Starcraft II Tips

I went 2/5 and got bronze, yet it keeps pitting me against Gold level players. Eh.

 

Just played my first multiplayer match in 2v2 and won. Pretty happy about it even though it was just a placement because this is my first rts ever and I do suck lol. Lots of fun though.

 

I'm getting totally screwed in 2v2. I went 4/5 in placement, and the only one I lost was because my partner left in the first 15 seconds. I got gold, and now in every game I play I'm either getting nearly eliminated and then carried by an insanely good partner, or I'm getting completely outclassed and outmatched by the opposing team.

Not so much fun when I'm in the wrong skill class!

 

Wow, I can see that getting annoying. Any way to reset your skill class or do the placement rounds again or something to put you in your right skill class?

 

It may sound bad but I do not think its that bad.

The best way to get better in any game is to play against better players. If your in a league class that is too high for you, that means you get to see the strats and methods of better players.

View your replays and watch what they do and you will get better a lot faster than if you were playing against lesser players.

Plus I think 90% of the time when I play it puts me against another league anyways just because nobody is available in mine. When it takes like 2 min to find a match and expands the search it means nobody was a close match to me and the opponent is always "favored" in the match up screen meaning they are ranked higher than me.

After winning all my 1v1 games the first one I lost, I use his strat and won my next 4 games with it. Then somebody beat me with a modified version of that same strat that was better so now I use that and won more games. You just keep growing and your growth potential is better if you are in a higher class.

 

This is too true, half the time when i play strategy games I look at what my opponent is doing and learn from it. Losing is a good thing remember it allows you to see your mistakes and to learn from them.

Unfortunetely you also need to remember that Starcraft was one of the most eagerly awaited games of all time and if you think that some people racked up probably 1000s of hours over the last 10 years waiting for it and know the game through and through. One thing ive noticed is the gameplay style is so similiar and the swarms just as relenting as the first game!

 

A vast majority of people haven't even broken D+ in ICCUP or even know what ICCUP is. Before I hit diamond, I instantly realized how bad people in gold & platinum are even though they're the upper echelon of the leagues (platinum more so, obviously).

Don't worry too much about SC1 experience, it doesn't apply to like 95% of players.

 

I love the easy replay system. Can learn a lot about yourself and mistakes as well as the opponent. If you can discipline yourself to watch replays every so often you'll learn from them.

I learned the most from SC1 just by playing tons of MP missions. Learned "korean" style lol

 

Any tips on beating the Protoss photon cannon rush? When I to people who build cannons in my base, it's annoy but effective, and no it takes little or no skill on their part, but I can't really say anything since I don't know how to beat that strategy.

 

What race are you playing as?

 

You should have units faster than they can get a forge & cannons and the units can take the canons out before they spawn. (or more specifically the pylon if there is only one or two pylons)

I dont think the canon rush is a very good tactic because it just destroys your economy. Id say just get units fast and scout well.

 

I use all three factions equally. I don't have a favorite or least favorite.

I tried that, but it seems that an 11 pool probes can gather minerals faster than I can pump out enough marines from 3 barracks to take out the pylons.

 

Try reapers. Lots of damage to buildings, kill the probe in 3 shots, and can move around the cannons to get out of their range to take out the pylon from behind. Or, better yet, have your reapers ignore the cannons altogether and make a beeline to their worker line. They're spending their minerals building cannons by your base, not their own. If their economy is down, you can take out cannons and pylons at your leisure.

 

Yeah if they go all in with canons they have no forces or economy they probably have a probe heavy base trying to max minerals for canons and it would be reaper ravaging time, just hope they didnt put too many canons on there worker line or push the canons into your base before you get reapers going.

 

If you take out the pylon powering the forge, can they still build cannons?

 

Yeah. If you're terran, before they finish building the cannon and you spot it, why not build a bunker in range of the pylon and run marines in the bunker and hope that it'll take down the pylon before the cannon destroys your bunker? You can always salvage the bunker when the danger passes

 

Man i am really struggling with Zerg in the practice league. All my strats are failing miserably because of the damn rocks in the way.
Should i skip practice?

