SMNC can be a very hard game to get into since there are practically no other games like it and if you don't know what you're doing it can be a very nasty experience. Sure, there are shooters and DotA-likes, but I know of only one game that merges the two. In this guide, I will attempt to summarize the guiding principles that should drive your decision making in SMNC.

Levels are important: A higher level will make you do more damage, have more health and give you points to improve your skills with. The outcome of an otherwise equal fight is often determined by who has the higher level. Don't fight players that are higher level than you.

Bots are even more important: The best way to gain levels and to become stronger is by killing a lot of bots. Killing enemy bots also makes it easier to for your bots to attack enemy turrets and eventually the enemy moneyball. The game ends once either moneyball is down. You can only deal damage to turrets and the moneyball once their shields are down. Since those shields can only go down by letting bots attack them, pushing bots is necessary to win the game.

Bots > Players: If you can keep pushing your bots, then don't react enemy pros at all.

It's all about numbers: If you're forced to react enemy pros, then whether you should retreat or not comes down to number advantages. If you're a new player, limit yourself to health percentages, number of teammates vs number of enemies and levels.

Dying is bad: I can't stress this enough. Especially as a new player, you should do everything in your power to stay alive as long as possible. Dying gives experience to the other team, which makes them stronger and puts your team at a temporary man disadvantage, which makes you weaker.

Teamwork is OP: Try to never be alone. You're vulnerable if you're alone.

Look around: Always be on the look out for surprises and be as aware as possible of your surroundings. This is called situational awareness and it's one of the most important skills in SMNC.

Always have an escape plan ready: This is important because, again, you want to stay alive. In general I would say stay near your turrets and behind your bots, but that's an extreme generalization.

What character should I play?: As a new player, I advise to stick with the easier pros that are good at pushing bots. Gunner, Megabeth, Tank, Cheston, Assault and Combat Girl come to mind.

What character shouldn't I play?: In general, you should not play commandos or sharpshooters if you are a new player. Commandos have very little health but have to be in very close range to deal damage. This combination makes them very easy to die with. That isn't a problem for more experienced players, since they're able to judge whether or not it's safe to commit to a fight, but as a new player with limited knowledge of the game, it is. There's also the fact that Commandos generally do better against worse opponents, so while you might do great in the lower levels, you would probably hit a wall once you graduate to the higher skill levels.

Sharpshooters are a lot more than pure aiming skills in SMNC, to the point where some players argue that you don't even need good aim to be effective with them. What they do require however, is good positioning and a lot of knowledge about the game. Stay away from them for now.

http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=46 - Official SMNC strategy and tactics forum
http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=39 - General section of said forums
http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=43 - Guides to every pro, heavily outdated, but still useful for the basic playstyles of each character.
http://forums.uberent.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=41271 - Thread about the SMNC Community Mumble. Mumble is a voice communication program and much better than intergrated voip. Drop by!


Death products are bad.
Pros = Heroes/Champions/Gods
To my knowledge, you can only get Super Crossfire matches on the NA servers, due to the low population count.
SMNC is a team-based game and most player agree that it's the most enjoyable to play with either a group of friends or competitively minded players, if you're into that, both with voice communication.

If you have any more questions, I'd be glad to help you. Just PM me on the forums and we'll work something out. http://forums.uberent.com/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1368274