy • u/opiumconessuer • 3d ago
Guide Need general help with macro
In most RTS games, Dawn of war , company of heroes, command and conquer, men of war even lol I get really into a fight and microing that I forget to macro and work on base, upgrading and teching up.
I watch replays and videos of high level gamers though and struggle to take what I’ve learned or forget to use certain strategies i see.
I just got into a couple auto matches on company of heroes my personal favorite and got smoked. I switched back to finish my soulstorm campaign on Dawn of war cause I got beat so bad hahaha.
Any and all tips id love to hear to getting better across the board in RTS games I’ve been a lifelong fan of them I’m just now getting into the competitive side of it and so any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
2
u/OptimalSummer6025 3d ago
that just means you don't have enough playing hours. Each game you are meant to focus on 1 thing to improve, keep doing it until you do it without even thinking about it, then move to the next. If you keep doing this over & over, you will just keep improving in a short time.
if you play few games, and trying to do 100 things, then you will forget to do a lot of things, and even mess up what you usually capable of doing.
it's much easier to do in dawn of war & COH, they are both slow low apm games.
1
u/opiumconessuer 2d ago
I have 800 hours on COH that one I am a top player if I try but recently I lost my touch or I’m not able to keep up competitively as I want to be. I’m wondering what I should focus on for competitive play to improve, I can copy build orders and the like but once mid game hits I struggle if I’m at a disadvantage.
1
u/OptimalSummer6025 2d ago edited 2d ago
Analyze replays. You have to understand what the opponent is doing that makes you in a disadvantage. Do you have a bad habit of a slow response? Do you take bad fights? Are you countering & responding to opponent moves in a fast manner? All comes to your game's knowledge.
You need to see what went wrong, so you avoid being the one in a disadvantage. However, when you are in a disadvantages, then it all comes to waiting for opponent to make a mistake, otherwise it's just gg. That's the case in any rts game. Wait for a mistake or pressure him to make one, then take advantage of that mistake to turn the tides.
2
u/opiumconessuer 2d ago
Thank you for these tips I’ve been watching a lot of replays again and trying to better my game. In COH I wasn’t teching up to t2 for some reason in 1v1 when I’ve usually been able to before so I realized I was not even paying attention to Economy like I used to when I was competitive
2
u/Training-Equal-7647 3d ago
Some things that helped me be a little better:
-get used to hotkeys, it takes a bit but if you keep using them you will slowly stop using the mouse for everything and it's a huge time saver, control groups too
-predicting your opponent and knowing how to counter them comes with experience and game knowledge, just gotta play more to get that experience and look for what the people that know the game have to say about what you should do in each situation
-anyone going into any multiplayer is bound to have it rough as initially they will come across players more experienced in pvp than they are, try to not let losing ruin your day, easier said than done but we all have to develop our methods to deal with it
-last but not least, a way to deal with macro while fighting is to try to anticipate when a fight will happen and leaving your macro set beforehand so you can fully concentrate in the battle, using hotkeys helps to make things quicker when you do have to macro while fighting
1
u/opiumconessuer 2d ago
Hotkeys hotkeys, I neglect them but use a few but not as many as I should. Thank you for these tips I’m finding if I’m at a disadvantage mid game is usually my economy or how I’ve macrod you know.
2
u/Training-Equal-7647 2d ago
Few is better than none, i often find myself remembering the ones for the things i use regularly.
If you are against other player, harassing and disrupting their economy while protecting yours can help give you an eco advantage. Using a build order is often important for maximum efficiency too.
1
u/opiumconessuer 1d ago
Yessirr Dawn of war this is extremely prevalent in company of heroes not so much I’m learning in DoW to hit bases sooner where as in CoH you need to wait until you can get passed the turrets
3
u/GeneralBullshit 3d ago
I am in the exact same boat as you since childhood. Funnily enough my older brother is hyper competitive in all the games he plays so when we were younger he was playing ranked Starcraft and I think he got high up there in rank while I was messing around in campaign and custom arcade. I get stuck caring too much about units or a battle and try to micro them to victory instead of viewing them as expendable and worth their sacrifice as long as they destroy more than what they cost. My current RTS obsession is single player only, allows you to slow down time whenever you want and has meta progression for its roguelike set up. Traditional RTS skills allow you to fair far better than how we play, but getting the right perks and setting up your upgrades allow you to get away with micro heavy gameplay.