From poster Nicholas over on the Starcraft Forums
The Zergling Rush
Ah, the Zergling rush. Probably the most standard rush the Zerg have, not to mention the most infamous. I'll post the build order that I personally use for this rush, and it works great for me.
Drones until 10
10 - Extractor (put three Drones on when it finishes)
9 - Drone
10 - Spawning Pool
9 - Overlord
10 - Drone (use him to scout)
11, 12 - Drones
13 - Zergling Speed upgrade (the Pool should finish around now, and this upgrade is CRUCIAL to the rush)
13 - Queen
14, 15, 16 - Zerglings
16 - Overlord
After this, mass Zerglings until the speed upgrade finishes. When it does, set your Hatchery's rally point to just outside your opponent's ramp, and send 'em in. If your first push fails, don't worry. This is supposed to happen. During the first push, run past any units or buildings you see - go straight to his mineral line. Take out as many Probes or SCVs as you possibly can. Continue to Spawn Larva with your Queen, and just continue to make Zerglings. Somehow, the 12 Drones seems to be enough to provide an endless supply of Zerglings, so you can go on like this indefinitely. If your opponent is walled off and you can't get in at all, you have two options - cut your losses, and try to play the game out, or go for a Baneling Bust. See below.
The Baneling Bust
This is a build that incorporates Banelings to take down your opponent's wall, so your Zerglings can stream in and take out his harvesters.
9 - Overlord
14 - Pool
13 - Extractor
15 - Overlord
15 - Queen
17 - Zerglings
At 17, just start pumping out the Zerglings. You'll need quite a few, because a lot of them will have to morph into Banelings. With your first 100 gas, buy the Zergling speed upgrade, and with the 50 after that, throw down your Baneling Nest. After that, stockpile gas so you can morph a lot of Banelings. Once you've got about 25 Zerglings, move them to your opponent's ramp. If he walled off with a Barracks and a Factory, you'll need to morph about 10 Banelings. If walled off with a Barracks and two Supply Depots, you only need 6. Send them right at a building, and make sure the Zerglings rush in on their heels. Proceed to his mineral line first.
The Six Pool
This build is kind of cheesy, but it's a rush nonetheless. It's really simple.
6 - Harvest until you can afford a Spawning Pool, then throw it down
5, 6, 7 - Zerglings
Move your first six Zerglings to his base and go straight for his SCVs or Probes. The idea is to get your units to his base before his unit producing buildings are even finished. If you can manage to wipe out his SCVs or Probes before he builds a unit producing structure, you win. If you can't, you'll probably lose.
Note - A lot of players tend to get disheartened if they don't win with a rush. If you take out his entire mineral line, or most of it, keep playing, because you're at a significant advantage. If he totally shuts you down, you're at a disadvantage, so you have to expand and get back to par as quickly as you can.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Blocking the Photon Cannon Rush
Yesterday I provided a video of how to correctly do a cannon rush. It is only fair that today I provide strategies for how to counter a cannon rush for each of the races. So here are videos from ForceSC2Strategy again with all the counters you need.
Countering as Terran
Countering as Zerg
Countering as Protoss
Countering as Terran
Countering as Zerg
Countering as Protoss
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Protoss Cannon Rush
One of the most annoying cheese tactics to fall to is for sure the Photon Cannon Rush. It entails getting a pylon, and forge down asap and then scouting a probe to your opponents base only to then turn around and start constructing pylons and photons in their base effectively boxing them in and hopefully forcing them into quitting.
This video strat comes from ForceSC2strategy over on YouTube
This video strat comes from ForceSC2strategy over on YouTube
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Zero Hour Hard Achievement
Zero Hour the 3rd level of the campaign is in general a pretty easy mission. You hold up in your base, repair your defenses and finish it off with no problem. At least that is so for the first two achievements on any, and normal difficulties. When it comes to the hard achievement The Best Defense that takes you out of your comfort zone and into the enemy base to destroy their Hatcheries.
It took me a lot of effort to break through the Zerg's tough defenses with a force made of strictly Marines, and Medics. Eventually I gave up on figuring out the assault on my own and resorted to looking up the answer and was quite surprised to find how simple it was.
The video may be a bit hard to understand with his accent but I will highlight the key points to succeeding here.
A couple notes though. When I did this I went back and only one was being made. Destroyed it, backed off, again came back and the other one was being made. Also I have come up with a much more easily managed way of defending your base. If you are going strictly for the hard achievement this will work best but cause you to lose some buildings and not get the normal achievement.
This defensive setup will make the best use of your bases high-ground, and allow for the least number of SCVs needed to repair the bunkers. When the swarms come they will always be hit by at least 4 of the bunkers and depending on the unit and where they attacks from can sometimes be hit by all 6. This along with a few extra towers for the flying on each side pretty much guarantee a win while only using 4 SCVs to repaid.
Hopefully that will help you grab that last achievement. If you have any other comments or questions feel free to ask.
It took me a lot of effort to break through the Zerg's tough defenses with a force made of strictly Marines, and Medics. Eventually I gave up on figuring out the assault on my own and resorted to looking up the answer and was quite surprised to find how simple it was.
