StarCraft 2: From Worse To Bad

[pinback]

PS: It's too hard.

This is the hardest game in the world. Because it's complicated, it requires unfathomable multitasking skills, and it's PASS/FAIL. Most multiplayer games, you can log on, kill a few guys, and that's it. You might suck, but at least you killed a few guys. There's no such satisfaction here. You either win (which you, if you are me, do not), or lose (which you, if you are me, do).

Christ.

Such innocence, a month ago. Look! Look at the enthusiasm when this thread started! Now it's made me want to kill myself.

More, I mean.

[pinback]

Alright, well... Time to pick myself up, dust myself off, trust in the veracity of these guides, and bring you the NEXT INSTALLMENT:

This installment is called:

Putting Your Buildings In Control Groups

That sounds like a terribly dry, boring title, so it may surprise you when I tell you that this is the most important installment that you could ever read, if you want to be a not-quite-as-terrible SC2 player. Stick with me.

If you've ever watched a replay of a professional (or even half-decent) SC2 match, you will notice two things:

1. Something has gone horribly, horribly wrong in your life, because you're sitting there watching replays of other people playing video games.

2. Somehow they're able to move their armies, attack with precision, AND build new units and buildings and upgrades at the same time!

I could never figure out how that was possible. I'd either be base-building, getting a bunch of guys together, while the guys I'd already built just sat around waiting, or I'd be taking my big group of units and attacking, while my base just sat there doing nothing. There are names for these things! You may have heard them, and if you watch a replay, you will definitely hear them:

TERM: "Micro"
DEFINITION: "Micro"-management of military units. Moving them around, having them scout or attack enemies.
USE IT IN A SENTENCE: "He's micro-ing really well, see how he sent those marines around to the other side of the (whatever, etc, etc.)"

TERM: "Macro"
DEFINITION: Economy building, Base building, Unit building, etc.
USE IT IN A SENTENCE: "That one guy micros better, but he just got overwhelmed because the other guy out-macroed him lolz gg omfg"

To restate my problems above, I could micro or macro, but not both at the same time. And that amazing thing the pros do? Microing and macroing at the same time. That is the number one key to becoming a only-a-fraction-as-awful SC2 player. And the number one key to microing and macroing at the same time is:

Putting Your Buildings In Control Groups

To review, a "control group" is when you assign a clump of units to one of the number keys on the top row of the keyboard. If you got ten zerglings, and you want to attack, you'd put them in, say, the "1" control group. Then whenever you wanted to select all of them, you'd just hit "1". If you wanted to center the camera on them, you'd just double-tap "1".

That's fine. But the key thing here is, you can put your buildings in control groups too!

Before I explain how to do this, I will give you an example of what it looks like:

1. Hurm, durm, here I am with my little army on control group 1, I'm gettin' close to the enemy, this'll be fun!

2. Oh, I should probably build some more guys back at the base, in case this doesn't go well, cuz I suck at micro.

OLD WAY: Leave your army sittin' there, scroll back to the base, select the production building, click on the little Marine picture (or whatever), then double-tap 1 and go back to moving your army around.

NEW WAY: Let's say you've grouped all of your production buildings on the "5" key. You hit "5". You hit (hotkey for Marine). You hit 1 to go back to controlling the army.

Holy crap, right? You just started building a guy, and it took two keystrokes, and you never had to move the camera. You were looking at your army the whole time, confident that back at your base, a new guy was being built. If you had two production buildings, you'd go 5, q, q, 1, and it would automatically make one building start building one guy, and the other the other. You made TWO GUYS in less than a second, without having to take your eye of your army. Oh man.

This gives you the idea of why this is so important.

I will just tell you how I do it. You can play around with it and configure it more to your liking.

TERRAN/PROTOSS:

I put "town hall" buildings (Command Center, Nexus) on 4. All of them. Any time I need a new worker, "4, q". Boom. Need a few? "4, q, q, q". BAM. BUILDIN' WORKERS. Also each of the town hall buildings has its own little special abilities which you'd also activate this way. As Terran, want to scan the opponent's base? "4, x, (click on where you want to scan". KAPOW. (Note, all of these examples assumed the "Grid" hotkey system, see last installment.)

I put production buildings (any building that makes units) on 5. I already gave you an example of this. This also, though, makes rallying easy. Want to rally ALL your newly created units to one spot? "5, (right-click on rally point)". Holy Jesus, you just rallied like twelve production buildings to one spot with one key press and one mouse click! HOLY CHRISTING LORD!!

I put "upgrade" buildings (those that you don't actively interact with except when you wish to do research to do upgrades) on 6. Want to research Warp Gates but are too busy to click around to find the Cybernetics Core? "6, z". KERSPOWW!! JOB'S DUN!

