LearnLosing

The dumbest Newcomers tend to accuse people of cheating, when they are losing a game - to lose happens almost always, if really new. 

The clever Newcomers see the more experienced players as a level to get there, too. 

The upcoming Newcomers tend to play more often with Pros, to challenge their own development, see boundaries of skill and improve improve improve. Such a thing one could call: to learnlose. 

Even upcoming Pros have MegaPlayers as challengers of development - players of extreme experience and overall skill set like GraveDiga, ORA-AndrewFord, |NC|-Lauta, [x]Mafia, MutedCrush, pac|MAN|, [c]Beast and [c]Soul, [x]Ftr, RAM-yuzgen, RC_2g1g and more.

And besides overall skill set there are certain map-specific MegaPlayers with absurdly detailed map-knowledge like examply  d0pekillz @crates. 

But even the Megaplayers have Giants of Gameplay facing them - over 10 -20 years longtime-players and legends like Nastynate, Sol3|MAN|, Atom1-TA, RAM-katsh, robskate, herm and cousinehy (till last year, maybe again?) - all with very special trademarks, like inventors of styles to play: either tanking and Q or building or going hybrid or on standard_maps.

However, does this mean that LearnLosing ends at this level? Surely not. I remember last week, Sol3 telling me: "We lost cause my V2 weren't south but north." Ofc, there are plenty examples of situations, which went different from expected or some teaming didn't went hand-in-hand very well - and therefor: 

LearnLosing probably never ends! 

So what is the Moral of this (?), or how to learnlose besides saying GG after getting raped brutally by tanks or tesla - or both. Skip GoldRush or Rasta, skip WarTank, skip FFA arena games and learn something new: learn to tank, if ya till now felt uncomfortable with it and used merely tesla; learn to do hybrid and building, if ya only used tanks, but experienced vast losing in longgames; learn other maps like standards and difficult money maps with mixed or only either ore or gems - learn the build orders to maintain cashflow and learn the placements of buildings to get certain benefits. 

Learn to lose to Learn in losing. 

But Claus, i TRIED tanking and i tried the GoldMedalMap, but but but it is all to fast and too difficult and too everything - and besides that, i always lose my tank-groups and even the AI beats my ass up everytime. 

Well, of course the AI will kick ya ass the first 100 times of Goldmedal-trying. Maybe it will still do it the next 500 times again. But.... there is no But. The But is ya mental enemy. Try, fail, think about it, learn, stand up, do again, clickclickclick - repeat. 

To all the but-sayers or unsure people out there: Losing ya tank group means nothing at all. See a highlighting example of cousinehy losing his group 4 times in-between only 2:20 minutes of a game: (full video: Cousinehy 2x2 @p4) watch down, darker blue tanks: 

~ 3:36min

~4:00min

~4:39min

~5:45min

If cousinehy can lose his tankgroup than there is no shame in losing the tankgroup as beginning oftenly and not even as advanced tanking player casually sometimes! 

GG and Happy LearnLosing! :)

cousinclaus.

ULTIMATE GERMANY ATTACK

Ever wondered how to improve your germany game?

Well, if you are Gravediga, then you are out of luck because...well, you can't improve your game anymore bro. We tried beating you.

Anyways, if you are NOT Gravediga, then you are in luck.

This is the secret:

GG-Award-2017

... 1 year ago, the RA-Community voted for the nicest, kindest ,as well GG-saying as most friendly and helpful MATE of the Year:

The GG-Mate-Award

2016 the Honor went to former |NC|-, meanwhile ORA-Danco. 2nd was [Funky-TA], 3rd robskate and 4th both: herm and ORA-Boy. Now, one year later the Honor is back to get awarded to someone again :)

--> Either comment your suggestions (multiple possible) bellow, or write me @cncnet main game lobby a PM. 

--> Out of the Nominees i will create a POLL on this website in some days. 

--> The Community will then decide by Majority whom to award the Honor :)

May the GG be with You,

Claus.

Take a Look at the Nastynate Monument Playlist

Nastynate, or formerly known as Fatherravel or short: Father, is a more than 10 years long active playing RA-Superpro. Besides ehy and Atomi1 and a lot of other super characters, he most of the time played and plays in TOP3-level.

His kind nature don't let him join into the YouTube-Wars. None upload of a lucky win or blamingful FastestLose he done. None uncertain claim anywhere. 

Related to the so-called yuzgen-dictum (figuratively: What sense does it make to upload Father winning, when he wins most his games?), you won't find many uploaded youtube-wins of nate. Many newer, upcoming pros uploaded wins against him in order to proof their achieved status - however, be sure, the reversed storyline is true: Nate owns majoritarian hehe. 

Now, finally, some truth gets (re)published from the archives of herm (biggest so far as i know: over 1000 pro-matches), which where deleted by hermself (lololol, what a word-joke^^). He gave access to Ora-Madman, who - at the moment - is starting to make a Nate-wins-Archive on his YouTube-channel. There, he will show us more than +15 outstanding vid-recorded wins of Nastynate, so prepare. 

