How to Outsmart Opponents at StarCraft
Know your enemy's plans., Once you have scouted out the enemy base and have a idea of his strategy, try to counter it., Protect your workers., Expand your territory., Micro your units., Build close together., Every so often, go Overlord hunting...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Know your enemy's plans.
As soon as you can, scout the map for your opponent's location.
This will give you some information about the enemy's base and what it's producing.
There are two ways to do this, and both have their pros and cons:
When have enough workers to support your economy early in the game, send one of your workers to scout out your opponent.
Scouting early can give you a glimpse of the tactics you want to use against your opponent.
If the base is far away, your opponent may already have defences up and a rush won't cut it.
As soon as your offence unit is produced, send it out to scout your opponent.
This will save you from having to use a worker to scout.
Your opponent may already be rushing your base, so even if you scout out your opponent with the attack unit, it will most likely be too late, unless you plan to rush too and have a multitude of units at your base. -
Step 2: Once you have scouted out the enemy base and have a idea of his strategy
If he is, for example, expanding his territory rapidly and not producing a units, try to gather up a large force and rush his bases before he can gain the upper hand by controlling most of the resources and climbing up the technology tree faster than you.
Another example is countering your opponent's units.
Every unit can be countered.
For example, Firebats are cheap, but powerful splash damage units that are excellent against Zealots and Zerglings. , Your opponent assault your mineral workers, which cripples your income.
Build a few defence turrets to protect your workers. , As soon as your opponent gives you a chance, expand to an unoccupied base.
Defend your expansions well.
When these expansion are lost you lose numerous tactical advantages.
You lose vision of the map, the ability to quickly reinforce your army when in enemy territory, and you lose the ability to choke your opponent units. , Place the units with a ranged attack behind the melee units.
This will minimize the time melee units take to access battle.
Also, spread your combat units out so that any enemy unit with splash damage attributes will not damage too many of your units.
Learn Hotkeys to increase APM (actions per minute) in order to micro-manage effectively and do more things at once.
Pressing 'm' in the Barrack will produce a Marine for example, that is much faster than locating a Barracks and clicking the "Train Marine" button.
It is also faster to have production building (Hatcheries, Barracks, Factories, Gateways, etc.) hotkeyed so that you can produce during combat.
Instead of taking your focus from battle to build units at your base, for example, you can hotkey you production buildings and quickly and effectively produce units while fighting your opponent. , Do not jam your base, but do not leave it wide open.
Try to get in a cannon for every 1 or 2 buildings.
Also, if you really want to, you can block up your cannons by putting buildings on each side.
For the Terrans, doing this is really important since they have weak units.
For every 1-2 building, have a bunker, and sometimes a tank.
Every 2 bunkers need a missile turret for detection against cloaked units.
For Zerg, this is not as important, since you can get Sunken and Spore colonies, which are pretty cheap and good.
But in Zerg, always be sure to keep producing drones, as they will be needed.
On the other hand, it seems better to have mobile units than stationary defences.
It is easy for your opponent to find a way around your packed defences and get to the mineral fields.
A reaver drop (a reaver dropped off by a shuttle) is devastating if you haven't got any mobile attack force to pull back and defend your workers.
The only good reason to put some cash on stationary defences early on in the game is when playing terrain against Protoss.
They are the only way to detect Dark Templar's, until you can get science V's out (although the com-sat add-on to the Command Center may provide a more flexible, if temporary detection system). , Air units are ideal for this job.
They are almost all fast, can fly across water, and usually have strong anti-air attacks.
Wraiths (can also cloak), Scouts, Mutalisks, and Valkyries are highly recommended.
Destroying even one Overlord can greatly hinder your enemy in unit production, and will force him or her to morph another Overlord.
This could delay an invasion for several minutes while you bolster your own forces. , By doing so you can stop numerous things.
You can stop photon cannons from firing, production buildings from producing and destroy a tactical advantage your opponent has. , If your opponent only has workers produced, his only choice is to use at least two workers to kill your worker.
Don't let your worker die, retreat.
Before the two or more workers start gathering resources again, attack with your worker.
If the enemy does not respond, build something in his base, but don't finish it, because that would just waste resources.
Instead, if his workers attack your building or your worker, cancel the building right before it dies.
Therefore, you regain the resources you spent and caused your opponent to lose income by distracting several workers at the cost of only one for you.
As a bonus, your worker gathers intelligence about your opponent's base. ,, Interceptors are cheap to make and are automatically repaired upon the return to the Carrier.
This tactic renders the enemy's defences useless.
