• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:03
CEST 15:03
KST 22:03
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 1 - Final Week6[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed17Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll8Team TLMC #5 - Submission extension3Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7
StarCraft 2
General
Heaven's Balance Suggestions (roast me) Who will win EWC 2025? Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed The Memories We Share - Facing the Final(?) GSL RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo)
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome
Brood War
General
Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL Soulkey Muta Micro Map? BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues CSL Xiamen International Invitational 2025 ACS Season 2 Qualifier Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative Summer Games Done Quick 2025!
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Korean Music Discussion Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 689 users

teaching a complete beginner starcraft?

Blogs > e.soul[gm]
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
e.soul[gm]
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
Sierra Leone254 Posts
May 19 2009 08:46 GMT
#1
seriously, how do i teach someone who's never played an rts before without losing their interest because they'll lose for like 3 months straight?

i've been teaching my friend, and i think hes losing interest because hes getting rolled.

basically i've just been showing him build orders, and replays and playing vs him.

any tips? thanks dudes.

*
http://www.last.fm/user/jesuspopk
iG.Zeep
Profile Joined May 2008
Mexico253 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-05-19 08:48:57
May 19 2009 08:48 GMT
#2
lose on purpose vs him
with ur offraces
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
o3.power91
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Bahrain5288 Posts
May 19 2009 08:51 GMT
#3
campaign is a good place to start although I'm not sure what he would think of that with SC2 coming out so soon. I don't think build orders and replays are the right way to show him now since he isn't used to the game yet. Give him time to understand on his own what each unit does and the pros and cons of each unit and race before showing him how to use them.
Ilikestarcraft
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Korea (South)17726 Posts
May 19 2009 08:51 GMT
#4
ums ums ums
"Nana is a goddess. Or at very least, Nana is my goddess." - KazeHydra
e.soul[gm]
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
Sierra Leone254 Posts
May 19 2009 08:51 GMT
#5
i'd make him play the campaign but he only has the abyss version of starcraft, the ripped iccup version hehe.
http://www.last.fm/user/jesuspopk
jkillashark
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
United States5262 Posts
May 19 2009 08:52 GMT
#6
Try to dumb the basics down for him. I'm trying to teach my chobo friends, who all seem to pick Protoss cause it's the attack click race. I just tell them: probes, pylons, units. Too much money? More gateways. Running out of money? Expand. Then I start teaching them about timing and scouting and stuff.

Baby steps.
Do your best, God will do the rest.
Thug[ro]
Profile Joined October 2005
Romania340 Posts
May 19 2009 08:55 GMT
#7
let him play the missions from scratch to really understand the story/rivalry between races
after that go mass LAN games and eventually into BNET
omninmo
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
2349 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-05-19 09:15:07
May 19 2009 09:03 GMT
#8
people will only play/learn SC if they want to.
people who play for a few months and constantly fail to win and then lose interest dont understand the game and why it is amazing. they shouldnt be encouraged. show your buddy korean matches and if he is not naturally drawn to it and hooked like most of us... then why spend time training him. good students seek out teachers, not the other way around. when you guys get together does he ask questions or are you always lecturing? does he show any progress? why does he play SC?

when your buddy watches replays of himself getting rolled does he say things like "oh man, my micro sucks. im just too slow, lol" or rather "oh wow, i should just move away the marine that the zerglings are chasing while attacking with the others" the latter is a sign of learning and the former is a sign of frustration and.

we need to know more about your pal's motives before giving better advice on his instruction.

if he gets frustrated and wants to quit after losing to you (his teacher) then he probably only wants to play something he wins. that is counter to spirit of rts where it is the case that defeats are always more instructional than victories.

try to find some other fresh meat for him to practice with in addition to training sessions with you. it is best that noobs have a steady practice regimen with players of worse, same, and greater skill.
Gliche
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States811 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-05-19 09:14:02
May 19 2009 09:13 GMT
#9
Best way imo is the natural way SC progressed over the years. Play 1 base vs 1 base only first.

