Low Oil T1 Guide

[FinalCheetah]

I recently rejoined the game after a year hiatus and I haven't found many good low oil opponents, in fact I'm at 30 wins and 3 losses at the moment with 1v1 on the normal maps. So I figured I'd make a guide to teach some of the basics, including build orders that actually work, so there are more decent opponents around.

Learning the Map:

First things first and it's the most important thing. Once you join the game, look at the map, look very closely. All the yellow squares are oil locations and you should do your best to memorise them. There can be no turtling inside your 4 oil base, you must push every oil aggressively. Some maps have green dots, these are oil pickups that give 100 power each.

Another consideration are scavengers, which can be annoying to deal with. You should check if they're blocking any obvious oil locations. They'll usually have at least one oil in their base, which is beyond the scope of the initial oil rush. However sometimes you can rush trucks past them to gain oil in the middle of the map, more on that later. If they are turned off, don't worry about them, but do be worried of the other player, this usually means they're going to be rushing.

Lastly check how defensive the map is. There are some non official maps where defensive play can pay off, such as Confrontation. Usually the bigger the map and the more cliffs with ramps on your side, the higher the chance you'll be able to deal with the initial rush.

Only press ready when you're confident you know all the oil locations, you shouldn't use excuses like, "Hey I don't know this map".

Build Order:
Use the shift key to queue up build orders, very useful since the initial 10 minutes is micro intensive.

The standard build order that I use in 1v1 is:
1 Factory + 5 trucks.
2 or 3 research labs. (I highly recommend 3 in T1 1v1, but in 2v2 etc, you can get away with 2.)
2 generators
1 command centre
1 generator

The trucks you manufacture should:
1st helps with base.
2nd gets base oil.
The last three will get oils at the locations you memorised earlier.

Initial researches:
All 3 starting techs. The first two will rush for research mod and power generator mod as soon as possible. To do this:

Power mod: > Engineering > Engine > Power Mod.
Research mod: > Sensors > Sensor Tower > Command Nexus > Research Mod

Noob Mistakes:
Not going factory first. - You won't be able to capture the oils you need quickly after the base build up.
Building power generator first. - You have enough power to start off that you can forgo this for now.
Command Centre first. - You should not need the map function, just zoom out.
Building more than one factory. - Do this MUCH later, your power is very restricted. This isn't a high oil guide!
Not using shift to build. - Makes you verrrry slow. Always hold shift to build stuff!

Initial Oil Rush
Now that you have sent trucks to capture oils beyond your free ones, you should expand aggressively, any oil you can get without scavengers shooting at you, go for them! You memorised the oils on the map right? During this time you will need to research MG Towers, do not bother with the bunkers. You have two choices here, go for the 4th research lab (Which you can use to research the factory/cyborg techs later) or spend the time researching it with your weapon's lab. The results are very pleasing, MG Towers start with heavy MGs, even if you have not researched them yet!

Build 2 MG towers at the most contested oils. usually the ones that are nearest to your opponent. Do this even if they have claimed the oil already and you see no trucks around. It's easy pickings after the MG towers go up. But what should you do if your opponent is already building an MG tower there? First right click and hold to show the HP, if there's no yellow, they're building with low power. (This is usually the result of a poor oil push, too much research or second factory) In this case, build the MG tower behind the truck and make sure your truck is behind the tower so it cannot get shot. The result is the enemy truck exploding and you repairing your own tower, which will kill the enemy one, even if they send more trucks to counter.

MG Towers destroy any tactic at this stage in the game, always make sure your trucks are not getting shot while building them. If the map has one entry to middle, consider a tower there for denial.

Special note about scavengers blocking the middle:
On some maps, the most obvious example being the official Roughness map, you won't be able to get to the middle because a Scavenger base will open fire on you. In this case, no problem. Group 3 or 4 trucks together then go around the camp to get to the middle. You'll lose a few trucks in the process, but getting all that lovely oil in the middle? That's usually the game winner right there!

Random barrel spawns:
Sometimes random barrels spawn over the map, always be on the look out when you have some time when you're not clicking, they can appear anywhere, even on impassable terrain. These give 100 Power each and on low oil, extremely valuable, since it's likely you'll dip into negative energy in the fear future.

[FinalCheetah]

Weapons
Your third research lab should focus on weapons only. Not just to get the new weapons, but the techs in between them, which can increase damage, speed of reload, accuracy. It's best to just research one line of weapons, or two if playing a team game. Which should you choose though?

