Jun 5th 2019, 4:12:39
The Newbie Guide
This guide will teach anyone who is new to earth how to play effectively. I suggest even slightly experienced player read this over because you might learn some stuff in here. I know what it was like being a newbie. I used to play multiplayer games on a gaming network called Kahn. I was a newbie at warcraft2 the first time I played, but I learned quickly, same went for Starcraft. I started as a regular newbie, but I dont like sucking at games so I set out to make myself good in the smallest amount of time possible. The same happened with earth. While I dont regard myself as an EXPERT, I know I am advanced enough to write this guide and strategies.
First off, there are 2 levels of newbies. The first level of newbie is someone who knows nearly NOTHING about the game. If you know nearly nothing about the game, I suggest you read the Instruction Manual first so you know what each building and military type does and so on.
The second level of newbie is someone who knows the basics, but just doesn't play effectively and efficiently. There are so many people that play earth who are like this and I was one of them at one point, just like everyone once was.
The Newbie Way of Thought
This may NOT apply to you, but it does apply to almost every newbie out there. The way a newbie thinks is, you should be making money every turn, you make military every turn, you should be making food every turn and you always have a rounded military with some tech. Basically, once you know what each buildings does, you obviously think, if you are losing money, or not getting much, you should build Enterprise or Residential. If you arent making lots of military every turn, you should build more Industrial. If you are losing food every turn, you build farms. This is NOT correct!
The Four Basic Strategies
There are four BASIC strategies to choose from which I will briefly explain:
1. Cashing - You build most of your buildings Enterprise and Residential to make lots of money. You also max out your Res and Bus tech to make even more money. A casher can be nearly any government, but usually are Democracy or Republic. You get your military buy buying it with all the cash you make. You also buy your food and tech with the money you make.
2. Industrialist - You make most of your buildings Industrial which provides you with your military. You will be losing money every turn and to keep alive, you sell military on the public market for money the next day. You also max out industrial tech and military tech. Most industrialists are Tyranny or Dictatorship.
3. Techie - You make most of your land Labs and research a ton of tech. To make money you sell tech at the end of your turns on the public market. You use this money to buy your military. Almost any government can be an effective techie except commie.
4. Food - You make most of your land Farms and max out agriculture tech. To make money, you sell food on the market and to get military you buy it with the money. Most food producers are Tyranny.
Those are the four basic strategies. You CAN mix 2 together or even 3, but that requires LOTS of experience to make it effective and I definately DO NOT recommend mixing. You should pick the strategy you think you will like the best and then review the government you think you will like to be and will be effective using that strategy that you have chosen. I have used all of those strats except food, so I only know the basic concepts of food strat. Each strat has its variations of stages.
To be a good player you have to THINK BIG all the time. This is one problem TONS of people have. They get 100,000 troops and think, wow, this is a lot. But 100,000 troops isn't a lot, only to someone who just got that much for the first time. Try and go PURE in your strat, meaning, if you were going industrialist, build ONLY industrial and construction sites! I know you will probably think this is the worst thing you could do, but its actually VERY effective. You will make WAY more military and concentrate on your strategy. You will probably think, well you will be losing way more money and food, but if you are making more military, then you are stronger and can sell more on the market, to make that extra money you're losing and to buy food. I know one guy who looks at my screen and tells me i suck because im losing food and money every turn. Well, thats cuz he's a newbie, I was playing a game where i was 1st place in 2X at the time.
Governments play a huge role in the game. Most newbies just pick the one that sounds the best, stick with monarchy cuz they cant decide, dont even know how to change government, or choose one that when they look at the differences think is THE BEST, usually cuz of one bonus that catches their eye. Almost all good players will agree with me when I say all governments are nearly equal, except for commie which just plain sux (except for the first few days). For a starting player, I suggest using dictatorship, since it is a pretty well rounded government that can do any strat effectively.
So, now you have picked your basic strategy, your government and have your goal in focus, which is NOT to be mixed in strats or buildings and to focus on your strategy. Now, to form your own strategy out of the basic strategy you have chosen, you have to consider a few things. First of all, for the start, the most effective way to start off is the Basic Commie Start which I will explain later. This will get you ahead at the start. Start off Commie if you chose Democracy, Republic or Monarchy as your government, otherwise start as your government you selected. The next stage is to plan in your head what you are going to do. You have to remember, you need a way to:
1. Get lots of military
2. Keep your important tech levels near maxed out
There are 2 ways of getting military. One is to buy it, and the second is to get it from industrial. Obviously you will buy it with all the basic strats except for industrialist which you will get your military from industrial buildings and wont need to buy it.
