**Halo Wars: learning the UNSC without building one of everything**

**Halo Wars: learning the UNSC without building one of everything** The easiest way to waste resources is to build every production building because you might need it later. Then the actual attack arrives and you have an impressive base with no army. Start with what you're trying to accomplish in the next few minutes. Gather nearby supplies, establish income, scout, and buy the technology and production that support that plan. Add another building when you have a reason to use it. This is the first Halo Wars, including Definitive Edition—not Halo Wars 2's separate supplies-and-power economy. **Income, technology and population** Supply Pads fund production. Reactors provide technology levels. A better technology level makes more options available, but it doesn't produce the supplies needed to buy them. Don't spend all your money unlocking a tank and leave yourself unable to build one. Keep production active when you're preparing an attack. If you're saving for something specific, know what it is. A large reserve with empty queues and an undefended base isn't automatically a strong economy. Population is another limit. Upgrades that increase it help only when you have the economy to fill the space. Likewise, several production buildings are useful only if you can afford to keep them working. Expand when the new base can be protected and will solve a real shortage. If your first force is losing the fight outside your original base, an exposed second base may just give the enemy another target. **Give units jobs** **Marines** provide a general infantry force and become more capable through their upgrades. **Flamethrowers** are a specialized answer to infantry, not a universal replacement for Marines. **Warthogs** are useful for scouting, supply collection and mobile pressure. Their upgrades change their fighting value. Don't confuse a newly built scout with a fully upgraded combat Warthog. **Scorpions** provide durable ground firepower. Keep them supported against aircraft and use their special attack deliberately. **Wolverines** handle anti-air; don't expect a group of them to solve the ground battle on its own. **Cobras** reward positioning and their deployed firing mode, but an immobile unit needs protection when the battle moves. **Hornets** offer mobility and can ignore ground obstacles. **Vultures** bring heavier firepower at a larger investment. Neither is a reason to fly straight into concentrated anti-air. Retreating damaged aircraft and repairing them can preserve far more value than replacing the whole group. **Spartans** can take over vehicles and improve the vehicle they occupy. Check what role you need before committing one: a Spartan on foot and one inside a tank do not give you the same options. **The three leaders** Cutter's distinctive tools include **MAC Blast, Elephants and ODSTs**. The appeal is being able to support a fight and reinforce through those tools, not having to build the same army in every match. ODST drops still need the relevant research, resources and population space. Forge brings **Carpet Bomb, Cyclops and Grizzlies**, with an economy advantage through his improved Supply Pads. Don't spend that advantage so aggressively on technology that you have nothing to defend the income producing it. Anders brings **Cryo Bomb, Gremlins and Hawks**, with reduced research costs and times. Faster research pays off when it improves units you are actually fielding. It doesn't help much if you keep changing plans and researching three armies you never build. The campaign sometimes grants units and abilities according to its script. Don't assume a campaign mission's complete menu is what one skirmish leader always gets. **The fight itself** Scout before committing the entire army. If you see massed aircraft, start responding before the aircraft are over your base. If the enemy has invested in anti-air, don't keep replacing the same air force without changing the engagement. Focus fire on dangerous counters, use special abilities on worthwhile targets, and keep supporting units out of the front line. An army selection shortcut is convenient, but it can also pull every defender away from the base or send fragile support into the lead. Before blaming the matchup, check three things: were the right units present, were they upgraded, and were they actually attacking the targets they were meant to handle? Fixing those habits is more useful than searching for one supposedly unbeatable unit.