StarCraft/Protoss strategies: Difference between revisions
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{{ | {{Cleanup|date=September 2007}} | ||
{{ | {{Header Nav|game=StarCraft}} | ||
===Starting tactics=== | |||
The first thing to do at the start of the game is to build three pylons at the front of your base, then build three gateways in front of the plyons. As the gateways are building get some more probes to start to get gas and more minerals, Also build three forges for the upgrade of the Zealots you build. After the gateways are built you start to build around about 15-20 Zealots for defenses. '''DON'T BUILD PHOTON CANNONS!'''. Photon cannons are not good for defense at the start of the game they cost 50 more minerals than Zealots and Zealots are stronger and they move. After you build 15-20 Zealots you now have good defenses and starting position, the rest of the game is up to you. | |||
==Hallucinating units== | ==Hallucinating units== | ||
Hallucination (hotkey L) creates two duplicates of the target unit which do no damage. | Hallucination (hotkey L) creates two duplicates of the target unit which do no damage. | ||
Operational details & properties: | Operational details & properties: | ||
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** Some enemy spells, such as Ensnare, can vaporize multiple hallucinations in one cast. | ** Some enemy spells, such as Ensnare, can vaporize multiple hallucinations in one cast. | ||
* Hallucinations lose HP/Shields twice as fast as normal units and have neither weaponry nor armor. | * Hallucinations lose HP/Shields twice as fast as normal units and have neither weaponry nor armor. | ||
* Hallucination forces an enemy to divert focused fire either upon fake units or spreading out the firepower. | * Hallucination forces an enemy to divert focused fire either upon fake units or spreading out the firepower. | ||
* Fresh duplicates can be created from other hallucinations. | * Fresh duplicates can be created from other hallucinations. | ||
* Hallucinations do not produce | * Hallucinations do not produce any damage and do not cast spells, which make hallucinated Reavers, Carriers, and spellcasters very poor and easily identifiable imitations. | ||
* New ones appear out of nowhere, and players may be able to keep track of them. | * New ones appear out of nowhere, and players may be able to keep track of them. | ||
Hallucinations serve two purposes: To deceive enemy players and to deceive the AI: | Hallucinations serve two purposes: To deceive enemy players and to deceive the AI: | ||
* Enemies may waste costly spells on Hallucinations. | * Enemies may waste costly spells on Hallucinations. | ||
* Hallucinations appear to attack and thus attract enemy units. | * Hallucinations appear to attack and thus attract enemy units. | ||
* Hallucinations also serve as decoys, drawing the enemy's attention either to a distant place on the map or forcing the enemy to make poor decisions. | * Hallucinations also serve as decoys, drawing the enemy's attention either to a distant place on the map or forcing the enemy to make poor decisions. | ||
* The superior numbers that this skill may grant can intimidate an opponent. | * The superior numbers that this skill may grant can intimidate an opponent. | ||
* Hallucinations also serve well as scouts and cannon fodder, in which case their effects may be doubled by separating the two dittoes. | * Hallucinations also serve well as scouts and cannon fodder, in which case their effects may be doubled by separating the two dittoes. | ||
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* Hallucinated Arbiters can be defeated with a well-placed Stasis Field. | * Hallucinated Arbiters can be defeated with a well-placed Stasis Field. | ||
* Beware accidentally using this spell on an Interceptor instead of the Carrier. | * Beware accidentally using this spell on an Interceptor instead of the Carrier. | ||
==Rushing== | |||
=== Zealot Rush === | |||
The zealot rush is one of the earliest attacks performed by the Protoss. It is also performed by the computer in skirmish matches, either by sending three zealots, or by constructing the full army of 12. | |||
===DTR=== | |||
The Dark Templar rush is a mid-to-late game tactic involving an army of dark templars. While they can inflict damage, they are vulnerable if your opponent has any form of detection units or aircraft. As such, they will need to be paired with anti-aircraft (such as corsairs). This only applies to the [[StarCraft: Brood War|Brood War]] expansion, where the unit is introduced, and requires constructing the Citadel of Adun, followed by the Templar Archives. | |||
When used alone, they are good for taking out distracted players, since economic units are killed in one hit by Dark Templars and do not announce that the forces are under attack. However, detector units that can uncloak Dark Templars will cause them to be less effective than a Zealot rush. | |||
==Reaver dropping== | ==Reaver dropping== | ||
