Starcraft 2 (SC2) Strategy Thread

Post Reply New Topic

I noticed that we did not have an official SC2 thread... Ever since I picked up the original StarCraft at a Walmart for $20 in 2005, I have been addicted to the series. I got SC2 relatively late, but most of the strategy stays the same (especially for my most-played race: Protoss).

Here we can discuss strategy for what I consider one of the closest videogame to chess (Civ is probably the closest videogame) that is not a chess clone/blatant rip-off. It is an RTS, sure, but a sense of anticipation and careful planning is required.

So, to start off, what are your common races/strategies? Personally, I am keen on Carrier rushes for P. Void Rays (VR) got nerfed twice: they are more expensive and less useful. Zealot/Stalker rushes are boring. Thus, Carriers work as a tier 3 heavy-on-economy rush.

If you want to brag, what is your rank? I am top 100 Gold. Have not played in about a week; the last game I played was a frustrating Marine/Marauder/Medivac push (MMM) versus an annoying kid known as the usual T player.

Just the game I'm playing right now . I haven't played it in multiplayer yet, though. I'm not that great at it, and I really need some good strategies . Sorry I can't give any of my own.

What race do you find yourself playing? Is there any help you specifically request?

And you have a powerful computer; about all I can do while playing SC2 is open TextEdit. Blizzard needs to learn how to port the game more efficiently, actually... I can blame my performance partially on them.

I can't really play multi-player. I have a 7-20 record on 1v1. I don't know the hotkeys or what beats what, or a build order, and I don't have the time to memorize them all, and then memorize them twice more. Also at the speed the game plays at I don't have time to think, and like I said I don't have everything memorized.

I had the same problem. My solution was to play the game at the slowest possible speed versus a single AI opponent.

Memorizing everything, on the other hand, is a matter of playing games and watching games. I think you have to be dedicated/insane to play SC well (and I would not call myself the best SC player). Unit match-ups especially are trial-and-error. Many assume incorrectly, for example, that the pitiful Stalker in SC2 (even weaker than the Dragoon in SC), cannot take out a Terran Battlecruiser (BC), but two Stalkers can annihilate three or four BCs.

And after a while, there is less conscious thought. Just like any fast-paced game, one's mind automatically performs rote activities like training workers from a hot-keyed base. All the high-level thought is saved for decisions regarding the best way to spend resources and the best location for your units at the moment. It is like chess in that you care less about how the pieces move and more about what is the best way to move them.

I think my main problem is I think the opponent knows everything as is everywhere so I don't take as many actions as I should. I seem to do better in 2v2 where I was in gold while bronze in 1v1. Probably because I'm keeping up with my teammate and following there plans so I'm not left to my own bad judgment.

Well I've only been using Terran, and Protoss just once. I've been going through the campaign with difficulty, and I tried multiplayer once which was a complete failure for me . I'm just not sure what is the best way to start out in a battle. Should I build lots of SCVs first, marines first, buildings first, something else first?

Also every time I send units out to fight, the enemies always come into the base and get past my bunkers really easily. Then they attack my barracks and I don't have time to make new units .

For the campaign, try playing on the easiest difficulty. As with any learning, take it slow if you aren't figuring it out.

I play as the Protoss, but the economic strategy is the same with different buildings for the Terran Build lots of SCVs for the first three minutes. Tons. Hot-key your base (I usually key it to 1 via Ctrl+1) and spam the "s" key every time you have 50 minerals. Once you have a sizeable SCV army, steal two SCVs, save up 300 minerals and build two Barracks. Hot-key these essential military buildings (I put military as 3 and 4, keeping 2 for another base) and spam "m" for Marines. Put a Tech Lab on one of them and build Marauders after a certain point.

Marines are the crux of a Terran army. Eventually, though, you want Marauders. These require Vespene gas. Build a Refinery once you have about 20 SCVs. Continue training SCVs until you have 30 while training your army.

Bunkers are useless unless you are fighting powerful ground units -- don't use them otherwise. Continue building Marines, Marauders, and (if you build a Starport) Medivacs for the classic MMM.

This should get you started, if you need more help, ask.

I also play Protoss in Gold. Don't know what (overall) rank in Gold though, how do you see that?
Haven't played in a while (not enough time/minerals) and get beaten more often right now. Currently only playing custom games until I get my "skills" back and can feel comfortable on the ladder again.
My strategy is mostly to do what ever is standard at the moment and try to get good at that. I also tend to rely more on adaption/defensive play rather than aggression.
This game is just so complex and I don't want it to take up too much of my time but I just keep coming back
Please share your excuses for playing/watching/discussing this wonderful game..

Talking about SC2 strategies, has anyone here heard of the archon toilet?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VILtH8a-vnM&feature=related[/youtube]

I usually try and go for an early expansion or early massing, although of course as a zerg player most of what i do is reactionary to my opponents play style.

by the way, is it just me who finds protoss air units extremely difficult to deal with in the current version of starcraft 2?

I'm not that great at this game. I think I enjoy it, but it's very challenging. Naturally, I am in the Bronze league, and I find it disturbing how not bad my opponents are. I would think Bronze league would be full of players who barely know anything about the game, but my opponents are often quite capable players. To think that they are among the "worst" is disheartening when I dream of someday making it out of Bronze.

I recently decided I would play Random. I have a decent understanding of Protoss and Terran, but I'm not that great with Zerg. I think I am best with Protoss, which was the race I played solely up until now. I figure the best way to get better all around is to play all the races at random and take things as they come. If I move down the ladder, whatever. I can only stand to get better in the long run, right?

I don't tend to go into matches with a specific strategy in mind; I play things by ear and go for fairly standard builds up until I spot a potential weakness in the opponent or have to change things up in order to properly counterattack.

I sometimes wonder if I could ever hope to be Platinum/Diamond (or even Masters) or if I simply don't possess the intelligence to ever make it that far. The people in those leagues seem to possess talent above all.

As far as hotkeys, I found that switching to the Grid Layout helped a great deal. I'm sure you're familiar with unit/building control buttons appearing in a grid on the bottom right hand side of the screen; this maps all of those functions to the keyboard in a similar pattern. That is to say the only keys you will be using are Q W E R T, A S D F G, Z X C V B. Makes everything much more intuitive.

27 games isn't really a lot. I have more than 200 logged. I've played guys with 500+.

I also subscribe to this YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ForceSC2strategy Seeing advanced players duke it out with commentary is always helpful.

Eleo, I feel you, I could have written that a few months into beta. One has to remember Brood War was/is considered one of the greatest RTS of all time and there are a lot of players transitioning to SCII strait from there as well as from WCIII + all other major RTS-games, some with 10+ years of basics in their spine. It's very competitive indeed. I played Brood War for about a year before SCII beta and that was competitive.

During beta I went from Coppar league (doesn't exist anymore, lol) to Gold at launch but since I haven't played in a while I would probably fit better in Silver or something right now. Only tip I can give is to play custom games and have fun, don't bother too much about the ladder.

I also tried the grid layout recently and so far I really like it. What's even better is that it's fairly consistent across races so I'm really psyched about starting to play random now. Any more aspies playing this game full of (positive) stress?