Starcraft Strategy Guide - How to Play Dudo~509~ Style

Seems like every few months, I'll suddenly start playing craft again for no reason, suck terribly, then as I finally start to shake off the rust and start to win like before, I'll forget about the game again. Then before I know it, another few months will have passed before the CD is used again. The cycle has been documented in this blog at least a couple times already.

I don't like repeating negative cycles, so this time I'm gonna try to write down what scattered bits of wisdom I've learned throughout years of playing the game. Hopefully it will help me retain my skills more, or recover them quicker, and maybe give me something to study the next time I try to make a Starcraft comeback. Nerdy, I know, but I don't care.

A lot of it is common sense, but some of my thoughts might still be useful to you guys too. Also, be aware that my record is something like 3-8 since getting back in the game last Friday, so a lot of this might be bad advice. But I think I'm losing more because of my poor execution and HACKERS, than because of bad fundamentals or strategy. Anyways, I'm making this as practical and up to date as I can, for what it's worth, but anyone out there is welcome to point out possible additions/revisions as they see fit.

*Protoss*

- As long as you don't get rushed, the first priority should be to get Dark Templars. Even if your opponents build cannons/spores/turrets early, they are still good for defending your own base, helping your partners, or picking off guys wandering around the map. Also, it's not as obvious to maphackers as to where you are and what you're doing. Don't go overboard with DT's though. Once you have more than 8-12, the other team usually has enough detection and you're much better off with straight up Zealots/Dragoons or Carriers. Also, make sure you get some cannons at your own base, to defend against counter attacks. You just need a few to hold off the attackers, while your Gateways are pumping out more DTs.

- If you're DT rushing against Zerg, get a few corsairs before you go, to chase/kill the overlords. You don't need 12, just 3 or 4 is good and keep sending more as you build them. This does delay your attack a little bit, but you have to wait for your corsairs against Zerg or else it won't work. Usually the DT/corsair is most effective if 1) You're fast and 2) The guy doesn't know it's coming. Otherwise, just one spore colony, or a bunch of hydralisks will foil you. When you go, send the corsairs in first - this way you know what the base looks like, and you have a headstart on killing the overlords. Then, I would kill the sunken colonies quickly with the DT's (assuming he doesn't have a ton of them, otherwise just ignore them all completely), and start wiping out the drones before killing the hatchery. You gotta keep building stuff at your base, but stay very vigilant with your corsairs to kill any new overlords that pop out. In DT/Corsair rushes, it's usually more worthwhile to focus on managing your attack, than spend all your attention rebuilding at your base.

- If you DT rush against Terran, kill the scanner first as well as any turrets. Then kill as many SCVs as you can, while watching for any building turrets. If you see a turret being built, first kill the SCV building it and then finish the partially-built turret itself (you just need one, at most two DT's to do this, use the rest to keep killing SCV's). As long as you are killing a lot of his SCVs, you should eventually switch to building Zealots/Dragoons, because they are better to finish his base off with.

- If you DT rush against Protoss, give up if he has cannons around the nexus. Otherwise, walk past any other cannons and kill his probes. Then target his Nexus and kill that, before you go after anything else.

- Make sure you get observers somewhere along the way and upgrade their speed (slow observers are almost useless).

- One more benefit from having DT's is late in the game, you can merge them into Dark Archons and research Mind Control. Usually people like using that upgrade to get other races, but that's kind of overrated in the practical use department. I think it's the most effectively used when you have 4-6 DA's, a few carriers, and the other team attacks you with BC's or Carriers. I like to mind control their BC's or Carriers while they're battling, have them join my Carriers to kill the rest of his fleet, and then counter attack with them. Not only does it usually work the way you want it to, it has the "kick in the balls" factor and about 90% of the time when I've actually used this strategy, I've found that the other guy is so demoralized or pissed that he leaves the game right there and then. I encourage everyone to try it, but make sure to give them time to charge up, and make sure you have some carriers of your own to start with. Don't just go overboard and get 12 Dark Archons, expecting them to mind control a whole group of carriers for you, this is too much of a gamble and fails more often than not.

- Instead of DT's, you could also go straight up Zealot/Dragoon rush from the beginning, but you better be noticeably quicker and more efficient than the other guys. Unlike DTs, you do want to go overboard here as much as possible. In this case you should have at least 3 gateways pumping guys out (keep building more gateways if you have enough minerals coming in), and as long as you are breaking through their defense, keep building and sending during your attack. As far as upgrades go, if you're rushing, it's better to have more guys in the beginning than an upgraded few. But once you get beyond 12 guys or so, it's definitely better to have the Dragoon range or Zealot speed upgrades. I usually start researching them when I have about 8 of either one (and 2 or 3 gateways). Anyways, I don't like the straight up rush because it leaves your own base too open to counter attacks in the beginning, and it's harder to pull off a successful attack in 3v3 games because their partners can help them out. I usually only go this route later in the game, and in those situations, it's much more important to expand and have more than one base so you can outproduce them.

