Starcraft Multiplayer FAQ by Blizzard for the PC and Macintosh Version 2.00 cnick (seamanci@yahoo.com) Last Updated: January 19, 2003 Newest versions of this guide can be found ONLY at: www.gamefaqs.com WRITTEN EXLUSIVELY FOR GAMEFAQS.COM Copyright 2000-2003 cnick. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= [ C O N T E N T S ] I. Revision History II. Introduction III. Game Modes IV. Building Placement - Protoss - Terran - Zerg V. Strategies - Protoss Dark Templar Sneak Attack Corsair Rush Reaver Drop Mass Scouts Carrier Rush Offensive Cannons Mass Zealots - Terran Marine Drop Tank Tactics Bunkering In Strategy Against Air - Zerg Lurker Drop Power Build Mass Hydra Zergling Rush - Common Battles VI. Basics of Winning VII. Frequently Asked Questions VIII. Map Building Tips IX. Unit Reviews X. Thanks and Disclaimer =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= I. REVISION HISTORY Version 0.1 (2/28/00) 11:05pm PST Guide only includes some small strategies that I use at the moment. I¹m working on some new strats, which will hopefully be worked out by the end of the week. Version 0.2 (2/29/00) 10:50pm PST - New design on Revision History - Added Mass Hydra Strat. - Zerglin Rush - Didn¹t get time to play more. Friends ditched me so I didn¹t get any more strategies to practice out. Maybe Tomorrow - By the way, My homepage was launched about 2 hours ago. Check it out, if you want. It will just hold my FAQs, and hopefully I can get it into searches. Version 0.3 (3/2/00) 11:15pm PST - Added Bunkering In - Added new section, the Basics of Winning - Added Carrier Rush - Mass Scouts Strategy Added - Carrier Rush added; Interesting Strategy, but works! *Note* The carrier rush has been used upon and is a great strategy for a newbie, but I¹ve yet to get a detailed building guide. I was going to get it today, but I ended up getting messed up in a game with guys far above my level. Good learning experience though. Version 0.4 (3/4/00) 9:17pm PST - Added new section, Building Placements. Pretty big section and is worth a look. *Note* Thats it, but its a huge update in terms of size. Hopefully I can get another strategy or 2 in by Sunday night. Version 0.5 (3/5/00) 9:52pm PST - Added game modes. I only got the regular ones in, theres a few more that I didn¹t know off the top of my head. I¹ll get those in the next version. - Added another tip for basics of winning - Added a F.A.Q section - Added Hydra Drop strategy. *Note* Guide is getting rather large =) Lets hope I can get it to 30k soon! Large update, but nothing to the main parts of the guide. Hopefully I can get to those later. Version 0.6 (3/7/00) 4:48pm PST - Added offensive cannons strategy - Corrected any spelling errors, and grammar errors I saw. Probably some left, as I was skimming through alot of it. - Added map building tips section. It involves basic pointers for someone who wants to make a multiplayer map. *Note* FAQ is becoming rather large. Hopefully someone reads this and contribute! Couple more versions left, then its off for Syphon Filter 2. yahoo! Version 1.0 (3/11/00) 10:30pm PST - Minor changes *Note* Final version. I realized I didn¹t have much stuff to put in so heres 1.0. I can¹t imagine theres much more I can put in, so this is it (for awhile). Hmmm, maybe I can find something new to work on.... Version 1.1 (3/16/00) 12:01am PST - Huge section. Unit reviews. Basically puts my review for each unit. The review basically tells you whether or not the unit is worth building in a melee game. *Note* This FAQ probably has a few more updates. I lied about 1.0 being the last version. Syphon Filter 2 ended up being a bogus sequel, so I¹m projectless. Version 1.2 (3/17/00) 6:34pm PST - Redid some of the reviews, and realized I missed the ghost unit. Oops. Also missed firebat. - Added another tip for UMS map building - Added another F.A.Q. - Switch lay-out a bit *Note* Hopefully I can get some more strategies in this weekend. Haven¹t played brood war in quite some time... Version 1.3 (3/18/00) 12:51am PST - Contributor Update: Carrier Rush Strategy by Josh Harring Updated reviews a bit Queen Review by Frank Firmat - Side Note: I¹m rejuvinated into making this FAQ really good. About 2 weeks ago, I sort of gave up on this, but now I¹m into getting everything right. Version 1.4 (3/19/00) 12:21am PST - Added huge sub-section in the Strategies section. Scroll down to learn more. Huge section by the way, if your wondering why theres such a small update. I¹m pretty sure this is going to be one of the last versions. I can¹t really think of much more to put down. Version 1.45 (3/20/00) 3:01pm PST - This shabby piece of ASCII was done by me in the early hours of monday trying to get tired after a wicked weekend. Hmmm, typing this part ust after finishing it... - More work with the lay-out. I keep seeing new FAQs with interesting lay-outs, so I get better ideas. Hmmm, trying to get my own original style, but currently I¹m using about 3 different peoples lay-out. - Added some more copyright stuff. You can¹t have this GUIDE on your site. period. You won¹t be reading the newest version if I just let any website have it. Version 1.50 (3/22/00) 9:11pm PST - Cosmetic Changes - Probably made the FAQ a bit smaller then 1.45, but I think everything is done. *Note* Although it does say Last Version, that doesn¹t stop you from helping. Send in any contributions and I can update the FAQ. The Last Version means that I¹m done adding stuff, I just need help from you, my readers. Version 1.51 (3/29/00) 6:13pm PST - Disclaimer contradicted itself, so I fixed it. Thats all =) Version 1.51a (3/31/00) 8:47pm PST - New ASCII art. Layout fixed. Also took out the Last Version thing. I¹ve had about 5 updates since I put that there... Version 1.55 (4/13/00) 12:03am PST - Strategy sent in by Bob Stanley. Posted it. =) Thats it, I¹m in a non-faq writing mood. Should get back into it by the weekend, after 2 weeks of just working on a small project. Version 1.60 (4/20/00) 5:50pm PST - New Terran Strategy (Strategy Against Air) - New Protoss Strategy (Mass Zealots) - FAQ has just became my largest one to date. Poor GT2 License Guide. Version 2.00 (5/28/00) 8:04pm PST - FINAL VERSION! 62K! Version 2.01 (1/19/03) - Spring cleaning. Contribution are welcomed. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= II. INTRODUCTION Brood War is the expansion game for Starcraft. Both are one of the best strategy games, and a sweet multiplayer game. In multiplayer, things are different, unlike 1-player. You actually I have thinking opponents. Below are some strategies for each race that have helped me become a above average player. And these are just a few. Read below, and I almost guarantee you that you will become better with these. Common knowledge of Starcraft and things in it are needed. I suggest you play out with some people and get to know things before you look at this if you don¹t know much about Starcraft. Also, I¹ll refer a nexus, hactery, or command center as a town hall (from warcraft). It just makes it easier for me instead of typing all 3. Well, then read on! =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= III. GAME MODES Battle.net offers tons of great modes. I¹ve listed them below, and a small decription. Melee - Standard mode. Start with a town hall, and 4 workers. The strategies in this guild are based on you playing this, team melee, or a ladder game. Used Map Settings - These maps are created with Staredit, and people have implemented triggers to make RPGs, or madness games. If you¹re wondering how to that, don¹t look here. Team Melee - Consists of 3 teams, where up to 3 people can control the same units and are on the same team. Its rather interesting to play, but I¹ve never liked it too much. Ladder - Same as melee, but 1vs1. Also, this is some what like a large tourney where you get a rating to see how you compare with other people on battle.net. I suggest you not play this unless you think you are pretty good because if you lose, you will have a a rating below 1000 (not good for