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Starcraft II

So I just bought this game on a deal, and I have a couple questions for you infamous SC players.

First, off I never played the first one. :eek: However, I was a major Age of Empires junky, so seeing how both of these are RTS I'm guessing the transition/basic fundamentals and strategies still apply?

How badly am I going to get blasted to smithereens in Multiplayer? There is laid back total newb online matches correct?

Thanks!

Oh, and no eyefinity support? Lame.

I suggest you play the single player campaign first to get familiar with the SC style of play, or at least you'll learn how to use Terran at the very least.

Then try the challenge modes, there's 9 of them, they will help you learn what units are strong against enemy units, and will also help you learn how to use some of the more advanced units well, and also teaches you lessons in economy management and troop building.

After that, play the computer AI in a few games, and then, after that, you're ready to dive into the multiplayer.

Just take your time with Starcraft, no need to rush off into the deep end. :eek:
 
Like I said in a previous post, the 'favored' is determined by comparing your displayed rating to your opponent's MMR (match making rating). It takes time for your displayed to catch up to your MMR (which is hidden), a process which is partially sped up by bonus pool. In effect, it's not uncommon for BOTH players / teams to be 'favored' at the early stages. Once you start getting evenly matched games, your displayed has started to converge to your MMR where it will stay in steady state (unless you get better / worse).
 
so fun dia/plat players cheese or go into noobrays
how the hell can anyone move up with playing only plat and diamon always
 
I finished the campaign on medium (Had an absolute blast btw) and started playing the practice 1v1 matches. I've found that teching up to cloaked Banshees and attacking around the 12 minute mark works pretty well. I'm not sure how that would do against more seasoned players though. At that point, I usually have 7-8 Marines, 3-4 Reapers and 3-4 Hellions to defend my base while I harass with the cloaked Banshees. People don't typically have defenses around their entire base, so even if I come up against some AA, I can usually fly around it and take out a supply depot or two and a bunch of workers. By then, I have another few Banshees built and a bunch of ground units that can be used if need be. This has worked very well in the 3 matches I've played, but I've noticed that the competition isn't very good.
 
I finished the campaign on medium (Had an absolute blast btw) and started playing the practice 1v1 matches. I've found that teching up to cloaked Banshees and attacking around the 12 minute mark works pretty well. I'm not sure how that would do against more seasoned players though. At that point, I usually have 7-8 Marines, 3-4 Reapers and 3-4 Hellions to defend my base while I harass with the cloaked Banshees. People don't typically have defenses around their entire base, so even if I come up against some AA, I can usually fly around it and take out a supply depot or two and a bunch of workers. By then, I have another few Banshees built and a bunch of ground units that can be used if need be. This has worked very well in the 3 matches I've played, but I've noticed that the competition isn't very good.

More 'seasoned' players just skip the practice matches... they're meant for new players. 12 minute banshees is incredibly slow. A lot of games are over before then. Some key timings for early pushes - typically early game pushes (4 gate, MM, banelings, roaches, etc.) happen between 5-6 minutes. That's also when stuff like a banshee harass should happen. 5 mutalisks typically pop around 7 minutes (slower, but you get 5 instantly). Void rays happen at around 5-6 minutes.

Reapers and hellions are niche / harass units that you should only get if you intend to do early mineral line harass / scouting. Don't really invest in them unless your opponent is massing light (i.e. mass speedlings). 3-4 reapers will also slow your banshee tech considerably. Gas is the valued resource here. That said, you can easily do something like a 1-1-1 (1 rax, 1 factory, 1 starport) build with early hellion for harass / scouting, some mraines for defense, and a few banshees from the starport for more harass. This should be much much quicker than 12 minutes and if your opponent is going to be aggressive, the hellion can find that out pretty easily and you can react accordingly.
 
I finished the campaign on medium (Had an absolute blast btw) and started playing the practice 1v1 matches. I've found that teching up to cloaked Banshees and attacking around the 12 minute mark works pretty well. I'm not sure how that would do against more seasoned players though. At that point, I usually have 7-8 Marines, 3-4 Reapers and 3-4 Hellions to defend my base while I harass with the cloaked Banshees. People don't typically have defenses around their entire base, so even if I come up against some AA, I can usually fly around it and take out a supply depot or two and a bunch of workers. By then, I have another few Banshees built and a bunch of ground units that can be used if need be. This has worked very well in the 3 matches I've played, but I've noticed that the competition isn't very good.

let me guess you are playing custom or practice league
12 mins? 7-8mins mins in I can get some bcs rolling out already
 
More 'seasoned' players just skip the practice matches... they're meant for new players. 12 minute banshees is incredibly slow. A lot of games are over before then. Some key timings for early pushes - typically early game pushes (4 gate, MM, banelings, roaches, etc.) happen between 5-6 minutes. That's also when stuff like a banshee harass should happen. 5 mutalisks typically pop around 7 minutes (slower, but you get 5 instantly). Void rays happen at around 5-6 minutes.

