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Active: 1593 users

[H] Microing Medivacs; Stop picking up my units!

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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Likwid
Profile Joined May 2010
United States20 Posts
December 02 2010 01:35 GMT
#1
Hey guys. I'm a new Terran player. I used to play gold level zerg but I just felt like that was going no where and I was never going to get better with them so I switched to Terran. My question is: How in the hell to I micro medivacs? I usually control group them with all my bio units but when i do that and move the group they are always too far ahead and get sniped or they accidentally pick up my units ( That makes me RAGE!)!!!!! When I watch Jinro's games I always just see him control them like a boss and every other pro does for that matter. I'm not expecting to be that good I'm just wondering how the hell to manage these things! Any advice is welcome! (Jinro if you read this please comment!) lol. Thanks guys! Peace and Love! TL FIGHTING!
"Expand...expand...expand...expand.........OH SHIT I BETTER EXPAND!" -Day[9]
awu25
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2003 Posts
December 02 2010 01:37 GMT
#2
put them in their own separate control group along with having them in the control group of bio units
when they get too far just pull them back with your hotkey
BoneDancr
Profile Joined May 2010
United States130 Posts
December 02 2010 01:56 GMT
#3
Likwid,

I had a real problem with this as well. There is a move command on that grid buttons for the Medivac. Use it to put your medivac over your marines instead of rallying your starport on top of a unit and you won't pick the the marine automatically. Sadly, if there is a 'move by default' rally option I am unaware of it.
-end of line
Synystyr
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1446 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-02 02:01:05
December 02 2010 01:59 GMT
#4
Firstly, Put your medivacs on a separate hotkey. They won't heal while you're trying to kite with your main hotkey otherwise.

Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!

Edit: Oh yeah, if you want to rally more medivacs in, rally them on your other medivacs and they'll follow the same behavior as the others. If you rally them on to a unit, then they'll end up picking them up =[
Sky Terran TvP V2.0: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=355839
Geovu
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Estonia1344 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-02 02:01:46
December 02 2010 02:00 GMT
#5
This is the worst thing about medivacs. Even worse if you have a marine thor army and pick up your thors. x.x

WTH was up with blizzard deciding to make terran's medic also a dropship? They are annoying as hell to move with your army and 10x worse to play against them.

PS I see a lot of pro terrans hotkey their medivacs with their army, so meh. Also in micro situations they fly over your troops so you can't micro individual sections without selecting your medivacs as well.
Clamps
Profile Joined May 2010
66 Posts
December 02 2010 02:03 GMT
#6
I think you can set them to follow(move) to a unit and they should continue to heal at the same time.
You can queue them to follow other units in the ball so that if the first dies they continue to follow.

Downside: If you box move the units you lose the follow and the queues. If all the units in the queue die then the medivacs get left behind, so you still have to babysit them.

The WC3 UI was way better than the SC2 UI in several ways. This is another example. In WC3 you could have units maintain a basic formation as they moved across the field. I.E Melee in front, ranged in the back, they all move at the speed of the slowest unit. <Alt> + Move would override the formation and have them all move at max speed in the case of retreat or chasing down stragglers.



Disclaimer: This should be tested, because I could be confusing the details of the SC2 UI with WC3 UI which I know much better. (6 years vs 6 months)
Millitron
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States2611 Posts
December 02 2010 02:18 GMT
#7
set them to move, i.e. hit the move button in the menu not right click, on a unit in the back of the ball, also, have the ball on its own hotkey so you don't need to boxmove.
Who called in the fleet?
lyAsakura
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States1414 Posts
December 02 2010 02:20 GMT
#8
On December 02 2010 11:03 Clamps wrote:
I think you can set them to follow(move) to a unit and they should continue to heal at the same time.
You can queue them to follow other units in the ball so that if the first dies they continue to follow.

Downside: If you box move the units you lose the follow and the queues. If all the units in the queue die then the medivacs get left behind, so you still have to babysit them.

The WC3 UI was way better than the SC2 UI in several ways. This is another example. In WC3 you could have units maintain a basic formation as they moved across the field. I.E Melee in front, ranged in the back, they all move at the speed of the slowest unit. <Alt> + Move would override the formation and have them all move at max speed in the case of retreat or chasing down stragglers.



