When to use Mangonels over Wolverines, how to decide between upgrading mexes or building new ones, and improving economy instead of chasing counters.
Mangonels bring mobility advantages that Wolverines cannot match. On maps without naval pressure, the question becomes whether Mangonel speed justifies its cost compared to the Wolverine alternative. Mangonels reposition faster across the map, retreat from bad engagements, and redeploy to new pressure points before Wolverine lines can respond. That mobility gap matters on large land maps where positioning drives engagements.
When you cannot push through an enemy defensive line, the problem usually traces back to economy rather than unit choice. If your metal and energy income falls behind the opponent, no amount of micro fixes the fundamental resource starvation. Focus on extracting more metal, building more power generators, and expanding your builder count. Fix your income pipeline before chasing the perfect unit counter. Better economy funds better armies.
New mex extractors deliver better return on investment than upgrading existing ones to tier two. Upgraded mexes still show positive returns, just at a lower rate. When you upgrade a mex to T2, the metal previously invested in that extractor gets refunded to your store. This means upgrading mexes on full metal maps does not waste your stored metal. The refund cushions the transition cost and makes upgrades more attractive when no new mex spots remain available.
Build new mex extractors whenever unclaimed spots exist on the map. The raw output per metal invested beats upgrade economics every time. Reserve mex upgrades for situations where all viable mex locations are already claimed and your team needs additional extraction. The T2 upgrade becomes a forced optimization step, not a first choice.
Teams that coordinate mex expansions and upgrade priorities collectively outperform groups of individuals making uncoordinated economy decisions. Communication about who is taking which mex, when upgrades happen, and how resources flow between teammates creates a compounding advantage. Creed of Champions trains exactly this kind of team coordination because they know economy discipline wins matches before unit armies even engage.
[Crd] Before discovering Creed, I was thinking the only thing that separates BAR from the perfect RTS is a friendly and safe social environment for new players to learn and feel included.