Reapers and hellions are niche / harass units that you should only get if you intend to do early mineral line harass / scouting. Don't really invest in them unless your opponent is massing light (i.e. mass speedlings). 3-4 reapers will also slow your banshee tech considerably. Gas is the valued resource here. That said, you can easily do something like a 1-1-1 (1 rax, 1 factory, 1 starport) build with early hellion for harass / scouting, some mraines for defense, and a few banshees from the starport for more harass. This should be much much quicker than 12 minutes and if your opponent is going to be aggressive, the hellion can find that out pretty easily and you can react accordingly.

listen to intel, intel knows what he talkin about
 
guys, note that the practice games are played in normal speed, not faster
 
Once you get into Diamond the queue wait times are annoying... :(
 
I have a question about the graphics. Does the game in single player have a lot of blooming effects to you guys? Most of the time it doesn't for me, but at one point there was some graphical glitch that made the game flicker on and off with an exaggerated bloom effect. When it sustained, it looked kind of nice, but I haven't been able to reproduce the effect. It looks a lot like the box cover screenshot. Is that how it's supposed to look all the time? If so, I've been missing out...
 
I have a question about the graphics. Does the game in single player have a lot of blooming effects to you guys? Most of the time it doesn't for me, but at one point there was some graphical glitch that made the game flicker on and off with an exaggerated bloom effect. When it sustained, it looked kind of nice, but I haven't been able to reproduce the effect. It looks a lot like the box cover screenshot. Is that how it's supposed to look all the time? If so, I've been missing out...

this game must be played in ultra mode as high of the res as possible to be enjoyed.
 
What a PITA... at plat/diamon 4v4 all I get is placed vs. arranged teams. Not cool.
 
So I just bought this game on a deal, and I have a couple questions for you infamous SC players.

First, off I never played the first one. :eek: However, I was a major Age of Empires junky, so seeing how both of these are RTS I'm guessing the transition/basic fundamentals and strategies still apply?

How badly am I going to get blasted to smithereens in Multiplayer? There is laid back total newb online matches correct?

Thanks!

Oh, and no eyefinity support? Lame.

A deal? As in on sale? If so, where?

And I'm sure stuff like eyefinity support will come with time. The game just came out, let them work out the major bugs first (both client and server side).
 
A deal? As in on sale? If so, where?

And I'm sure stuff like eyefinity support will come with time. The game just came out, let them work out the major bugs first (both client and server side).

They specifically said they will not support eyefinity or surround for competitive reasons. SC1 was a major major e-sport and I'm not surprised by this decision. That said, I don't really care if RTS games support eyefinity. I've tried it in some and it just doesn't work that well mechanically. Moving your mouse 3 screens over to scroll is really really bad.
 
this game must be played in ultra mode as high of the res as possible to be enjoyed.

Eh? That doesn't tell me very much. Of course I'm already on all ultra settings. I said the full-screen bloom effect only seemed to come out from this weird graphical glitch of it flickering on and off. I was wondering whether the bloom was supposed to be the intended look at ultra mode or not. If it is, then there's something going on that's not letting it show. I just got a GTX 460 and the latest drivers, so that's one variable not to think about.
 
Eyefinity sucks for RTS games anyway. I have been playing them on a single screen all year.
 
Eh? That doesn't tell me very much. Of course I'm already on all ultra settings. I said the full-screen bloom effect only seemed to come out from this weird graphical glitch of it flickering on and off. I was wondering whether the bloom was supposed to be the intended look at ultra mode or not. If it is, then there's something going on that's not letting it show. I just got a GTX 460 and the latest drivers, so that's one variable not to think about.

Noticed it too. Running everything maxed, the strategy portion looks kinda crappy compared to their ad screenshots.
 
Ugh, you ever have one of those nights where nothing goes right? Where you computer randomly switches to the desktop sans alt-tab or win key pressage so you lose to newb proxy basing? Where you hit B>G to build a cyb core cause you're a momentary-retard? Where you out micro and out macro a zerg, but forget to build colossi and watch your lots/stalks evaporate in front of masses of hydras because you're apparently not a momentary but a permanent retard? Where nothing you do goes your way and even going 2 and 3 leaves the bitter taste of suckage in your mouth?

That was my night.

At least I finally beat overrunn!!! (level 20 is damn near impossible btw)
 
They specifically said they will not support eyefinity or surround for competitive reasons. SC1 was a major major e-sport and I'm not surprised by this decision. That said, I don't really care if RTS games support eyefinity. I've tried it in some and it just doesn't work that well mechanically. Moving your mouse 3 screens over to scroll is really really bad.

completely agree


At least I finally beat overrunn!!! (level 20 is damn near impossible btw)

and which one is that again?
 
They specifically said they will not support eyefinity or surround for competitive reasons. SC1 was a major major e-sport and I'm not surprised by this decision.

