What's YOUR starting tactic on the league?

[Statharas]

Here's mine. Teh almighty 6pool rush.
I start off by setting my drones to get 150 minerals. WITHOUT GETTING ADDITIONAL DRONES. Then, i pool. Whenever i get 50 minerals, i make drones. When i reach 7/10, i stop making drones, and keep minerals for my 6 zerglings. Once pool is done, spam Z and wait for them to come. Then simply get 100 minerals and get an overlord. Then proceed as usual.

 

[Rispetto]

Protoss:

When fighting Zerg or Random, pool drones until 8/10, where I build a pylon in the choke. When I'm 10/18, or 11/18, I build a Forge which generally blocks off the choke. If it doesnt block, I build more pylons. I then build 2-3 cannons, whereas I proceed to **

When fighting Terran or Protoss, pool drones until 8/10, where I build a pylon in the choke. When I'm 10/18, or 11/18 ** I build a gateway. As soon as that is done I build a cybernetics core (I'm usually sitting there with a probe ready, tapping Y as fast as I can until it appears). As it builds, I build my 2 vespine geiser collectors and assign the 6 probes needed. When the Cyber Core is done, I build a Stargate. When that is done, using chrono boost the entire way, I build 2 void rays and rush my opponent. Using the void rays, I hit the main building first (nexus, command center, hive) allowing the beam to focus to full charge. In and around then I get attacked (marines, stalkers, zerg get raped here) and with a fully charged beam the void rays usually (with ease) take care of the opposition and I secure a victory. I can generally pull this off in around 6-7 minutes.

If those tactics don't work, I prepare for the long battle (I usually lose those lol)

 

[HINDYhat]

lol 6pool

lol void ray rush

For some reason I'm stuck on like almost the same build, as protoss, vs every race.

PvP: 3gate robo, move out with the first immortal and secure an expansion asap.
PvT: 2gate robo, get an observer out asap, scout, make an immortal and move out.
PvZ: Wall off with 2 gateways at my expansion, be aggressive with zealots. Possibly get a forge to defend the expansion and get +1 attack upgrade. Go robo for immortals and eventually colossi.

Not particularly good, and I need to speak with a good protoss player to steal some strategies.

Also, all of these are 9pylon 12gate 14gas, and the rest is improvised.

 

[Statharas]

Heh. Me and mare are on the gold league. We accidentally the whole thing in one of our games.

 

[Rispetto]

Heh. Me and mare are on the gold league. We accidentally the whole thing in one of our games.

-logic

 

[HINDYhat]

I disconnected from my first match because some model was corrupted and I instantly crashed. I lost my second match since the guy was legit better than me. Then I demolished the other 3, so I got placed in silver. But I've since worked my way up to like rank 3 plat right now, and if I polish my game a bit I should get into low-rank diamond soon.

 

[Rispetto]

I disconnected from my first match because some model was corrupted and I instantly crashed. I lost my second match since the guy was legit better than me. Then I demolished the other 3, so I got placed in silver. But I've since worked my way up to like rank 3 plat right now, and if I polish my game a bit I should get into low-rank diamond soon.

I'm in bronze cause I purposely quit all 5 of my placement matches =D
That and I suck. I still get beat down here in Bronze.

 

[Bu113t]

I only play 4v4 and i've played like 130 matches in the gold legaue, like 60 wins.

My starting rotation really depends on if its rush or tech (I only play Terran btw).
If it's rush I get up to 10 scv's, start making block with a supply depout, make a barracks, get up to 15 scv's then make another 2 barracks and spam marines all the way, after awhile make som refineris.
If it's tech I only make 2 barracks and I make the refinerys earlier.

 

[Urgloshkin]

Protoss is my main race so I usually don't play anything else...

Anyway, I pretty much always go 3gate robotics. I used to always 4gate, but that doesn't really require skill. Anyway, sometimes I go for 3gate into twilight council for blink stalkers. Vs zerg, I can usually move out when i have about 1 immortal, 4-5 stalkers, 2 sentries, and 3 zealots, and win because they usually fast expand.