- As long as my partners are doing fine, I like to get carriers in the mid-late stages. I think upgrades (capacity, attack strength, and shields) are much more important than for ground troops, and I'll usually wait until I have 6 filled carriers to attack. As long as you have enough minerals and gas, get at least 3 or 4 Stargates, if not more, and shield batteries are also very helpful when you have carriers.

*Zerg*

- My early strategy with Zerg is a lot like Protoss, except with lurkers instead of DT's. Use them to attack the bases that are vulnerable without detectors, as defense for your own base, or to help your partners. It's not as good for helping partners as DT's because of the splash damage, so if you can choose between helping or countering, I'd prefer to just counter with your lurkers and just tell your partner to escape.

- If you are playing against a Protoss with Corsairs, you should definitely build more than one spore colony in your base. Also, it's a good idea to get some Devourers to protect your overlords when you attack. Mutalisks alone get fried by Corsairs, and hydralisks aren't as reliable for protecting overlords, especially when they're also being distracted by fighting the ground troops.

- Lurkers are still good even when they get detectors, but then you should mix them in with a lot of hydras. It's fine to attack with lurkers/hydras straight up if you have a lot, but dropping a few of them near the guy's minerals is even better. Usually, lurker dropping is good to set up a follow-up frontal attack, you shouldn't make it your whole strategy.

- A good use for lurkers that is often overlooked is to defend tank drops. Burrow them near the ledges where people do tank drops, and their attacks do actually reach the tanks as long as you have an overlord to see there.

- Get a lot of hatcheries. Since you can pop out a lot of guys at once with Zerg, it's not as important to be constantly building up your army, as it is to have a lot of hatcheries ready and enough minerals/gas to make them when they're needed. Also, make your base flexible and versatile as you get into the later stages of the game. That means, even if you went ground early on, get a spire sometime along the way so you can build air if it's needed. If you went straight zerglings, make sure you still have the capability to get hydras and ultras, with the upgrades.

- Get defilers. They are probably the most valuable zerg unit in my opinion. Put a cloud over your lurkers, hydras, and zerglings, and they become at least twice as powerful, both in attacking and defending. Plague on buildings or air units is also very fun, while having the "kick in the balls" factor to boot. The first upgrade on defilers should be consume, and the food with the best value for defilers is zerglings.

- Instead of getting 12 Devourers, all you really need is about 3 Devourers, and the rest should be Mutalisks. Based on the way their spores work, and how slow their attack rate is, the most effective method of using them is to splash as many spores as possible on the group, and let the Mutalisks (or Hydras) take over for the rest.

- Timing is everything when you're building up Zerg, and when you can get everything to finish one after the other, that's when you know you're on your game. Some timing knowledge that I can think of right now:

1) If you start building a Hydralisk den when the Lair is almost halfway done, you'll be ready to do the Lurker upgrade when the Lair pops up.

2) If you start the speed upgrade for zerglings a little bit after you start morphing to a Hive, you'll be ready to do the adrenal upgrade once the Hive pops up.

3) I think the same goes for morphing a Spire, but usually I start it simultaneously with the Hive, and then it's ready to be morphed into a Greater Spire when the Hive pops up.

- If you only have one Lair, upgrade Overlord speed first, then dropship capability. If you really want to be fast, get two Lairs and start the dropship upgrade a little bit before the speed upgrade. This way, they will finish researching at about the same time and you can load up and go right away.

*Terran*

- It takes the most patience and discipline to play with Terran. Your guys are so weak, so they suck completely unless you have a lot of them together. That means you can't really ever rush with them, and you can't help your partners early in the game.

- Always build at least one bunker in your base for defense. Maybe it seems like a waste of money or you think it slows you down, but more than a few times, I've found that it was the difference between a good game and a crappy game. The crappy game being one where 6 zerglings or 2 zealots take out your base in the very beginning, your partners waste all their guys and attention trying to save you, and you end up losing your base and having to float your buildings around the whole time anyways. The good game being one in which you manage to put together a solid base and actually have a chance to build up enough guys for launching attacks. When you have a bunker, even when you get attacked, you can tell your teammates to counter while you repair and hold off the other team. Like I said, you're not really going to pull off too many effective rushes with Terran, so to me, there's no point in saving the money of a Bunker when the risks of not having one are so huge. Bunkers should be surrounded by buildings (usually at least a Barracks on one side and supply depot on another side), filled with either 2 Marines/2 Firebats or 3 Marines/1 Firebat, and when attacked, you need to get as many SCV's repairing it as you can.

- Once you get tanks, have at least 2 tanks sieged to defend your base along with the bunker. The exception might be if you are attacking early, bring your tanks with your marines if you have nothing else. But other than that, you need at least 2 tanks for an effective D.

- I like to have at least 1 group of 12 marines/firebats with 6 medics before using them. 12 marines straight up is fine, but mix in 2-4 firebats and it's obviously much better against zealots or zerglings. As with upgrading the Protoss guys, I wouldn't rush to upgrade them until I have at least a few guys built. But the range and stimpak upgrades are crucial if you eventually want to use these guys to attack effectively.

