When you want to test builds, mess with controls, or see what a unit actually does without an opponent pushing you, Beyond All Reason has a clean solution: null AI. Set your AI opponent to null and the commander spawns in but sits completely idle. The map is yours.
Null AI is the simplest option you can pick for an AI opponent in a skirmish match. The enemy commander drops onto the map like normal, claims a starting position, and then does absolutely nothing. No builder spawns. No units queue. No expansion happens. It sits there the entire game.
That sounds trivial until you realize what it gives you. You get a real BAR map with real mexes, real resources, and real unit production running at full game speed, with zero pressure from an opponent. You can take thirty minutes learning how cloak raiders path across terrain without someone rushing you at minute two.
Start a new skirmish game from the main menu. Pick any map you want to practice on. When choosing the AI opponent, look for the AI selection dropdown and pick null. If you run into trouble finding it, some maps use the first tutorial scenario which also ships with an inactive AI by default. Both give you the same result: an empty opponent slot that does not push back.
A few setup decisions matter here:
New players usually ask this question right after installing the game. They want to learn controls and see units in action before stepping into multiplayer. Null AI is exactly the right answer, but you will get more out of it if you practice with intention.
Set up multiple factories and practice queueing units across them. Watch how the production flows when you queue four units on one factory versus splitting two and two. Queue micro is one of the biggest mechanical gaps between new and experienced players, and null AI gives you pressure-free reps on it.
Send constructors out to build mexes at various distances. Watch how they path, where they get stuck, and how long repositioning takes. Try building forward from a known safe spot and see where your expansion line naturally forms. This matters because in actual games, your first few builder routes determine whether your economy scales or stalls.
Build units you are unfamiliar with and watch what they target, how far they shoot, and how they move. Cloaked units, hovercraft, bombers, artillery. See how they behave on open ground versus near structures. The strategic icons guide tells you what a unit is, but watching it move tells you what it does.
Build an army, set up some static defense, and practice pull-and-fire maneuvers with different unit types. Toggle friendly fire on if you want to see what splash damage actually looks like. Run attack-move commands on empty terrain until your muscle memory settles in.
Some players use the first tutorial scenario for solo practice because the AI there is also inactive. Both approaches work, but they serve different purposes. The tutorial scenario walks you through specific mechanics in order. A null AI skirmish match gives you a blank slate on any map. If you are trying to learn a specific unit or test a build on a particular map, null AI is more flexible.
Null AI does not just help with unit control. It also works well for economy judgment. You can see exactly what your energy production looks like when you stack wind turbines, watch tidal generators behave in real time, and compare regular fusion against advanced fusion with real numbers instead of guessing. Since the opponent is not building, you can run experiments for as long as you want and watch how the economy curves play out over twenty or thirty minutes instead of having the game end before your setup matures.
Players who figure out their metal-per-energy ratios in a null AI session tend to make cleaner decisions in actual matches. The numbers do not change between practice and real games. The only thing that changes is pressure, and handling pressure is built on knowing the numbers before the clock starts.
Solo practice has a ceiling. Null AI builds mechanical familiarity, but it cannot teach you how to read an opponent, adapt to harassment, or coordinate with teammates. Use null AI to learn what your buttons do, then move into skirmishes against real AI at increasing difficulty levels to learn how an active opponent changes your decisions. From there, multiplayer is the fastest way to sharpen everything at once.
A good signal that you are ready for the next step is when you can consistently execute a basic opening build without checking guides. You do not need perfect execution. You just need to know your first ten minutes well enough that you are thinking about your opponent instead of your own factory queues.
BAR is a game that rewards players who put in the reps on mechanics that feel invisible until they matter. Queue rhythm, builder pathing, energy judgment. Nobody sees the practice sessions where these habits form, but they show up immediately in actual team games.
Cred of Champions built its entire reputation around this kind of disciplined, low-drama improvement. Players join, practice together, share replays, and get better without the toxicity that usually follows competitive RTS communities.
[Crd] The removal of toxicity, the goal of fun and learning, makes for a refreshing spot to play and spend time. It has also made a game with plenty of complexity a bit less daunting to dive into.
Setting up a null AI match costs nothing and takes two minutes. The units you learn and the habits you build in those sessions carry straight into every multiplayer game after. Practice clean, learn the numbers, then take it to a team that values the work.