This requires a substantial investment in tech, up to the Robotics Facility and Robotics Support Bay, which can't realistically be done without dividing one's focus on more standard base defense; but once prepared, if the enemy has not developed comprehensive defenses, can still wreak havoc, even with a small-scale expedition. At least one shuttle and typically one or two reavers are produced; as soon as the reavers are ready, scarab production is begun, the reavers are set on a control group and loaded into the shuttle(s). A safe route has preferably been scouted out, along which the shuttles are flown, away from the attention of any enemy forces, around to the back of an enemy base; the reavers are then dropped on the enemy base, typically beginning near the production pile, behind the minerals or even between the minerals and base, directly among the resource gatherers. Additional scarab production is begun as soon as the reavers are out. The reavers fire their scarabs at the resource gatherers, which are typically tightly congregated and particularly vulnerable to the scarabs' splash damage. A dramatic number of the resource gatherers can be wiped out in a surprisingly short time in this manner, crippling the enemy's economy. The inexperienced often have their defensive forces heavily concentrated in a forward position in anticipation of a land attack, although this becomes less typical as the game advances. The enemy then tries to summon the defending combat units back from the forward position to the production pile area. Even then, however, it is often surprisingly effective to load the reavers back onto their shuttles (giving the command to the reaver control group, rather than the shuttle, for a speedier upload), fly the shuttle to the opposite rear corner of the base, and unload them again; any ground units that have been gathered toward the reavers' original location have to traverse the typically very densely packed central base to approach the reavers again. Because of the reaver's significant investment, it is also often worthwhile to pack up the reavers and fly them off in retreat if they sustain significant damage, rather than let them fight to the death, then use them again a bit later when their shields have restored. | This requires a substantial investment in tech, up to the Robotics Facility and Robotics Support Bay, which can't realistically be done without dividing one's focus on more standard base defense; but once prepared, if the enemy has not developed comprehensive defenses, can still wreak havoc, even with a small-scale expedition. | ||
At least one shuttle and typically one or two reavers are produced; as soon as the reavers are ready, scarab production is begun, the reavers are set on a control group and loaded into the shuttle(s). A safe route has preferably been scouted out, along which the shuttles are flown, away from the attention of any enemy forces, around to the back of an enemy base; the reavers are then dropped on the enemy base, typically beginning near the production pile, behind the minerals or even between the minerals and base, directly among the resource gatherers. Additional scarab production is begun as soon as the reavers are out. The reavers fire their scarabs at the resource gatherers, which are typically tightly congregated and particularly vulnerable to the scarabs' splash damage. A dramatic number of the resource gatherers can be wiped out in a surprisingly short time in this manner, crippling the enemy's economy. | |||
It is very important that the command to load into the shuttle be issued to the Reaver and NOT the shuttle. Given the "Gravitic Drive" (Increased Speed) upgrade, the Shuttle becomes the fastest transport in the game. However, the speed boost the Shuttle gains builds up. For a few seconds after moving, the shuttle will not move at a very high speed, but will eventually build up to a very good speed. By having the reaver load itself into the shuttle, and not vice-versa, you can pick it up without stopping your shuttle, allowing it to retain its movement speed chances and reducing the chance that your opponents will catch your shuttle, costing you 400 minerals and 200 gas. | |||
The inexperienced often have their defensive forces heavily concentrated in a forward position in anticipation of a land attack, although this becomes less typical as the game advances. The enemy then tries to summon the defending combat units back from the forward position to the production pile area. Even then, however, it is often surprisingly effective to load the reavers back onto their shuttles (giving the command to the reaver control group, rather than the shuttle, for a speedier upload), fly the shuttle to the opposite rear corner of the base, and unload them again; any ground units that have been gathered toward the reavers' original location have to traverse the typically very densely packed central base to approach the reavers again. Because of the reaver's significant investment, it is also often worthwhile to pack up the reavers and fly them off in retreat if they sustain significant damage, rather than let them fight to the death, then use them again a bit later when their shields have restored. | |||