PvP is how I taught my friends. PvP is actually really easy to teach the fundamentals of RTS with: flanking, high ground, chokepoints, tech vs tech(reaver vs storm), mobility and feints(shuttle+speed, zeal+speed, arbiter), unit composition, timings(detection in time for DTs). And all the units are easy to see and control. When they get familiar with the tech patterns and what units do, there will be some point where they will naturally want to expand because toss units cost so much. Teach them how to take expos and macro at this point. Then try different races. Now they know how SC works and they can pick a race to get good at.
KT fighting~!! | Designing things is fun!
kOre
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada3642 Posts
May 19 2009 09:15 GMT
#10
Best way to not keep him from losing interest is to play UMS games inbetween. Ones that would help with the "understanding" of what units are for and what not. Same with the micro tourny UMS maps, those are always fun and he'll get control practice.
http://www.starcraftmecca.net - Founder
ReCharge
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Philippines505 Posts
May 19 2009 09:33 GMT
#11
On May 19 2009 17:51 e.soul[gm] wrote:
i'd make him play the campaign but he only has the abyss version of starcraft, the ripped iccup version hehe.


There is a file in iccup, the 7x patcher, it can change the patch (obviously not needed) but, it can make the campaign into map, even if you dont have it ^^
David Kim for Bonjwa!
o3.power91
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Bahrain5288 Posts
May 19 2009 09:41 GMT
#12
On May 19 2009 17:51 e.soul[gm] wrote:
i'd make him play the campaign but he only has the abyss version of starcraft, the ripped iccup version hehe.

DL SC+BW installation from Blizzard then let him use your CD Key.
Mastermind
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Canada7096 Posts
May 19 2009 09:41 GMT
#13
On May 19 2009 18:15 kOre wrote:
Best way to not keep him from losing interest is to play UMS games inbetween. Ones that would help with the "understanding" of what units are for and what not. Same with the micro tourny UMS maps, those are always fun and he'll get control practice.

actually a game like micro tourney can be even less fun if he just gets dominated every time. it sucks when you lose with both sides in those battles. To have that happen every time would really suck.
kOre
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada3642 Posts
May 19 2009 09:51 GMT
#14
On May 19 2009 18:41 o3.power91 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 19 2009 17:51 e.soul[gm] wrote:
i'd make him play the campaign but he only has the abyss version of starcraft, the ripped iccup version hehe.

DL SC+BW installation from Blizzard then let him use your CD Key.

He can practice on West while you play on iCCup!
http://www.starcraftmecca.net - Founder
aznmathfreak
Profile Joined March 2009
United States148 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-05-19 16:02:47
May 19 2009 09:59 GMT
#15
On May 19 2009 17:51 e.soul[gm] wrote:
i'd make him play the campaign but he only has the abyss version of starcraft, the ripped iccup version hehe.


The most common advice are ums's. From my experience though, ums tends to lead down a bad path with new players. Most new players I play with that do ums mainly end up playing really dumb ones, ie turret defense, that don't really help you improve in the game. On the other hand, the ones that do help tend to be difficult and most of them get bored.

So first, the player needs the motivation. I don't think learning build orders and such are good for new players because let's admit it, it's boring as hell to redo a build over and over again. New players tend to look at battles because they like to see the bloodshed, the action. I would watch a few highlight videos for inspiration and to draw him in. Then I would do campaign mode. If he doesn't like the game, there's no point in getting him to play. With sc2 coming out, I think it might actually be a good thing to play through sc, especially if he's actually interested in the lore behind the game. Anyways, campaign will help improve mechanics and unit familiarity, it's less frustrating than losing to some guy on bnet, and there's an interesting storyline to go along with it.

The alternative would be to play some 3v3 bgh or something. I would stay away from fastest since it starts to lose any resemblance to a real sc map. Anyways, it's a good way to start because:
-It's fun to see masses of battles everywhere
-You don't have to manage your build as well if you have two good teammates helping you out
-He can also ask you for help while you guys are playing.
-The general skill level of BGH players tend to be lower, so it's also good practice.
-A win would also help boost his confidence and maybe interest.