others to see) =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= IV. BUILDING PLACEMENT Another key to doing these strategies is to build stuff at the right spots. Taking too much time to figure out where to build your cannon, or bunker will damage your chance of pulling off your strategy. Below is possible building strategies you can do. Each one has their own advantages. Keep in mind, that none of them have any serious disadvantages. =================== =Protoss Placement= =================== The main component to the protoss building units is the pylon. You have no clue what a pylon is, then check the other guides on GameFAQs. If you plan on not getting too much defense (cannons), heres a nice mock-up. This is just a small look, so It will include a gateway, stargate, cybernetics core, forge, and pylons. x xxxxx x x OC C P x F Y S C P GC P O- Nexus C- Cannon F- Forge P- Pylom Y- Cybernetics Core S- Stargate Keep things close, and have the buildings further away then the cannons. With things close, the few cannons can defend almost any building, so you save alot of money. The main disadvantage is that you need to keep building units alot, because you don¹t have alot of defense. You are also dead as hell, if you get nuked, as everything can get hit (Or, most of it). This works good with a DT rush, or Corsair rush, where you dont need to tech-up. Another set up: --------- / /CCC --------CCC (building can be anyone else) CCP --------CCC \ \ ----------- Basically, all the cannons are your defense. It can stop most mass hydra runs, and any rush attempt. Its expensive, and its more suited to playing a 3v3 comp (or 3v5 comp), but this defense should give you time to tech-up. But you need to tech-up quick, before you¹re opponent catches on and trys to drop or tech up faster. ================== =Terran Placement= ================== You can make a great defense with terran. Below is a great strategy. --------- /T / S --------X S --------X S \ S \T ----------- X - Bunker T- Turret S - Seige Tanks D - Supply Depots Have a SCV or 2 to repair the bunkers. This strategy is great, and can stop most ground attacks. Of course, depending upon the choke, you can add a 3rd bunker and more seige tanks. Heres another mock-up. Same style, but you have depots blocking anyway through the ground to reach the bunkers. Any ground-attack will fail, because they need to take out the depots first. The biggest disadvantage to this is that an opponent siege tank can take out the depots. This can be solved with cloak wraiths. Below is the standard set-up for it. --------- /T / S -------DXS D S -------DXS \ S \T ----------- Remember, you cant send any ground units without a transport. Other then that, this strategy is great, but very common. ================ =Zerg Placement= ================ I haven¹t found any really good placement for zerg. Theres not much you can do with the slime requirement to build on, so for a rather good defensive placement, just have a bunch of sunken and spore colonies at the choke. Hopefully, in a later version, I can find something else. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= V. STRATEGIES ==================== =Protoss Strategies= ==================== -------------------------- DARK TEMPLAR SNEAK ATTACK -----=-------------------- Basically, you are making a frontal attack with Zealots, Dragoons, Templars, and Dark Templars. But while the lots, goons, and templars are busy attacking, you run the dts, to the mineral production of you¹re opponent. I haven¹t gotten this to work with zerg yet (mainly because of their overlords can detect dts so easily). Order of Buiding Process: Pylon - 7 Gateway - 7 Assimilator - 9-11 2nd Gateway - 12 Core - Should be done by the 15th probe Citadel Templers Archives 3rd Gateway Obviously, this can be changed somewhat. Add pylons when necessary. On you¹re 9-11 probes, put them on the gas, 12-15 on minerals again. When a probe is waiting for something to build, have it get some minerals. Depending on how good, you may get another nexus in. I¹ll update this more as I use it. (Terran) 10 Zealots, 5 Dragoons, 2 or 3 Templars, and 4 Dts Of course, these are rough estimates. It depends if you know where you¹re opponent is. If you have a good deal knowledge what he has and where, this can be a piece of cake. Just about any terran user will have bunkers and tanks. If he has a wall of depots, get a reaver to take them out, have the lots and goons distract, while the dts go for the comsat, and then turrets if he has some. Easy kill after this. During the attack, build some more units to take out SCVs that try to run. The templars are only there for more expert players, but they are nice. (Protoss) 10 Zealots, 5 Dragoons, 6 Dark Templars Again, more dts will help out, but the deal with this strategy is to distract the cannons with the lots and goons. The Dark Templars can eat alive cannons, and most likely, you will face someone who only uses one or two pylons. The Dragoons are for the pylons, while the lots take care of the cannons. (All 3 Races) 2 or 3 shuttles, and 8 to 12 dark templars. This takes a bit more time, but almost no player on B.net gets turrets around his minerals. Begin with the Robotics Factory just when you start building Dts. Load them up into the shuttles, and drop them on their minerals. You won¹t be able to take out all of their defense, but losing their mineral production is just as deadly. ------------ CORSAIR RUSH ------------ This is interesting rush, and I got nailed by it by someone, so I know it works. This only works on Island maps and when you¹re opponent is Zerg. Order of Buiding Process: Pylon - 7 Gateway - 7 Assimilator - 9-11 2nd Gateway -12 Core - Should be done by the 15th probe Starport Robotics Factory (To shuttle ground units) -YOU SHOULD WE READY TO ATTACK ONCE YOU NAIL THE OVERLORDS- Ok, get 3 or 4 quick corsairs, and rush to where ever you¹re opponent is. Nail his ovies, hopefully he has them all bunched together. If done quick enough, he should have much, and is probably building a squire for a muta rush. Nail the ovies, and any muta that pops up. When all is clear, launch you¹re shuttles (or carriers if you¹re quick). He shouldn¹t have much, because you¹re corsairs were nailing his supply limit. Keep sending corsairs over, to take out overlords quicker. Theres alot of different things you can do once you nail his ovies, but most likely he is dead. ----------- REAVER DROP ----------- Order of Buiding Process: Pylon - 7 Gateway - 7 Assimilator - 9-11 Core - 12 Robotics Factory - 15 Robotics Support Bay -15 2nd Robotics Factory This one is pretty simple. On the first RF, build the reaver while on the 2nd RF build the shuttle. Of course, you¹re going to want to build defense, and someother kind of offense. Drop the reavers right on you¹re opponents minerals, and bye bye to his production line. ----------- MASS SCOUTS ----------- Same Process of Corsair rush. Just take out the Robotics factory, add a third or fourth stargate. Lots of minerals are needed, so make sure you have at least 25 probes on mineral blocks. Ok, you¹re wondering, Scouts? Ok, they can simply kill any air unit. 12 of them are indestructable. But they can¹t do anything on ground, unless they are in huge numbers. Thus, this strategy is mass scouts. Always have 12 scouts. Take out any air, go for the production probes, and then worry about taking out the rest of the defense with other units. But don¹t be mistaken. Fully upgraded, 12 scouts can be a deadly force on ground. ------------ CARRIER RUSH ------------ OK this involves some careful planning. I¹ve yet to find an exact path, so using the same building process from the previous strategies is fine. Just make sure you make no sort of defense unit (some cannons are ok). Make stargates, then the beacan and build on. As long as you make little to none cannons, and no sort of defensive units, you should get 7 or 8 carriers by the time an opponent has anything serious. Of course, this won¹t work on any expert, but avaerage players will