An issue I have as a fairly new player

[cblack]

Hello everyone, I am sure someone has been in this situation before and maybe has some advice about what I can do. So my problem is that I will go about learning a new civ, protecting the build order, and getting comfortable.. And normally this takes me a week or two and a lot of playing to finally get the gist of it. However, from there, I realize that I only vaguely remember the past civs that I have learned, specifically the build orders. So then, I almost have to relearn the build order for a civ I have learned in the past, and it's frustrating, because it pretty much means I am only decently good with one civ at a time. For instance, my first three months of playing and learning the game I only used France. I started branching out to Germany, Britain, Dutch, etc.. and now completely forget everything I learned with France as far as timings and build orders go. It is a little frustrating to learn and get good with a civ, then try something else, and forget everything you learned.

Sorry for the wall of text but I wanted to make sure I explained right. Any helpful tips from you all? Thanks a lot.

[musketeer925]

Maybe you need to spend a bit more time with each civilization before moving on to the next?

[Gendarme]

I've played this game since 2007, and I can only play France.

[JakeyBoyTH]

You are lucky, I've played this game since 2005, and I can't play any civ.

[jj0823]

I recommend you completely immerse yourself in the civ you want to play and try to remember. If you really want to get good at France, dress up as Napoleon Bonaparte, take on a Corsican accent, find a British rival, etc. Start by collapsing your government and proceed to build one of the strongest military empires in the world - once you do that, just lose a bunch of games and stop playing for awhile. That's basically what Napoleon did, right?
The top players have personality disorders, this why they're better than you and me both.

[vardar]

Half the time I don't even follow an exact build order and about half way through one...I start adding my own crap into it until it isn't even a cohesive BO but rather, my own version of what should be a solid BO. It's just way to fun to wing it as you play and see how it turns out. Of course there is rhyme and reason to it, it is just a very subjective rhyme and reason lel

[kami_ryu]

Build orders are a means to be super precise and hit a timing.

I would argue that you can skip a detailed build and just focus on two things: card order, macro. Just try to send cards in ways which make sense (700w, 5v then units for an Aztec colonial timing for example), then try to macro your villagers well. I think that will help a newer player more than chasing after a build order.

So by just focusing on those two things, I believe you can do well and play well. Obviously a build order is more optimized ("I know I'll build exactly a house at this amount of resources, then stop gathering wood after 25 more") but you can make do with a less efficient build order, if your macro is more efficient. If that makes sense.

[wardyb1]

I'd recommend learning why certain shipments get sent, and why certain things are done in what way. It's all good and all trying to memorise each civ and their build orders, but it's much simpler to gain an understanding of why things are done, so that way you can adapt on the fly and will ultimately make you a better player. If you know why some you ship 9 uhlan or 1000 wood as Germany, then you'll probably be able to pick up any other euro civ and understand why you would ship x > y. If you know why japan starts with a consulate and allies with ports vs not, then you probably will understand how you play certain mu's based on timings or map control, or if the maps are high hunt or not.

Essentially knowing why things get done and being able to build on that knowledge and adapt > memorising how things are done efficiently imo.

[BrookG]

Maybe taking notes of what you need to do on each BO and MU or have a recorded game/vid with a proper execution of this BO. Depends on how you work on memorising stuff. If you have mastered to a degree a certain civ and some BOs you would be able to refresh them in no time.

[lemmings121]

try to think you bo in terms of card order, just to keep things easier to remember.

Maybe even take notes like "market+tp transition, 400w up, (stable+2houses), 4cdb, 700w (rax + ...)" its just one line and keeps the core of the build.

[pecelot]

I usually practise a bit and take notes if something is worth remembering and I'm afraid it may get lost in my mind later on. Other than that, with enough training you will be able to do most thing intuitively.