I've always wondered why with the advent of video sites like youtube, there has been a lack of video tutorials for starcraft. I've set about to rectify this problem.
The Starcraft community is a very elitest community that is very difficult to break into for new players. As it has been around for a long time, there are many nuances that everyone is expected to know. Therefore, there are no resources on how to learn these techniques and often they are difficult to find out by ones' own accord.
The Essentials aims at showing off these simple yet vital techniques and their application in real game situations. Every video that I will upload will show off something that you can immediately use to improve your game.
I'll try to keep on releasing these videos on a somewhat consistent basis. I'll update the OP whenever a new video is ready and uploaded. My youtube profile page can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtofStarcraft
Any comments, suggestions and criticisms are appreciated.
wow ive watched some of these, pretty good! might want to add on the lurker one if you have spare time to point out holding with ovies or anything works as well, not just attacking things under fog of war
I think a simple one you can show is the moving drop. You used it in the zeal bombing video but didn't explain it, and something like that deserves it's own video
On August 23 2008 13:50 blabber wrote: you can do a wraith/scout micro vs scourges video
I don't have much experience with muta micro so I'm not sure if they are done the same way
They're different
Mutalisk micro is order them to move behind the target, and then when they move into range you order them to attack that unit. Once you see the glaives flying move away and repeat.
Mutalisk vs Scourge or Wraith vs Scourge is pretty simple. Clump your units together (helps if you have Overlord with Mutalisks) and when the Scourge get into firing range, press patrol right on top of your Mutalisks and move away quickly. If done right, the Mutalisks will fire a glaive backward, bouncing and killing multiple Scourge and will move away to cause more trouble.
Great Videos. It would be great if more people who knew all the little tricks would make videos explaining how to do them. Much nicer than trying to interpret what somebody typed out. Thank you!
On August 24 2008 02:47 il0seonpurpose wrote: Nice! Can you upload some on how to micro against marines vs lurkers? I try to move them to the side but they all get killed
I think lurkers naturally attack the closest unit so those are the ones you want to move, you want to move them aswell in a way that dodges the line of the spine, for example you dont want to move a group of marines away in a direction where the back marines still walk through the spines.
Using worker stack to stop a ramp run by, defending near your mineral line, offensive worker drill (JulyZerg of course!), slipping a scout in/out of enemies base through their ramp block etc. Tons of applications.
Nice videos they're very simple and useful. Massive brainstorm for you.
Video about clicking right in front of your army repeatedly to keep it in formation while moving? About aiming your lurkers at the right timing while they burrow to shoot faster? Scourge cloning? Mutalisk stacking and timing hold-position? Proper terran wall-in basics? Unload while move. The eraser. Muta/hydra/scourge + plague vs vessel. Manner pylon/gas. Various ways to clip through minerals. Goon micro. Dweb/reaver
thanks for all the suggestions and comments guys, i really appreciate them.
don't be afraid to criticize either. i fucked up the vulture micro video because i wasn't clear on the instructions and if it weren't for some criticisms i received i wouldn't have updated it to be more concise
I think you should do videos describing build orders, or how to utilize certain strategies.
Like, someone might know the build for 1fax fe, but might not understand how to pull it off correctly. There is a stunning lack of tutorials on youtube, and I really appreciate what you're doing. keep it up!
Very nice. Any game that my opponent goes DT's I use the lurker one. Use 2 lurkers to burrowed and then attack another lurker(or pref a ling w/ speed but it's trickier because the DT can kill it fast) that you move around trying to manipulate the DT in between the burrowed lurkers and the moving lurker. Then just before the spines hit, move your lurker and the spines will hit the DT but not your own unit! :3. I still end up losing most of the time because I micro instead of macro but it's fun and put on a really good show.
Awesome stuff, I'm sure a lot of people will benefit greatly from these. After you get the fairly basic stuff out of the way, definitely looking forward to you doing some more advanced or in depth stuff.
Not to rush you guys or anything, but keep the vids coming! I really enjoyed the videos, even if they are kind of simple. You guys present them in a really clear coherent manner.