go, lots of cannons, arbitor with carriers if they are protoss, mass hydra with zerg, and battlecruisers for terran. Of course, there are its exceptions, but as long as you aren¹t facing an expert player you should be ok. The No rush rule is a huge clue to go for this. It is a newbie rule, but the best thing in this game is to get a little confidence, so always start low then go higher. This does require some planning, and in a future version, I can get a detailed guide. ------------------- (From Josh Harring) This assumes you are playing on Big Game Hunters with its 2 gas geysers. *Build probes until 7/9 *Build pylon at choke point *Build probes until 9/9 *Build forge as far from choke as possible while still in pylon range *Continue building probes *When forge warps in, start building cannons. Build a cannon when you have 150 minerals and a probe warping in. Do this until you have 8 cannons. *When you reach 15/17 build another pylon on one side of your base. *After you have 8 cannons build a gateway and 2 assimilators. You should still be building probes too. *When gateway warps in build cyber core. *When assimilators warp in put 4 probes on each geyser. *When you reach 23/25 build another pylon, on the opposite side from your 2nd pylon (where your gateway is). *When cyber core warps in build a stargate, and 5 more pylons in a line like this: P P P Stargate P P P That will give you 73 supply when all the pylons warp in. Continue building probes until you have 38 (30 on minerals, 8 on gas). When stargate warps in, build fleet beacon on opposite side of pylons, and three more stargates on the side where the first one is. When fleet beacon warps in research carrier capacity. When your other three stargates warp in you will have to wait on gas before you can start warping in four carriers. After four carriers are building warp in four pylons (doesn't matter where just find a spot). Then when your carriers warp in select them all and build five interceptors each for them. Wait for 1400/1000 resources again and build four more carriers. Remember to build three more interceptors each for the carriers. Warp in another four pylons. When you've got your next four carriers build interceptors for them while building another four carriers. Now build a robotics facility too, in addition to another four pylons. When the robotics warps in build an observatory. When that warps in build two observers. This is to protect your carriers from terran wraiths and ghosts, andalso will let them clear out lurkers and dark templars in case your partners are helping attack via the ground. Okay so now you've got twelve carriers with eight interceptors each and two observers following them. Time to attack the computers (or human if you're gutsy enough to do this in a humans vs. humans game). Research observer sight and speed and also get eight more carriers (two sets of four). Using this method you can get twenty carriers. It's quite a sight to see! The eight cannons will protect you from most comp assaults (the twelve zealots or marine/medic rush). You may be worried about tanks but surprisingly this build is fast enough that you can have carriers when the comp attacks with tanks! ----------------- OFFENSIVE CANNONS ----------------- Pretty simple, but I became a huge nuisance during a game I had earlier today. Find where your opponent is, and put a pylon at reasonable distance. Far enough so he can¹t seen what you¹re doing. Build the pylon, then put cannons around it. For the majority of the game now, he will go all out to take these out, or he will go out of his way to miss them. Either way, it buys you some time to get ahead of him. You must be quick, and get the right placement down, if he sees you, your plan is dead. ------------ MASS ZEALOTS ------------ Follow your basic building plan. Its not really important how fast you get everything built, considering the strength of all the mass zealot strategy is to have a lot of them, and therefore needs time. Dont make any unecessary things, like a gas factory, or high-tech equipment. You just need multiple gateways (should get around 4 of them) and the pylons to support the growth. Dont bother making anything else. Within a couple of minutes, you should be constantly have zealots being built. Never have a gateway idle, because you are losing valuable time. If you do find yourself with tons of minerals, add another gateway, or begin teching-up, like getting the faster move upgrade for the zealots in the citadel. But remember, that isnt your priorty, and you dont really need to do it to make this strategy become effective. Once you have 12 zealots, attack! Search out, find your opponent and do as much damage as possible. Get note on what he has, and what he is doing. If your zealots did reasonable damage, continue with 12 zealots attacking. REMEMBER: Always have zealots building. Even when you are attacking. The faster you get them, the less time your opponent has to recover. If your first 12 zealots dont do much damage, you have 2 things to do: Forget about zealots, and begin teching up, or get 24 zealots to attack. It all depends on how much money you have and how much damage you took off. Zealots become very ineffective, fast, so dont blow off a lot of time with them if they wont win the game for you. =================== =Terran Strategies= =================== ----------- MARINE DROP ----------- Barrack - 8 Depot - 9 Gas Factor 10-12 Factory w/ machine shop -13 Starport w/ tower -15 or 16 2nd barrack Simple strategy. Basically, its a normal drop on an opponents minerals. You can add firebats (especially of its protoss) but basically you want 2 drop ships with marines (mixed with firebats is a possibility). This doesnt take much time to do, so its as deadly as a reaver drop. ------------ TANK TACTICS ------------ Use the same method of building as above. Tanks are the most deadly ground unit in the game. IF used right, nothing can survive. They are cheap, and can be built very early in the game. The best way to attack, is to transport tanks, and ground support right on the area where you¹re opponent is. Heres a couple of different set ups. (Set ups are based on BufferOverflow¹s strategy) 3 Dropships + 2 Seige Tanks + 2 Goliaths + 1 Ghost + 11 Marines 4 Dropships + 4 Seige Tanks + 2 Goliaths + 11 Marines + 1 Ghost + 2 Wraiths The 2nd set up has a lot more bang, but also takes a little longer. Suggestion: Know what you¹re opponent has and is doing. You want the larger force if he has a lot of ground units coming, but if hes hanging aorund trying to get the big stuff, the ³lighter² set up is just as deadly. ------------ BUNKERING IN ------------ This is an extremely tough strategy to do, because you need to be quick. Real quick. But pulling it off will drop a huge load on your opponents shoulders. Build quickly, from the process in the marine drop. While building, send a SCV to scout and try to find your enemies¹ base. Considering most maps have a ³choke² or one entrance, this strategy is awesome. Build a bunker, far from his sight so he can¹t detect you, but close enough so that you will become effective. Below, would be a pretty good placement. /-------- choke / ----------- B X ----------- \ \--------- B- Placement of bunker X- Enemies¹ command center, nexus, or hatchery Get Marines in it as fast as possible, build a 2nd one, and get tanks guarding it as soon as possible. The outcome of all of this is to ³trap² your opponent. Most likely 100% of his attention will be on those bunkers and tanks. So everything he sends will be against you. Considering its like a normal defense, most attacks will be worthless. At this time, you can build up, and attack him while he will probably have a few hi-tech units, but nothing special. A marine drop, here and there to make things even worse just makes the situation move more into your favor. -------------------- STRATEGY AGAINST AIR -------------------- (From BIGMIC2000@aol.com) This is a Strategy that you can use if you are terran and your opponent is going air. First get