Disclaimer: This should be tested, because I could be confusing the details of the SC2 UI with WC3 UI which I know much better. (6 years vs 6 months)


The games are so different. Formations would make zerg extremely underpowered and the whole game would be broken.
WeMade FOX would be a deadly SC2 team.
Erzz
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada184 Posts
December 02 2010 02:21 GMT
#9
Tell your units to follow a medivac and just move around using just the medivacs the whole time. That one medivac will fill up but it should work otherwise.
cowsrule
Profile Joined February 2010
United States80 Posts
December 02 2010 02:22 GMT
#10
The first thing most people did with formation movement in wc3 was to turn it off since it really is not good .
wooozy
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
3813 Posts
December 02 2010 02:27 GMT
#11
attack move a unit with the medivac and it'll follow it without picking it up
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
December 02 2010 02:43 GMT
#12
The only problem with a-moving on your infantry, or even m-moving move command, is that if that unit dies then your medivacs will just stop moving. Horrible instances include a Colossi taking out a row of infantry, and when you retreat/micro the medivacs sit still and get picked off.

I do a m-move command to have the medivacs follow, but also put all my army in control group 1, and all flying units (vikings, banshees, ravens, medivacs, and even BC's) on group 2. Obviously if I want my banshees to go harass, they go on 3, or whatever I need to do, but setting a control group for ground and one for air is enough control. A-move group 2 at the enemy in a battle, and the medivacs will attack/heal your infantry while vikings move in. The medivacs will only float to the point you a-moved to once all the marines are healed up, which means after the battle is over.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Tomken
Profile Joined January 2010
Norway1144 Posts
December 02 2010 02:52 GMT
#13
On December 02 2010 11:03 Clamps wrote:
I think you can set them to follow(move) to a unit and they should continue to heal at the same time.
You can queue them to follow other units in the ball so that if the first dies they continue to follow.

Downside: If you box move the units you lose the follow and the queues. If all the units in the queue die then the medivacs get left behind, so you still have to babysit them.

The WC3 UI was way better than the SC2 UI in several ways. This is another example. In WC3 you could have units maintain a basic formation as they moved across the field. I.E Melee in front, ranged in the back, they all move at the speed of the slowest unit. <Alt> + Move would override the formation and have them all move at max speed in the case of retreat or chasing down stragglers.



Disclaimer: This should be tested, because I could be confusing the details of the SC2 UI with WC3 UI which I know much better. (6 years vs 6 months)


This make it much more noob friendly..
MBCGame HERO FIGHTING!!!~
awang0830
Profile Joined July 2010
83 Posts
December 02 2010 02:54 GMT
#14
what if you shift a on a bunch of units? perhaps it will only stop following after a whole bunch of units die
Comprissent
Profile Joined September 2010
United States314 Posts
December 02 2010 03:54 GMT
#15
To help with the rally issue, rally your starport TO each medevac in a shift queue. Rallying it to bio units will cause them to pick up said unit. This way, if some of your medevacs die, the rallied starport units will rally to the next unit in the queue. ( You will have to keep on top of this when losing units, so pay attention)

When in battle and trying to kite, DON'T move your evacs with your bio army. They cannot heal while they are moving, so try to move your bio around your medevacs while stimming. this can be tricky to do by just boxing your bio army and kiting, so get some practice with this.

As for drops, you can just press D and then select a location on the ground to drop all your loaded units in a particular spot. To drop while moving, select the drop command (press D), then click on your loaded medevac, and the units will fall out as your dropship continues to move
He's French-Canadian, so he's gonna do fast expand into stupid zealot timing into something else gay
Lockindal
Profile Joined October 2010
United States73 Posts
December 02 2010 04:10 GMT
#16
[B]On December 02 2010 12:54 Comprissent wrote:[/]
As for drops, you can just press D and then select a location on the ground to drop all your loaded units in a particular spot. To drop while moving, select the drop command (press D), then click on your loaded medevac, and the units will fall out as your dropship continues to move

was wondering about this. thank you for the insight.

I usually just keep medicacs on two control groups -- main army healers and harrass-ships. sometimes i have three if i want to harass multipositions.

usually like 1-orbital commands/ccs
2-main army
3-healers
4-harrass (1)
5-harrass (2)
9 (thumb mouse button) - all unit production facilities (tab btwn them)
0 (ring finger mouse button) - use varies. usually it is for a small squad in main army to kite with. or if my army is varied and has ghosts in it, it is usually ghosts.

of course i just started using this system so i havent mastered it yet. when i do.... it will be like a whole new pLayer xD
Conrose
Profile Joined October 2010
437 Posts
December 02 2010 04:14 GMT
#17
On December 02 2010 11:00 Geovu wrote:
This is the worst thing about medivacs. Even worse if you have a marine thor army and pick up your thors. x.x


Haha, I won a game because someone I was playing against mis-microed and picked up his 3 thors with his medivacs while I was sniping them with my few Corruptors. I was confused as hell about where the hell all those thors vanished to until I reviewed the replay afterwards.
Touch
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada475 Posts
December 02 2010 04:16 GMT
#18
On December 02 2010 10:59 Synystyr wrote:Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!
You sir, deserve a cookie. I've gone up to top 100 without knowledge of this...
Sieg
Synystyr
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1446 Posts
December 02 2010 06:24 GMT
#19
On December 02 2010 13:16 Touch wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2010 10:59 Synystyr wrote:Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!
You sir, deserve a cookie. I've gone up to top 100 without knowledge of this...


