Theres some pointers I noted down while playing melee.
So here are some of my pointers. If anyones got more valid suggestions,
feel free.
- Keep making workers; and to do this, hotkeying mainbase is a good idea.
- Keep mineral count below 1000.
( Keep it low. Just don't let it go above 1000. )
- On the exception, keeping a reserve of resource after maxing out is a good idea.
- Memorize build orders and expand.
- Keep scouting, and mobilizing troops.
- When you expand, extend the amount of troop production centers.
( On basis of geyser count )
- Do not forget supply.
- Do not let workers idle.
- Use unit spells frequently using it to its maximum potential.
( You should know each unit's ability and its uses. )
- Use units in combination so they do not get countered very easily.


Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Sep 10 2007, 8:04 am by BeDazed.

Race specific ones from my strategy book. These are only Brood War ones.

^{Medic Tricks
Keep a medic or two near your workers, to heal if attacked.
Optic flare can stop reaver drops if you blind both the shuttle and the reaver.
In a team game, a zerg army with medics is a powerful combination.
Restoration removes Parasite, Plague, Ensnare, Irridiate, and a Devourer's Acid Spores.
Valkyrie Tricks
Use Valkyries to easily kill large amounts of overlords.
Valkyries and Devourer's combined can kill mostly all air.
Lurker Tricks
Burrow Lurkers at choke-points.
Place a few near your resources just in case.
Place a few near your enemies resources to clear workers.
Place at key crossroads.
Devourer Tricks
Combine with Mutalisks.
Acid Spores slow attacks of enemies.
Dark Archon Tricks
Mind Control is good defense against unit-drops. Take over the shuttle/dropship/overlord to gain many units.
Maelstrom freezes bio units. Combine with Psionic Storm to take out armies.
Mind Control an SCV or Drone for a bigger max supply and more units available.
Use feedback, damage any units with an energy bar. (Wraiths, Science Vessels, Queens, Defilers, Templars, Battlecruisers, and Ghosts.
Dark Templar Tricks
Build a Templar Archives and Dark Templars quickly. Try to attack before they have cloak detection. Even if it's only one unit, your enemy may overreact and spend a lot more than needed on detection, throwing off their game.
They are always cloaked, so you can use them as spies.
Corsair Tricks
Disruption web is very powerful, it can make air attacks on ground units much easier. Be sure to also get the energy upgrade for your Corsairs, do you can use Disruption Web twice before having no energy.
They can be used to scout. They are cheaper and faster than scouts.
Can be used to devastate any overlords.}

Those "tricks" make me laugh.

PvZ or ZvP, Protoss ground weapon upgrades vs Zerg carapace upgrades are critical, if P has 1 upgrade on Z, it cuts 1/3 of the hits off a zeal to kill a zergling.

PvT never keep all your men inside your base, and constantly scout the paths out of the enemy main, when the enemy leaves with his tanks and vults to push you, you need to have units both in and out of your base, so you can flank.

TvZ have fun with d web and irradiate, remember that mech is not affected by irradiate, so feel free to irridiate your siege tanks, or science vessels, and hang around the zerglings or drone lines.


All matchups: If you lose a lot of games vs people that don't look better than you, chances are you are either not scouting enough, or you are ignoring the information you get from scouting.

...what?

well this is very obvious but i see too many pplz just building one unit...it makes it way too ez for someone to counterur invasion...i remember winning a game when at the end my invasion of 10 battlecruisers & 14 wraithes beat his force of 18 battalecruisers (I love Wraiths cloak ) lol 14 wraiths doing around 17 dam each when attacking a battlecruiser ...also the importance of a detector is way obvious but once agen no one is building them...i'd thought i'd never see the day when a protoss player has no detector (with how pplz use cannons -_-)

I thought keeping the mineral below 400 was a better suggestion..

I suggest as low as possible.

The tricks weren't compiled by me, in my starcraft Prima Strategy Guide. I have a bunch of more tips in the books (Vanilla and Brood War.) They aren't in bullets like those tricks, so will do those later.

After you've maxed out, keeping a good amount of reserve is a good idea too.


Nowadays, battlecruisers are almost never used.

as a random player (i mainly only t/z now) heres a couple of hints that sound simple but REALLY improve ur gaming

- In starcraft there are 2 types of advantages:
Army advantage, Economy advantage.
In an even game, one player cant hold both these advantages

Basically, when you have the army advantage (you have more army than he does) you want to put pressure on the enemy and try to take an expansion.

when you have the economy advantage, you want to macro fast and 'timing push' the other player while hes putting pressure on you.

