by shiva
Okay, I think you know what I'm gonna say here. :)
I shouldn't say newbies, because I've seen some people with real good records do some blindingly stupid things, so much so that it makes me want to jump into my computer screen, jump out of theirs, and beat the CRAP OUT OF THEM.
I'm just talking really stupid things that just doesn't seem to occur to people.
*** Before you start a game ***
Go to the damn washroom first!
You wouldn't believe how many times I've started a game, only to have the game get paused because someone didn't go before he started. Needless to say, when you play StarCraft, you get into a rhythm, and nothing destroys that faster than when people pause the game in the middle.
At least have a idea of what you are going to do before you start.
It absolutely amazes me that some people will start a build order for a certain type of unit like Dark Templars, and then after it's built, pump out Zealots instead. Some people even just build for one type of unit, and then start building for another type of unit, without making the unit he was building for in the first place. If you have no intention of making that type of unit, then just don't build the buildings.
Read the Damn Manuals!
You wouldn't believe how many people don't, and how many times I have to answer their questions during the middle of a game about infomation on units that you can find just by reading the Manual. One guy I know, with a "non-newbie" record, didn't even know how to increase the Queens spawning ratio. (It's called Gamete Meiosis) There's a lot of important infomation in there, so read it!
Turn off your ICQ.
Nothing causes lag more than one player getting a ICQ message in the middle of the game. It becomes even more annoying if he pauses the game to answer it!
*** Starting the game ***
The first 2 minutes of the game are critical.
In other words, play the game, not endlessly chat. Ever play with people who are more concerned with talking than actually playing? Ever count the times you have had to come over and bail their ass out when they get attacked? You get the picture.
Build some GODDAMN DEFENSE!!!
Sometimes it may take a while, so that's understandable. I don't build a defense for the first little while myself, but I make sure my "team" knows it as well. But I have seen more than several times people who still have no defense after 10 minutes! If you have problems with this, go to one of the other SC sites and grab a build order before you subject other people to your lack of skill. Better yet, just play the game on the C.D. for a while, gradually increasing the odds till you get comfortable.
Mine carefully
It's bad enough if people are slow, but I swear to god, I've seen players assign 8 peons to mine one gas mine. 4 at the most per gas unless there is a lot of distance involved, and the best way to tell that you have too many peon's mining is if you have more than one peon stuck waiting to mine gas at anyone time.
Plan ahead!
Believe it not, the better StarCraft players actually have a basic battle plan in mind when they start. If you don't have at least some idea of what you are going to do, then its time to crank up the old C.D.
Neatness counts!
In other words, think of where you are going to place your buildings on the map. How important is this? Ever just place your buildings scattered around all over the place and then run out of room? How about placing various buildings all over, so you have to "search" before you can build a unit. My "build order" includes not only unit production, but a "style" of where I put my buildings. I place my supply depots to the edges of the map, and I group certain types of buildings together, like all my upgrades in one cluster, and all the "unit" buildings in another cluster. Sometimes I have several "clusters", but the big advantage is all you have to do is Hot-Key one of the buildings in the cluster, and after you upgrade that, then you can just point and click each of the other buildings. You want to Hot-Key a group of stargates, and also have Hot-Keys for units? This is the easiest way to conserve your amount of Hot-Keys. Now I don't mean go over board on this when placing your buildings: I swear this to be true, one guy was placing his buildings to form Geometric patterns. He got killed of course, but damn it sure was pretty to look at...
If you can't be neat, then DON"T DO IT IN MY BASE!
It's bad enough that you mess up your section by just slapping buildings down all over the place. But if you get attacked, and have to move to someone else's base, don't start slapping stuff all over his place as well. How many of you had a ally that choked up your section because he didn't place his buildings with care? How many times have you been tempted to blow the crap out of one of his buildings because it blocks your units? Happens to me several times a month. And don't forget that as long as your "host" is alive, so are you. There has been several occasions where I "hosted" a ally, only to find that he choked me off with room because of his buildings.
Nice to host you, now get the hell out!
