Overview
In this guide I chose to gloss over details of each unit (that’s what the wiki is for) in favor of illustrating some of the unique roles and tactics of the Goo to help maximize their potential, mainly for those who are picking up the game and want to learn how to play this unique faction.
Disclaimer
Every game is different. The best players will adjust their strategies accordingly. The point of this guide is not to tell you how to play Goo in every situation, but rather to highlight their strengths in a way that will have you make better use of their mechanics.
I hope you learn something you hadn’t thought of prior to reading this guide and apply it to your games as you develop your own strategies in this fresh RTS.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Get Ready to ADD.
Grey Goo as a whole is a macro-intensive RTS. Unlike other popular RTS games (such as SCII), individual micromanagement is less important than larger elements like army composition, unit positioning, and decision making. While other races in the game focus their macro attention on balancing their income and spending, the Goo’s attention is focused on keeping Mothers safe. Adjusting your positions and remaining hidden while being aware of your enemy is important to maximize your growth potential, since the Mothers are so vulnerable to flanking.
General Disadvantages in Goo Macro Mechanics
The Goo lack a few staple mechanics thanks to their unique nature, and are generally more difficult to manage as a result. The most significant of these is the inability to automate unit production. While the Human and Beta factions can set their factories to auto-produce units and always have an army ready when they glance at their base, the Goo must make each unit individually when they have acquired the resources, making for somewhat of a macro nightmare. On top of this, the Mother Goo unit is incredibly fragile and easily kited by enemy units. This makes keeping Mother Goo units safe a top priority, which involves smart positioning, movement, and constant map awareness. Another notable disadvantage is that the Goo lack any form of air unit, making the positioning of their units and army composition as a whole a lot more important.
How the Goo Compensates
The Goo have plenty of strengths to match their weaknesses. While they have no way to auto-produce units, they can deploy an army in the blink of an eye. This is a distinct advantage because they can create a particular army composition on the fly based on what they encounter, unlike the other factions, which take time to create and move their units. While the Mother Goo units are fragile, they allow for the fastest and greatest amount of expansion over any other race, thanks to their ability to hide and to defend themselves with instant units. Finally, while they have no air units, the Goo have the highest mobility as a whole, as formless goo can traverse cliffs and mountains.
Their strength, however, is also largely dependent on the map you are on. Most of the time you can make do, but you are at a distinct disadvantage on some maps (most notably Lost Plains).
Expanding Swiftly and Carefully
The Goo are labelled as the “aggressive” faction on their website, which isn’t necessarily true. Many RTS players believe that this implies they have the strongest rush in the game, and that they are early-game oriented. I don’t find this to be the case. The Goo are actually very fragile in the early game but can reach their mid-to-late game potential the quickest over other races, making them more effective as a mid-game oriented race. In order to achieve this, you’ll need to carefully take advantage of the Goo’s fast expansion.
In order to expand most effectively, make sure you’ve got a grip on Collecting Resources Effectively. There is a lot of overlap between these sections, but they go hand-in-hand.
All About the Mothers
Mothers are your everything. They are slow and easily kited, and are exceptionally fragile to begin with. But when they are focused on expanding, their exponential growth rate is incredibly strong, even game-winning if it is left unchecked. When expanding and moving fresh Mother Goo units around, remember to:
- Remain as hidden as possible.
- Adhere close to cliffs and other forms of cover.
- Pass over resource spigots as you move whenever possible.
- Have an idea of what your opponent is trying to do to you.
That last bit is perhaps the most important. Where is your opponent looking for you? What units are they building? Where are they headed with their current build? Knowing these things and responding properly can make your expansion and decisions infinitely more effective. Your starting Drover is your key to knowledge. If your opponent has found one Mother and is focusing on her, move your other Mother Goo units away. If you see a scouting party headed to where you intend to go, either wait it out or change course. If you see that your opponent is trying to build air units to find you, consider building Tempests if you can spare the resources. Air units are not only able to find you, but can give flying vision so that the rest of their units can hit your Mother Goo units on the cliffs. Bad.
