Starcraft 2: Multiplayer

lord_raken

lord_raken

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I finished the campaign and have moved on to multiplayer. Since then I have had my ass kicked around quite a bit. Ever person I play against seems to be able to build up an army faster than I can. obviously I'm doing something wrong.

So I started this thread so people could share and discuss SC2 strategy. Here we can talk about specific games, general strategy and tactics and in the process maybe we'll all become better players.

*******
I mostly play 2v2 (will start 1v1 tomorrow)

I like to play the Protoss. I'm aware of their early game weakness. I therefore spend a good bit of my resources in fortifying my base against reavers and zerglings. I mostly avoid 'rushing' any one unit and like to build a diverse army. The problem is, by the time I'm getting up a decent force the other player rushes in with Void Rays, Siege Tanks, or Roaches or just massive amounts of any one kind of unit and wipes the floor with me.

It doesn't help much either when your TERRAN buddy still hasn't built anything while you , the PRTOSS, have already started to build stalkers and fortifications.

any sugestions?
 
Can we get a SC2/Blizzard subforum?

My pro strat: turtle in base for like 10 mins, then I lose.
 
You want a friend who is at the same level as you are to play with.

Practice a few 1v1 matches with very hard ai to work on getting your optimal build timings.

Against Terran if you're afraid of early reaper harass you can do 9pylon,10gate, gas, cybercore and chrono boost a stalker which will be able to deal with them and then work on getting 1 or 2 more gates with robo for a good push.

Vs Zerg you can choke your ramp with 2 gates and leave just enough room for 1 zealot to block it which will stop most ling rushes and will set you up for a good push. Then adjust your build to when you see them doing when you scout.

You don't want to overspend on defenses and stuff early in the game. Try to get away with the minimum that you can while building your economy
A few sentries can work wonders at keeping your base safe and buying you time. Sentries and High Templar are your best friend against Terrans.
 
It's all about macroing in the early game.. you just need to have really fast reflexes. Your response time needs to be extremely quick.

In the low ladder, 2gating can win 3/4 matches in six minutes.
 
Be aggressive. Always be aggressive. That way, your opponent will think twice before expanding.

The biggest plus for being aggressive is map control. Keep pumping units out, then go after their expansions. Basically, out macro your opponent. If you could out macro your opponent (have a bigger army and economy), even if your opponent has the best micro in the world, he still won't beat you.

Always take map control, and destroy any new expansions your opponent attempts to build. If they sent half an army to protect the expansion, send your whole army to destroy the expansion and the army. If they sent most of their army to protect the expansion, go straight for their main base.
 
The aggressive play works, but it isn't the only way to play. Macro definitely pays off if you are able to defend early aggression.
 
I'm a solid player but I need a lot of practice. Usually I get into the action at the end of the game and help clear an enemy AI base with the 2 other players. Also had one player drop out and got to share his resources, so I just made a lot of SVCs and have them mine like crazy and my base was pumping out faster than I could click. I still need more practice at being Aggressive, but otherwise I'm good. I wish the random players would use mics and I don't think I'm ready to move onto the Vs yet but I do like the computer AI so far. will get bored with it soon but don't kill me I haven't finished the Singleplayer yet. Minecraft is slightly more addicting
 
ktimekiller said:
The aggressive play works, but it isn't the only way to play. Macro definitely pays off if you are able to defend early aggression.
Click to expand...

Just like Idra, who barely lives in his games but then works up a huge army from his many expansions and then crushes his opponent.

Or he gets cheesed and whines about it.
 
ktimekiller said:
The aggressive play works, but it isn't the only way to play. Macro definitely pays off if you are able to defend early aggression.
Click to expand...

Early aggression also functions to protect your expansions. Early aggression throws your opponent on the defensive, making them less likely to attack your expansion yet at the same time make them less likely to expand.

I tend to make my third expansion a ninja expansion. I'd either put it in an area that requires air transportation to get to or place it far away from both me and my opponent's base, where neither of us will likely scout.
 
Thanks for the advice. So I just need to make my early game supper efficient, and keep the pressure on.
and what does this "9pylon,10gate" I've seen it before but it was never really explained.
 
Do we have a list of Bnet 2 ID's somewhere?
 
lord_raken said:
Thanks for the advice. So I just need to make my early game supper efficient, and keep the pressure on.
and what does this "9pylon,10gate" I've seen it before but it was never really explained.
Click to expand...

9pylon 10gate refers to the number of supply at which you build the structure at. 9 pylon means building your first pylon at 9 supply. Same for every other race: 13rax, 10pool, 10gas, etc.
 
Xevrex said:
9pylon 10gate refers to the number of supply at which you build the structure at. 9 pylon means building your first pylon at 9 supply. Same for every other race: 13rax, 10pool, 10gas, etc.
Click to expand...

Where is the supply number listed and how do you increase it? Wait... is this the supply you get from building pylons, supply depos or overlords?
 
Shakermaker said:
Yessum. It is basically your popcap.
Click to expand...

But I start out with 11 supply (if I remember right) and the first pylon boosts that to about 18 before I can even start building a gateway. so how do I build a gateway at 10?

