StarCraft/Evolves

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Template:All Game Nav Evolves is a game set on a 64x64 tile set, on the Space Platform terrain pallet. The whole map is visible to all players, free of fog-of-war, usually played in a 2v2, 3v3 or 1v1 setup. In the center is an inlaid area upon which ground units cannot step into with 8 beacons:

Evolves is a type of game called "mass attack" meaning a "masser" is used to make most of one's units attack at once when a player moves their SCV to one of the eight beacons, which represent strategically important points on the map. When the SCV is moved onto a beacon, all of the units he controls attack-move to the point. This is called "massing".

A player accumulates units which are "spawned" under his two science vessels or "spawners" roughly every second. These science vessels are also invincible meaning they cannot be attacked. If the unit that is spawned under the science vessel comes out onto the invalid area, it is destroyed.

Each player has bunker at each corner of the map. The bunker has five thousand hit points (some map have 7000 or 9999) and strong defenders inside of it. The point of the game is to kill all the enemy bunkers (or gaining 5 million points). If the bunker is destroyed, that player loses.

The main game play of Evolves revolves around the spawned units being dictated by your kills score: the higher the score is, the better the units.

There are also variations within evolves maps. Some may offer you a choice of evolves while others may offer you 'lifelines'.

Scores

Scores

For a certain version of evolves, the scores are:

• 0 - Zerglings
• 2300 - Zealots
• 4000 - Firebats
• 7000 - Hydralisks
• 16,000 - Goliaths
• 28,000 - Dragoons
• 40,000 - Wraiths
• 70,000 - Hunter Killers (Hero Hydras)
• 110,000 - Mutalisks
• 200,000 - Fenix Dragoons (Hero Dragoons
• 340,000 - Scouts
• 600,000 - Archons
• 900,000 - Tom Kazansky (Hero Wraiths)
• 1,100,000 - Battlecruisers
• 1,600,000 - Marines/Ghosts
• 2,000,000 - Alan Schezars (Hero goliath's)
• 3,000,000 - Mojos (hero scouts) (In some maps Mojos + Archon)
• 4,000,000 - Kukulzas (Hero mutalisk) (In some maps keep getting scout, or Kukulzas or Guardian + Scourge)
• Remember, when you have exactly the amount of points you need to evolve, you spawn both the evolved unit and the previous unit. For example, if you have exactly 40,000 points, you would get both Dragoons and Wraiths. One exception to this is that at only 2250 you would spawn both zealots and zerglings.

What beats what

Not all evolutions are equal. Some are better or worse then the ones after them. The order of what beats what is as follows. This is also for theory purposes only, if two armies made entirly out of each of the units met who would win. (only shows for units next in line to them such as a hero hydralisk can beat a goon but thats not directly shown) Also the format is Worse<Better.

Zerglings>Zealots<firebats<hydralisks>goliaths>dragoons<wraiths<hunter killers<mutalisks>fenix<scouts<archons>wraiths<battlecruiser>marines/ghosts>Alan<Mojo= ?Kokulzas.

Basic strategy

While most of the strategy is too complicated to cover here a brief overview is provided. Most of the strategy in evolves is concerned with two basic things: keeping your advantage or gaining one. Because of the unit balance in evolves it can sometimes be a lot easier to make a comeback then to prevent your enemy from making a comeback. To be a successful player you need to know how to retain your advantage and make it bigger throughout each successive stage. But you also need to know what to do if your enemy employs a particularly clever trick and takes a sharp turn in the game or is consistently winning all the battles. Comebacks can come in several forms. You can put everything on one shot, do-or-die, if you win the game is yours, if you loose there is no comeback. This can either take the form of a particularly risky stratagem or it can take the place of a gigantic battle where you have the disadvantage. You can try to eliminate your enemies advantage slowly but surely, wearing away at his units, retreating, prolonging the game, and harassment. As long as you still survive you still have a chance and you can turn the course of the battle slowly but surely. You can complicate the game, this puts your skill against your enemies directly. If you are a better player then your enemy but have somehow fallen behind you can introduce many variables, be aggressive to the point of silliness even when losing, try to trick your enemy into massing your base by purposely losing battles, there are many possibilities but all are hard. The last way is you can look ahead in the game and force your enemy to fall into a risky but well placed trap.

The main driver for strategy in evolves seems to be a question of how much you want to win. From the beinning you could trap a user on bats and siege tank their bunker to death. What's opposing strategy is how much fun each player should get. Strategy will therefore make the difference between a 5 minute game and an hour or so long game.

Basic strategy

In evolves, to succeed, you need to have the initiative, look ahead, and always have a strategy chain. The person who guides the course of the game has a big advantage. You have the initative if you are using stratagems that your opponent needs to respond too instead of visa versa. You are taking control of the game and forcing your opponent to make choices that you can predict and counter. If you have the initiative not only can you predict what your enemy will do but you can plan farther ahead in the game, you’ll be able to simulate battles because you know the possible battles, and the possible outcomes, and while there is always an element of predictability knowing what your enemy does and will do and why he does and will do it is of great importance.

Basic Tactics

Tactics is a whole branch in its own right, very few of even the best evolves players full master it. Tactics is being able to win when your enemy has the exact same army, number of units, and type as you. Knowing how to consistently win against your enemy over and over again in battles gives you the advantage that you need.

Ground tactics

The basic tactic for ground units is to rush the enemy or create a key position near the mid point area. From there they will rush the enemy and try to kill them and if not they will fatally wound them. Another tactic is to swarm your units at your base as a defensive maneuver.

