Starcraft tips

[Mr. Moon]

I have recently been drafted to join my schools anual Starcraft tuorniment(sp). I am no good at that game. I barely even got started off before I got destroyed by my freind's Zurg army. Does anyone have some tips that'll help me survive?

[ilovefire]

Defense, Defense, Defense. The first thing you should do is make your primary base defensible. For terran, this means a network of bunkers and missile turrents, with a couple of siege tanks in siege mode at the center of your base. If you do it right, their maximum range is excactly where your bunkers are at. Another thing, you need to expand. Get other bases early, so that if your main base is overrun, you can still stay in the game. Terrans are good for this, because if you are about to die, you can lift up and move most of your buildings. I mostly play terran, so I lack any hints that aren't completely terran-specific now, so.

[Archonic Energy]

10 marines and 2 medics....

good early game rush.

[Deepblue706]

Um...

Zerg: Be very aggressive. Just keep attacking and expanding. Target buildings necessary for better units (spawning pools, academies, ect). Keep them from advancing as you get cracklings that tear just about anything limb from limb.

Terran: Lock zerg into it's base - use bunkers and tanks to keep any exits fortified - as you expand, yourself.

Against protoss players, you need to keep pushing with marines and medics from the get-go. However, if they rush you, you'll get pwned if you're trying to be aggressive.

SO!

Always scout - get a bunker fast if you have a protoss opponent. THEN, try to get some medics and maybe a few firebats before attacking. Stims are nice, too. Terran strength lies in synergy. Massing one unit leaves it vulnerable - having a well-rounded squad makes it VERY effective.

If you're protoss, you need lots of minerals. Don't worry too much about rushing early on (but be sure to have a nice defensive of a few zealots and maybe a dragoon or two) - make sure you get plenty of workers going. From there, you can do drops on opponents (reavers or DTs), or just make a massive force of goons and lots.

And remember: You only win when your opponent loses.

[Archonic Energy]

Carriers help ...

oh and 6 Archons scare ANYONE.

[Mr. Moon]

I see. This is all very confuzing. I normaly play Terran, this year the contest is with the Brood War expansion pack if that helps.

[The Orange Zergling]

Mmhmm. Expand. Like. Hell. Get six zerglings as fast as possible, and rush the enemy, focusing on their harvesters and/or production facilities. (Barracks, Waygate, etc.) Later, mass hydralisks and drop them into the heart of the enemy base. Can't get overlords into their base? Hack through the defences with the expendables; zerglings.

If you're not zerg, can't help ye much. Havent played good ol' SC in a while, so I'm a tad rusty.

[Dispozition]

If it's LAN, then don't worry about me...Other wise...

power overwhelming
show me the money

You will never lose :D

Now some serious advice...A solid build line is handy. Never have more than...5...I think it is, drones (or equvilent) at a vespene mine at a time...Just because there's more...Doesn't mean you'll get more. I found this out the hard way...with over 20 drones...Heh heh...

[Death, your friend the Reaper]

Click on the characters repetitively, they sometimes give words of wisdom of their own.

Building a base like you are going to swarm is a good idea, since then when the opponent comes to you, you can easily beat them off and then continue building and expanding, while they shouldn't have given much thought to this is they where confident they could rush you.

Watch out for rushes, they are make or break!

[Mr. Moon]

Thanks. I have another question. Another of my friends keeps sending invisable creatures to destroy my base. It'd be alright, 'cause I normaly play for deffence, but nether me or my troops could see more then a slight shimmer, I guess is the right word, where they were. Any ideas?

And by the way, Death, you're new avater scares me.

[Archonic Energy]

missle turrets and science vessles see cloked units...

[Exachix]

Something i Learned:

If Terran. Build a base, and if it has a choke point, clog it up using Supply Depots. put Missle Turrets and Bunkers Behind it. Fill them up and add a few Siege Tanks and Goliaths to help there.

My nice Terran tactic. If you can get the resources:
Put loads of Missle Turrets on higher ground around the base. Helps defend against Dropships or things like that.

Anything that says Detector can find cloak units.

At beginning of game get quite a lot of Resource Collectors to get resources. Helps later on.

I like to have 3/4 bases running at the same time. Enemy kills one... I have more!

Zerglings rush can be good with all the upgrades. Nice cheap creatures. And lots of them.

LURKERS! With Brood War, user lurkers as invisible burrowed things! Line damage and invisibilty! (almost). IT Rules!

Protoss:

Dark Templars are the best land unit. Permacloaked with lots of damage *drools*.

Other than them I'm no good really. I mean, I'm terrible so I'll be looking through here

[Pendragonx]

do yourself a favor and watch some replays of professional starcraft players.. that will give you LOTS of insight

[Sir_Dude]

Another little way to better skills: set up a melee scenario v comupters, then punch in the fog of war clearing cheat (been too long don't remember what it was), and watch how the computer builds so damn fast.

