official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

[trag3dy]

I wouldn't. Cheating is lame. :pinch:

[Lyric]

I wouldn't. Cheating is lame. :pinch:

That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it. I won't discuss this any further as I don't think it's allowed per say the forum rules.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it. I won't discuss this any further as I don't think it's allowed per say the forum rules.

You can discuss it as long as you don't provide any download links.

Anyway, I've been playing a custom game called Storm of the Imperial Sanctum lately and it's really good.

What is SotIS?

Storm of the Imperial Sanctum is a custom UMS for the Blizzard product Starcraft 2. Designed around the traditional AoS architecture, SotIS attempts to bring hero-based gameplay into the world of Starcraft, while maintaining the world-class visual presentation that Blizzard's Havok engine provides. Our design philosophy intends to produce gameplay that is familiar yet refreshing to both new and seasoned gamers alike.

Similar to predecessing AoS games such as Defense of the Ancients, Heroes of Newerth, and League of Legends - SotIS revolves heavily around hero-based gameplay. However, unlike such designs, SotIS introduces an element in the form of mercenaries, whose role in the game is to aid the early-game progress of your primary hero character. This inclusion should give rise to new forms of gameplay that require the unique micro and macro skills of the more RTS-focused player.

http://playsotis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169&Itemid=136

[S00N3R FR3AK]

ok so somehow 2 of my friends got me into mulitplayer. I am working on learning 4 gate protoss but have gotten killed by Maurader spam and got caught with my main army gone by those flying things from zerg. For maurader spam what can I do to counter that? Right now I am focusing on stalker/sentrys from my gates and even with shields up they got pounded.

[lalalawawawa]

ok so somehow 2 of my friends got me into mulitplayer. I am working on learning 4 gate protoss but have gotten killed by Maurader spam and got caught with my main army gone by those flying things from zerg. For maurader spam what can I do to counter that? Right now I am focusing on stalker/sentrys from my gates and even with shields up they got pounded.

Switch to air immediately... Don't play a fixed build, play a flexible build that uses scouting as the main weapon.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

Switch to air immediately... Don't play a fixed build, play a flexible build that uses scouting as the main weapon.

Well right now scouting is a pain as my practice matches their are a ton of debris walls to prevent scouting and slow down the rush. When I push air is it all void rays? Or are carriers a good choice too.

[Andre S. Veteran]

ok so somehow 2 of my friends got me into mulitplayer. I am working on learning 4 gate protoss but have gotten killed by Maurader spam and got caught with my main army gone by those flying things from zerg. For maurader spam what can I do to counter that? Right now I am focusing on stalker/sentrys from my gates and even with shields up they got pounded.

A 4-warp gate is effective if you can make it happen around the 6:30-7:00 mark. It's a rush: if it doesn't catch your opponent off-guard, it won't work very well.

Gateway units are effective in the early game but you have to tech to unlock Protoss's power. You need colossi to deal with your ennemy's ground army, blink to make stalkers way more mobile and effective, charge for your zealots, phoenixes to harass, immortals to deal with large tank counts, etc. Staying stuck on purely Gateway tech is a classic beginner mistake.

[PixilEyes]

Edit. Nevermind.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

A 4-warp gate is effective if you can make it happen around the 6:30-7:00 mark. It's a rush: if it doesn't catch your opponent off-guard, it won't work very well.

Gateway units are effective in the early game but you have to tech to unlock Protoss's power. You need colossi to deal with your ennemy's ground army, blink to make stalkers way more mobile and effective, charge for your zealots, phoenixes to harass, immortals to deal with large tank counts, etc. Staying stuck on purely Gateway tech is a classic beginner mistake.

I've been grabbing my upgrades for my gateway units and building immortals but I feel like I just never have the resources to go further then those units. When should I expand to another base?

[lalalawawawa]

I've been grabbing my upgrades for my gateway units and building immortals but I feel like I just never have the resources to go further then those units. When should I expand to another base?

Once you have 4-5 zealots / stalkers / whatever. Meaning, you should be expanding after / while building a second tier structure (Stargate, Twilight Council, Robotics Bay).

[DukeEsquire]

I've been grabbing my upgrades for my gateway units and building immortals but I feel like I just never have the resources to go further then those units. When should I expand to another base?

Look at some of the common build orders to get your started.