Air tactics

The basic tactic for air units is to swarm all the air units at your base by massing them there. After the player thinks he has enough air units to kill his enemy he masses it toward their base. This tactic is incredibly idiotic at a certain point in most air evolves. At this point in the game, your enemies have corsairs and valkaries, which have splash. Your opponent can send about 12 corsairs to your base, and if you have a swarm of air, the corsair will destroy all of it in about 2 seconds.

Stages

Evolves can be divided into stages where gambits take place, the stages are:

Begining game

1. Zerglings, Zealots, Firebats
2. Hydralisks, Goliaths, Dragoons

Middle game

1. Wraiths, Hunter Killers
2. Mutalisks, Fenix Dragoons
3. Scouts, Archons, Tom Kazansky

End game

1. Battlecruisers, Marines/Ghosts, Alan Schezars
2. Mojos, Kukulzas

The inequality of units makes for some of the most varied and intriguing game play available for a custom map: the evolution tree is almost exponential. If a player gets an advantage in kills, he can then used that advantage to accumulate even more kill points, because of his superior units. But if you know what you are doing it is not hard to recover from most situations.

Evolves among experts is played out in a series of turns. When one person puts a stratagem into action it forces the enemy to counter it. The best moves are the ones which force the enemy to counter with a move that requires lots of skill and very fast thinking and decision making to pull, thus making the enemy have a high change of messing up and putting himself in a losing position. Battle strategy is not as important in evolves as in other games like "Simpson’s mega carnage" but it can still be very useful especially while your tank is alive and during air attacks.

Evolves strategy instead of battle tactics centers around feeding, timing, and planning ahead. Players can form their strategy over what "end point" they want to achieve. In evolves an endpoint is where the opponent has gotten so far behind that he has no possible chance of recovering. Usually in evolves these endpoints are at bridges between levels (where one player is making a different kind of unit for good or bad) by the time that the enemy has reached the same level as you, you already have a large enough army of stronger units to destroy them. Someone may want to plan their strategy around scouts vs. goons (scouts always win) or BCs vs. marines/ghost (BCs always win) Usually in losing positions that are not "end points" players can make a comeback. But if you are playing against someone a lot better than you they will try every way to keep their advantage and make it larger. Sometimes new player, derisively called "noobs" will think they are ahead in a situation when they are really not because the enemy will have planned 15 or 20 minutes in advance and put themselves in a "Behind" situation on purpose.

A typical Evolves game plays out as a series of battles in which players accumulate a large enough advantage to defeat each other. There are a number of balance flaws inherent in Evolves, which, if known, can be exploited to great effect.

End game

The end game exploits the BC>Marine>Goliath unit strengths. This is the second time in evolves where there's a pattern where it gets worse for two levels before getting better. Since the levels are spaced so far apart if your behind in points, have the same number of units, and not dead yet, you will most likely win. Or if you have more points and can brave it out you win once 5 million is hit. Some tips for end game are:

1. Save your bcs
2. If you have hero ghosts lock down Bcs if they have enough energy
3. Send units to feed your enemy and then hide behind your base
4. If they are force to attack your base with Bcs after they have evolves go to the middle and build BCs, bcs attack the bunker first over newly spawned units (Tail your opponent's unit and make sure they don't generate).
5. Pack your ghosts/marines tightly together.
6. If you get goliaths use them as a meat shield in front of your ghosts/marines.
7. Ghosts/marines die fast to the bunker.
8. Don’t be fooled by goliath's air damage. When lots of them are massing their turrets "lock up" and aren't able to fire.
9. Scouts can be used to sweep the remaining goliaths because of their boosted health.
10. In some evolves maps you will evolve to hero mutalisk at 4 million points, some of them you will just keep getting scout, and still there are maps where you get guardian and scourge.

Other Tricks

The Bomb (older versions of map)

In older versions of Evolves, there was no SCV that could order all of a player's units to Attack-Move a location (in other words, no massing). In those days, groups of units had to be ordered to attack individually.

One trick that was used in those versions - and is still used in current versions, albeit less frequently - is the Bomb. A "bomb" is a large mass of flying units, all ordered to follow one specific flying unit (the "fuse" unit). Usually the "fuse" unit is hotkeyed and ordered to Patrol so it doesn't get lost in the crowd.

Once a desired quantity of flyers has been accumulated, the fuse unit is ordered to Move into a critical enemy location. The fuse will be quickly killed, instantly relieving the entire mass of their Follow duty and freeing them to attack nearby enemies (the bomb explodes).

The main advantage of this technique, as is with traditional bombs, is the ability to place the explosion. If an entire mass of flyers was sent to Attack-Move a location, they would begin attacking as soon as they reached the enemy's frontline. A bomb, in contrast, allows you to get somewhat past the enemy's frontline before the bomb explodes. In fact, a well-navigated fuse unit can weave its way deep into enemy territory before being killed, effecting a more penetrating explosion.

Temporary Allying

In 2-on-2 games, one downside to mass-attacking an opponent's base is that once his units are destroyed, your units will fixate on attacking his base. Even if you try to mass elsewhere, say to the other opponent's base, your units will not budge until the first base is destroyed. This leaves them more susceptible to attack, because their attention becomes divided between the base and attacking units. Moreover, they tend to form a "ring" around the base instead of a tight mass of units, which is tactically stronger.

One way around this is to temporarily ally the first opponent, then mass the second. Your units will ignore the first base, gather back into a mass and head where the action is. Once your units are out of range from the first base, you can unally the first opponent.

Temporary allying is also useful in the midfield. In large-volume air scrimmages, units tend to become scattered in the flurry, making them less effective because their attack is less concentrated. One thing important to remember while temporarily allying is to mass to the desired location before you ally, therefore cutting back on time and losses. Temporarily allying, remassing and unallying allows you to restage the attack with a more concentrated force. Use wisely however, because while allied the enemy will continue to attack and destroy a portion of your army.