all your defense but be sure to leave a way out of your base. Next find out if they are getting air by the use of comsat. If they are going air then get about 6 factories and fully upgrade you vehicle waepons and armor because you are gonna go all goliath. This is a useful staratgy because if you get the charron bosters then they attack air very fast and very hard from about the same range as a guardian. And if they are goin all carrier be sure to use hot keys and have them attack only the carrier since onece the carrier dies so do all the intercepters ================= =Zerg Strategies= ================= ----------- LURKER DROP ----------- Another drop. Spawning Pool - 8 Overlord - 8 (again) Extractor - 9-11 Hydralisk den - 12 (upgrade to lair) Learn lurker ability as well as trasport and speed ugrade for ovie Drop on minerals. Enough said. Without any detection, this is the most deadly drop there is. ---------------- ZERG POWER BUILD ---------------- Spawning - 8 Build 8 again Overlord Build 9-12 Build 6 zerglins (3 eggs; once spawning pool is up) Build Drone to make Extractor Build 3 for gas Keep on buidling zerglins until you reach 300 minerals Build 2nd Hatchery Continue with zerglings on the 1st, drones on the 2nd For best use of minerals, have 2 per block. Build 3rd hatchery once minerals are there Build 2 Evo Chambers (upgrade attack, and carapace. Build Hydralisk Den, and start racking out Hydras from the 3rd. Upgrade to a Lair, and get the added upgrades on the Den One power build I use. You should attack you¹re opponent multiple times before you get the hydras. At this point, I leave you with a number of options. Mass hydra, lurker drop, and Guardians. If you¹re quick enough, the opponent should be in weak shape and any attack should take him out. ---------- MASS HYDRA ---------- Use the same building order as you did to do the lurker drop, but instead, make you¹re focus on 48-60 hydras. With 3 or 4 hacteries, this can be done within a couple of minutes, and if executed correctly is dangerous as hell. A good strategy is to add in a couple of hydras to nail anything that trys to escape and to distract help if its a 2v2 or 3v3. A common strategy though. -------------- ZERGLING RUSH -------------- (By Hone from starcraft.org) Heres a beautiful little strategy. Use it well. Build drones until you have 8 drones harvesting minerals Morph an overlord Build 9th drone As soon as your overlord hatches build your 10th and 11th drone As soon as larvae is available build your 12th drone When you have about 130 minerals in the bank send a drone to your natural expand Build 1 more drone to build a second hatch Build a spawning pool as soon as the minerals are available As soon as you have 160 minerals send a drone to build a 3rd hatch at your ramp Morph an overlord as soon as 100 minerals are available Do not build any more drones Hot key the area directly outside your expand with shift-[F3] (this is where much of the initial fighting is likely to take place As soon as your pool is finished start morphing zerglings, hopefully you will not have to make any other units or building except for zerglings and overlords for the rest of the game The key to this strategy is to not lose a drone. You just have enough to get the minerals. Also you need to be quick, or a group of zealots could be the end of your life. ---------- HYDRA DROP ---------- Do the exact same building code as you did with teh lurker drop, except don¹t learn the lurker upgrade until later. I wanted to add this, because I just recently shut my friend up after taking him out with times in a row in with a hydra drop. Quickly build 2 overlords full of hydras (8) and drop them a little further away from the enemy base. The rest is simple. This has only been tested on a island map (lots of high-teching) with only one gas thing available until you can transport. When I would drop, he would have a couple of cannons, and a scout or 2 (he was protoss). Peace of cake. As you attack, build a bunch more and send them for reinforcements. Hydras are just so damn sweet. The major key with these is to drop away from any defense he might have. Sometimes its impossible, but do your best. That way, you can have all the hydras attack, instead of 2, then 4, then 6, and then lastly have all 8 attack. By that time, some have already died, and the whole drop will be a failure. -------------- ULTRA STRATEGY -------------- (sent in by Bob Stanley) I start building off with basic defense(sunken, spore, lurker, and the suicidal lings) then after the initial rush (if any) or after I decide they're not going too, I begin gas collection and teching.then I get about 4-5 hatcherys as $ allows (expanding if needed) then massing zerglins, hydras, ultras, and some scourge's (toact as scouts/anti overlord stuff) finally I get: 6 overlords of zerglings, 3 of ultras, 3 of lurkers (maybe) and then 12 with hydras. The attack goes as follows: scout w/ scorges to find a suitable landing spot. bring in th first wave (12 ovies of hydras), then IMMEDIATLY bring in the other 12 after the hydras have drawn a crowd. Your zerglings will just kinda distract and maybe kill something, your lurkers you must try to sneak into the mineral field, the ultras will mop any survivors, and you hydras can level buildings. THIS IS A VERY DIFFICULT STRAGY TO PULL OF BECAUSE OF THE MULTIPLE TASKS GOING ON.also its HIGHLY recommended to begin another force in case of counter, retalliaton, or secondbase attackes. I found it easy (and kinda funny) to march your troops to any other base they may have. guarenteed win if it can be pulled off, which none of my freinds have been able to do yet :P =========================== =Common Battles Strategies= =========================== Throught playing on battle.net, with all the different units, you are most likely only going to save one or 2 units. Heres the best way to defend them. ---------------------------- CARRIER/BATTLECRUISER ATTACK ---------------------------- While extremely powerful, these are easily destroyed. You should know what your opponent is doing at all times, so you can start defending against this early. Build wraiths, scouts, or scourges (or devourers). 12 of them (or 48 scourges) can take them all out. Wraiths and scouts are best, and I doubt you will lose more then one unit. ----- DROPS ----- Build turrets around your mineral production. Have some free units around, so they can move and attack the drop. Having a bunker, sunkens, or a few cannons can stop a drop from ever occuring. The shuttle in most cases will probably die before getting the drop off. ------------- DARK TEMPLARS ------------- These guys are extremely tough to defend against. Most players can get these quick, and just 2 can kill you off. Build something to detect cloaked units as soon as possible. Once you can see them, they don¹t stand much of a chance, as they have little life. Still, if your not quick enough, say good bye. ------------------------- TANK PUSH W/ MARINE COVER ------------------------- This is hard. If you are protoss, try to psionic storm a few times. MOst likely this will fail, so your either going to need a lot of units, or some kind of air-attack. Somehow lure the marines away from the tanks, and send in mutas, wraiths, or scouts for the tanks. The tanks need to be killed first, as they can take out any defense that you have for regular ground units. With all my experience, this is gotta be the hardest attack to defend, or at least one of the hardest. You will lose a lot of units guarding this. The good side is that it takes awhile for the terran player to get everything ready. ---------- HYDRA RUSH ---------- The most common attack zerg players use. Up to 60 hydras can be pushing ahead, with some lurkers to support them. Your going to need a lot of bunkers, sunkens, or cannons. A lot. I doubt you will have enough units to fight back, and whats the point to fight back if your going to lose everything you had to attack? This is extremely common with zerg players, but the good thing is that it takes awhile before it gets out of hand. They do come quick though, and rebuilding them takes about 5 minutes to get another 50. ----------- ZEALOT RUSH ----------- Another toughie. If you play a lot of comp games, you know how tough these are. 12 quick zealots can do a lot, and its enough to kill you. Quick realization on what your opponent is trying to do is critical. You don¹t want to make those extra cannons if he isn¹t going to lot rush you. 4 ro 5 sunken colonies can weak them up nicely, where zerglings can take them out. 7 or 8 cannons can take them all out, and 2 or 3 bunkers with SCVs repairing shouldn¹t have a problem, but you also need to rush building this defense. The great thing about this rush is that if you defend rather well, you can go straight to attacking him. He probably won¹t have more then a couple of zealots that he build over the attack. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= XI. BASICS OF WINNING Below are some basic things you need to get these strategies off quicker then your opponent. - 2 drones, probes, or SCVs on a mineral block. - 3 on a gas factory (For most maps. Some are further away, and you can get a 4th in. You need to test this on a new map to get the most gas possible. - Defend your minerals. With a bunker, turret, cannon, or lurkers. Whatever race you are, you need to defend that drop at all costs. Failure not to will most likely end your chance of winning. - Always have something to detect cloaked enemies, or in a zerg¹s case, something to detect burrowed units. DTs are basically the most destructable unit in the game, and if you have no detection, add a loss to your record. - INTELLIGENCE! Know where your enemy is, know what he is doing. If hes going for mass carriers, reaver drop him, and build up some corsairs or scouts. If hes going for mass Dts, get a detector, and defense around anything he could drop on. - Abide by the rules set at the beginning of the game. Dont get cheap wins, its not really doing anything. No one cares if they get the loss, and the more wins you get, the less people will want to play you. Think about it. - Each race has a great unit, and a really bad unit. Zerg¹s mutalisk, well just plain sucks. It can not defeat any of its equals 1v1, and for that matter even 12v8. Very weak, and an almost pointless unit unless you rush. The terran marine is almost a laughing-stock. 4 of these probably couldn¹t take on one zealot, and the one thing that saves these marines from instant death is the medic. However, with medics, marines can be one of the deadlier units. And lastly is the Protoss. While most of its units are great, the templar and the carrier has to be the worst. The templar can not attack. You need to waste 75 power points to use its psionic storm (its only attack), and a smart opponent can just move out of the way without getting hurt. What saves templars is the ability to make an archon from 2 templars. And archons are simply sweet. The carrier is also a weak unit. While powerful, its nothing without being in groups, and a couple of wraiths or scouts, or 4 scourges can kill it. Plus, its really expensive. So remember that some units, even though they may be expensive, aren¹t that great. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= XII. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: I keep getting rushed and dieing. What do I do? A: This is rather tough to stop, but most people on b.net don¹t do this much. Forget about getting defense. Build like you are going to rush him yourself. That way, you will have something to stop it with. For example, going for cannons will won¹t stop a quick zerglin rush, but if you build like you are going to lot rush, then you can stop it. Q: Whats your opinion on Battlecruisers and Carriers? A: Glad you asked. =) My best advice is to forget about them. They take so long to build, and can easily be stopped by air-to-air resistances. But between the 2, I¹ve found that BCs are must better then carriers. Q: Can I play you? A: Ok, I added this, but the more competition I get, the better. You sure can, I suppose give me a ring on ICQ, 43234424, or email me and we can set up a reasonable time. Q: Whats the best race? A: There is none. Zerg is by far the toughest to learn, as they have no air-to-air attack, but hydras are the sweetest little things in the game. I¹ll go off by saying, Protoss is my favorite, but I¹m learning zerg at the moment, so I may update this question. My advice to a newbie: Zerg or Terran. They are a lot harder to learn, but you can be so much better. Protoss is rather easy and you can do it almost on your first try with them. Well that really didn¹t explain much. Ok, the best race is the one you like the best. Q: What are the "sleeper" units of the game? A: Protoss - Scouts. These can eat up any air-to-air unit in the game, and can take most ground-to-air resistances. Zerg - Zerglings. These little guys can be a nuisance if you keep on sending them. And are extremely cheap and quick to make, Terran - Medics and Marines. Yup, these little girls can make 10 marines take out just about anything. 30 marine, 6 medics = Destructive force. But they are worthless without each other, plus you need stim pack. Q: How do I make a map? A: Hmm...this is a multiplayer guide, not a map-building guide. I¹ve gotten this twice, and I¹ve found it rather annoying. But, that gives me a great idea for my next FAQ! Q: What maps do you recommend? A: Big Game Hunters is a huge no no. For newbies, its great, but BGH is a money map, and therefore, no expanding is necessary. They aren¹t much fun. Lost Temple and Green Valley are some great blizzard-made maps. Go to battle.net for the maps of the week archive. You may find some cool ones there. Q: What game mode do you recommend? A: Melee. Ladder is too slow (on fast, not fastest) and if you lose, everyone sees it. UMS is ok, but melee is where the fun is at. You can pretty much do anything, and you can work out strategies. Losses don¹t really mean anything, because its almost all pratice. Ladder is the main part, it just isn¹t very fun. Q: Are there any hacks? A: I believe there is. One is a lag hack, another one can show you where your opponents are. Theres bound to be a bunch more, but its fairly rare to see them (I¹ve seen it once) so don¹t worry about them. If you plan on using them, I wouldn¹t. Theres way to many people on battle.net with short-tempers, and your computer may be playing its last game if you try something dumb. Solution: Don¹t cheat and play fair! =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= XIII. MAP BUILDING TECHNIQUES Ok, Ive gotten a couple of questions about this. Read on to learn more. An added note, the Emerald Patch (or New aspect for us mac users) is a much recommended patch to work on maps. They allow you to bend some rules that Blizzard didnt let you work with, like more scripts, and the ability to change upgrades so you can do it more then 3 times. Go to http://slaimus.virtulave.net to get the one you need. M E L E E - For a melee, multiplayer map, you have to make sure everything is fair. So each starting location has the same amount of minerals, gas, and theres an expansion for each home base. Thats your first priorty. - The 2nd thing to figure out, is how much resources are you going to allow. Having just a couple 1000 minerals will force the players to expand, and more strategy is involved. If you have 50k on each block, then strategy is taken out, and whoever wins is whoever builds fastest. - Map design. Plot something on a piece of paper. Make it interesting, with different heights, so smart thinking can use the terrain to his advanatge. You almost want to make sure you can access everything, and minerals and gas are far away apart so that someone could build a town hall without getting too far from the resources. - Test it. Find a problem? Fix it, and test again. No one wants to play an unfinished map. Get a couple of people to test with you, and things will go faster. - To get your map around, give them to