@ HINDYhat, i usually go 1gate into robotics and throw up 2 more gateways later because of the need for the obs. I ALWAYS build pylon at 8, because at 9 the pylon doesn't seem to be done when my probe is finished so I get supply blocked. Then the chronoboost is wasted because I'm not building anything at the Nexus while it's going. Also, if you wait on the chronoboost then the energy is just accumlated where you could have more probes out.

 

[Kwaliti]

When playing with terran, my usual tactic starts off by moving my command center to a remote resource-filled location if available and leave one SCV behind to create decoys. Then I raise my troops, at first ignoring ground troops and pushing in airborne ones, such as Banshees for harassment and a Viking or two for any possible air units. Then I build my army, depending on the opponent's race.

It worked quite well during Beta, I must say.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

When playing with terran, my usual tactic starts off by moving my command center to a remote resource-filled location if available and leave one SCV behind to create decoys. Then I raise my troops, at first ignoring ground troops and pushing in airborne ones, such as Banshees for harassment and a Viking or two for any possible air units. Then I build my army, depending on the opponent's race.

It worked quite well during Beta, I must say.

Moving your base is a very bad choice, your oppo must be total newbie to not take the advantage. So is moving to rich mines.

 

[Kwaliti]

It is? What kind of an advantage do I give to my opponent?

 

[HINDYhat]

You don't mine for like forever, so you lose a lot of time, which gives your opponent the appropriate amount of time to out-expand and out-tech you, given they scout whatever you've done.

@Urgloshkin, 9pylon gives me perfect timing. Like, exactly when the pylon finishes, my probe is done, and I can instantly chrono boost the next one without getting supply blocked for an instant. Maybe your timing is off.

 

[viiva]

You lose a lot of income and time to build units to survive the first attack. I've never seen that tactic work in a high-level game.

I usually get a few zealots out and a stalker, depending on the opponent. After that I try to get an early void ray out, backed with stalkers and sentries. After that everything is basically dependant on my opponent's tactics.

@Hindy: Just before 9 is the perfect timing (imo).

 

[Kwaliti]

I can't say that I didn't expect those answers coming. I was locked on an island once, while the other guy claimed 3/4 of the map. Eventually, he quit, because I was spamming Battlecruisers at him and the game pretty much stalled for an hour and a half.

Looks like I'll have to rethink the strat. Thanks!

 

[HINDYhat]

He shouldn't have quit. If you were just spamming battlecruisers on 1/4 of the map, it wouldn't be long until you run out of resources, after which he can just destroy you.

But yeah, forget all of this gimmicky shit like flying to the gold, or 6pooling, or devoting everything to getting 2 void rays out. Try to develop things that will actually get you long term success in a game.

 

[Kwaliti]

There's some truth to that. Experience and creativity > Preset tactics. Thanks.

 

[TheDanish]

I play Terran, and my opener is pretty much universal for all three races.

At 10 supply, build a Supply Depot at my base entrance for a wall.
At 12, Barracks in the wall
At 14, Supply Depot to finish the wall
At 15 Refinery

After that it might change up. I almost always have two Barracks, sometimes three if my opponent is stupid enough to mass Stalkers (tip: Marauders eat Stalkers for breakfast). Then everything depends on my scouting and what I see him going for.

For reference I was placed in Gold but I moved up to Platinum, and now I'mtied for 1st in my division (it lists me as second because ties go in alphabetical order ).

 

[LucasMapurunga]

Tatics really change from play to player. As I am a SC1 veteran (and i'm trying to learn SC2 playing way, and terrans are my favorites) :

1 - SCV's. A lot of'em.
2 - Supply deppot & Barracks
3 - Block the Base entrance
4 - Them tech rush

 

[Tyranid]

1. Random race
2. Make a shitload of workers for a shitload of minerals
3. Get rushed
4. Call opponent a "faggot rusher"
5. Ragequit

That's how I roll, baby!

 

[Cr34p]

Me Protoss 1on1 platin league.

