The Escapist Presents: Starcraft 2 101: Tips & Tricks

TerranReaper

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Nice video, although not very useful for me (=P). Just one little thing though, I don't think 4 workers on gas is needed, since there is very little difference in the gas collection rate. Also, I kinda question the bunker replacing the barracks for the Terran wall-in. In terms of health, the barracks comes on top, not to mention that the added range that the bunker gives to the marines isn't really worth it.
 

Sir Bob

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Actually, the Engineering Bay is the best choice for walling I believe. However, I would not go for fixed buildings in my wall, since I tend to go Tank & Thor a lot and the Thor just requires a hell of a lot of space to move out of your base..

By the way, have you guys noticed how weak the BC's are compared to other high tier / high cost flyers? :S
 

Dectilon

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From what I can gather from watching Day9 Daily (pro-level analysis stream) it's 3 on gas. Actually, I think there's even a loading screen tip that says geysers are saturized at 3.
 

Ne1butme

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Sir Bob said:
Actually, the Engineering Bay is the best choice for walling I believe. However, I would not go for fixed buildings in my wall, since I tend to go Tank & Thor a lot and the Thor just requires a hell of a lot of space to move out of your base..
I really disagree with this.

1) It can't be easily moved out of the way. Barracks can be lifted, depots can be sunk, and even bunkers can be salvaged for their full value. Engi bays can't do any of these things. You're right about needing a lot of room and the engi bay gives you no options to make more room.

2) If you're getting an engi bay early enough to wall in to prevent a zealot or zergling rush, then you're doing something wrong. Even if you're teching (ie turtling) and need protection, getting an engineering bay before the barracks is a bad idea.

Since you're getting a barracks and most likely sooner than the engineer bay, then use that to wall in instead. If you don't like the wall-in after it's initial protection, then you can get rid of it without losing any resources.
 

Sir Bob

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Ne1butme said:
Since you're getting a barracks and most likely sooner than the engineer bay, then use that to wall in instead. If you don't like the wall-in after it's initial protection, then you can get rid of it without losing any resources.
I agree, but after you fly your barack, and you are going to tech into air units, you can relace with with an Engi bay, it has the best HP/Armor with the upgrade. Same for the pre-nerf forge, it had A LOT of shields and hitpoints.
 

Ne1butme

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Sir Bob said:
Ne1butme said:
Since you're getting a barracks and most likely sooner than the engineer bay, then use that to wall in instead. If you don't like the wall-in after it's initial protection, then you can get rid of it without losing any resources.
I agree, but after you fly your barack, and you are going to tech into air units, you can relace with with an Engi bay, it has the best HP/Armor with the upgrade. Same for the pre-nerf forge, it had A LOT of shields and hitpoints.
Well, in that very particular case, where you're not going to use your barracks to produce units and you're going for an all air army; then yes, the engi bay would make a suitable cork for your ramp bottle. But really, once you've held off the initial rush, and started your expansion, you don't really need to block off the ramp anymore.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Can I just say that this comment thread is the exact reason I love StarCraft? So much strategy discussion :)
 

Dectilon

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Well, in that very particular case, where you're not going to use your barracks to produce units and you're going for an all air army; then yes, the engi bay would make a suitable cork for your ramp bottle. But really, once you've held off the initial rush, and started your expansion, you don't really need to block off the ramp anymore.
That, and considering how slow upgrades are it'd be terribly annoying if the enemy came in and destroyed it just because it was an easy-to-reach target.
 

Vorlayn

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With regards to scouting, sending in spare units as zerg isn't the best plan. Changelings are much more useful than throwing away a unit and its resource cost.

And as protoss, if the opponent has a lot of turrets/detectors the observer aint always the best choice. Hallucinated units can also scout....
 

Nimbus

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Oct 22, 2008
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Sir Bob said:
By the way, have you guys noticed how weak the BC's are compared to other high tier / high cost flyers? :S
Yeah, but by the time you are churning out BCs, you can usually afford to keep 2 armories working non-stop with aerial upgrades. Fully upgraded, BCs kick serious ass.
 

