JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Reapers can be devastating for your opponents when it is "unexpected". Well, if you are really good at micro, it can still be pretty scary for your opponent. I usually go with early upgraded reapers to harass, only if I know the toss opponent is fast teching or getting only zealots in the early stage. If you think your opponent is getting fast stalkers, just forget reapers and go with marauders.

And the most important part of SC2 is that you build your units while doing anything. You said you have no units after microing your reapers in his base right? If you are not fast with your mouse micro, just set your barracks, factories, and starports as your groups. I usually click all of the production buildings and set them as my Group 2. So while getting super busy microing whatever, I constantly pump out more units in the base by simply pressing "2" a for marine, d for marauders, "tab" (which allows you to switch the buildings within group), e for hellions, s for tanks, "tab", d for medivac, v for vikings, e for banshee. Like that. If you practice a little, this should only take you a split second.



Let me know if you have any questions. I'm down to help out AZiners.

I have no idea how many diamond divisions are in place, but I became number one in my diamond division!

speedemon90

Damn ahha dunno how you are soo good. I played a 3v3 map with my friends and we got ranked in silver, which is better than my other ones . Our plan is to basically rush real quick, and just keep pumping out units and sending it to one base at a time. Dunno how long that is gonna work for, maybe for a while longer.

As for my 1vs1, my biggest troubles are with protoss, most people use protoss so thats probably why. So against zealots reapers are the best? As long as you have the nitro packs you should be able to shoot and run right? I didn't know marauders were effective against stalkers. Thats good to know. Also about that building thing, forgot that you can put buildings in groups on your number key pad. I always went back to the base to build, and when I look again at the battle my units are usually dead I'll just keep practicing.

How many barracks do you usually have before you get your factory? 2 or 3? And do you put all tech labs or some reactor and tech labs?

Do I only play people in my bronze league, because I swear some people are soo good! I did get a win yesterday it was fun. The map basically saved my ass haha. I was attacking a protoss base with my reapers and he sent his zealots over to my base. Instead of defending I just focussed on his base and took out his nexus and every probe I could see. Which I did, and then my reapers died, but he only had zealots so i lifted my command center and took it to a place with minerals and only where air units can access. The other guy had no money to build a nexus and only had zealots so he quit

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

I think before getting into different strategies, you should work on your basic micro/macro skills. Try to go with 3 rax, build up a pretty good sized marine/marauder ball, then get some tanks and medivacs. Don't forget to upgrade your ground units through engineering bay. Upgrades do pay off very well in fights. Practice this. Try to articulate your build.

And don't forget, if you have more than 500 minerals any point of game reserved in your bank, you are doing something wrong. If you get supply blocked (the period of when you can't build anything because you need more supply depots), you are doing something wrong.

There are these little things that need to be practiced and articulated before jumping into different strategies.

speedemon90

Haha thanks a lot for the advice. Practice makes perfect I guess.

wackjum

Without knowing how experienced of a player you are, here are some basic tips:

• Always make workers. At some point you can let off, but this is around 40 or so. Most new players have way too few workers as opposed to too many.
  
• Early scouting is crucial. I scout with my 11th SCV (I play Terran almost exclusively, as I did in BW). With the automining features of SC2, it is much easier to do effective scouting.
  
• Stay on top of your command building's special ability. For Terran this is the MULE. For Protoss this is Chronoboost. Zerg is larvae injection.
  
• Starcraft is all about multitasking. Practice your multitasking by not ever letting your minerals go above 1,000 when you are playing vs a computer. If you don't know hotkeys then take a few games to learn them. Something simple that many players don't know about is the "shift" key. For example, if you have an SCV building a farm, just select the SCV (while it is building is ok), hold shift, and then right click a mineral patch. As soon as it is done building, it will go back to mining.
  

That's basic tips. I'd be more than happy to give any specific advice. I'm a platinum 1v1 (although that may change soon, I've been on a losing streak).

wackjum

The thing that kept Starcraft/Broodwars relevant for so long (the game was released in 1998 and I still played it up to the release of SC2) is the depth of the game. There is no one end-all unit. There is a counter for every thing the opposition does, provided you know it is coming.

Generally nobody rushes in high level play. They may attack early with a small force, but that is not a rush. Rushing is pumping out low level units as fast as possible, usually at some detriment to your economy. As a game, SC2 is pretty much setup to discourage rushing. You'll notice that almost every map starts with a ramp or choke. This wasn't the case in SC/BW and so rushing was often a problem. A good player with a wall could hold off an early rush and if you keep sending small streams of low level units, him or his partners will eventually smack you down with a drop on your line or void rays or something.

