Silica Strategies: Essential Tips for Beginner Human Commanders
Stepping into the role of a human commander in Silica can be a daunting task for new players. This quick guide will cover everything from scouting enemy bases and resource points, to managing your units and buildings efficiently. As a human commander in Silica, here’s what you need to keep a keen eye on.
Strategic Building:
When constructing your base, aim to build structures towards the most dense Beltarium fields. This strategy maximizes resource collection and minimizes wastage on unnecessary buildings. A golden rule in RTS games is to always spend your resources, unless you are intentionally saving them or have reached a unit cap.
Scouting the Enemy:
At the start of the game, it’s essential to understand where your enemy’s base is located, as well as their resource collection points. To achieve this, send your buggies out to the furthest corners of the map. If possible, assign players to control buggies, as they may notice and report enemy movements or structures that your AI units might overlook. Once they have located the enemy base, they should keep a safe distance and locate the enemy’s resource collection points, such as bio-caches in the case of aliens. By following the trail of nodes that aliens use to expand their territory, you can identify their resource points. Keep in mind that some players may cleverly hide these caches, so a keen eye is necessary.
Avoid Overextending:
Surviving the early game is crucial, and your buggies play an integral part in this. Avoid engaging with enemy units that could cause unnecessary damage to your buggies, such as alien impalers or hunters. The idea is to stay on the outer edge of the alien’s range at all times, maintaining map control and keeping pressure on your opponent.
Building a Perimeter:
Next, you’ll want to establish a defensive perimeter around your base. Using your starting infantry, fan your units out to identify the nearest Beltarium field so you know in which direction to expand your refineries. Keep these units around your harvesters throughout the game. They will serve as a first line of defense against potential enemy units that might sneak through your lines.
Fast Movement:
Units in Silica move quite slowly, which can be a disadvantage. To counter this, use shift-click to make your infantry move faster, thereby increasing their speed considerably.
Quick Redeploy:
The ‘T’ key is your go-to for quick redeployment. This is particularly useful given the current lack of personal carriers for human infantry. It allows your FPS players to quickly redeploy back to the HQ and teleport to where they are needed most, helping them get into the action faster and make up for their lack of mobility. It’s important to note that using this feature will cause you to lose any gear you’ve purchased, but without a current purchase cost for FPS classes, it’s a small price to pay for the speed and efficiency it provides.
Navigating the Map:
Until a fully functioning minimap is introduced, holding shift can help you navigate the map more quickly. This helps when you’re managing control groups or moving units over large distances.
Optimal Placement of Refineries:
Placing your refineries with plenty of space around them prevents harvest traffic jams. Also, try not to allocate more than two refineries per one Beltarium field, especially in the early game. This helps with Silica’s pathfinding issues and ensures your economy doesn’t suffer due to stuck harvesters.
Vantage Points:
As the commander, you should use your camera to assess vantage points or listen to your teammates’ input about advantageous positions in the field. Placing your infantry on cliffs and rocks can provide a good line of sight, offering maximum view distance, and protecting against surprise enemy attacks.
Efficient Production:
Build times in Silica can be quite long, so try not to have more than two units in production at a time. If you find yourself queuing lots of units, consider adding another production facility, as long as your economy can sustain it.
Room Around Your HQ:
Always leave sufficient space around your starting HQ for your production buildings. This allows respawning players instant access to gear and new vehicles, crucial in the early game.