Examply: Nastynate + Crush versus Ehy and Yuz @ribbon_gems

And then the re-match of it: 

Nastynate, a genuine and sincere player, of whom no current player didnt learn no lesson, obviously deserves such a Monumental Playlist - - and Herm for recording it, Dr_Wk for conserving and Madman for publishing as well a grand ThankYou. (By the way we also need to thank Dr_Wk for saving ehy´s vids and giving them to Lauta! He is truly a Glorious, this Wk!)

Idea: POST some kind words about nate in comment section below, ya chance to Thank as well :)

HJK tutorial

The HJK, no one knows who made this map, it consists of 6 individual pods. Players battle for the middle ore while being protected by ridges on all sides. The map is good for 1v1s and many play 2v2s on it as well.

Main Strategies for competitive 1v1s

Russia -> Build
Ukraine -> Tank

Germany -> Tank

Russia

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +service, -service, +war, +advanced power, +Tesla, - Tesla (After the opponent retreats, sell this tesla.)

Germany

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +war, -barracks, +advance power, +4 war

General tips:

First off you should make an ore truck along with the service depot. Be prepared to take some hits if your opponent is tanking you. It's recommended that you close your gate with 2 or 3 tanks for armor support; don't face tanks with only infantry, tanks buy you time. At this time, you can scout the map with infantry or pile them near the opponent's base to put pressure on his defense, you're making a defense anyways so you may as well buy yourself time too. Try to deploy your MCV as early as possible. Not deploying makes you lose time, as if it were still building, so there is always a high priority on MCV deploying. Make a couple of silos to hold your ore. Adjust the strategy according to the opponent's reactions to your infantry. If he kills them and pushes more, reinforce your base. If he stockpiles near his base, then you can make an additional war factory instead of Tesla. After that, make sufficient units to protect your Ore Factories which you are supposed to crawl to the top left of the ore patches, including the middle one. After you've established a good base, stockpile v2s and ore. Use Teslas only if opponent is too aggressive.

MAP dynamics (Why Top Left is the most crucial)

"I've played games where my opponent is pretty even in tanking and building. What made the difference in the end was who could produce the most units and it turned out that it's the one who holds the most ore. When you expect the match to go on longer than a tank rush, then you should start to worry about finding and defending ore spots, especially the middle since it provides the most ore." -[AFO]THNDER

In this map, it's important to remember that ore trucks collect ore heading towards the top left corner of the ore patches. With this in mind, let's see how it affects your builds depending on your spot.

- In general, you're entrance should be well protected. Not so much exaggerating but enough to kill 4 or 5 tanks headed for your base.

Top Left: You have the build advantage. You are closer to the top left most patch of the ore.
Top Right: A good spot for tanking. If the game lasts slonger than about 8 minutes, then your trucks will need a new spot to harvest ore from soon. Consider inflicting damage to your opponent while looking for the next best spot to harvest ore.
Bottom Left: An excellent corner for building. If you are playing a 1v1 and you get this spot, your opponent is in the Top Right spot. This means that you have more than enough time to set up a defense for a tank rush and completely halt it. Also, you can crawl your build to the Top Left corner of the map.
Bottom Right: This spot is also preferred by builders, for it's south advantage. It's the furthest spot away from the Top Left gem patch in the middle. After you set up an anti-rush build, your next goal should be to stockpile some sort of unit (Heavy Tank, V2s, Mammoth Tank) while at the same time harvesting as much ore that is closest to your opponent. This strategy is called resource absorption, where you harvest all the ore and convert it to units at the same rate you harvest it.

Become a pro understanding Real-Time Strategy (RTS)

Real-Time Strategy is a subgenre of videos games that involve most of the following elements:

- The proper administration of units

- The proper administration of Structures

- The proper administration of an economy

- A map

The definition of REAL-TIME STRATEGY is as follows (Wikipedia: Real-time strategy):

"In an RTS, as in other wargames, the participants position and maneuver units and structures under their control to secure areas of the map and/or destroy their opponents' assets."

With this in mind, let's look at how it can improve your gameplay. But first let's look at the common gameplay of RTS games (Wikipedia: Real-time strategy):

"In a typical real-time strategy game, the screen is divided into a map area displaying the game world and terrain, units, and buildings, and an interface overlay containing command and production controls and often a "radar" or "minimap" overview of the entire map."

We can see that the winner of every RA game will always be the best tactician. It's not always the one who has the best 'Q' or the faster builder or the one who 'clicks' faster or even the one who rushes first. There are many other weapons in your arsenal that will help you win the game and thwart those other 'skills' such as diplomatic, informational, military, and economic resources.

You may win a game by harvesting all the ore on the map first, without resolving to attrition warfare (Military strategy in which a belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material, again Wikipedia) or you may win a game by knowing what strategy your opponent will do and countering it.

This idea is supported by two other concepts of RTS games, and they are Micromanagement and Macromanagement.

Let's look at definition from Wikipedia:

Micromanagement - "Micromanagement refers to when a player's attention is directed more toward the management and maintenance of his or her own individual units and resources."

