Tag Archives: starcraft tutorial

Probicus Parley 007

Posted on by necromoonyeti

Probicus Parley
A Starcraft 2 Daily

007

Angry Baby Steps – When in doubt, move out, and the significance of getting Blink early:

I’ve been playing way too many team matches. I jumped back in to two 1v1s today, a loss and then a win, and it showed. I encountered the same trend in both, and I’d like to talk about it.

In my first 1v1 I was up against Terran. I thought “oh my god reapers”, because that’s what you have to think in 4v4 matches, so I went straight for a forge and three cannons before I even scouted the guy. Stupid, stupid, I know, but I’ve played like 40 team games since my last 1v1.

No reapers, no worries, but I immediately felt the setback. Here I was with two gateways and an expansion at the ready, six stalkers with blink to my name, and I didn’t have the slightest clue what I was up against. I sent in a probe, he died to a bunker at the other guy’s neck. I could have attacked. In the very least I could have sent one stalker on a suicide run to see what he was making. But no, I said screw it, my resources are pouring in now, throw down two more Gateways and start spamming stalkers.

I had about ten stalkers when he hit me, up against a bunch of marines. He won out with a few to spare. My cannons could have taken him, but by then it was too late for me. An expansion lost and two gateways beyond the range of my cannons, I packed up and moved on to the next match.

As it turns out when I had those initial six stalkers he had four marines. He’d scouted me early, he’d seen the cannons going down, he knew he had time to spare. Four barracks went down with reactors attached before he ever started massing units, and if you haven’t noticed yet reactors take a really long time. Those stalkers could have in the least decimated his supply line and given me a fighting chance.

My next opponent was zerg. The ling rush is a more realistic fear (in fact it’s probably the most practical way to scout Toss anyway), and again I started tossing down cannons. He sent a wave, they fell, and he reacted just like the other guy. “I have plenty of time now, I’m going straight for hydras/mutas.”

This guy made the mistake though of throwing down a couple sunken in case I countered his rush with zealots; he assumed that was the only unit I could mass any time soon. Well there I was in the same boat as last time pretty much, this time three gateways but no expansion, no stalkers yet because I went “omg six lings” and threw down like four more cannons. I did have a templar archive.

My (very) late scout saw an expansion going down, and I decided hey, waiting around didn’t work last time, so I started researching Blink immediately and resolved myself to go at it with what I had when the research finished.

Turns out he only had lings and those sunken. Just like the other guy he had taken my cannons (didn’t hurt that I started a bunch more during his attack after all) as a sign that I was just going to sit on my ass and let him build up. Stalkers with blink destroy lings without speed, and well, that was the end of it. I just blinked around his sunkens, took out his tech tree, and held position where I could snipe drones forever without a sunken scratching me. gg

What I took out of this was not that you should try to confuse your enemy, screw that. It’s a roll of the dice whether he falls for it, just one step up from cannon rushing. What I learned was that if you screw up big time early on and know that he knows it, you might as well try to retaliate as soon as possible. Maybe it doesn’t work for the pros, I don’t know, but at least in Gold league I was in back to back situations today where my own mistake could have won me the game.

I’m not recommending putting yourself in positions where your opponent rightly thinks he can easily overrun your base in a couple minutes, but if you find yourself there, don’t get flustered, take immediate advantage of it. There’s no sense waiting around to die, and there’s no harm in attacking with five or six units if the situation demands it.

From the other perspective, if your first assault puts you at a clear advantage over the other guy but doesn’t realistically end the game, don’t just think “oh I can tech up now” and quit making units for two or three minutes. Always maintain at least a token mobile force.

On a final note, in both cases I could not have won without Blink. In the top tiers your opponents should have a mobile force so you might want to reconsider, but if you have reason to believe the guy you’re up against doesn’t, Blink can be the game ender. I really like the idea of getting this upgrade early.

Probicus Parley 004

Posted on by necromoonyeti

Probicus Parley
A Starcraft 2 Daily

004

Today I want to point out the benefits of communicating during 1v1 matches in which you are clearly outclassed. For every two or three players who ignore you or start thrusting their e-peens wildly, one is going to give you some awfully sound advice. My main point: When a player owns you in a particularly intriguing way, don’t just gg and watch the replay, actually talk to them.

I’ll highlight two personal examples to show you what I mean.

I had thought for a while that watching pro replays was only beneficial to advanced players – that at my level you should just learn from experience. This just isn’t true, but it seemed reasonable enough. I was winning most of my matches and my losses were usually close. I must have been doing something right. It was on those rare occasions where a fellow Bronze or Silver league player would ruthlessly crush me without cheesing that I started to think “these guys obviously didn’t place well, how are they so good already?”

So I started to ask, and sometimes I’d get a serious insightful answer. I found out about Day[9]’s tutorials and some of the other resources I’ve used not through scouring endless forum posts, but by being directed to them by better players in-game.