Some suggestions: 1) worker stacking/attacking (the legal one, ie jaedong v lucifer) and moving through units by clicking gas/minerals 2) killing spider mines without detection (2 goons micro forward and backward then shoot) 3) dropping units while moving (unloading on the unit itself while moving)
Wow, these are very well done. I can definitely see these being extremely useful to someone just beginning who doesn't get the "common-knowledge" techniques. Next person I introduce to Starcraft will be watching these videos early on. Keep it up!
Wow, I watched the first one, and it was very clear and precise, not too much fluff, and it was very professional too! Keep it up, I'll be looking into this if I get into SC again.
the reach v oov zealot bomb demonstration needs to show more of that epic battle. reach bombed OOV for like 5 minutes and i remember watching that for the first time and being like, "oh.. that's how you zealot bomb"
Some suggestions that people might wonder about/haven't thought of;
- How to drop units while moving - How to probe/scv/drone jump - Mineral slide for scouting purposes/breaking chokes or early game contains. (Works to break stasised chokes as well) - How to set rallypoints effectively (by using the F-keys) - Using dmatrix vs lurkers (terran only) - Eraser. Irradiate 2 vessles and put them on patrol over your opponents mineral line (terran only)
Those are the ones I could think of right now. Keep up the good work!
These are basically "How to execute pimpest plays" which is great. So far I've known all of them but I could imagine there are few tricks that I'm unaware of. meRz gave good examples for next episodes in previous comment if you lack ideas.
The videos and the information you give are very good. The only thing bothering me is the way you speak. Like you kind of have a monotone and the pauses seem a bit unnatural. It might just be me though and that's not even a big problem.
On January 04 2009 17:21 Demoninja wrote: The videos and the information you give are very good. The only thing bothering me is the way you speak. Like you kind of have a monotone and the pauses seem a bit unnatural. It might just be me though and that's not even a big problem.
the pauses are a result of not having enough audio to go with the amount of video that i want to show. thanks for bringing it up though, i didn't realize that they were that noticeable and annoying for anyone else. the voice problems are partly a result of the bargain bin microphone i use, and partly because that's my actual voice and not all of us are natural born voice actors :p.
This reminds me of an old project various members of TL were putting together. It was a collection of videos dedicated to showing the fundamentals of the game for a casual audience (macro, micro, expanding, a little about each race, and so on), but I have no idea what happened with all of it. I was curious to see how that came together... did it die out?
Wow I really like that use of irradiate to kill of the zerg attack at the natural Nice vid, fairly basic stuff, but things every player should have in their arsenal
On January 07 2009 14:49 Gustav_Wind wrote: Good work, but the title seems a little off. These are more like useful tricks than essentials. >.>
i called it the essentials because i believe these are tricks that every player should know. they are very common and some can be used on a game to game basis.
edit: which is why there won't be a video on dweb usage (sorry jazz). if sair reaver were still a common pvz build i'd have considered it but its more or less obsolete now.
On January 07 2009 14:49 Gustav_Wind wrote: Good work, but the title seems a little off. These are more like useful tricks than essentials. >.>
i called it the essentials because i believe these are tricks that every player should know. they are very common and some can be used on a game to game basis.
edit: which is why there won't be a video on dweb usage (sorry jazz). if sair reaver were still a common pvz build i'd have considered it but its more or less obsolete now.
On January 07 2009 14:49 Gustav_Wind wrote: Good work, but the title seems a little off. These are more like useful tricks than essentials. >.>
i called it the essentials because i believe these are tricks that every player should know. they are very common and some can be used on a game to game basis.
edit: which is why there won't be a video on dweb usage (sorry jazz). if sair reaver were still a common pvz build i'd have considered it but its more or less obsolete now.
wait sair reaver isn't common now?
not in the traditional sense, unless its made a resurgence in the past couple of months since i stopped following progaming. sair reaver used to be a build used for an entire game, then it became a mid game build used to take islands/expansions before transitioning into another build for lategame and even that eventually died off.
Thanks. This is pretty useful! I've always wondered how vulture patrol micro and could't figure it out with the help of guides. Now with the video i finally understood how it works.
On January 07 2009 14:49 Gustav_Wind wrote: Good work, but the title seems a little off. These are more like useful tricks than essentials. >.>
i called it the essentials because i believe these are tricks that every player should know. they are very common and some can be used on a game to game basis.
