** Official Star Craft 2 Multiplayer Thread **

[MustangSVT]

this game is more cpu intensive.
too bad it only uses max 2 cores. suggest sandy bridge route.
video card is fine, you would be able to run high with right cpu.

 

[Udgnim]

http://www.gomtv.net/2011championship/vod/63894

watch Set 8. absolutely amazing TvZ with an unexpected surprise. I can't Tiger Woods fist pump enough for this game. the game absolutely epitomizes why people watch Starcraft as an e-sport for the most part.

Spoiler

and battle.net CAN GO FUCK OFF. give LAN support for at least pro matches.

 

[JTsyo]

Seems the leagues have been reset. Played one match for each and got placed in the same division as before. I think the game helps determine rank.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Is this game more CPU driven or GPU driven? I have an x2 cpu (can't recall the dang speed) + a 9600GT.. Which should I upgrade first?

I want more fps during big 200 food battles. Small little micro battles i have no real Frame rate issues.

it's both.
someone did a review and i think 3 core was a good jump over dual, but quad yielded not much over tri.
gpu is important as well.

i have it running on my gf's machine which is sporting a i5 750 and 9500. runs ok on medium @ 1280*1024.

 

[MikeyLSU]

ouch, I haven't played ladder multiplayer in a few months after starting a new job. So yesterday I finally decide to try to get back into it.

1v1 and 2v2, after my 1 placement match for the new season, I lost it and was put into diamond for both.

I then went a combined 1-5 for the night, with not a lot of competition from my part. This is the worst part about being in a league. My level of playing right now is nowhere even close to diamond, I need to be playing silver probably till I get my build order back up and everything.

May try to start using a different race for fun if I'm going to be losing anyway.

 

[evident]

have not played sc2 since sat. i'm having serious withdrawal. my main rig is in my new kittens' safe room and i dont want to plug the wires in until they realise its not their chewing toy!!!

 

[PUN]

Any of you watched the recent GSL tournament? ST_July was sickening in the preliminary round....unbelievable control and macro management with the queen.

 

[eLiu]

Idra vs Huk MLG game 2, EPIC MOMENT
http://www.justin.tv/jabba_sp/b/282868451

SUPER EPIC starting around 9:00. Keep watching till around 13:15 for even more epicness.

 

[Fenixgoon]

http://www.gomtv.net/2011championship/vod/63894

watch Set 8. absolutely amazing TvZ with an unexpected surprise. I can't Tiger Woods fist pump enough for this game. the game absolutely epitomizes why people watch Starcraft as an e-sport for the most part.

Spoiler

and battle.net CAN GO FUCK OFF. give LAN support for at least pro matches.

Spoiler

on game1 i was waiting for dimaga to go air. he could have just lollerskated over that tank/maurader army. damn shame about MVP dropping

edit: oh yeah, the planetaries across the map was fucking brilliant by MVP

 

[onza]

Idra vs Huk MLG game 2, EPIC MOMENT
http://www.justin.tv/jabba_sp/b/282868451

SUPER EPIC starting around 9:00. Keep watching till around 13:15 for even more epicness.

dead link is dead.

 

[Farmer]

Until November of 2010, I played 1v1 only. I am only gold league, but since then I've switched over to team games.

I feel I am languishing! Need to get back to 1v1 and at least get into Platinum. I feel like my strategy is sound, it just takes practice to get the APM, or micro/macro coordination down. One good example is effective scouting/worker harass while continuing worker and building production. Effective use of keyboard shortcuts/teams.

Any suggestions?

For those comparing SC2 to COH in terms of "feature lists": You're right, COH is probably more sophisticated/complicated than SC2. SC/SC2 is good because it has a simple set of rules and features. The depth comes in the strategies and tactics that evolve from them. Just like any board game, it appeals to a wide audience because it's relatively simple to learn, but also extremely difficult to be good.

 

[onza]

Until November of 2010, I played 1v1 only. I am only

I feel I am languishing! Need to get back to 1v1 and at least get into Platinum. I feel like my strategy is sound, it just takes practice to get the APM, or micro/macro coordination down. One good example is effective scouting/worker harass while continuing worker and building production. Effective use of keyboard shortcuts/teams.