I would suggest a 3-gate expand rather than 4-gate. The 3-gate expand gives you enough units to defend against most early game attacks while also allowing you to safely expand. 3-gate expand is the bread and butter of most macro Protoss.

[BletchleyPark]

Can anyone recommend a good mechanical keyboard thats is NOT a widow? I use my laptop keyboard and a Deathadder right now.

[DukeEsquire]

Can anyone recommend a good mechanical keyboard thats is NOT a widow? I use my laptop keyboard and a Deathadder right now.

Unless you like throwing money around, personally, I would not get a mechanical keyboard. They don't increase your playing ability and, in fact, many of the top Korean players use very cheap keyboards.

What they do is pry out the non-hotkey keys so you can't mistype.

http://sc2pod.com/trackers/community/?id=2029

http://media.photobucket.com/image/korean%20starcraft%20keyboard%20remove%20key/ihatett/normal_boxerkeyboard_2.jpg

If you really want a mechanical keyboard, I would check out Das Keyboard. I've heard good things about them and they cater to a hardcore crowd.

[Ezaura]

Well right now scouting is a pain as my practice matches their are a ton of debris walls to prevent scouting and slow down the rush. When I push air is it all void rays? Or are carriers a good choice too.

SCII is ridiculously easy compared to SC:BW. Just send a miner to wherever the starting positions are, you can see them on the minimap and he'll find his own way, unlike BW, where they would literally just stop unless you direct them manually :s.

About air: don't, you're not going to win a 200/200 battle against any race with just air (on a map where ground fighting units are mobile). Void rays are mostly for early harrass against Terran. As in 1gate > cyber (stalker) > stargate (void ray) > (warp gate research). 2 max, otherwise you're eco is going to take a massive hit and it won't be worth it. You don't wanna do it against Zerg because by the time you have 1, they should have or almost have 2 Queens out. Don't do it against Protoss because stalkers pick em off easy. Terran Marines are outranged, so with good back and forth micro, a void ray should pick off a few marines and with proper use of the terrain, SCVs are there for the picking. Phoenix's are really good here with the pick up technique thing they do.

Carriers are just a generally no no NO. By the time you have a sufficient force to do any damage, you're gonna run into Zerg Infester fungal growth, devastating and easy pickings for Corruptor or Hydralisks. Terran vikings outrange Carriers and stim Marines cut down interceptors easily.. Protoss Stalker, Archon, Templar (storm). Just don't go Carriers.

[PGHammer]

protoss here anyone know of any good guides to read as I really suck playing online....

There are several - still, the best is watching matches from the better players.

TeamLiquid - home to several of the best players from all over - also has a forum that has linkage to replays from those players.

Natually, they *also* have replay linkage from n00bs like moi - so you can see what *not* to do...:)

http://www.teamliquid.net (free registration is a requirement to post, but not to browse)

[PGHammer]

SCII is ridiculously easy compared to SC:BW. Just send a miner to wherever the starting positions are, you can see them on the minimap and he'll find his own way, unlike BW, where they would literally just stop unless you direct them manually :s.

About air: don't, you're not going to win a 200/200 battle against any race with just air (on a map where ground fighting units are mobile). Void rays are mostly for early harrass against Terran. As in 1gate > cyber (stalker) > stargate (void ray) > (warp gate research). 2 max, otherwise you're eco is going to take a massive hit and it won't be worth it. You don't wanna do it against Zerg because by the time you have 1, they should have or almost have 2 Queens out. Don't do it against Protoss because stalkers pick em off easy. Terran Marines are outranged, so with good back and forth micro, a void ray should pick off a few marines and with proper use of the terrain, SCVs are there for the picking. Phoenix's are really good here with the pick up technique thing they do.

Carriers are just a generally no no NO. By the time you have a sufficient force to do any damage, you're gonna run into Zerg Infester fungal growth, devastating and easy pickings for Corruptor or Hydralisks. Terran vikings outrange Carriers and stim Marines cut down interceptors easily.. Protoss Stalker, Archon, Templar (storm). Just don't go Carriers.

Carriers are definitely a standalone no-no unless you already have a crapton of air (mixes of VR/Phoenix), are WAY ahead, and looking to push a checkmate/endgame (in which case you should followup with the Mothership, and surround it with mixed air units (Void Rays, Phoenixes, and possible even a Shuttle or six carrying anti-air ground units and an assault force to *plow the road*)). Also, even with air, never never NEVER deploy a single unit type if avoidable! Deploying a mixed bag makes counters that much more difficult - which is always a good thing.

