StarJeweled Strategies?

BasilPesto

Australia624 Posts

January 28 2011 05:51 GMT

So I've played quite a few games now, but have yet to win a game! This is despite always getting the most kills.

What are some basic strategies to adopt? I'm seeing a lot of Colussi being used, so I'm assuming players keep their energy to 1000 before spamming colossus.

How then should I counter this? Save up to 1000 and spam mutas/banshees/roaches? Or just go colossus myself?

StutteR

United States1903 Posts

January 28 2011 05:55 GMT

why are you saving up to 1000? why not send units out as you get the energy. I think of it like Starcraft macro. It's almost never good to save up.

shindigs

United States4795 Posts

January 28 2011 05:57 GMT

Fast roach is pretty effective if you counter a colossus opening with the Time Freeze thing (where you imprison the colossus for 15 seconds). Just save up and mass roach and keep enough energy to freeze the colossus. Fast roach is susceptible to storm though.

I sometimes open colossus and if my partner is decent, we're able to kill a ton of light units and follow up with tanks. I'm pretty sure tanks are key because they rip through cannons like no other and are great against every unit in high numbers.

You gotta keep your macro up though.

BasilPesto

Australia624 Posts

January 28 2011 06:02 GMT

On January 28 2011 14:55 StutteR wrote:
why are you saving up to 1000? why not send units out as you get the energy. I think of it like Starcraft macro. It's almost never good to save up.

It's kinda like Nexus Wars though, you have time and coordinate your waves. Eg, one muta will get torn apart quickly, a group of mutas will last longer.

On January 28 2011 14:57 shindigs wrote:
Fast roach is pretty effective if you counter a colossus opening with the Time Freeze thing (where you imprison the colossus for 15 seconds). Just save up and mass roach and keep enough energy to freeze the colossus. Fast roach is susceptible to storm though.

I sometimes open colossus and if my partner is decent, we're able to kill a ton of light units and follow up with tanks. I'm pretty sure tanks are key because they rip through cannons like no other and are great against every unit in high numbers.

You gotta keep your macro up though.

Hmmkay, thanks, I'll try incorporate them into gameplay.

Heyoka

Katowice25012 Posts

January 28 2011 06:04 GMT

This game is a lot more about being fast than the actual unit counters, I mash the keys when I have energy and I've yet to run into someone who can exploit it.

Storm is really good on offense and defense though, I spam the hell out of that.

AskJoshy

United States1625 Posts

January 28 2011 06:10 GMT

Storm is overpowered. I sometimes have success with this as a fast K.O. -

Open with 850+ energy, spam roaches until you have just over 200 left, then get two hydras. Keep making matches until you get 2 more hydras out and you'll have decent anti-air with all the marines and hydras, with roaches tanking the damage from the other side. Now it depends on what they have, but if your Zerg swarm is doing what it's supposed to and has reached the first cannons, IMMORTALS are what you want next, make three as fast as you can, then transition into colossi if they're ground heavy, banshees if they have ultras/colossi, or ghosts if they're going muta. If they have banshees out, you need to make mutas, though I hate mutas because they're so soft and storms rape them. x.x

I've been playing so much StarJeweled the last couple days haha. x.x

Zhou

United States832 Posts

January 28 2011 06:14 GMT

Storm is usually the spell to spam. Other times, you want to lock those collossi and ultras back as much as possible with that skill (hotkey x is the only way I remember it. Not by its name.)

When theres a big group of bio units, aka someone spamming zealots at you I would get ghosts; they actually clean them up relatively fast with snipes. Roaches are tanks, and soak up a lot of damage so you really shouldn't build too many of those. Banshees counter colossi only if they don't have tons of marines.

But I think heyoka has it pretty much right, its not so much about unit counters so much. I would never keep your energy at 1000. You should try to keep it below 500 if possible. That bubble looking spell (Hotkey c?) is also useful on groups of marines if you have other means to clean them up other than storm. It seems to be a little of preference I think...

The main attention should be on your board. Because it actually takes some time for it to register your matches, you should immediately look for another one in that small time frame, and usually you should be able to (Unless your just bad at puzzle games... but I assume most of us aren't.)