Any suggestions?

You never mentioned what "race" you play?

I can comment from a protoss perspective. Always hold watch towers, build scouting units, use your workers as scoutting units.

My hotkey setup is as follows
1 - main army
2- secondary energy army/air/collosi
3- production buildings
4- nexus's

 

[Farmer]

More zerg than toss. I am not creative with Terran, though sometimes I can win.

SC2 is definitely not as APM intensive as SC1. I think 150 ish average APM will get you to high Platinum/Diamond. Right now I am 80ish.

I don't need to know what I should do. I am aware of what I should do. It's just difficult for me to execute everything. I'm at a point where I might forget to macro during a battle, or the act of macroing will significantly disrupt my battle play. Or if I worker harass early on, I will languish in base building, etc.

 

[onza]

Farmer,

I would focus on MACRO vs micro. Once you get your macro down the micro will follow. If you focus so much on micro you can't build an army. BUT if you have a HUGE army that wins more battles then a micro battle. I think scouting early in game is the best so you don't die to all - in scenarios. This is all general speak. If your apm is around 80 I think you are doing just fine.

Do you use key binds ?

 

[MikeyLSU]

you don't need nearly that high of an APM to get in plat/diam.

I'm in diamond 1v1 and 2v2 and last I checked my APM probably averages around 50 with spikes during battles up probably around 100. I'd have to check to get more accurate numbers, but I know I don't come close to averaging 150.

 

[Farmer]

For toss, I hotkey individual Nexi(?) and use W for warpgates. For zerg, I hotkey individual hatches. For hatches.nexi, I now use 1,2,3... because they are close to my hand, but the norm is to use 4,5,.... since 1,2,3... is normally saved for the army.

I think I definitely need to work on my scouting, esp. when playing zerg. Toss can do something like a 4warp gate to various degrees of success, even if scouting is poor. But I find zerg much more reactive, as in, when can I stop droning and when do I need to pump out a bunch of roachhydra to fend his 6-7gate push.

Idk, I will play more. I just feel like I am at a plateau on the learning curve.

MikeyLSU:

50 APM? Really? I must really suck then.

 

[onza]

Farmer,

One more thing to note, while playing zerg do you park a zergling by their ramp so you know if they are pushing out? Lings cost so little yet offer so much speed that if you were to loose one it's not a huge investment. When the protoss pushes the minimap gives off a small alert. Saying I NEED TO CREATE units + spine crawlers.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

question for mostly the zerg and terran players.
how do you quickly grab multiple workers to build buildings?

1. scroll screen to main hatch/cc.
individually grab a guy (preferably without minerals lol), set him to build, repeat for next building.

2. box the area around the minerals, selecting all workers.
issue commands and let the AI handle which worker will build.

for toss, i'll grab 1 probe and queue up buildings next to each other.

 

[eLiu]

question for mostly the zerg and terran players.
how do you quickly grab multiple workers to build buildings?

1. scroll screen to main hatch/cc.
individually grab a guy (preferably without minerals lol), set him to build, repeat for next building.

2. box the area around the minerals, selecting all workers.
issue commands and let the AI handle which worker will build.

for toss, i'll grab 1 probe and queue up buildings next to each other.

1) *DO NOT* scroll. double-tab a hotkey to snap vision over there. Or click on hte mini-map. Or use the camera-view hotkeys (f5 through f8, but i remapped to f2 through f5).

2) DO NOT box the entire mineral line. If you want to make 1 building, box/click 1 guy. If you need several things, box a small number of guys & go build.

Even better: hotkey a few workers. When you want to build something, double-tap that hotkey to snap vision back. Then build away.

edit: general theme: manipulate as few units as possible to get the job done. This goes for buliding stuff, moving guys to gas, army management, everything.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

1) *DO NOT* scroll. double-tab a hotkey to snap vision over there. Or click on hte mini-map. Or use the camera-view hotkeys (f5 through f8, but i remapped to f2 through f5).

