Unit Analyis: Sentry

Today I'll be analyzing the sentry. The sentry is of course a protoss unit and I would argue perhaps one of the most useful units in the protoss army. Any serious protoss player I'm sure would agree. It has many uses and can be utilized in many different ways to help bolster the impact of an army or protect it from others.

The sentry has 2 default spells: guardian shield and force field, as well as one that can be later researched: hallucination. On top of all of that, the sentry also has a beam attack that can hit ground or air. It doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but enough to make an impact for sure. As you can tell already, the sentry having these skills and even being able to attack bake it an extremely valuable unit. They are a bit expensive for early game units at 50 minerals and 100 gas, but this is because they are not meant to be massed in large quantities, but rather used as supporting units much like the infestor for zerg. It is however, much easier to get them out before an infestor.

First I'll explain the abilities it contains and how they affect gameplay, then I'll go into specific uses for them. The three abilities are:

Guardian Shield:

Guardian shield costs 75 energy and provides a shield of 4 range all around the sentry. It reduces incoming ranged attacks by 2 damage to friendly units. Note: this does NOT help against melee attacks, hence it will NOT help against zerglings. It creates basically a small shield around the sentry that affects all nearby friendly units that happen to fall within it.

Force Field:

Force Field also comes stock loaded with the sentry and costs 50 energy, lasting for 15 seconds. It is also a smartcast move meaning that only one sentry will fire if you have multiple sentries selected, so you must repeatedly tell them to create forcefields if you want more than one.

Hallucination (must be researched first):

Hallucination must first be researched at the cybernetics core before use for 100 minerals and 100 gas. It costs 100 energy to use with hallucinations that last 60 seconds or until dead. It allows the sentry to create 4 probes, 2 high templars/stalkers/zealots, or 1 archon/colossus/immortal/phoenix/void ray/warp prism.

All of these abilities are useful in one way or another and can easily be utilized strategically. It is first important to survey the field in which you wish to use your sentries and manage their energy wisely. Perhaps the most commonly used as well as effective tool is the Force Field. 

This move allows you to create force fields that block off enemy movement. It is used most effectively at choke points or to give your units stronger positioning. For example, if you are attacking an enemy base and his reinforcements are outside of the base, it would be very simple to create one or 2 force fields that block off his ramp so his units cannot proceed up and you can continue to wreak havoc in his base or pick off his army from a distance. Another example would be to place forcefields around your stalkers against an incoming zergling attack to prevent a surround. These are only a couple of example, but I'm sure you could use your imaginationa nd think of similar situations in which this would help.

The hallucination is much harder to use as it requires a lot of energy and key timing, and it must also first be researched. Hallucination is a good idea for creating heavy units to confuse your opponent such as colossi or archons so they focus down on them first, giving your real army time to whittle away at enemy forces. Another good usage is to create an early phoenix or warp prism hallucination to scout and harass the enemy base before air units are even seemingly possible. This could possible disorient, confuse, and event rick your opponent into thinking you're doing a different strategy than you really are.

Lastly is the guardian shield. It is an important asset to the protoss army, but is much easier to handle and requires far less micro than force fields. It should be used when the enemy army has a large amount of ranged attackers and definitely not when there is a large melee force attacking you. It only reduces ranged damage.

As you can see, the sentry has tons of options available and can aid any protoss army in innumerable ways, especially with some good micro and patience.

Thinking Strategic: Choke Points and Wall-ins; Part 2

Hey everyone! First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting for a while. I started playing this game called minecraft and it totally engulfed my weekend. @.@ By now though, I think I can handle myself well enough to be able to play during my leisure time and get other things done.


Now that that's taken care of, let's continue with the topic at hand.


Part 2!


So like I was saying before, building placement really is key, and is something often overlooked by newer or less experienced players. If you watch more experienced players, usually building placement is key, especially for zerg and protoss since they don't have that easy wall in. Many players may see it as sort of a cheese or lame tactic to use your buildings to block off your ramp or workers or something, but it is far from it. It is cheese to early mass marines and go slaughter someone, but it's not cheese to use strategy and think of where to build your key structures.


In this section, like I said, I'll go more in depth and tell you exactly what it means to place structures strategically.


Terran


Terran players have the easiest time with structure placement as they can very easily hit the "redo" key and lift and replace. This brings up some key points though. With terran, you can place your first barracks in a good location, then build a tech lab/reactor and later on as soon as your first factory/starport is done, move it over to that first addon and start building later tier units much faster. In case you couldn't figure it out, this is how many players are able to get that quick banshee rush or tank up. Also, it's important to note that you can build and lift your command center. Many players build the CC initially behind their wall in and pump extra scvs to bolster their economy. Then lift it into the natural expo with protection.


