Multiplayer Melee Suggestions

The following are some suggestions for getting the most out of multiplayer Melee. (A more comprehensive list can be found here.)

• Have pre-made teams of various sizes (100, 200, and 250 points fleets are often used)
• When using a keyboard, figure out suitable key bindings in advance. Most keyboards don't allow some combinations of key-presses.
• When playing over a network, find someone geographically close to you, so that you'll have a relatively good network connection.

Gameplay variations

• Limit the number of ships of one type. This will result in more varied battles. Generally a "no duplicates" rule is used, preventing the use of more than one ship of the same type.
• Exclude or limit certain ships:
  • 30 point ships. This will result in more subtle battles.
  • Pkunk Furies. This reduces the effects of luck, especially in small fleets.
  • Ships that usually cause a game to last forever, like Thraddash Torches (or, sometimes, Spathi Eluders and Arilou Skiffs).
• Play with random teams. A good online random team generator can be found here.
• Require both players to select their ships at random. This will often lead to match-ups that rarely occur during normal games. Random ship selection is best combined with a ban on 30 point ships , which tend to heavily skew a match depending on what is drawn against them.
• Have both players build each other's fleets. This will result in fleets with ships you don't usually use. You may want to limit the number of ships of one type so as to avoid ending up with a fleet of Umgah Drones.
• Consider using melee oriented mods such as Shiver's Balance Mod or Elvish Pillager's Crazy Mod.