Starcraft 2 - Read Post #2 for a useful beginner guide

[eLiu]

I've been traveling for some time now and budget is broken. But with everything at low do you think I can maintain 30 fps? (you play better multiplayer at low settings anyway)

How much worse is an athlonXP 2700+ & 6800gt? lol I wasn't even going to bother installing SC2 on my desktop, but maaaaybe...

 

[dguy6789]

How much worse is an athlonXP 2700+ & 6800gt? lol I wasn't even going to bother installing SC2 on my desktop, but maaaaybe...

A LOT worse unfortunately. I wouldn't even attempt SC2 on an Athlon XP machine.

 

[Skunkwourk]

I've been traveling for some time now and budget is broken. But with everything at low do you think I can maintain 30 fps? (you play better multiplayer at low settings anyway)

Heres a few clips to show you what SC2 might be like. Keep in mind those clips are when you are starting out, so as soon as you add units your frame rate will suffer. Also Hyper-Threading for the Pentium 4s appears to help, but thats not a feature your Athlon has.

Single Core P4 and 3850
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tWI42LoRFE

Single Core P4 and 2600 pro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wBolLa75bU

Dual Core with Intel GMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87j42huC8XI

Also I just noticed you also had 1 gig of ram, I believe the minimum requirements is for at least 2 using windows xp.

 

[Ika]

eLiu - it'll run, just not well - I would guess maybe 15-20 FPS average. I ran SC2 on my P4 2.8ghz with a 6800NU and 1gb of ram successfully. It's just, if you try to play a game you'd probably get rocked because you're so bottlenecked by the game. You moreso, because you seem to be a good bit better than me. I think the issue was the RAM, though... if you happen to have 2gbs, it might be better but I doubt you do.

 

[eLiu]

eLiu - it'll run, just not well - I would guess maybe 15-20 FPS average. I ran SC2 on my P4 2.8ghz with a 6800NU and 1gb of ram successfully. It's just, if you try to play a game you'd probably get rocked because you're so bottlenecked by the game. You moreso, because you seem to be a good bit better than me. I think the issue was the RAM, though... if you happen to have 2gbs, it might be better but I doubt you do.

Yeah I do have 2GB... unclear how much good it will do after watching m0mentary's videos, haha. Internets seem to indicate that the game will at least run (unlike Alien Swarm, which requires a processor supporting SSE2--rules out the athlonxp ). Though those vids were at like high/medium settings and I'm perfectly happy at low settings.

Mmmmmmmmm I guess it couldn't hurt to try right? Even if it works too shitty for competitive play, I could still screw around in custom games or maybe work on that brutal campaign achievement... mmm.

 

[Ika]

Yeah I do have 2GB... unclear how much good it will do after watching m0mentary's videos, haha. Internets seem to indicate that the game will at least run (unlike Alien Swarm, which requires a processor supporting SSE2--rules out the athlonxp ). Though those vids were at like high/medium settings and I'm perfectly happy at low settings.

Mmmmmmmmm I guess it couldn't hurt to try right? Even if it works too shitty for competitive play, I could still screw around in custom games or maybe work on that brutal campaign achievement... mmm.

well since you have the game already, go ahead and install it! the only thing that really bogged me down when there were a lot of units was the memory - it would drag to 5-10 FPS and tell me that my comp didn't have enough virtual memory. your CPU is almost as powerful as a P4 2.8 northwood, and your GPU is more powerful... so you should be able to run at all-low just fine. I'd be careful about custom games where there are shittons of units (like survivals/mass) but you should be fine playing non-ranked custom games and probably the campaign as well.

 

[JTsyo]

Backwards completion was never taken out.

I'm working on the custom achievements right now as well, and I completed 100 games of 1v1 Insane AI and it all trickled down to medium.

Checked my achievements. I did the Insane AI kin one (play with all the same race 4v4) after the patch and it's not done for very hard. I did the protoss part of the achievement before the patch and that's checked but the other two races aren't done.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Checked my achievements. I did the Insane AI kin one (play with all the same race 4v4) after the patch and it's not done for very hard. I did the protoss part of the achievement before the patch and that's checked but the other two races aren't done.

Oh you're right. I thought you were talking about the custom 1v1 games.

yes, there's currently a bug with the AI Kin achievements not trickling down. I believe a blizzard posted about it on the forums asking for people to send info about the bugged achievements for that.

 

[eLiu]

well since you have the game already, go ahead and install it! the only thing that really bogged me down when there were a lot of units was the memory - it would drag to 5-10 FPS and tell me that my comp didn't have enough virtual memory. your CPU is almost as powerful as a P4 2.8 northwood, and your GPU is more powerful... so you should be able to run at all-low just fine. I'd be careful about custom games where there are shittons of units (like survivals/mass) but you should be fine playing non-ranked custom games and probably the campaign as well.

Well, it does work. When the game starts, I actually get 60fps! But it's all downhill from there, lol.

I tried non-ranked custom & battlecraft. There were definitely times (esp in battlecraft) where I'm pretty sure I was the one slowing down the game or causing everyone to wait on my timeout counter, but ehhh, lol. Yeah decently playable. Would be worse if I were a micro-heavy army manager, but I don't have the skills for that.

