Basics in Starcraft 2

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.

Fundamental Principles: scouting, macro and micro.

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, they 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, but also takes time to master. Which means, in order to gain vast, fundamental knowledge of 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, they do exist and can help you if you can figure out your opponent's build order. A timing attack is one that is setup based off of different variables. 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.]