Focus on the fundamentals and learn what counters each unit instead of relying on "cheese" rushes.

speedemon90

Haha got it. Yea I'm not to good at starcraft. I used to play the old one, but that was long ago. I never liked those rush games either. I'm kinda new to this style of playing. Thanks for the tips, as I start exploring more on options I'll learn and see what I can do and probably ask more questions.

mystikk

I'm kinda scared of playing online for the first time. Afraid I'll go 0-50 or something before I ever learn this shit ..

Eh, thinking about it though, I spent the better part of a year trying to learn a certain character at Street Fighter, probably the hardest character to learn too. I took my share of hundreds of beatings before I ever started winning. Gotta apply that here too I guess.

speedemon90

Whats worse is that it looks like azine has some great players so we gotta live up to the standard! On this page alone there's a platinum and diamond league player!

wackjum

There's unranked newbie settings you can play. It gives you 50 rounds. I played about 30 of those games when I first got Starcraft 2 to learn it. I didn't participate in the beta so I was completely new. Biggest annoyance was the game speed, which is set to "normal" (which is slow. Most games are set to fastest) but it does help you learn.

Costco

Anyone know how to "authorize" your account for offline play?

My laptop is unpredictable and sometimes the wireless won't work so I just play offline if I want to practice against a computer or play campaign, which I'm about to finish finally. But even if I login, if I'm not connected it says I have to authorize my account, which I couldn't find anywhere on battle.net.

dbqkqh

Quick Question:
Did you buy the CD or online?

Anyways, normally you should be able to activate your account by logging onto battle.net /// connect to your account (e-mail & pw) /// click on the link "account" /// and search for Starcraft 2.

Hope that helps.
Also note: If you beat campaign mode offline, you will not get any of the achievements.

**************
JS + MS3
(sorry if I got your name wrong)
I would love to see some PvT Replays from you if it isn't too much. :P

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Hey, I never really get my replies saved, but I'll do it for you.

I feel the pressure now. lol Protoss players on my level +900 are pretty fking good.

Do you know how to attach the replay files on here??

speedemon90

Ohh I'm very interested as well!!

Umm well since you can save the replays in the game, it must be going to some file on your computer right? Dunno if that file is viewable without the game though. If it is, then you can upload it

See what those youtube people do. Maybe they mentioned it somewhere. Some people it looks like dont use a video camera

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

One question, what type of graphic card do you guys have? What graphic setting are you guys playing your SC2 on?

I have a unbranded ghey graphic card installed on my desktop and am playing SC2 in low mode.

My friend recommended me to get Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 as it would be affordable and good enough to play SC2 on high setting with no lagging at all. I was just trying to see what you guys are doing with SC2.

Also, I read somewhere that I would need to buy a power supply for nvidia GeForce GTX 460... is it true?

wackjum

Power supply depends on what your existing PS is.

I have a Geforce 9800 GT with 512 ram in a Q6600 (2.4 ghz Core 2 Quad). I run everything on ultra except for shadows (medium) and textures (high) with no problems. But my screen is 17" so my resolution is 1280 x 1024. If you are running at larger resolutions, you'd need more graphics power and more importantly, more video memory.

The GTX 460 is a good buy right now. If you are running a resolution of less than 1900, you could get away with the 768 mb version of the card which is significantly cheaper than the 1 gb version.

Two things to consider: First, SC2 is dual core optimized, and does benefit from quad cores too. Secondly, SC2 uses the PhysX engine. Nvidia cards from the 8th generation and up support hardware PhysX calculation. If this is not available, SC2 will have to process the game physics on the computer's CPU, further slowing the computer.

All of these could contribute to why your comp is running the game poorly.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Got it. Thank you very much wackjum.

How do I find out what type of Power Supply that I have on my comp right now?

and when I amazon GTX 460, there are so many different products. Which should I get??

Sorry, I might be pretty good at SC2, but I'm a fking noob at computer stuff.

TommySalami

I've got it running at full everything at 1920x1080 resolution, 3.0 ghz quad core cpu, and 896 mb gtx 260 gpu. Everything runs fine, no lag at all, if that gives you some point of reference

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

^ Thanks!

I'll check what cpu I'm running after work.

Also, I don't have a monitor, I just hooked up my comp to my hdtv. And I think the maximum resolution is 1240 or something. Is it because its not a monitor? because the resolution number seems pretty small.

Costco

I bought the disc, and SC2 already shows up on my account. I click on it and under the "Manage Games" tab it says the Account Status is active I already put the CD key in, I'm pretty sure otherwise it wouldn't show up here...

TommySalami

TVs usually have pretty low resolution compared to computer monitors. Technically, if it's a 1080p tv, that means there's 1080 pixels in the vertical direction, so 1080p is 1920x1080. 720p is 1280x720

wackjum

I was wrong about Starcraft 2 using PhysX. Actually it uses the Havok engine, which is software based and will run the same on an ATI or Nvidia machine. I bet the physics engine is part of why SC2 responds so well to dual core computers. The physics and AI threads probably run on the second core.

dbqkqh

If you go into:
Documents > Starcraft II > Accounts > Then you will stumble upon folders with numbers as titled. Go through them and look for a folder named : Replays > Multiplayers: There is your list of saved replays.