The video may be a bit hard to understand with his accent but I will highlight the key points to succeeding here.
- Defense - Make sure your base is always being repaired
- Supply - Constantly make supply depots, you will want around 125-175 supply
- Make 2 more Barrack's 3 with reactors, 1 with tech. (I went 2:2 but wasn't as successful)
- Attack the northern base - The base right above the third group of survivors is the least defended
- Recuse survivors - They are free units! Rescue the first set, and the third set of survivors. Most likely going after the second set will lose you more units than you will gain.
- Keep building units! - Even when you are out assaulting the Hatcheries keep making more guys! it is always nice to have a big group waiting when you check back at your base.
A couple notes though. When I did this I went back and only one was being made. Destroyed it, backed off, again came back and the other one was being made. Also I have come up with a much more easily managed way of defending your base. If you are going strictly for the hard achievement this will work best but cause you to lose some buildings and not get the normal achievement.
This defensive setup will make the best use of your bases high-ground, and allow for the least number of SCVs needed to repair the bunkers. When the swarms come they will always be hit by at least 4 of the bunkers and depending on the unit and where they attacks from can sometimes be hit by all 6. This along with a few extra towers for the flying on each side pretty much guarantee a win while only using 4 SCVs to repaid.
Hopefully that will help you grab that last achievement. If you have any other comments or questions feel free to ask.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Protoss Build Orders - The Four Gate
Poster Sirix on the official Starcraft II forums has put together a guide to help players master different build orders for the early to mid-game Protoss players. There are many different ways the game can be taken so I will start with my favorite and one of the most versatile builds he has to offer The Four Gate.
Things to note in these Sirix made posts CB means Chrono Boost the time speeding ability at your Nexus, and build steps with a * highlight possible different steps depending what race you are playing against.
Also for those who are unfamiliar with how build orders are written the numbers 12, 13, 14/15 and such represent the amount of supplies used you should have when going to complete the specified action.
Opening #1 - The Four Gate
The Four Gate is the bread and butter of the Protoss starter package, every Protoss should know and master this as it can be used in almost all scenarios and provides you with an easy tech path to whatever you need to counter your opponent. It is strong against nearly every opening expect perhaps 6 pool (depending on when you get your Zealot), and neutral against a mass Marine/Marauder build (you will stalemate and take it into later game).
Build Order:
Post 20 estimates (these are rough as you are leaving the rigid early phase):
The push: After your second warp in you should be at 42-45 supply (10-12 army units), take a probe with your army and start moving across the map. Create a proxy pylon near their base, if you are certain begin pushing before the pylon completes, if not, wait for wave 4 of units (wave 3 should have been created back at your base and should be moving to reinforce your army, do NOT WAIT to use your warpgate cooldowns).
Things to note in these Sirix made posts CB means Chrono Boost the time speeding ability at your Nexus, and build steps with a * highlight possible different steps depending what race you are playing against.
Also for those who are unfamiliar with how build orders are written the numbers 12, 13, 14/15 and such represent the amount of supplies used you should have when going to complete the specified action.
Opening #1 - The Four Gate
The Four Gate is the bread and butter of the Protoss starter package, every Protoss should know and master this as it can be used in almost all scenarios and provides you with an easy tech path to whatever you need to counter your opponent. It is strong against nearly every opening expect perhaps 6 pool (depending on when you get your Zealot), and neutral against a mass Marine/Marauder build (you will stalemate and take it into later game).
Build Order:
- 9 - Pylon
- 10 - 2 probes (CB)
- 12 - Gateway (at 150 minerals, may be before 12)
- 12 - 2 probes (CB)
- 13 - 1st Assimilator (3 probes on it immediately)
- 16 - 2nd Pylon
- * 16 - Zealot if playing Zerg, save for the Stalker if not
- 18 - Cybernetics Core (Spend further CB's on Warpgate, research as soon as Core finishes)
- 18/19 - 2nd Assimilator (I use 2 probes here for now, your call on unit composition)
Post 20 estimates (these are rough as you are leaving the rigid early phase):
- * 19/20 - Stalker (T or P) / Zealot (Zerg)
- 22 - 2nd Gateway
- 23 - 3rd & 4th Gateway
- 24/25 - 3rd Pylon
- 26 - Warpgate finishes, transform your Gateways and build a 4th and 5th Pylon, you will now be using up exactly 1 Pylons worth of supply each warp in (4 units x 2 supply = 8 supply) so it is important to be planning ahead with your Pylons.
- 26+ - Warp in your first set of 4 units (sentry, zealot, 2x stalkers is a good start). Mix your composition up, don't go sentry heavy, 2 is a good number.
The push: After your second warp in you should be at 42-45 supply (10-12 army units), take a probe with your army and start moving across the map. Create a proxy pylon near their base, if you are certain begin pushing before the pylon completes, if not, wait for wave 4 of units (wave 3 should have been created back at your base and should be moving to reinforce your army, do NOT WAIT to use your warpgate cooldowns).