Example: TvP, you do a 1 fact-expo build, while the protoss does a 2 gate goon pressure build. Seeing he cant beat ur tanks at nat, he does the infamous triple nex (expanding to a total of 3 nexuses) and pressures so that u cannot move out to counter this. However, the terran having the economy advantage will usually get their 6 factories up and (timing) push the protoss BEFORE protosses gate count > terrans factory count

rules of thumb:
- always make peons for first 20 minutes
- always expand when u move out
- alawys scout key areas (flanks, expansions, etc.)
- ALWAYS USE LOGIC TO PREDICT WHAT THE ENEMY IS TECHING (IE. if its TvP and u dont see protoss upgrading goon range after core is done, hes probably doing a DT tech, or reaver drop build)
- If you have a lot of minerals, prioritize gathering a couple of scvs off mining, then making them all build factories
- HOTKEY UR UNITS!!!!!!!! this is very important! once u do this, u will NEVER go back
- If you are losing (ie the opponent has BOTH the economy and army advantage) you MUST do some harassment to slow him down (DT Drop, Temp drop, vult drop, etc.)
- learn timings! You should know on a 2 player map if you scout at ur 9th scv, ur scv will be able to block a zerg that 12 hatches. You should know when to scan for spire/den vs a 2 hatch AND a 3 hatch zerg. You should know when they will expand (after their initial lair tech is up, after theyve flanked ur forces, after theyve won a battle, after hive is done etc.)
- LEARN TO FLANK! Especially in ZvT, if a zerg does not flank he WILL lose at a decent level
- Once ur maxed (ie in PvT) but the opponent is turtling, nothing is stopping u from grabbing more expansions, increasing tech (ie carriers,arbs), and getting an additional 15 gateways. TRUST ME, when the terran rolls out, a 200/200 terran will NOT be stopped by a 200/200 protoss, you need to 20-30 gates to defend that, OR carrier/arb tech
- SUSPECT CHEESE. If you see a probe enter ur base, and didnt see ti leave, LOOK FOR THAT PROBE! If your zerg and u scout the terran and u dont see a rax, expect a proxy bunker rush coming!
- DONT GET COCKY!!!! I can tell u ive lost a TvP where i was 6 expansions vs the protosses 2, and a TvZ were i was maxed, 7k minerals, 8 expos vs 4
- KEEP A SCOUT AT EACH EXPANSION! IT is 100x easier to take out an expansion while its being made rather than after. (Zerg players will know that they can send 5 lings to a warping nexus and destroy it. But once the P gets 10 cannons there, it takes a shitload of ultraling/swarm to break that)

Ever played TvT?

Alot. And BCs are near to useless in a TvT.
reason 1. Main forces used in a TvT are Tanks and Goliaths.
Goliaths have a hell-like range that can beat bcs to death before they even come close.

reason 2. There may be a chance that an opponent might be keeping a secret army of wraiths.
Wraiths while cloaked are capital ship destroyers.

a lot of above average terran players like to bc/tank push, its really hard to stop

either way, bcs will be scanned, and if p2 is going wraiths, they will be scanned too

Oh yea its really easy to get owned if a ZvT battle lasts a really long time and you're Zerg. I mean they start massing bcs, and you get owned if you're not careful.

I disagree. its probably best to make sure you have plenty of hatches, gates, or factories, check upgrades, consider diversifying units, and create defensive structures and expand.
However, you did say "a good amount", i think you meant good as in more, in which case the above holds true. If you meant good meaning low amount so you can do the above, then disregard what i said. but of course you didnt. =D

I lol'd.

Advice? Uhm...4 pool every game.

if anyone doesn't know this, lurker holds can completely own terran pushes (before vessels, at least). You select the lurkers and another unit, such as an overlord, and hold position. The lurkers won't attack until you press S (stop). This way, you can wait until the enemy force is on/past your lurkers, then unleash them and kill them all.

You should never use scouts unless you're trying to humiliate an uber noob. They're overpriced and don't do much for their cost. However, they can do okay against capital ships.

Another cheesy tactic is to burrow a group of zerglings into a potential expansion (w/ gas), and once your opponent has set up a base there with many harvesters, unburrow your zerglings.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 10 2007, 11:21 pm by someone09.

What if you burrow your zerglings where they were to build there capital building thing. Then they'd know that something is there. Cause you can't build on burrowed units right? Even if you can't see them. Just like spider mines.

burrow them next to the minerals... lol?

Yup yup.