betty's oldies
Forum Expert
This is my first guide in TD and will talk about how to make your build order in TD.
For credibility purposes, here are my stats/information:
Replay showing my offensive build order (before I refined it). This video shows a fast level 4 mine (offensive build order) before the 15 minute mark:
Other:
-Approximately 100 APM (actions per minute) in SC2 (I'm an RTS player)
-Has teamed with @ymbmg in his games
Background information/definitions
I'll refer to the following guides from time to time. I recommend reading a few of these before reading this post because I will use their terminology. (Edit: Unfortunately, his guides will not be on the forums anymore.)
TeamLiquid's help page on build orders (for SC2): http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Help:Reading_Build_Orders
Useful terminology:
-APM (Actions per minute): The average or instantaneous rate at which the player can perform actions (includes spam). Note APM is NOT a measure of skill since spam can affect APM. High APM is the result of game awareness. Your EPM (effective actions per minute) is your APM that goes into actual commands (excludes spam). I suggest to not try to force yourself to raise your APM; let it go up as you improve.
-Macro (macromanagement, not to be confused with macro programs): How you manage your economy (gold mine, mob spawning, building towers). This comes down to decision making (what towers to build, what mobs to send, etc). You'll naturally improve your macro as your APM naturally increases.
-Micro (micromanagement): How you upgrade your towers and support your units by using potions to your maximum advantage.
What's a build order?
A build order is a specific series of steps performed to achieve a specific strategy. The build order itself consists of the following components:
-Macro. In this game, that's spawning mobs every 15 seconds and upgrading your gold mine as soon as possible.
-Opening. If you've played the other games such as eggwars, you've unknowingly used an opening by going to the middle of the map to get loot or rushing to enemy islands/players.
-Transition to mid or late-game build. Your mid or late-game build might be pure defense or pure offense. Never do a mix of the two--see below.
By using a build order, you can get a stronger economy or a stronger defense earlier than a player who doesn't have a build order (those who build randomly won't get that far ahead).
Types of build orders
As with eggwars, you've probably heard of rushes, cheese, and fast economy. Many players you will encounter have their own play-style (and build order), meaning you may have to adapt your build order depending on what they have.
The true challenge achievement encourages a cheese for example. Normally, most players expect a giant sent close to or at Armageddon. This achievement has one send a giant within 15 minutes, something most players don't expect. This is what a cheese is: an unexpected strategy that relies on the lack of information on the opponent.
A fast economy build aims to have the level 3 gold mine finished by around the 7:30 mark. This gives the player a significant economical advantage over one who obtains the mine much later at the cost of early defense. Minimal, but optimal defense, allows all builds to achieve a fast mine.
Early rushes unfortunately do not work in this game due to castle guards but work in other games such as eggwars. Rushes, like cheeses, are usually all-in: put all your money in and defeat your opponent quickly before he can gain an advantage. If you fail the rush, it's either a game over for you or you'll be very far behind in the game. All-ins will usually happen at Armageddon.
At the very beginning of the game, you must decide what build order you'll choose (offense or defense). The build you choose can greatly affect your opening. An offensive player won't build anything (or just a single mage early in the game if the team doesn't have one) while a defensive player may have to build during the opening.
Example
Consider this opening:
The left of the colon shows the event (the @ symbol in this example shows how much XP you should have when you perform the action). The action is shown on the right. We read the second line of the build order as follows:
"At 200 XP, upgrade your gold mine to level 1."
We also note again that depending on the role, the player should choose one of the two spiders. So, if a player is doing defense, then he should choose spiders. If offense, choose cave spiders.
Here is an example of a mid-game transition for defense:
Although the total XP cost is 1100 (same as buying all 3 potions at 1100XP), the order is different since each potion is bought at different times. The result is having at least the freezing potion first and the other 2 damaging potions later instead of buying all 3 at once.
As with defense, there's 2 types of defense ymbmg stated: static and dynamic. The defending player here can choose whether to build towers right away (static) or build according to what the enemy sends (dynamic).
An example of a mid-game transition to offense:
Note that the transitions are not always the same 100% of the time and also note that none of these build orders include specifics such as what mobs to spawn. There's some assumptions all build orders have unless specified.
Assumptions in build orders
Unless specified, all build orders assume the following:
-Timings are not exact.