If you like terrans I can help you a little if you like the turtling route, as I managed to build defense that frustrated my friends into quitting sometimes.

The best maps for terrans are those with a single chokepoint, worst are those which place you on a big open map which no chokepoints. For the sake of the later part of this strategy, I'm going to assume you have one or maybe two chokepoints you have to be worried about.

Here's a step by step of how I would begin a game. No its not perfect, but it is tested. Also I'm not going to include every trivial detail, as much just varies from style of play.
1. At the start vent all resources into building scv's, at the very start of the game make sure you have one in que until you get about 12, which I found was a good number.
2. once you get enough resources to spare, build a supply depot.
3. by now you should be getting in resources fast enough that you can get 150 and build a barracks, once you get another 150, build another barracks.
4. Build a refinery and however many scvs you need to make it efficent (typically 3 or 4). You'll need the vespene for later.
5. Have another scv scout out the vicinity of your base if you aren't familiar with the map. If you find what you think is a decent chokepoint, build a bunker immediately. If you can't quickly find a chokepoint, build a bunker near your base, right next to your command center.
6. When first barracks is done begin building marines. Between the two barracks its very quick to get 12 marines together. Put marines in bunker.
7. If you have a good single chokepoint, build three bunkers, and enough supply depots to clog the entry way in front of the bunkers. If your opponet loves ground attacks increase your bunkers to around 6 later on.
7. Build an academy. If your enemy is zerg or protoss you will want firebats in those bunkers badly. Medics are also useful to have around, but you won't need many if you're turtling.
8. Build a factory, and when that's done get it a machine shop.
9. Start building a starport, and get a seige tank. Start researching seige mode. (Seige moded tanks is the most important thing to a solid mid game defense, and lots of seige moded tanks will stop most anything on the ground short of ultralisks)
10. Build more seige tanks, set them up near chokepoints. 3 is a good number early on. Get more later if they love ground attacks.
11. Get the starport's add on, and research cloak. Get 4 wraiths together, and see if your opponent know's what they're doing. If they don't you can sometimes get an early win by killing off many of their resource gatherers, especially if they're zerg as this ties everything up for a zerg player.

From here on you should build some missile turrets to protect your base, and after that devise an endgame strategy.

This is what my typical game looks like, of course with starcraft, enough can change that this strategy may not be the right one for the situation.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Terran vs Zerg:

Resource Management is the most important thing in early game. Build an SCV first thing, and keep building them until you've got 10.

#8 should build a Barracks and #10 should build a Supply Depot.

Once the Barracks is finished, build Marines and the one that was building the barracks should be building a pair of bunkers. Build enough marines to fill them.This will stop the early-game zergling rush. Mind you, this is well before you even start your gas harvesting.

[Jade_Tarem]

Do not, by any means, allow yourself to be "rushed." This is when the other player, mouse clicking like a tapdancer on speed, pushes the game's temporal mechanics to thier limit in an effort to build a force that can defeat your opening base. This is commonly referred to as a "zerg rush" although any of the three races can do it (although the zerg are the best at it - lots of cheap little units that build quickly) To counter, put into place whatever automated defenses you need (remember to put stuff IN the bunkers now) at choke points. If there are no choke points distribute your defenses in clusters around your base.

There are some tried and true playing styles to look out for:

Zerg (rusher): this one epitomizes the zerg rush stereotype, attempting to get zerglings into your base while you're still constructing your fifth scv... Bad news, but as a terran, a couple of marines can defeat the ultimate preemptive strike, and as time goes on, try to get together (at each choke point) 3 bunkers, the lead one with two firebats and a two marines (note: the firebat does massive short range ground splash damage on anything that has light armor, like zerglings and zealots) and the rest with 3 marines and one firebat. Station an SCV there. Then build a missile turret, then Siege tanks. THe longer he gives you the less likely a rush job is to be successful. If he does the ultimate, attacking with his very first two zerglings in an effort to get you before you can put up ANY defense, then just swarm the two units with SCV's, it DOES work. As protoss, massive photon grid defense will work, coupled with zealots so that the cannons aren't overwhelmed. Remember, a force of zealots can easily take four times thier number in zerglings... and as well they should, given the price differnence. A zerg player can rush right back, or just defend with colonies.

Zerg (for the swarm): This player will bide his time and move up the tech tree, expanding resources for his big push: the most massive swarm of attackers you've ever seen. Don't give him time to do this, on big maps with lots of money this guy can send one huge wave of bad guys after you and have another one constructed during the fight. Attack him and rush the zerg guy in a fit of poetic irony.