Anyways, good games.

Edit: Didn't realize that was part of the rules, sorry.
e.soul[gm]
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
Sierra Leone254 Posts
May 19 2009 10:38 GMT
#16
alright, thanks for the sweeet replies dudes!
http://www.last.fm/user/jesuspopk
TheFoReveRwaR
Profile Blog Joined May 2006
United States10657 Posts
May 19 2009 10:44 GMT
#17
I tried this before. It ended it up driving me so crazy I had to stop.

I would watch them play and it would eat away at my sanity slowly. Watching them moving their mouse over things, selecting things, without them actually doing anything was worse than fingers against a chalk board.

Watching them lose an entire forge of units with no gains because they were on move instead of attack move even though I specifically told them to never use move at this point was the last draw

Hope you're an extremely patient man.
Being healthy, it has been said, really consists of having the same disease as everybody else.
fanatacist
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
10319 Posts
May 19 2009 11:03 GMT
#18
On May 19 2009 17:52 jkillashark wrote:
Try to dumb the basics down for him. I'm trying to teach my chobo friends, who all seem to pick Protoss cause it's the attack click race. I just tell them: probes, pylons, units. Too much money? More gateways. Running out of money? Expand. Then I start teaching them about timing and scouting and stuff.

Baby steps.

Exactly.
Peace~
Patriot.dlk
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
Sweden5462 Posts
May 19 2009 11:22 GMT
#19
Yes have him play protoss. Explain the fundamentals (eye to eye if possible). Tell him why the game is so great and show a few kick as moves you can make in starcraft (vods, highlight).

With this new motivation have him do 14 nexus into 1+ zealot attack. You will play with a fixed amount of drones against him. Against a complete newbie i'd go with no rush + max 8 drones.

He should know about the restriction you have on yourself. Raise the drone bar two drones at the time..

Never let him put less focus in his two nexuses and messure his wins after how much money he mined. When you can't win against him with only-lings-out-of-two-hatch he's ready to play a bunch of normal games.

Then he should play 1v1 medusa or w/e until he's bored with public games and is ready for iccup
Geo.Rion
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
7377 Posts
May 19 2009 11:59 GMT
#20
play with him 2v6 agaist computers...
oh and dont let him choose zerg
try to teach him to sue the most basic hotkeys
"Protoss is a joke" Liquid`Jinro Okt.1. 2011
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Epic.LAN
12:00
Epic.LAN 45 Playoffs Stage
Liquipedia
CranKy Ducklings
10:00
Sea Duckling Open #136
CranKy Ducklings113
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 588
StarCraft: Brood War
actioN 3248
Barracks 2915
Mini 1219
Hyuk 1068
Larva 985
Stork 530
firebathero 398
Soma 341
Last 245
Dewaltoss 202
[ Show more ]
TY 171
Pusan 157
Hyun 155
Light 110
ToSsGirL 89
JulyZerg 77
Bonyth 61
Backho 54
GoRush 24
SilentControl 7
Dota 2
Gorgc7474
singsing2660
qojqva1642
Fuzer 182
canceldota91
Counter-Strike
sgares371
Stewie2K289
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor194
Other Games
B2W.Neo1866
DeMusliM441
Lowko194
Trikslyr28
ArmadaUGS23
Rex1
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2753
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH266
• Legendk 1
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis1747
• Jankos1156
Upcoming Events
CSO Contender
3h 57m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
20h 57m
Online Event
1d 2h
Esports World Cup
2 days
ByuN vs Astrea
Lambo vs HeRoMaRinE
Clem vs TBD
Solar vs Zoun
SHIN vs Reynor
Maru vs TriGGeR
herO vs Lancer
Cure vs ShoWTimE
Esports World Cup
3 days
Esports World Cup
4 days
Esports World Cup
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

BSL 2v2 Season 3
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Xiamen Invitational
2025 ACS Season 2
Championship of Russia 2025
Underdog Cup #2
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25

Upcoming

CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.