You Could Literally Be Anywhere
The first place your opponent will generally try to find you is the area where you spawn. Don’t be there. The earlier they find your Mother Goo, the smaller chance you have at winning. Thinking one step ahead of your opponent and remaining hidden is key to remaining safe.
Where to Expand
Where you choose to expand has a large influence on how your game will go. You will want to have your first Mother Goo units find a place that has a balance of safety and resource availability. This includes spigots that are close to cliffs, brush, and other spigots. Once you are established on these areas, it is generally safer to expand backwards (toward your starting area) as you begin to create the bulk of your forces.
Rushing
The Goo have a really strong rush game, if you can find a vulnerability in your opponent by scouting them. You will find success in rushing, generally, if your opponent is slow to start or has rushed a second refinery. Be careful with rushing, however; a failed attempt at a rush will generally leave your own economy as crippled as your opponent’s.
At the start of the game, your Mother Goo should be on the move no matter what you plan to do. Should you catch your opponent in a vulnerable state, and you decide to rush, you Mother’s course should prioritize passing over spigots and be moving closer to their base.
Detecting a Vulnerability
Detecting a vulnerability effectively is something that can only come from playing the game a fair amount and getting a genuine feel for how everything works. It is especially advisable to play the other races to an extent just to find out how their economy and units work so you can better know how to effectively hurt them.
You might consider rushing if:
- Your opponent has rushed a second refinery (or Mother Goo) without building any defense
- Your opponent has only built one factory
- Your opponent has chosen to collect resources from a distant source
Suffocating your Opponent
In most cases, you’ll want to start making small proteans right off the bat, and send them in as they are created. Your first small protean should be made into a pair of Striders as soon as it arrives in the base. From this point forward, your goal is to completely suffocate your opponent. Your best way to do this is to kill the units produced by the refinery on their way to and from the extractors. Depending on the distance, two Striders and your scouting drover should be able to put out enough damage to take them down.
As you send in more small proteans, you’re going to want more Striders, as they can easily focus down units as they are produced from a factory or a refinery. Consider building Drovers only if your opponent has mustered up a small army of light units to defend himself. If your oponent tries to put up defensive structures (Sentinals or Walls), make sure to kill them as they are being constructed, as they are much less fragile once they are complete.
If done correctly, you’ll have an effective blockade on your opponent’s resources and unit production, leaving them helpless to die a slow death as you churn out more and more Striders.
Rushing Another Goo Player
Rushing another Goo player can be especially effective if they choose to do an early split. You’ll always want to have a Radiant travel with your army so that enemy Mothers cannot slip onto a cliff out of sight. Your main weapon against the Mothers are your Striders thanks to their great single-target damage and safe range. Remember, every hit to an enemy Mother Goo is a direct hit to their resource pool. Generally, all that’s necessary is a handful of Striders with a Radiant, and you should be able to safely pick off Mothers. Just remember to be on your toes and move your units away if your opponent decides to try and consume your army with their Mother.
Collecting Resources Effectively
The Goo have the potential to collect resources faster than any other race in the game. There are several tricks to maximize their strength in this regard.
The Goo collect resources in a unique fashion. Your Mother Goo collects resources in clumps, represented by orange gains in your Mother Goo’s health. These resources are then “digested”, so to speak, over time in a constant fasion, which is represented as the orange portions gradually fill with blue, and then white when the Mother Goo reaches a certain size. This mechanic cannot be overlooked. Maximizing your economy involves working around this distinct advantage. There are several tricks that will help you play this strength.
Stay Hidden, Stay Mobile.