Countering Void Rays - A Strategic Post
Kaarul over on the official Starcraft II forums has a great post about proper techniques for countering the overused Protoss strategy of mass void rays. If you have ever played against Protoss then chances are you have seen this happen and just how powerful it can be but with this guide you can hopefully take them down in most 1v1 situations, and even help strengthen yourself in larger team games as well.
Over the last couple days I have seen a significant amount of posts on these boards about Void Rays being OP, so I am going to be posting a definitive way to defeat Void Rays consistently and easily.
To start off I'd like to say that I myself am a Protoss player in Diamond League and I often find Void Rays too easily counter-able in 1v1 play that I generally do not use them. Now there are times they are useful, but not en mass as you often see in lower level leagues. That said I'm going to start off by describing the most common mistakes against Protoss players that lead to a loss to Void Rays.
Biggest Mistakes Against Protoss
1 - Scouting
Against a Protoss player, unless you plan on rushing them early and keeping pressure, scouting them is very important because there are a lot of different starting builds Protoss can go (4 Gate, Early Robo, 3 Gate Robo, Quick Void Rays, Cannons, etc). Spotting a speed Void Ray tech is the easiest way to end the game quickly in your favor.
2 - Allowing Mass Time
Once you know that a Protoss is going Void Rays, you need to push on him quickly and/or force a tech change. Quickly attacking with a decent size army will either allow you a fight to kill off the early Void Rays or force the Protoss to build more Gates to defend himself. Generally Void Ray Protoss players will cannon their ramp, so be ready to take them out quickly
3 - Allowing Charge
In a fight against Void Rays you need to utilize a 'Hit and Run' strategy. If you allow void rays to charge up they will kill your army, especially if there is a large group of them. Each race has a way to counter prolonged fights with Void Rays, utilize them and take Void Rays out one-by-one.
How to Defeat Void Rays as Each Race
Terran
Preemptive Action:
Scout Scout Scout! Knowing they are coming is the most important thing against them. If the Protoss does not have a decent sized ground army and little or no cannons you should push him quickly and end the game. A decent sized bio-ball should be sufficient as they forgo and early army for quick tech. Make sure to have at least 5-6 Marines your army and not just Marauders as a Void Ray can come out very quickly and only 1 can devastate an extremely Marauder heavy bio-ball. The amount of Marauders you get should depend on how many cannons he has in his base. The more cannons, the more Marauders.
Countering:
The counter unit to Void Rays are either Marines, generally the easier, quicker and cheaper unit to use, or Vikings. Mass Marines can take out a large Void Ray army much quicker than any other unit composition the Terrans have. They are also the easiest army to mass up under normal circumstances generally as most Terran players will get 2-3 Barracks early. Vikings have a larger range than Void Rays and do significant damage. If you decide to go Vikings, make sure to kite them and abuse that significant range. Under both circumstances, but more prevalent to the Mass Marines, make sure to not engage the Void Rays if they are already charged unless absolutely necessary. Obviously they will rip through an army of Marines quickly if they are already all charged. Be smart and try your best to keep track of the Void Rays. Stim Packs allow Marines the ability to move in and out of combat with Void Rays, definitely something worth investing in anyways.
Zerg
Preemptive Action:
Again, Scout Scout Scout! A Baneling Bust opener can have devastating effects on a Protoss player with little ground. You can get Banelings quickly and coupled with Speedlings can break through the wall-off then proceed to stop production of any Void Rays/Stargates. Make sure to view where the Stargate is. If there is only one pylon supporting it, know that the Pylon will drop before the Stargate. Stopping the Void Ray from being build is the most important thing to do if you cannot end the game. Another opener you can use is quick tech Hydralisk Den or Spire. Either one will suffice in this game, but the Spire will allow for more of a late game build if you do not think you will be able to end quickly. Build Corruptors if you make a Spire coupled with either static base defense to stop whatever ground army he has or a couple Mutalisks.
Countering:
In the event that you cannot stop mass Void Rays, you need to pump out whatever counter units you teched to quickly. Corruptors are the AA unit for Zerg and do well against Void Rays, but you need a lot of them and you need to, just as stated above, not let the fight continue too long. Make sure to use Corruption on as many void rays as possible. Single Target them down and try your best to micro your Corruptors to not allow a full charge. Hydras are the 'Mass Marine' option for Zerg. If you are going to engage the Void Rays away from your base, make sure you are spreading creep as much as possible. Hydras are slow off creep and will not be able to get out of combat with Void Rays unless you get Burrow, which is another good option to use in a fight with them but this requires much more micro in a team fight then the average player has.
Protoss
Preemptive Action:
Scout Scout Scout, I'm not sure how much I can stress this. Generally you don't have to do much except out-produce him. Once you know it is coming, either make Void Rays yourself, or get 4 Warp Gates and push.
Countering:
As Protoss, you don't have a strong counter to Void Rays as the other races do. The best option you have is Blink Stalkers then Phoenix, but I lean heavily towards Blink Stalkers. The 'Hit and Run' strategy is especially effective with both units. Stalkers run in and attack then either blink to chase or blink to run out. Phoenix are some of the quickest units in the game, so will be very effective at quick in-and-out attacks. Focus 1-2 Void Rays before backing out.