Haha, I understand. I just mentioned it because I had just watched TL Attack with Chill and he kept mentioning how some players knew lots of fancy micro tricks but didn't know build orders/mechanics.
Sair/Reaver is still common as a transitional strategy. Protosses often open Sair/Reaver and force the Zerg to deal with it, then switch to ground.
It is true that that build doesn't use D-web, though.
On September 08 2008 20:20 meRz wrote: These are awesome!
Some suggestions that people might wonder about/haven't thought of;
- How to drop units while moving - How to probe/scv/drone jump - Mineral slide for scouting purposes/breaking chokes or early game contains. (Works to break stasised chokes as well) - How to set rallypoints effectively (by using the F-keys) - Using dmatrix vs lurkers (terran only) - Eraser. Irradiate 2 vessles and put them on patrol over your opponents mineral line (terran only)
Those are the ones I could think of right now. Keep up the good work!
How do you set rally points effectively by using the F-Keys? (I play zerg)
On September 08 2008 20:20 meRz wrote: These are awesome!
Some suggestions that people might wonder about/haven't thought of;
- How to drop units while moving - How to probe/scv/drone jump - Mineral slide for scouting purposes/breaking chokes or early game contains. (Works to break stasised chokes as well) - How to set rallypoints effectively (by using the F-keys) - Using dmatrix vs lurkers (terran only) - Eraser. Irradiate 2 vessles and put them on patrol over your opponents mineral line (terran only)
Those are the ones I could think of right now. Keep up the good work!
How do you set rally points effectively by using the F-Keys? (I play zerg)
very very new player who happened to find this thread. Registered just to post this. But I'll make a post about me if I want to later.
1) huge thank you for posting this stuff here. I've been practicing macro / micro etc against computers and this will give me some fun stuff to break things up and keep me engaged (and maybe break that 40 apm barrier).
2) I nominate this thread to be added to this thread under the beginner or possibly advanced section.
3) I might suggest that a lot of the things in the aforementioned thread, both in the beginner and advanced sections, could be explained much more clearly with a video.
4) Some people have suggested that magic box be covered. It is somewhat covered by this video although I think you would do a much better job actually explaining it. But just linking to that video with a 3 sentence description should work pretty well if you want to save some time.
5) A very easy way to practice some of these things, I've found/guessed, is to create a single player game against a computer, (possibly) use power overwhelming, tech to whichever units you need to perform the action, and save just before doing the technique. I could create some save files for the applicable techniques if you'd like to link to them from the videos for immediate newbie see, newbie do practice. I don't know where I'd host them though. I think it could possibly be pretty neat, actually, for later videos, if you could set up one of these saved games, play through it in your video, and then have the newb replicate the exact same technique from that saved game for, say, a quality reaver drop or a pro tvz micro battle.
nice work. I always wondered how you attack while moving and I never knew about that way of creating lurker traps; I always thought hold lurker was the only one.
SoMuchBetter, I really applaud your effort. The Essentials is an excellent video series and I enjoy each new installment. I hope it will have a long future and that I will indeed learn something.
That said, I was slightly dissapointed by the latest Essentials video. While you explained well how the technique is done, you did not include any examples of professional gamers doing it. Also, as a Protoss player, I would have appretiated a demonstration of Carrier stacking.
Nevertheless, I commend your good work. Keep it up.
Carriers are usually not stacked in this way I don't think, they stack fairly well on their own anyway, and you need to be able to press I for interceptors.
The vulture one helped alot, I'd been doing it like the move shot all this time (fleeing, then clicking to move towards for a split second before I attack move and then move away again -_-)
plz do a continuation of the last one with muta vs scourge
also, you can use burrowed unit for mutalisk. or in the case of bluestorm, you can use a fat unit like a lurker who can't fit in the narrow choke, and he'll run around (or you could wall the little choke with a ling and use another ling)
Stacking is also important to stop your units from being clones. For example BCS in TvT, you have more chances of being emped, but your enemy will have lots of trouble clining yamato properly.
Could you show actual effects of stacking v. not? I'm having trouble figuring why you would take less damage from turrets or anti-air defenses.