That's it. I use 4, 5, and 6 because 1, 2, 3 I reserve for groups of military units. Note how awesome this is, though. Using the Grid hotkeys, with these control groupings, I literally never have to move my left hand to do ANYTHING IN THE GAME that you'd ever need to do.

ZERG:

Zerg is slightly different because the "town hall" building is also the only unit production building. So they stay on 4, but 5 is instead used for grouping all the "queen" units, which have special abilities you need to be constantly using -- particularly "spawn larvae". Need to spawn larvae at two of your hatcheries with your two queens? "5, x, (click on minimap hatchery), x, (click on other one)". BOWFF!!! Now that's some fine larvae-spawnin'!

Alright. That's about it for today's installment, see you nex---

"HEY WAIT A MINUTE, PINNER! There's ALL SORTS of production and upgrade buildings! If you have them all grouped together, how do you select a Barracks to build a Marine, vs. a Factory to build a Siege Tank, vs. a Starport to build a Banshee? And if all my upgrade buildings are on one key, how do I research Zergling speed at the Spawning Pool vs. Air attack +1 at the Spire? Etc., etc.?"

That's the question, isn't it. And there's a very special key on the keyboard that has the answer. I will give you a hint as to which key it is:



Did you figure it out? It's the "Tab" key. And the reason it's the Tab key is because SC2 has something called "subgroups". You may group a bunch of different types of buildings together, or types of military units together, but SC2 will secretly distribute them into "subgroups", based on their type.

So when you select "5" to select your production buildings, can you guess which key will select the next "subgroup" in your main group? Can you?

I'll give you that hint again:



Here's the real life example, which will BLOW YOUR FRIGGIN' MIND:

You have two barracks and two starports, all on group 5. You're fightin' a battle, but quickly want to get two marauders and two medivacs building back at your base. Check it:

"5, w, w, TAB, w, w".

Your mind? FRIGGIN' BLOWN. First you selected the whole group (which defaulted to the barracks), built two marauders with the "w" hotkey, tabbed over to the starport sub-group, and built two medivacs, with the same hotkey. And since SC2 distributes your requests to all available buildings, each of your four buildings is building one of those units.

And it took you one second, and you never had to look at your base.

I guess, to sum up, I'd say that the most important thing to learn to do as you climb the ranks of the eternally mediocre, is:

Putting Your Buildings In Control Groups

[AArdvark]

Wow they seriously improved the interface of the game. I bet you could build twice as much in half the time now.



The multiplayer battles are gonna be fierce!


THE
STICK IT TO EM
AARRDVARK

[Finsternis]

Funny SC2 video of the day!

But he didn't use hotkeys!

[Finsternis]

I get a portrait. I try clicking around to change it, because I look like an asshole. I want to upload my pic of Porn from Fallacy of Dawn. Yeah, I can't do it. You can't choose what you look like in SC2. Which doesn't really matter, only it fucking matters because there is no reason to not let people do that.

Well, there is *a* reason - to keep people from using "offensive" portraits. Not saying I agree, but I'm sure that's their reason.

Technically you *can* change it, but not to some random image. There are new portraits available as unlockable achievements. So you can't have whatever you want, but you might find one you like better and see if you can get that achievement. You can view them all - in your achievements section I think.

[Finsternis]

PS: It's too hard.

Yes, it is too hard in PvP. There are a LOT of serious players out there - the "casual" player either doesn't seem to like PvP, or is content to play against the computer. By definition, PvP is made up of competitive people. I think most average users just want to play the campaign and then play against the computer without messing with other real people. that's probably what I'm going to start doing, except with friends.

[Finsternis]

Ben's tips are right on the money. I dreaded learning the hotkeys because I thought it would mean a lot of memorization. But the grid system really works well. i still have to glance at the icons, but that doesn't take long and I'm sure eventually I'll have the ones I use most memorized.

Putting buildings in groups is also crucial, though it's hard to get used to what gets created where when you have multiple ones selected. I guess you have to look at the map while pressing Tab.

[pinback]

Funny SC2 video of the day!

But he didn't use hotkeys!

That's part of what makes it funny. Not a lot, but, like 10%.

[pinback]

Putting buildings in groups is also crucial, though it's hard to get used to what gets created where when you have multiple ones selected.

This does take some practice. I do still rely on the icons to see what I'm allowed to build when. But that's a small price to pay when given how quick everything else is.

My problem with this system now is that, in stressful times, it's too easy to queue up too many units. "AUGHH! NEED MARINES! 5, q,q,q,q,q,q,q,q..." which is right in spirit, but wrong in execution, because you pay for units when you put them in the queue, not when they're built.

