08-25-2004, 04:54 AM
Archon - For learning to play the game, try Warcraft Replays. Download the Audio Commentaries, especially the ones by Phreak (well, if you can stand the yawning :P) - the latest ones have many, many very nice tips. That website is an amazing strategy resource - I never would have thought of the Beast Master/Dark Ranger/Merc camp abuse with fast teching Night Elf vs Orc/Human...
The reason those commentaries are so much better then simple replays, is because the commentators not only show you what is done, but explain the reasons for how, when, and why it is done.
As for some beginner tips:
Read through the manual carefully, especially the controls. I'll list some vital control tips:
Use F1, F2, and F3 to select your first, second, or third hero - it saves a LOT of time.
Use Space to go to the last action that took place in the game - your army attacked/unit built/gold mine collapse/etc.
When you have a group of units selected, press Ctrl-1. That puts them in your first control group. To acsess that control group, simply press 1! It works for 0-9. You can even hotkey buildings - for instance, I have an ergonomic keyboard, so it's split down the middle nicely. Hence, I set my altar to control group 6, my main production buildings to group 5, my secondary production to group 4, tertiary to group 3, my main hero + melee units to 1, and my secondary hero + ranged units to 2.
Hold down Alt to see the hit point bars of all units on the battlefield - use this to pick off weakened enem units.
When you have selected several different types of units, such as, say, a Paladin, and 11 footmen, you can quickly switch between the skills of those units. Now, it works like this:
Because the Paladin is a hero, he gets priority in the selection - when you select that group, the skills you can use are paladin skills. However, you may want to suddenly activate Defend. How do you do it? By pressing Tab. Tab cycles through the various unit groups in your selection, so, if you want to quickly switch to your footmen, while maintaining the Paladin in your selection, and doing it quickly, simply press Tab once, and hit your defend key. Then, press Tab again, to switch back to your Paladin. Neat, eh?
Some general things that you should know about the game:
There are several Armour, and damage types in the game (I'm leaving out spells, that all do "Spell" damage, to which heroes, and Mountain Giants are 25% resistant to). Specific damage types counter specific armour types, hence some units are the natural counter to another. Here's a list of those armour and damage types, and the units that use them:
Heavy - the basic melee armour type. It is very weak against magic damage, taking 2x from it, but has no weaknesses, otherwise. Units using this armour are typically First, and Third tier melee, siege units, and Obsidian statues. Note that all of those units are completely demolished by anything doing magic damage (High-tech air for all races but Orc).
Medium - the basic ranged unit armour. It is vulnerable to normal damage, but mildly resistant to piercing, magic, and siege. It is used on workers, ranged units, and Spell Breakers. If you let the enemy melee get anywhere close to something with melee armour, you are in for a world of hurt, as units using it are also not very durable. The Night Elf Mountain Giant is an exception to the rule, due to the wonderfil upgrades it receives.
Light - the typical air armour. It is highly vulnerable to piercing, and magic, hence ranged units are often a good counter to air, as air tends to do reduced to them (Magic and piercing, the only attacks that air units have against ground units do reduced to medium). On the other hand, the more powerful air units (Griffons, Chimera, Frost Wyrms), while vulnerable to piercing absolutely demolish melee armies.
Unarmoured - the typical caster (As well as dryads and huntresses) use this armour. It is highly vulnerable to piercing, and siege, hence siege units, as well as ranged units are often the counter to casters. Due to low caster life, and armour, they tend to go down very quickly, against focus fire.
Fortified - used by buildings (Not towers or burrows! They have light or heavy!), and Siege Engines. It is highly resistant to any form of damage, except siege - one of the reasons why Siege Engines are so difficult to destroy.
Hero - used by... Heroes. It's resistant to piercing, magic, and siege.
Damage types:
Normal - used by all melee units, except Raiders, and also used by Huntresses. It is the natural counter to ranged units, as medium armour takes extra, but be warned - ranged units also do extra damage to huntresses...
Piercing - used by ranged units, Wind Riders, Gargoyles, Dragonhawks, Dryads, and Griffon riders - it is the typical counter against enemy air/casters.
Magic - used by casters, Frost Wyrms, Griffons, and Chimera - the counter to melee.
Siege - used by, well, siege units. Most optimal against casters, Huntresses, Dryads, or buildings.
Keep an eye out on the armour/damage types of the units on the battlefield, and use selective targeting. Instead of letting your huntresses attack enemy knights, while your chimera are attempting to kill riflemen, make your chimera attack his knights, and the huntresses go for his riflemen - such micromanagment can easily turn the tide of a battle.