What kind of military you get is also VERY important. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of military. Click HERE to see notes and explanations on the military units.
Also, what buildings you build are VERY important! Click HERE to see descriptions and notes on all the buildings.
To get tech there are 3 main ways. The first is having a stage in your game (usually after the first 4-8 days) where you build lots of labs to research your tech, then destroy your labs after you're done maxing it out. The second is to buy tech from the public market. The third is rarely used, you use spies to find targets with lots of tech and steal tech from them. I dont recommend using the third option because it requires lots of experience.
In your strategy you may want to change governments some time or even strats. Most of the time people try to keep the same strat throughout the game, but sometimes the public market just isn't in favour of your strategy. For example if you are a techie and tech prices suddenly drop dramatically, you wont make as much money and might consider switching to cash or industrial. Government changes can worsen your situation, and it can help sometimes. I suggest you stay with one government throughout the game, but if you are a casher, you will probably want to switch to Demo or Rep near the end of the game.
The next step, after reading all of this and planning your strategy is to find other good resources where you can learn. The way I learned quickly was simply through playing experience (seeing that i was ranked low) and from talking to expert players, joining an alliance in 1A, and reading the earth strategy boards at least once a day. Ask questions to experienced players and on the strat boards whenever you have a question and you will learn how expert players think. Talk to expert players as much as possible. I found lots of good players by joining an alliance, I suggest you do this if you havent already. If you dont know how to join, goto the Alliance board in the Earth Forum. This is the key to overcoming being a newbie. I suggest you start by reading The Basic Commie start and Wufbam!'s Parenting strat first though. The basic commie start is the most efficient way of starting your game and the wufbam! strat is the base of so many strats and can give you an idea of what your strategy can include. These are a bit outdated, but will give you a basic understanding of strategy.
Note about the Commie Start: If you are tyranny or dictatorship, it won't make much of a difference if you start commie or tyr or dic, because with the new stats of a Commie, starting as a commie wont be as effective as it used to be and the change of governments will basically negate the advantages that it gives you. But if you aren't dic or tyr, you should start commie.
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This guide will teach anyone who is new to earth how to play effectively. I suggest even slightly experienced player read this over because you might learn some stuff in here. I know what it was like being a newbie. I used to play multiplayer games on a gaming network called Kahn. I was a newbie at warcraft2 the first time I played, but I learned quickly, same went for Starcraft. I started as a regular newbie, but I dont like sucking at games so I set out to make myself good in the smallest amount of time possible. The same happened with earth. While I dont regard myself as an EXPERT, I know I am advanced enough to write this guide and strategies.
First off, there are 2 levels of newbies. The first level of newbie is someone who knows nearly NOTHING about the game. If you know nearly nothing about the game, I suggest you read the Instruction Manual first so you know what each building and military type does and so on.
The second level of newbie is someone who knows the basics, but just doesn't play effectively and efficiently. There are so many people that play earth who are like this and I was one of them at one point, just like everyone once was.
The Newbie Way of Thought
This may NOT apply to you, but it does apply to almost every newbie out there. The way a newbie thinks is, you should be making money every turn, you make military every turn, you should be making food every turn and you always have a rounded military with some tech. Basically, once you know what each buildings does, you obviously think, if you are losing money, or not getting much, you should build Enterprise or Residential. If you arent making lots of military every turn, you should build more Industrial. If you are losing food every turn, you build farms. This is NOT correct!
The Four Basic Strategies
There are four BASIC strategies to choose from which I will briefly explain:
1. Cashing - You build most of your buildings Enterprise and Residential to make lots of money. You also max out your Res and Bus tech to make even more money. A casher can be nearly any government, but usually are Democracy or Republic. You get your military buy buying it with all the cash you make. You also buy your food and tech with the money you make.
2. Industrialist - You make most of your buildings Industrial which provides you with your military. You will be losing money every turn and to keep alive, you sell military on the public market for money the next day. You also max out industrial tech and military tech. Most industrialists are Tyranny or Dictatorship.
3. Techie - You make most of your land Labs and research a ton of tech. To make money you sell tech at the end of your turns on the public market. You use this money to buy your military. Almost any government can be an effective techie except commie.
