I just can't seem to get the hang of Starcraft 2's multiplayer?

[Gralian]

Surprisingly this *seems* to be search bar friendly. Don't kill me if it ain't!

Anyways. I recently began playing Starcraft 2 after slogging my way through the original SC and Brood War. I'm coming up to the end of Brood War now and decided i'd finally take my SC2 for a spin and wanted to play against some other players online. Now i know multiplayer is vastly different to the single player in all the SC games, but i never expected the gulf to be this big. Got my arse handed to me in both the ranked, then practice league matches and decided to tackle the computer on medium to see if i really did suck. Turns out, yes i did! The computer was sending early rushes of marauders and marines before i'd even got more than a single stalker out or some equivalent. It was like this for any race i played. Eventually i managed to win with my old turtle tactics of holding out until i got a veritable fleet of battlecruisers, but i know this just isn't an option in online play against a human - i watched several showmatch videos of 'professionals' with commentary, and it's all very bewildering. I wouldn't have called myself a noob, but these guys make me wonder just how they can build so much crap in such a short space of time without NEED MOAR MINERALS or SUPPLY DEPOT REQUIRED.

The simple question i have to ask (mainly to SC2 vets) - how did you get good at the game? How did you learn your strengths and weaknesses with each race when you started out? Did you keep playing against human opponents until you got the knack or did you keep fighting the AI in skirmish maps over and over? Can you pass any tips to a rookie on how to survive early rushes and keep the pressure on the enemy? How did you close that gap from the single player experience to multiplayer experience? Cheers.

 

[SpaceGnome]

I found that after watching a few battle reports on youtube and adopting some of the methods there is was able to at least put up a fight.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/how-to-play-rts-games-competitively-for-newbies/a-20100908111313943060

This actually helped a few people out a fair bit. From what I hear, anyway.

Any RTS fans here tell me if those are ACTUALLY good tips?

 

[Tim_Buoy]

practice practice practice remember some of the people you go up against are veterans who have been playing for years and im assuming your terran if your playing 1v1 build your supply depots in front of your base entrance and lay siege tanks behind them should help you out in the beginning oh and would you like to play me?

 

[Remzer]

The thing that got me better with little effort is to start planning my build order. This way, you never "need more suplpy depot", because you started building you first additionel SD so it was complete before your units filled your army size. Then you find a nice comfy spot for your first Gateway, and so on...
It takes a while to get it down perfectly, and you need room for adjustments depending on your opponent's strategy, of course, but all in all, this will help you get a better, faster start.

Also, never underestimate the power of economics : more workers = more ressources = more EVERYTHANGZ!

Once you're done mastering this, get to know which units do better against what (to me, that's the tricky part). Then you get to practice micromanagement (to me, that's the impossible part).

(Note that I JUST started playing SC2, after NEVER finishing a SC campaign ever, and never playing multiplayer in SC1, so I'm a noob. A fat, slow, cannon fodder noob. But I found these tips the most useful to start me up in my SC2 Multiplayer adventure... Enjoy!)

 

[Shockolate]

I don't have any experience online (because I'm a pussy), but I've beaten bots on hard, So I guess I've got a few tips.

1. Resource management. Fill up you're supply with workers at the beginning. You want lots of workers. When you're waiting for the first supply depot/whatever, you can't train more, so use those minerals for the first building. While you're waiting for something like a barracks/gateway or some such, build more workers. More workers, more resources for cheaper units. You want to spend all your resources as you get them. You don't want a large cache of resources, unless you're waiting to build 7 Ultralisks at the same time. Man that was fun.

2. Do not focus on Tech from the very beginning. Unless you're playing as protoss against zerg (in which case I can get a void ray out before the first attack, which means they're fucked since they never have hydras that early) you will die. You need cheap, effective units if you want to fend off attacks.Just build, build, build. I also find it better if you have unit producing building being done one at a time, so you still have resources to switch things up on the fly, rather than having 500 inaccessible minerals wasted in a queue for zealots.

3. Play to unit strengths. The game itself give you tips on what units are good against others, such as marauders against roaches. Seige tanks for defense, marines for anti-air, etc. Race comes into play aswell. Reapers are wonderful against Protoss and Terrans, because they're faster than zealots and marines, but suck against zerg because roaches are tough. Scouting is essential for planning.

I've forgotten what else I was going to put, but you just have to research and practice. But that's just my advice.

 

[Jandau]

1. Don't play Zerg. They require more skill than the other two races to bring out their potential (and they're a bit underpowered at the moment). Also, the other two races are more forgiving of mistakes than the Zerg.

2. Play the Challenges. They teach you some of the basics of the game.

3. Watch some replays. I personally recommend HDStarcraft's channel on Youtube. You won't be able to mimic the actions of the advanced players but you'll get the general idea of how the game flows and maybe some basic build orders.

4. Watch your own replays. The enemy came with too many units? He suddenly blew up your entire workforce? He controls half the map before you built your first expansion? See how he did it and try to take it into consideration or emulate it.

5. Practice. Just play the game. No matter how badly you suck, there are people who suck more than you (my personal mantra in any multiplayer environment). Eventually, you'll start to suck less. Aspects of the game that used to overwhelm you will become automatic and you'll be able to focus on other things like micromanaging your troops and such.

I suck at SC2. I have less than 20 matches in the practice league and I'm just terrible at the game. However, I was also quite terrible at League of Legends when I started out. Fast forwad a month and I have a 60-70% win ratio and a solid grasp of the game. I expect SC2 will be the same.