If you have any questions please post or hit me up in-game, Kaarul #351
Over the last couple days I have seen a significant amount of posts on these boards about Void Rays being OP, so I am going to be posting a definitive way to defeat Void Rays consistently and easily.Disclaimer
This thread will describe how to defeat Void Rays in 1v1 play and does not provide 100% viable strategies in team-based play.
To start off I'd like to say that I myself am a Protoss player in Diamond League and I often find Void Rays too easily counter-able in 1v1 play that I generally do not use them. Now there are times they are useful, but not en mass as you often see in lower level leagues. That said I'm going to start off by describing the most common mistakes against Protoss players that lead to a loss to Void Rays.
Biggest Mistakes Against Protoss
1 - Scouting
Against a Protoss player, unless you plan on rushing them early and keeping pressure, scouting them is very important because there are a lot of different starting builds Protoss can go (4 Gate, Early Robo, 3 Gate Robo, Quick Void Rays, Cannons, etc). Spotting a speed Void Ray tech is the easiest way to end the game quickly in your favor.
2 - Allowing Mass Time
Once you know that a Protoss is going Void Rays, you need to push on him quickly and/or force a tech change. Quickly attacking with a decent size army will either allow you a fight to kill off the early Void Rays or force the Protoss to build more Gates to defend himself. Generally Void Ray Protoss players will cannon their ramp, so be ready to take them out quickly
3 - Allowing Charge
In a fight against Void Rays you need to utilize a 'Hit and Run' strategy. If you allow void rays to charge up they will kill your army, especially if there is a large group of them. Each race has a way to counter prolonged fights with Void Rays, utilize them and take Void Rays out one-by-one.
How to Defeat Void Rays as Each Race
Terran
Preemptive Action:
Scout Scout Scout! Knowing they are coming is the most important thing against them. If the Protoss does not have a decent sized ground army and little or no cannons you should push him quickly and end the game. A decent sized bio-ball should be sufficient as they forgo and early army for quick tech. Make sure to have at least 5-6 Marines your army and not just Marauders as a Void Ray can come out very quickly and only 1 can devastate an extremely Marauder heavy bio-ball. The amount of Marauders you get should depend on how many cannons he has in his base. The more cannons, the more Marauders.
Countering:
The counter unit to Void Rays are either Marines, generally the easier, quicker and cheaper unit to use, or Vikings. Mass Marines can take out a large Void Ray army much quicker than any other unit composition the Terrans have. They are also the easiest army to mass up under normal circumstances generally as most Terran players will get 2-3 Barracks early. Vikings have a larger range than Void Rays and do significant damage. If you decide to go Vikings, make sure to kite them and abuse that significant range. Under both circumstances, but more prevalent to the Mass Marines, make sure to not engage the Void Rays if they are already charged unless absolutely necessary. Obviously they will rip through an army of Marines quickly if they are already all charged. Be smart and try your best to keep track of the Void Rays. Stim Packs allow Marines the ability to move in and out of combat with Void Rays, definitely something worth investing in anyways.
Another disclaimer, I myself do not play Zerg often at all and would probably end up in Gold as a Zerg. I am only stating what I have seen work in videos and my own games.
Zerg
Preemptive Action:
Again, Scout Scout Scout! A Baneling Bust opener can have devastating effects on a Protoss player with little ground. You can get Banelings quickly and coupled with Speedlings can break through the wall-off then proceed to stop production of any Void Rays/Stargates. Make sure to view where the Stargate is. If there is only one pylon supporting it, know that the Pylon will drop before the Stargate. Stopping the Void Ray from being build is the most important thing to do if you cannot end the game. Another opener you can use is quick tech Hydralisk Den or Spire. Either one will suffice in this game, but the Spire will allow for more of a late game build if you do not think you will be able to end quickly. Build Corruptors if you make a Spire coupled with either static base defense to stop whatever ground army he has or a couple Mutalisks.
Countering:
In the event that you cannot stop mass Void Rays, you need to pump out whatever counter units you teched to quickly. Corruptors are the AA unit for Zerg and do well against Void Rays, but you need a lot of them and you need to, just as stated above, not let the fight continue too long. Make sure to use Corruption on as many void rays as possible. Single Target them down and try your best to micro your Corruptors to not allow a full charge. Hydras are the 'Mass Marine' option for Zerg. If you are going to engage the Void Rays away from your base, make sure you are spreading creep as much as possible. Hydras are slow off creep and will not be able to get out of combat with Void Rays unless you get Burrow, which is another good option to use in a fight with them but this requires much more micro in a team fight then the average player has.
Protoss
Preemptive Action:
Scout Scout Scout, I'm not sure how much I can stress this. Generally you don't have to do much except out-produce him. Once you know it is coming, either make Void Rays yourself, or get 4 Warp Gates and push.
Countering:
As Protoss, you don't have a strong counter to Void Rays as the other races do. The best option you have is Blink Stalkers then Phoenix, but I lean heavily towards Blink Stalkers. The 'Hit and Run' strategy is especially effective with both units. Stalkers run in and attack then either blink to chase or blink to run out. Phoenix are some of the quickest units in the game, so will be very effective at quick in-and-out attacks. Focus 1-2 Void Rays before backing out.