This will probably be a noob question: In many videos, units stay equally spaced out as they were while selected. Is this automatic, or is there a way to maintain it even while under attack? Would such be useful for dodging lurkers?
Also, are lurker attacks the only ones which go (slowly enough / aren't autotargeting) to be dodged?
A small suggestion for future videos: Perhaps throw in a tip or two what to watch out for while using each of these, e.g. irradiate for muta stacking.
On February 22 2009 11:35 axle135 wrote: Could you show actual effects of stacking v. not? I'm having trouble figuring why you would take less damage from turrets or anti-air defenses.
because if your units are stacked then they take up less space and make it easier to maneuver around defences
Also, are lurker attacks the only ones which go (slowly enough / aren't autotargeting) to be dodged?
you can take less damage from scarabs by running away from them (ever notice how often scarabs dud when peons run away? you can do this with all units). spider mines too i guess?
This will probably be a noob question: In many videos, units stay equally spaced out as they were while selected. Is this automatic, or is there a way to maintain it even while under attack? Would such be useful for dodging lurkers?
there is a technique to keep units in formation called magic boxes, but its not really practical in most situations. I think what youre referring to is just plain old good micro to keep units spread (the use of hold position and move command as opposed to just a-move)
I just wanna add in my appreciation as well. Your vids are concise and well done. I think your explanations are solid and as always the pro gaming examples are a nice touch.
I forgot to say earlier that these videos are really great. Thanks for answering the questions. It's really a shame there isn't more like this out there.
On February 22 2009 11:35 axle135 wrote: In many videos, units stay equally spaced out as they were while selected. Is this automatic, or is there a way to maintain it even while under attack? Would such be useful for dodging lurkers? -Thanks!
I think what you're describing might be when a group of units walks across the map while staying spread out. When you've selected a group of 12 or less units, if you tell them to move or a-move to a place far away and just let them walk there, they'll end up in single file, but if you tell them to move just a little bit in front of the group in the direction you want to go, find the right distance out and just keep spam clicking that same distance in front of the group, you can guide them forward one step at a time and they'll keep formation somewhat. It's a little hard to describe. This is really only a good method i think for moving small groups relatively short distances because it's such a pain in the ass.
I just want to thank SoMuchBetter for making these videos I've just today started playing on ICCUP I got my butt whooped big time but none the less these tips have helped me alot. I've watched many Pro match's and always wondered how things were done mainly things like stacking Mutalisks and stopping Lurkers from attacking until you give the order and now I know. Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.
Wow, nice job man, these are sweet. I can't believe I haven't seen these before. With Starcraft back on the top 20 list of PC games in January, we'll probably have a few people to point at these. =)
On February 22 2009 11:35 axle135 wrote: Could you show actual effects of stacking v. not? I'm having trouble figuring why you would take less damage from turrets or anti-air defenses.
because if your units are stacked then they take up less space and make it easier to maneuver around defences
Also, are lurker attacks the only ones which go (slowly enough / aren't autotargeting) to be dodged?
you can take less damage from scarabs by running away from them (ever notice how often scarabs dud when peons run away? you can do this with all units). spider mines too i guess?
This will probably be a noob question: In many videos, units stay equally spaced out as they were while selected. Is this automatic, or is there a way to maintain it even while under attack? Would such be useful for dodging lurkers?
there is a technique to keep units in formation called magic boxes, but its not really practical in most situations. I think what youre referring to is just plain old good micro to keep units spread (the use of hold position and move command as opposed to just a-move)
SoMuchBetter has it right but I just wanted to add some of my own comments:
About stacking: Maneuvering is the key. When they're stacked like that, they all fire at the the same time so you can dance in out of a turret or marine's range and get the maximum amount of damage done. A really good muta micro'er can hit archons, something that you can really only do when they're stacked. Of course, if you mess up, all your muta are at like half health.
About Scarabs/spider mines: Scarabs, they glitch. If you can stall them long enough they'll just dud and running away is a really good way of just making them dud. Spider mines are really hit or miss. I guess they have better ai than scarabs but sometimes they follow whatever's running away and dud or somethings they'll follow whatever's running away and cause a massive amount of damage.
Magic Boxes: There's a thread on it in the recommended threads section. It's worth a read.
EPT