Ever had a guest that came for a couple days, only to end up staying for a month (or what seems an eternity?) Same thing here. As a "team" player, you look after your allies, but there comes a time when it's time to "kick out the children". Find a good spot for him, help him build a defense, then boot his ass out of your section. Remember this, if 2 groups are "leeching" from the same minerals, your both 50% weaker.
Use those Damn Hot-Keys!
That's what they are there for, and it also allows you to do multiple tasks at once. Say your attacking, and you need more units, or you need to upgrade weapons. Just assign the Hot-Keys to a building, and during battle, hit the Key once to call up the build menu, upgrade or build your units, and still keep your eyes on the battle. Hot-Keys are also great for rapidly moving around the map, or pinpointing a spot on the map that requires attention. I always Hot-Key my probe that I build all my stuff with. Just tap twice on the key, and there he is, waiting for me. A real interesting use is that by assigning a group of units to one key, sending each of those units "out" in different directions on a search, and if I ended up finding something interesting, hit my key to call them back as a group. Sort of a real basic "recall" feature used by the Arbiters, and real handy if your just trolling for stragglers.
Stop the Cheap wins
Sure, it looks good on your record, and you can sit there and brag to your friends about how good you are with all those victories. But think about this... Just how good are you when you get into a game and your SCV rush gets beaten? Or you play with such overwhelming odds like 7 on one comp, and then decide to go on the ladder? You know how many ladder players are out that with 10+ wins and 0 losses in regular play, and yet are something like 3 and 12 on the ladder? You have to learn to play like the big boys if you want to beat the big boys. You can't do it if all you want is cheap wins. They will EAT YOU ALIVE.
The Mini map is your friend
Ever pay attention to the mini-map? Especially during battle? How many times have you heard "we are under attack" while your in battle, only to realize later that wasn't that battle it was referring to? How about keeping a close eye on it during team battles? Its always nice to know what is going on outside your little domain. So repeat after me my children..."the mini-map is my friend, the mini-map is my friend."
*** Playing the Game ***
Protect your allies
If you are playing a team game, then help out if someone is in trouble. For instance, if you are playing a group of "high level" comps, and you see that all the comps are throwing everything at one guy, and constantly doing so, the one thing not to do is to just sit there and build more defense. All the defense in the world isn't gonna stop the comps when they start doing that. It's one of the custom A.I.'s in the computer build list, find one player, throw everything at him till he's completely destroyed, then move on to the next target (you). If you can't help him, then at least do something. Attack one of the comps if you see your ally beating the rush down. Bet you it would be a lot easier to kill the comp, especially if it's thrown all it's resources at one person.
Before you do something, let your team Know!
Argg! You would think people were smarter than this! God, I wish I had money for every time I've seen this. Player A decides to attack a enemy without scouting it first. Player A attacks without telling anyone, and gets his butt handed back to him. Player A then gets attacked by the remainder of the forces that he attacked, and Player A didn't leave enough to defend himself. Player A starts crying for help because of his own stupidity. His other allies look at whats happening to Player A and then decide if its worth the spending of resources to try and save Player A. Player A gets screwed.
If you play a "team" game, then it's a "TEAM GAME"
Just because you have one type of building, doesn't mean you can't build more
This is the most annoying thing I've ever come across. I've seen games where all they did was build one type of building, and then totally forget about building more. I just saw a game at a Internet cafe where this guy just built one of everything, and that's it. Just one Starport, one Barracks, etc. The really stupid thing was he had nearly 10,000 minerals at one point. He lost againest a person who had only played the game once before. Why? I'm sure you can guess. Which gets to my next point...
Kill everything that moves!!!
Doesn't matter what point in the game it is, if you can kill it, do it. I've seen enemy troops walk right by one ally's position to attack another ally, and the first one doesn't do anything. If it moves, kill it! You never know how important it may be in the future, so why take a risk? If by not doing something, and that enemy tips the balance of power and defeats your ally, then guess who the next target is gonna be?
Know your map!
Here's a prime example of one of the most common mistakes. Lets use Hunter's for example. 8 separate groups of land, several choke points, and they all meet in the middle. If you are in the top 2 corners, then you know you share the second clump of minerals with another section. Plan your Choke point defense properly! Don't put your defenses past the choke point unless you know what's there. If its a ally, cool, but if it's not, you better find out fast.