If you have any questions please post or hit me up in-game, Kaarul #351
The Level 80 Tauren Space Marine
Blizzard has always been one for hiding little references to other games and various avenues of pop culture in their games. With an ode to their previous games in the Warcraft series (World of Warcraft and warcraft III) Blizzard dropped this little gem of an easter egg into the mix of Starcraft II.
The LVL80TSM! (Level 80 Tauren Space Marine!) If you can manage to make your way to the top left corner of the campaign level Zero Hour you will find a reluctant bovine space marine waiting. Unfortunately he is easily spooked and as you approach he will make his retreat to his outhouse rocket and escape the level! I had read of this but never actually bothered to go looking for him until a few days later when I noticed his rocket powered outhouse was flying around below yet another level I was playing (Maw of the Void.) To better show off his presence in the game here is a YouTube video I found compiling the easter egg as it appears throughout the campaign.
The LVL80TSM! (Level 80 Tauren Space Marine!) If you can manage to make your way to the top left corner of the campaign level Zero Hour you will find a reluctant bovine space marine waiting. Unfortunately he is easily spooked and as you approach he will make his retreat to his outhouse rocket and escape the level! I had read of this but never actually bothered to go looking for him until a few days later when I noticed his rocket powered outhouse was flying around below yet another level I was playing (Maw of the Void.) To better show off his presence in the game here is a YouTube video I found compiling the easter egg as it appears throughout the campaign.Beginners Guide to Micro & Macro
Babyface from the official Starcraft II forums brings us a great post that defines micro, and macro while explaining the basics of both and giving plenty of tips to help even the newest of players improve their game. I know this one is a pretty long read but the information is good so it will be worth your time to check it out. Especially if you are still relatively new to the Starcraft multi-player gameplay
Hi! Now that we have all gotten our feet wet with the starcraft 2, I thought I would write a short guide to help beginners develop micro and macro skills for multiplayer. Please note this is not the end-all stop for micro and macro knowledge, it is here to help beginners get started, and to hopefully teach a few tricks to help micro and macro skill development. This guide was primarily written for Terrans, but may be adopted for other races with a few changes. So with that lets get started:
First a quick description for those who do not know.
* Micro: "Micro management", or effective use of your current army. Tactics include focus firing, using your available hard counters on their most effective units in a specific fight, effective ability use, speed, timing, and accuracy, and so on. An effective micro use leads to a higher kill-to-death ratio on individual units in your army, extending each unit's life, use and effectiveness.
* Macro: In a nut shell, building/upgrading your base(s), expanding, maximizing and effectively using your economy. Easy at first, but becomes more difficult later into the match while you are doing micro. An effective macro use increases the rate in which you are able to produce and replace units, upgrade units and continue in the tech tree.
Skilled use of both functions are required to be effective in multiplayer matches.
So lets get started!
The Basics:
----------------------
Hotkeys: You must absolutely positively learn hot-keys for your race, all of the ones you will commonly use during a match. It is critical for both effective micro and macro. Beginners, you will increase your speed dramatically if you follow this step. Don't skip it. Honestly, the easiest way to learn these are to do custom maps against 1 AI, on medium, as much as needed till you know them to the point you can do them without thinking about it. Learning your hotkeys is critical for a good macro - so you can manage your base without looking at it. So you can think of "what" you are going to accomplish in terms of your overall strategy, and less of "how" you are doing it. Some hotkeys that are essential are unit abilities(R - Snipe), building(C - Command center) , unit training(M - Marine) Upgrades(Z - Tech lab) ect.
Control Groups: Everyone knows and loves control groups, but there are more uses to them than just your main army. For an effective macro, assign building(s) to control groups in a logical manner. This is discussed more below. Again, effective control group management is critical for good micro and macro.
----------------------
Macro:
Ok, to begin with, staying on top of your macro during a fire-fight with the enemy, can easily make or break your match. Lets use an example:
Its 5 minutes into the game and you have your first strike force in good accord. You got a marine/marauder ball rolling. You head out of your base to assault their base. Mid field, you meet his army, a couple of zealots and stalkers. You are great at micro, but tend to forget about your macro at times. You focus fire his army down and lose a few units, but continue on to his base. You begin to harass him, but he already has a smaller new force defending his base, plus a couple of void rays which wipe out your marauders. You spend about a minute harassing. After you back off or lose your units, you notice that you have 1000 unspent resources and 700 gas. You have next to no army to speak of, while your opponent's army is both teched to counter and has units. He could easily launch a counter attack and overwhelm you and you do not have the tech to defend. Game over man, game over.
Preventing situations like this is all about having effective, efficient, and fast control over your base, and having presence of mind. All of this comes with practice.