I fucking LOVE cookies! :D

Oh yeah, its helpful to set multiple A queues in your bioball, that way when one unit dies, they'll just stick to the next one and so on and so forth. Wicked useful trick. Makes microing bio so much easier. The only downside is that they stay stationary while healing, even when you pull your bio back, so they can get picked off when you're retreating if you're not careful....

My explaining might suck, but once you try it, you'll see what I mean.
Sky Terran TvP V2.0: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=355839
Touch
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada475 Posts
December 03 2010 01:08 GMT
#20
On December 02 2010 15:24 Synystyr wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2010 13:16 Touch wrote:
On December 02 2010 10:59 Synystyr wrote:Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!
You sir, deserve a cookie. I've gone up to top 100 without knowledge of this...


I fucking LOVE cookies! :D

Oh yeah, its helpful to set multiple A queues in your bioball, that way when one unit dies, they'll just stick to the next one and so on and so forth. Wicked useful trick. Makes microing bio so much easier. The only downside is that they stay stationary while healing, even when you pull your bio back, so they can get picked off when you're retreating if you're not careful....

My explaining might suck, but once you try it, you'll see what I mean.
Nah, makes perfect sense, shift+a+left click multiple times so they won't stop following after a unit dies. Damn, I just realized how shit my mechanics are, and I'm playing Terran for fuck sakes.
Sieg
bNy
Profile Joined August 2010
84 Posts
December 03 2010 04:14 GMT
#21
On December 02 2010 13:16 Touch wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2010 10:59 Synystyr wrote:Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!
You sir, deserve a cookie. I've gone up to top 100 without knowledge of this...


I have to say the same, you will forever be my God.... No more useless medivacs, woohoo!
#bNy @ quakenet.org || http://starcrafting.wordpress.com/
Synystyr
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1446 Posts
December 03 2010 06:12 GMT
#22
On December 03 2010 13:14 bNy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2010 13:16 Touch wrote:
On December 02 2010 10:59 Synystyr wrote:Secondly, to get your medivacs to follow around your army with out picking up any units and healing whenever there is damage, simply select all your medivacs, press A (for attack) and click one of your units. Now they're pretty much set on auto heal. They'll follow your bio everywhere you go, they'll heal as soon as damage is done, and you don't ever have to worry about units getting picked up accidentally! Yay!
You sir, deserve a cookie. I've gone up to top 100 without knowledge of this...


I have to say the same, you will forever be my God.... No more useless medivacs, woohoo!


/hug

:D
Sky Terran TvP V2.0: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=355839
Skrag
Profile Joined May 2010
United States643 Posts
December 03 2010 07:27 GMT
#23
Also, if you do need to micro them beyond having them follow your units, *always* use attack move if the destination is anywhere near your units. Then it doesn't matter if you accidentally click on a unit instead of the ground, they won't pick it up.
"Just go *@#$ing kill him!" -- Day[9] "Thanks for being a jackass though! Enjoy your time on the forums!" - Artosis
nalgene
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada2153 Posts
December 03 2010 07:31 GMT
#24
when you click the ground, the air unit has a line from the medivac to the point that you're supposedly not clicking, but where it refers to...( you didn't click on a thor, but the medivac loads a nearby thor anyways... )
air units don't load ground units accidentally as much in wc3 though... doesn't have that height thing they added to air units in sc2
you gotta click them further away from your units in sc2 to not accidentally grab units for no apparent reason
Year 2500 Greater Israel ( Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen )
mGMUSE
Profile Joined October 2010
Singapore112 Posts
December 03 2010 11:00 GMT
#25
theres this fucking annoying bug with the medivac where if you select the medivac, right click on a spot, then select your ground units and right click on that spot/near that spot then the medivac and ground units will walk there and the medivac will pick it up. really annoying.
dbkim92
Profile Joined December 2010
Australia30 Posts
December 03 2010 11:36 GMT
#26
Thank god for this thread. Medivacs have now stopped picking up my thors in battle
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