Strategy guides
Short-match strategy that holds in any real-time game.
- Expand or defend? Neutral cities in the early game
How to decide between taking more neutral cities and protecting what you have, early in a strategy match, and the signs that tell you which to do.
- Macro versus micro in a five-minute match
In a short real-time strategy match, where should your attention go: the big picture or the fights? How to split it, and why short games shift the balance.
- Opening, middle and close of a short strategy match
A short real-time strategy match has three phases. What to do in the opening, the middle and the close, and how to tell which one you are in.
- Pressing a lead and coming back from behind
Why leads get thrown away and comebacks happen in strategy games, how to turn an advantage into a win, and how to claw back from behind.
- Reading the board when there is no fog of war
When every unit is visible, strategy becomes reading. What to look at in a game with no fog of war, how to predict a rival's next move, and how to hide intent in plain sight.