Protoss


Protoss players have a bit tougher of a time with building placement, but have a lot of possibilities like terran players since they are only limited to the pylon power. For the initial choke point, what is very common (and works very well) is to build your pylon a bit behind your ramp then place the gateway in front. Now this can go one of two ways: first is to build a second geteway next to it leaving only a 1 square space. This is for general 2gating and helps to choke in your base as well. Another idea is to put up your cybernetics core next to it leaving again, one square. 


Both the gateway and core are very strong and are much too heavy of structures for early units to take on. But what do you do with that little hole? You fill it in with a single zealot on hold position. This makes an impassable wall until the buildings or your zealot is killed. A good follow up is to have some more zealots in reserve, or better yet, put a sentry near so you can easily use a forcefield and block the ramp entirely.


Another interesting thing about protoss is that you can build structures anywhere and easily walk away. This is especially useful for hiding buildings like a quick dark shrine or stargate. This is also useful for placing proxy pylons near your enemy. As scouting is very key, this can completely throw your enemy off guard if he thinks you're going for a land based army some phoenixes appear out of nowhere.


Zerg


And finally that brings us to the zerg. The zerg have arguably the toughest time with building placement, yet they also have a lot of interesting options open to them that the average player would not initially think of. In the beginning game, I seem to notice that most novice players either put their pool in a completely random location, or hide it behind the hatchery. This may seem like a good idea at first as you need to protect it, but it can in fact be detrimental. If the pool is placed alongside the gas and hatchery, it blocks off easy access to your workers and a quick rush in that is preventable by guarding the other side. Granted, it's not too common to run into a very early rush, but it does help. Also, when placing the second building, whether it be a roach nest, baneling nest, or even an evo chamber, it is wise to place it on the other side of your workers to really protect the mineral line.


Next what you have to think about is the creep limitation. Obviously, the zerg can only build on creep (except the hatchery). This becomes key as it forces you to spread creep more evenly and quickly. This is all very possible with overlord creep drop as well as queens pooping out those creep tumors. What you might not expect, but is a good plan in a pinch, is to move your overlord to a place away from your main then placing a quick spire underneath its creep. Like the protoss move this keeps your opponents in the dark if they scanner sweep your base.


One more specific point I want to make about the zerg is their ability to move the spine/spore crawlers. This is a very important thing to realize in the early game. As you can build some spines to stop an early rush, you can then move them out into your natural expansion as some early defense. Don't forget about spine crawlers in your main if your natural is now your main line of defense! With overlord movement upgraded you can bring in overlords to drop creep and even advance with your spine crawlers and keep your opponent in his base.






So to wrap things up, you just have to keep in mind how important buildings are and building placement is. They are more than just the places you need to build better units. They can easily be utilized to help with base defenses or even trick/harass your opponents. It's worth it to experiment with different implementations of your buildings and placing them in different locations.

More tips because I have to study :p

Haha, I was really hoping to get that cast out today, but looks like I have to keep studying. Gotta truck on through those midterms. Here are some tips instead to give you guys something to think about.

Zerg:

-Building on what I said before, use the early overseer to stop early rushes like void rays or colossi with its contaminate ability. When utilized properly, important game changing units can be easily stopped in their tracks until it is too late. When using a zerg infantry for example, look out for factories pumping out tanks or robos pumping out colossi.

Protoss:

-Don't forget about thinking about an early phoenix. Early phoenixes can lead to great harass and scouting as well as picking off any air units before they become a serious threat. They are excellent in later game for picking up tanks or immortals, rendering them useless.

Terran:

-Don't overlook the hellion. It's a very successful harassment unit in all stages of the game. If you can sneak past armies or defenses, the worker line gets blasted easily, especially with the upgrade!

Some new tips!

Hey everyone, wasn't able to get to that cast up today. I actually ended up casting a game that was from the beta stages and it turned out to be kind of a waste of time lol. My mistake, should have checked beforehand. Anyway, probably tomorrow I'll have it up. Here are a few tips to tie you over until then.

By the way, if you have any videos that you want me to cast, or saw something interesting, send me a line at sc2stratguide@gmail.com

New site email!

Zerg:

-Get an overseer relatively early and use it to your advantage. It's easy to bring an overseer into someones base and find a vulnerable spot then drop a changeling. Most people have a hard time noticing one before it's too late and you've scouted everything already. If you're really lucky, you can group it into their army and they won't notice!

Protoss:

-Make the choke point in front of your base with strong buildings. If you're opening into a 4gate, then make it gateway/cybernetics core. This will help protect your base with stronger buildings protecting it while at the same time allows you to tech up.

