first, when attacking an enemy try to always have a spy on base, than take a BASIC military scan to see chassis types, take 2 advanced military scans and find the middle number, take a scout report and see how much gold, lumber, workers they have, than 9 if u can) firestorm them, NEXT, send a squad with 1 troops to get accurate measures. Also do the same to all outposts with troops surrounding the colony.

Only if you're close in power I only do that if they're within 15 power of me (I have 15 or so conquers) also keep in mind there worker count if there worker count is larger than you'res and you have the same power expect them to have a lower number of units.

perfect build is 1/2 1 armor for every 2 range so keep in mind that youre build matters; higher unit count isnt everything.