- If you just upgrade the armor 1 level for marines at the engineering bay, they become much stronger in the early game. It then takes a non-upgraded Dark Templar 2 hits instead of 1 to kill you, and it takes 3 hits instead of 2 for a cannon or sunken to kill you. That means your guys last one and a half times to twice as long as normal, which means they get in that many more hits before they die. Of course, it's still better to have more marines than a few upgraded ones, and once the DT's are upgraded, then you're screwed again. But I think this can still be useful sometimes, if you're deciding whether to upgrade armor or attack first.

- Work with your team more when you're Terran. It's a lot harder to pull off a good attack by yourself, than if you have some zealots or hydras leading the way. Also, be diligent to scan for your partners when they need it, and if you can, help them out with some tanks to defend their bases.

- Even with medics, marines are horrible against Guardians, Carriers, and burrowed lurkers. It's almost pointless to try using them against those units, you gotta get some Goliaths and tanks to really stand a chance.

- Build Science Vessels and upgrade them according to who you're fighting (Irradiate against Zerg, EMP otherwise). It's almost always worthwhile to have at least 2-3 Science Vessels doing the little stuff. One of my favorite things to do in the game is get 3 or 4 SV's, have them irradiate each other, and fly through zerg stuff that has no air defense. Good targets for this strategy are unescorted Guardians, groups of zerglings, and the clump of drones at the minerals.

- In the middle stages of the game, my choices are either between attacking straight up, or dropping. In both cases, I'm going with ground troops, but when you drop, goliaths aren't as useful. By the way, I think it's pointless to do a drop with any less than 3 full dropships. You should bring at least 2 tanks, preferably 3 or 4, and the 12 Marine/Firebat - 6 Medic combo for it to be a good drop. But of course, don't go overboard and wait until you have enough guys to fill 10 dropships. By that time, if you haven't died already, your partners might have, and the other guys are probably all built up enough to withstand your drops.

- In the late stages of the game, it helps a lot to expand, if not for minerals, then at least for space to put all your buildings. I usually end up with a ton of resources, and that leads to me getting about 8-10 barracks to use it all up. Battlecruisers are good, especially if they are upgraded (I'm talking about shields and attacks, not so much for Yamato, but you might as well go ahead and get Yamato anyways), and you have Science Vessels with them to Defense Matrix and stuff. But don't stop building ground stuff even if you get BC's. Keep your marines, medics, tanks, and goliaths coming, you should have enough money for all of that stuff and more by that point of the game.

*General*

- Spot trends on Battle.net, because Battle.net is very trendy. If you start getting tank dropped every single game, then you better start building defense for it. If you get rushed every game, then don't go greedy early in the game. If a lot of people are building Carriers and advanced stuff, then start ground rushing them more. Don't be stubborn, and you have to keep adjusting to what people are doing. It's as simple as that.

- Kill probes when you attack. There are a few exceptions, but it doesn't help you at all in the long term to kill buildings. Of course, this doesn't mean you ignore everything else, but if you can potentially kill enough probes by walking past some stuff and taking some hits, then do it. It's pointless to waste time and guys fighting stuff out front, when the guy is just gonna rebuild as fast as you. But if you can stunt the guy's mining, then it makes it that much easier to finish him off in the next wave of attack. For the same reason, dropping is most effective when you do it near the guy's minerals and kill as many probes as possible. And it's also why it's important to build enough defense near your own minerals.

- If you escape, save as many probes as you can, and cancel anything that's building. That's the single most important key to rebuilding, saving probes and conserving minerals. Just let your fighters die trying to distract the attackers while you sneak the probes out, otherwise you're porked anyways. Also, if you have to leech off a partner's base, try to get yourself into your own base or your partner's expansion as fast as you can. When both of you are mining the same spot at the same time, even when it's BGH, it slows down both of you guys, and the team is almost better off if you just build a pylon in the corner or something.

- Rally points are useful and often times it's almost a necessity, but make sure you aren't screwing yourself by having your newly built guys run through attackers when the enemy is in your base. To clear a rally point setting, I just set the building's rally point back to itself and that seems to work.

- CTRL-click does the same as double clicking. I use it when there's a lot of confusion on the board, such as selecting 12 larva to build guys, or finding your DT's among a moving bunch of ground troops.

- If you have ally chat on, pressing Shift-Enter instead of just Enter will send message to all. Not that useful, but thought I'd make a note of it.

- Unless you are very comfortable with your skills of "micromanagement", just attack-move with your ground battles instead of targeting stuff. This is especially true for zealots, zerglings, etc. but still holds for range attack units like dragoons, hydras, marines for most cases. Usually your guys are smart enough to go after the right thing, whether it's enemy units or cannons/sunkens/bunkers/etc. Only when I feel like I'm at the very top of my game, do I ever try to micromanage. That's a rare situation for me and even when I feel like I'm flowing, I do it pretty minimally.