Starcraft 2 - Remembering What "All-In" Means

Ever try an all-in, and then think you can come back from it?  There is no better way to frustration and the desire to BM your opponent than the thought that his build is unfair because your all-in failed and you couldn't come back from it.

This situation happened to me the other day when I did a Roach/Ling all-in against a Protoss FFE and then railed at the unfairness of a 2-Stargate FFE build.  Now - if I had made Hydras, this would be much less of a problem.  However, after spending that much gas on Roaches, and cutting economy to get enough Roach/Ling produced, there's no way to truly come back from mass Void Rays - Spore Crawlers get picked off gradually, as do Queens.  The Void Rays deny anything else until you get swarmed by Gateway units (even just Zealots + Voids will kill you at this point).

What you have to remember when you choose that strategy is that if it fails, and you can't continue to push because he's hard-countered you (meaning his units will just crush yours no matter what you do), you might as well leave the game right then.

Starcraft 2: Adding Harassment to a Build

One of your goals in every Starcraft 2 match should be to keep your opponent on the defensive, even when, and ESPECIALLY when you don't have many units on the field.  Unless you are going for an all-in push, you will be vulnerable to timing attacks while you get your economy going.

What you want to do is harass, so plan for it!  Here are some examples:

Terran:

• Mech?  Hellion drop or driveby.
• Bio?  Early 2-rax pressure, or marine drops
• Heavy air?  Banshee harass.
• Lategame?  Nukes or Ghost drop with snipes.

Protoss:

• Twilight Council tech path?  Dark Templar.
• Robo first?  Try some warp prism drops or warp-ins.

Zerg:

• Muta harass (typical)
• Baneling drops on mineral lines (my new favourite)
• Zergling run-bys or counterattacks whenever he moves out
• Infestor drops
• Burrowed Roaches or Infestors

The most common mistake to make when figuring out how to add harassment to a build is thinking that you have to add a lot to your build.  Try adding as little as possible.  If going heavy Roach, add Tunneling Claws and no more.  If you're going Mech, don't try to marine-drop - just use Hellions as obnoxiously as possible.  If you're doing a 3-gate robo, don't feel that you have to add DTs - just drop or warp some Zealots.

Know Your Zerg - Spotlight on Mutalisks

Here is some key information on Mutalisks.  All information relevant as of patch 1.3:

Are Surprisingly Good Against:

• Void Rays:  equal numbers of mutas will kill a nearly equal numbers of Void Rays.  Void Rays cannot escape Mutas, and are more expensive.

 Are Countered By:

• They cannot outrun Phoenixes - stay and fight unless you can find nearby corruptors or other anti-air to save them
• Are shredded by most anti-air, but especially low damage, high-rate attacks such as Marines or Hydras

Best Purposes

• Should be constantly on the move, preferably harassing something:
• Workers
• Enemy Reinforcements
• Slow enemy units (Siege tanks, Immortals, Banelings

Upgrades

• Attack upgrades are better for them, since you will generally be using them to attack things that can't fight back, or that need to die fast, such as turrets.
• If you intend to make the "big Muta ball", armor upgrades are actually quite good.  Still, mutas should not linger when they are being target-fired by enemy units.

The Magic Box

• The magic box technique , conceived by Team Liquid, is a positioning tactic where you mutas are spread out and not overlapping.  This allows them to take on even scary units like a Thor or two without taking massive splash damage.
• To magic box, give the mutas a move command to a safe area, and then wait until they all arrive at the spot - they will naturally spread out.
• When attacking with your magic box, do not target-fire units.  If you do, the mutas will lose their magic box and clump up.  Instead, use a move command and park your boxed mutas over your target, using the Stop command when your mutas are in position.  Mutas have a bounce-attack and will hit what you want them to most of the time, since their range is so short.
• Watch a video tutorial on the magic box and its benefits

Starcraft 2 - Gaining or Preventing Critical Mass

You may have heard of a concept called "critical mass" when talking about Starcraft 2 and its strategies and tactics. This term means "An amount or level needed for a specific result or new action to occur", but in Starcraft 2, is usually referring to when you have produced and accumulated a certain number of one unit type, such that the number of units becomes more dangerous than they are individually.

