This is a guide for those who are new to the Shroud faction. This guide
will cover basic fundamentals on economy goal, amplifire use and build
openers you can use for different scenerios,

Economy:
The Economy for the shroud is either 480 minerals per min (on a
8/s Catalyst location) or 600 mins per min (On a 10/s Catalyst location)
the economy mechanic is similar to Goo's economy mechanic which means you
pay for everything an advance. there is no drainage. To be fully saturated
as Shroud you will need no less than 7 refineries. 8 refineries mean you will
have either 3360 worth of minerals per min (8/s Catalyst location) or 4200
minerals per min (10/s Catalyst locations) the 10/s catalyst eco is the max
the shroud faction can receive.

Spend Spend Spend:
Do not allow your economy to sit in your bank. Spend your economy as fast as you can. Just like with any rts you need to spend your economy effectively. The more you spend effectivly and swiftly the better you are.

Note: Bulding placement is key as Shroud just like it is with humans. You
want to place your advents in a postion to where you are able to share
amplifires or defend the advents with the placed amplifires if required.
Also a mechanic for the Shroud is backwards..If your foe is going for an economy opening during the beginning stages of the game; you will want to opt for a unit opening. If the opponent goes for a balanced opening, i,e 1 ref 1 factory; then you want to go for a proxy all in off 1 extractor. If the enemy player goes for a rush; then you will want to make extractors til you can proxy your unit production..So depending on what you scout and the map size will let you know which opener is best suited for your match up.
Remeber: VS eco openers you typically want to go for a unit opening, vs early aggression you want to go eco til proxy is possible. VS balanced openings you want to go for a proxy all in . Scout, Proxy your unit production from aggression, expand, Rinse and Repeat.

Basic Openers are as follows:

5 Extractors (Fast expand): Estimated time for build is
The 5 Extractor opening is a eco opener that is used mainly on wider maps.
This opener is vulnerable to early aggression and maps that are medium to small in size or both.

1 Extractor 2 Advents: Estimated time for build is (1min and 17secs)
This opener is balanced for the shroud faction. You will have a good army
size with a significant amount of economy.

1 Extractor 3 Advents: Estimated time for build is (1 min and 46secs)
This opener is an all-in. Due to the fact that it takes time to make all 3
advents and you will be using half of your economy income or more to manage
your army composition. In other words, in order to expand or grow in
economy you will have to halt production and then make another refinery in
order to make close to adequate timing in the meta phase. The purpose of
this build is to keep the opponent at bay, hinder thier economy or end the
game.

2 Extractor 5 Advent:
This build pushes back most aggression if not all
with your continous clasher production you can counter push the enemy or push back the enemy from your base. moving your Advents away from your base is advised

3 Extractor 6 advent 2 amps: (12 Clasher all in) This is a semi eco opening that trans into a tier 1 all in. It nice to use if buy chance the enemy hasnt teched up to something it counters or if the enemy hasnt found your advents and started camping the area to take out incoming clashers or both.

3 Extractor 1/1/1 Build: I like this build personally its a balanced build that gives you a scouting unit (chime) to see what the enemy is doing and starting you off with a Mach Klaxxon Clasher Army comp the only issue is that due to your different units your ability to reenforce is pretty limited early on so if doing this build try to be defensive and push only if you have enough to reenforce the army you have.

Upon learning and memorizing your basic openers it is crucial to scout your opponent to know which opener is adequate in your current matchup. Scouting is when you use your initial unit (the mimic) to go and seek for the opponents base to see what the opponent is up to. Not scouting can open yourself to being blind sided by the enemy, the enemy gaining more resources than you or having a bigger army than you. or repelling the army you have with defenses. So do openings that are based on what you have scouted from your enemy and maintain your primary objective with getting saturated or having substantial income with a army composition that counters what your enemy is manufacturing.

Meta Scouting:
During the Meta Phase, (beginning of the match) you need to scout with your mimic unit. (the 1st unit you start off with) The meta phase of the game usually sets the course of the mid to late game if by chance there is one.