Good players (and "good" in SC2 means "friggin' amazing" in any other game) rarely have more than one or two units queued in any particular building, so the resources are available for other things.

But yeah. I just freak out and OVER-use my hotkeys.

AUGUGHH!!

[pinback]

PS: It's too hard.

Yes, it is too hard in PvP. There are a LOT of serious players out there - the "casual" player either doesn't seem to like PvP, or is content to play against the computer.

This is an excellent point. My estimate, done completely without any sort of research, is that 90% of the 3 million people who bought SC2 so far are "casual players". Meaning:

1. They played the campaign.
2. They maybe dick around with the challenges or whatever.
3. Maybe they go for some achievement points.
4. They most definitely do not play multiplayer (I prefer the term "multiplayer" for SC2 because in the community "PvP" has come to mean a "Protoss vs. Protoss" match.)

The remaining 10% of those are maniacs who want to actually try to turn this into a full-time hobby. This is why even in the lowest, Bronze, league, the quality of play is in general still way above what I'm sure you'd find if you sampled that 90% who just bought the game to, pshh, "have fun".

The only really terrible players I've found have been Bronze league players with, say, under 10 games of experience. These are "casual" players who made the mistake of actually trying to play the game competitively.

However, I have lost many, many times to Bronze league players who have hundreds of games under their belt.

This leads me to believe that a lot of this is about experience. I would bet on a 300-game Bronze player over a 20-game Gold player any day of the week. And it makes sense, because if you want to get serious about the game:

1. You need help, and:
2. BONUS TIP: You have to watch the replay of every game you lose.

This is really the brute-force, but usually best way of learning strategies that work, that don't work, or that work against this but not against that.

Learning why you lose is, ultimately, the most efficient way I've found of learning how to win. (Other than the various tips I've described in the major posts in this thread.)

But yeah. Multiplayer is madness. Because of this, though, it ends up being the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever experienced in all my history of staring at screens playing video games.

And that's a long history.

[pinback]

BTW, I was demoted to Bronze last night.

AHOY FELLOW BRONZE LEAGUERS!!

[Finsternis]

BTW, I was demoted to Bronze last night.

AHOY FELLOW BRONZE LEAGUERS!!

I await your inevitable sink to Bronze/99. Where I am.

[pinback]

BTW, I was demoted to Bronze last night.

AHOY FELLOW BRONZE LEAGUERS!!

I await your inevitable sink to Bronze/99. Where I am.

Well, you are terrible at the game. Which is why you need:

[pinback]

PART 3: CORE CONCEPTS (PART 1)

In this part (3) of a possibly two-part part, we'll examine what I like to call core concepts, because they are concepts, and also core. These are the some of the basic overlying, or possibly underlying concepts (or "things") that you will want to -- nay, have to -- keep in mind at all times whilst playing a game of StarCraft II.

To refresh, "playing a game" refers to playing a 1v1 multiplayer game against some other nerd on the internet. While these core concepts apply to other game styles as well, they are most vitally important in the core game, which is 1v1.

Alright, ready? I will try to list these concepts in descending order of importance, but realistically, to rise up to the level of being a bad StarCraft II player, which is our goal, they are all nearly equally important.

CORE CONCEPT #1: Always be building workers.



Start here, and if you must, play several games focusing on nothing but this. With very few exceptions, you are going to want to always be building workers. SC2 is a game of strategic and tactical skill second, and economy first, and it is vital that you grow your economy as quickly as possible. Some might disagree that economy is more important than strategy/tactics, but believe me, if economy is not your #1 concern, you'll never get far enough into a game to try out any of your precious strategies. And the way you grow your economy is to make as many workers as possible, as quickly as possible.

It also helps to know how many workers are effective at each base. That's fine, and we can learn that later. Short version: about 24 on mining, and 3 on each gas. But don't worry as much about that. Just worry about always be building workers. It's as easy as cake, too. You've got your base(s) on hotkeys, and you know that "q" is the grid hotkey for worker, so two quick keypresses will be enough to get the new worker in the queue.

The only time you ever want to not be building workers is if you are going to die if you don't do something else immediately. If you're about to be ZERGRUSHOMGed, then some more defenses or military units are probably more important than another worker if you can't afford both. But once the emergency's over? See: always be building workers.

CORE CONCEPT #2: Always be building supply buildings.



One of the two most embarrassing things you can do while you're building your army is to be "supply blocked". Your military buildings are sitting there waiting to create units, you've got plenty of money, but instead, they might as well be SPACE HOTDOG STANDS, because you didn't build enough supply buildings. The word "always" in this case isn't as precise as in CORE CONCEPT #1, because you don't really always need to be building supply. You do, however, always need to be watching your supply counter in the upper right hand corner, and when you see you're getting close, you need to start building it, so that you are never prevented from building more units.