Typically, the following units can gain "critical mass":

• Marines (with Marauders)
• (Blink) Stalkers
• Siege Tanks
• Mutalisks
• Void Rays
• Carriers

What tends to happen in games is that once your opponent achieves these numbers, they become really hard to stop, unless you have been accumulating units directly against what he's been massing.  Even if you have a balanced army, with a certain amount of anti-air or etc, his critical mass will generally do more damage than you can absorb while killing his mass, OR that he can use his mobility, slow unstoppable advance, or range to destroy key structures, but yet you will have a hard time countering it or attacking into it.

I've played several 2v2 and 3v3 games where one person masses one of these units and pretty much walks over bases like they weren't there.  To counter this strategy, you must SCOUT OFTEN.
Massing is a poor strategy if you can build counters against those units in time.



The other game aspects I can mention are key to success in any game:

• Pressure your opponent with harassment or even trade units to keep numbers down
• Expand more often than your opponent
• Defend against his harassment better than he defends against yours.
• Force him to build other units than the ones he'd like to mass, to defend against your harassment

 I discourage massing, because unless you are truly pro with your micro, or unless you've heavily scouted and the opponent's aren't massing the counter-unit, small mistakes can cost you the game.  For example, while your mutas might be able to outmaneuver a pile of marines, if you happen to fly directly over them, stimmed marines can really deplete your Muta count, and the unit-trade of marine kills for muta losses is a poor one.

Trash Talk: Making People Feel Bad

So I just had an experience where my practice partner, of all people, was giving me some trash talk.  Now, sometimes it's all in fun, but he's better than me, and when he repeatedly beats me and trash talks me as he's decimating me really doesn't make me want to play again.  It's possibly time to find another practice partner - aren't they the one to help you improve and want to play again and again?

I know that some people do this on ladder, although I don't know why.  Does it make them feel big to make someone else feel small?  Sure, maybe they are just figuring out what this whole "social conduct" thing is about, but for the rest of them, they're just ruining someone's day.

Why Terran are best... even though I play Zerg

Terran is better because:

• Surprise (cloak)
• Stim / concussive = slowing/haste
• High-damage units (siege tanks, banshees, thors)
• Repair/healing (scvs/medivacs)
• Unit synergies (marine/tank/medivac - gives mobility, drops, aoe, anti-air, healing, long range, and isn't weak to any one unit type).
• Mobile units (hellions, banshees)
• Ranged attacks > melee attacks
• No early-game weaknesses (MM are good against basically anything Tier1 and 2 - no glaring weaknesses (aside from Banelings))
• Very flexible openers (1 gas could mean anything, tech labs interchangeable.
• Uncounterable scouting (scan)
• MULES on gold patches.
• Come out ahead in base trades (flying buildings FTW)
• Easier to macro (can queue units instead of having to perfectly time your warp-ins or spawn larvae)
• Abilities to counter multiple special units (EMP)
• Early upgrades very powerful (stim, concussive)
• Ranged attack + small unit size = easy to bring units to bear (don't need concave as with bigger units)
• Ranged units are fast enough to kite, even without upgrades, with proper micro.

Terran's one weakness is the lack of mobility of their higher-tech units (Siege tanks, Thors, Battlecruisers), which explains why many Terran players stay with T1 units (marines, marauders) with upgrades, throughout the game.

Though other races have some very powerful units (Colossi, Carriers, Ultralisks, Broodlords), each of those have glaring weaknesses.  Even their lower-tier units (roaches, stalkers, etc), have glaring weaknesses.  Either they cannot hit air, or are crippled by their large size / surface area or are hard-countered by a "standard" T1 unit type the other side has.  For example, MM beats Stalkers, Roaches.  In Tier 2, Hydras die to Siege tanks, Roaches die to Immortals.  Ultras and Broodlords get chewed up by mere Marauders and Marines, and Colossi die to anything air, and Carriers are nearly impossible to get out in quantity and are slow.

So... Terran are the most flexible, powerful race... if you can use them properly. ;-)