Terran (Dr. Strangelove): This player loves nukes. The more mushroom clouds the better. Just keep a tight cloaking detection grid and you should be alright, just have the comstat button ready when he tries to nuke your perimiter... or observers if protoss and overlords for zerg.

Terran (Battlestar Galactica): A huge space fleet is the dream of this player, Battlecruisers Galore! The more rational ones will balance the fleet to prevent the chances of a scourge swarm wiping out everything. An odd fact is that, due to the que mechanics, 12 battlecruisers, 6 valkyries, and 8 wraiths can take ANY NUMBER of scourge (try it!). If the fleet is too heavy on battle cruisers, scourge swarm or psion storm it to death, and lockdown nuking is also possible. If the fleet is more balanced, it's still possible to swarm it - with devourerers, wraiths, valkyries, and, if protoss, just a good old fashioned fleet on fleet battle. All hands on deck!

Terran (Ten hut!): This player is willing to use the ground forces as well as the flashy ships, and may be the deadliest player. This is the one that can create effective seiges and blockades, using wraiths in a patrol/ambush function and valkyries on the defense and vanguard "shotgun" spot, and that will use nukes and battlecruisers as a part of a solution, rahter than concentrating on seeing how many times he can hear "Nuclear Lauch Detected" and "WawawawwawawaBZOW." And one that will use infantry in thier correct roles, and science vessels to mess with the specialized functinos of the protoss and zerg. If you can beat this guy, you've got my respect, this is insane.

Protoss (Andalite Fleet): This one is the same as Battlestar Galactica, only subsitituting Carriers for Battlecruisers, Corsairs for Valkyries (yes, they do have a purpose), and Scouts for Wratihs. This is a player that wants to see if he can slow his framerate by putting on so many interceptors. Scourge away, or use Wraiths if you want to be really viscious. Dark Archons also work well... Also remember that a science vessel can set up even the mightiest of the protoss fleets for the fall by stripping them of their vaunted shields.

Protoss (Goth): Everything is darkside or cloaked. The player will load up on the dark templar and dark archons, and delights in using all that psionic stuff to be sneaky, to get to where he can really hammer you... this isn't really a bad strategy, but enough detector units, disposable units, or science vessels will win the day- as opposed to:

Protoss (Life is Balance): This protoss is keenly in tune with the fundamental truths of the Protoss, of which there are three: 1. Everything costs a lot. 2. Everything is more powerful. 3. There is nothing that is not worth getting. This one will set a brutal defensive perimiter, then bide his time until... the breakout. Reavers will pound your gates, allowing dark templar to sneak through the detection barrier. Carriers wil be used for distance deployment and scouts will be their vanguards, as well as corsairs which will supress ground fire. Dark archons will seek the most valuable units to convert to Protossism, and may feedback teh more vulnerable mana units, and can use maelstrom to uncloak unfriendlies and disable zerg swarms. Zealots and archons will fill in gaps while reavers reload, and dragoons will be used as mobile photon cannon. Arbiters will play the role of transport and buff. This is scary. Don't let the protoss player get to this point. Even if it seems imposssible, find a way to get through his photon grid and screw with his tech tree early on, or you'll be sucking scarabs later. Remeber that vs. Protoss, anyone wins the resource war. Keep that in mind on small maps and it may provide an alternate method of victory.

Always watch your resources, and remember to expand. Unless it's a very small map, one base won't be enough to win. In some cases 5 bases won't be enough to win.

Also remeber the architecture of your species. The protoss have shields, the terrans have mobility, and the zerg have regeneration.

Never lose an opportunity to infest a terran command center.
Never let a dying command center be infested. If it isn't your last command center, turn your own guns on it before you let that queen finish her buisiness inside it, otherwise you'll soon have infested humans blowing up all around you, and no one wants that.

Tried to go through what I know here. Remember that your opponent is usually up to something, and keep your defenses tight. Go blast some zerg for me :P

[Mr. Moon]

:confused: Those all sound like those would work, but I'm hearing alot of terms I don't understand. Remeber, I've played this game two times, so I'm a total newbie. Translations, please.

[Premier]

I'm confused about something: why didn't you just say "Sorry guys, I've played this game, like, twice in my life. I'm more a liability than an asset, so go find some other player for your tournament."?

It's not like you'd get expelled from school or failed at maths if you refuse to partake in the thing.

[Destro_Yersul]

Ok, if you're terran against protoss you must get science vessels. They see Dark Templar, the EMP ability instantly fries protoss shields, and they fly. Nukes are good when combined with them. I remember one game when I infiltrated my opponent's base from behind with a pair of ghosts and a science vessel. EMP'd them, and took out most of thier buildings and workers with a pair of nukes.
For protoss carriers are a must, as automated defenses just go for the interceptors.
I don't play zerg much, because I'm really bad with them. All my advice is late game, so it won't help you survive early rushes. Listen to other people for that kind of help.