Against Protoss/Zerg I go on zealot rush 8 probes -> Pylon -> 2 gates attack with 5 zealots -> new pylon and see if rush worked out

Against Terran I usually try to get to mid game for just overrun the terran :O

 

[tagg1080]

Where the hell is poot when you need him? Comment on this damn you!


I have worked on a snazzy little "colosus rush" for some time now, after I was facerolled by a pure murauder build a number of times.

Basically it is a standard, 9pylon, gate, assim, pylon, cyber, (maybe stalker), (maybe pylon), then into the robo tech

That is pretty much my standard for pvt now, because I get marauder or reaper rolled if I don't. (or if they are going reaper I spam stalker and tech a little slower) (i also dig sentries for pvt cuz shields + zealots = happy, and the ranged dmg reduction is nice against marines)


pvp I generally do a similar build, 9pylon, gate, assim, cyber, then I just kinda hold a handful of zeal's and stalkers till I can grab my 3 or 4 gates, harrass with those until I get charge and/or blink, and the own face(heavy zealot and stalker, not really heavy on sentries)


pvz, don't really have a strat, just kinda play it standard and safe and see what they do

 

[Devious_Machine]

I usually go for 4 reaps and speed upgrades for them in about the same time it takes a good player to get 3 zlots. After that i go drop squads and nukes.

*Drop squads: medivacs full of rines and maradurs, usualy dropped on reasource lines

If the game is drawn out i might go thors and a few siege tanks. Ravens are always good harassment and help with heavy assults. This tactic is best used in multi player when u have allies to help distract with the reap rush at start. Its fairly effective, I got diamond league rank 17 with it.

Advice: zlot rush fails against this tactic, for i can micro zlots with reapers.

 

[HINDYhat]

Any good protoss should have at least two stalkers up when you have 4 reapers, so it shouldn't be much of a problem to deal with.

 

[tagg1080]

Any good protoss should have at least two stalkers up when you have 4 reapers, so it shouldn't be much of a problem to deal with.

But 4 marauders will EAT 2 stalkers, and it is almost the same time, something to watch for.

 

[Cr34p]

good player will scout you and see that u go on marauders, then he will have zealots :O

 

[HINDYhat]

If you rush 3 or 4 marauders, all it takes is a stalker or two and a couple zealots. Purely having one or the other won't do it, but if you have a mix, you'll be fine, given you have good enough micro. It's all a matter of scouting though, since you obviously can't do a build which will protect you from everything.

 

[Gyrosphinx]

I play terran.

Lots of SCVs

Reaper harrassment

Siege tanks and general turtling

Banshee harrassment

Getting rushed or starved

GG!

I usually take defeat well, EXCEPT when Void Ray spammed, then I swear loud, (but I'm still polite in the chat) and think about how to best eliminate that person from the surface of the world. But when defeated by zerg using guerillia tactics, gotta take my hat off for that.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Void rays are weak. They are only dangerous if allowed to charge.

Never ever ever attack fully charged void rays, you are better off losing a colony than having all your army destroyed. Fully upgraded and charged void rays will take out tanks and even anti-air air in seconds.

Although I never PvP, I guess that spamming vikings would probably be your best bet against void rays. They are fast and longer range than void rays so you will get the first shots on them. Also if numbers are small use focuse fire micro to cut their numbers before they hit medium or high charge. Thors are probably your best bet as a land unit against them as they have long range and splash (rays love to cluster) however it is probably ill advised to spam thors against void rays due to their high HP allowin them to charge up and their AA damage is rather poor (thors are anti mutalisk).

I heard marine spam also works against voidrays because they die fast but do not allow them to charge up thus their DPS output is low. Combine that with stim and damage upgrade and you should give the rays a run for their money. However spamming marines leaves you are dangerously at risk to high templars and collosi.

Ultimatly you can not expect to have no losses in SC2. Your only aim is to make sure that the ammount of mineral and gas you lose against void rays is less than the value of the void rays you kill.

What is important is you identify what your opponent is making (terran scaner does this well) before it is at your door step so you have an opotunity to prepair counter measures for attacks.