(Tip 1) To begin, here are some tips on control groups:
Standardize them. Standardize your control groups, so you can quickly switch between units in groups and use them effectively. This greatly helps with both micro and macro. It is not always possible to always have them standardized (being flexible to situations) but it goes along way to help your speed. Here is my "standard" build:
1: Primary Marine/Marauder/Medivac Attack force
2: Siege Tanks
3: Ghosts
4: Vikings/Banshees
5: Designated builder(s)
6: Barracks’
7: Factories
8: Starports
9: Ghost academies
10: Command centers
TIP: While you have multiple unit selections (Say, Barracks and Tech Labs) you can switch between the different unit selections with TAB. This is helpful to use different abilities/upgrades while still having them all selected.
(Tip 2) The general idea is to have a strong focus on micro, while effectively managing macro and economy with minimal direct attention. That is to say, 80%-95% of the time, your eyeballs are on your army, moving forward with map control and the rest of the time managing your bases. This is how it is done:
* Control groups: Control groups allow you to manage your base without looking at it. This is very effective while doing micro. You can be back-stabbing a colossus in the face with your group of mauraders, and telling your base to build more marines and set the rally point on your army to help kill the additional void rays your opponent is making. In other words, it is possible to keep the focus on your micro and pwning your enemy, while still making effective use of your economy to create replacement units and tech.
* Control group jumping: Control groups on buildings also allow you to -quickly- look at your base, and back to your army. Example: Double press 6 to see available barracks, then double-press 1 to get back to army. Use this often to drop MULES from your command center!
* Hotkeys: Learn them so you can -quickly- build buildings, units, ect. in your base with minimal time spent looking at your base.
* Designated builder(s): Assign 2 or 3 SCVs currently mining to a group. do NOT use this group off the bat, but rather use it later into the match when you are microing. The idea is to be able to -quickly- build buildings and continue teching with minimal effort, focus, and time.
Use example:
You are scouting for expansions with your main force. While you are doing this, you need to tech up to siege tanks, and build a few supply depots. Double Hit 5(Focus on Designated Builders), V(advance building) f(factory) place. b(build), s(supply depot), place. Shift-right click minerals. Double Hit 1(focus back on army). You just spent 1-2 seconds, are building a factory, and supply depot(s), and told your SCVs when they finish them to immediately return to their mining duties, and you are free to continue macro'ing your army. It is also a good idea to put repair on automatic on these guys to be able to quickly get a group of SCVs to repair a structure (bunker, supply depot, ect)
* Economy and unit replacement management: This one requires presence of mind, and alot of practice. This is effectively building units throughout the match and effectively using your economy so it doesn’t balloon into uselessness. You have to keep in mind to keep looking at your supply, your resources, and to keep building units, even when you are under attack or you are attacking. Effectively doing this can make or break you. Use control groups on buildings and hotkeys for units to greatly increase speed and control of units and buildings.
* Rally points: You can set rally points on pretty much anything. One effective use includes reinforcing your army mid-stream. Use: select your barracks(s), build a que of some marines and marauders. Look at your army, and right click the rally point on a unit (I usually pick units that are tough and generally will have a better chance to survive, so the rally point wont break). Any unit that now spawns will automatically be set to follow that unit out of the barracks.
----------------------
Micro:
(Tip 1) Scout. Scout. Scout scout scout scout scout. And then scout some more. This is absolutely vital to your success in multiplayer. Effective scouting can tell you how your opponent's economy is doing, how big their army is, what his army composition is, if they have expansions, ect. That one 50 mineral SCV you used in the beginning of the game could save you 600 minerals in marines if your opponent is going early roaches... The gamble is ALWAYS worth it. Scout. Do it early, and do it often. Do it through out the match. Your opponent is human, they think just like you do. They will be doing the same thing, adjusting -their- strategy to hit your weakness. I typically scout my first SCV after building a supply depot (10 supply). Much earlier if it is zerg.
* TIP:An example would be if you were facing protoss, and an early scout picked up a cybernetics core. There is a chance he is going stalkers. You can start building more marauders to counter his force to compensate for this. While you are doing this, scout again to confirm your initial hypothesis. Stay flexible and keep your intelligence on the fly.
* TIP: While scouting, you must develop the knack of gaining as much knowledge from as little intelligence as possible. This is developed through experience and practice. Suggest you watch replays of pros. Watch what they do -after- they scout. Do they change their build order? Do they change what units they are building? Are they teching less? or more? ect.
(Tip 2) LEARN COUNTERS!! Learn what units counter what effectively. Know them second nature, so you can make quick and informed decisions on your economy and army composition. Knowing hard counters and using them effectively will GREATLY increase your kill-to-death ratio.
(Tip 3) Practice to be able to mentally estimate unit strength. Can 3 marines effectively kill 2 reapers with micro? without? Can a un-sieged tank kill 2 hydras? Learn to estimate your unit's strength to be able to quickly make informed combat decisions on the fly.
(Tip 4) manage your units with an overall goal in mind. Don't just let them sit around in your base, use them. Put pressure on your opponent. Use them to defend an expansion while it develops. Scout for enemy expansions. Enforce map control and pressure. Harass your opponent. ect.
(Tip 5) Focus fire. Use this to quickly eliminate units in your enemies army. Take for example, 5 marines vs 5 marines. One group uses focus fire, the other doesn’t. The one using focus fire will kill all 5 of the other marines and will likely end up with at least 2-3 remaining marines.