[Sir_Dude]

Well ok, if you're not much familiar with starcraft, play the Terran campaign. It introduces you to units and abilities gradually over the course of the game, so you can get a feel for the merits of each one. You'll also be more familiar when we start name dropping in this forum.

[Jade_Tarem]

:confused: Those all sound like those would work, but I'm hearing alot of terms I don't understand. Remeber, I've played this game two times, so I'm a total newbie. Translations, please.

Ok, post a list of terms/relations that you don't understand and I'll translate, and even talk about the relevant importance.

[TheSilverKnight]

Ok here is one of the best mid game thing I think you can do with the Terran.

Build a few science vessels and research Irriadiate. Sneak into the back of an opponets base and cast irriadiate on one of their gatering units(scv, drone and probe) that unit will begin to move around all crazy and spred the irriadiate to all other nearby gatherers and they will all die after a few seconds it sould only take one. This won't show up on thei map as them being attacked and by this pint in the game they are usually to busy micro managing to relize you snuk in real fast. And it will take a second for them to realize their gathererrs are gone and they will lose a good amount of money and while they focous on getting gatherers back you can attack and take out some of their defence. I also find this is a good time to nuke.


Another stratighy my buddy uses for terran since their buildings are so bulk and take up space. He just blocks the entrances of his buildings with barraks which makes a ton of defence. And when he bulid units from those buildings when the come out he just lifts the buildings up so the can get out and then just lands them again. Don't do this with your command center tho.

[Om]

Starcraft is the RTS equivalent of CounterStrike. Unless you put in countless hours of practice you will never beat someone who has.

[Jade_Tarem]

Ok here is one of the best mid game thing I think you can do with the Terran.

Build a few science vessels and research Irriadiate. Sneak into the back of an opponets base and cast irriadiate on one of their gatering units(scv, drone and probe) that unit will begin to move around all crazy and spred the irriadiate to all other nearby gatherers and they will all die after a few seconds it sould only take one. This won't show up on thei map as them being attacked and by this pint in the game they are usually to busy micro managing to relize you snuk in real fast. And it will take a second for them to realize their gathererrs are gone and they will lose a good amount of money and while they focous on getting gatherers back you can attack and take out some of their defence. I also find this is a good time to nuke.


DON'T TRY THIS ON PROBES!

While good for SCV's or Drones, Probes are mechanical and will not be affected by irradiate.

[The Orange Zergling]

DON'T TRY THIS ON PROBES!

While good for SCV's or Drones, Probes are mechanical and will not be affected by irradiate.

Yes, keep in mind that more of Protoss units are Mechanical than Terran or Zerg. This, however, leaves them targets for a Ghost's Lockdown ability...

"They'll never know what hit 'em."

Thats one of the reasons I like the good ol' Zerg. No mechanical units. If you ever have a terran ally, Medics are really, really helpful. However, therefor zerg are particularily vulnerable to Irradiate.

"Somebody call fer an Exterminator?"

Oh yeah, and against zerg, you only need Detector units (Science Vessals, Observers, and Overlords) to scout for burrowed units, especially Lurkers.

[the_tick_rules]

human huh i'll give a few tips.

siege tanks can be great. Put some on a elevtaed positon near ya enemy base and protect them, and watch carnage.

against protoss units, especially massed, science vessels emp shot can be ya best friend. also those power generators can be a real weakness if ya opponet doesn't build in redundancy. a few key strikes can cripple their industry. and force them to divert resources into building a huge overly compensating web of them.

zerg: i've always found a valkerye raid on their overlords can be devastating. as primary transport and their limitation on size of army, raids on them drive opponets crazy.

[Desidus]

some tips? Oh my, I could write a master's thesis on starcraft strategies.

Some questions though (my apologies if any of this has already been addressed):

1) At what time does he usually defeat you? if you can't time it, then what time does the post battle screen give you for game time?

2) What does he rely on/use (or use most often if he varies in tactics)?

3) What kind of map/what map? Is it a money map, a standard resource map, etc? Lost temple?

4) Do you have any saved replays we could watch, or you can watch? (They're god's gift to starcraft players who are trying to learn how to beat a certain player/type of player)

[Sir_Dude]

Valkyrie Raids! How could I have forgotten. It's been too long.

