learn the genre
RTS guides and how-tos
These are written for TANKS, but almost none of it is specific to it. Build orders, harvester counts, when to attack and what beats what are the same skills in every base-building RTS made since 1992.
A beginner’s guide to real-time strategy
Starting from nothing: economy first, what to build, when to attack, and the five mistakes everybody makes.
RTS build orders explained
What a build order is, why the first four minutes decide the match, and an opening you can copy.
How to beat a tank rush
Surviving early aggression, why rocket infantry beat armour, and how to punish an attack that fails.
The RTS economy guide
How many harvesters, when to expand, how to protect income, and why the richer player usually wins.
RTS glossary — every term explained
APM, micro, macro, turtling, teching, kiting, deathball — every term, in plain English.
Where to start
If you have never played a real-time strategy game, read the beginner’s guide and then go and lose a skirmish. If you played these in the 1990s and want the muscle memory back, the build order guide is the fastest route, and how to play TANKS covers the controls in one screen.
Reading about it is slower than playing it.
TANKS runs in this browser tab. No download, no account, no launcher.