Collecting resources effectively involves playing the Goo’s strength of mobility, increasing your already strong economic potential. In a nutshell, you’ll want to stay hidden and move between resource collection periods. An experienced Human or Beta player will try to find your early Mother Goo with their scout or an early force and kite her. This is a direct hit to your economy and can be very crippling in the early game, but you can generally avoid this harassment by staying hidden.
Your enemy will likely expect your Mother Goo to be sitting on a spigot somewhere near your starting area. The later your opponent finds your Mother Goo, the better chance you have at winning. This means that the first thing you’ll want to do to counter this is move your Mother Goo away from the starting area. Passing over Spigots on your way out will kickstart your resource collection as your Mother Goo will digest while moving. If this isn’t an option, just remember that the safety of your Mother Goo is more important than the first few seconds of resource gain. In pretty much every map, the starting spigots are not safe places to be, and if you get caught there, you’re already dead; there’s no place to run to and you will be kited and either die an early death or lose a significant amount of resources. By moving, not only do you avoid this hazard, but you also have the advantage of choosing a safer place, preferably close to a cliff or some brush.
Don’t Just Sit on a Spigot (While You Can Spare the Attention).
Sitting on a resource spigot will give you a constant trickle of resources at the same rate that your Mother Goo can digest. Great. But what if I told you that you could collect resources at the same rate, or even faster, whilst keeping your Mother Goo safer by making effective movements and smarter positioning?
In reality, you only need to come in contact with a spigot when you have finished digesting your resources. This means that you can be on the move or hide when you have surplus resources and continue digesting at a constant rate, which will both keep you safer and make your expansion a lot more effective. Sitting on a spigot without moving will collect resources at the same rate that you digest them, and won’t allocate surplus resources. There are 2 ways to collect surplus resources:
- Patrolling between nearby spigots (effectively collecting resources from each; use the hotkey D to issue a patrol command)
- Consuming enemy units (unlikely, unless you catch them off guard)
Note that no matter how quickly you collect resources, your digestion rate will not increase. By collecting surplus resources, you have the advantage of being free to move or hide without sacrificing your economy. If you don’t have surplus resources while making necessary movements, expansions, or remaining hidden, you are not maximizing your economic potential.
Obviously, once you have more than a few Mother Goo units and an army, paying attention to all of them to such an extent becomes a bit overwhelming and unrealistic. At this point, it’s okay to leave some of them sitting on spigots. Just remember to always watch the map to be able to respond quickly when your Mother Goo units get flanked.
Smart Positioning to Collect Resources
A few maps have resource spigots close enough to cliffs and mountains where you can remain on the mountain (out of site) and still be in contact with a spigot. Pay attention to these opportunities. If that isn’t the case, using spigots around cliffs can still be beneficial, as you can slide off to collect a fresh batch of catalyst and slide back up to digest it, remaining hidden for most of the time and giving flying vision of the surrounding area. Being near brush is also beneficial, as you can occasionally ambush enemy units with your Mother Goo by hanging near the end of the brush, ready to surprise enemies.
Splitting Mother Goo Units Effectively
Make the most out of your movement. If you have been collecting surplus resources by patrolling nearby spigots, leave your new Mother behind as you move your fed Mother to a new resource spigot. This way, she digests along the way, and you can begin producing resources on your new Mother Goo more quickly. Small tactics of efficiency add up, especially when the next spigot you are looking at using is particularly far away.
Commentary on Research
The Goo can be very unpredictable thanks to their varied research tree. I’ll be covering what I think is the strongest research based on my experience and what I’ve seen being played at the higher levels.
Tank Tech Upgrades
Before the recent balance patch, the go-to upgrade was Goo Splash, which makes your Destructors do Area of Effect damage around their target. That research has since been nerfed and is now more situational. Assuming you’re aiming for late game with your tank upgrade, Contagious Goo, which makes Destructor projectiles bounce to units around the initial target, is now more effective against heavier units (which you should expect to face in the late game regardless). If, for some reason, your opponent is carrying out their late game with masses of light units, Goo Splash can still be considered. Bastion Volitility has little usefulness from what I have gathered and have yet to see it used at all in high level play.