I may just be missing something here.
 
It does refer to the number of workers you have. And Protoss start with a cap of 10.
So when you have 9 probes(8 out 1 being made) make the pylon and then make the gateway at 10 probes. Build a geyser and put 2 probes on it and get the cybercore as soon as the gateway finishes. Chrono boost the Stalker right when it's done. (that is if you're expecting early reaper/marauder harass)
 
MuToiD_MaN said:
I thought it referred to the number of workers you had.
Click to expand...

Quixoticism said:
It does refer to the number of workers you have. And Protoss start with a cap of 10.
So when you have 9 probes(8 out 1 being made) make the pylon and then make the gateway at 10 probes. Build a geyser and put 2 probes on it and get the cybercore as soon as the gateway finishes. Chrono boost the Stalker right when it's done. (that is if you're expecting early reaper/marauder harass)
Click to expand...

Ah. Thank you. That makes a lot more sense now.
 
Something that is overlooked by alot of players; if you get into their base and they dont seem to be fighting back that much or you know they have a sizeable force elsewhere (as you should, mr scout), ignore all their buildings.

Particularly for speedlings; go for the throat. Run past their defences, run into the swarm of drones or SCVs etc and ctrl-A the middle of them, and watch them crumble. Your strike force will probably die as a result, but you've dealt quit a blow to him. He probably had 15-20 SCVs, now most of them are gone. Even if you take out 10, he needs 500 minerals just to recruit more to get to the same level he had before. Thats 500 less minerals to be used elsewhere. Meanwhile, you should be pumping out more guys and routing them straight at his base. If the guy is smart and quick enough, all his SCVs will flee whilst his army comes home to try and get rid of you. This is the time to run circles around him, especially against zealots. Shift-clicking in a circle will force his AI controlled zealots to follow you around, meanwhile, shoot back to your base and build more.

Just sending in small strike forces from varying angles will keep him on his toes, but more importantly, his attention away from construction. Anyone getting constant ''Our forces are under attack'' is GOING to be watching his army win/lose more than watch his resources and queues.

Never be in a situation where you arent building or training something. Never. If you give him 2 seconds to advance on your base after a failed attack on his, and you havent built a defence yet, thats 2 seconds of training time he can use to get closer to yours. If you glance up at your resources and you're pushing over 400 in each, you're not building fast enough. You need to be almost constantly waiting for the minerals/gas to get high enough to train the next unit or start the next bit of research.
 
271223-1.png


lol
 
I've heard that they'll make cross-regional play available in the coming months, so I can't wait to go on US servers.
 
TBH warped, I'd rather be not ranked than my current 1/10 K/D ratio :(
 
I think one of the important things that people tend to forget is to upgrade your units!

Cannot stress this enough. When your pop's capped at 200, the only thing that's going to give you an advantage is how much you've upgraded your armor and weapons for your units. Trust me, there is a HUGE difference between 0 armor and 1 armor.
 
15357 said:
I think one of the important things that people tend to forget is to upgrade your units!

Cannot stress this enough. When your pop's capped at 200, the only thing that's going to give you an advantage is how much you've upgraded your armor and weapons for your units. Trust me, there is a HUGE difference between 0 armor and 1 armor.
Click to expand...

When should you start upgrading? In the past I have tried to upgrade my units as early as possible but I think this may give me a disadvantage early on (especially because I play Protoss) as upgrades use resources needed to build an army. The only ones I'm not doubtful about are the Stalker blink ability and the Zealot charge ability.
 
As Terran I usually try to get +1 attack at about the same time I research stim, which really can turn the tide.
As toss it's much better to get +1 attack vs zerg earlier, especially if they're going lots of lings. And leveling your attack upgrades is vital if you use colossi.
I would say that by the time you're getting to tier 2 then you should at least be researching upgrades.

I prefer to get the attack upgrades first because I can kill stuff faster, but in some cases it's better to get armor first.
 
lord_raken said:
When should you start upgrading? In the past I have tried to upgrade my units as early as possible but I think this may give me a disadvantage early on (especially because I play Protoss) as upgrades use resources needed to build an army. The only ones I'm not doubtful about are the Stalker blink ability and the Zealot charge ability.
Click to expand...

There should be a build up into the upgrade, and then a follow through, like a timing attack. Something like "OK, at this time in my build, I have an extra 100/100, I'll get the +1 attack, then keep macroing. When the +1 finishes, I attack."

Something like that helps a lot. Fighting someone on equal footing but you have a +1 upgrade? You should win unless you just right click move into their army.

*EDIT* DAMNIT QUIX LEAVE ME ALONE
 
I have to learn the hotkeys faster that is all. CTRL can only do so much. I don't even know how to return to my home to build more when I'm rushing one base.

Also I mainly play after work so I'm a little drained by the time I start. Still even when we lost I was the last guy standing on my team lasting at least twice as long as my other teammates
 
Warped said:
I have to learn the hotkeys faster that is all. CTRL can only do so much. I don't even know how to return to my home to build more when I'm rushing one base.

Also I mainly play after work so I'm a little drained by the time I start. Still even when we lost I was the last guy standing on my team lasting at least twice as long as my other teammates
Click to expand...

