The beta for Starcraft II is starting

Jaysun · 2010-07-08T17:40:02.000Z

Name: Squid
ID: 494

IkeVandergraaf · 2010-07-09T16:40:41.000Z

IkeV
635

Vesper · 2010-07-09T17:12:13.000Z

Vesper
951

I’m a total SC2 newb (haven’t spent any time with the beta). Anyone want to give me a brief primer of things? (I played lots of SC back in the day, but not recently.) I’m mostly interested in the single player game, but co-op might be fun to get proficient in.

Vesper · 2010-07-09T21:18:34.000Z

Watched some good intro videos on Youtube tonight. Think I’ll try out some super easy games vs. AI until I get a feel for the build order and such.

AaronSofaer · 2010-07-09T21:32:50.000Z

Pneumothorax
788

Vesper: play games, watch replays, fix mistakes, dance hard techno.

Reldan · 2010-07-10T08:17:42.000Z

Reldan 979

Was a high Plat/low Diamond level player as of the end of the first beta. I enjoy team games so if you see me on give me a holler and I’ll probably play with you.

T11 · 2010-07-10T10:42:38.000Z

Tee
741

I’m up for some team games. I’m still getting up to speed. Although I’ve played RTS games for many years, I spent most of the beta trying to learn Protoss against the AI before I realized that Protoss was not for me. So, I recently switched to Terran and am learning them.

I just could not get used to Protoss warp gates. I’m used to using hot keys to build units while I’m fighting. Having to move to a spot on the map. hit W and then place down a bunch of units was a real pain in the ass. It’s a real nice feature and I’m sure useful in the right hands. Just wasn’t for me.

Vesper · 2010-07-10T10:55:00.000Z

I think I’m getting the hang of Terrans now, playing against AI. I seem to do a good job developing an economy, I just can’t seem to spend it fast enough. I suspect that means I should be more aggressive rather than building up bigger blocks of units.

AaronSofaer · 2010-07-10T11:14:23.000Z

I have the same problem as Terran, finding myself sitting on lots of minerals. I’ve started just building more Barracks when that happens, and pumping out more Marines.

The one game I won today I ended up with eight Barracks, two of them putting out Marauders and the other six putting out Marines, because I hadn’t gotten enough refineries / expansions and I was trying to put out some battlecruisers at the same time (I ended up with four, but the other guy surrendered after my MM army beat his zealot/stalker/sentry army).

Vesper · 2010-07-10T11:55:35.000Z

That’s a good idea… Could do the same for multiple factories. I’m a total newbie in SC2, but I noticed how slowly the bigger units get produced, so many factories would alleviate this time-roadblock.

McKnight · 2010-07-10T13:43:11.000Z

You absolutely need to have numerous production buildings. 1 rax, Factory and Starport just won’t cut it. Especially once you have an expansion up.

AaronSofaer · 2010-07-10T13:59:26.000Z

I usually have five Barracks by the time I put up my first Starport (at which point I also have one expansion).

I don’t generally go ground mech at all. MMM ball and if that’s not doing it, I’m slowly putting out battlecruisers.

Not exactly Diamond-caliber but… :)

AaronSofaer · 2010-07-14T14:40:27.000Z

Apparently the new patch reduces the build time for Reapers, Barracks, and Zealots by 5 seconds each.

McKnight · 2010-07-14T16:21:59.000Z

Well that’s a step back from the fact they increased Reaper build time by 5 secs when the Beta came back up.

lordkosc · 2010-07-14T18:26:33.000Z

I am patching up my client as I type this, forgot the beta was back, as I crammed to finish Starcraft 1 and Brood War this past weekend.

I am ready for SC2 now :)

MikeJ · 2010-07-14T18:36:42.000Z

AaronSofaer:

I don’t generally go ground mech at all. MMM ball and if that’s not doing it, I’m slowly putting out battlecruisers.

How do you find the battlecruisers? My only experience of SC2 is watching Day9 commentary and I’ve never seen one in any of those (or carriers for that matter). I’ve seen Brood Lords used many times, but battlecruisers are these mythical beasts. Do they actually have a role in high-level play?

Demon_G_Sides · 2010-07-14T18:48:46.000Z

Depends… Team high level, yes. 1v1 high level, hardly ever. Expensive, time consuming, and you can get a lot of marines for the same cost.

Vesper · 2010-07-14T19:13:05.000Z

I think I may have to play through SC1 and Brood Wa with cheats just to get all the story again before next week. Getting excited about the new single player campaign.

Kurdel · 2010-07-14T22:06:19.000Z

The new Infesters are awesome. Spawning infested marines in a production line, or sniping tech is too easy. Especially in Z vs. Z.

AaronSofaer · 2010-07-15T07:20:06.000Z

MikeJ:

How do you find the battlecruisers? My only experience of SC2 is watching Day9 commentary and I’ve never seen one in any of those (or carriers for that matter). I’ve seen Brood Lords used many times, but battlecruisers are these mythical beasts. Do they actually have a role in high-level play?

Last game I played in was TvP. I out-macro’d him, and pushed to wipe out a small base of his in the middle of the map, but he had the far superior micro skills, and his Colossi / Mothership made it a rough deal to go up against his army.

I could have had a unit-cap MMM ball, but I wouldn’t have been able to make much if any headway. So instead my strategy calls for transitioning to BCs, and by the time I hit unit cap, I had six Starports up.

If I were better at micro, I wouldn’t have needed to resort to unit cap of BCs, but it was pretty hilarious!