If you're a good player, you'll have a sensor tower hidden somewhere near the opponent's factory to give advance warning. This allows you to change your tactics on the fly in large maps, on smaller ones though, you need to think carefully on what to bring to the fight.

Machineguns:
Surprisingly damaging, despite being the first weapon available. Given that cyborg rushes are common in low oil. MGs gain a huge bonus versus cyborgs, slicing them apart so badly that it may cause the opponent to rethink their cyborg rush or force them to quit early. They can attack Vtols too, but don't count on them. An early rush of 20 MG, twin MG python half tracks or heavy MG is one of the surprising low oil rushes in the game. Later on, Assault Guns replace all the MG techs and they are mind numbingly awesome. The twin version, although extremely heavy, can cut through medium cannon tanks like they were nothing.

Cannons:
These make the "tankiest" tanks, they gain an HP modifier just by using them. As a result they move slowly. Light cannons are nothing special, quite weak but capable of destroying MG tanks easily. You'll likely lose them, escape isn't an option and thus this makes cannon cyborg rushes superior. Until you get to the Medium Cannon. These are best loaded on medium bodies, due to how heavy they are. Cannons are okay at everything, but never excel apart from the high HP they give.

Hyper Velocity Cannon
Broken. Absolutely broken in low oil. They're so good that I use this weapon as my default strategy. They take around 12 minutes to research and are expensive to manufacture. You should bypass medium cannon completely when going for this. Load these up on Cobra Hovers to produce a long range skirmisher that is faster than most other things. They have more range than Lancers which I find hilarious and a higher DPS to boot. On large maps, this strategy is almost unbeatable. I have actually killed huge groups of cyborgs and tanks with just 4 of these hover tanks, by using micro to stay out of range. The hardpoint base defence version is also great to pick up.

Flamers
Risky, to use them properly the tank must stop moving. In my opinion far better to use on cyborgs, which decelerate quicker from movement. I would not recommend simply using flamers and nothing else, it's far better to have some MGs or rockets to back them up. They're pretty crap versus buildings, except for bunkers, but bunkers are rarely seen anyway. The best use of these is to foil a slow moving cannon rush, simply move the cyborg flamers into the middle of them, which will cause heat damage over time and cause the tanks to damage themselves.

Rockets
In my opinion the trickiest to use, but they simply murder HVC rush at Lancer level. Your biggest threat are cyborgs when using this and thus I count going rockets a risky strat that should ideally be backed up with cyborg flamers. Rockets are effective versus tanks and structures, very effective in fact. Against cyborgs, useless with one exception. The Mini-Rocket Array actually does pretty nice damage versus cyborgs, which I find surprising. Normally you'll mix these with Lancers in the beginning, before migrating to a full on Lancer hover build. The base defence version of both are very capable. Be aware that Lancers take a long time to research, roughly the same as an Heavy Velocity Cannon.

Mortars
From the cannon techs, you'll eventually find these, they come early enough that the base defence version is a viable defence against trucks sniping oil. With sensors they become a nice base defence weapon against rushes involving a large number of units. They are capable cyborg killers, but against anything fast, useless until you get mortar targetting techs. If going a cannon build, consider getting a few mortar techs as well. If you spot cyborgs coming, you can stall with walls and defend a bottleneck easily with them. Don't forget to use sensor towers to extend their range. The base defence version automatically attaches themselves to all sensor towers. Cyborg mortars are also extremely effective, but like flamers, have something to back them up, they're rather flimsy.

Ripple Rockets
Nearly FOUR times the range of mortars and with a huuuuge reload time. Their range is enough to cover the entire map with good sensor coverage. On defensive maps, this is worth aiming for if using a rocket build and in some ways, can be the big payoff. You will require CB Towers to actually get this as an option, which means dipping into mortar tech, but it's worth it. Just remember two things, they are TERRIBLE against cyborgs and hover, in fact, they can't even hit them properly. Against anything else, they will destroy. The icing on the cake is you can even get them 17 minutes into a game.

What else to research?
Repair capabilities. They come in three forms, the ones you can mount to cyborgs and tanks, the base defence version, which is my favourite. With enough research upgrades, the auto repair, which is so useful I consider it broken. Don't bother aiming for the latter, unless it's a long match.

