How to become mediocre at StarCraft II really fast – Part I

This is Part I.
You can find Part II here.

With the impending release of StarCraft II on July 27th and the mass of Beta keys going out these days, it occurs to me that StarCraft is a fairly deep game with a steep learning curve. It’s tricky in that it has a lot of nuances that are not intuitive to people who have never played a strategy game before. And it would sadden me if knowledge was the only barrier keeping people from playing a great game, so I am here to write a guide to get people from a beginner who has never touched StarCraft or WarCraft to winning some games fairly quickly. This is not a guide that will get you to the Platinum leagues. But after following this guide, you should at least be able to make your way through to Silver, and then maybe I’ll make another guide to get better at the game.

Now, being good at StarCraft takes some work. Luckily, being mediocre doesn’t take too much work. In this first part, I will cover the basics of the game and how you should go about learning the game on your own. It is always good to have a practice partner to do some low pressure custom games or to try things out. Remember, StarCraft is a strategy game and you should feel free to experiment.

Please note that when I mention specific buildings or units, I will always follow the convention Terran/Zerg/Protoss.

The Basics

Your first 3-6 (custom) games:

• Get a sense of how long it takes to get to different units (air units in particular)
• Get to know what buildings are required to build what units (for example, a Lair is required to build a Spire, and a Spire is required to build Mutalisks)
• Know the characteristics of the units (for example, Roaches are armoured and Overseers can see stealth units)
• Know which units get a bonus to damage on units with specific traits (for example, Marauders do extra damage to armoured units)
• Get a handle on basic mechanics: hotkeys; make control groups; use waypoints; try shift-queuing; try Ctrl+clicking

For the first six to twelve games, try out all three races in a custom game against the computer on very easy or a friend so that you can experience what the different buildings and units do and what challenges they face. Also study the tech tree carefully to get a sense of how long it takes to get to air units, as not being prepared for air units results in a quick loss. Know which units do extra damage to specific types. These will guide your decision on what units to make, but don’t worry too much about that for now. Just try to store it in a memory bank somewhere (at least for the first few types of units you can make), but don’t get stressed if you have a poor memory like me.

While you’re doing these practice games against the computer or a friend, it’s time to practice some hotkey basics. People who know me will know that I am a hotkey fanatic. I like to use all the hotkeys that I can fit into my brain no matter what application I’m using or game I’m playing. It happens to be very important in gaming, and people from a World of Warcraft will be familiar with the advantages and concepts. In short, using keyboard hotkeys will let you do more things in a shorter time span. So learn the hotkeys by hovering over the icon you want to click, and then force yourself to not click it. I know it’s hard because your mouse cursor is already right there, but don’t do it. Press. The. Hotkey. The first few seconds of your first games, you should do something like:

1. Select all your workers and send them to the mineral patch by right-clicking on it.
2. Click on your main building (Command Center/Hatchery/Nexus), find the hotkey to build a worker if you don’t know it, then press the hotkey to build one.
3. While your main building is still selected, right-click on a mineral patch to set the waypoint for your worker. The worker will now go mine that patch right away when it is created. All buildings have waypoints, so use them. You can set a waypoint to a unit, but if the unit dies or you lose sight of it, the waypoint will be left at its last known location.
4. While still having your main building selected, press Ctrl+4 (or some other number) so that now you can access your main building just by pressing 4 (or that other number). You should see a little tab appear with the picture of the building and a 4 beside it to indicate you’ve done this correctly. You can also try to click somewhere else and then press 4 to see if it selects your Nexus. This process is called making a Control Group (in this case you’ve made control group 4). If you ever need to center your screen on any control group, press that key twice in quick succession. Try moving your screen far away and then pressing 4 twice.
5. When you have 50 minerals, press 4 and then your worker hotkey to build a worker.
6. When you get to 9 supply (the number on the top right of your screen), build a Supply Depot or a Pylon by holding down shift, pressing ‘b’, pressing the hotkey for the supply depot/pylon, then while still holding shift, right click the minerals. This process is known as shift-queuing and it will return your worker to the mineral line as soon as it is done building or starting the warp. Zerg can build an Overlord (and you can’t shift-queue this), but shift-queuing with Drones is not effective as they die to morph themselves into the buildings. Again, memorize all hotkeys if possible.
7. Build a Barracks/Spawning Pool/Gateway with the shift-queue technique. Set a waypoint for this building before it is completed. Set it to a control group (I use 5 for my first unit buildings).
8. Build another Barracks/Hatchery/Gateway near the first one. Now try Ctrl+clicking one of them. See how you’ve selected both? You will also be able to do this for your units. You can now set waypoints for both buildings at once. You can also assign both to a Control Group (again, I use 5). So for example, I would Ctrl+click on the building, press Ctrl+5, and then from that time forward I can just press 5, z, z, if I wanted to make a Zealot out of each building. The game is smart enough to choose the building that is the least busy.

Getting the hang of this is important so that you don’t just outright die to rushes. Once you have these basic mechanics, there is only one other mechanic you need to know before beginning your practice matches against random strangers. There are two different ways to move your units. One is right-clicking, which sends your unit into a fanatical, ignore-everything-else mode in order to try to reach the destination. Even if it is attacked by enemy units, it will try to make its way there. The other is pressing ‘a’ for attack, and then left-clicking anywhere. In this attack-move mode, the unit will attack any enemy units or buildings in its way as it tries to get to its destination. Attack-moving is what you want most of the time except when you need to run away or if you’re trying to move all the way up a ramp.

Now, for your three practice games, there is only one strategy you need to try: make as many units as fast as possible. Build more Barracks/(Queen or Hatchery)/Gateways to try to pump as many units as you can. For the Novice maps you will have destructible rocks blocking your exit and the opponent’s entrance. Break through these by issuing an attack command as soon as you have units. Making a large army is known as “macro”. It is one skill you’ll need to practice. Remember, even when you’re in combat, you can press your building hotkey, and then a unit hotkey (’a’ for Marines) to keep building units while leaving your screen on the battle. Extra points if you remember to waypoint your units to your opponent’s base once you’re inside.

Next part, we’ll talk about the other important skill: Micro(management).