Artillery Tech Upgrades
Crescents are fantastic units, but they have some seriously crippling weaknesses; namely, their slow projectile speeds and vulnerability to be completely countered and ineffective when facing any anti-air. This makes Projectile Endurance the most important upgrade in this tree if you plan to use Crescents. It reduces their damage, but ensures that they will hit their target without being shot down. If you take either of the other upgrades, it is a serious gamble, because they will be nullified by any anti-air your opponent decides to build.
Air Tech Upgrades
Air Tech Upgrades should only be considered if you’re having considerable issues with enemy aircraft. They are situational and self-explanatory. Otherwise, invest your resources elsewhere.
Stealth Tech Upgrades
By far the most useful Stealth Tech Upgrade is Veiled Surveillance. This can be an aggressive tech upgrade against Human or Beta opponents(they can’t fight what they can’t see, and the time it takes to respond generally allows you to do enough damage to make it worthwhile), but not necessarily against Goo, because Goo has so much innate stealth detection. Stealth Sensors is usually not a worthwhile pickup, since Small proteans and Mothers have innate stealth detection. Enhanced Cloaking might be worth your time if you choose to skip Veiled Surveillance in the late game, although Dwellers are trivky to use effectively.
Economy Tech Upgrades
If you plan to use your Small proteans or Mother Goos offensively, Catalytic Residue can be an effective pickup. However, outside of that, it’s generally best to invest your resources elsewhere.
Niche Battle Tactics with Formless Goo
Play Your Strengths
As previously discussed, one of the advantages of the goo is that they can create their army in the blink of an eye. This means that you can have several proteans sitting on a cliff nearby while you send a scout to find out what the enemy is building, and then morph the proteans according to what you see. This is especially effective to gain an advantage in the early game. If your opponent is building mass amounts of light units, Drovers will do well in fighting. If they rushed medium-to-heavy units, a combination of Drovers and Striders will be best.
In addition, Formless Goo can roll over hills and any convex terrain, so moving your proteans before morphing them into units is almost always much faster than morphing them initially. Walls are a lot less useful against Goo if you take advantage of this mechanic properly by rolling over the hills and deploying your units on the other side. Note that this is still fairly risky as newly formed units start at half health.
Using Formless Goo in Fights
Using Formless Goo properly in fights requires a certain amount of micro, but can be very effective when their tools are used correctly. For example, sending out a Small proteans to catch an individual unit and slow them is an effective way to pick off certain units on the retreat. Fighting with your proteans alone can be risky, as they are relatively fragile. If they are caught in a close fight, remember to morph them into units before they die. This will increase their usefulness.
In an early or mid-game siege, using a healthy Mother Goo or Large proteans to control certain structures can be extremely powerful. By placing either of these units in front of a factory or refinery, units that are produced are instantly taken care of. It is not advisable to do this with a Small protean, as their damage is too weak to kill before the unit can escape.
Formless Goo can also be used in rushes. If you spot your opponent being too greedy by building several refineries to start, you can use a fast Large protean to cripple them. This is known as a Large Protean Rush and can be seen here:
[Edit: Large Protean Rush has been largely nerfed since release of the video, it’s no longer as effective]
Conclusion
Hopefully, some of the mechanics outlined in this guide will help give you an edge as you learn to play Goo. As this new game changes and I receive feedback I will continue to update this guide to make it as helpful as possible.
I am getting the hang of things myself in this game, and as much as I know about how to play Goo effectively, actually performing to that standard is another challenge in itself. I encourage you to see these strategies in action by visiting Twitch and watching whoever is streaming Grey Goo in order to study and see what others do. Watch what other Goo players do, and watch how players play against Goo as well, and evaluate for yourself how to play most effectively.
Goo’d luck to you, fellow player, and have fun.