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.

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!

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!

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.

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.