If you ask for information on forums you’re going to end up with a ton of different links to sort through. If you ask for it from individual players who you know from experience are using the kinds of techniques you want to copy, you’ll end up with a few specific, tested, relevant sources.

And you might fair better than that. When I switched from Terran to Toss as my 1v1 race I took an immediate liking to massing zealots while teching up to void rays. This worked consistently for about four games, and then I lost horrifically to a guy who took the exact same approach. I asked him what I did wrong, and he actually invited me to a 2v2 party. Over the course of the next five games (which lead to my only Platinum placement to date), I learned more about playing Protoss quickly and defending the rush and expanding effectively than I could have ever hoped for.

There are a lot of simple things in Starcraft 2 that you can easily overlook – things that general guides aren’t going to tell you and you might not notice in replays. For example, I had no idea that chrono boost could be used on a Nexus. It’s not a secret, just a false assumption on my part. Because I asked a guy in a 1v1 what I did wrong, I had a second set of eyes to catch stupid mistakes like this and point them out to me.

I’m not advocating zealot to void ray as the best Toss technique, and have had better success since by choosing between void rays and stalkers once I have a feel for what the other guy’s doing. Especially against Terran, building two visible stargates and not using them can trick him into massing a bunch of useless vikings. Of course, I’m not advocating that either, I’m just saying that:

Lots of players are ready and willing to help you. If you ask for advice when your base is burning away beyond repair, you just might get it.

Probicus Parley 002

Posted on by necromoonyeti

Probicus Parley
A Starcraft 2 Daily

002

I said before I’d try to put the meat of my daily up front. Instead, just read what’s bolded if you’re in a rush.

This morning I played 4 1v1c, a 3v3 win, and a 1v1 loss. The outcome of the last game transitions well into my topic:
Techniques in Bronze league that you should stop using. Specifically:

Small but continuous attacks.
Cannon rushing/surrendering when an opponent successfully cannon rushes.

Approaching the latter first, because it is fresh on my mind and my nerd rage has subsided:

My 1v1 went like this. Toss on Toss, and the guy was at least Gold league because he was fully Favored. I built two gateways and noticed a cannon start to warp in near my extractor. I pulled most of my probes to deal with it, no problem. One more started to warp in, same deal. Three more, and my zealots came out, but I couldn’t handle all three before one finished. At that point I lost a zealot, and with yet another three cannons warping I called him a fag and quit.

It wasn’t until I got to the recap screen that I realized how stupid I was. Check out this build order:
Probe, probe, pylon, probe, probe, probe, forge, probe, probe, pylon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon, photon cannon.
I could have easily had 400 minerals by the time he reached my nexus and a half dozen zealots by the time he reached by gateways. That provides a pretty simple solution. Move to an expansion, take out his defenseless drones, set up a scenario where I have all the time and resources in the world and he has, oh boy oh boy, about twenty photon cannons. Even if he established himself in my old base all turtled up with his cannons, I would hold such a unit advantage that I could render expanding on his part impossible and just mine him out.

So lesson one of the day: Never forget that in early game scenarios your opponent can’t collect resources any faster than you can. I tend to instinctively think “well he’s got at least a gateway and three zealots at this point, even with all these cannons. Any decent player would make at least a basic defense.” No. A gateway and three zealots, that’s 450 minerals – three cannons. There’s no possible way he could support that and still warp in eight inside my main this early on.

If you’re up against a Toss player who feels obligated to cannon rush to win, he’s a) probably not very good in a conventional fight, and b) flat broke. He at best has a single gateway, maybe one zealot. Get enough minerals to expand and let your base fall, taking out his in the process. Don’t try and prevent a cannon rush if you don’t notice it before the first cannon is warping in unless you have ample units. Expand immediately and attack his main with what you’ve got. If he’s a bit more clever at it and starts at your ramp instead of inside your main so your base units can’t get out, it will take him longer to reach you. Tech up so you can transport out.

Some further ideas that I haven’t had a chance to actually employ yet:

The minute you hit his main he’s going to probably warp in every cannon he can right around you and continue to every time he hits 150 minerals. If you have a small force, say three or four zealots, that might be a losing battle. Try to take out his probes first. If they run off, they aren’t mining, so he’s not going to build more cannons. If they run down the ramp, forget about his base and just move your units into a held position so they can never get back up it. (If he has to start building probes from scratch then you should have a nice advantage, and there’s a decent chance he doesn’t even have the 50 minerals for that.) If they just start running around, you’ve got marines, and his cannons aren’t close enough to hit you from behind his minerals, just hold position back there. Only attack his cannons as a last resort; focus on shattering his economy to sub-start game conditions and then just start a new base and wipe him out. You should still have all your workers. When that base finishes it should just feel like a minor setback.

That being said, most higher league players probably know all this, and they have more to lose point-wise from surrendering. Pure cannon rushing should not realistically ever work beyond Bronze/Silver league, so if that’s your strategy, stop.