One easy way have other people view your replays is to upload them online: Mediafire or Megaupload. Both you can use a free account and because replay files are like 50-100 kb it will upload within couple of seconds.
Giving you a link that access directly to the uploaded host site. Where you can copy the link onto comments on here (if posting links is allowed.)
But I guess to avoid spam or w.e replace "." with dot or something.
If you have any questions or feel this is too much trouble to go through, I will look for an alternative
And thanks for trying !!




My card: ATI Radeon HD 4670

I play on Low to prevent overheating
I use to have it on medium, but then I noticed a very slight delay, so configured the settings to low.

dbqkqh

So, when you try to log onto your account through Starcraft II, what does it tell you exactly?
First thing it tells you is to activate your account?
Screenshot would be nice
Also, I would report it to blizzard to see what is wrong.
Man, you are missing out!

EDIT://
I looked through the internet about your problem and apparently a lot of people are going through the exact same thing.
When you launch Starcraft II, does it say :
"Connect to battle.net to authorize game and you also need at least SC2 character on the account."

Well, some people just waited it out..
but since you have the CD, I would try to re-install the game or something.
good luck.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Just got home. I have ATI Radeon HD 4350 according to the device manager it's one god awful graphic card as i googled it.. it's like 30 bucks brand new. fking ghey lol

So, alright, I'll get the 460.. but! how do I know if I need a new power supply or not? Where do I find that info?

speedemon90

Are you sure you have ram or enough processor? Dunno if you mentioned it above.
I have ATI HD 3400 series, and my runs perfectly on low and can run on medium as well, but sometimes during the custom games where there are a butt load of units it will lag a ltl. The only reason I play on low and not medium is that my computer gets freaking hot. Otherwise it handles medium alright. My graphics card is two years old(bought my computer two years ago) So I dunno how your graphics card is that bad

TommySalami

get the card and install it. if your computer loses power while you're playing, get a new power supply. if not, you're fine.

TommySalami

upload them to www.gamereplays.org

wackjum

Easiest way is to look at your PC maker's specs. Otherwise you may have to open the computer. Even then, minimum recommended wattage from graphics card makers are horribly overstated. My PS is 375 watts and "minimum recommended" for my 9800 GT is 500. Its worked fine for 2 years no problem.

Also make sure your computer can handle a double slot graphics card and is large enough to handle a long card (although I don't think the 460 is particularly long).

If you're uncertain about your computer's ability to handle the graphics card upgrade, I would suggest you take a look at a Geforce GTS 240 or 250. They will have plenty of power to run Starcraft and should be fairly cheap. The GTS 240/250 is a rebadged Geforce 9800 which is a rebadged 8800 (amazing how Nvidia can sell the same product as 3 different products). They should be well under $100 by now.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

^ got it. I'll do more research on it throughout the weekdays and probably order something on the weekend!

Right now, I put everything on low setting and everything's totally fine. But when I play 2v2 and when both teams are loaded with units, it starts lagging a little while fighting.

I want to be able to play in high setting... as it looks so much better than the low setting game interface..

My CPU is Intel Core2 Duo 2.33GHz, 2.00 of RAM just for your reference.

speedemon90

I think more ram may be better? Two is on the lower side. At least three would make it run smoother, I think.

TommySalami

these gtx cards are pretty long. i've got an older antec mid-tower case and I actually had to hammer part of it in to make room for my gtx 260

speedemon90

Look what I found

The good people already know most of this, but now I know more

edit: forgot link lol

http://rpg-exploiters.com/guides-str...20vs%20zealots

lusid

JS + MS3 -

SC2 uses around 1.4gb's of ram, do the math lol.. since you have 2gb's of ram you system will suffer. I suggest going 4gb's of ram if you have Vista or win7. Also if you look at slickdeals dot net you can see a chiefvalue gtx 460 for 145 shipped!

Good luck

dbqkqh

Hey JS + MS3, I would love to play with you in Starcraft 2.

Friends? Haha.

If anyone else would like to add me:
Fidelis #717

BTW:
Got into Diamond League 2 v 2

speedemon90

why is azine full of great sc2 players, except me that is

mn2trance

It takes time to be good. Just need to play against better players and incorporate their strategies into your next play.

Costco

I'm hooked on the custom games, just like I was in BW. If you guys ever get a chance to play Doodad Hunt, do it... its hilarious

Yumcha

So, I bought the game...Now, I'm scared to install it.


I'm worried my marriage may be in jeopardy if I start playing...

Costco

um, yeah. I've lost count of how many nights where I stayed up to 4-5 in the morning playing SC2.