Armada Early Game Economy Strategy

Building Your Economic Base

As a beginner-friendly faction, Armada offers straightforward units and structures that make early game economy management accessible. The focus of this strategy is to maximize Metal and Energy income from the start, ensuring you have the resources needed to transition into unit production and defense. This play-by-play guide walks you through the critical first minutes of the game to set up a robust economic foundation.

Early Game Economy Steps (Minutes 0:00 - 5:00)

1. Pre-Game Setup (Minute 0:00): Before the match starts, select a teleport spot for your Commander near 3-4 Metal Deposits (visible as white circles on the map). In multiplayer, act quickly to secure a preferred spot with sufficient resources. Queue initial builds within the Commander's build range by holding Shift to ensure no time is wasted.
2. Initial Resources (Minute 0:00 - 0:30): You begin with 1000 Metal and 1000 Energy. Immediately prioritize production to avoid depletion. Use the Commander to start building as soon as the game begins.
3. Metal Extractors First (Minute 0:30 - 1:30): Queue 2-3 Metal Extractors (each costing 500 Energy) to be built by your Commander. Place one on each nearby Metal Deposit for optimal gathering. Monitor your Energy levels to avoid stalling; if needed, pause one build to balance resources.
4. Energy Production (Minute 1:30 - 2:30): Assess wind conditions on the map (check map info card for min/max wind speed or hover over wind icon for average power). If wind is high, build 3 Wind Turbines for variable but efficient output. If wind is low or absent, opt for Solar Collectors which provide constant output and have no energy build cost. Queue these with Shift to drag lines of structures, and use Z to space them out to prevent chain explosions. If wind drops mid-game, hold Spacebar to insert a Solar Collector at the front of the queue.
5. Metal Expansion (Minute 2:30 - 3:30): Continue expanding by adding more Metal Extractors, targeting richer deposits (indicated by higher numbers in circles) to control territory and boost income. Use your Commander to move towards additional deposits while building, ensuring you don't overextend without protection.
6. Construction Boost (Minute 3:30 - 4:30): Build a Construction Turret near your base to provide a 200 build power boost within its range. Queue this with a Constructor Bot once available (after initial unit production). Place additional Wind Turbines or Solar Collectors within the turret's radius to enhance build speed. This turret will auto-finish nearby projects, freeing up your Commander for other tasks.
7. Monitor Streaming Economy (Minute 4:30 - 5:00): Keep an eye on resource bars at the top of the screen. Green indicates income per second, bright red shows total spend (production + stockpile), and other red is production spend only (if bright red exceeds other, stockpile is draining). Adjust builds if Energy or Metal stockpiles (middle bar) approach zero. If Energy is excessive, consider building an Energy Converter to turn it into Metal at a 70:1 ratio, adjusting the white box on the energy bar to manage usage.

Resource Management

• Always prioritize Metal Extractors over excessive energy builds early on to maximize income.
• Adapt to map conditions; there's no universal build order. Check wind and metal deposit richness to decide between Wind Turbines and Solar Collectors.
• Use F7 to toggle Metal View and spot untaken Metal Extractors on the map for expansion opportunities.

Build Efficiency

• Queue builds pre-match with Shift to save time; overwrite any errors by re-queuing.
• Space out structures with Z or X to prevent chain explosions from enemy attacks; check explosion radius with Space + X.
• Leverage Construction Turrets to boost build speed, especially for energy structures near your base.