My StarCraft 2 beta tips

-
I went to Buffalo on the May 2-4 weekend. Victoria Day. The same. Anyway, I left the photos at home so I don't have anything to link to. I haven't much in terms of a story to tell anyway, other than why would anyone go to Buffalo? Shopping? Sure. Some historical buildings, of which we saw a few. The most upsetting bit was that the swimming pool of the Holiday Inn was closed for the weekend! Much grumbling ensued.

Ok, whatever. I've been playing Starcraft 2 regularly since I got it a couple weeks ago, and I'm slowly polishing my Zerg play. Here are a few mental notes I've developed in that time.

Practice:
  • Concentrate on one race, one map, one match up (although these last two are not directly supported by the Quick Match system).
  • Often not that easy to hold an early expansion -- scouting is very key here.

As Zerg:
  • Use Overlords to lay down Creep highways to expansion, on important corridors.
  • Consider using a few burrowed Roaches to sneak behind their front lines.
  • Sneak Nydus Networks behind enemy lines, or ideally in a dark patch of their main.
  • Use Mutas for harass, map control.
  • Remember to pull back, hide or protect scouting Overlords.
  • Don't be afraid to build Spine Crawlers if you sense early rushes.

Zerg versus Terran:
  • Burrowed Banelings to stifle large groups of Marines.
  • Mutas to prevent drops, deny Siege-Tank placements, punish Terrans who don't have anti-air in their bases.
  • Watch for Reaper early harassment.
  • Large groups of Marines with Medivacs and Siege Tanks can ruin your day, but they are slow to move; set up burrowed-unit traps to get better angles of attack.
  • This is actually my weakest match-up; I'll often steal a win by busting their wall-in early on.

Zerg versus Zerg:
  • 10 Overlord, 13 Pool, scout with Drone, Extractor.
  • If they're going mass ling, build Spine Crawlers, Baneling Nest, lings.
  • If they're going Roach, go mass ling and hurry to Mutas.
  • If they're going Mutas, go Hydras. In such a case I usually also build a Spore Crawler at each Hatchery, depending.
  • I often build 6 lings regardless of what the opponent is doing, for scouting/harass/protection.

Zerg versus Protoss:
  • I've found that a mix of Roach/Hydra or Ling/Roach/Hydra works best.
  • If they're going 2 Gateway, early expansion will be hard to hold.. if more than 2 Gate, stay on defence and tech to counter.
  • If they're going Robotics Facility, go speed/crack lings with Hydra. Build another Queen or Hatchery if you're too money-heavy and unable to spend it on units.
  • If they expand early, you can probably safely expand twice or take a farther gold expansion.

I played a few games last night, not really enough time for more than that. I'm currently in the top ten of my league, Gold Something-Or-Other, but I'm not sure how accurate the standings are. The game that sticks out in my mind is one where I thought I was playing Zerg and so scouted very late, at which point I realized I was actually up against Protoss, and that he'd two-Gated me outside my ramp. How embarrassing!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

fifty is the number

-
I turned fifty last month. We had a small party with old faces, lots of laughs, and, at least for me, a reminder of the life I had before the pandemic, before having a kid, before my colon surgery . That is to say, a good time, and I hope to have many more like it. I do feel older, in practical, daily ways. For one thing my eyes have gotten much worse over the past year, so bad that I find myself looking over my glasses to look at my phone. My skin is just ravaged by this dry winter air, well beyond anything I'd ever experienced. A lifetime of neglect and sun-exposure has finally caught up to me. While I'm not exactly getting heavy I have noticed a softness building up around my torso. So over the past few months I've taken to doing modified burpees as my daily exercise and have been pretty happy with the results. I do them in small bursts, HIIT-style, and that seems about the pace I can afford, both on a time and energy level. I do try to play video games but I definitely ...
Read more

Dying, up close

-
In media people are portrayed as alert and cognizant right up to the moment they pass, able to give a final message to a loved one. Not so with my father, and I feel his death is more typical of the experience — a disinterest in watching or reading anything, increasingly jumbled speech, a loss of any appetite or thirst, just long periods of sleep. Finally a day or more of near-constant sleep, his heart beating slower and slower, until we turned away for a moment and he was gone. Though really he had been dying in varying degrees for weeks, his bodily performance a far cry from even a couple months before. It’s been over a month since the funeral  but the events leading up to it are still fresh in my mind, a history where my dad still lives, still has advice for me, still has smiles for his friends and family. My grief comes and goes, gradually trending to a melancholy, a deep sigh in my day. In truth I have been grieving these past few years as signs of my father’s end would appear...
Read more

a return to the mood

-
Image
And yet life goes on. In June we had a short visit to Montreal, packing in the usual sights and flavours, tempered by the heat and our own waning energy levels. We took great advantage of the hotel's pool, swimming a joy I never tire of, encouraging Sora to get more comfortable in the water. I didn't have much opportunity to pick out my old haunts but I could see that the city has grown since my days there, shimmering halcyon days full of youth and opportunity. Indeed every moment on the streets would bring waves of memories, of friends faded or forgotten, my head lost and spinning and trying to breathe it all in again. Obviously very different now but seeing it anew through Sora's eyes gave some fresh pleasure. We made the trip to the recently updated Biosphere, probably the highlight of the trip, the biomes living up to their names. My heart shatters at the thought of our poor Ontario Science Centre being stripped of its wares, each precious exhibit cast out, the unique, ...
Read more