 

[Train]

So I know all the basics, I know how to build any structure or unit from keyboard commands, I know and use hot-keying, grouping, etc. Most of these were exactly the same from their SC1 counterparts.

But I know theres a few more techniques out there that aren't as published.

For example, I seem to remember there being something about selecting each unit WITHIN a selected group. Like when you first start a game, whats the quickest way to get each worker to go to a different mineral field? I've seen this in some pro replays but have no ideas what keys they pressed.

Also, is there a way to cycle through the different types of units in a group? (without hotkeying each unit as its own group) i.e. lets say I have a group of wraiths, bc's and science vessels, and want to cloack the wraiths, cast irradiate with the science vessels, and start firing yamato cannons from the bc's.. is there a faster way than double clicking on a unit of each type?

 

[xCxStylex]

I select all 6, start moving them, then try my best to select 3 of them and move them to a different patch.

Pros probably move all 6, then move 2 more, then move 2 more. These guys are amazing fps gamers and super precise with their mice. They don't press keys, they are godly clickers also.


If you have a CTRL group of multiple different units, you can hit TAB to cycle through them.

For example, I seem to remember there being something about selecting each unit WITHIN a selected group. Like when you first start a game, whats the quickest way to get each worker to go to a different mineral field? I've seen this in some pro replays but have no ideas what keys they pressed.

Also, is there a way to cycle through the different types of units in a group? (without hotkeying each unit as its own group) i.e. lets say I have a group of wraiths, bc's and science vessels, and want to cloack the wraiths, cast irradiate with the science vessels, and start firing yamato cannons from the bc's.. is there a faster way than double clicking on a unit of each type?

 

[Train]

I select all 6, start moving them, then try my best to select 3 of them and move them to a different patch.

Pros probably move all 6, then move 2 more, then move 2 more. These guys are amazing fps gamers and super precise with their mice. They don't press keys, they are godly clickers also.

I could have swore there was some way to "peel off" one unit at a time, maybe I just misheard it, because I have been googling like crazy trying to find it and getting nothing.

If you have a CTRL group of multiple different units, you can hit TAB to cycle through them.

hmm, thought I tried that, I will try it again, thanks.

 

[eLiu]

I could have swore there was some way to "peel off" one unit at a time, maybe I just misheard it, because I have been googling like crazy trying to find it and getting nothing.


hmm, thought I tried that, I will try it again, thanks.

As a practical matter, if you aren't a top level diamond player, having a "pro split" will not matter at all. Getting supply blocked once, forgetting to constantly produce workers, etc. will have a vastly greater impact than letting the computer divide up the workers. Even failing to build your buildings exactly when you have enough money (not later; also not being premature with workers) matters more than the pro split.

If you want something to in the very beginning, manually path (via waypoint) workers to mineral patches such that: when a worker finishes production, he arrives at a mineral patch RIGHT as another worker is about to leave.

The tab thing is pretty useful. It's definitely impractical to put every unit type in its own control group, but "major" spell casters (for however you want to define major) should probably get their own group. Like as protoss, if you're using sentries you probably want bitchin fast access to guardian shield & forcefield... so put sentries in their own group.

 

[Train]

I was only using the worker split as an example, I could use the same technique at any point in the game. I'm not planning on going on a korean pro tour or anything.

 

[xCxStylex]

I think this is what you were looking for. I don't use this with workers, so the worker example completely threw me off. You'd have to be a fucking godly FPS gamer to be able to select all 6, start moving them, CTRL group them, peel one, move, CTRL group select, peel a second, rinse repeat, ect. That's a dozen actions in one full second.

Anyway...

With a group of units/buildings selected, hold down SHIFT as you click on ONE unit. This will peel it off the group and have only that one unit selected. You can also add individual units/buildings to a group the same way.

Also, with your group, hold won SHIFT and CTRL and click on a unit TYPE. This will remove ALL unit/buildings of that type. Of course, you can add all unit/building types in range as well.

I could have swore there was some way to "peel off" one unit at a time, maybe I just misheard it, because I have been googling like crazy trying to find it and getting nothing.


hmm, thought I tried that, I will try it again, thanks.

 

[eLiu]

With a group of units/buildings selected, hold down SHIFT as you click on ONE unit. This will peel it off the group and have only that one unit selected. You can also add individual units/buildings to a group the same way.

Uh I don't think that's quite right. If you have a group selected, holding down shift and clicking on a unit (either on the map or in the GUI--the 3 rows of 8 box) will deselect that one unit, as you said. But you will still have the group selected afterward. So finding the one unit you de-selected can be pretty balls.

I'm not aware of a "instant" way to remove a unit from a group & immediately select that unit. (If there is one, please enlighten me!)

 

[xCxStylex]

You're right, I typed that wrong. It will NOT select that unit, but it will peel off.

There is no instant way to remove a unit from a group AND select that unit.

Uh I don't think that's quite right. If you have a group selected, holding down shift and clicking on a unit (either on the map or in the GUI--the 3 rows of 8 box) will deselect that one unit, as you said. But you will still have the group selected afterward. So finding the one unit you de-selected can be pretty balls.

