1601

BTW, to Terrans out there. Do you use Ravens?
It seems like a really cool unit, but I’m not sure what to do with it aside for throwing some complementary auto-turrets near my enemy’s workers.

1602

Of course. It’s the only mobile detector option, other than burning through scans (a waste of MULEs).

Using the Raven on auto-turrets is mostly a waste. Its little drone is the real wonder. It blocks things like Stalker shots, among many other projectiles. For only a little while, but enough to turn the tide in a battle.

I never used the seeker missile though.

1603

Seeker missile isn’t what it used to be - the range and damage are so bad now that it’s use is practically like making the Raven into a really expensive flying Baneling.

Don’t dismiss the auto-turret though - if you get the structure fortification upgrade at the Engineering Bay it gets +2 armor and the other Range upgrade applies to it as well. I’ve won games with Mass Ravens using Auto-Turrets to tear apart zerg bases. Basically rush Ravens but pump a ton of Marines since you’ll have a gajillion extra mineral.

1604

Some guy tried to kill me with autoturrets. They aren’t really that great, they can do some damage, but unless you’re flying in 5 ravens to drop down 10 turrets minimum, it’s not really that hard to counter.

1605

A marine ball with a wall of autoturrets in front of them to protect them actually sounds kind of awesome, if a little bit micro-intensive.

1606

Yeah, we’re not talking 5 ravens and 10 turrets. I’m talking 12 ravens and 20-25 turrets. Basically a turret army.

The turrets with upgrades are basically the same as +3/+3 Marines with almost 50% more range and with triple the hit points. They do more damage than you think.

The trick is to do hit and runs until your Raven numbers reach critical mass. Unless the Zerg goes Mutas it should be really hard for them to do much about your ravens. This also becomes the scenario where the Seeker Missile can become worthwhile - if they send Muta clump at you you can double missile it and blow them all up. and given that the other half of your army is all Marines the Mutas can’t do much else to you.

Mostly what you’re doing with the Ravens is dropping turrets behind their mineral line and slaughtering their drones. You want to try not to lose any Ravens the entire game - let the turrets be a free expendable army and get ahead through attrition. The marine ball is your base defense until it becomes your final kill mechanism.

I wouldn’t say this is high-level strategy, but it’s quirky to counter because a lot of players don’t have any idea wtf the auto turret even is and they don’t realize how hard they become to kill with the upgrades.

Just note - if you see them switching to Ultralisks you’ll need to switch your Starports to Banshee constructions.

1607

Another option for that mission is to avoid it until you get Siege Tanks. Once you get those, just park a couple Siege Tanks on the raised causeway in between the two entrances, and watch the zombies suffer.

Sweet, sweet zombie suffering.

1608

Oooh sounds good.

1609

The trick to the zombie level? You guys never figured it out?

Park a Firebat and a Marauder with two medics just in front of your bunker walls on HOLD POSITION. Result? They take all the damage, which gets healed by the medics, which means nothing gets damaged and you take no casualties. Beat it on Brutal.

1610

Corruptors? I had someone try some mass Raven thing on me (I’m sure very poorly, keep in mind I’m bronze) and my corruptors pretty much shredded them. Of course, at that point I was also morphing in broodlords (again, bronze league) so it wasn’t like I was in trouble.

Really? That’s almost as crazy as this mothership rush (in a game for $100 even)

1611

Some days I just fucking hate this game. I got rolled 4 times in a row because I was being matched against PLATINUM players (I am in the fucking bronze league for god’s sake), and then I lost 3 in a row thanks to just getting dropped out of nowhere, not even losing connection to B.Net, just getting dropped from 1v1 games. Terrific. I just shouldn’t have even loaded up SC2 today this has been a total waste of my time.

1612

Which league you’re in actually has no influence over who you’re matched against. In fact the league is completely meaningless.

1613

It sure feels that way a lot of the time.

1614

The #1 guy in my silver division is 28-14, with a 6-game winning streak against all diamond players. He’s been that way for a week and a half. It matches him against players it thinks are about the same skill level, but the two are in completely different leagues.

1615

I have been slowly dropping in rank in bronze league, being like 6-a billion at this point because the fucking matchmaking system decided to place me in bronze and then never ever let me play against a bronze player. I swear I went 0-5 in placements, 6-0 in bronze then it started matching me against platinum and never looked back no matter how much I lost.

1616

Maybe the number one player in all of Starcraft lost to you at some point due to a DC, and so now the system thinks are you awesome. ;)

1617

Shit! What have I done? I just had to go and win 3 out of my 5 1v1 placement matches and land in gold league… Now I can’t win a game to save my life. I guess this will be a good “trial by fire” learning experience at least.

1618

Yeah, I’m pretty much tied for #1 in my bronze division, and it matches me against golds more often than not (also plats, silvers, and the occassional diamond). I have a slightly better than 1:1 w:l ratio, so I guess it’s doing something right.

1619

This has happened to me in every 2v2 game I have ever played. Won like 3 vs bronze, die constantly vs platinum

1620

Bullshit. We’ve beaten more than a few teams with golds or plats on them, you big crybaby.