Dectilon

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BC's get stronger in numbers, especially when you can start a fight by firing off 6-7 yamato shots.
 

sigma83

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@Dark Templar: They do 50 damage a hit, and are _fast_. Zergling fast. They're insanely expensive, 125/125 for their relative fragility. For comparison a siege tank is 150/125. They're not a combat unit, they die way too quickly.

Re: Gas discussion. Here's something you have to factor: Getting more workers on minerals means you can expand more. Expanding more gets you more geysers. Because the number of workers per time is limited, being as efficient as possible with each one is crucial.

Another tip, this time from Sun Tzu: Don't attack where the enemy is strong if you can at all help it. It's normal to want to engage him army on army, but games can be lost in a split second to superior micro or poor unit placement etc. Don't take the risk.

Scout. Send units or scan to see what the enemy is, where he is. Use watchtowers to your advantage to see incoming forces. Find out where he is, and if you cannot avoid battle, utilize positioning and readiness to maximize your advantage.

Similarly in the reverse; if you must engage him in a superior position, make sure you have the right unit composition and knowledge of any weaknesses in position to counter him. Siege tanks have the longest range in the game and are absolutely lethal. Burrow roaches and tunnel up to their positions. Drop marines directly onto the tanks, making them shoot and kill each other. Use air units. Cloaked units. Whatever works.

Send diversionary forces while a main force makes a thrust. One game, I sent my infantry against his zerglings, knowing they would probably die. My force was annihilated and my base breached. I held the zerglings off but the real point of the attack was to send a squad of reapers into his mineral line. I killed every single worker. Even though I lost my entire army, I ended up winning the game.

Attack where he is weak. Defense everywhere is defense nowhere. Pick off key structures to cripple enemy tech. Void rays, reapers, and dropped / nydus banelings are fantastic at this. Kill his workers. Avoid the strong front-door defenses; by attacking in a position of your choosing you're eliminating an enemy strength

If an enemy has turtled up in his base, placed cannons everywhere and has units lining the cliffs, simply outexpand him. Produce so many units you can literally afford to throw them against his wall of defenses until you breach, or tech to the most powerful units and roll over him. If an enemy is turtling you can bet they're trying to tech hard. Get on top of them by outproducing. As mighty as a carrier/mothership fleet is, 50 hydralisks will take it out double quick time.

Do what the enemy is weak against. If he wishes to play long term, build his economy and tech up, attack early. If he wishes to rush, know how to counter each rush so that his economy is left in shambles by attempting a risky high-investment tactic. I recently played a Terran who focused everything into quickly getting both a Thor and a dropship. (total cost, 400/300) He floated it outside his base, where I had six marines waiting for him. (total cost: 300/0) The dropship died with the Thor still inside it, and I overran him.

I find that a lot of the time, you can overcome weaknesses in your own game by exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. If your micro is terrible, have better production and economy so that individual unit control won't matter so much. If your long game is terrible, focus on bringing games to an early aggressive close. Don't lose sight of the goal though; the goal is to eventually shore up your own weaknesses so that the enemy can't exploit them. My micro sucks; I work on it. I often forget to tech up; I work on it. I don't expand as much as I should; I work on it. Knowing what you're doing wrong is key.
 

sigma83

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Everytime I've seen a BC or a Carrier or a Broodlord, the game was already over before it got to that point. I've not seen them become a deciding factor onto themselves.

Another thing: Your casters. Early on I fell into a brute force mindset; build stuff that does damage and just use that. Casters can shape battle into your favor; oh gee, I guess none of those super expensive units have any shields left after that EMP. I guess all those zerglings won't matter if I can use forcefield to funnel them into a killing choke. I guess that massive air fleet can't run from my anti-air stuff if I use fungal growth to keep them in place.