[Ezaura]

Seriously? A 200 supply all / majority air army works? You in the Purple League or something? If I as a player am letting another to safely transition into carriers from any sort of starting build, then I'd be very disappointed in myself indeed. I should say, Viking probably have the same range as Carriers, but hit and runs combined with the Vikings superior speed make up for that.

[YounGMessiah]

I seen people win going straight void rays, I guess what happens is they have one or more of their teammates feed them (gas mainly I'm assuming) and they got about 10+ by the 20min marker, they roll in from back and charge up and yeah....

I personally don't those all-ins as you are screwed once you lost those units..

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

It'd be very hard for me to lose to pure void rays. If I scout your base and see that you went double gas, I'll assume you're either going for robo tech or air. And in that case, I'll continue to scout while producing stalkers and getting blink. I'm fairly confident a delayed 4-gate can also beat a void ray build.

Anyway, has patch 1.4 been released yet? I'm really looking forward to the immortal range buff.

[Shaun N.]

I've come to the conclusion that I just can't play this game, I have a friend at work who plays it LOADS and he keeps going on at me about macroing my abilities up and getting a tight build order and early expoing etc. I just can't get the hang of it :p

[YounGMessiah]

Start off to learn micro it is not that hard. Just watch other players play, the best way to learn besides doing it yourself.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

The latest balance change to the upcoming patch (1.4) is causing a stir on the Battle.net forums: "Infestor?s Neural Parasite can no longer target Massive units."

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/3393687#blog

As a Protoss player, it was really annoying when a Zerg player manages to use neural parasite on one of your colossi. It didn't happen often but when it did, I was faced with the choice of either sniping the infestor or taking out the colossus to minimize my losses.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The latest balance change to the upcoming patch (1.4) is causing a stir on the Battle.net forums: "Infestor?s Neural Parasite can no longer target Massive units."

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/3393687#blog

As a Protoss player, it was really annoying when a Zerg player manages to use neural parasite on one of your colossi. It didn't happen often but when it did, I was faced with the choice of either sniping the infestor or taking out the colossus to minimize my losses.

Well as IdrA said, the whole purpose of NP was to take out selected key units in your opponent's army, and these often happen to be massive: colossi, thors, archons, mothership. With that nerf, NP will only be marginally useful to take siege tanks, immortals and... that's it. Basically there won't be a good reason to get it.

A lot of the other changes are good though, especially barracks build time delayed by 5 seconds. Should kill the stupid 11/11 barracks build, hopefully.

By the way if you're looking for serious SC2 strategy discussion don't go to the battle.net forums. teamliquid.net is where it's at.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Well as IdrA said, the whole purpose of NP was to take out selected key units in your opponent's army, and these often happen to be massive: colossi, thors, archons, mothership. With that nerf, NP will only be marginally useful to take siege tanks, immortals and... that's it. Basically there won't be a good reason to get it.

A lot of the other changes are good though, especially barracks build time delayed by 5 seconds. Should kill the stupid 11/11 barracks build, hopefully.

By the way if you're looking for serious SC2 strategy discussion don't go to the battle.net forums. teamliquid.net is where it's at.

I understand that it's useful for taking out massive units and the removal of that aspect of the ability is a huge blow to infestors. Fortunately for non-Zerg players, it means worrying less about neural parasite and more about fungal growth. That ability is insanely effective against Terran and Protoss. In a lot of cases, over 75% of my army is taken out because of a few well-placed fungal growths. It's even more annoying when a bunch of your stalkers are taken out quite easily rather than zealots.

I'm glad they delayed the barracks build time because I found the 1/1/1 build to be both annoying and cheap. Anyway, it's funny you mentioned teamliquid.net because I just recently reset my password for my account there just to start posting around (to discuss Protoss strategy).

[Amarok]

I think they should have found another way to fix what they perceived as a problem. I think what they did is kind of an overreaction. I mean yeah it sucks if you play against a zerg player that goes heavy infestors and then NPs your meaty units and fungal spams your other units. I've been caught off guard and absolutely pounded by that .. but I don't think it was overpowered, I liked the unforgiving nature of it and it taught me to position my important things better.