 

[Remzer]

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/how-to-play-rts-games-competitively-for-newbies/a-20100908111313943060

This actually helped a few people out a fair bit. From what I hear, anyway.

Any RTS fans here tell me if those are ACTUALLY good tips?

Very. Well, to me anyways, as a SC2 noob. Thanks for sharing this, actually.

 

[Kursura]

Personally, I haven't got Starcraft 2 yet, however this might help you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Rv-s-7rNk.

Also, you?re always supposed to scout the opponent?s base so you can prepare a suitable counter to whatever their building.

 

[WarWeasel]

I'm just starting out in the gold league, few things that I'd suggest:

Play through the campaign on at least normal difficulty and pay attention to what its trying to teach you.

Play the single player challenges - they teach you incredibly useful things like how to counter units and building up your base and repelling early rushes.

Check out Liquidpedia for information on build orders and strategy.

Watch some replays - I recommend Day9, Husky and HDStarcraft.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Tip 1: Scout. Nothing is as important as this.

Tip 2: Know how to counter what you are scouting (Blings for MMM balls, Marines for Mutas, Viking for Colossi, etc.)

Tip 3: Do NOT be afraid to expand. The most important part of SCII is a strong economy, and if you turtle up and mine yourself out, you will most likely lose.

Tip 4: Remember, you CAN defend places besides mineral lines. Find, develop, and use Choke Points. Kulas Ravine and Lost Temple are great maps for this, if you play Terran or Protoss. As the Terran, use Medivacs to drop a few STs on the unreachable-by-melee cliffs in the middle, and watch everything in the center fall. Same thing with Toss, except you can just walk Colossi up there (although you have to keep on eye on them, because Zerg like to use mutas, and Colossi can't hit air.)

 

[Gralian]

practice practice practice remember some of the people you go up against are veterans who have been playing for years and im assuming your terran if your playing 1v1 build your supply depots in front of your base entrance and lay siege tanks behind them should help you out in the beginning oh and would you like to play me?

Can EU players play with players from the USA? If so, sure i'd be happy to play a game with you. If anyone would like to play with me in SC2 incidentally my adds are:

SC2 name: DeLuca
BattleID: Soulcraver106@hotmail.com

 

[noogai18]

Just hang in there. Like anything, it requires practice. Also, try 3v3 battles. They don't play exactly like 1v1s, but you'll have two other players to fall back on if stuff hits the fan.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I'm not great at the game myself, but I'm able to compete comfortably with the Bronze-level crowd. From the beta, the biggest tip I've found is to verse players a lot, avoid practising on the computer players because it's a whole new dynamic against humans. This is a bit daunting for a beginner, especially with the sadistic tendency of the qualifiers, but it does get better. You'll probably find the matchmaking will help you out more the more you play in a league. That said, I've yet to play a single game where my opponent isn't favoured.

So yes, it's mostly practice, but I would personally reccomend doing the challenges since they do a good job of teaching you individual situations you'll come up against. Also, builders are important. When I started, I underestimated that. You should get a lot, and make sure to do take out the ones your opponent has to slow their production, especially early game. And watch your replays; if you find someone playing your race that does things you can't do yourself, it's worth watching how they did it and trying to learn from it. That said, keep in mind that you can't rely on a single strategy to win every game, you should have a bunch of them in mind and adjust accordingly (which is easier if you scout).

 

[omega 616]

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/how-to-play-rts-games-competitively-for-newbies/a-20100908111313943060

This actually helped a few people out a fair bit. From what I hear, anyway.

Any RTS fans here tell me if those are ACTUALLY good tips?

There awesome tips, that APM demo was awe inspiring, there doing 5 things every second.

I am guilty of not doing half of them which is why I lose alot.

 

[Nimbus]

I jumped in at the deep end during the beta. Played 1v1 a few dozen times, getting my ass handed to me again and again. Eventually, I just learned to deal with it.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

I've been playing this for about a week. It's hard to get into, and I still suck, but watching replays really helps. I recommend HuskyStarcraft or Day9.

gl hf

practice practice practice remember some of the people you go up against are veterans who have been playing for years and im assuming your terran if your playing 1v1 build your supply depots in front of your base entrance and lay siege tanks behind them should help you out in the beginning oh and would you like to play me?

Can EU players play with players from the USA? If so, sure i'd be happy to play a game with you. If anyone would like to play with me in SC2 incidentally my adds are:

SC2 name: DeLuca
BattleID: Soulcraver106@hotmail.com

Sure, I'll add you. My profile name is ArcticBox and my Battle.net number is 723, if anyone else wishes to add me

 

[Fenra]

While I have no real tips I do at least feel your pain, I'm 15 matches into the 1v1 practice league and have only won 2... and one of those was because my opponent disconnected half way through and I'm petrified of going back in there again and getting my rump handed to me... I thought this was the practice league, you know where failures like me could fail together XD

However I do have one peice of advice, a learn from my fail at least, dont structure your entire game around one tactic as I do, I'd get one idea in my head and then if that doesnt work I have nothing to fall back on, if my zergling rush fails im left with an empty base and no troops, if they spot my nydus worms and set up defences where they were im screwed, if they.... well you get the idea, I have no flexibilty if the one plan I was basing my game around doesnt go perfectly.

Guess it doesnt help I play zerg with no multiplayer experience (only played the origina SC and broodwar about 2 weeks ago before picking up SC2 so i could follow the singleplayer story) and then find out they are the hardest race... and yet I love them so... guess I'm a glutton for punishment heh.... all I want is the zergling portrait is that so much to ask!