Research upgrades: The upgrades affecting research times, for every 3 or so, you unlock power generation upgrades, which are awesome. Further along the line you also enable Flashlight, Needle Guns, Scourge and Seraph Missile weapons. These take 30 minutes or more and on a large map with defences, viable enough to consider.

Tank/Cyborg Armour: Note: Don't confuse with tank bodies. Armour upgrades are ESSENTIAL given the weapon tech ramp. If you need a fifth lab to devote to this, build it.

Hover Propulsion: Using HVC rush or Lancer rush? Get it. No exceptions. Consider assault gun hovers too, but only against cyborgs. Engine upgrades are extremely useful to go along with this, they affect hovers far more than they do tanks. 3 Engine upgrades are usually enough unless your opponent is devoting himself towards speed.

Factory Upgrade: After you get the first one, get another. It's cheap. Why? Because it unlocks rate of fire upgrades, that pretty much everyone seems to forget.

Sensor Upgrades: Not the reinforced Sensor Tower. This upgrade lurks on the final pages and is unlocked by research upgrades. For some reason this affects sensor upgrades for your units too, not just the towers. Having superior line of sight, means you'll be faster to react to threats.

[FinalCheetah]

Mid Game
If playing with scavengers on. Be sure to check F5 to see if your opponent is getting oil. In fact, the score here can even give important information on what weapons they're using if you pay attention. If the score is rising rapidly, it's likely through MG use. This'll likely be your first clue on how to counter what your opponent is using.

It's useful to have a target for your research, unless you're using a turtle research build, usually it's something like HVC with the final damage upgrade. At this point, most of your research will stop while you pump out your army, it's tricky to do both. Likely if playing a heavy scavenger map, you'll build 4 light cannon tanks or 6 heavy MG tanks along with a repair structure to allow you to get an early start on guarded oil.

At this point you may want to build your 2nd factory, if you're not going cyborgs. The best place tends to be near the middle, where you're rushing, but out of sight of the enemy.

Plant Sensor towers near the middle so you can have advanced warning when the rushes come. They're cheap and useful, they're best placed on high plateaus and several maps seem custom made for this sort of abuse. Later they can be spotters for mortars or ripple rockets. With sensor upgrades they'll be able to reveal large parts of the map.

Try not to lose your units, always send them to repair, there is an option to retreat at low health if you right click on a group of units. Doing so will send them to the nearest repair. At some point, preferably when you know the enemy isn't attacking, you should recycle your old units, when they kill things, they gain xp and rank, these give cumulative bonuses and large ones at that. Usually this isn't a factor in high oil, but for low oil, you need to squeeze as much power as possible. To recycle simply click the two recycle buttons. One is an order to retreat to a repair crane or factory, the other is to set them ready to recycle. Once recycled you gain a part of the power back. (Seems like 50-60%) and the inveteracy is used for the next unit built, so long as it's not a truck.

When in negative power, be sure to cancel anything that isn't high priority, this especially important for research. Got an armour upgrade but a power upgrade just became available? Cancel the armour one and you'll get all the power back to put into your next thing.

[montetank]

All in all, you are right. I am convinced, that this "guide" will help. But you forgot to write, that there are two different strategies 1VS1. The normal game (middle-large size maps) and the quick rush game. But in 90% it is ok. We have some vids on youtube (NoQ aso.). Would be nice, if you would make a vid.

Regards

[montetank]

Sorry-i forgot to write... in future the build orders are different (WZ-master). Read this please viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12093

[FinalCheetah]

But you forgot to write, that there are two different strategies 1VS1. The normal game (middle-large size maps) and the quick rush game. But in 90% it is ok. We have some vids on youtube (NoQ aso.). Would be nice, if you would make a vid.

I did think about going into detail about the rushes, until I realised just how long the guide was already. So I only really touched upon the basics you need for one of the longer games. I'll look into posting a few video tutorials with commentary once I arrive back home from my university accommodation so I can pick up my microphone. May be easier to understand if people have a visual representation of what is going on.

