The Principles of Micro

[Walderschmidt]

I wanted to expand upon this thread: Micro for Newbies, Principles of using Infantry

The Principles of Micro

At it's very core, good micro is about making good decisions as quickly as possible.

Good micro will let you win unevenly matched fights and win evenly matched fights relatively unscathed. And if you can't win a fight, good micro will see you lose as little possible, preferably by avoiding the fight alltogether. Since Blitzkrieg Mod has much more deadly combat, not losing units that would normally die is a victory in of itself.

What is micro? Micro is the individual orders you'll give a unit to dodge a grenade, back up out of or scoot into firing range, to peel around a corner to avoid being shot, etc. Micro is also the attention you pay that particular unit to be able to order it around in response to the changing circumstances around it. It's not easy to micro two different units that are close together and it's almost impossible to micro units on different sides of the map. In short, micro is both a set of actions and a resource (attention span) to be hoarded. The more attention you conserve, the more attention you can pay to a particular unit or group of them thereby increasing their performance greatly.

Knowledge Base:

Your knowledge base is the foundation of your ability to micro. You'll never make any good decisions quickly if you don't know which ones are good ones to make. You get this knowledge through playing games and asking veteran players. Some things are obvious - bullets don't harm tanks so it's fruitless to order your infantry to attack an enemy tank. No matter how hard you micro a medic, it will never kill an enemy tank (or any enemy for that matter). Some things are not so obvious - for example you can use sprint to make your infantry run faster temporarily - but while they run their vision is reduced to almost nothing and they will get a debuff afterwards that makes them slow and easier to hit. Cover bonuses are huge in this game in regards to infantry combat. Green cover affords -75% received accuracy, -50% incoming damge, and -75% suppression whereas red cover costs one +25% received accuracy, +25% incoming damage, and +50% suppression. In short, your micro is nothing without knowledge of your units and game mechanics. Focus first on making good decisions and then on making those decisions faster and faster. Decisions made often enough become habits and stop requiring attention span or micro beyond key presses.

Attention as a Resource:

Attention span is a resource that must be conserved at all times when possible. Your attention span not only allows you to micro a specific unit or set of units, but also is what allows you to react to new information such as catching a glimpse of an enemy spotter before it camos or seeing an enemy tank trying to lay a trap for yours. Save your in the moment micro for battles. For all else, there's habits to be formed and movement/build queues to help out.

Use the Shift Key:

Get used to using the shift key to queue up multiple orders. It could be something as simple as queueing up multiple capture points or something as complex using waypoints to maneuver an infantry squad into a flank or unexposed position to throw a grenade. . Queued commands will save your attention span for things that need it. A tank v. tank battle is more important than moving your engineers into cover or making sure the path they are on is the best one. This is why I recommend using movement/capture queues so that you can focus on important things.

Develop Good Habits:

There are several basic micro habits you need to develop quickly to be competitive in a game. The most important habit to build is running from every fight you can't win. Most newbies don't fully appreciate how deadly units are in BK An out of place infantry squad will be shredded in seconds and most tank battles are decided in about 2 hits. You don't only need to be quick to retreat half-health infantry units or damaged vehicle. You also need to recognize losing battles as soon as possible in order to avoid them. You use less micro avoiding bad engagements than you do trying to fight and win them.

For example, if an MG suppresses your infantry in the open and another squad starts running up to them that should make you automatically retreat. Did a Stormtrooper squad just appear out of a building and head towards your lone MG? That's a retreat. Did an SAS glider just land next to your mortar? That's a retreat. Ideally, you just retreat them as soon as you see the glider in the air. Sometimes you don't have to hit the retreat button, you can just move your unit back. But if you are new to this concept or unsure, retreat. With time and experience, you can tell when to retreat or just move back and save yourself time and attention that would be spent moving that unit back to the front line.

Other good habits to develop are:

1) Always queue capture points
2) Always queue your infantry to move to a safe location or cover after capturing a point or laying a mine
3) Have engineers wire the enemy side of cover if they have nothing to do
4) When defending an area, use wire to funnel and enemy into mines or prevent flanking routes so that the enemy has to expend more energy trying to attack a point than you trying to defend it
5) Always reposition AT guns/MGs after they repel an attack
6) Always queue a command for arty/mortars to move back a safe distance after they bombard targets
7) Stop your tanks right before they shoot for max accuracy

Wald

[kwok]

I really like this post because the main meat of it is discussing skills that will be true no matter what patch. Any player new player no matter what patch they joined the mod can read this and learn how to play better.

I especially love the "Attention as a Resource" portion. I feel like that's never explicitly mentioned and absolutely one of the biggest factors in good/bad micro. It isn't enough to just tell players to do XYZ but factor the human side of a player and their physical limitations. It's what sets us apart from CPU players. On the flip side of that, you can also develop strategies/tactics that specifically attack that "resource". Creating diversions as a means of repositioning a defense, eliminating a high value target, or seizing an area is a tactic to assaulting the "attention as a resource".

+100 points from me buddy.

[Walderschmidt]

I really like this post because the main meat of it is discussing skills that will be true no matter what patch. Any player new player no matter what patch they joined the mod can read this and learn how to play better.

I especially love the "Attention as a Resource" portion. I feel like that's never explicitly mentioned and absolutely one of the biggest factors in good/bad micro. It isn't enough to just tell players to do XYZ but factor the human side of a player and their physical limitations. It's what sets us apart from CPU players. On the flip side of that, you can also develop strategies/tactics that specifically attack that "resource". Creating diversions as a means of repositioning a defense, eliminating a high value target, or seizing an area is a tactic to assaulting the "attention as a resource".

+100 points from me buddy.

Thanks! Would you consider doing one on macro (if you haven't already)?

Wald

[MenciusMoldbug]

I would add a few things that helped me out a lot with getting better at BK without too much effort:

1. Don't pack up or move mortars that are about to be killed, if the 3 man mortar crew loses 2 models, the mortar after packing up will die with them. Just let the mortar stay where it is and let it die so you can recrew the mortar again.

2. Cap-walking is kind of tricky, but if you can pull it off, you save a lot of time capping and getting to places where you need to be. Also the throwing grenade while the squad is moving trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ9vlHVzSbc

3. You can direct fire through some objects and bushes, if you see your shots pass through an object, chances are you can use your tank to direct fire through it. Simply click the direct fire button and keep left clicking where you want to have it shoot through the transparent obstacle. Even if it shows you a cancel sign, the gun will still lock onto a target, and fire like normally (where it has a dice roll chance of hitting it based on stats).