Mid to Late Game Scouting:
Upon Reaching the Mid to Late game you need to use your chime to get further intel on what your enemy is doing. The more information you have the better you are.

The COA (Course Of Action)or Plan Of Attack as shroud is to expand and overwhelm your foe just like most factions but more so. for thier ability to expand is not only viable and great but it can be the meaning of a win or a lose. If you are able to expand you can cancel out most base races and you can replennish your amy.The enemies of shroud cant vanquish you unless they destroy your refineries while pinning your HQ. If the HQ is pinned and the refineries are destroyed, the shroud, i,e you playing as shroud are vanquished.
Pinning the HQ means negating the HQ's ability to be rebuilt.

There are 2 obtjectives you can do as Shroud. The 1st, basic army building and overwhelmming your foe is the standard of playing against your adversaries. 2nd is seige playstyle by intrigitly making defenses around the map and choaking access routes and viable key areas to choak resources from your foe and map space.

Note: You can only choose 1 upgrade out of each catagory of the tech tree and the enemy cant stop it either. please becareful and choose wisely

There are go to upgrades and thier are upgrades that are situational or based off play style. Lets go over the Primary one or ones 1st.

Channeld Build up:
This is practically THE GO TO Upgrade for Shroud. Due to its short timing of completion and the massive AOE damage once the upgrade is complete makes your howlers units that can transtion into the mid to late game. It initially makes them a Sub Artilery unit that is viable through out your matchup

Spectrum Calabiration:
This gives you a second way to negate stealth. even though you negate stealth with your chime, That can be negated by Anti Air or enemy air crafts so to give your army stealth detection it is crucial to get this upgrade.

Now lets go over the Situational or play style based upgrades:

Gravity Manipulation:
This is a nice upgrade for your Echoes if by chance you are trying to prevent your enemy armies from ever retreating. It will slow the enemies movement speed and give your amy the chance to chase the enemy down and finish them off.

Tether Feedback:
This upgrade for your anti air Spike, uses the enemie's air craft against them. It makes thier aircraft become an AOE nightmare for it causes aoe damage around those around that pinned aircraft.

Empowered Core:
This Upgrade is really nice for those who are going for a unit based approach it decreases the amount of amplifires required by making your HQ into an amplifier this allows faster army production. So if you want to have a big army faster this upgrade is for you. It also enables defensive play do to it becoming an amplifier because amps increases the damage output of your turrents/Spikes.

Protected Investment:
This upgrade syncronises well with a seige based playstyle do to your extractors regenning health to nearby units it makes your extractors become an aggressive building instead of just hiding. They also become defensive if by chance some are in your base so you can heal the units at your base. so get this if you want a way to heal your units or if you are doing a seige based playstyle or both.

As of right now the viable army compostions as shroud doesnt really have much innovation between each much up...

Army Composition 1:)
Howler, Clasher/Klaxxon, Echo and Shrieks (Transition in Epic unit Dirge)

This compostion is viable vs goo centers on AOE damage and Harassment with Shireks. The Shireks main objective is to kill the mothers while your army is negating the incoming or defending goo force.


Army Compostion 2.)
Howler Clasher/Klaxxon, Siren, Echo, Shrieks (Transiton into Dirge)

This Setup is is best suited for Beta, Mirror matches and Humans With the AOE, Anti Air and harassment with Shireks it forces the opposing faction to change the army comp somehow by transtioninng to an epic and to be defensive do to thier refineries/extractors and Cores are in danger

Army Compostion 3.) Howler, Clasher/Klaxxon, Echo + Chime/s (for vision of the map and army positioning) Turrents, Aversion Field (Wall) with Amplifer support for the turrents (transtion into Dirge)

This is a seige base setup for those who desire a chess like mechanic of keeping people off the map and starving them of resources This can be used vs all macthes but reccommended vs Human. For humans are a defensive based faction. POSTIONING IS KEY

Thank you all for your support and for reading my guiide. I would also like to thank Szalami and other players for thier insight and help with writing this guide. Please leave comments for further request on other guides. This is KOICSeraphim and thank you for reading