Iron Tide Command: surviving the first ten minutes

Most losses in Iron Tide Command happen in the opening minutes, before a single fight. If you overextend your base too quickly, your supply lines stretch thin and the aggressive AI punishes it hard.

We settled into a routine of securing two resource nodes and one defensive chokepoint before doing anything else. It feels slow, but it means you're never scrambling when the first attack comes.

Scout early and often. The seasonal map changes can cut off routes you were relying on, and finding out mid-battle is a disaster. A cheap scout unit pays for itself many times over.

Against turtling opponents, patience wins. Build up, wait for their resources to stagnate, then push with a full force. We beat the hardest AI this way after losing to rushing it far too many times.