2) DO NOT box the entire mineral line. If you want to make 1 building, box/click 1 guy. If you need several things, box a small number of guys & go build.

Even better: hotkey a few workers. When you want to build something, double-tap that hotkey to snap vision back. Then build away.

edit: general theme: manipulate as few units as possible to get the job done. This goes for buliding stuff, moving guys to gas, army management, everything.

i did not mean scroll in the literal sense. i meant 'do whatever you need to do to get your screen to be on your main'.

hotkeying workers... i've thought about but never got around to doing it for a couple of reasons.
1. they could be on gas. you might not send them back to mineral and screw yourself that way.

2. muta/helion/ling harass might kill your hotkeyed worker.


why not box all workers (minus gassers)? it's faster than selecting individual guys.

 

[eLiu]

i did not mean scroll in the literal sense. i meant 'do whatever you need to do to get your screen to be on your main'.

hotkeying workers... i've thought about but never got around to doing it for a couple of reasons.
1. they could be on gas. you might not send them back to mineral and screw yourself that way.

2. muta/helion/ling harass might kill your hotkeyed worker.


why not box all workers (minus gassers)? it's faster than selecting individual guys.

well had to be sure w/the scrolling. a lot of people scroll.

i mean don't hotkey the guys you put on gas? It's not that hard. You can periodically update the "builders" hotkey group. Yes harass might kill them, so then you'll have to do the regular thing. Besides those times, it'll be faster. Also hotkey more than 1 worker, lol. The idea is to have that group be able to cover all of your building needs. Refresh the group after transfers or putting guys on gas or harass or whatever.

boxing is not faster. You have to drag a box over the whole mineral line. how is that faster than moving the mouse to a single worker? Or how would that be faster than drawing a small box over like 3 or 4 guys? Not boxing also means you don't accidentally grab gas workers (what would you do if the gas was in hte middle of the mineral line...); it means that any misclicks dont affect the whole group, etc.

Drawing big boxes is a bad habit; it's slow and imprecise. You want single precise clicks or small boxes over just the local region that you need to control.

 

[HomerX]

50 APM? Really? I must really suck then.

I'm also diamond 1vs1 and my average APM is around 40-50 in most of my games...

If i play with some Plat firends they always have more then double my average APM... but they still loose..
I always see threads of broze players who are trying to improve their APM etc...

APM (especially the average APM) is not as important as most people think... 40-50 average APM is more than enough for diamond/master as long as you are able to do ~100-150 APM in a battle etc...

APM is only a tool in order to realize your decisions... As long as your max APM is not lower than the amount of decisions you make then you have no reason to increase your APM...
Most players that are trying to improve should rather focus on increasing the amount of "good" decisions... having 200 APM is pointless if you use them to repeat 10 decisions 20 times per minute and 5 of those 10 decisions are bad...

on another note: a lot of people are spamming in the first minutes of a match.. 300-400 apm...
if the match is only 10 minutes long this will severely skew your "real" average APM... look at your APM during intense moments in the replay... fights, harassement etc... this is a better indicator of the apm you are capable of..

Working on Increasing your average APM beyond 100 at your lvl of play is like preparing for a math exam by typing on you calculator as fast as possible instead of learing the math rules...

 

[MikeyLSU]

dumb question and I should know this but you get harrassed and you pull your workers off the line.

When you get them back, is there an easy way to get the gas guys back to gas and minerals back to minerals?

Or do you just need to do it the normal way and just do them separately?

 

[onza]

dumb question and I should know this but you get harrassed and you pull your workers off the line.

When you get them back, is there an easy way to get the gas guys back to gas and minerals back to minerals?

Or do you just need to do it the normal way and just do them separately?

To the best of my knowledge no real easy way.

I do a small box hope i get 3-4 probes then unselect one to get 3 worker units then put them back on gas.

 

[HomerX]

dumb question and I should know this but you get harrassed and you pull your workers off the line.

When you get them back, is there an easy way to get the gas guys back to gas and minerals back to minerals?

Or do you just need to do it the normal way and just do them separately?

I am not aware of an "easy" automated way.
I send them all back to the minerals and select a few for gas separately..