Thinking Strategic: Choke Points and Wall-ins

Hello! How are you today?

Today I'm going to be taking a bit of a different approach. No replays, no specific strategies or tips, but rather an overall mindset in starcraft. I find that many of the worse players I've come across really drop the ball when it comes to wall-ins or overall base protection and the better players have exceptional strategies for keeping enemies out of their base. This brings me to my point, if you want to get better at starcraft, you must have some semblance of how to build defensively. This is especially true with protoss and zerg, as it becomes much harder for these races to build defensively as compared to terran who can lower supply depots easily.

Today I'll talk about the overarching strategy, and for tomorrow I'll go into more detail on how to exactly go about building in this fashion. Most lower tier players see buildings as merely that, just buildings. Cybernetics core leads to stalkers and higher tech, engineering bay is good for upgrades, etc. This is much different from the more experienced player. The more experienced player will see buildings as opportunities. They take up a large portion of land space and have high amounts of health and/or shield. 

Generally, all maps have some very specific choke points at or near the base, and most have ramps up into the base that becomes the main danger to the player. This is where one should focus down on their defense.

Terran is obviously the easiest in securing the ramp with a barracks and a couple of supply depots. It is important to note, though, that the wall can easily be interchanged later on in the game due to the nature of the terran buildings and their ability to lift off. This is something important to keep in mind in securing the terran wall.


Protoss is a bit more difficult as there is no supply depot doorway, but the gateway and cybernetics core have a wealth of hp and armor that can defend well against early attacks, especially when used in conjunction with a couple of units to seal off the entrance.

For zerg of course, buildings becomes exponentially more important as they are the one thing keeping you between only building drones, or building end tier ultralisks. With zerg, the early buildings are much often better placed around the mineral line, blocking a quick entrance into the workers and the later tier buildings should be protected as much as possible, especially the spire. Zerg buildings are perhaps the most dangerous to play around with as they are the hardest to rebuild and leave the player the most vulnerable if they come down.

The main point of this post is to make you think more thoroughly about how to set up your buildings. It actually is important in where you place your buildings and it would do you well to play a few games and discover where it is most effective.

To be continued in pt. 2 tomorrow.

mouzMana vs. SharkGSjoW

Here's the replay I promised! It is a little bit old at I believe patch 1.0.3, but still a good game nonetheless. Lots of back and forth on both sides and it is interesting because no side is clearly dominating at any one point in the game. I will admit this isn't my best cast and I gotta lower the mic so the keyboard doesn't get picked up as easily, but I think I did a decent job. Ah well, enjoy!

Filler post while the videos upload

So today I did another cast and it's a pretty good one. I found out though that it's actually a little bit old, I believe patch 1.03. Anyways, while that's uploading I thought I might as well post something if just to update you guys.

I thought that this personality test is actually quite interesting and is quite in depth and accurate. It's pretty fun, not too long (though there are 60ish questions) and really simple to do (they're all two option questions). I think you guys should give it a try and let me know what your type is! I'm an INTJ btw.

 Personality Test


Here's the link in case you missed the big hyperlink:
http://www.personalitytest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl

Apparently INTJ's make good lawyers sometimes. It would be pretty fun to be a lawyer I think. Maybe deal with bankruptcy or something. I could be the bankruptcy lawyer the terrans needed to get out of zerg debt. xP The main job seems to be science related and I'm a computer engineering major. woot! :)


The video should be up in a couple hours and I'll prolly make the post tomorrow so just wait it out and take the test.




Here's a quick tip:


Although apm isn't everything, it is generally the mark of a good player to have a high apm. If yours is low, then you probably have not so good micro/macro control. Try to increase your apm by managing more things at once and not focusing so much time on one event!

LiquidTLO vs. TorcH - MLG Dallas Winner's bracket round 3

Hey guys! I got a new cast for you today! This is a pretty exciting matchup and I think I have all the technical kinks worked out (I lowered the game sound). I wasn't tired at all after a long rest (sorry for the lack of posts btw) and a good weekend. Now it's time to get back into the swing of things and enjoy some more replays and strategies! This is a matchup between some pretty good players, my first time seeing torch and TLO is always fun to watch.

Every time I watch a zerg match I can't help but think of how much they are like crazy greedy people putting others (especially terran) out of business and driving them bankrupt! Which would result in the need for a bankruptcy attorney. Zerg love to expand early and often with total map control leaving the other players economically hurting, and essentially in bankrupt. They would need a real good attorney to fight off the zerg though. :p

Replay Follow up! FruitDealar vs. SlayerSBoxeR: Game 2!

This is part 2 of the exciting 2 game series between fruitdealer and boxer at blizzcon! I know I haven't posted in a while but hopefully this makes up for it. :)

Kind of like what I was saying before, these 2 would be excellent lawyers! Boxer would be great at pulling out precedences left and right (micro?), while fruitdealer would be like the attorney general with his finesse about the courtroom (macro?). Maybe not, lol.

Sorry about yesterday and today

Sorry I missed yesterday, been swamped with schoolwork. Got a midterm today. Hopefully afterward I can put up a new cast. :) Stay tuned!

200 Followers!

Wow! 200 Followers! Thanks guys! I can't believe how quickly this site has grown and with such a supportive fanbase. Thanks a lot guys, this is incredible! But let's not stop here, let's get more and more people! Tell your friends! :D