[The Overlord]

The standard build order that I use in 1v1 is:
1 Factory + 5 trucks.
2 or 3 research labs. (I highly recommend 3 in T1 1v1, but in 2v2 etc, you can get away with 2.)
2 generators
1 command centre
1 generator

Build order depends on the map but usually the best is one factory, one research, command center, factory, two power generators, another research, power generator, and another research (and then another research once/if you have enough power). This is for average 1v1 maps (of course you don't want more power generators than oil available so plan accordingly). This allows you to make 2-4 extra trucks than the 2 you start out with which allows you to capture oils early and build your base faster. I usually send out the first 2 trucks I produce to capture oils and the next 1-2 to capture oils in my base/help build the base with my initial 2. After those trucks I produce mg viper wheels to attack oils that my opponent has captured until I research better tech. Make sure you are counting how many oils you capture because you don't want to not have enough power generators to use the hard fought oils you've captured. If I notice that I have extra power I will build another factory/research center to try and keep my oil reserves low (but not negative). Being adaptable is key.

Building more than one factory. - Do this MUCH later, your power is very restricted. This isn't a high oil guide!

If you capture oils correctly and in a timely manner you should have enough power to use two factories. Make sure your trucks are doing something at all times - whether they are up near your front lines waiting to capture oils your tanks are killing/waiting to make repair facilities or in your base waiting to upgrade your buildings/make more this is still doing something.

Initial researches:
All 3 starting techs. The first two will rush for research mod and power generator mod as soon as possible. To do this:

Power mod: > Engineering > Engine > Power Mod.
Research mod: > Sensors > Sensor Tower > Command Nexus > Research Mod

These two researches are key, but you need your upgraded weapon (cannons or rockets) as soon as possible to be able to beat your opponent's army. This is why I have more than 2 research centers. I usually go cannons or rockets with machine guns because cannons/rockets are really good against tanks and mg is really good against cyborgs.

scavengers

Playing with scavengers is not the best, as you can't be tested on your early micromanagement but if you do choose to use scavengers, you have to see if they are blocking the way to your opponent. If you cannot attack your opponent without first going through the scavengers, you need to prioritize research until you get the tech to kill the scavs easily (mg and cannons work the best at killing scavengers). Some maps look like the scavs are blocking the way, but there are small paths around them to attack your opponent. Make sure you spot these so that you aren't surprised when a lot of machine gun vipers jump into your base (you can also attack with this strategy).

MG Towers

This strategy may seem good, but mg towers are really weak and very expensive to build. Don't get me wrong - the heavy machine gun is really good at killing mg viper wheels, but once your opponent gets half-tracks and a few grouped units your mg towers are useless. Also, if you attack your opponent's oils as soon as possible with your early mg wheels they should have no time to build mg towers since the trucks building them will die too fast. Tanks > defense in low oil.

Random barrel spawns:

These are really helpful especially when you are tight for power so keeping an eye out for them is really good. Also, on the pregame map preview if you see light green squares - THOSE ARE BARRELS THAT SPAWN ON THE MAP AT THE BEGINNING!! Basically they are a part of the map so plan to get those like oils!

[kracker]

I very much agree with what The Overlord said above, especially on MG Towers. They are beast against the basic mg-wheels but after that.. kind of useless, especially against light cannon. I would rather use that power to make tanks to actually kill stuff.. like enemy oil derricks?

Anyways... Just a few thoughts on your last post.

Mid Game
If playing with scavengers on. Be sure to check F5 to see if your opponent is getting oil. In fact, the score here can even give important information on what weapons they're using if you pay attention. If the score is rising rapidly, it's likely through MG use. This'll likely be your first clue on how to counter what your opponent is using.

Checking the score to see if your opponent is getting oil on scavenger maps is quite crude/inaccurate in my opinion. Also, some players like to get a lot of firepower on smaller bodies(staying on viper for example, like Viper-HMG-HT) so that may be the reason for rapid score rising as well.

It's useful to have a target for your research, unless you're using a turtle research build, usually it's something like HVC with the final damage upgrade. At this point, most of your research will stop while you pump out your army, it's tricky to do both. Likely if playing a heavy scavenger map, you'll build 4 light cannon tanks or 6 heavy MG tanks along with a repair structure to allow you to get an early start on guarded oil.

Targets for research is always essential, but what I'm not sure about turtling on low oil, games rarely go to the T2 tier, especially in duels, unless both players have that play style..

At this point you may want to build your 2nd factory, if you're not going cyborgs. The best place tends to be near the middle, where you're rushing, but out of sight of the enemy.

Bad idea. Research is important but if you don't have any tanks to protect yourself from early rushes you are dead, even with scavs on. Of course, it may depend on the map but I'm assuming the usual scavengers found in the stock low oil(style) maps..

