Great build order trainer review on TheThinkingGamer. Please note I have not tested this myself.
Also, click the video to be taken to the actual YouTube page for links to download, etc.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Updates
Well, SCII has taken a serious backseat over the last few days. I started school again and have been very busy, but I have gotten a few games in. My biggest problem is the losing, which has gotten pretty bad as of late.
The biggest problem is I really have no idea what to do about it. For the time being, I think I have hit my limit in terms of multi-tasking and APM, so I see very few ways to improve, except for by developing a cheese build.
Still, the offer to play is always out there, and my games with fellow GiantBombers have been my favorites so far!
The biggest problem is I really have no idea what to do about it. For the time being, I think I have hit my limit in terms of multi-tasking and APM, so I see very few ways to improve, except for by developing a cheese build.
Still, the offer to play is always out there, and my games with fellow GiantBombers have been my favorites so far!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Protoss 4 Gate Tutorial
Even though I play mainly Zerg, I found this Protoss 4 Gate tutorial video extremely helpful. First of all, if you are a beginner Starcraft player, learning about build orders is always good. Second, I can now see just how easily Protoss can get a large unit ball going in the first 5 minutes, and I think any other race should be ready to defend this. Finally, although Husky Starcraft is not, at all, a favorite channel of mine, this video is clear and fairly well done. Enjoy.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Defending Cheese
I found a nice video detailing how to defend against early Protoss cheese as a Zerg. Short and to the point. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Control Groups
Control Groups in SCII are much easier to use than in SCI and BW, for sure. But still, they aren't necessarily explained as well as they could be. By far, the most helpful thing I have learned so far is how to put your production buildings into control groups. This means that you can be out in the field managing your units in an engagement (I don't really understand the subtleties of micro yet, so I will just say "watching" for now) and still be producing units.
Beginners must learn macro, including having a bustling economy. This means constant worker production, timely expansions, and wise tech upgrades. Once you get this down, however, you find yourself with extra income. Ideally, you will never have more than 400 gas or minerals stored in your bank, all available funds will be devoted to production.
The other problem, however, is that I have been recently hearing about the second danger of abusing production queues. Sure, having five siege tanks queued up spends all your resources, but it isn't really that helpful, since you have no new units to show for it. Plus, you can't use this money for anything else. Suppose the first tank produces and now you realize a turret would be helpful, first you must cancel the queued tanks, then build turrets. A better idea is to never have more than one or two items in a queue, and to spend excess resources on additional production facilities.
As this ThinkingGamer video explains, production building control groups solves this problem, almost entirely. An added benefit is that the game naturally queues up units evenly. If you have two Factories, and build six helions, three will queue in each without any input from you. Even better, you can use [Tab] to cycle between different types of buildings.
Two small notes: First of all, I tend to not control group my upgrade buildings, simply because I like to keep the focus entirely on production, and grab upgrades if I have a second. At my current level, pumping units and workers is enough to keep me plenty busy, forget the tech tree and expanding. Secondly, as a Zerg player, I like to make two groups of hatcheries. My 4 group are my harvesting hatcheries, with which I produce mainly drones and overlords, and then I put my production hatcheries in my 5 group. These are off-position hatcheries designed just for larvae production. The reason for this is two-fold. First, I avoid producing drones that then have to travel to minerals, and second, I can waypoint my attack units separately from my overlords.
Watch the video, check out TheThinkingGamer on YouTube, and let me know how you use control groups by leaving a comment.
Beginners must learn macro, including having a bustling economy. This means constant worker production, timely expansions, and wise tech upgrades. Once you get this down, however, you find yourself with extra income. Ideally, you will never have more than 400 gas or minerals stored in your bank, all available funds will be devoted to production.
The other problem, however, is that I have been recently hearing about the second danger of abusing production queues. Sure, having five siege tanks queued up spends all your resources, but it isn't really that helpful, since you have no new units to show for it. Plus, you can't use this money for anything else. Suppose the first tank produces and now you realize a turret would be helpful, first you must cancel the queued tanks, then build turrets. A better idea is to never have more than one or two items in a queue, and to spend excess resources on additional production facilities.
As this ThinkingGamer video explains, production building control groups solves this problem, almost entirely. An added benefit is that the game naturally queues up units evenly. If you have two Factories, and build six helions, three will queue in each without any input from you. Even better, you can use [Tab] to cycle between different types of buildings.
Two small notes: First of all, I tend to not control group my upgrade buildings, simply because I like to keep the focus entirely on production, and grab upgrades if I have a second. At my current level, pumping units and workers is enough to keep me plenty busy, forget the tech tree and expanding. Secondly, as a Zerg player, I like to make two groups of hatcheries. My 4 group are my harvesting hatcheries, with which I produce mainly drones and overlords, and then I put my production hatcheries in my 5 group. These are off-position hatcheries designed just for larvae production. The reason for this is two-fold. First, I avoid producing drones that then have to travel to minerals, and second, I can waypoint my attack units separately from my overlords.
Watch the video, check out TheThinkingGamer on YouTube, and let me know how you use control groups by leaving a comment.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
HotKeys from TheThinkingGamer
TheThinkingGamer is a new YouTube channel that provides some SCII tutorial videos. They are hit and miss so far, he is obviously very new. But some are amazingly helpful. This HotKey video has revolutionized my playing.
Some highlights for me include not having to memorize hotkeys, even for my primary race. First of all, there are too many. Second of all, it is hard to figure them out if you forget during the game. For example, some make sense, such as "Gather" being "G" in default. But then you get things like Overlord as "V." Yes, I realize they got it from the second letter, but it would be much easier if they were all just on the Grid. Even simple things like the Assimilator, Extractor, Refinery quagmire are streamlined.
As TTG notes in the video, attack being "T" is odd, sure, but the attack button is always in the T location on the grid, across all races and units. Therefore, you just learn Attack as "T" once for the entire game, and you are set.
Enjoy this tutorial video, and check out the rest of TheThinkingGamer's videos on YouTube.
Some highlights for me include not having to memorize hotkeys, even for my primary race. First of all, there are too many. Second of all, it is hard to figure them out if you forget during the game. For example, some make sense, such as "Gather" being "G" in default. But then you get things like Overlord as "V." Yes, I realize they got it from the second letter, but it would be much easier if they were all just on the Grid. Even simple things like the Assimilator, Extractor, Refinery quagmire are streamlined.
As TTG notes in the video, attack being "T" is odd, sure, but the attack button is always in the T location on the grid, across all races and units. Therefore, you just learn Attack as "T" once for the entire game, and you are set.
Enjoy this tutorial video, and check out the rest of TheThinkingGamer's videos on YouTube.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Growing Pains
Well, I am currently struggling with getting replays on YouTube. I am still looking for a good screencap program for Mac. I really need one with minimal overhead. Additionally, the one I did did not record any audio, including my later commentary in iMovie...
In the meantime though, some journal type stuff. I played 4 practice league matches, and won them all easily. I won both my 3 1v1, and a 2v2. So therefore I decided to skip the next 46 practice league and begin placements. Since then, straight losses. I am still playing Zerg, but right now the mid-game Zerg seems far outmatched by both Terran and Protoss. Or maybe I just need to improve. Only time will tell.
In the meantime though, some journal type stuff. I played 4 practice league matches, and won them all easily. I won both my 3 1v1, and a 2v2. So therefore I decided to skip the next 46 practice league and begin placements. Since then, straight losses. I am still playing Zerg, but right now the mid-game Zerg seems far outmatched by both Terran and Protoss. Or maybe I just need to improve. Only time will tell.
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