-It's assumed you use your macro skills to your best (e.g. spawning mobs every 15 seconds).
-You choose what mobs are best for your XP/cost rates (e.g. on defense, regular spiders are just fine but for offense, use cave spiders). The top 3 cost-effective mobs are zombies, cave spiders, and spiders.
-If you don't have enough money to send in a full wave of, say cave spiders, for XP farming, you send in a mixed composition of zombies and caves.
-If defense, you decide where and when to place towers (of course, as best as possible).
Optimizing your idea
Your build order is not just a specific series of steps. Each build order has an idea behind it (e.g. an offensive build order in the replay above has an idea of finishing with a strong offense while a defensive build order plans to create an impenetrable defense). As a rule of thumb, if the idea is poor, then so is the build order.
Notice that the sample transitions have some adaptation (especially in the offensive transition). The key to making a strong transition is knowing what your enemy has and responding to it. This allows your offense to be much more effective than if you were to blindly send in 2 giants without looking at the enemy's defense.
Aside from not making common mistakes, you should never forget the main idea behind your build. Your build order should NEVER, under any circumstances, deviate from the main goal unless your build clearly cannot counter the opponent's strategy. Suppose you're offense but you depart from that idea and choose defense. Not only have you spent too much on getting XP, but now you don't have the money to get a strong defense. The same is true if you're defense but you switch to offense: you won't have enough money for 2 giants or a full blaze wave with potion support. Unless your opponent makes huge errors, this forces you to play catch-up for the entire game, which is not good if the opponent has made a very strong early defense or economy.
For credibility purposes, here are my stats/information:
Replay showing my offensive build order (before I refined it). This video shows a fast level 4 mine (offensive build order) before the 15 minute mark:
Other:
-Approximately 100 APM (actions per minute) in SC2 (I'm an RTS player)
-Has teamed with @ymbmg in his games
Background information/definitions
I'll refer to the following guides from time to time. I recommend reading a few of these before reading this post because I will use their terminology. (Edit: Unfortunately, his guides will not be on the forums anymore.)
TeamLiquid's help page on build orders (for SC2): http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Help:Reading_Build_Orders
Useful terminology:
-APM (Actions per minute): The average or instantaneous rate at which the player can perform actions (includes spam). Note APM is NOT a measure of skill since spam can affect APM. High APM is the result of game awareness. Your EPM (effective actions per minute) is your APM that goes into actual commands (excludes spam). I suggest to not try to force yourself to raise your APM; let it go up as you improve.
-Macro (macromanagement, not to be confused with macro programs): How you manage your economy (gold mine, mob spawning, building towers). This comes down to decision making (what towers to build, what mobs to send, etc). You'll naturally improve your macro as your APM naturally increases.
-Micro (micromanagement): How you upgrade your towers and support your units by using potions to your maximum advantage.
What's a build order?
A build order is a specific series of steps performed to achieve a specific strategy. The build order itself consists of the following components:
-Macro. In this game, that's spawning mobs every 15 seconds and upgrading your gold mine as soon as possible.
-Opening. If you've played the other games such as eggwars, you've unknowingly used an opening by going to the middle of the map to get loot or rushing to enemy islands/players.
-Transition to mid or late-game build. Your mid or late-game build might be pure defense or pure offense. Never do a mix of the two--see below.
By using a build order, you can get a stronger economy or a stronger defense earlier than a player who doesn't have a build order (those who build randomly won't get that far ahead).
Types of build orders
As with eggwars, you've probably heard of rushes, cheese, and fast economy. Many players you will encounter have their own play-style (and build order), meaning you may have to adapt your build order depending on what they have.
The true challenge achievement encourages a cheese for example. Normally, most players expect a giant sent close to or at Armageddon. This achievement has one send a giant within 15 minutes, something most players don't expect. This is what a cheese is: an unexpected strategy that relies on the lack of information on the opponent.
A fast economy build aims to have the level 3 gold mine finished by around the 7:30 mark. This gives the player a significant economical advantage over one who obtains the mine much later at the cost of early defense. Minimal, but optimal defense, allows all builds to achieve a fast mine.
Early rushes unfortunately do not work in this game due to castle guards but work in other games such as eggwars. Rushes, like cheeses, are usually all-in: put all your money in and defeat your opponent quickly before he can gain an advantage. If you fail the rush, it's either a game over for you or you'll be very far behind in the game. All-ins will usually happen at Armageddon.