(Tip 6) Hotkeys for abilities. USE THEM. Stemmed marines and marauders are devastating, especially if micro'd. Effective use of ghost Snipe and EMP can cripple large armies, giving you a decisive advantage in spite of size.
(Tip 7) Shift commands. You can give Shift Commands to your units to make a "queue" of commands to perform. Use this with scouting to have your SCV check for expansions in multiple spots!
----------------------
So there you have it! If you have any other tips or critisims, feel free to add.
The original posting of this guide can be found at http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/374767546
Hi! Now that we have all gotten our feet wet with the starcraft 2, I thought I would write a short guide to help beginners develop micro and macro skills for multiplayer. Please note this is not the end-all stop for micro and macro knowledge, it is here to help beginners get started, and to hopefully teach a few tricks to help micro and macro skill development. This guide was primarily written for Terrans, but may be adopted for other races with a few changes. So with that lets get started:
First a quick description for those who do not know.
* Micro: "Micro management", or effective use of your current army. Tactics include focus firing, using your available hard counters on their most effective units in a specific fight, effective ability use, speed, timing, and accuracy, and so on. An effective micro use leads to a higher kill-to-death ratio on individual units in your army, extending each unit's life, use and effectiveness.
* Macro: In a nut shell, building/upgrading your base(s), expanding, maximizing and effectively using your economy. Easy at first, but becomes more difficult later into the match while you are doing micro. An effective macro use increases the rate in which you are able to produce and replace units, upgrade units and continue in the tech tree.
Skilled use of both functions are required to be effective in multiplayer matches.
So lets get started!
The Basics:
----------------------
Hotkeys: You must absolutely positively learn hot-keys for your race, all of the ones you will commonly use during a match. It is critical for both effective micro and macro. Beginners, you will increase your speed dramatically if you follow this step. Don't skip it. Honestly, the easiest way to learn these are to do custom maps against 1 AI, on medium, as much as needed till you know them to the point you can do them without thinking about it. Learning your hotkeys is critical for a good macro - so you can manage your base without looking at it. So you can think of "what" you are going to accomplish in terms of your overall strategy, and less of "how" you are doing it. Some hotkeys that are essential are unit abilities(R - Snipe), building(C - Command center) , unit training(M - Marine) Upgrades(Z - Tech lab) ect.
Control Groups: Everyone knows and loves control groups, but there are more uses to them than just your main army. For an effective macro, assign building(s) to control groups in a logical manner. This is discussed more below. Again, effective control group management is critical for good micro and macro.
----------------------
Macro:
Ok, to begin with, staying on top of your macro during a fire-fight with the enemy, can easily make or break your match. Lets use an example:
Its 5 minutes into the game and you have your first strike force in good accord. You got a marine/marauder ball rolling. You head out of your base to assault their base. Mid field, you meet his army, a couple of zealots and stalkers. You are great at micro, but tend to forget about your macro at times. You focus fire his army down and lose a few units, but continue on to his base. You begin to harass him, but he already has a smaller new force defending his base, plus a couple of void rays which wipe out your marauders. You spend about a minute harassing. After you back off or lose your units, you notice that you have 1000 unspent resources and 700 gas. You have next to no army to speak of, while your opponent's army is both teched to counter and has units. He could easily launch a counter attack and overwhelm you and you do not have the tech to defend. Game over man, game over.
Preventing situations like this is all about having effective, efficient, and fast control over your base, and having presence of mind. All of this comes with practice.
(Tip 1) To begin, here are some tips on control groups:
Standardize them. Standardize your control groups, so you can quickly switch between units in groups and use them effectively. This greatly helps with both micro and macro. It is not always possible to always have them standardized (being flexible to situations) but it goes along way to help your speed. Here is my "standard" build:
1: Primary Marine/Marauder/Medivac Attack force
2: Siege Tanks
3: Ghosts
4: Vikings/Banshees
5: Designated builder(s)
6: Barracks’
7: Factories
8: Starports
9: Ghost academies
10: Command centers
TIP: While you have multiple unit selections (Say, Barracks and Tech Labs) you can switch between the different unit selections with TAB. This is helpful to use different abilities/upgrades while still having them all selected.
(Tip 2) The general idea is to have a strong focus on micro, while effectively managing macro and economy with minimal direct attention. That is to say, 80%-95% of the time, your eyeballs are on your army, moving forward with map control and the rest of the time managing your bases. This is how it is done:
* Control groups: Control groups allow you to manage your base without looking at it. This is very effective while doing micro. You can be back-stabbing a colossus in the face with your group of mauraders, and telling your base to build more marines and set the rally point on your army to help kill the additional void rays your opponent is making. In other words, it is possible to keep the focus on your micro and pwning your enemy, while still making effective use of your economy to create replacement units and tech.
* Control group jumping: Control groups on buildings also allow you to -quickly- look at your base, and back to your army. Example: Double press 6 to see available barracks, then double-press 1 to get back to army. Use this often to drop MULES from your command center!
* Hotkeys: Learn them so you can -quickly- build buildings, units, ect. in your base with minimal time spent looking at your base.