A human player will most likely attack the actual Carrier, because when the Carrier is destroyed, all of the Interceptors die too. ,, If you can, surround the enemy with mines and use hit and run tactics unless you outnumber them by a large margin. , This involves 3-8 tanks with siege mode, and with supporting fire e.g.
Marines and Goliaths.
Most people have about 6 tanks with about 20 Marines and 5 Goliaths.
Wraiths and Science Vessels are needed sometimes.
All you do is siege your tanks and keep moving closer and closer to him.
If a unit such as a Zergling gets near your tanks, just use your marines and Goliaths to kill it. , Burrow them in at one of the following places:
Burrow your unit on the best spot where the central building (Nexus for Protoss, Command Center for Terran, and Hatchery for Zerg) can be placed.
This spot is as close to the minerals and Vespene geyser as a central building can be placed.
If your burrowed unit is on that spot, the enemy's expansion will be delayed and that can be a cue to attack the enemy's main base, for most of the enemy troops will be at the expansion.
Another choice would be to burrow the unit (more if you'd like) near the expansion site, so that your unit's vision can reach most of the base.
This will provide you with intel as to the enemy's position, base defences, and troop number.
Be careful; once the enemy has set up the basic buildings, defensive measures will be established, which means that detectors will be in place, endangering your burrowed units.
The best solution to this problem is to uncover your units as soon as the central building is finished (so the enemy cannot cancel the building and receive a refund) and attack any nearby units or the central building. ,, Your opponent might be forced to kill the unit or send it alone to your base.
Another trick is to parasite critters, as few players bother to kill them. ,, This is really important because if they are killed, it can stop your unit production dead in it's tracks. , Your main hatchery isn't enough.
If you have a large main base, try to get at least 3 hatcheries in it.
On every expansion, depending on the size, get 1 or 2 hatcheries. -
Step 3: try to counter it.
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Step 4: Protect your workers.
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Step 5: Expand your territory.
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Step 6: Micro your units.
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Step 7: Build close together.
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Step 8: Every so often
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Step 9: go Overlord hunting.
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Step 10: Try to disable Protoss buildings by destroying the powering pylon.
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Step 11: Early in the game
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Step 12: try distracting your opponent by harassing his base with a worker.
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Step 13: Hallucinate important units to give them some cover
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Step 14: especially Shuttles and Arbiters.
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Step 15: When using Carriers to fight an A.I.
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Step 16: have the Carriers attack at the longest range
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Step 17: so that any anti-air attacks are performed on the Interceptors.
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Step 18: Mix a few Dark Templar's into your attacking forces or harass your opponent with them.
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Step 19: Dance with the enemy using Vultures.
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Step 20: Use the Tank push.
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Step 21: As soon as the Burrow ability finishes researching (at the Lair)
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Step 22: send some inexpensive ground units (Zerglings are recommended) to all of the expansion sites that are unoccupied.
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Step 23: Use Spawn Broodling to destroy troublesome units
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Step 24: such as High Templars
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Step 25: Siege Tanks
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Step 26: and Ultralisks.
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Step 27: Parasite powerful units.
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Step 28: When attacking with Scourge
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Step 29: send in some units to give cover for the Scourge so that they can actually reach their target.
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Step 30: Protect your Overlords!
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Step 31: Make Hatcheries.
Detailed Guide
As soon as you can, scout the map for your opponent's location.
This will give you some information about the enemy's base and what it's producing.
There are two ways to do this, and both have their pros and cons:
When have enough workers to support your economy early in the game, send one of your workers to scout out your opponent.
Scouting early can give you a glimpse of the tactics you want to use against your opponent.
If the base is far away, your opponent may already have defences up and a rush won't cut it.
As soon as your offence unit is produced, send it out to scout your opponent.
This will save you from having to use a worker to scout.
Your opponent may already be rushing your base, so even if you scout out your opponent with the attack unit, it will most likely be too late, unless you plan to rush too and have a multitude of units at your base.
If he is, for example, expanding his territory rapidly and not producing a units, try to gather up a large force and rush his bases before he can gain the upper hand by controlling most of the resources and climbing up the technology tree faster than you.
Another example is countering your opponent's units.
Every unit can be countered.
For example, Firebats are cheap, but powerful splash damage units that are excellent against Zealots and Zerglings. , Your opponent assault your mineral workers, which cripples your income.
Build a few defence turrets to protect your workers. , As soon as your opponent gives you a chance, expand to an unoccupied base.
Defend your expansions well.
When these expansion are lost you lose numerous tactical advantages.
You lose vision of the map, the ability to quickly reinforce your army when in enemy territory, and you lose the ability to choke your opponent units. , Place the units with a ranged attack behind the melee units.
This will minimize the time melee units take to access battle.