Psionic Storm is _pansy_ compared to what the other casters can do.
 

deth2munkies

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1) Walling off: Only do this against Zerg or Protoss that build 2 gateways at the very beginning. When you wall off as Terran, be mindful of BANELINGS that absolutely wreck supply depots and can lose you the game if you use 2 supply depots instead of 2 barracks or a barracks and a factory to wall off.

2) Workers: 3 in gas is always better, the ~15% you get from an extra worker vs the opportunity cost of having that worker getting minerals, scouting, or doing most anything else.

3) Xel'Naga towers: Always have a worker/zealot/zergling/marine at these at all times. You can tell when your opponent is moving out to attack you or expand.

4) Early scouting: DO NOT send your scout before you start building things, you tend to want to send a scout out after the first pylon/supply depot/spawning pool. If you send one of your first ones, you get way behind on minerals, unless you're proxying, which is more of an intermediate strat.

5) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep your money low. That is rule #1 of Starcraft. If you're getting too much gas, buy a bunch of sentries/mutalisks/etc. If you're too high on minerals, dump it in Zealots/Marines/Zerglings, or more production buildings.

6) Attack + Expand: When I first started, I could never decide when to take a second base. Often times, it's best to send your force to attack them right as you expand. Be careful not to lose your entire force, but attempt to do enough damage to put them on the defensive. If you see you're about to lose and get counter-attacked, cancel the expansion and pump more units.
 

IHateDaManSkirt

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Nov 21, 2009
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One more reason to read The Art of War. In all seriousness, I will be spending at least $600 on a new PC, just for this game!

Also, speaking of the workers, where do mules get factored in?
 

Tharwen

Ep. VI: Return of the turret
May 7, 2009
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Having never played Starcraft, I have two observations:

1. Those zerglings look awesome when they swarm people.
2. Haven't I seen those flying helicopter things in Avatar? Silly James.
 

hidden walls

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shame beta ends on Monday i have great fun with it playing random.

few tactics and tricks i used.

Terran

- 6 rax reaper rush ( only useful vs toss tbh (Requires heavy micro))
- Marine, Maurader and medivac get this going right and very little stopped you
- Ghost tech you want to tech tanks and get ravens / vikings once defending early assault build 3 nukes and move forward ( nuke harassment can be used by building a lone medivac )

Zerg

- 6 pool rush (useful vs zerg and toss only terran players will finish thier wall unless map is steeps of war)

get 200 minerals make pool make 2 workers during building process build 3 zerg send in should defeat anyone who has been overstocking economy.

- Extractor tricks,
use your drones to build a extractor in the enemy base
A) cuts off early tech
B) forces early infantry

secondly once you have 10/10 drones you can build a extractor - build ANOTHER drone to get 10/10 back and then cancel the extractor to get 11/10 useful in long run but don't do double extractor cancels it's self out.

Protoss

- Cannon rush build pylon as soon as you can in a blind spot in enemy base build cannons should he ignore it for too long you can tech warp gates and send in zellots or stalkers.

- fast tech warp prism and build a lone colossi if you do it quick enough you can wipe out a entire economy rather quickly (also if you tech warp gates shift to warp mode and send in zellots.

thats it from me good luck when game gets released all :)
 

LordWalter

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Hey fellow Escapists, I have an excellent podcast that you can watch if you want Mid-to-High level game analysis in Starcraft 2. You can find the archives here (yes it streams quite well, and he is both an insightful and entertaining commentator):

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=104154

Also, if any Escapists would like to play SC2 beta with me, feel free to add me. My E-mail is [email protected] and my identifier/name on SC2 is "TheLegend". =p *waves arms* Hey! That invitation is open to you too, Escapist staff. heh.
 

Lonan

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I won't be buying this game. After the World of Warcraft fiasco I wonder if Blizzard will find a way to make you pay for online gametime. It's just a better graphics version of Starcraft anyway, it's just for more money. It's heavily in favour of Blizzard's pockets, not you're enjoyment. Don't buy it.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

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Apr 8, 2008
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Great tips, though I suppose they don't mean much to someone like me who could never get up to speed, literally, with other players.