Terran:

-If you're going into an infantry based army don't forget to tech up! Get the slow missiles for marauders as well as the combat shield for marines. Make an engineering bay or possibly even 2 if you want to get upgrades out faster. Upgrading and teching will make your units exponentially times stronger.

Huk vs. Kiwikaki PvP Pro replay - MLG Raleigh

Hey everyone, new video post today! This is a cast I did from the recent MLG tournament in Raleigh. I heard this was one of the highlights of the tournament so I did a cast. Some good play on both sides and a surprise ending! Go ahead and give it a watch

Recently I've had lawyers on the brain and I like to think of 1v1 as a sort of courtroom trial, whether it be about bankruptcy or criminals or whatnot. Two attorneys battling it out in court, using all the political strategies they know and countering with separate precedences. lol, well a weird analogy but whatever.

Quick tips, video on the way tomorrow

Had my midterm today and hopefully I did well, if not then it would take more than a good lawyer to get my grade changed. Then I'll fail miserably in life and end up bankrupt. I wouldn't even be able to afford a bankruptcy lawyer at that point, just a bum on the street. Anyways... back to starcraft.


After this post goes up, I'll start working on a video and have it up by tomorrow. Here are a couple protoss tips:

Sentries are key to any protoss ground based army. Forcefields are amazing tools that can halve the effective size of any army when used properly. They're also great for an early ling block.

One tip you may want to utilize is to research hallucinate then send a hallucinated phoenix to scout.

Patch 1.1.2 Officially live!

So the new patch it out. I believe it came out sometime yesterday as I logged on and I was updated. I'll give you the release notes then follow up with my own thoughts and what this means for the meta game.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.1.2

General
•    Players will no longer receive achievement toasts while their status is set to "Busy."
•    The messaging when attempting to load a saved game or replay from a previous version has been clarified.
•    Adjusted the amount of points earned and lost by random team participants to properly reflect the strength of a player's teammates.

Balance
•    PROTOSS

o    Buildings

•      Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.
o    Void Ray
•      Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
•      Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
•      Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.

•  TERRAN

o    Buildings

•     Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
•     Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.

o    Medivac

•     Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
•     Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.

o    Reaper

•     Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.

o    Thor

•     Energy bar removed.
•     250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is researched).

•    ZERG

o    Buildings

•      Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
•      Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
•      Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
•      Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
•      Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.

o    Corruptor

•      Energy bar removed.
•      Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).

o    Infestor

•      Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.

o    Roach

•      Range increased from 3 to 4.

So there ended up being quite a few changes actually with a bunch of game changing new attributes.

First off is Protoss. The Nexus shield boost seems warranted. The Nexus goes down pretty quickly if left undefended and a 250 shield boost seems fair. I don;t think this will make their expos or anything imba. I think the void ray fix is great. Sure the initial damage level is increased, but probably to help with an early harass or early battle as they are very weak against larger muta/viking armies possible by the same time. Level 2 decrease is also good as their damage was way too much in the later game. 

The biggest change is definitely the speed decrease in the Flux vane upgrade. This will prove to be very critical I believe. It will be much harder for them to escape so easily when faced against an army that's too large. The speed of the void rays before made them too hard to track down and destroy. This will help in the much later game if someone goes mass void ray.

Next up is Terran. Like I said before, making supply depot a requirement for the barracks will really help against early proxy/reaper rushes. The increase in supply depot life will slightly increase the resistance hat a wall provides which will become more crucial as terrans will probably be more likely to turtle in from now on.

The speed and acceleration of the medivacs decreasing will change the drop game probably. It will be somewhat harder for people to get off early drops with mmm spam or even some tanks. IT will no longer be so easy to pick up and leave as quickly. This shouldn't affect the mmm army strategy though, because medivacs are already plenty fast enough to keep up with that army.

Reapers have been noticeably cut down in usefulness. Now with a later barracks, and nitro packs being so much later on, it will be much harder to get an effective reaper rush out. This will allow other races/enemies to gain a larger defense on their mineral line to protect against the reapers. 

The thors also got an interesting change. Strike cannons are now cooldown based instead of energy based. This will allow immediate use of the strike cannon and will probably be used more often as it won't require a building of energy. We might see some major gameplay changes with the approach to Thors since this update.

And finally we get to zerg:

Virtually all important zerg buildings are getting a health boost. I think this is long overdue and will be a worthwhile update. Hatcheries I noticed died far too easily as well as the spawning pool and spire. The lair increase will give a bit of a boost and should help in protecting expos early on. The spire and spawning pool life are really critical because these are truly critical buildings that can be built (and destroyed) very early on. Ultralisk cavern was also a bit low on hp, but should be able to be amply protected at that late point in game, so I would say it's a bit moot.