as much friends as possible that plays SC. That way, distribution will go faster. However, I doubt a map will become as popular as BGH. U S E D M A P S E T T I N G S I suggest you download some UMS maps, first, start staredit, and look at the basic structure of these maps. Note the triggers, the locations, and basically how things are set up. These finished maps are great teachers. Dragonlance is a great UMS. It has almost any kind of trigger thinable. Also, the madness are great if thats what your looking to build. - Test even more then with melee. One bugged trigger can mess up the whole map. Unless your making an RPG, you shouldn¹t have too much triggers to don¹t worry up taking forever to edit the map. - Write down what your going to do first. Just going with the flow won¹t help you create a good UMS. - Make something original up. No one wants to see another pokemon madness. If you want a subject in the UMS, for example Pokemon, do something original. Instead of just getting more powerful pokemon at different amount of kills, how about you choosing who you want. The possibilites are endless. - Make sure units are all balanced. In madness map, don¹t make one powerful team or you aren¹t getting anywhere. Experiment with different hp, shield, and damage ratios, and if you still can¹t find a suitable balance, look at other madness maps to see what they have done. The best way to learn is to look at others maps. =-----------------------------------------------------------------------------= IX. UNIT REVIEWS Unit reviews are based on 5 *¹s, 1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest. ===================== =Terran Unit Reviews= ===================== Marine - **** 4 stars, but only with certain conditions. 10 marines need 2 to 3 medics, and they need stim pack and the longer range upgrades. Add a seige tank in the mix, and you got marines at their finest. Also, make sure they are near their tank support! Of course, if theres nothing else to attack back, you can send your marines to destroy buildings, but for the first few mintues of your attacks, you are going to receive heavy fire from just about anything your opponent has. Medic - ** They have no use but to work with Marines, 2 stars are given to them because they help marines become so powerful. Along with marines, you must always keep these girls near your tanks. If you get into a huge, wide group, you arent going to survive a counter-attack, which leaves your whole base at a disadvantage (You dont have units to help out your defenses) Firebat - **** Much like marines, they are pretty useless without medics with them and stim pack. A group of 5 or 6 firebats can take out 12 zealots if you use stim pack correctly, and zerglings are no match for these guys. Extremely deadly. Much like marines, you are forced to keep these guys near their tank, if you are using that tactic. Also, watch for their flames. They CAN DAMAGE YOUR OWN UNITS. That isnt good to find out, especially when you are in the process of killing your opponent. Ghost - ** If it wasn¹t for the nuking ability, they be at a 1. They barely hurt, and what saves them is the nuke, but its extremely expensive. Nukes though are great weapons, and I advise any terran users to use them once or twice. When using nukes, make sure you have mulitple command centers, with nuke add-ons. This way, you can have 3 or 4 straight nukes going off within 2 or 3 minutes? What does this mean? Your opponent has less time to detect you, and less time to rebuild. Remember to watch your cloak energy, however. Also, always have a nuke building, unless you have full nukes ready to go. If you do it correctly, you should have little wait between the new ones, since you got 2 or 3 nukes left to use. Vulture - * Basically a piece of crap. They DO have the mines, which can be alright, but a smart opponent can just detect them and destroy a lot of wasted time. My suggestion. Don¹t bother getting these. These guys, however, can be reasonably good if you good. Get them quick, and they can tear about marines, but if you face a bunker full of them, simply speed past it, and kill your opponents SCVs. This also works with weak zerg units (if there is such a thing). Dont bother creating vultures against a protoss opponent. You will just get laughed at. Goliath - *** Nice piece of infantry and back up for Seige tanks. They can¹t do much by themselves, but get 12 protecting 5 or 6 seige tanks, and almost nothing can stop you. Their ground to air attack is one of the best. Goliaths are slightly better then marines when protecting tanks, but you should always have a group of marines around the goliaths. You never know if you are going to face a quick-attack unit, like a firebat or a zergling. Seige Tank - ***** Awesome unit here. Best defense for terran, but one problem is that they are somewhat useless without marines or goliaths. But, they are your best ground attack you have, and unless your rushing with marines, you are most likely attacking with these bad boys. Look at the goliath, marine, medic, and firebat reviews to learn how these guys are even better. I really dont feel like repeating myself. Valkryie - **1/2 I¹m not really sure on this. They eat up zerg overlords like crazy though, but I find wraiths the better air attack. I havem¹t used these much because of the expense, 250 minerals, 100 gas. I recommend experimenting with them, and finding out if you like them. Wraith - **** The bad boy of air-to-air combat. Cloak these, and any air unit is destroyed unless they can detect you. The only terribly bad thing is the wraiths ability to get nailed by cannons, turrets, and spores. To balance this out, try to get at least 12 wraiths at a time, so that you can stand a chance against ground-to-air attacks. Battlecruiser - **** Totally destructable. They need to be in a large group, and some wraiths for back-up is quite necessary. Another down side, is that it takes extremely long to build up them, and therefore, your going to be forced to have a hi-tech fight. Have a science vessel at all times with battlecruisers. cloaked units are the death of these, and a protoss enemy can be easily cut down to size by EMP. Science Vessel - *** 1 word. EMP. Takes protoss shields down to 0, which makes them extrememly weak. Science Vessels also detect cloaked units. You should always have at least 1 of these. Great with battlecruisers, or any large attack unit, like a group of seige tanks, marines and medics. ======================= =Protoss Unit Reviews = ======================= Zealot - **** Zealots rule. A 12 zealot rush is almost unstoppable, and it can tear about almost anyother ground unit the game, with the exception of dark templars. Zealots are also great at defending against siege tank attacks. Zealots are the best unit in the game moneywise. 1200 minerals for a unstoppable force between 5-10 minutes of the game? nice, but they are basically worthless attacks if you dont really how to use them. Knowing how to use them meaning you are real fast building them. Dragoons - *** These are ok, but can get pretty useless, especially when you are at a narrow part of the map, and you only get 3 or 4 dragoons through at a time. Dragoons are nice by themselves, but with zealots. and templars, they tend to separate your attack in groups, which aint good. Go with scouts if you want air support for zealots, and dark templars, dont use dragoons. You will be pounded, 99.9% of the time. Templars/Archons - ****1/2 
  Awesome units.  The psionic storm, while the only attack they
have thats worth learning, is deadly as  heck, and is great
against carrier attacks.  Archons are just mad, but they are
fairly expensive in the gas department, they are just the nicest
unit in the game for protoss, except for dark templars.
*UPDATE* Under Careful review, I did a game with templars as a
primary attack.  I realized how much more effective then storm
is then I first thought, as well as the hallucination.  Therefore,
a 1/2* has been added to the overall review of Templars/Archons.