Macromanagement - "Macromanagement refers to when a player's focus is directed more toward economic development and large-scale strategic maneuvering, allowing time to think and consider possible solutions."

In short, in the early stages of RA your attention is more oriented towards Micromanaging your economy and defense. Macromanagement comes in once you have established a secure resource income. At this point, you should be launching your pre-mediated strategy. These ideas support that it is the better tactician who will win because they are managing two hemispheres of RTS games, whereas some newcomers may only be Micromanaging.

The difference between tactics and strategy

From what is understood, strategy refer to the manipulation of a plethera of events, units, structures and an economy. Tactics focuses more on winning individual battles on the field.

Scenario 1: Placing a tesla will cost you alot of time. But it will defend your base from a 5 tank-rush (provided you have a minimum of 3 tanks). This is an example of Tactics.

Scenario 2: Selling your CY to produce 3 more heavy tanks during the last seconds of the game. This is a strategic move. It takes into consideration your economy.

It should be noted that both are necessary on the battlefield.

If you want to learn more visit the Wikipedia article: Real-time strategy.

Is it possible to apply these tactics in life? Maybe business tactics and strategy or how about school?

Red Alert PRO code of conduct

Red Alert PRO code of conduct is a code that promotes healthy competition amongst players. Red Alert is an adrenaline release for true fans of the game. We don't see it as a waste of time because it satisfies our temporary need of competition and pride. Therefore, recognizing this, we established a code of conduct that will preserve the community's love and respect for the game.

1. If you host a game, maintain an active role as a host. Don't let players wait around too much for a game. If you are to be absent, don't leave without telling the people in your room how long you will be and for what reason.

2. Don't use cheats. If you use cheats, you're sole purpose is to satisfy your hunger of winning. You won't get any experience from winning by using cheats. It is also highly disapproved by most Red Alert players. The only time it would be acceptable is for exeperimental purposes, but even then it's difficult to get away with explaining this.

3. Don't boast about pre-meditated victories. This is making reference to modified maps. Sometimes players join a room not knowing the modified values of the maps, putting them at a huge unknown disadvantage. Fighting on uneven ground is no fun for anyone. Yes, you may win the battle, but is it acceptable to boast about winning over a crippled army? Probably not.

4. Give a reason for leaving in the middle of the game. It is disrespectful not to because a game is a compromise between two players. Have respect for someone else's time by giving them an explanation of why you left in the middle of the game, even if you just type: "Sorry, emergency." Offer a rematch for a later time, but don't damage your reputation in such a childish way.

5. If you are requested to leave because you may cause lag, please do so. That's all we can say. 

Raising Strategy Consciousness

Take the mini RA quiz!

We can say that these kinds of RA players exist:

Strategic Players - Spend more time doing calculated attacks. (lose time)

Furious players - Spend more time doing fast consistent attacks with no focus on organization. (lose strategy)

Use this quiz to help you identify your playing style. Remember it's not possible to be both at the same time, you either value time or attack in the game.

Do you do this? or Do you do that?

a. Drop buildings anywhere they land to get more speed.
b. Drop buildings organizedly to save space.

a. Group tanks as 1 group only for bigger groups.
b. Group tanks as 1 and 2 for tactical advantage. (ie. send one group north, and one south.)

a. Defend base without infantry wall to concentrate on my build order.
b. Defend base with massive infantry, but risk losing a bit of concentration on my build.

a. I let my ore trucks go anywhere, while I concentrate on scouting the map. (Tactical Advantage)
b. I control my ore trucks, don't scatter infantry, but I have more money.

a. I make a backup strategy in case my first doesn't work.
b. I concentrate on one strategy and go as hard as I can.

a. Most of the time I use Paratroopers to destroy unguarded buildings.
b. Most of the time I use Paratroopers to set up a decoy and attack from other side.

a. I defend against Grenadiers with Attack Dogs, for more efectiveness.
b. I defend Grenadiers with Grenadiers to put pressure on opponent.

a. I squish scattered infantry with light tank to open path for incoming infantry.
b. I don't squish scattered infantry so my tanks have more health.

a. When I play with partner I coordinate with him to combine strategies.
b. I don't speak to him. I trust him inherently and I focus on my strategy alone.

a. I kick players who don't respond in the chat so I don't waste people's time.
b. I am respectful to the players absence, because he could be doing something important.

a. I use engineers to heal my bases and lose a little time to manage them.
b. I trade the time I can get from not managing engineers to concentrate on

a. I use super weapons to get a tactical advantage.
b. I don't use super weapons, they're too distracting.

a. I calculate how much ore each thing costs at beginning of game to measure resources.
b. I don't calculate how much ore things cost but I focus on build.

a. I think about what failed in my strategy, and ask for a respectful rematch.
b. I try as many strategies as I can, randomly, hoping to fit the one that 'fits' me.

a. I eat, sleep, and drink Red Alert 1.
b. I eat a healthy diet to focus maximum on Red Alert 1.

Make sure to share in the RA lobby to raise strategy consciousness.