Part Two: Know your map
Talking about choke points and Hunters, BE GREEDY. If your in a area where there is two clumps of resources and they are not "shared" by another section, then why do people build their choke point defense at the first choke point, and not at the choke point near the middle of the map? It makes no real difference, and you might as well grab that second resource clump while you have the chance. If not, and your a little slow, expect someone else to do it for you. I don't need to tell you that a choke point could be used on you just as easily as you can use it on him.
Nice early defense...too bad you forgot something...!
How many times have you seen this? Player A builds a huge mother defense at his choke point. Player B does nothing but attack his huge mother defense and gets killed off everytime. Doesn't happen to much does it? How about this then... Player C sees the huge mother defense, decides that it would cost too much to beat, so Player C scouts to the side to find that Player A was so busy building his huge mother defense, Player A forgot to build a defense for his other sides. Player C laughs wickedly.
Don't forget the little things
Believe it or not, some of the "lesser" units are more important. Here's another example. Player A builds his fleet of 12 carriers, gets them all upgraded, and then attacks Player B's terrans. Player B finds any Arbiters, and kills them first. Player B then notices that Player A didn't build any Observers. Player B then proceeds to use his cloaked ghosts to "lockdown" all the carriers. Player A then gets to watch his Carrier fleet being destroyed by a group of marines.
Never depend on a build order
If someone has come up with a build order that WORKS EVERYTIME, it would have come out by now don't you think. Think about this, how many times has your build order worked perfectly most of the time againest other players. Bet you it doesn't. Why? Because a lot of build orders don't take into account what your opponent is gonna do at any time. You got a great build order? Fine. But if your opponent sees it and realizes what it is, do you think he's gonna let you execute it on him? Hell no. Be flexible. Try and find something that works, or can easily be modified "on the fly" in case your enemy does something strange to mess you up.
Choose the right enemy to kill
Here's a good case in point: you're a group of carriers attacking another Protoss. Which are you gonna kill first? The group of Zealots, or the fully powered Templars with Psi-Storm wandering around? You wouldn't believe how many people allow the carriers to go after the Zealots first.
Your men are disposable
Yeap, all they are are little bits of color on a screen. They are not real human beings, so why do people treat them as such? There's gonna be no hordes of journalist on you're butt for losing great amounts of your forces at a shot, so think about it this way, You're forces are BIC Lighters, you use them up, then you throw them away after you are done with them. Lets use the Carriers/Templars thing again. Templars always seem to attack the first unit in front of them (this is the comp of course) So what would you rather have attacked, you're fleet of carriers, or a single scout or a zealot or 2?
Here's another example. You're in the middle of the game, and you have just tons of minerals because you built 50 probes. You know that you have enough resources to last to the end of the game, and w-a-y beyond that. You also have maxed out on the other units, and don't figure you have enough to kill your enemy. So what do you do? Hell, if I get to that point, I round up all my units that I don't need anymore, and send them off to attack. Your enemy may kill them off, but so what? He's doing you a favor, you might actually cause him to lose some units, and also you can distract him while you sneak through his side with your major forces. The worst thing that could happen is you lose a bunch of units you don't need anyway. You may lose some "points", but all the points in the world don't make up for it if you lose the game.
Playing Tag!
A lot of people still don't know this, but you can chain units to follow other units by selecting the first unit, then right clicking on the unit that you want it to follow. Ever wonder how some people get their units to follow others like glue? Well here you go. Just be careful, and keep a eye out on them, sometimes your units get turned around, and the wrong unit gets exposed to the enemy. I only use this as a support feature, like Science vessels to Battlecruisers and such, or to chain multiple units together so I can move a large number of groups together as one force, with just a simple click, point and click.
Keep your opponent guessing!
If he knows what your planning, then guess who's gonna win? If your battle plan is a basic strategy, throw a couple weird things at him, like irradiating your Science Vessels and then use it to infect all his peons. It really pisses people off, and you could use all the edges you can get.
Understand the choke points!