Anyway for those who don't know, Valkyrie Frigates are a fairly expensive but valuable flying unit for the Terrans. Builds in space port, requires armory. They fire a burst of 14 (if I remember right) missiles which each do low damage, but for some reason each individual missile damages in a wide radius. Individually, not so hot, but massed Valkyries are devastating to light air units. Valkyrie Frigates are amazing against zerg air, which typically relies on massed numbers. There comes a point when if you manage to get 12 or so Valkyries, it doesn't matter how many the zerg try to throw at you. I found them expecially effective with a small group of Wraiths backing them up, as the Valkyries weaken and Wraiths pick off. They are a little less effective against the big air units, like battlecruisers, although they're hillarious against carriers as suddenly the poor carriers loose all of their drone interceptors.

The strategy the tick suggested is a very good one against zerg. Most zerg players have to make so many overlords that they just put them back in a corner and forget about them unless they need them. So all you have to do is find out where, via some scouting or comsating. Then you grab your Valkyries and fly over whatever air defenses they put up, kill all of their overlords and run away. Valkyries are tough enough they'll survive.

[the_tick_rules]

Indeed, it can kick some ass. But they have 1 weakness, heavy armor. As previously stated they fire a mass of small rockets, so armor reduces each individual missle. But against light and massed targets, many missles plus a small splash effect= death.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Defense, Defense, Defense. The first thing you should do is make your primary base defensible. For terran, this means a network of bunkers and missile turrents, with a couple of siege tanks in siege mode at the center of your base. If you do it right, their maximum range is excactly where your bunkers are at. Another thing, you need to expand. Get other bases early, so that if your main base is overrun, you can still stay in the game. Terrans are good for this, because if you are about to die, you can lift up and move most of your buildings. I mostly play terran, so I lack any hints that aren't completely terran-specific now, so.

ZERGLING RUSH.
Where's your defences now? Oh, that's right, not built yet.

The best Terran turtle is:

T = Tank
B = Bunker
TT
B B (REPEAT)


Do this on any bottleneck you find defending your base.
It entirely defeats any artillery that could defeat your base.

I'm a Zerg rusher / Protoss tower rusher anyway. I don't face turtles that much.

[blackout]

Zerg Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush! Kekekekekekekeke!

[Sir_Dude]

Meh, zergling rushes are over rated. Building fast with the terrans, you can already have a marine in a bunker due to travel time alone. And something that's often forgotten: SCVs > unupgraded zerglins.

Actually for that matter, SCVs kick ass for a builder unit. Funniest thing I ever saw was on the last level of SC Terran campaign. The guy I was watching was nuking the ion cannon to dust because he could, and had 4 marines giving the ghost cover. The out of nowhere a single dropship comes over and drops 8 SCVs which proceed to kill every last one of his marines, then went for the ghost and killed him too. Never saw it comming...

[blackout]

...Eh, your right. Zerg-rushes are over-rated. That's why I like the Terrans, sometimes I build four dozen marines, a dozen medics, and three dozen firebats(exactly those numbers, too.), lift my base buildings off the ground, and set them down someplace that someone wouldn't normally look, leaving the 90 or so infantry grunts on their own and without support. :) And I win with this tactic, too!

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

...Eh, your right. Zerg-rushes are over-rated. That's why I like the Terrans, sometimes I build four dozen marines, a dozen medics, and three dozen firebats(exactly those numbers, too.), lift my base buildings off the ground, and set them down someplace that someone wouldn't normally look, leaving the 90 or so infantry grunts on their own and without support. :) And I win with this tactic, too!


Have you tried Protoss Tower rushing in 1v1 yet? It's hilariously effective.

[blackout]

Feh. I don't bother with Protoss. Never really liked em. Their tier 2/tier 3 ground units are hilariously useless.

[The Orange Zergling]

Cept for Archons. Four archon's saved my ass once. And Dark Templar... The only uneffective ground units in that era are high templar and dark archons.

Oh, and theres another thing, if you are playing Terran against a Protoss player, and they use Archons (the white energy-ball things), get a Science Vessal and use the EMP shockwave... then call in pretty much any other unit to dispose of the now-shieldless archon.

[Deepblue706]

Tower Rushing is a horrible strategy. No, what you do is build an assimilator right on their geyser :)

Works very well against terran - marines alone kinda suck against zealots and dragoons, and if they start building bunkers, you just have that much more time, anyway.

Really, I don't understand why some people call certain races "poor". They're all pretty equal, from my experience. You just need to learn how to make effective use of what you're given.

[Yakk]

Bah, Tower Rushing can be quite fun.

The trick is to get a probe in behind the enemy without them realizing it. Then your goal is to get a cannon within range of their crystals...

However, in a larger game, the nydus canal zerg backstab is simply the best. :)

[blackout]

I still go for the 'support-less infantry army' strategy. It's so unorthodox, nobody will know how to counter it!

[Finwe]

I still go for the 'support-less infantry army' strategy. It's so unorthodox, nobody will know how to counter it!

No one except the guy who built two reavers. Or anything else that does a bunch of splash damage.



