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There are no concrete referrals for the fundamentals of SC2 and after writing an article on it, I've realized that the basics are more important than any other aspect of the game. By the way, I am in master league and have 2400 points. Although, as many of you know, there is a hidden MMR rating which judges your true level of skill and places you against similar skilled opponents. Often, I am placed against players within the 3300-3600 point range. Players of any skill level can learn from this guide.
There are so many build orders and strategies players can use. But, why is it that those build orders and strategies always fade and pro gamers still end up on top? It's because they practice most of their time on the fundamentals of the game.
Many Starcraft 2 players struggle and start to look for tips or guides. But, instead of looking for new strategies, let's take a look at the basics of Starcraft 2. There are huge differences between a high school basketball player and an NBA star. The difference is a seasoned NBA player has much more skill and knowledge when it comes down to the fundamentals. Starcraft 2 is no different.
There are three main basic principles, and in terms of Starcraft 2 linguistics, are scouting, macro and micro. These three principles compliment and rely on one another. What I mean by this is, to master either of them, Starcraft 2 players need to be sufficient in the two other categories. In order of what was listed, they can be described simply as finding information, building at a competitive pace and making the most out of units produced. Let's dive into the first, scouting.
Scouting is acquiring knowledge of your opponent. The key things to look for when scouting your opponent are spawning locations, expansions, buildings, build orders and unit compositions. When players start off in a game, they often ask themselves, "Which build order should I use?" or "Which build units are best for this match up?" But, they ask these questions with little to no information about their opponent. Players can emulate their favorite Pro gamer and still end up losing by a landslide. Every pro gamer's build is based off of scouting information they get from their opponent. Before getting that fast expansion, they ask themselves, "Did my opponent spawn far enough for me to get sufficient time to get an early expansion?" So before copying their build order, take into consideration what build order or units are being used against them and distance between the two players. Another pro level tip is to get familiar with a second worker scout. Pro gamers often use a second unit, after the first scouting worker, to find out important information such as if their opponent is expanding or going down a certain tech path. When these players see their opponent's expansion going up, they often initiate an attack as soon as the expansion completes. If they do not have enough units to pressure, they need to setup an expansion of their own in order to keep up with their opponent's economy. Note: When an expansion finishes, it's considered to be when their opponent is weakest. Excellent scouting is not just figuring out your opponent after the beginning stages of the game. It's an ongoing tool that should be used to win battles in any given situation. Next, we'll move on to macro.
Macro is considered to be the most difficult portion of many RTS games, but it is especially difficult in Starcraft and Starcraft 2. Build orders, unit composition and economy are all included within macro and it must be completed at a quick and constant pace. It takes a lot of actions per minute, so knowledge and scouting will not be enough. Each player builds at a different amount of speed, with an exception to pro gamers. Next time, try to build a small group of units over and over until you've built that same squad within the fastest possible time. Every mineral of ore and second of time are valuable resources that gets players ahead their opponent. This leads to more units and will always be a deciding factor on winning or losing. And, when you're ahead, make sure you get more ahead. Mentioned earlier, having sub-par to excellent macro is based heavily on scouting and micro. To get most out of those units, players need to know if those units are cost efficient during the next battle. Units are often times excellent against one type of enemy and completely useless against others. The best way to find out which and how many units to produce, is to scout your opponent.