I'm curious, is most of this guide pointed at games with scavs on? Scavengers in duels can be fun but are unpredictable most of the time and there is less skill in it in my opinion than sheer luck that the enemy isn't researching something that will kill what you are making. I've had that happen quite often.

[The Overlord]

All right, this second post has a lot of misconceptions about weapon timings so i'm just going to make my own guide and clear up some things s/he said.
.
Machineguns

The first weapon in the game, this tree is really good against cyborgs. I take this tree in practically every low oil game because of how good it is at killing the pesky cyborg spams that players like Zepherian enjoy using. I usually produce them at mg viper wheels, twin mg viper half tracks, heavy mg viper/cora/python halftracks, assault gun scorpion/python. Twin assault gun isn't the best because at that point in the game lasers and twin assault cannons are better than them and you are about to get seraph. Basically, it's range holds it back so it isn't the greatest at its time.

twin MG python half tracks

You will get heavy machine guns a long time before you get python.

The twin version, although extremely heavy, can cut through medium cannon tanks like they were nothing.

At the time you get twin assault guns (perfectly at 24:28) your opponent should have already gotten heavy cannon (perfectly at 17:29) and twin assault cannon (perfectly at 19:19) which deal with twin assault guns well.

Cannons

Cannons are really good early game with the light cannon being able to be researched a whole minute before mini rockets. This may not seem like much but if you have 6 cannon tanks to your opponent's 3 mini rocket tanks you will win easily. They benefit from hills because they have less range than rockets, more hp, and great burst However, you have to be careful and plan around your power spikes and play well because rockets always out range cannons except at hyper velocity cannon (this is the only cannon weapon that can out range at their respective research timings. Also, cannon borg spam is really effective. In low oil when I use cannons I usually make a few light cannon viper h-t at the beginning then switch to a mix of cannon cyborgs and twin/heavy mg. This mix is really effective against rockets with mg. However, cannons don't really become super strong until rail guns when they decimate everything. They are pretty good if you use them well in between, but rockets have an advantage with their range. I normally skip medium cannon and heavy cannon to research straight for hyper velocity cannon(for the range) and assault cannons for their effectiveness against cyborgs. At hyper velocity cannon you have a power spike and can win trades with your opponent if you attack them because of your range. Be careful though, because they aren't unbeatable. You need to play with your range advantage well. Another advantage of cannons is the super cyborgs that are really good and spam-able.

Flamers

These are really good in the early game because they shred through mg tanks with ease. You have to play really well though because they have short range to take your opponent by surprise. I recommend using them on hilly maps so you can run down hills really fast to surprise your enemy. I don't normally use them at all because they are super hard.

Rockets

Rockets are really good at taking out tanks. However, they are really bad at taking out cyborgs and have low hp. For this reason you absolutely have to use machine guns with them. I normally rush cyborgs and position mg cyborgs to be a shield for your rockets to fire from behind. This is really effective if you can position them correctly or else your opponent will run straight at your weak rocket tanks and kill them, leaving just your weak mg cyborgs to fend for themselves. This strategy is also hard, but in my opinion, easier than flamers if your opponent is adept. I don't use mini rocket array because of the low tank damage and long reload time. When you have a lot of cyborgs coming at your face you need a high rate of fire. Next, my mix will be rocket cyborgs (lancers/tank killer super cyborgs) with assault gun tanks. Also, lasers are good with rockets to compliment the ranged anti-tank with ranged anti-cyborg. Rockets will be good all game until they get killed by rail. However, once you get scourge with seraph you have all the chances in the world to win. The range on the scourge and seraph is unbeatable and it does so much damage. If you have these, you must push before your opponent gets rail.

Mortars

Useless in low oil 1v1s because you will be always attacking with tanks. However, if you are left alone long enough and the map is big - giving you time, incendiary mortars are extremely effective. Because of the investment of power and time away from your core weapons, this is risky but has a high payoff. In much the same case are vtols because no one will take the time/power to research anti-aircraft guns.

Ripple Rockets
Nearly FOUR times the range of mortars and with a huuuuge reload time. Their range is enough to cover the entire map with good sensor coverage. On defensive maps, this is worth aiming for if using a rocket build and in some ways, can be the big payoff. You will require CB Towers to actually get this as an option, which means dipping into mortar tech, but it's worth it. Just remember two things, they are TERRIBLE against cyborgs and hover, in fact, they can't even hit them properly. Against anything else, they will destroy. The icing on the cake is you can even get them 17 minutes into a game.