What I'd like to see in the future is an "e-sport" category for matches. If you opt in to this mode, then you're stuck with default settings to keep things evenly matched. If you're in the single player or you just want to play to have some fun, then don't set it to "e-sport" and you can get all the nice perks (i.e zooming in and out). :p
 
Just had another 4v4 with all my team mates being diamond / plat. Opponents were bronze/silver and it showed that their team was favored.... We again steam rolled em.

yea, having no luck figuring out how the favor system works. Played a 1v1 yesterday, I'm only in gold and my opponent was slightly favored to beat me, so i figure he's either higher rank gold or dia/plat. I rolled him in less than 10 minutes, then checked out his info and he was bronze? wtf? Noticing alot of the same stuf with our 3v3 and 4v4 teams.
 
I wonder when I'll be bumped up into Diamond league, haven't played much games yet due to work.
 
I'm a bit confused about the match making? If it is matching you against people 2 tiers up or down, does is not defeat the purpose of the tiers in the first place?

I haven't played multiplayer yet though, just finished single last night and started challenges. Tried a single skirmish against the AI as zerg, and wow that sure was different from SC1 and single player SC2.

One question, I'm slightly confused about the high ground vs. low ground rules. I vaguely remember from SC1 that the differences were that range attacks from the bottom had a lower % of hitting and you do not get first site. But it seems very different in SC2? It seems sometimes units can't attack high ground, and sometimes they can regardless of whether the high ground unit is hitting them or not?
 
I'm a bit confused about the match making? If it is matching you against people 2 tiers up or down, does is not defeat the purpose of the tiers in the first place?

If they've taken any queues from how they handle matchmaking in WoW, their philosophy is that "people would rather have any match 'now', even if unbalanced, then have to wait". Imo they need to introduce some player control into their matchmaking (ie, set a priority between time to get a match and how balanced you want it to be).
 
Well, considering I've only been playing ranked 1 plat and diamond league players (Even in placement and in plat matches), I think its doing pretty well for me..
 
I dunno, I got placed Gold and have only played Diamond/Plat players exclusively so far.
 
this game must be played in ultra mode as high of the res as possible to be enjoyed.

Really? Maybe as a spectator or someone like myself that likes the eyecandy, but I know that the pros all play the game at low settings so that they can focus on tactics without all the extra detail and visual effects don't get in the way.
 
If they've taken any queues from how they handle matchmaking in WoW, their philosophy is that "people would rather have any match 'now', even if unbalanced, then have to wait". Imo they need to introduce some player control into their matchmaking (ie, set a priority between time to get a match and how balanced you want it to be).

I can see +/- 1, but 2? I'd think the gap suggests that some sort of steam roll would occur. I guess it might be interesting to players who get a smug satisfaction out of beating clearly less experienced players, but otherwise...

I wonder if it still needs time to smooth out, especially for the lower ranks. If I'm any indication, there still might be tons of people still milling about in single player, challenges, and practice matches. While those who played beta probably more likely rushed straight into multi.
 
Is it me or all there is in 4v4 Plat/Diamond are arranged teams? Not even fun playing 4v4 like that... I'm slowly moving down the number of players... 4v4, then 3v3 then 2v2.. then into 1v1 when AT's finally kill the fun for me.
 
Placement system is weird. I got promoted to platinum after losing 7 games in a row... (to arranged teams ...)
 
I was getting a bit bored with the game. So many missions are just to teach you about 1 piece of craft. Now that I am finally getting to the zerg missions its actually fun again where I can select my arsenal and fight. For whatever reason I love to do a bio build, dozens of marines and medic/medic ships and im having a good time.
 
For anyone still confused about favor and matchmaking cross-division, read what I posted in this thread earlier:

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1036020837&postcount=360

I read your post and it's still very confusing.

I am in Bronze league, and it's putting me against near-the-top Gold players (I am #6 in Bronze though..). I faced one player today with a 51-34 record who was Gold (who I beat btw. :D)! I guessed it was just because of the time of night, but when I read your post, it looks otherwise. Do you know when you advance leagues? It seems I've been stuck in Bronze, even though since I've been in bronze league, I've only lost a couple games, and won a handful. If I'm playing against higher rated Gold people, shouldn't it advance me to Gold?

Thanks for your explanations and help, Intel. Helps everyone around here out. :)
 
I read your post and it's still very confusing.

I am in Bronze league, and it's putting me against near-the-top Gold players (I am #6 in Bronze though..). I faced one player today with a 51-34 record who was Gold (who I beat btw. :D)! I guessed it was just because of the time of night, but when I read your post, it looks otherwise. Do you know when you advance leagues? It seems I've been stuck in Bronze, even though since I've been in bronze league, I've only lost a couple games, and won a handful. If I'm playing against higher rated Gold people, shouldn't it advance me to Gold?

Thanks for your explanations and help, Intel. Helps everyone around here out. :)

Because the match making is shit, just like their AI. Overall B.net 2.0 just sucks.
 
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