===Reaver Drop=== | ===Reaver Drop=== | ||
A reaver drop can be effectively defended against by providing defensive capabilities surrounding all sides of a base, and maintained in close proximity to the production pile itself, so an airborne attack force will not be clear of the defenses upon penetrating to the core of the base. Photon cannons or sunken colonies placed in immediate proximity to the mineral pile is often an effective defense. | |||
A reaver drop can be paired with complementary units, at the expense of additional time and production prior to deploying the reaver drop expedition. Zealots, dragoons, and dark templars are all useful in helping defend the reaver while it provides the brunt of offense, particularly by keeping them close to the reavers. | |||
Keeping the reavers well-positioned is also very important; they can be fairly idiotic if left to move around on their own; often it works well to keep them stopped in a particular spot and just let the scarabs fly. | |||
An observer is often an indispensable companion for the reavers. | |||
High templars can be very effective when dropped together with reavers, although this operation requires an intense level of rapid micromanagement. Corsairs are a favorite pairing with a reaverdrop; not only can they help keep the skies clear above the reavers, and defend the shuttles in flight, but their disruption webs and the reavers' scarabs are a perfect complement for a devastating attack. This is particularly true when facing siege tanks, one of the reaver's deadliest foes, but which suffers horribly under the influence of both a disruption web and an angry reaver. | |||
The reaver drop was popularized in tournament games in 1998 by the player known on Battle.net as Zileas, then an underclassman at MIT, whose quickness with coordinating the reavers and shuttles were described as "like a shuttle that fires scarabs". This technique effectively prevented many ground-attack units from engaging the reaver, since it could drop, shoot and load back into the shuttle before they could counter-attack. The developers of Starcraft, in a later patch, responded to this by introducing a short delay to prevent the reaver from opening fire as soon as it hit the ground. | |||
===Harassment and Distraction=== | |||
After an attack, once your reaver (or shuttle) begins to sustain significant damage, the best option is usually to retreat to a shield battery, have it restore both the reaver and shuttle's shields, and return to a different base and continue reaver-dropping. Hotkeying some of your unit-producing building can allow you to continue building up your main force while they're stuck trying to defend against the harassment -- In other words, you can mass an attack force in the seconds between reaver drops. That way, you can build an army while keeping them distracted. | |||
This can also be done in reverse -- Instead of distracting with a reaver and massing an army, you can distract their forces with a few dragoons and then drop in reavers for the kill. This provides you with a better window in which to attack the enemy's key buildings and workers -- In PvP, a couple of reavers can take down pylons in a few seconds. | |||
A great strategy when in PvT with the reaver drop is to pair a couple of dark templar's with the reaver, and drop them in front of a couple of bunkers -- unless the enemy has ghosts already in the bunker, it will outrange the marines in the bunkers and flush them out. Then you can snatch the reaver away with a shuttle, and the dark templars will take care of them, and force the enemy to rebuild their defenses. Unfortunately, this only works if you have reavers and dt's before they have ghosts -- which can be difficult. | |||
===Reaver Recall=== | ===Reaver Recall=== | ||
A variant of the Reaver Drop is the Reaver Recall, in which an Arbiter's recall ability is used to immediately transport Reavers (and possibly other units) into the enemy's base much like Shuttles. This saves the trouble of building, loading, micromanaging, defending, and unloading Shuttles, but at the same time, drastically reduces the attacker's ability to retreat. This can be solved by using dual Arbiters. One Arbiter is used to recall Reavers to the enemy base and after they have unloaded their scarabs, an Arbiter back at the base is then used to safely recall this assault group back to the base. The Arbiter also provides cloaking to the Reavers. Of course, this strategy is both slow and expensive compared to the regular reaver drop. The best defense against this is to stop the Arbiter in the first place, but Zerg Lurkers with Overlords or Spore Colonies to detect the Reavers best exploit the tactic's poor withdrawal capability. Terran can accomplish something similar with Siege Tanks in siege mode and Missile Turrets or Science Vessels to provide detection. | A variant of the Reaver Drop is the Reaver Recall, in which an Arbiter's recall ability is used to immediately