Feh. I don't bother with Protoss. Never really liked em. Their tier 2/tier 3 ground units are hilariously useless.



Useless? Perhaps not easy to use, but they're far from useless. Which ones exactly do you think are useless?

[Deepblue706]

The only useless units are valkyries. Honestly, I don't think I've ever won a match I've used them. Devourers kinda suck too. But yet, corsairs are so amazing...

[Yakk]

Valk's and Devo's are a bit crazy.

Both are anti-air-fleet air units.

a) Most air units are damn-good at anti-air, and poor against ground.
b) One is good against ground and weak against air (Zerg spitter).
c) Some are good against ground, and acceptable against air.

But most anti-air is ground based. So your anti-air air units ... are chewed up by your opponents anti-air ground units.

Against (a) units, anti-air units do ok.
Against (b) units, anti-air units win. But they really don't do better than normal air units.
Against (c) units, the other player probably built a swarm of them (read protoss carriers). Unless you knew it was coming, you are going to be killed by the larger numbers of the opponent. You can't afford to bet "he's gonna go carriers" and build a huge fleet of anti-air-fleet air units, because if he goes ground, you get destroyed.

And if you knew he was building a fleet of carriers/battleships, you should simply build anti-air ground units on most maps.

...

Then again, they do have their niche on air-only maps. (island maps). I've had some fun many vs many games on large air maps.

... the funny part being, the war was still won with ground troops. A mix of a protoss probe->zealot factory and a zerg nydus canal zerg assault on the enemy continent.

(when enough zerglings to cover an entire screen appear in your base, and you thought you where fighting an air-to-air war, you just lose)

[Elan.aka.Chesed]

Well if any of you play online in the East American server, I'll be seeing you guys from friday to sunday...My name is EnemySighted. Look forward to putting some of your strategies to the test.

[Desidus]

whoa whoa whoa, hold on a minute!

High Templar, useless? My brain bleeds from that comment! They're quite possibly one of the most useful units in the game. On defense you've got your standard psi storm defense vs massed units, always effective. Should you have a couple big guns you wish to have defended, hallucinations can save they time and again. Same goes for offensive pushes too, as you can psi storm everything that moves and then send in zealots (upgraded mind you) to mop up (easier said than done though)

psi storm > everything.

[blackout]

Useless? Perhaps not easy to use, but they're far from useless. Which ones exactly do you think are useless?

High Templar. And Reavers. Reavers = TOO SLOW! High Templar = Takes too long to research all their abilities.

[Mr. Moon]

Thanks for the help, all of you, but I'm sad to report it didn't work.

Team Left Behind played their first mission against Team Korea. Geuss who won?

Yup. Team Korea. Those guys are so mind boggilingly good, I didn't last five minutes. When I was gone, they destroyed my team mates. It was Elimenation, so we aren't contiuning.

We're number 20! We're number 20!

[The Orange Zergling]

Starcraft is the Korean National Sport (I think... forgive me if I am wrong), so it's no surprise they're good.

[Yakk]

Why research all of their abilities? Buy Psi storm.

Now each templar can wipe out dozens of zergs by themselves, and put a serious dent into any massed fleet of aircraft.

Anything after that point is gravy.

[blackout]

Because, if something goes wrong, your gonna want a contingency plan. Without said contingency plan, things get worse. If a High Templar ability that you need is involved in said contingency plan, but you don't have it, then bam. Your screwed. That's why I stay away from High Templar in general.

[The Orange Zergling]

...unless you want to make Archons. I looove Archons. Not so much Dark Archon's, though... (No offence, Archonic Energy.)

[blackout]

Well, Dark Archons are good. :) MIND CONTROLZ, LOL! One time, I mind-controlled a terran dropship, and it had a whole bunch of SCVs in it. Terran/Protoss alliance! I built terran structures, climbed the techtree, and when I threw terran marines at the other guy, he was all 'WTF?!'

This was a lan game, btw.

[Fredfirebat]

I think its is fun to play against all Zerg opponents and be Terran then build a large army of Firebats and if you have the expansion some medics and rush one of them i alway get a kick out of them asking me why i built such a large army of Firebats I would also suggest playing teams with someone that is willing to cooperate with your plans

[Deepblue706]

Arbiters FTW.

[blackout]

Lol, arbiters rulezorz. INVISIBLE ARMIES, LOL!

[The Orange Zergling]

Arbiters FTW.


Arbiters cloaking Carriers = total pwnage.