I think those are the two main things that newer players should keep in mind of - feel free to ask for more, here or on USWest - I'm MasterNightfall there.
The reason those commentaries are so much better then simple replays, is because the commentators not only show you what is done, but explain the reasons for how, when, and why it is done.
As for some beginner tips:
Read through the manual carefully, especially the controls. I'll list some vital control tips:
Use F1, F2, and F3 to select your first, second, or third hero - it saves a LOT of time.
Use Space to go to the last action that took place in the game - your army attacked/unit built/gold mine collapse/etc.
When you have a group of units selected, press Ctrl-1. That puts them in your first control group. To acsess that control group, simply press 1! It works for 0-9. You can even hotkey buildings - for instance, I have an ergonomic keyboard, so it's split down the middle nicely. Hence, I set my altar to control group 6, my main production buildings to group 5, my secondary production to group 4, tertiary to group 3, my main hero + melee units to 1, and my secondary hero + ranged units to 2.
Hold down Alt to see the hit point bars of all units on the battlefield - use this to pick off weakened enem units.
When you have selected several different types of units, such as, say, a Paladin, and 11 footmen, you can quickly switch between the skills of those units. Now, it works like this:
Because the Paladin is a hero, he gets priority in the selection - when you select that group, the skills you can use are paladin skills. However, you may want to suddenly activate Defend. How do you do it? By pressing Tab. Tab cycles through the various unit groups in your selection, so, if you want to quickly switch to your footmen, while maintaining the Paladin in your selection, and doing it quickly, simply press Tab once, and hit your defend key. Then, press Tab again, to switch back to your Paladin. Neat, eh?
Some general things that you should know about the game:
There are several Armour, and damage types in the game (I'm leaving out spells, that all do "Spell" damage, to which heroes, and Mountain Giants are 25% resistant to). Specific damage types counter specific armour types, hence some units are the natural counter to another. Here's a list of those armour and damage types, and the units that use them:
Heavy - the basic melee armour type. It is very weak against magic damage, taking 2x from it, but has no weaknesses, otherwise. Units using this armour are typically First, and Third tier melee, siege units, and Obsidian statues. Note that all of those units are completely demolished by anything doing magic damage (High-tech air for all races but Orc).
Medium - the basic ranged unit armour. It is vulnerable to normal damage, but mildly resistant to piercing, magic, and siege. It is used on workers, ranged units, and Spell Breakers. If you let the enemy melee get anywhere close to something with melee armour, you are in for a world of hurt, as units using it are also not very durable. The Night Elf Mountain Giant is an exception to the rule, due to the wonderfil upgrades it receives.
Light - the typical air armour. It is highly vulnerable to piercing, and magic, hence ranged units are often a good counter to air, as air tends to do reduced to them (Magic and piercing, the only attacks that air units have against ground units do reduced to medium). On the other hand, the more powerful air units (Griffons, Chimera, Frost Wyrms), while vulnerable to piercing absolutely demolish melee armies.
Unarmoured - the typical caster (As well as dryads and huntresses) use this armour. It is highly vulnerable to piercing, and siege, hence siege units, as well as ranged units are often the counter to casters. Due to low caster life, and armour, they tend to go down very quickly, against focus fire.
Fortified - used by buildings (Not towers or burrows! They have light or heavy!), and Siege Engines. It is highly resistant to any form of damage, except siege - one of the reasons why Siege Engines are so difficult to destroy.
Hero - used by... Heroes. It's resistant to piercing, magic, and siege.
Damage types:
Normal - used by all melee units, except Raiders, and also used by Huntresses. It is the natural counter to ranged units, as medium armour takes extra, but be warned - ranged units also do extra damage to huntresses...
Piercing - used by ranged units, Wind Riders, Gargoyles, Dragonhawks, Dryads, and Griffon riders - it is the typical counter against enemy air/casters.
Magic - used by casters, Frost Wyrms, Griffons, and Chimera - the counter to melee.
Siege - used by, well, siege units. Most optimal against casters, Huntresses, Dryads, or buildings.
Keep an eye out on the armour/damage types of the units on the battlefield, and use selective targeting. Instead of letting your huntresses attack enemy knights, while your chimera are attempting to kill riflemen, make your chimera attack his knights, and the huntresses go for his riflemen - such micromanagment can easily turn the tide of a battle.
I think those are the two main things that newer players should keep in mind of - feel free to ask for more, here or on USWest - I'm MasterNightfall there.