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Humans from the Zone have infiltrated the Machines universe. To crush them, you'll need to master the Three R's: Resources, Research, and Rompin' and Stompin'!
Resources
Your colony will quickly grind to a halt without resources. Immediately send your scout around to get the lay of the land and clear some of the fog of war. If a locator is not part of your default starting force, immediately build a Civilian Factory so that you can produce locators. Get resources located and mines built. While this is going on, build transporters to move the ore from each mine to a smelter or seed pod, depending on which is available.
Research
Once you have a good and steady supply of resources, it's time to get down to the really important activity: research. Every awesome bit of armament, every massive machine of destruction, is a result of the research that you carry out in your labs. Don't neglect either side of your development pathway, because both the "military" and "civilian" advances are critical to weapons development. Build your Laboratories and Technician simultaneously so that there is no lost time. In multiplayer games, seconds are like money in the bank. Being 60 seconds short of a major advancement can ruin your entire game.
Keep moving through the different levels of Technicians and Labs to generate the maximum options in units. Hold off on transporters. They're not critical to your early success, and it's easy to produce additional ones when you really need them.
Rompin' and Stompin'
Initially you should only build enough military units to defend your colony from an early surprise attack. Generally, colonies are strapped for resources in the early game, and even if they go on the offensive, they cannot mount a large assault. In other words, you only have to prepare for a small number of attacking units. Keep in mind, though, that each minute of game time increases your chances of being attacked by larger and more technologically advanced opponents. Your mission is to beat them in this race.
Conversely, it's a good idea to put together a small force of guerrilla attackers whose job it is to slip by defenders and attack strategic targets like mines, transports, smelters, and pods. You don't want to get caught in any protracted battles but just to slow the enemy down. Each minute you gain on them increases your chances of winning. Hit and run on all of your opponents. You want maximum damage from these units, so don't send them against massive defenses.
Meanwhile, back at the colony, you are pushing your development and resource gathering to the max. Once you've hit the second tier of Laboratories and Technicians, you should be pushing out relatively advanced military units at a high rate. Create several factories and make sure that you have plenty of resources so that you can churn out a lot of units very quickly. It's a good idea to mix several types of units into squads so that any weaknesses of individual units are minimized. Send these squads out to maraud through the enemy colonies.
Now you have a bit more muscle, so annihilate any enemy units weaker than yours. You still want to avoid pitched battles to the death until you have a clear numerical and technical advantage. The idea is to deprive the enemy of resources and ability, essentially bleeding them to death. While they are fighting off your raiders, you are building up an overwhelming force. Don't focus on one opponent alone. The others you are ignoring are building up as well and may strike you while your attention is elsewhere. Tie up as many enemy units as you can for as long as you can.
The Knock-Out Punch
Build up a huge force, ideally at least double the largest enemy force you have encountered so far. Use this to crush your weakest opponent while continually harassing the stronger opponents. KEEP BUILDING UNITS TO THE MAXIMUM OF YOUR CAPABILITY! You will be losing units, so you need to plan on continuously replacing them in addition to developing more. Strike enemy military units first, using the principle of many against one. You can use terrain features like narrow canyons and isthmuses to lead them into ambushes where numbers are in your favor. When your opponents are too weakened to continue the fight and you have eliminated their factories, you can afford to turn your units on the stronger enemies. Leave one or two units to continue to mop up on the demoralized stragglers.
A successful game of Machines is a high-speed puzzle comprising many elements that must be smoothly coordinated into a seamless whole. Your ability to plan on your feet and react successfully to the ploys of your opponents will determine your success.
May the best Machine win!
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