StarCraft 2 - Worthwile replays

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mysticBoer

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Hi all,

I wouldn't say I'm an avid gamer, but decided nevertheless that I would spend the money and get SC2. It's an awesome game to say the least, but I'm getting my arse handed to me on a silver platter in about 80% of games.

Obviously I want to improve my skills, and from what I've heard and read, it's best to watch some replays of good players and see the strategies they follow. I'm also working through all the training material available in-game (the challenges and campaign for instance).

Can anyone recommend any worthwile replays (specifically on YouTube) that clearly shows successful strategies...etc? Also, any reading material that might've helped you in your own games?

I play a lot, at least a few games every evening (work during the day), but I seem to be missing some key elements. I've become adapt at stopping the early on zerg rushes or even reapers, but the moment someone takes me on by air - I'm screwed. Turrets don't really help and I suck at getting my defenses out fast enough to stop an early airstrike or even those Protoss warships thingy's (don;t know the names of the other races well enought yet).

Thanks!
 
Hiya mystic,

In my opinion you should continue getting your arse handed to you for a while still. Find a "sparring" partner to play games against and come to grips with the games dynamics and the race you enjoy playing.

Then go and mass replays, I don't think that watching replays of pros right now will do you any good TBH. Their micro is so insanely good that they don't have to do certain things us casual, ordinary gamers do. They can try stuff we should never attempt unless we wanna get owned... BUT they do display some nice ideas and give you good ideas on how to counter stuff.

For starters (from your post I assume you play Terran) ... marines are good counters to air but the problem is when your running all over the show trying to stop the very mobile air units from ripping up your base. For this purpose I would check out replays and see how to position your turrets around your mineral line (triangular shape around minerals), try and compact your base so you don't need so many turrets to cover key parts. Scouting is so vital, I can't stress how vital this is... get the orbital command upgrade ASAP to your command centre, use the first 50 energy for a mule and the next 50 to scan his base to see what he's going. Use SCV's to scout expansions and scan to scout in his base, try and cover areas where he might be hiding tech.

As I said initially though, the best learnings come from getting owned... watch all of your games when your done, especially the games where you lost; these are the ones you take most learnings from.

Enjoy the game and take each loss as a learning curve.. try and take something positive out of it.

GL HF
 
Thanks Cloudster..

By no means will I stop...I love the game. I just get a bit anoyed at these air rushes. I like the idea of compacting the base. I think it's one of my main problems. I spread it out too much and it becomes almost impossible to defend.


Cloudster said:
....

For starters (from your post I assume you play Terran) ... marines are good counters to air but the problem is when your running all over the show trying to stop the very mobile air units from ripping up your base. For this purpose I would check out replays and see how to position your turrets around your mineral line (triangular shape around minerals), try and compact your base so you don't need so many turrets to cover key parts. Scouting is so vital, I can't stress how vital this is... get the orbital command upgrade ASAP to your command centre, use the first 50 energy for a mule and the next 50 to scan his base to see what he's going. Use SCV's to scout expansions and scan to scout in his base, try and cover areas where he might be hiding tech.
....
Click to expand...

Regarding the above, that's my main idea in trying to find some proper replays. I don't really want to watch the pro's play...they're insanely quick and use shortcut keys for almost everything (something I'm almost trying to do but small steps). I just want to see the right base layouts, maybe try and see what defences work best and how to apply them, build orders, etc. etc. And yes, I only play terran at the moment. I feel the unit names make the most sense for a casual gamer like me and I'll try the other races once I've AT LEAST got to the point where I can win 50% of my games with terran.
 
Hey,

If you can spare the bandwidth, Day9 has some excellent episodes which he analyses. http://day9tv.blip.tv/ Think 163 and 164 in particular and there was one around 130ish but can't remember, which are specifically aimed at lower level players. Otherwise he does show higher level replays and analyse them as well, and I find he's got a lot of constructive stuff to say.

Otherwise Husky and HD Starcraft on youtube also cast a lot of replays and they're generally pretty good.

But yeh keep playing and enjoy.
 
Mystic, feel free to add me to your friends list and I'll jol a few practise games with you. I'm not superawesomeGOSU in the game but I think I can help you improve your game significantly, especially if you play Terran like I do.

Nick = Cloud
CC = 844
 
or you could play against my 9 year old son :) He is doing well in multi-player, but dad still beats him with a ZERG rush :) Although I have only won 1 game in multiplayer against others :)
 
I'm also kinda noob at SC2.

You can add me if you like and we can have a few practice matches.

Nick: DCBloodHound
CC:355

P.S If u are stuck u can try playing skirmish and setting the PC to insane with your race.after he kicks your ass you can watch the replay and learn how he got so many units and how they easily destroyed your base.

Thats how i learned my terran rush.10 marines and 7 marauders can do alot of damage if you get them early in the game.(upgrade with slow cannon upgrade for marauders and shields for marines,if your first attack doesn't beat him build twice the units and get an engineering bay to make their firepower and armor better)
 
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Cloud made some great points. Few things I'd like to add as well...
Learn the hotkeys for all the units and upgrades.
Group buildings, you want to stay active building stuff in your base while attacking/harassing.
Constantly make scvs till u have about 2-3 scvs per patch. Also, try not to let your minerals go over 800-1000'ish
Learn the counters for each unit so you know what to build when you see your opponent going for a certain unit composition.
And SCOUT; always be scouting. Send a scv to his main once in a while. Scout for expansions. You want to know what your opponent is up to.
 
DCBloodHound said:
P.S If u are stuck u can try playing skirmish and setting the PC to insane with your race.after he kicks your ass you can watch the replay and learn how he got so many units and how they easily destroyed your base.

Thats how i learned my terran rush.10 marines and 7 marauders can do alot of damage if you get them early in the game.(upgrade with slow cannon upgrade for marauders and shields for marines,if your first attack doesn't beat him build twice the units and get an engineering bay to make their firepower and armor better)
Click to expand...

The only problem I had with this was they don't rush as quickly as some human players. This is regarding Zerg. The AI prefers to tech to Roaches and send in those critters to try and take you out as opposed to rushing you as quickly as possible.

Yes the Challenges do help, but it would be nice to actually see the result unscripted in-game.

There was one bloke who did rush me while I was still building my first marine. He even sent his workers in to add to my misery. I was fortunate in that there was an expansion that you couldn't get to with some kind of air unit. He hadn't built any extra workers in all the time he was attacking me, so when my Comm Centre landed, I actually still had a stronger economy than him.
But it's that early rush that I'm looking for, as my strat has changed since then.....
 
Ok, so I've added Cloudster as a friend who I'd TRY and challenge every now and then. Anybody else wanna assist a newbie getting into the game?
 
Anyone can feel free to add me... I'm normally on after 8pm :)

Name: Phreeme
CC: 228
 
Please add me as a friend, I am also a bit of a noob, but always improving.

Name: Eddie
CC: 449

Thanks
 
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