4. Food - You make most of your land Farms and max out agriculture tech. To make money, you sell food on the market and to get military you buy it with the money. Most food producers are Tyranny.
Those are the four basic strategies. You CAN mix 2 together or even 3, but that requires LOTS of experience to make it effective and I definately DO NOT recommend mixing. You should pick the strategy you think you will like the best and then review the government you think you will like to be and will be effective using that strategy that you have chosen. I have used all of those strats except food, so I only know the basic concepts of food strat. Each strat has its variations of stages.
To be a good player you have to THINK BIG all the time. This is one problem TONS of people have. They get 100,000 troops and think, wow, this is a lot. But 100,000 troops isn't a lot, only to someone who just got that much for the first time. Try and go PURE in your strat, meaning, if you were going industrialist, build ONLY industrial and construction sites! I know you will probably think this is the worst thing you could do, but its actually VERY effective. You will make WAY more military and concentrate on your strategy. You will probably think, well you will be losing way more money and food, but if you are making more military, then you are stronger and can sell more on the market, to make that extra money you're losing and to buy food. I know one guy who looks at my screen and tells me i suck because im losing food and money every turn. Well, thats cuz he's a newbie, I was playing a game where i was 1st place in 2X at the time.
Governments play a huge role in the game. Most newbies just pick the one that sounds the best, stick with monarchy cuz they cant decide, dont even know how to change government, or choose one that when they look at the differences think is THE BEST, usually cuz of one bonus that catches their eye. Almost all good players will agree with me when I say all governments are nearly equal, except for commie which just plain sux (except for the first few days). For a starting player, I suggest using dictatorship, since it is a pretty well rounded government that can do any strat effectively.
So, now you have picked your basic strategy, your government and have your goal in focus, which is NOT to be mixed in strats or buildings and to focus on your strategy. Now, to form your own strategy out of the basic strategy you have chosen, you have to consider a few things. First of all, for the start, the most effective way to start off is the Basic Commie Start which I will explain later. This will get you ahead at the start. Start off Commie if you chose Democracy, Republic or Monarchy as your government, otherwise start as your government you selected. The next stage is to plan in your head what you are going to do. You have to remember, you need a way to:
1. Get lots of military
2. Keep your important tech levels near maxed out
There are 2 ways of getting military. One is to buy it, and the second is to get it from industrial. Obviously you will buy it with all the basic strats except for industrialist which you will get your military from industrial buildings and wont need to buy it.
What kind of military you get is also VERY important. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of military. Click HERE to see notes and explanations on the military units.
Also, what buildings you build are VERY important! Click HERE to see descriptions and notes on all the buildings.
To get tech there are 3 main ways. The first is having a stage in your game (usually after the first 4-8 days) where you build lots of labs to research your tech, then destroy your labs after you're done maxing it out. The second is to buy tech from the public market. The third is rarely used, you use spies to find targets with lots of tech and steal tech from them. I dont recommend using the third option because it requires lots of experience.
In your strategy you may want to change governments some time or even strats. Most of the time people try to keep the same strat throughout the game, but sometimes the public market just isn't in favour of your strategy. For example if you are a techie and tech prices suddenly drop dramatically, you wont make as much money and might consider switching to cash or industrial. Government changes can worsen your situation, and it can help sometimes. I suggest you stay with one government throughout the game, but if you are a casher, you will probably want to switch to Demo or Rep near the end of the game.
The next step, after reading all of this and planning your strategy is to find other good resources where you can learn. The way I learned quickly was simply through playing experience (seeing that i was ranked low) and from talking to expert players, joining an alliance in 1A, and reading the earth strategy boards at least once a day. Ask questions to experienced players and on the strat boards whenever you have a question and you will learn how expert players think. Talk to expert players as much as possible. I found lots of good players by joining an alliance, I suggest you do this if you havent already. If you dont know how to join, goto the Alliance board in the Earth Forum. This is the key to overcoming being a newbie. I suggest you start by reading The Basic Commie start and Wufbam!'s Parenting strat first though. The basic commie start is the most efficient way of starting your game and the wufbam! strat is the base of so many strats and can give you an idea of what your strategy can include. These are a bit outdated, but will give you a basic understanding of strategy.
Note about the Commie Start: If you are tyranny or dictatorship, it won't make much of a difference if you start commie or tyr or dic, because with the new stats of a Commie, starting as a commie wont be as effective as it used to be and the change of governments will basically negate the advantages that it gives you. But if you aren't dic or tyr, you should start commie.
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