My hotkeys go....

5 - Hatch/Nexus/CC *I then keep adding all the expo's into it...*
4 - Production Buildings
1-3 - various army pieces

You can use the F5-8 *Or F9-12...I forget...* to hotkey a place on the map. That way you can do that to your base/expo's and quickly get back to them by hitting the button twice.
 
lord_raken said:
When should you start upgrading? In the past I have tried to upgrade my units as early as possible but I think this may give me a disadvantage early on (especially because I play Protoss) as upgrades use resources needed to build an army. The only ones I'm not doubtful about are the Stalker blink ability and the Zealot charge ability.
Click to expand...

Well, I start upgrading about when I have 30 ~ 40 in population. It all depends, but if you have the resources, sooner the better.

100/100 isn't too much to dish out after 7 minutes into the game, anyway.


Other upgrades, instead of weapons/armor, such as the marine shields, etc, etc, I tend to do earlier on. For example, my marine shield and the marauder stun shot upgrades are done ASAP, and if I'm going fast reapers, the speed upgrade is done the same time I'm making my first reaper, etc etc.

Stim packs aren't that useful in SC2, imo. The medievacs are highly inefficient, and the stim packs effects have become somewhat negiligible because of the lack of medics.



Anyway, never forget. A 3/3 army is an invincible army. I once fought an army of about 150 population with nothing but 80 pop, and I still won because I had upgraded my units!

EDIT: I hotkey my CC to 9 and double tap that if I want to go back to my base.
 
I finally broke down and did my placement in 1v1 last night (as random). I'd prolly had one too many beers and got cheesed to hell and back so I got silver league. :LOL: I'm not exactly used to fighting off cheese with protoss and terran, and it doesn't help that I don't like to wall off either!

I think it's probably starting to question me already, though. The one game I played today was against a top silver guy who'd played almost 200 games, and I literally only lost 2 units the whole game. It was a PvP and I raaaaaaped him with phoenixes... I think I'm going to enjoy working my way up! That was so satisfying I don't even need to play another game tonight. :p


And Numbers... stim pack not good?! It's only like the most essential upgrade in the whole game if you're going to be using the units it affects with or without medivacs.

But you were high when you posted that weren't you. That's fine.
 
CyberPitz said:
My hotkeys go....

5 - Hatch/Nexus/CC *I then keep adding all the expo's into it...*
4 - Production Buildings
1-3 - various army pieces

You can use the F5-8 *Or F9-12...I forget...* to hotkey a place on the map. That way you can do that to your base/expo's and quickly get back to them by hitting the button twice.
Click to expand...

Eureka! I knew I could make a home key and stupid me didn't think twice about setting Home to F5 or something simple like that. Anyway I turned most of the graphics down for multiplayer and its so much nicer. Barely any on screen lag at all.
 
Letters said:
I finally broke down and did my placement in 1v1 last night (as random). I'd prolly had one too many beers and got cheesed to hell and back so I got silver league. :LOL: I'm not exactly used to fighting off cheese with protoss and terran, and it doesn't help that I don't like to wall off either!

I think it's probably starting to question me already, though. The one game I played today was against a top silver guy who'd played almost 200 games, and I literally only lost 2 units the whole game. It was a PvP and I raaaaaaped him with phoenixes... I think I'm going to enjoy working my way up! That was so satisfying I don't even need to play another game tonight. :p


And Numbers... stim pack not good?! It's only like the most essential upgrade in the whole game if you're going to be using the units it affects with or without medivacs.

But you were high when you posted that weren't you. That's fine.
Click to expand...

Meh, I use massive numbers of marines in almost all my games, and I did fine without stimpacks. Marauders have enough health, but marines don't have many to spare. SC1 stimpacks were very effective, but in SC2, I've never found them as useful.

And I'm still winning all my games, for like 16 games straight. Against Platinum folks, even.
 
15357 said:
Meh, I use massive numbers of marines in almost all my games, and I did fine without stimpacks. Marauders have enough health, but marines don't have many to spare. SC1 stimpacks were very effective, but in SC2, I've never found them as useful.

And I'm still winning all my games, for like 16 games straight. Against Platinum folks, even.
Click to expand...

1v1 mass marine is the way. It's sad but true. Stims are great only once with shielded marines. If you use it right you can kill any army early in the game. I even took out a Protoss today with a Colossus. It can't really beat siege tanks though. Shield marines are just crazy though. That upgrade is the best tier 1 unit upgrade... speedlings and chargelots aren't anywhere near as good in that first tier fight. I like to use Stims a second time if I'm in their base trying to kill important things before I get countered... like taking down quick pylons and such.
 
Just got the meatgrinder achievement: kill 50 supply worth of enemy units within 15 seconds. I caught a huge force consisting of mainly Colossi in my opponent's base with a shitload of Banshees, backed up with Battlecruisers and Vikings for air support. Me being the micro king that I am I simply did an attack move and when the smoke settled about 20 seconds later basically all that was left were my Banshees. Opponent did a ragequit, victory for moi. Yay for the Bronze League :D
 
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