Don't get supply blocked. It doesn't look good.

So far, if you're following these CORE CONCEPTS, you're developing what pilots call a "scan". A normal checking of certain things that is done on a regular basis to make sure everything's going well. So now your mental "scan" consists of: "Am I building workers? Am I keeping supply up?" This "scan" will take you far, but it needs to be happening constantly. Many people even put a little sticky note near the screen that says "workers, supply, ..." to remind them what they need to be thinking about, all the time.

It's hard work. That's SC2.

Now let's add even more things to your "scan", with:

CORE CONCEPT #3: Always spend all of your money.



"Money" is a general term which is applied to the resources available in the game: minerals and gas. The other most embarrassing thing you can do during your game is have any money. This is because your economy, which you've built up pretty well by following the first two CORE CONCEPTS is completely worthless if you're not spending the money that it generated.

Watch any low-level play, look up at the little resource counters in the upper right, and you're guaranteed to see some high numbers. Anything more than a couple hundred is "high". Anything more than 500 is "very high". And anything over 1000 is embarrassing.

It's contradictory to how you might think. You're sitting there with 1500 minerals and 1000 gas and thinkin', hey, things are goin' pretty good! Look at all that cash! Meanwhile, the enemy army comes in and roflstomps you because while you were hoarding wealth, he was spending it, and spending it immediately, to convert it to force on the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Now, there are two ways to spend all your money! One is the right way. One is the wrong way. Let's say you're playing Protoss, you've got a gateway up, and you've got 500 minerals in the bank. Let's look at the two ways you can spend 'em:

RIGHT WAY* (example): Select the gateway, build a zealot (100). Select the nexus, build a worker (50). Select a worker, build another gateway (150). Select a worker, build a supply building (100).

WRONG WAY: Select the gateway and queue up five zealots. (100, 100, 100, 100, 100).

Do you see the difference? Sure, in both scenarios, your bank account is now at zero. However, in the RIGHT WAY, every last mineral is actively going to use to bring more force to the battlefield, where in the WRONG WAY, only 100 is actively doing anything, and the other 400 are just sitting around in escrow.

Queuing stuff up is one of the most common errors new players make, in fact. So don't do that. But spend all of your money. If you've got a unit-building structure sitting around idle, build a unit with it. If you don't have enough structures to spend all your money on units, build a new structure.

If you can make money as fast as possible, and spend it as fast as possible (without queuing), you cannot help but become a bad StarCraft II player. And if, god forbid, you actually want to be better than that, then none of this is even a little bit optional.

Let's review your scan: Am I building workers? Am I building enough supply? Am I spending all of my money?

The final core concept, I was considering saving for part 2, because it may seem more advanced than these basic concepts, but ultimately it still fits into the theme of growing your economy as fast as possible, so I'll just launch right into:

CORE CONCEPT #4: Always use your macro ability.

[youtube][/youtube]

One significant addition to SC2 from the original game is that each race now has what's called a "macro ability". In layman's terms, it's a little gimmick that, if you remember to do it, allows you to build your economy faster than you would normally by just building workers. Here's a quick description of each race's ability:

TERRAN: May call down "MULEs", which harvest minerals extremely fast for a short period of time before breaking down.

PROTOSS: May "chronoboost" buildings, which has the effect of making that building build stuff faster than it would normally for a short period of time.

ZERG: May "inject larvae" into hatcheries every so often, which gives a one-time increase of the number of units that can be produced from the hatchery at the same time.

At first these may seem like fun little things to try out from time to time, but you will quickly learn that these abilities are not optional, and that you must be using them, every time, as soon as they become available, or your economy will fall behind, because the guy you're playing is using them, every time, as soon as they become available.

I forget this one the most often, because Jesus Christ, don't I have enough to worry about with the workers and the supply and the money, and by the way I'm also trying to build units and scout and deploy them to the battlefield and research upgrades and GOD DAMMIT I CAN'T BE THINKING ABOUT THE STUPID MACRO ABILITIES TOO!! It's too hard!

Well, it is. But you still have to do it. Nobody said that becoming a truly bad SC2 player was going to be easy.

Let's do one final review of the "scan", which contains all the things that you have to be thinking about at all times, oh my god:

Workers, supply, money, macro ability.

Burn these CORE CONCEPTS into your mind, and into your game, and I guarantee that you will definitely not suck quite as much as you do now.



(*) I realized after the fact that these only add up to 400. You get the idea, though.