[Cybren]

uhhh when you have reavers you're supposed to give them a shuttle. it serves as a place to let them build their scarabs with impunity, and gives them better speed. Reavers are ARTILLERY. use them against clumps of infantry or against buildings. And high templar... high templar are pretty much wizards

[McDeath]

The reason Starcraft has not been surpassed by other games is that it has balance between all sides. This is very difficult to pull off. Therefore, you have to constantly adapt based on what your opponent(s) are doing.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Arbiters cloaking Carriers = total pwnage.
Unless your opponent has Science Vessels... or a few powered up Comstat Centers... or Missile Turrets... or Observers... or Cannons... or Overlords... or spore colonies...

Or, well... it just plain sucks. Arbiters, in general, are nearly worthless. The only use is to send multiple arbiters at a single target, the one to get there Recalls in the Carrier Swarm with fully loaded Reavers underneath them.

In fact, stealth in general is nearly worthless. There's way too many counters that anyone with half a brain will incorporate into their defenses. This is what keeps Dark Templar from being the best melee unit in the game... they have auto-stealth in exchange for piss-poor hit points/shielding (worse than Probes even, IIRC). Not a fair exchange.

It's impossible to use stealth against Zerg. Too many Spore Colonies and Overlords running around everywhere.

It's impossible to use stealth against the Terrans. Comstat Blip FTW

It's impossible to use stealth against the Protoss unless they forget to build Observers.

In short, it's impossible to realistically rely on stealth to do anything more than give you the first shot. With Arbiters, you can't even do that because they'll see the Arbiter comming and know he's either got an army under stealth or he'll recall an army when he gets there.

[Desidus]

Or, well... it just plain sucks. Arbiters, in general, are nearly worthless.


*dies*

They have abilities other than stealthing. Stasis has won and lost more battles than I can count, not to mention recall has the ability to move needed troops at a click's notice.

I, however, am of the opinion that all units have their uses, it's just a matter of knowing when, where, and how. Useless units = non-existant in my book.

[Cybren]

Arbiters aren't useless, but you can't just expect to build lots of them to win.
Now, DTs true advantage is ultra-high damage. A group of DTs can whipe out any unit/building in a couple hits.

also: there is one useless unit (in Broodwar atleast) the scout. The scout is an anti-air unit, but is more expensive, requires more energy, has a longer build time, and lacks the special ability of the corsairs. Plus corsairs do splash damage.

[Desidus]

Arbiters aren't useless, but you can't just expect to build lots of them to win.
Now, DTs true advantage is ultra-high damage. A group of DTs can whipe out any unit/building in a couple hits.

also: there is one useless unit (in Broodwar atleast) the scout. The scout is an anti-air unit, but is more expensive, requires more energy, has a longer build time, and lacks the special ability of the corsairs. Plus corsairs do splash damage.


Scouts are the heavy damage dealers of the protoss. Corsairs have splash damage and the likes, but they can't do a thing against heavily armored units. Scouts, on the other hand, can pound damage into heavy armor easily. think of it this way. 3 corsairs would be slaughtered by a single Battle Cruiser. 2 scouts would slaughter the BC. They're best when micro-managed, like most things.

[ozymand1as]

Observe. Always observe. Do by scouting. Then attack. Big time. Ohhhh yeah....

Also, it is a good idea to have two infastructures, if one gets wiped off the map, you are still fine.

[The Orange Zergling]

I consider Dark Templar the second best Protoss unit, actually. Even if the enemy can see them... thats what zealots are there for. And/or any other meatshield unit you choose. Just prevent the DT from tanking, and keep them on damage-dealing duties.

And yes, if used right, it wont matter if the Carriers make their presence known, so long as the enemy can't attack them.

[Learnedguy]

carriers, thousands of carriers. Viva la marine!

[ShneekeyTheLost]

carriers, thousands of carriers. Viva la marine!

Scourges 4X scourges for every carrier. Viva la KABOOM!!! I just spent a quarter of the resources you did, and far less build time.

Or, against Terran...

four ghosts. Lockdown Carriers. Goliaths or even flat Marines slaughter them at will.

[Desidus]

Scourges 4X scourges for every carrier. Viva la KABOOM!!! I just spent a quarter of the resources you did, and far less build time.

Or, against Terran...

four ghosts. Lockdown Carriers. Goliaths or even flat Marines slaughter them at will.


and 'sairs to off the scourge, zealots for the goliaths/marines. Devs/hydras for the 'sairs, firebats/micromanagement for the zealots. Goons/zealots for the devs/hydras (obviously no lots against the devs), goons/micromanagement for the bats/micro. lings/ultras/micro for the goons/lots, rines/more micro for the goons/micro. Carriers for the lings/ultras, carriers for the rines/whateverelseIsaid.

Thus the beauty of starcraft is shown once again, one counter against another counter, and thousands more I haven't even touched on.