 

Try nydus worms instead of breaking the rocks? That'll make your base slightly more secure and you can pump out your units to opponent's base fast

 

yes, but they cant get upgrades

 

I did 5 rounds and skipped. The Rocks are such a change from what you'll face that it only hurts you when you move up.

 

I don't understand the rocks. They don't stop a reaper rush, which is arguably the most dangerous and deadly kind of rush, and they prevent you from countering such a rush!

 

With good micro, reapers can flat-out dominate if the opponent doesn't have the proper build order to counter. Zerg needs roaches/speedlings, while Protoss needs to crono-boost out their first stalker + position it well to stand a chance.

During beta, hellions had their short time in the spotlight for their early harass potential, but they've been pushed aside by reaper play. The fact that it transitions well into 3-rax or taking a natural makes it my go-to opening.

 

This game is frustrating me... I have been on a losing streak. And I'm probably on the bottom of the Bronze league. I remember in SC1 my Ladder score was 1000+ or something.

 

Well you'll get used to the pace eventually and start winning How have you been losing anyway? Cheese plays or straight out macro games?

 

When I play with my friend he tries to annoy me by building cannons or doing a 6 pool Zergling rush. All the ladder game losses were nothing like that. They're all because my Zerg rush strategy fails, then I keep building Zerglings and Roaches, but enemy techs up way faster and pulls out T2/3 units when all I have is a Control 1 of Zerglings and Control 2 of Roaches. That's how I lost a lot of games. The 4 I won is from Marine rushing. I think if I don't win or seriously cripple the opponent's economy from rushing, I really have no mid/end game strategy.

 

Lucky for me I have not run into that much, I run into more zerg/protoss rushes than Terran.

I generally get photon canons there instead of a stalker. But a good Terran is hard to beat.

 

[YodaVoice] Ohh, you will. You will... [/YodaVoice]

Being gold league sucks . Still losing 3 out of 4 games.

 

This.

This made me decide NOT to buy starcraft 2...

 

Im gold for 1v1 also ranked like 40th in my division. I have won way more than I lost but I do lose here and there and I only consider myself average. I still make a lot of clumsy mistakes and do not have good micro.

 

Dont worry he would not be on the U.S. server I do not think

Plus im sure there is like an extra division for them its like Copper > Silver > Gold > Platinum > Diamond > Korean

They automatically get tossed in the Korean league based on location (just kidding btw)

 

how im in Bronze and i face nothing but gold league players. Ive got so much to gain and nothing to lose lol.

 

Happened to me in Beta, won many games with little or no rank gain, then I think it put me up against a really high ranked guy one match and jumped me up one league and lost to the top of it just because of one match.

 

Has anyone gotten the Insane FFA achievement? It's pretty tough...

 

the 1v7? It's quite easily really Involves lifting off and quickly getting battlecruisers

And a whole lot of patience

 

I'll get it today when I get off work. I have a few ideas to try that should make it pretty easy. I will post my replay file if I succeed

Edit: got it first try but it was a close one! Massive swarms of roaches nearly took me out and did destroy my expansion at one point but I came back and won.

Something neat is beating it on insane like that not only gave me the achievement for insane & the avatar but also awarded me all the other lesser difficulty FFA achievments.

I wonder if others work that way like beating all 29 campaign missions on brutal will give the award for hard/normal also.

 

I did this. I think the map's called Extinction, I was Terran and made the computer Zergs. I lifted off onto that island in the bottom left corner and got 10 BCs out pretty quickly but those darn Corruptors...

I believe it does not. Kind of like if you finish Insane challenges it doesn't fulfill the VH/H/M challenge requirements.


And what's the deal with BNet putting me against Silver leagued players every time? I'm barely staying in Bronze, and most of the players I was matched up against were in the Silver league.