 

[HINDYhat]

WhiteRa, one of the best protoss' in the world actually has a neat PvT strategy involving void rays. He rushes out a single void ray to harass the terran player's base. This usually forces him to get way more marines than he'd like, or to waste lots of minerals on missile turrets. WhiteRa then gets a quick twilight council for zealot charge, and gets a bunch of speedlots and sentries, which absolutely destroys terran bio. I've tried it a few times, and it's pretty powerful. I don't know about the timing involved, but I'm pretty sure that the terran player could easily get a viking or two out if he went 1/1/1, to deal with the void ray.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Hmmm wonder if that will work on the AI... If it can stop one of them attacking it would be well worth it.

 

[The_Phalanx]

I'm not an amazing player. I quit from all my placement matches even though I would have won 3 of them by just doing a worker rush (amazing how well that works sometimes), I still quit. Right now, I'm just doing random, defeating Bronze guys, to get the Reaper portrait.

However, I'm a decent Terran player.

TvP - More or less one of the easier match ups for me because of my practice in the Beta. 3Rax 2Tech/1Reacter and I get a force of Marauders and Marines, I get Stims/Shield/Concussion from the tech lab. After 3rd Rax, I get in a Ghost Academy and get the Moebius Reactor. Once I have around 20 troops, I attack. EMPing Toss units along with kiting any zealots does the trick pretty damn well. If I don't win the initial attack, then it becomes a scouting game. If I see a Dark Obelisk, I go to get Ravens out. If I see Void Rays or Colossi, I get Vikings. If I see Immortals, I get another Rax with a Reactor going to pump out more Marines. If the guy is going Charging Zealots, then I get some Banshees to compliment my Bio Ball. If the guy keeps going with Stalkers and Zealots, then I normally keep building Bio and add in a few Medivacs so I can fully stim.

TvT - I get a Rax with Tech and get Marines out to fight off any initial rush. Then I go straight to Tanks, and I scan to figure out if I should get Banshees or Vikings.

TvZ - This is the hardest match up for me because of the unpredictability of a Zerg player. The beginning is the same as a Toss match except for the lack of a Ghost. But after the initial Rauder/Rine push, it all depends on figuring out what the Zerg player is planning and getting the counter out. If he's going Air, then Missile Turrets need to be placed at the mineral line and Thors and Marines need to be pumped out. If he goes Roaches and Hydralisk, then you need a Rauder/Rine meatshield with Siege Tanks supporting. Hellions aren't that great against Hydras, so I don't recommend getting them out. Tier 3 units like Brood Lords and Ultralisk I don't really know what to do against because I never get that far in my Zerg matches.

With that said, it should be noted that a Zerg player might do some really unexpected stuff which is really why as a Terran you need to scout more with Zerg than Toss or Terran. Zerg players can switch up their production more or less immediately where as Toss and Terran can't. Once Toss and Terran place a production building, there's only 4-5 units that can come from there. One game, I was trying out a Marauder/Thor combo, which was working decently well against the guys Roaches, Hydralisks, and Mutalisks. I destroyed the guys main base, and was moving to an expansions when I found that the player had made 6 Hatcheries there and rebuilt his spawning pool. He then massed Zerglings and didn't stop building them. This was near the beginning of the Beta for me, so I by the time I realized that I needed to start spamming hellions, I had already lost about 4 75 supply armies to massed Zerglings. By the time I was getting hellions out, it was too late and I lost the match.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

WhiteRa, one of the best protoss' in the world actually has a neat PvT strategy involving void rays. He rushes out a single void ray to harass the terran player's base. This usually forces him to get way more marines than he'd like, or to waste lots of minerals on missile turrets. WhiteRa then gets a quick twilight council for zealot charge, and gets a bunch of speedlots and sentries, which absolutely destroys terran bio. I've tried it a few times, and it's pretty powerful. I don't know about the timing involved, but I'm pretty sure that the terran player could easily get a viking or two out if he went 1/1/1, to deal with the void ray.