Micro is a term used by many RTS players. It refers to how players control any and every unit on the field. Simply throwing your army at your opponent is the bare minimum of micro. When a unit such as the colossus is destroying large numbers of units, it's essential that players target fire that colossus before it gets off too many hits and decimates their whole army. The player's micro should be dependent of the situation. The focus of your practice when it deals with micro is to preserve as many units as possible while doing the most damage. Try to retreat only the units that are taking damage during a battle. Micro is also getting your units in a good position. Positioning will allow you to flank and have a larger concave than your opponents army by using choke points located in different areas of the map. One major choke point is located at the exit of every player's base, the ramp(s). If you notice the picture above, half of my opponent's army is stuck and cannot deal damage. That's half of his full potential damage dealt. It's also important to know that sometimes you can only win battles if you macro'd enough. This means, reacting accordingly whether your army can handle what your opponent's current army or not. If it can't, then be sure to move back and play defensively. Micro is used best when applied with macro. The concept is that the more units that you have in your arsenal, the more options for micro become available. Did you tech to medivacs? If so, take the opportunity to micro a base drop or harass expansions. At the same token, if you micro well, you can take the next step in your macro. Did you target fire their expensive units? If so, you now have a window of time to take an expansion.
Fundamental Knowledge
Knowledge or game sense is an equally important aspect of Starcraft 2 and compliments the the three principles as well as the principles themselves. "When you acquire information through scouting, how do you use that knowledge to gain an advantage?", "When you get rushed, how can you micro your units effectively?" and "Which building is necessary at this point in the game?" are all questions that can be answered with having good fundamental knowledge of StarCraft 2. But, it also takes time to master. Which means, in order to gain a sufficient amount within the game, you have to put many hours into playing and studying Starcraft 2. The important types of knowledge to acquire are of maps, opponent build orders, counter build orders, unit advantages and disadvantages, **timing attacks**, purposely misled information, tech trees and economics. You can see why this will take the most time to master. If there are any I missed, please post below. One of my favorite players in the Starcraft 2 community, TLO, had once asked this question, "Did you know if you neural parasite an egg, it dies?" This is an example of when It's one of those things you have to experiment with to know. There aren't many examples of players who know everything about the game and haven't played many. Most of these high level players have played over hundreds, if not thousands of games. The best way to ingest and ruminate on knowledge is to just continue to play. But, if you don't have time for that, you can always search around the internet or poke people for it  . My opinion is that at this stage of Starcraft 2's growth, the knowledge of the community is constantly evolving. One week you'll see mass ultralisks and when another goes by, you'll see baneling busts. Also, unlike the principles from earlier, knowledge cannot be practiced; knowledge is acquired. So, as mentioned above, practicing this portion involves putting more games under your belt. But, if you have played thousands of games and are looking to improve, please refer to the principles rather than knowledge. By now, you should have remembered most of the important details. I will also update this from time to time and break down the key points of fundamental knowledge in case players have missed a certain subject.
Remember:
Scouting
Macro
Micro
Knowledge
Refining your game with these basics will not only get you more wins at Starcraft 2, but it will allow you to create strategies of your own.
**timing attacks** note: Timing attacks are often mistaken for being an attack that will come at a certain time during the game clock, similar to what Sean "Day[9]" Plott said. There would be too many of these types of timing attacks to remember and there are so many different build orders that assuming one is coming would be foolish. But, some do exist and will help you if you can figure out your opponent's game plan. A timing attack is actually defined as "An attack that will exploit an opponent's disadvantage or an attack that capitalizes upon a self gained advantage." When my opponent is about to finish his expansion and I attack, it's considered a timing attack. After Ultralisks popped and there's an attack, it's considered a timing attack. [The reason I chose Ultralisks is because it would be too difficult to find an exact time they will pop. Ultralisks come into play so late in the game and there are too many variables to take into account.]
Credits for the definition of timing attack go to holyhalo5 and NegativeZero! Thanks guys.
For the full article including pictures for visual learners, it can be found here at http://www.pvpproz.com under the Starcraft 2 section.
Direct link : http://pvpproz.blogspot.com/2011/03/basics-starcraft-2.html
Please, if you think there is a mistake or want to add to the article, post below.
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Good read, but I'm glad someone had enough sense to post something like this.
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I'd actually say macro is the easiest thing to learn, as well as the first thing you have to learn before anything else. Having good macro allows you to have good micro as well as good game sense and strategy. I don't really have a backing for this other than it's my own personal opinion.