This post is kinda scattered...

Nokarot

United States1410 Posts

January 28 2011 06:21 GMT

I kinda think heal is better than storm, to be honest. It costs 250 and will save multiple 300+ units from dying. Depending on the unit, storm won't kill them before you get a heal off. 10 roaches (750) with 250 in the bank saved up for a heal is really good if you coordinate with your ally. Storm doesn't really do shit to roaches, and if you have a couple collosi backing them up, you're pretty set.

I forget what its called, but the X ability is really good, too- the one that stuns.

Healing and X'ing wont give you much on your kill counter, but just about every 10-roach push I've done has managed to take out at least one photon cannon, with the proper back-up. I still storm if it'll be cost effective when they're up on my towers, but otherwise I don't really use it too much.

legatus legionis

Netherlands559 Posts

January 28 2011 06:34 GMT

I focus most on getting the combos. If I hit one I move my vision to the sides to look for new combos instead of waiting for the pieces to fall and place and then looking what new combos have unlocked.
Slowing their spawn when you are attacking cannon works well.
I safe up energy because you get a huge delay in thinking and making combos after spawning units. Maybe its because I don't know the keys but it totally gets me out of my rythm.
I find the siege tank to be very effective because its range is huge and they stay alive quite long.
Also I prefer to let my ally spawn units and then I support with spells and the occasional wave.
But really its important to just hit combos not stop

shindigs

United States4795 Posts

January 28 2011 06:35 GMT

#10

Also I'm assuming its a lot more cost efficient to heal your current fat units = i.e. ultralists and colossus since you're basically spending 250 energy for what could have been another 500 energy when your fat unit dies. Once you get into a secure position you can spend the next 500 on the fat unit.

Healing is pretty OP in the right hands IMO.

And this thread is why I love TL lololol

RyuChus

Canada442 Posts

January 28 2011 06:45 GMT

#11

man all i do is just spam roaches and hydras once i get 1000 energy and continue making units from there.

deL

Australia5540 Posts

January 28 2011 07:10 GMT

#12

I tried massing many small units like hydras and then tried saving for colossus and it seemed to make no difference.

GenesisX

Canada4267 Posts

January 28 2011 07:11 GMT

#13

I start with ghosts since marines autospawn, then transition into a colossus/zealot play. I love starjewled over bejewled because you can do more than one thing at a time (making rows of 3). Unlike other similar games, you have to wait until one is finished before you can start another action.

GreatFall

United States1061 Posts

January 28 2011 07:39 GMT

#14

I just tried going Colossi and i got wtf owned by tanks...

shindigs

United States4795 Posts

January 28 2011 08:13 GMT

#15

On January 28 2011 16:39 GreatFall wrote:
I just tried going Colossi and i got wtf owned by tanks...

Yeah I'm starting to think Colossi opening isn't as optimal as I would have thought. Maybe because I was playing bad people. I think they're easily countered by the stasis ability.

Tanks pretty much own in this game but I feel you need to pull them out when you have the slight advantage. Tanks can pretty much seal the deal for you once you get slightly ahead with earlier unit counters.

BasilPesto

Australia624 Posts

January 28 2011 11:37 GMT

#16

Ha, actually incorporated some of the stuff mentioned here and won my first number of games!

Yeah, I like psi storm a lot. Had been depending on mutas quite a bit, but like JoshSuth said, they're a bit soft, so banshees have been seeing action. Roaches and hydras were a nice combo too.

HuK

Canada1591 Posts

January 28 2011 16:17 GMT

#17

OK SO THIS IS THE REAL HERE. ME AND JINRO BEEN PLAYING THIS GAME LIKE WHAT, SO HAVE THE KOREANS SO WE BE BETTING AND ALL THAT ISH AS WELL.

BASICALLY I RAPE JINRO EVERY GAME BECUZ IM THE SHIT BUT ITS ALL ABOUT THE ROACHES REST OF THE UNITS ARE TRASH, ZEALOTS A LITTLE BIT THO