Void Rays hurt too much... they could reduce their damage at least, -1 range from beta that's nothing. It's like 3 times already when someone does 3 void rays mixed with some ground and and the 3 rays kills my marines and marauders and that is like early game..Like he doesnt even need ground

 

[mrzwach]

Use light units (marines) to kill void rays. Note that they deal 41.7 DPS vs armored but only 16.7 DPS vs everything else. (while charged)

Anyways, cheese tactics (ie 6pool, fast void ray) won't work against good players. You won't ever get better at the game if you 6pool every time, and you certainly won't be good enough to get into plat/diamond.

 

[TheDanish]

Void Rays are easy to counter if you scout properly. As soon as you know he has more than one, go Marines or Vikings for Terran.

 

[PurplePoot]

I play Terran, and my opener is pretty much universal for all three races.

At 10 supply, build a Supply Depot at my base entrance for a wall.
At 12, Barracks in the wall
At 14, Supply Depot to finish the wall
At 15 Refinery

This build order loses every TvT ever (and is weak in the other matchups, but that's beside the point). I'd be happy to demonstrate if you are on the North American server.

I have worked on a snazzy little "colosus rush" for some time now, after I was facerolled by a pure murauder build a number of times.

Colossi are bad against Terran. Don't get them unless you feel like losing to someone who knows how to play bio.

--

HINDY, I like robo openings, but I feel like you need a third gate against Terran if you are going robo. It still lets you expand relatively fast, and if you try 2gate robo I will scan, see your relatively low army production, and just push out with MM (since I have been going off 3 rax and then either a fourth rax or a factory).

--

Don't be one of those people that spams void rays/6pools/whatever. Once you are promoted into a league that can beat it you won't know how to play midgame and will get smoked. I always feel a little embarrassed for these people when I play them.

 

[mrzwach]

If I'm Terran, I generally just go for a standard opening, ie
9 depot
13 rax
13 gas
16 OC

 

[PurplePoot]

Your depot is too early.

 

[tagg1080]

poot: I don't use collossi against terran per say, that is just what I rush-tech upto. My friends and I take turns doing that marauder push that you owned me with, and going that route seems to be the only thing I can come up with to stop the initial push.

Oh, and once again, listen to poot, I am not THAT terrible, and he fucking OWNED me HARD.

So don't "pshaw" him.

 

[Urgloshkin]

@Poot: Colossi are NOT bad against terran, I have gone colossi against terran bio before and won. Colossi + Chargelots vs MM ball late game is very difficult for them to stop. Even in mid game, when you probably wouldnt have charge, colossi are good if you keep them in the back and micro them so they don't get sniped.

 

[mrzwach]

The fact that you have won is irrelevant. Pretty much any tactic works in bronze league provided it is not utterly retarded. Also, one viking would fuck up your colossi/chargelot strat. :\

 

[PurplePoot]

@Poot: Colossi are NOT bad against terran, I have gone colossi against terran bio before and won. Colossi + Chargelots vs MM ball late game is very difficult for them to stop. Even in mid game, when you probably wouldnt have charge, colossi are good if you keep them in the back and micro them so they don't get sniped.

That's because your opponent is retarded and doesn't know what vikings are when they already have a reactor starport or two, nor what tanks are when they have at least one factory and a bunch of tech labs. Bio+Vikings can attack move into Colossi and win, let alone be properly controlled.

Ever noticed how everyone goes HT now to deal with bio, rather than Colossi? That isn't just because it's the cool thing to do this week.

--

tag, if you want I can show you how to beat it as Protoss. Pewt.907

 

[Urgloshkin]

That's because your opponent is retarded and doesn't know what vikings are when they already have a reactor starport or two, nor what tanks are when they have at least one factory and a bunch of tech labs. Bio+Vikings can attack move into Colossi and win, let alone be properly controlled.

Ever noticed how everyone goes HT now to deal with bio, rather than Colossi? That isn't just because it's the cool thing to do this week.

Vikings is why you have stalkers.

Immortals in front, stalkers behind, colossi in back. HT's are further along the lines of tech and are much more expensive. It is impossible to run a 1 base templar build vs terran bio while if they have you contained it is possible to go 1 base colossus. Anyway, if they have a large enough army of vikings to bypass my stalkers, their ground army would be lacking and thus the rest of my ground army would win me the game. 5-6 vikings aren't cheap, or quick to get out.

