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PLEASE NOTE: This will be a guide to the fast mode, NOT the ultra fast mode.
I. Early Game (0:00 - 20:00)
A. Quick Basing
1. In this game of Cat and Mouse, it is customary to arrive at your first base exactly one second after the countdown has finished. To do this, simply hold shift while pressing "g", and clicking on the base you wish to teleport to.
2. Once you arrive at your base, quickly put down 1 house (adjacent to the mineral creep) and 2 supply depots close to your location. Subsequently, you should select your house and begin to manufacture probes, setting down a flag while the probes emanate from the command center.
3. When placing a flag, make sure to put it out of the way, possibly in between houses, so that it does not conflict with the placement of your structures, thus slowing down the creation of your base and is prosperity.
4. Once you have garnered 20 minerals, begin to place 2 more supply depots, and then making 3 houses, usually 3 spaces apart. It is never smart to place house next to house, this wastes minerals, and gives more feed to the vampire. It DOES NOT increase the amount of minerals you attain. However, it does provide incentive for the creation of slayers, soldiers that steal gas and thus catalyze the creation of technology for humans.
5. Immediately after the 4 supply depots are set down, begin to pump out more probes by selecting the 3 new houses you have built, rallying them to any mineral line close to your location, and holding "e." Once you have 100 minerals, begin to upgrade your supply depots by selecting them, pressing "x," and clicking on 2 supply depots. Accomplish this 2 times, covering all supply depots in the upgrade. If done correctly, your supply should amount to 250. This is the max supply.
6. In between the upgrading of the supply depots, continue to manufacture more miners until you attain the supply of 240. Your builder does not cost any supply, but the slayer costs 10, so make room! Once you have acquired this many probes (it should amount to 48), select all of them and hotkey them so that if the vampire comes, you can easily detonate all of your probes by pressing the button that they are hotkeyed to and pressing "d" immediately after.
7. Once this is complete, and it is usually by the time the vampires begin to distribute themselves from the center, proceed to create a Slayer's Tavern (this is in the form of a Terran Barracks). Once this is complete, select the Slayer's Tavern (you only need 1) and hold "s" until the slayer has begun its conception. It should take either 40 or 20 seconds for the slayer to be created, depending on the mode your lobby has chosen (fast or ultra fast).
8. Once the slayer is in production, begin the construction of a research center (in the form of a Terran Engineering Bay) and hold "m" to begin the process of upgrading your mineral intake.
9. It is a good idea to hotkey your research center so that when the first mineral upgrade is finished, you can immediately begin the second upgrade. It is also a good idea to upgrade your probe and mule health, an upgrade that may cost 2,000 minerals, but is well worth the price. It will allow you to more effectively deny feed, as well as be able to deny feed in the case that the vampire endeavors to "spore" you, by placing a spore by your mineral line OUTSIDE of your base, attempting to kill as many probes as possible.
10. Once the slayer is complete, immediately hotkey him and teleport him to the leveling area (in the form of a white skull on the minimap, it will say "Slayer Level Area" on the raw map) if a vampire has not yet put one base under siege. If a vampire has attacked a base, press "g" when the slayer is selected, and hover your cursor over any building that the vampire is attacking. Left-click if any blue aura arises from any building, that indicates that either gas or an item has dropped. Once you have teleported to that location, subsequently right-click over any item you find. If the item is in the form of a treasure chest, blink to the center of the map and right-click, left-clicking on any of the shops. It will say that you've acquired 0.75 gas, but it is really 1 gas, gas that you can use. Whether an item has been acquired or not, you should always blink to the center of the map so that your slayer can recharge his or her mana and health points. If you have not acquired a drop, don't give up! You can still stay at the base you've blinked to for the time being, and attempt to get in the way of the vampire, possibly attaining a drop. Regardless, however, you should return to the center and, once the slayer has recharged his or her health and a base is NOT under siege, that slayer should return to the leveling pit.
B. Denial in the Early Game
1. If a vampire happens to come to your base, don't give up and teleport out of it. Most vampires will not go for you if they have a brain, and will attempt to garner feed from your workers and buildings. To combat this, once you've completed your quick base, place command centers in the ramp of your base, complete covering the ramp. This will allow you to quickly detonate your probes and destroy as many of your buildings as possible (with your builder) while the vampire makes his or her way to your structures.
2. In the case that the vampire is trying to kill you, remember, vampires are generally very slow compared to the blinking might of the builder. If the vampire does come for you, proceed to blink as far away from him or her as possible, faking him or her out, and destroying as many structures as you can reach. DO NOT BE A HERO AND TRY TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO DENY FEED. IT ONLY WORKS IN THE MID-TO-LATE GAME.
3. If you are indeed found, don't give up. You can still be useful to your team by rebasing in another location, or just blinking back to the place you were just killed in. If you are found 3 times, and there is no possible way of you acquiring a tassadar by the 16-minute mark or 15-minute mark (depending on your mode, again), it is a good idea to invest in the best player in the game, thus facilitating the destruction of the vampire. You can pool using the template of quick-basing, but that will be discussed later in this guide.
C. The Usage and Role of Gas
1. Gas, in this game, is more valuable than a cure for cancer. Gas is like the enzyme that catalyzes certain processes in photosynthesis and respiration. Gas is the only way you'll ever win this game. Now, let's get to business. When you have acquired 1 piece of gas, and your 2nd mineral upgrade has been completed, build an academic shop (in the form of a Terran Ghost Academy), select your research center, and begin the 3rd mineral upgrade. After this, you only need to acquire 2 more pieces of gas to be on your way. However, there are certain times at which you should use this gas. In the event that you acquire enough gas, wait until you have acquired 20,000 minerals; then, proceed to select ONE of your houses, and upgrade that house to an orbital house. If done correctly, you should end up with about 17,000 minerals; after that, build a mule. Wait until you've acquired 20,000 minerals again, and proceed to build a refinery in front of the wall that you are going to repair later in the game. If no drops are acquired, teleport your slayer to the middle of the map, near the infestation pit, and buy 1 gas, it should cost exactly 7,500 minerals. Use this to upgrade your mineral-mining capabilities by building an academic shop and acquiring the 3rd mineral upgrade. After that, wait until you have 30,000 minerals at your disposal; then, buy 2 more pieces of gas at the same location. If you are able to garner drops before the advent of this, only buy as much gas as you need (3 is the maximum).
2. Once a refinery is placed, begin to sell gas for a moderate price (usually 4,000 or 5,000 minerals each), unless your refinery is being placed after the 10-minute mark. Use the minerals collected from these sales to upgrade mineral-mining for the mule. Do this 2 times, one following the other. Once this is done, and all patrons have been satisfied, proceed to pump out more mules (12 mules is the cap). Once this is done, DISCONTINUE sales of the gas. If someone wants gas, LET THEM ROT.
3. I see this mistake made too often in GV (Galaxy Vampirism) games: the problem of people NOT SEPARATING THEIR MULES. A smart vampire will not only wand your slayers and use bioplasm on your structures, he or she will also try to exploit the fact that those mules are precious. Mules are big feeders, dying for 15 gas a pop, and, although not usually susceptible to spores, ARE susceptible to the slime ability. If the slime ability is leveled past level 13 (a vampire will usually be past level 20, indicating that he or she does have strong sliming capabilities), that means that it can literally one-shot each mule in a stream, effectively destroying all of your mineral production in a few short seconds. To combat this, if you're in a large base, simply put your mules 3 spaces apart, each. This will make it costly INEFFECTIVE for the vampire to sit around, garnering 15 feed per every 30 seconds, which is basically something you can get from the gas barrel.
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