Also, spread your combat units out so that any enemy unit with splash damage attributes will not damage too many of your units.
Learn Hotkeys to increase APM (actions per minute) in order to micro-manage effectively and do more things at once.
Pressing 'm' in the Barrack will produce a Marine for example, that is much faster than locating a Barracks and clicking the "Train Marine" button.
It is also faster to have production building (Hatcheries, Barracks, Factories, Gateways, etc.) hotkeyed so that you can produce during combat.
Instead of taking your focus from battle to build units at your base, for example, you can hotkey you production buildings and quickly and effectively produce units while fighting your opponent. , Do not jam your base, but do not leave it wide open.
Try to get in a cannon for every 1 or 2 buildings.
Also, if you really want to, you can block up your cannons by putting buildings on each side.
For the Terrans, doing this is really important since they have weak units.
For every 1-2 building, have a bunker, and sometimes a tank.
Every 2 bunkers need a missile turret for detection against cloaked units.
For Zerg, this is not as important, since you can get Sunken and Spore colonies, which are pretty cheap and good.
But in Zerg, always be sure to keep producing drones, as they will be needed.
On the other hand, it seems better to have mobile units than stationary defences.
It is easy for your opponent to find a way around your packed defences and get to the mineral fields.
A reaver drop (a reaver dropped off by a shuttle) is devastating if you haven't got any mobile attack force to pull back and defend your workers.
The only good reason to put some cash on stationary defences early on in the game is when playing terrain against Protoss.
They are the only way to detect Dark Templar's, until you can get science V's out (although the com-sat add-on to the Command Center may provide a more flexible, if temporary detection system). , Air units are ideal for this job.
They are almost all fast, can fly across water, and usually have strong anti-air attacks.
Wraiths (can also cloak), Scouts, Mutalisks, and Valkyries are highly recommended.
Destroying even one Overlord can greatly hinder your enemy in unit production, and will force him or her to morph another Overlord.
This could delay an invasion for several minutes while you bolster your own forces. , By doing so you can stop numerous things.
You can stop photon cannons from firing, production buildings from producing and destroy a tactical advantage your opponent has. , If your opponent only has workers produced, his only choice is to use at least two workers to kill your worker.
Don't let your worker die, retreat.
Before the two or more workers start gathering resources again, attack with your worker.
If the enemy does not respond, build something in his base, but don't finish it, because that would just waste resources.
Instead, if his workers attack your building or your worker, cancel the building right before it dies.
Therefore, you regain the resources you spent and caused your opponent to lose income by distracting several workers at the cost of only one for you.
As a bonus, your worker gathers intelligence about your opponent's base. ,, Interceptors are cheap to make and are automatically repaired upon the return to the Carrier.
This tactic renders the enemy's defences useless.
A human player will most likely attack the actual Carrier, because when the Carrier is destroyed, all of the Interceptors die too. ,, If you can, surround the enemy with mines and use hit and run tactics unless you outnumber them by a large margin. , This involves 3-8 tanks with siege mode, and with supporting fire e.g.
Marines and Goliaths.
Most people have about 6 tanks with about 20 Marines and 5 Goliaths.
Wraiths and Science Vessels are needed sometimes.
All you do is siege your tanks and keep moving closer and closer to him.
If a unit such as a Zergling gets near your tanks, just use your marines and Goliaths to kill it. , Burrow them in at one of the following places:
Burrow your unit on the best spot where the central building (Nexus for Protoss, Command Center for Terran, and Hatchery for Zerg) can be placed.
This spot is as close to the minerals and Vespene geyser as a central building can be placed.
If your burrowed unit is on that spot, the enemy's expansion will be delayed and that can be a cue to attack the enemy's main base, for most of the enemy troops will be at the expansion.
Another choice would be to burrow the unit (more if you'd like) near the expansion site, so that your unit's vision can reach most of the base.
This will provide you with intel as to the enemy's position, base defences, and troop number.
Be careful; once the enemy has set up the basic buildings, defensive measures will be established, which means that detectors will be in place, endangering your burrowed units.
The best solution to this problem is to uncover your units as soon as the central building is finished (so the enemy cannot cancel the building and receive a refund) and attack any nearby units or the central building. ,, Your opponent might be forced to kill the unit or send it alone to your base.
Another trick is to parasite critters, as few players bother to kill them. ,, This is really important because if they are killed, it can stop your unit production dead in it's tracks. , Your main hatchery isn't enough.
If you have a large main base, try to get at least 3 hatcheries in it.
On every expansion, depending on the size, get 1 or 2 hatcheries.
About the Author
Jean Hart
Writer and educator with a focus on practical practical skills knowledge.
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