How many times have you attacked a enemy at a choke point, only to see the bulk of your forces wander around confused. Maybe because they were told to attack, but can't get in there to actually attack because the first group of your attackers are blocking the way while attacking themselves. Remember the "disposable" theory, sometimes you have to "throw away" some units for a greater good. Simple, take groups of units and "move" to a position within a enemies base, instead of "attacking". (away from the choke point of course) The first thing you will find is you can move the bulk of your forces into an enemies base pretty fast, plus you create a hell of a disturbance, and once your groups get to their move point, they serve as backup for your heavy hitters when they move into position. If you have strength in numbers, use it! Attacking a choke point with small groups just won't work, and you usually end up losing more men than if you just moved all the groups in at once.
*** Towards the End ***
Stop with the &(*$% Nukes!
Man, I hate this. Player A is attacking the enemies base. He's starting to punch through, and it looks like he's could lay a serious beating down. Player B, his ally, decides he wants to get in the action, and look! His brand shiny new, still under warranty nuke is right there. Player B decides its time to nuke the enemy at the same time as Player A is attacking. Then watch Player A have to stop attacking so he can get out of the way of the nuke being dropped. Watch how the nuke does very little damage, or worst yet, causes more damage to Player A than it does to the enemy. Watch the enemy have the time to marshal up his forces and mount a stronger defense. I HATE NUKES. I play Terran a lot, and I never build them. They are a pain in the ass, take up too many resources, and end up doing less damage than a equivalent amount of marines. It may look impressive as hell, but the only way you should build them is as a bunch, and fire them all at once on a base, or use them as a "pre-strike" to soften up the enemies defense. One little side note about this. If you ever come across this in a team game, and your ally does a nuke launch while you're there in the middle of the attack, then do what I do. Kill his ghost.
Always use your units "Special Abilities"
How many people use the Science vessels "Irradiate" on zergs? Or how about this, how many people use the status field of their Arbiters? Sure, it takes a long time for it to fade, but in certain occasions, it works wonders, and may be the difference between life or death. Case in point. You have been weakened, you're by yourself againest 2 other guys. You know they are gonna hit you with everything they have, and you don't have the time to max up for your defense. You do have some Arbiters lying around, and you know they are not a good "defensive" unit. Wrong! You wait for the attack, set up your best defensive position, and when they come, use your status fields to lockdown groups of enemies. The worst thing that happens is you cut a large chunk of their attack force out of the picture for a while, allowing you time to destroy the remainder of the forces, which after you've done that, you can wait for the status to go, and then you can kill that group too! Or even better, if you can trap groups of enemies between 2 status fields, it makes things a lot easier. If it's a large group coming at you,in a pretty open area, you can time your status fields so that when one status field is over, you can kill it, usually in time for the next status field to finish. It's a lot easier to divide and conquer than to try and kill everything at once.
Take advantage of other peoples mistakes!
This is something that's hard to teach, so read the battle reports of some of the top player's matches. Usually, you will find that one person won because the other player made a "mistake" and the first player took advantage of it.
Try to not make a mistake!
Especially towards the end. A very good player could turn around the entire game because of it. I've seen some incredible gaffs made by other players, such as not paying attention during a attack because he's to busy building in his base, only to find his forces have been destroyed when he does pay attention. Which leads to this one...
Pay ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
If your gonna attack, then attack. Don't go off doing something else. You may find that it doesn't work very well.
When all else fails, just kill them off yourself!
Don't you just hate games where everyone is just building their forces to max out before they do anything? What usually happens is everyone maxs out, usually at the same time, they all meet up somewhere where they end up wiping out each others forces, so they end up rebuilding and maxing out their forces again... This makes for long and boring games. If you have the opportunity to kill them off, take it! As soon as possible. The more time you let him build, the harder it will become. If you build faster than he does, don't wait around. Ever hear of the expression "the early bird gets the worm?"
Play nice, share your meat!
Sometimes, its better to let your allies in on the fun. You never know, you might play with them again, and they might be more willing to help you out when you need it.
The final words
Remember, it's only a game. You may win a few, you may lose many, but it's only numbers, and in the context of things, it's just a game that is suppose to be fun.
More damnit! I need more! I don't care what, just send me stuff! I want to know. Got a real mean and nasty strat? How about stuff I can add to this article? How about some words of wisdom, or a "Stupid Human SC" Trick? Just send me stuff.