Similar to the Thors, the corruptors now no longer have energy and is based upon a 45-second cooldown. This is actually something that could change the meta game quite a bit. Later on in the game, corruption becomes an extremely valuable tool, especailly being able to hit multiple targets with only a few corruptors. It will allow newly spawned corruptors to use corruption, but now we will probably be seeing a lot more micro trying to protect them as they wait for the cooldown.

Infestor restricting blink is a good point, but I feel like it should have been that way since the beginning, so all I have to say is that it's about time.

The roach range increase from 3-4 will actually probably be huge. This will allow roaches to tank even better against melee units and start attacking from farther out. It will allow roaches to hit walls from farther away and chip away at terran bases with more security. It will also help the later metagame in a hydra/roach strategy. This gives zerg a few more strategies later on and allow roaches to stay apart of the army instead of evolving past them. I have yet to play any games in this patch, but there will probably be a lot of changes in total gameplay. Once I have some more experience I might do another recap. Thanks for reading guys!

I'll try to have that cast up later. I was able to record it and apply the watermark, but it can't upload successfully for some reason. On youtube it just says upload failed once it hits 100% :(

More Tips for today!

Terran: 

-Make sure you get orbital command as soon as possible without hurting for resources. Then be sure to spend your energy wisely! Don't let it buildup overtime and go unused, and likewise don't spend it too rashly. The first 50 energy is often well utilized for a mule. The extra resources help a lot. Be sure to scan for scouting purposes as well as protecting against cloaked invaders. Make sure you upgrade your expo to orbital or planetary as well!
 

Protoss: 

-If you use a stalker army, use blink to your advantage. A couple tips to offer here. With blink and some intensive micro, you can blink your hurting stalkers to the back of the line as their shields start to run low. This will increase the attack time of your army by the amount of rows of troops you have!


-Also for stalkers blink, use cliffs and backdoors to your advantage. Get an oberserver or an ally to give you vision while you blink up the backside of a base! Practically just as effective as a terran drop, but stronger units and easy to escape as well.

Zerg:

-Queens have a multitude of uses. Not only as larvae spawners, but can spread creep tumors as well as transfusion! Creep tumors you only need to make 2-3 of them and just be on top of the micro and keep spreading them. Use overlords to your advantage to drop creep and plop a tumor down. Creep highway is amazingly effective and useful!

-Also, don't forget about transfusion. If you have two queens in the early game, you can transfuse each other to hold off an early banshee or phoenix attack. Also, in later game, transfuse heavy units like ultralisks or broodlords if you're low on resources!



Stay tuned for the video guys! It's in 3 or 4 parts.

Tips for today

Hey everyone, how's it going? Today I have class pretty much all day and have a bunch of work to catch up on, so chances are I won't be able to do a video. But I might be able to later on tonight. If I do, I'll probably post it tomorrow! Just letting you guys know that this update will be a quick one full of a few tips.


Terran tips: 

-When fighting zerg, if you get an MMM army, be sure to get a raven for detection. When fighting any decent zerg player, there will probably banelings somewhere around the map or even scattered near your base. Use detection to spot banelings before your army becomes mine fodder. 


-Don't overlook the usability of the raven. Utilize autoturrets for harass and even tech up for the seeker missle to take out massive amounts of infantry. Especially effective against mass hydra.


Protoss tip:


-If you play tech-wise, always get heat lance for your colossi. It is ESSENTIAL! Giving your colossi the 7 range will help tons with micro managing and keeping them alive that much longer.


Zerg tip:


-Don't forget about the infestors! Infestors play a key role in any zerg army. Fungal growth can cripple an MMM army and infested terrans are great for harass or last minute defense.

Protoss - Double Gating

Today's strategy is far more general than the speedling rush and this will be a relatively quick post. For protoss, double gating is something that should be done in order to get out units as quickly as possible. It is most often associated with zealot rushing and if need be, an expansion into 4 gate. The term "gating" just refers to Gateways or Warpgates in which the gateways turn into. With a double gate method you generally want to put the two near the front of your base and initiatie the choke point, which I will get to at a later time. 

Of course the first building should be the pylon near the choke point of your base, but not on the outside or too far out so that ranged units can attack it. Once you hit 150 minerals, plop down a gateway and continue gathering minerals. Meanwhile keep training probes. Once you hit another 150 minerals, be sure to throw down another gateway. As soon as possible start training a zealot at your first gateway and chrono boost it out. This will prevent any sort of rush on you. From here on out you can decide to start mining gas and throwing down a cybernetics core or continue to pump out zealots. With double gate though, it is very common to do a zealot rush which will generally work well against another toss player or even a zerg or terran if their defense is lacking.

Again, I'll try to put up a video when I get the chance and sort out the whole video process.