God I love Starcraft *goes off to play*

[Murongo]

Zerglings. 'nuff said. 50 minerals for 2? Yes please. Those things are good from game start to game finish. Also if you upgrade armor as the game goes on and eventually get ultralisk carapace, ultralisks get nigh on invincible, so charge them ahead of your hundreds of zerglings. Even if the enemy manually targets off the ultralisks and on to a zergling, ooo boy that is one dead zergling. Another will take its place, and eventually on auto-target most of their guns will cycle back to the nearly invincible ultralisks.

That may sound too ground-based, but honestly you can just ignore air and destroy the base out from underneath em. In the case of protoss carriers you probably need to add scourge to your army.

[Ethdred]

Thus the beauty of starcraft is shown once again, one counter against another counter, and thousands more I haven't even touched on.

I love the way that, even though what you say is so true and is generally realised by every SC fan to be true, any discussion of SC will always include the majority of posters going on about their one way of winning.

Me, I just love my cheesy Terran bunker rush, but that only tends to work once against any opponent (except the AI, of course)

[Dausuul]

I have recently been drafted to join my schools anual Starcraft tuorniment(sp). I am no good at that game. I barely even got started off before I got destroyed by my freind's Zurg army. Does anyone have some tips that'll help me survive?

Well, if you have your choice of race, I recommend Zerg. Zerg are simpler to learn than either Terran or Protoss. Lots of people start off with Terrans because they're the "human" race, but they're also the hardest to play effectively. (Which is not to say they don't kick ass once you master them.) Zerg are nice because you don't have to make different buildings for each type of unit you want to build, and you also have Overlords, which give you the ability to detect invisible units right from the get-go.

Look for some standard build orders (pre-planned opening strategies for what to build and when). http://www.starcraft.org is a good place to start. They won't win the game for you, but they'll keep you from getting butchered right away, and they'll put you in a good position going into the mid-game.

Once you've got your build order down, there are three general strategies in Starcraft:

#1. Expand. Go out and set up a second base at a new resource patch (and even a third if you think you can pull it off), build lots of worker units, and make lots of troop-producing buildings, with the ultimate goal of fielding a huge army. Get some basic defenses at the expansions as soon as you can.
#2. Defend. Get troops and static defenses early, and look for defensible places. Lots of maps have "choke points" where you can block off the entrance to your base. Fortify these. This will buy you time and safety in which to develop your base and get more powerful unit types.
#3. Attack (the "rush"). Get troops fast and take the fight to the enemy. Keep pumping troops and sending them to the front lines. Kill the enemy's workers, break up his efforts to get a defense organized, choke him off, crush him down.

The thing to remember is that no one of these strategies is the best; you have to find out what your opponent is doing and use the proper counter-strategy. Early on, send out a worker unit or a low-end combat unit (Zerglings are great for this) to scout his base and see what he's up to.

- If your opponent is defending, you should expand. He won't have the offensive power to hurt your expansions, and you can gain a big advantage in numbers this way. Once you have him outnumbered three to one, attack and crush him like the insect he is.
- If your opponent is expanding, you should attack. The new expansions will be vulnerable, and you can cripple your opponent by taking them out. Target the worker units if you can; they're much easier to kill than most combat units, and losing them hurts a lot.
- If your opponent is attacking, you should defend. Assuming equal resources on both sides, defenders have the edge on attackers.

Be ready to change strategies if your opponent does. In particular, be wary of getting stuck on "uber-defense," which is the mistake a lot of newbies make. Especially after suffering through a couple of "rush" attacks, you will feel the impulse to fortify the hell out of your base. Resist it. Fixed defenses such as bunkers and photon cannons are meant to support your troops, not replace them. Make sure you have enough mobile fighting forces that you can shift easily from defense to attack when the time comes.

(You can use this tendency against the enemy, too. If you launch a quick early attack, your enemy is likely to conclude that you're a "rusher" and fortify. Then you can expand like crazy.)

Keep troop production flowing at all times. I often hotkey my Hatcheries so that I can start more troops building at the same time I'm managing a battle. Make sure you have enough buildings to crank out plenty of troops.

Don't make plans that revolve around late-game units such as Carriers and Battlecruisers. Odds are, the game won't last that long. You should concentrate on mastering the early to mid-game units--Zerglings, Hydralisks, and Lurkers for Zerg; Marines, Firebats, Medics, and Siege Tanks for Terrans; Zealots, Dragoons, High Templar, and Dark Templar for Protoss.

And the one point I can't stress enough: Scout, scout, scout! You must know what your enemy is doing. Always.

[zephyroro]

look if your the terran then prolly the bests thing to do is to get 1 barracks so u can make a factory.......seige tanks are basically the terrans way to laught at you while they blow up your s&%* then after you have a couple seige tanks get your stargate set up so you can make wraiths

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Thread Necromancy is frowned on around here. Thread locked.