Taking
territories
- First thing is, learn how to grab flags quickly using
the minimap. Remember that when you send robots to grab
territories you don't have to click right over the flag,
since the robots ai is smart enough to know that grabbing
flag is a very high priority. So, try to set your initial
orders without panning at all, just selecting the robots
and clicking over the white points (flags). Try to send
the robots across different directions to grab as much territory
as possible, and take into account their speeds. For example,
if you have one sniper unit group and one grunt unit group,
send the sniper to the furthest and most important territory
(4- or 5-starts) so you can start producing as fast as possible.
The grunt group would be sent to grab nearby territories
and abandoned weaponry ASAP.
Moving
around
- Second, you must be proficient at moving across the map
using the right mouse button. Forget arrow keys if you want
to stand any chance in Z. Set your mouse speed, Hold that
RMB and pan around like a madman. Also keep a look at the
minimap. Contrasty red points over blue territories or vice-versa
certainly means trouble.
Defining
your frontier -
Tanks are a totally different story from robots in Z. You
must think about them as your early game serious defense
units. Send them tactically to protect your must-have territories,
and remember they're also very important to surprise your
enemy in territories they don't expect you to attack very
early. In short: if you only see a few robots there, tank-raid
them. If the territory is a 1-star one, try to capture and
keep it. If it's a 2-star and beyond, it's generally wiser
to destroy its factory, since the enemy will throw all it's
got to take it back.
To
LOS or not to LOS?
- There is no line of sight in Z, everything can be seen
all the time. That should be used to your advantage, or
the enemy will use it against you. What this mean is - learn
to move fast and pre-plan your actions and specially slow
units movement, to gain yourself some time to take a look
at your enemy units. Keep special interest in where the
enemy is moving his medium and heavy tanks, since they're
battle-winners by themselves.
First
things on front
- Try to build quantities in your front line territories
and quality in your back territories. Of course there is
the psychological factor of the enemy seeing many units
and becoming unconfident, but there are some much more important
reasons. First, the tanks are very efficient while standing
ground, so position them spread and covering each other
firing range (something I call v-formation). Second, if
the enemy takes your territory he'll be capturing (or you'll
be cancelling) some cheap and quick production. Third, if
the enemy progress towards your back territories, you'll
have extra time to manage troops to defend it and maybe
even get the costly unit out before the enemy gets there.
Repair
often
- Use and abuse from your repair facilities. Hit and run
tactics are very effective when coupled with retreat and
repair actions, specially because building takes so much
building time and repair is reasonably quick.
Next: Z & Z Expansion Strategy
Guide - II