 

Anyone know why I have to log in battle net every few days to re authenticate my account?

is there anyway to get around this? because its pretty annoying. thanks

 

Well last time I finished the 1v7 insane FFA achievement during the beta, I also received the 1v7 Hard and Very Hard achievements. So it probably does give you all the previous difficulty's achievents too...

Just Yamato the corruptors btw. There should be only one or two left to fight in the end. Last time I had about 20 BCs and a few siege tanks shelling at em to force em to run out of minerals

 

If Im terran, what do I build to counter hydralists(sp)?

 

siege tanks n marauders?

 

lots of vikings

Siege tanks have been absolutely destroying my hydras.

 

hydralisks are tough customers, they're light and not armored and i think terran's bonus damage on light targets are reapers, helions and banshee? (could be wrong on the last one) and I dont think any of them are that ideal, reapers have less health than a hydralisk for the same supply, helions have less attack speed i believe and the splash is not as beneficial unless you drive right up in melee range with them, and air units get taken down by mass ground units pretty fast imo. so I say forget the hard counters and go siege them with M3 support!

edit to the post above: haha my thoughts exactly, siege tanks will cure what ails ya

 

For hydralisks, use siege tanks with hellion support, and marauders if they have roaches in front of the hydras. Flanking with hellions while the hydras are attacking something else is especially effective. At the higher tech levels, ravens with hunter seeker missiles can be very devastating to hydras if you have good micro or the enemy doesn't.

For the campaign, vultures and science vessels (with irradiate) work pretty well too.

For protoss, colossi with a balanced force to protect them will eat hydras for breakfast. Also psi storms.

For zerg, just stay away from lings and mutas. Banelings work very well IF you can get them close enough (try setting burrow traps).

Hydras attack fast and do very solid and consistant damage with their fast attack rate and no bonuses. But they are also frail with not a lot of HP for their cost and being light gives them particular vulnerabilities you wouldn't expect from an expensive combat unit.

 

Thors and battlecruisers work insanely well against hydras, if properly micro'ed. Especially battlecruisers. Watch 'em all burn! Then retreat, repair, and go back for more! Use terrain to your advantage.

Definitely the biggest weak point for hydralisks is the fact that they're much slower and don't bunch up as well as they used to. So terrain always gets in the way.

 

really? I thought terran massives get taken down by the mass'es pretty quick, haven't tried myself though

 

Always bring a handful of SCVs and Medivacs with you for spot repairs and heal, especially on your gas-heavy units. Protoss have regenerating shields, zerg get health regen, and terran get repair/heal. If you don't use it, you're at a massive disadvantage.

 

Thors for me seem way to cumbersome to really be effective. Way to large of a footprint to really get more then a few in a large group into a fight.

 

As terran, you MUST use terrain to your advantage. Your guys are ranged, often longer than your opponent, and on an open field you lose that advantage pretty quick.

 

Because it's stolen by lings

 

Not in SC2. Battlecruisers are arguably the strongest unit from a cost-to-damage-to-hp ratio. That is to say, given a BC vs any other unit of the same value, the BC will win.

Not only do mass BC's Hydras, they also what intuitively would be ground "counters", such as mass Marines, mass Stalkers, and just about any unit except for mass Corruptors, Vikings and Void Rays.

It's true. If you're out in the open, and the enemy has speed-lings, you're screwed as Terran. Your Tank's siege mode is worth crap if the lings are next to them, and marauders + marines gets ripped apart by 'em.

Oh, and scouting is FAR MORE important in SC2 than SC1. Seriously, stop spamming those crappy Mules and periodically scan your opponent and their nearby high-yields. If you're Protoss, half of your scouting issues are already dealt with, just build Obs and you're good to do (not to mention, Obs are really hard to see in SC2 if they're not moving...). Generally, don't use Overlords as scouts unless you got the speed upgrade at Lair, otherwise they'll get shot down like flies by marines or stalkers, and you'll end up wasting food, time and money replacing them.