Ok, I can't help but laugh at this. The time/power investment is so large and their damage is so low that there is no way you could pull this off in a competitive game. If you are on a large map and want ranged artillery to back you up, research howitzers because they are a TON more effective than ripples.

Repair

Researching repair tower is critical to the early game tank fights. You must set your tanks to back at low hp or they will get killed really fast and getting repair tower repairs these tanks and basically gives you more tanks to use. This is SOOO helpful because more tanks = won games.

Tank/Cyborg Armour: Note: Don't confuse with tank bodies. Armour upgrades are ESSENTIAL given the weapon tech ramp.

truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue.

Hover Propulsion: Using HVC rush or Lancer rush? Get it. No exceptions. Consider assault gun hovers too, but only against cyborgs. Engine upgrades are extremely useful to go along with this, they affect hovers far more than they do tanks. 3 Engine upgrades are usually enough unless your opponent is devoting himself towards speed.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Never get hover in low oil 1v1s because they are extreamly weak for a low movement speed buff. Always use half-tracks.

Factory Upgrade: After you get the first one, get another. It's cheap. Why? Because it unlocks rate of fire upgrades, that pretty much everyone seems to forget.

This is actually 100% correct, it may not seem important but unlocks a ton of stuff.

Sensor Upgrades: Not the reinforced Sensor Tower. This upgrade lurks on the final pages and is unlocked by research upgrades. For some reason this affects sensor upgrades for your units too, not just the towers. Having superior line of sight, means you'll be faster to react to threats.

Sensor upgrades are good only if you are going for laser because that is required research for it. Otherwise.. your weapon upgrades and armor are more important.

[The Overlord]

If the score is rising rapidly, it's likely through MG use. This'll likely be your first clue on how to counter what your opponent is using.

Wait what. Your opponent's score rising without your opponent attacking you means your opponent is attacking the scavs. This is useful information because it means you have to get ready in case they break through and attack you. No, you cannot tell what weapon your opponent is using just through looking at the score rise. For all you know they could just have a ton of units attacking at the same time.

[MIH-XTC]

I'll add my 2 cents to this discussion. If we define low oil as being any map where each player has potentially 10 oils or less then the following strategy is what I would recommend.

BUILD ORDER: fac, res, fac, hq, res, pow, pow, fac, res, pow

TRUCK ORDER:
1st truck builds base
2nd builds base
3rd builds oil in middle of map or possibly opponents oil
4th builds middle oil
5th builds oil in and around base
6th builds base

(if starting with 3 trucks send one to the middle of the map from very beginning)

RES ORDER: mg, truck, half track, mg, light cannon, engine, cyborg fac, pow upgrade, twin mg.

Research cannon + mg upgrades as they become available.

GENERAL STRATEGY:
- You should know which oils and in what order to build them before the game begins.
- half track, light cannon, power module in that order are the main research objectives.
- Be sure to make half tracks and cannons as soon as they are available.
- Always build 3 cyborg factories after upgrading power generators.
- If your opponent has cyborgs, switch to twin mg + heavy gunner immediately
- 10 oils supports 3 fac's and 3 cyborg fac's

The above text is a copy and paste from the comments section of a video I made demonstrating this strategy found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8irDuPU7Sk

I made the claim in this thread here viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12020 that based on certain characteristics of a map, static AI profiles could be picked before the game begins that are nearly unbeatable without needing to look at the map. By AI profiles I mean predetermined build, research and truck orders.

The only AI behavior that would still need coding is the unit handling but other than that, the above strategy will win an overwhelming vast majority of low oil T1 games on an arbitrarily chosen map with the exception of very large or very small maps or maps with excessive scavengers (excessive being defined as delaying contact with your opponent long enough to acquire 10 mini-pods).

The reason this strategy prevails is because the following statements hold true about it:

1. Light cannon is obtained before it is possible to lose to a wheel rush
2. There is no other way to acquire more oil
3. Because light cannon easily overpowers mg, mini-pod and defensive structures in low quantities, this is the fastest possible way to acquire light cannon half track and there is no way to stop this army

I can demonstrate this if anyone would like to play 1v1. I will do this exact strategy and you will see you'll lose every time

[The Overlord]

you'll lose every time

[Nexus[Neet]]

I love playing low games, if anyone is interesting in playing low oil games, let me know