Secondly, my original intent, small but continuous attacks.

I have won a ton of Bronze league games by rushing early and then just setting my rally point to the heart of the other guy’s base. This works really well in Bronze because the other guy is probably going to just throw every unit he produces straight into the fight. Even if all you manage to do is take out his force and a supply depot or pylon, maybe two or three workers, per push, you’ll win in Bronze. This has backfired for me tremendously against higher league players.

Even if you win the opening assault (which is a lot harder against a pro who’s going to employ chrono boost judiciously/not go for an immediate barracks reactor/etc), the minute that first wave’s dead and they see units marching in by one and two they’re going to just withdraw their guys from the fight for a bit. It only takes a handful of extra units to put a quick stop to it, and then they’ll have an immediate counterattack advantage. I have a lot less to say about this one. Just remember that small but relentless/continuous assaults on an enemy base early on is a good way to get counterattacked and lose. It works really well in Bronze league, but quit doing it.

Aaaand…. right before posting this I decided to play one last 1v1, Toss on Toss. We both went stalker and immortal, both lost all of our probes at one point, but I won because I expanded and he didn’t. I basically treated him exactly how I would treat Very Hard AI, with the exception of having to make some observers at one point. When the match ended I got promoted straight from Bronze to 5th place in a Gold league division. So much for relating to complete noob scenarios. I guess I’m somewhere in the middle now.

And so much for easy wins. :\

Probicus Parley 001

Posted on by necromoonyeti

Probicus Parley
A Starcraft 2 Daily

001

I would like to start writing a short daily article on Starcraft 2. I will try to play at least one game, maybe a ladder match, maybe a co-op, maybe a custom, every day, and if I learn something new in that match I will write about it. My advantage: I am not very good yet. I will occasionally watch replays, play UMS maps, and seek tutorials, and if they are entertaining or informative I will pass them along. I am not particularly active in any Starcraft 2 communities, so I won’t be choosing the best of the best. I will be choosing what I find useful.

I’m mainly doing this for kicks/to track my own progress, but hopefully this should serve as a tool for players who take the game at least somewhat seriously but are by no means experts – players who have probably heard of Team Liquid but feel a little overwhelmed and subsequently discouraged when they go there. If I write about something that makes you roll your eyes and go “everyone knows that”, good. If I write about something that should make you roll your eyes etc. but doesn’t, better. I will try to throw the meat of my post out early and save my rambling for the unnecessary paragraphs that may follow.

About me: As of this post I am ranked 1st in a lowly Bronze league division, playing only enough to hold onto my lead and training against the computer for a while before I make a move to advance. I currently hold a 22-16 1v1 record, with 10 of those losses coming in my first 12 games. I am in a Platinum league 2v2 team, but have not done much since placing there. I played Brood War obsessively, but seldom competitively.

So without further ado, today’s topic: Training on Very Hard: Don’t Outsmart the AI

Playing against Very Hard AI seems like an excellent way to start preparing yourself to be at least a Gold league level player. You don’t wrack up 1v1 losses and you can learn to break out of your stalker (or in my case void ray)/marine/hydra shell at your own pace. Two key points here:

Stalker/marine/hydra massing will win most Bronze league games, but only because your opponent is playing beyond their means or trying to cheese. If you want to have any chance of winning later on, it’s a good idea to start diversifying now. Don’t spam your way to a higher league and then go oh shit, what do I do now, my opponent actually knows how to micro sentries.

The computer at Very Hard AI can force you to improve, but only if you let it. Play 1v1c custom games, and lots of them, but resist the urge to outsmart the AI when it’s beating you outright. The minute you start tricking it you’re learning nothing. Oh cool I can make it rally all of its marauders to my void ray army. A total waste of time. If you reach a point where you can’t win conventionally, lose and try again. If you feel like you can win without taking at least one expansion, expand anyway. If you know that zerg AI always goes roaches/hydras and you just saw an overlord, scout their base anyway. Maintain map vision coverage even though their expansion order and attack routes are predictable. Force yourself to go through all of the precautions necessary against humans that you wouldn’t take against the computer until you can do so and win consistently in a conventional manner. Only play on ladder maps and always set the computer to Random.

I have only won I think seven Very Hard matches, so if this article was useful we’re probably still in the same boat. The first thing you’re going to catch on to is that you need to pump out units early. A closing point:

Don’t be satisfied with your defense of the Very Hard AI’s opening rush until you can defend it with most of your units still standing. Whether this is directly applicable in high league ladder matches or not is irrelevant. The skills you develop in managing your base quickly early on and microing against the rush effectively without tricking/confusing the AI should be beneficial at all stages of the competitive game.

For tomorrow’s topic I’m kicking around the idea of highlighting techniques that work in Bronze league that you should stop using. The focus: If it doesn’t work against Very Hard AI it’s probably not going to work against higher league human players.

If you have any questions there are probably better people to ask than me, but I would be thrilled to attempt to answer them. Comment away.