The energy on HT's is only so much before it runs out. Colossus can shoot infinite times. Colossus have more HP and are therefore more difficult to snipe.

 

[HINDYhat]

Immortals in front

Definitely not a good idea against terran bio.

HT's are further along the lines of tech and are much more expensive.

Than what? Colossi? Not really.

The energy on HT's is only so much before it runs out.

After which the battle is already over and you can wait for the energy to recharge, or you can morph archons.

I think the most important part of HT play, besides that psi storm is ridiculously powerful, is that the tech flows well. While immortals are near useless against terran bio, chargelots are very powerful.

 

[Urgloshkin]

Definitely not a good idea against terran bio.

Are you talking about mass marine? Cause Immortals are very good against marauders, and if they have vikings shooting my colossi, I dont want my stalkers to get killed by the marauders because then my colossi will die, just like that.

My point was that HT's are very gas heavy, and thus more costly. If you are going for a 3 gate robo, which is a pretty standard build, colossi are quicker and more efficient than getting HT's. However, if you are going for something different, like blink stalkers or anything to do with the twilight council, HT's are easier to get and possibly more efficient.

It's true, carpet storms can be very effective against terran bio, and are probably much better late game. However, Colossi killing the marines and immortals tanking / killing the marauders can be a potent combo. My problem with chargelots is that they are vulnerable after the first charge. The bio can shoot and run and kill all of them without the rest of my army shooting. Because of the marauder slow, pulling back the zealots is an even worse call.

 

[Cr34p]

zealots with charge are better against marauders then Immortals

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

Use light units (marines) to kill void rays. Note that they deal 41.7 DPS vs armored but only 16.7 DPS vs everything else. (while charged)

Anyways, cheese tactics (ie 6pool, fast void ray) won't work against good players. You won't ever get better at the game if you 6pool every time, and you certainly won't be good enough to get into plat/diamond.

Err im talking about exactly platinum players skill and above who're doing that void rays+ground fast (not just voids), lower wouldnt do it properly. Marines are obviously the best counter to this mixture of toss ground and air and now that Stimpack costs less, it was needed. I guess kind of like Strelok plays 1 rax marines, 1 marauders next another rax for marines.

Vikings have bigger range than Voids and with micro it's easy to just hit n run but you dont have time to build vikings for early game and cost too much for early.

 

[PurplePoot]

Vikings is why you have stalkers.

Vikings have 9 range, and targeting their vikings won't save your colossi. It just means both the colossi and the vikings will die, and then you will suddenly realize that they were focusing your ground army while you weren't.

Also, HTs are the same tier as Colossi and cost less, so I don't know what you are smoking.

5-6 vikings aren't cheap (but they are quick to get out), but neither are 3 colossi. On top of that, with your whole "immortals in front" thing, you can't magically get my marauders to target your immortals and my marines not to. A robo army melts to bio, plain and simple.

--

If you want we can play and you're free to go robo against bio.

Sorry, but I don't think you have as much experience with the matchup as you would like us to think. What league are you in? Do you watch pro replays at all?

 

[Urgloshkin]

I'm in mid plat, and yes I do watch pro replays.

I was talking about HT's costing more because gas mines much slower, and you would need more HT's to be effective (Unless you have some great storm placement) than colossi. I was talking about when you get out your first or second colossi and they usually wouldn't have vikings.

Usually that early in the game if the terran had a significant ground army they would've had to go 3racks or 4racks to have that type of army. If they went for a different build such as the 1,1,1, then they would have vikings but not such a significant ground army, in which case, you would have the obs and not get the colossus in the first place.

 

[PurplePoot]

Okay, first, it's rax, not "racks" (sorry, pet peeve).

Second, you are assuming they won't scout and you will. That may be a good assumption in the platinum league (I don't know), but it isn't a good assumption against people who know what they are doing.

--

Obviously using HTs assumes you are competent with storms. If you would rather 1a2a3a then colossi are better, but that doesn't make them good.