I'm not aware of a "instant" way to remove a unit from a group & immediately select that unit. (If there is one, please enlighten me!)

 

[bhanson]

You can individually select each worker at the start and target a different mineral patch.

f1 click f1 click f1 click f1 click f1 click f1 click

I don't think it's really any faster than doing a 3 + 3 unless you have a very accurate and precise mouse.

 

[shortylickens]

Well, I got tired of regular multiplayer a month ago and finally had my fill of custom maps last week.
Back to Warhammer for me.

Good luck guys. Sorry I didnt do more teams.

 

[Barfo]

So let's say you attack your opponent's main base and eliminate his defenses but you're left with 5 or 6 units. You have 10-15 seconds before he brings his army back and destroys what's left of your force. Which structures should you try to destroy to make the most damage possible? He also retreated his workers and you don't have enough time to destroy the Command Center/Nexus/Hatchery.

 

[eLiu]

So let's say you attack your opponent's main base and eliminate his defenses but you're left with 5 or 6 units. You have 10-15 seconds before he brings his army back and destroys what's left of your force. Which structures should you try to destroy to make the most damage possible? He also retreated his workers and you don't have enough time to destroy the Command Center/Nexus/Hatchery.

Depends a bit on the race... but I'd say destroy tech structures relevant to his army. "Oh shit his muta harass is hurting me bad" -> kill the spire. "Oh shit I hate banshees" --> kill tech labs and/or starports. "Oh shit 4 gate is so strongggggg" -> try to power down his buildings. Also if he's heavy on stalkers, sniping the cybercore can be nice b/c you can't build stalkers w/o one. (Or snipe cybercore + robo... can't rebuild the latter w/o the former.)

Another possibility is if you see research structures doing research, you can kill the building & halt the research. This is kinda hit or miss in terms of usefulness b/c it's hard to tell what research you're halting; but if you snipe a robo bay right before thermal lance finishes, that's very, very good for you.

Last but not least, supply buildings are always a good target.

The common theme in these suggestions is to damage the thing(s) that 1) guarantee damage (you don't want to start attacking something only to have your army die & that thing is still standing); 2) cost your opponent time (if he's supply blocked, he can't build units for a while = time lost; if you kill his hydra den, you don't have to worry about hydras for a little bit, etc)

That said, you also need to evaluate the possibility of retreat. Can you destroy enough buildings to justify losing what's left of your attacking force? Like if I have 8 marines left, I could maybe take out a pylon or two... but that's not necessarily worth 8 marines. Or maybe I have time to kill one tech lab & get away scot free, but if I kill the starport, all my units die. Probably not worth killing the starport. You have to make that judgement call.

 

[shortylickens]

OK, just for shits and giggles I ran it again and got the new patch. Major health changes to many buildings.
ALSO: Did you guys see the new tech requirement for Barracks?
Thats right, now you need to have a supply depot before you can build one.

How do you guys feel about that, especially considering how easy it is to rush with Zerglings already?

 

[Train]

OK, just for shits and giggles I ran it again and got the new patch. Major health changes to many buildings.
ALSO: Did you guys see the new tech requirement for Barracks?
Thats right, now you need to have a supply depot before you can build one.

How do you guys feel about that, especially considering how easy it is to rush with Zerglings already?

Was basically added to prevent the reaper rush.

Also, Reaper speed upgrade requires a factory, kinda weird, but makes a reaper raid take longer.

And I agree with adding hit points to zerg buildings, they were kinda weak.

 

[Dumac]

OK, just for shits and giggles I ran it again and got the new patch. Major health changes to many buildings.
ALSO: Did you guys see the new tech requirement for Barracks?
Thats right, now you need to have a supply depot before you can build one.

How do you guys feel about that, especially considering how easy it is to rush with Zerglings already?

It's not hard to stop zerling rushes as terran, even with rax requiring depot.

Its not hard to stop pretty much any rush as terran.

 

[Dumac]

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.1.2

General

Players will no longer receive achievement toasts while their status is set to "Busy."
The messaging when attempting to load a saved game or replay from a previous version has been clarified
Adjusted the amount of points earned and lost by random team participants to properly reflect the strength of a player's teammates.


Balance

PROTOSS
Buildings
Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.
Void Ray
Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.

TERRAN
Buildings
Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.
Medivac
Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.
Reaper
Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.
Thor
Energy bar removed.
250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability
starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is
researched).

ZERG
Buildings
Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.
Corruptor
Energy bar removed.
Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with
cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).
Infestor
Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.
Roach
Range increased from 3 to 4.


Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where players could not cast the Feedback spell on Point Defense Drones.
Fixed an issue where the Phoenix would continue to channel Graviton Beam after the target died.
Fixed an issue that would cause Larvae to spawn and be hidden behind Zerg eggs.
Fixed an issue where players were unable to navigate to the Single Player page or watch replays after canceling map downloads from the queue.
Fixed a desync that could occur on user-created maps with custom mod dependencies.

Patch notes, for those who were wondering