At the very beginning of the game, you must decide what build order you'll choose (offense or defense). The build you choose can greatly affect your opening. An offensive player won't build anything (or just a single mage early in the game if the team doesn't have one) while a defensive player may have to build during the opening.
Example
Consider this opening:
-After first wave of sending zombies: Mage tower
-@200 XP: Gold mine level 1
-@500 XP: Gold mine level 2
-if defense, @80 XP: spiders
-if offense, @100 XP: cave spiders
-@1500 XP: Gold mine level 3
-@200 XP: Gold mine level 1
-@500 XP: Gold mine level 2
-if defense, @80 XP: spiders
-if offense, @100 XP: cave spiders
-@1500 XP: Gold mine level 3
The left of the colon shows the event (the @ symbol in this example shows how much XP you should have when you perform the action). The action is shown on the right. We read the second line of the build order as follows:
"At 200 XP, upgrade your gold mine to level 1."
We also note again that depending on the role, the player should choose one of the two spiders. So, if a player is doing defense, then he should choose spiders. If offense, choose cave spiders.
Here is an example of a mid-game transition for defense:
-@100XP: Unlock freezing potion
-@500XP: Unlock meteor potion
-@500XP: Unlock zeus potion
-Build towers depending on enemy mob composition.
-@500XP: Unlock meteor potion
-@500XP: Unlock zeus potion
-Build towers depending on enemy mob composition.
As with defense, there's 2 types of defense ymbmg stated: static and dynamic. The defending player here can choose whether to build towers right away (static) or build according to what the enemy sends (dynamic).
An example of a mid-game transition to offense:
-@5000 XP: Gold mine level 4
-@300 XP: regen potion
-Scout enemy for their tower composition
-If they lack anti-air, @500 XP: blazes
-If they have weak anti-ground: @1500 XP: giant
-If sending blazes, @200 XP: speed potion
-@300 XP: regen potion
-Scout enemy for their tower composition
-If they lack anti-air, @500 XP: blazes
-If they have weak anti-ground: @1500 XP: giant
-If sending blazes, @200 XP: speed potion
Note that the transitions are not always the same 100% of the time and also note that none of these build orders include specifics such as what mobs to spawn. There's some assumptions all build orders have unless specified.
Assumptions in build orders
Unless specified, all build orders assume the following:
-Timings are not exact.
-It's assumed you use your macro skills to your best (e.g. spawning mobs every 15 seconds).
-You choose what mobs are best for your XP/cost rates (e.g. on defense, regular spiders are just fine but for offense, use cave spiders). The top 3 cost-effective mobs are zombies, cave spiders, and spiders.
-If you don't have enough money to send in a full wave of, say cave spiders, for XP farming, you send in a mixed composition of zombies and caves.
-If defense, you decide where and when to place towers (of course, as best as possible).
-Your defense is assumed that you're maximizing the use of your defensive potions against enemy all-ins.
-If offense, you determine when and what mobs to send for your all-in based on the opponent's tower composition (scout and see what they have). Best done a little before Armageddon.-Your offense is assumed to have potion support when needed.
Optimizing your idea
Your build order is not just a specific series of steps. Each build order has an idea behind it (e.g. an offensive build order in the replay above has an idea of finishing with a strong offense while a defensive build order plans to create an impenetrable defense). As a rule of thumb, if the idea is poor, then so is the build order.
Notice that the sample transitions have some adaptation (especially in the offensive transition). The key to making a strong transition is knowing what your enemy has and responding to it. This allows your offense to be much more effective than if you were to blindly send in 2 giants without looking at the enemy's defense.
Aside from not making common mistakes, you should never forget the main idea behind your build. Your build order should NEVER, under any circumstances, deviate from the main goal unless your build clearly cannot counter the opponent's strategy. Suppose you're offense but you depart from that idea and choose defense. Not only have you spent too much on getting XP, but now you don't have the money to get a strong defense. The same is true if you're defense but you switch to offense: you won't have enough money for 2 giants or a full blaze wave with potion support. Unless your opponent makes huge errors, this forces you to play catch-up for the entire game, which is not good if the opponent has made a very strong early defense or economy.
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