* Designated builder(s): Assign 2 or 3 SCVs currently mining to a group. do NOT use this group off the bat, but rather use it later into the match when you are microing. The idea is to be able to -quickly- build buildings and continue teching with minimal effort, focus, and time.
Use example:
You are scouting for expansions with your main force. While you are doing this, you need to tech up to siege tanks, and build a few supply depots. Double Hit 5(Focus on Designated Builders), V(advance building) f(factory) place. b(build), s(supply depot), place. Shift-right click minerals. Double Hit 1(focus back on army). You just spent 1-2 seconds, are building a factory, and supply depot(s), and told your SCVs when they finish them to immediately return to their mining duties, and you are free to continue macro'ing your army. It is also a good idea to put repair on automatic on these guys to be able to quickly get a group of SCVs to repair a structure (bunker, supply depot, ect)
* Economy and unit replacement management: This one requires presence of mind, and alot of practice. This is effectively building units throughout the match and effectively using your economy so it doesn’t balloon into uselessness. You have to keep in mind to keep looking at your supply, your resources, and to keep building units, even when you are under attack or you are attacking. Effectively doing this can make or break you. Use control groups on buildings and hotkeys for units to greatly increase speed and control of units and buildings.
* Rally points: You can set rally points on pretty much anything. One effective use includes reinforcing your army mid-stream. Use: select your barracks(s), build a que of some marines and marauders. Look at your army, and right click the rally point on a unit (I usually pick units that are tough and generally will have a better chance to survive, so the rally point wont break). Any unit that now spawns will automatically be set to follow that unit out of the barracks.
----------------------
Micro:
(Tip 1) Scout. Scout. Scout scout scout scout scout. And then scout some more. This is absolutely vital to your success in multiplayer. Effective scouting can tell you how your opponent's economy is doing, how big their army is, what his army composition is, if they have expansions, ect. That one 50 mineral SCV you used in the beginning of the game could save you 600 minerals in marines if your opponent is going early roaches... The gamble is ALWAYS worth it. Scout. Do it early, and do it often. Do it through out the match. Your opponent is human, they think just like you do. They will be doing the same thing, adjusting -their- strategy to hit your weakness. I typically scout my first SCV after building a supply depot (10 supply). Much earlier if it is zerg.
* TIP:An example would be if you were facing protoss, and an early scout picked up a cybernetics core. There is a chance he is going stalkers. You can start building more marauders to counter his force to compensate for this. While you are doing this, scout again to confirm your initial hypothesis. Stay flexible and keep your intelligence on the fly.
* TIP: While scouting, you must develop the knack of gaining as much knowledge from as little intelligence as possible. This is developed through experience and practice. Suggest you watch replays of pros. Watch what they do -after- they scout. Do they change their build order? Do they change what units they are building? Are they teching less? or more? ect.
(Tip 2) LEARN COUNTERS!! Learn what units counter what effectively. Know them second nature, so you can make quick and informed decisions on your economy and army composition. Knowing hard counters and using them effectively will GREATLY increase your kill-to-death ratio.
(Tip 3) Practice to be able to mentally estimate unit strength. Can 3 marines effectively kill 2 reapers with micro? without? Can a un-sieged tank kill 2 hydras? Learn to estimate your unit's strength to be able to quickly make informed combat decisions on the fly.
(Tip 4) manage your units with an overall goal in mind. Don't just let them sit around in your base, use them. Put pressure on your opponent. Use them to defend an expansion while it develops. Scout for enemy expansions. Enforce map control and pressure. Harass your opponent. ect.
(Tip 5) Focus fire. Use this to quickly eliminate units in your enemies army. Take for example, 5 marines vs 5 marines. One group uses focus fire, the other doesn’t. The one using focus fire will kill all 5 of the other marines and will likely end up with at least 2-3 remaining marines.
(Tip 6) Hotkeys for abilities. USE THEM. Stemmed marines and marauders are devastating, especially if micro'd. Effective use of ghost Snipe and EMP can cripple large armies, giving you a decisive advantage in spite of size.
(Tip 7) Shift commands. You can give Shift Commands to your units to make a "queue" of commands to perform. Use this with scouting to have your SCV check for expansions in multiple spots!
----------------------
So there you have it! If you have any other tips or critisims, feel free to add.
The original posting of this guide can be found at http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/374767546
Hot Keys & Control Groups
Orb a poster over on the official Starcraft II forums offers up some YouTube help with video guides to mastering hot keys and control groups. If You're a player who doesn't use them, or isn't very good with them check it out because there is some good information here that if practiced will help your game substantially.
Hot Keys
Control Groups
You can also check out more of his beginners guides on his YouTube channel TheThinkingGamer
Control Groups
You can also check out more of his beginners guides on his YouTube channel TheThinkingGamer
Tips & Tricks
I am a terrible Starcraft 2 player and because of this I have spent a lot of time reading strategies, tips, guides, watching videos and whatever to help improve my knowledge, tactics, macro, micro, and overall game play. So I have decided to compile information as I find it here in a blog that hopefully other players in need may stumble across googling trying to find help with similar problems.
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