General | Hints Grey Goo Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Do not underestimate the AI. Unlike in many other strategy games, the AI can get on your nerves. It knows how to conduct reconnaissance, is capable of attacking in multiple directions simultaneously and does not cease producing units even for a moment. It stays in constant movement, puts up fortifications, takes advantage of terrain formation and bushes. Take it seriously or you will be defeated quickly.
Remain active. Just like in Starcraft, playing Grey Goo conservatively and reinforcing one base only does not pay off. When you are busy building your only base, the enemy will seize the best resource deposits and will harass you with constant attacks. To win, you need to seize the entire map, build bases, take resources over and destroy nearby enemy outposts. By retreating into your base, you let the AI take the initiative, which is the first step to failure.
Be flexible. The situation on the map changes quickly. Strategies utilized throughout the first half of the game may prove ineffective in the second one, and the technologies picked, useless. Instead of building the same units over and over again, match them to the opponent. Change your technologies, if only other sets turn out to be more useful. If attacking from a direction proved ineffective, pick another one. If you failed on the ground, strike from the air, or from both sides at the same time. Changing your tactics will surprise the enemy and will make it easier to defeat him.
Remember about the victory conditions. On majority of the maps, your primary objective is to destroy the enemy HQ. You do that by destroying key buildings - refineries, factories and HQ/Core. In the case of Beta, also all of the hangars need to be destroyed, whereas in the case of Goo, only Mother Goo are key buildings. For this reason, it does not pay off to destroy all of the walls or attachments for factories. Focus on what brings you closer to your victory.
Save the game. Before you launch each major attack, fight a superunit, attack the enemy base or take to a difficult mission objective. Thanks to this, in case of failure, you will not need to start the mission over.
Use the encyclopedia. The in-game encyclopedia can provide you with information on all the basic mechanics of the game, strong and weak points of each of the races, technologies and many others. If there is something that you do not know, you have forgotten something, not when you want to compare two separate units, you should consult the encyclopedia. Do that especially if you rarely play the RTS games. In there, you can find an eight-minute long tutorial that explains all of the basic issues connected with the genre, such as scrolling the map, selecting units or building your HQ.