I love turn based strategy games. The Civ games are some of my favorites and i practically spent the 7 hours after i bought Alpha Centauri playing it. I also really like RTS games like Age of Empires and Star Wars Empire at War. But it seems that when it comes to the multitasking of real time strategy games I'm lacking in skill :/ I'm always spending time watching the battles instead of gathering resources or creating buildings. Any tips?

One good trick is to keep doing something when you're not doing anything / when you don't have to do anything, right from the start of the game. Don't wait for things to happen, always be busy. That way, you are building muscle memory and conditioning your hands to be more active for when APM really matters.

Never do turtling strategies, that is the worst when it comes to improving your technique and APM.

There are many good videos about improving macro and micro play, mostly related to Starcraft, but still applicable to most RTS games. Give them a try.

By playing them, then fail miserably, then think what went wrong and device a different/counter strategy and then fail miserably again.

At least that's the way how I play those games. :^P

I am an RTS freak and my best recommend would be to start from the ground up. Warcraft 2 on the easiest setting, which will eventually get really hard, but by then you will have had enough of a crash course. After that move to Warcraft 3. When you got a handle of that you can get to the real RTS titles and say goodbye to that cartoon crap. XD C&C Tiberium Sun and C&C Red Alert. Move on as the series progress eventually leaving all that for the grand dad of the genre, AOE 1 and 2,

Again, the most important thing is, don't let pride get in your way. When you start one of these, play it on the easiest possible setting, that way you can get a feel for units and tech without being overburdened by your opponent.

play more

I'm afraid there aren't any secret tips on how to get better at RTS.
Like others have suggest: You just have to keep practicing and trying to improve your number of actions per minute. Using hotkeys also helps to improve speed.
Have a plan and keep it in the back of your mind at all times. Try your best not to neglect/forget any part of the game.
I also suggest watching some videos on how the "pros" do it.

Depends on the situation, but you should start by setting a foothold. Try to gather enough resources to get some kind of defense units, gather fast from around your area but don´t try to spend on more resource gathering yet, do it on something to defense that hub.
If your resource gathering output is on line with your units production invest in more resource gathering, send some units to explore to find some resources.
If you have an excedent of resources try upping your unit production, keep exploring in order to find enemy activity, intel is very important, you don´t want to send your units into a trap.

Different situations require different tactics, so it´s up to each one, some can be won by defending or by attacking, some by attacking light but fast, hit and run, rushing, but none of this means victory always. Attrition also works, it goes faster if you neglect resources to your enemy while you di it.
The nice thing about strategy and tactics is figuring out what works and what doesn´t, after some time you´ll develop your skills.
It´s a thing of trial and error at first going with what you think it´s better, after some experience you´ll be able to predict things more accurately and move in line with that.

But always be prepared for the unexpected :P

Also, you can try games that are a bit at the margins of the genre. Cannon Fodder or Syndicate let you control a tiny squad in a very rts way. So does a section of Giants Citizen Kabuto (which you should be playing anyway, like everyone who owns a computer), and many RPGs have RTS-ish gameplay. Also, a few RTSes only feature some gameplay elements, for instance tactical combat with limited resources management (no buildings building). Some are a bit tough (Blitzkrieg for instance), but some can be quite friendly (Mechcommander can be found as a freeware, these days).

Also, the Populous and Majesty series have the building aspect without the combat management. Another way to get used to the genre bit by bit.

I thought playing on the easiest setting meant you´ve trascended beyond ego and freed yourself from pride altogether. :P

Do you really need to get good? This might not be a popular opinion among hardcore gamers, but why not just play on an easy difficulty, watch the battles if that's what you like, and not worry too much about multitasking, rather than investing serious time into "getting good". Unless you want to be good at multiplayer that is.

Gotta start slow. Set up your hotkeys and practice switching between and controlling different units and upgrading your bases. Once you can play an RTS the rest will be based on your strategy, or mind. If you're not a good strategist then you'll lose of course. But you learn more from losses than from wins.

You can watch some pro matches for ideas. Don't look at their micros, look at their grand strategy.

Don't confuse me, I'm just a stupid RTS player! :P

That is a very bad advice actually. The best way to start is start on the hardest difficulty, and then go down a step if you can't handle that. Repeat once you handle the AI, then up the difficulty one. Try to master that. Next, up the difficulty again, until you master the hardest AI.

But really, if you want to master a game, you shouldn't even bother playing against the AI. Always play against others.

Ha! The joke is on you! Calling my advice 'bad advice' is redundant! Way to be grammatically incorrect! :D

I guess the foots on the other hand now, isn't it Kramer!?

Was never very good at RTS. I always spend too much time making my town pretty and organised and having nice little groups of things. Not very effective.

My brother had this great way of being like a chaotic f**kin virus speading over the land, was very difficult to play against. I guess I got the gift of turn based and hitman tactics instead.