This is a starting guide (sort of- there's no set route) for Skirmish, for new runners that might be interested in running the Skirmish Category. It is not a set in stone guide by any means as there are multiple ways to finishing skirmish, rather it tells you how to setup the game and what to look out for in forming your own build routes. It is sort of a WIP as I keep finding things that shave off some time the more I play. I will update if I find more advice to shave off time. Please do tell me if there's something missing or if you want to add to this guide
Pre-run Setup
These are the settings that you must have ticked or unticked in the options menu before any run:
Under the Gameplay tab: Auto-Pause on Selection: Unticked Auto-Pause on Tabs: Unticked
The rest is based on your preference.
Skirmish Setup
Ideally your settings should be as following: Difficulty: Applicant Location: Mars Map Size: Tiny Preset Map: Default AI Players: 1 Other settings that haven't been mentioned include: Map Type and Map Seed I intentionally left Map Type out as it can be changed to a set Map and will give some advantages but it ultimately depends on the RNG for resources and Base placements. Which means you may be able to change it but it would still be the same outcome with negligible advantages. As for Map Seed, well there's no resource for seed searching currently so I left that out.
As for the Game Rules option:
Game Speed: Blazing Resource Minimum: Double Latitude Type: Equator
Ticked Options: No Auctions No Random Events No Sabotage Reveal Map Change Speed
Unticked Options: Advanced Sabotage Random Prices Stock Delay Stock Victory Include All HQs Marathon Mode
During the Run
Most, if not, all runs will have different RNG resources, base placements, black markets and terrain, so its difficult to narrow down a "route" so to speak. I can only give specific advice but ultimately the rest is up to the runner's discretion on what build route to take:
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Your goal is to reach Level 4 - 5 as soon as possible as it gives you the most opportunity to buy out your opponent
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Pleasure Dome > Patent > Optimization > Offworld Market - The reason for this is because you get more out of the Pleasure Dome than anything else, sure it may be better to have the VR patent (hence its place in the ladder) however Pleasure Dome gives off $140 off the bat, if placed correctly which is a huge gain. Patents take a while to come into fruition and the same applies to optimization despite their meager resource conditions. Finally the Offworld Market in a short skirmish is very difficult to pull off as it requires an ABSURD amount of resources and/or money with a diminishing return in terms of time (15 - 20 secs to earn 30-50k)
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Always place your base as near as possible to resources in order to save fuel generated from your electrolysis reactor & always go for high resources rather than skimping out due to the resource being much closer than the high resource. To put it simply: If resource = high then build regardless of fuel cost else build according to fuel cost
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Always auto-sell at the beginning of each run, NEVER have stock in your inventory
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DO NOT over commit to one resource - its a economy sim, if there's demand great, if there's none you lose profits making you much slower.
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Always have set build pattern & NEVER use the blackmarket UNLESS it has stims, if so then use the stim on buildings that give you the most based on the price.
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DO NOT over claim - if you have enough buildings to generate at least 0.5+ resources and it is selling well then there is no need to claim & build more as it costs money.
Build Path
If you're curious as to what my current build path is: Base --> 2x Aluminium, 2x Iron --> 1x Steel Mill --> 2-3x Reactors (based on fuel consumption) --> 2x Water Pumps --> 2x Windmill --> 1x Geothermal --> 1x Carbon Quarry, 1x Silicon Quarry --> 2x Electronics, 2x Chemicals, 2x Glass --> 1x Pleasure Dome --> 2x Food
This ALWAYS changes depending on the map, what resources is more in demand, blackmarket items and what makes me bleed money and yes this is a wildly different build to what I did in my skirmish run, this is somewhat more condensed with less money bleedout from having 4 steel mills as I find that they always end up being $1 in the market along with aluminium & iron but those two are important resources for glass & electronics.
Conclusion
The rest is up to the runner's instincts/guts on what they can do to make their run better as there are many ways to buy out your opponent, a good example would be double Pleasure Dome with the VR patent but that would require extra steps so if you can make it work then go for it.
