Starcraft

[Mag!cGuy]

(03-19-2013 10:49 AM)onealexleft Wrote:  

(03-17-2013 11:00 PM)W1cked21 Wrote:  Hey there! I've just discovered (took the free version) starcraft, and I'm thinking about buying it. So I'd like to know, who here plays it? I'm sooo bad atm, I will need practice

This game is my life blood.

Seriously? Damn, seems I haven't got enough mechanics of this game ^^ everyone tells me it's astonishing!

Combat, these are soooo useful tups!!! You exactly pointed out my mistakes!

[CombatEX]

I'm glad I could help! Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

[Mag!cGuy]

Damn, this game is addicting me, I bought it! It's extremely hard to think about everything at the same time, but when it's the time to fight it's sooo strategic oO In my last battle against IA Medium ( I've been able to beat it only in 30 minutes) I attacked, then retreated, put all my units between my base and his one, turtled marines, and... He attacked me by the other side, and I didn't have units to defend x) I managed to defend though and attacked again But when I attack, I always have 4000 cristals.. I don't manage to continue production and research while being aware to attack the good place at the good time! ^^

[Necrocat219]

I just realised it sounds very much like Age of Empires, I have to give it a go sometime!

And I mean 1 and 2, not 3 XP (Too much focus on aesthetics rather than gameplay)

[Eijolend]

Starcraft is a great strategy game - but be prepared to practise A LOT if you want to be reasonably good at it. There's a huge mechanical barrier before the game finally arrives at the point where it makes sense to think about strategy and tactics.
The campaign is very fun to play, but the true strength of the game really is the multiplayer.

I played it quite a lot in Season 1 but after that I didn't get to practise as much, so the motivation to start again was kinda low. It's really frustrating when you still know the tactics but lost the dexterity necessary to execute them.
Currently I'm thinking if I should buy the expansion, since I won't get to play it much... Maybe in summer.

[laYahooz]

I personally like the campaign better but I'm more casual with Starcraft. For me it's just another PC game I player once in a while.

I have been Starcraft a lot with the new expansion though, like every day. Been playing 2v2 with a friend and playing the new single player stuff a lot. 2v2 is so hard! We're nubs

[CombatEX]

The campaigns are fun, especially the second one, but the multiplayer has always been the main focus for me. I agree with Eijolend that 1v1 can be hard to return to if you take a break, but for different reasons. Eijolend says that the main problem is getting your mechanics down despite knowing what to do. I find that it's actually the opposite. If your mechanics were solid at one point, it shouldn't take long to pick it up again (it's like riding a bicycle). However, openers and strategies are in a constant state of change so if you take a break and come back a month or two later you'll have to learn how to deal with the new tactics people employ.

As a new player though it is true that building up strong mechanics is the first step. Without good mechanics your strategies mean nothing. Think of it this way, if you are floating a ton of resources your army will be much smaller than your opponents. Even if you have a great strategy and can 'outwit' your opponent, you'll probably still lose if you have a much smaller army. In other words, you need to work much harder and play much smarter to make up for the fact that your mechanics (macro) are worse.

I suppose I should briefly explain the two types of 'mechanics'. Macro and micro.

Macro: Spending your money efficiently, building enough workers (when in doubt build more workers), and expanding to new bases optimally (expanding as much as possible without dying because your army is too small to defend). You also need to know how many production facilities you can support and produce from them at the 'optimal' rate.

Micro: How well you manage your units. Basically keeping as many of them alive as possible while dealing maximum damage to enemy units.

In essence there are 4 key aspects to Starcraft.

1. Macro
2. Micro
3. Scouting/Map Awareness
4. Strategy
~. Upgrades

The first thing you should learn is macro. Good macro can probably carry you from Bronze to around Gold since you can simply overwhelm your opponent with a larger army even if you aren't great at micro or strategy.

Micro is something which will always be helpful and as you rank up it will become more and more beneficial. However, remember that the better you are at macro, the less good your micro has to be.

Before you can hope to accomplish 4. Strategy, you need to be good at 3. Scouting/Map Awareness. To put it simply, if you do not know what your opponent's plan is and where your opponent's units are, how can you hope to outwit him/her?

As Eijolend said, strategy really only comes into play later once you have figured out how to do everything else well. In the absence of points 1, 2, and 3 you cannot hope to outplay your opponent with strategy alone.

On a final point, it is important to note the strength of upgrades. This is something that lower level players often overlook but it has an enormous impact. Each upgrade augments ALL of your units (of a particular type). The increased damage output or survivability (depending on which type of upgrade you get) of ALL of your units greatly outweighs the cost.

[Mag!cGuy]

My problem is really the macro. I try an opening I found on youtube (anoss, a french player, maybe you know), but I don't get it. I find myself having 1000 cristals at 10 minutes, even though I try not to waste time by avoiding supply block or forgetting to create units! I manage to win against IA Difficult but he always has a way better macro than me. I just own him in micro (thanks outwitter)
Btw, I just found out I can play multiplayer with the free version. I have the full version tomorrow, but if you're online now combat ex, my friend code is 568 and my name is Magicguy! Your tips are extremely useful

In which league are you?

[aaronINdayton]

Starcraft is crazy hard. Easiest way to learn is to sit down with someone who actually knows what they're doing and watch them play, ideally they'll explain what they're doing while they're doing it. This makes it much easier to understand.

Learn all the hot keys and how to make control groups and all that jazz. Maybe try out all the races before settling on one, they're all so different you'll save time if you can identify one that fits you early on and stick with it. Zerg is the most different, terran/protoss are at least a little similar.

I used to play, back when I had hours of free time every day! I enjoyed watching matches and following the North American Star League quite a bit. Most fun I had was 2v2 rushing with a buddy of mine.

[Da Wizerd]