Dark Templars/Dark Archons - *****

  Dark templars are the best ground unit in the game.  Cloaked,
and can be upgraded to take 50 per hit.  Once these guys get
through your defense, your dead.  Detection is a must, and if
your opponent doesn¹t have anuy, you win.  Dark archons are
great to use, but really aren¹t  necessary.  You can also
grab an Mind Control SCV or drone and be able to use a different
race.  Very cool, but unless its a money map, you probably
wont use it.

Reavers - ***

  Great to drop on, but they are rather expensive.  They seem
to get in the way whenever I play, so I can¹t say too much
about them.  Good unit to experiment on.  Putting them somewhat
in front of your cannons (if you use cannons for defense) can
prevent siege tanks from destroying your cannons with ease.
However, they are poor group attack units, so skip them unless
for that lovely drop on your opponents minerals.

Corsairs - ****

  Extremely cheap, and you can build them fast.  They are great
against killing overlords, and their web distruption, if used
right, is an awesome move.  Its hard to master the skill,
however, and corsairs are rather weak against other air-to-air
attacks.  Note, 12 corsairs against 12 carriers.  Who wins?
Corsairs do.  They are a cheap and effective way (especially
if you get caught off guard from your opponents massive teching
up) to tear apart carriers, along with battlecruisers.  Send
12 in a zerg base, and destroy every single overlord in
there.  Gotta love these guys.

Scouts - ****

  The deadliest air unit in the game.  12 of these bad boys can
take out anything.  Make sure you upgrade, and they can take
ground units with little to no trouble.  You do need to get a lot
of the upgrades, so you take off as much as possible.  The
faster scout movement is a must, as well as at least upgrade 2
on attack.  The best air-to-air support in the game.  They
are more expensive then corsairs however, so if you need
air-to-air support fast, these arent for you.