I'd say the things required to play well are macro, micro, mechanics, and game sense.
Macro - What to build and when to build it.
Micro - Control of individual (or groups of) units and/or buildings.
Mechanics - Hotkey setup, in-game habits; directly relative to potential useful apm.
Game Sense - Knowledge of builds and counter-builds, as well as knowledge of when and why to do specific actions and or execute specific strategies.
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Good read, but I'm glad someone had enough sense to post something like this.
Thanks!
I'd say the things required to play well are macro, micro, mechanics, and game sense.
Great input! I've tried to make sure players understand that macro and micro are well in tune with each other. Great macro does allow great macro and vise versa.
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And just a good Gibbs style instinct and a Gibbs gut (if you don't know what I mean, watch NCIS, you'll get it). If you have both of those, and the macro, micro, mechanics and game sense down, you are pretty damn good.
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And just a good Gibbs style instinct and a Gibbs gut (if you don't know what I mean, watch NCIS, you'll get it). If you have both of those, and the macro, micro, mechanics and game sense down, you are pretty damn good.
Sorry, I don't know what that is. But, I do agree with you about having good fundamentals. Great fundamentals means solid game play. It's a great way for players to get some real practice in, rather than doing the same build order over and over.
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Nice post. Regarding scouting, how can one become better at reading what their opponent is planning by what they scout? Macro and micro I know how to improve with, but that it something that I feel hurts my game.
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On March 16 2011 13:33 Darclite wrote:
Nice post. Regarding scouting, how can one become better at reading what their opponent is planning by what they scout? Macro and micro I know how to improve with, but that it something that I feel hurts my game.
By loosing lots and lots of games. The possibilities of what a twilight council means become burned into you brain after enough DT in your mineral line.
A less painful way of learning is look up a build your having trouble against on the forums or in replays and VODs to get a sense of its tells.
Also another hint: Figuring out what someone is doing is often done by process of elimination. Even if you don't know what the opponent is doing, it is a lot easier to prepare for it if you know some of the things they aren't doing
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On March 16 2011 09:24 CecilSunkure wrote:
I'd actually say macro is the easiest thing to learn, as well as the first thing you have to learn before anything else. Having good macro allows you to have good micro as well as good game sense and strategy. I don't really have a backing for this other than it's my own personal opinion.
To help you out, macro must be learned before anything else because without good macro, it is impossible to judge whether your losses are theory based or simply because you didn't have enough stuff.
This seriously hinders the learning curve and is the reason why so many players end up stuck in bronze-gold for soooo long because every win and loss is tainted with poor macro and thus conclusions are much harder to draw from trial and error. Macro is also ironically the least fun thing to practice for most players.
The key to improving quickly is to practice each of these skills INDIVIDUALLY as opposed to trying to do everything in game.
Macro - Play by yourself or against a computer and do drills that correspond to your current skill level (if you are a beginner, try making only scv's and command centers constantly and never getting supply blocked. if you are more advanced, up the difficulty accordingly)
Micro - Open up that unit tester and run simulations over and over to get comfortable with quick and precise micro in different situations. Also watching lots of replays can help you pick up tricks and you will start to see patterns in micro techniques.
Scouting - Watch loads of replays and take note of key timings i.e. zergling speed finishes at roughly 6:20 for standard hatch first builds. Having a deep understanding of the timings will help your scouting because you will know what to look for and when. Also watching replays can help you pick up scouting tricks.
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On March 16 2011 13:33 Darclite wrote:
Nice post. Regarding scouting, how can one become better at reading what their opponent is planning by what they scout? Macro and micro I know how to improve with, but that it something that I feel hurts my game.
Playing all three races a little certainly helps, as well as mass gaming combined with watching replays and comparing them to your own game experience.
My personal problem is the macro part in decision making (I think mechanically I'm relatively fine with it, I don't have problems spending ressources even on several bases), which probably just needs more knowledge (=mass gaming+replays, again).
But even more so, I think, micro/multitasking/apm. I'm kinda clinging to my part of the screen where I am and move the camera to whereever I have work to do. Even microing during the 20-26 supply phase of a game (as a protoss where I want to be active with my zealot and stalker when possible) feels terrible to me, because I can't keep an eye on my base. The only multi tasking trainer I found so far was okay, but it felt like it's not really enough to teach it to me properly  (The one where you have to macro up a base, defend against agression and chase a probe around to escape a ling)
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I think that at least for now while the game is evolving reasonably fast, there is a 4th part of the game. Some people call it the metagame, some people call it out of game thinking. I don't have an especially good term for it, but all the scouting in the world does you know good if you are hit by a timing attack you didn't know existed. The best macro won't be enough to make your banelings cost effective against foxer splitting marines. No matter how well you control your mutas, you won't ever be able to deal effective damage against a terran that knows his timings.
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On March 16 2011 14:23 teekesselchen wrote:
I liked Destiny's approach
Sorry but that's not destiny's approach, that's just common sense. This sort of thing has been known widely since way way back in brood war.
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i'd just like to add that "scouting" doesn't fit the general fundamental aspect that you are trying to define. you say "it's not only scouting, it's inferring what to do based on the information you glean". wouldn't "game sense" be a better phrase? having a good game sense, a good understanding of NOT ONLY the metagame but also underlying subtleties of said metagame, will all contribute to a player's development of taking appropriate action and reaction, should he face the common situation or an uncommon situation.
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On March 16 2011 14:39 holyhalo5 wrote:
i'd just like to add that "scouting" doesn't fit the general fundamental aspect that you are trying to define. you say "it's not only scouting, it's inferring what to do based on the information you glean". wouldn't "game sense" be a better phrase? having a good game sense, a good understanding of NOT ONLY the metagame but also underlying subtleties of said metagame, will all contribute to a player's development of taking appropriate action and reaction, should he face the common situation or an uncommon situation.
Scouting is not a very accurate description of what he is describing (or at least it is certainly misleading), but he goes into more detail so its just a question of semantics.
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On March 16 2011 14:46 alphafuzard wrote:Show nested quote +On March 16 2011 14:39 holyhalo5 wrote:+ Show Spoiler +i'd just like to add that "scouting" doesn't fit the general fundamental aspect that you are trying to define. you say "it's not only scouting, it's inferring what to do based on the information you glean". wouldn't "game sense" be a better phrase? having a good game sense, a good understanding of NOT ONLY the metagame but also underlying subtleties of said metagame, will all contribute to a player's development of taking appropriate action and reaction, should he face the common situation or an uncommon situation. Scouting is not a very accurate description of what he is describing (or at least it is certainly misleading), but he goes into more detail so its just a question of semantics.
yeah, that's what i'm saying, i think the OP should change the word "scouting" to "game sense".
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Scouting is not a very accurate description of what he is describing
yeah, that's what i'm saying, i think the OP should change the word "scouting" to "game sense".
i'd just like to add that "scouting" doesn't fit the general fundamental aspect that you are trying to define.
Great input guys, I'll definitely do some editing. The problem is that I didn't state whether I am writing about principles or knowledge. Game sense is certainly not part of any fundamental principles, of any game. Though, it is absolutely part of fundamental knowledge and it is an important aspect of the game. This thread should currently be used to offer basic principles of the game that players of all skill levels can improve upon.
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I've edited scouting and included fundamental knowledge, so disregard the above post. Let me know what you think!
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I would recommend explaining what a timing attack is in more detail. You don't really define what it is for the reader, you just explain some factors that play into it.
How about: "A timing attack is an attack made right when you gain a particular advantage or when your opponent has a particular disadvantage, such as right after a powerful research finishes or right before they build a critical unit to their army."
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EPT