Carriers - **

  Take extremely long, and cost too much.  This is basically
your only attack in a long comp game, but against human
opponents.... don¹t bother.  They suck, and you won¹t win any
games.  Ok, after the blatant bashing, carriers do have
some purpose.  If you are fast enough, you can destroy your
opponent if he is doing the exact same thing as you.  Of
course, only newbies use mass carriers in human vs human
games, but theres times when you can do this.

Arbitors - ****

  They cloak all of your units around to you.  very nice!  They
also have the ability to recall around 10-12 units across the
map, and can freeze units for a long period of time.  Probably
the best supporting unit in the game, along with medics.
These guys take forever however, and unless you are in a
tech-up game, I suggest you skip these guys.

Observer - *****

  The only way you can detect units without cannons!  A must
to have!  Great to scout around, and see what your opponent
is doing.  If you dont have one of these, just forfeit the
game now, you are dead.

===================
=Zerg Unit Reviews=
===================
Zergling - ***

  2 for 50 minerals.  Great for rushes, cheap, and fast.  They
become little use once you start get hydras and mutas, so if
you plan on using them rush.  48 zerglings aren¹t much of a
match for 7 or 8 cannons, or bunkers.  FEAR FIREBATS.  They
are the death of zerglings, and a smart terran player will
be counter-attacking as soon as he eats up every single
zergling you had rushed.

Hydralisk/Lurker - *****

  Great for rushes.  12 of these are nice, 24 are even better.
They work better and better with the more they have.  Probably
the most common unit a zerg player uses.  Fast, and with long
distance, most units don¹t stand a chance.  Once you get a lair,
you can upgrade the mutation for lurkers, which burrow underground.
These are great to put for defense, and are extremely powerful.
Awesome drop units.

Ultralisk - ****

  Don¹t take too much off, but have an extreme amount of life.
I can¹t say much on these, since I don¹t use them.  Personally,
I don¹t think they are very good.  They do hold a hell of a lot
of HP though, so they are a pretty good decoy if you wanted to
get lurkers somewhere past defenses.

Defilers - ???

  Never used them before.  Heh, they have some spells, but
nothing spectacular.  Experiment with it, and see if its
worth to build them.  Thats the best suggestion I can give
you, because I¹ve never used them, ever, except in a
used map settings.

Heres what Lawrence(Law 883) says about defilers:
I personally like them. their pretty cheep and they're
GGRREEAAAAT. First, their plaque does hell alot of damage. they
can cripple an entire fleet of carriers and BC's. Basically, if
its on the units long enough, it brings it down to zer0. Then all u
have to do it hit it once and GOODBYE. the second ability is also super.
The dark swarm is so good against air. Put them under it and they are
invisible to the confused air units above. I can almost never win a game
without them except on rushes

Mutalisk - **

  Normal air unit.  They don¹t hurt much, and cost a lot.  Use
something else, unless you get a lot of these fast, but hydras
just eat these alive.  I suggest you go for guardians and
devourers.

Guardians - ****

  Huge distance attack, can outrange cannons and turrets.  They
are quite similar to marines, where they are nothing without
support, primarily devourers and scourges.  Once you get the
support, few players can defend it.  When attacking, always
get the ground-to-air support first.  Turrets/Cannons/Spores
should go first

Devourers - ***

  They almost have no point but to support guardians.  Their
attack shoots spores into its enemies, and once theres 8,
the enemy unit keeps on losing health.  Anyway, don¹t bother
with these unless you are going to have guardians.

Scourges - ***

  Another support unit.  Suicide units, that take off 100 health.
On paper they are good, but whenever you select something for
them to attack, the hesitate a lot and are usually killed before
they reach their target.  I prefer devourers over these.  Something
else to note is the fact is large air forces usually have support
to take out scourges.  People always figure a zerg player will play
these, and its rather predictable.

Overlords - *****
  Its a unit.  Gives you supply, transportation, and detection.
The most valuable unit for zerg.  Protect these, as other
players will hunt them down.  The single greatest unit for
the zerg.  Duh. ;)

Queens - ??

  Heres what Frank Firmat had to say on Queens :

On your unit rankings I noticed a few things missing from the zerg
forces.  Queens and infected terrans.  Yeah, they are both considered by
many zerg players to be worthless units and as far as infected terrans
go, they are right.  But queens are different.  They are very useful
especially on island maps.  Parasite just rocks, and ensnare, if your
recon is doing good, can save your life.  Spawn broodling is just useful
for pissing people off.  (like a game a few nights ago, I had a 12 pack
of queens and came in the back door of a protoss base and laid down 12
broodlings on his peon line and defending dragoons.  The guy was a
newbie, and my partner was backing me up with wraiths, but,.. Oh ya my
point: Queens are overlooked.  I think this is because most people play
zerg at a pretty basic level: mass a ton of hydras, cracklings, or
mutas, and Charge!  (and that's why I believe zerg is the easiest race
to play, because you can completely ignore the spell casters of the race
and still be a force to be reckoned with)

Infected Terrans - *

No one uses them, and they die too easily.  12 of them might not
even make your target.  Not even one.


=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=

X.    Thanks and Disclaimer

Credits
  Blizzard  - For making a wonderful game. Straight up. You
    guys are gods in my book.
  CJAYC  - For hosting this FAQ
  Starcraft.org - I based some of my strategies on the ones they posted.
    I edited them after I used them on the field (or in this case, in battle).
  Battle.net - For some strategies.
  Josh Harring - For his elaberate strategy for carrier rushes.
  Frank Firmat - For his queen review (I guess you can call it that) and
    convincing me that templars are better then I thought.
  Bob Stanley  - Ultra strategy
  BIGMIC2000@aol.com - Terran Strategy
  Lawrence  - Defiler information

This GUIDE is (c) 2000-2003 cnick.  This guide may be not be reproduced at all
except for personal, private use. This guide is not to be used for
profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of
magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in
ANY
way.  Unless noted on this guide, this document should not be found on any
web site other than gamefaqs.com. Any characters, names, places, or
miscellaneous objects are copyright their respective companies.

Brood War Multiplayer Strategy Guide (c) 2000 cnick
-End of FAQ-