transport Reavers (and possibly other units) into the enemy's base much like Shuttles. This saves the trouble of building, loading, micromanaging, defending, and unloading Shuttles, but at the same time, drastically reduces the attacker's ability to retreat. This can be solved by using dual Arbiters. One Arbiter is used to recall Reavers to the enemy base and after they have unloaded their scarabs, an Arbiter back at the base is then used to safely recall this assault group back to the base. The Arbiter also provides cloaking to the Reavers. Of course, this strategy is both slow and expensive compared to the regular reaver drop. The best defense against this is to stop the Arbiter in the first place, but Zerg Lurkers with Overlords or Spore Colonies to detect the Reavers best exploit the tactic's poor withdrawal capability. Terran can accomplish something similar with Siege Tanks in siege mode and Missile Turrets or Science Vessels to provide detection. | ||
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<sup>1</sup>If you are brave, you can make the 2nd pylon in the enemy choke so you can build a battery to reinforce the rush. If the battery finishes warping and there are zeals left to heal (not always the case), it should spell the end for zerg. | <sup>1</sup>If you are brave, you can make the 2nd pylon in the enemy choke so you can build a battery to reinforce the rush. If the battery finishes warping and there are zeals left to heal (not always the case), it should spell the end for zerg. | ||
²If you want, you can rally the nexus to the choke as well so other probes can get in on the action in case the original pair died. You have enough economy mining to execute this rush, however, once zerg solidifies his position, these probes should be sent back to mine. | |||
---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss 10/12 Gate Zeal Build==== | ====Protoss 10/12 Gate Zeal Build==== | ||
'''Matchups: Pvz, Pvp, Multiplayer''' | '''Matchups: Pvz, Pvp, Multiplayer''' | ||
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---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss 10/12 Gate-Assim Build==== | ====Protoss 10/12 Gate-Assim Build==== | ||
'''Matchups: Pvp, Pvz, Multiplayer''' | '''Matchups: Pvp, Pvz, Multiplayer''' | ||
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---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss Proxy-Gate Zeal Rush==== | ====Protoss Proxy-Gate Zeal Rush==== | ||
'''Matchups: Pvz''' | '''Matchups: Pvz''' | ||
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* 17/25 – 2 Zealots | * 17/25 – 2 Zealots | ||
If zerg went fast expo, that expo is as good as dead since this build is basically 9/10 gate on steroids. Make sure that you take some | If zerg went fast expo, that expo is as good as dead since this build is basically 9/10 gate on steroids. Make sure that you take some probes with the scout and zealot and harass plenty. If zerg went 9-pool, then this build dies. If things get hairy hold position at his ramp until reinforcements arrive. This is an all-out rush, and if it fails the game is just about lost for you. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss Tech Build 1==== | ====Protoss Tech Build 1==== | ||
'''Matchups: Pvp, Pvt, Pvz (no fast pool), Long distance between mains.''' | '''Matchups: Pvp, Pvt, Pvz (no fast pool), Long distance between mains.''' | ||
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---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss Tech Build 2==== | ====Protoss Tech Build 2==== | ||
'''Matchups: Air, Hybrid, Pvp, Pvt''' | '''Matchups: Air, Hybrid, Pvp, Pvt''' | ||
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From here you can add a gate and start massing goons (for ground maps), or you can continue up the robo or stargate trees on air/hybrid games. On non-ground, robo is preferred and is good for random. Stargate is exclusive for zerg. | From here you can add a gate and start massing goons (for ground maps), or you can continue up the robo or stargate trees on air/hybrid games. On non-ground, robo is preferred and is good for random. Stargate is exclusive for zerg. | ||
<sup>1</sup>Against zerg a second zealot is better. If you are going to do a furnace (pvt strategy for fast | <sup>1</sup>Against zerg a second zealot is better. If you are going to do a furnace (pvt strategy for fast back door drops) start a robo right away. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss Tech Build 3==== | ====Protoss Tech Build 3==== | ||
'''Matchups: Air, Hybrid''' | '''Matchups: Air, Hybrid''' | ||
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---- | ---- | ||
====Protoss Fast Expo Build==== | ====Protoss Fast Expo Build==== | ||
'''Matchups: Pvp, Pvt, Pvz (no fast pool), FFA, Average/long distance between mains''' | '''Matchups: Pvp, Pvt, Pvz (no fast pool), FFA, Average/long distance between mains''' | ||
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Pvp: | Pvp: | ||
* 13/17 – Gateway, | * 13/17 – Gateway, Gateway² | ||
* 14/17 – Pylon | * 14/17 – Pylon | ||
* 15/17 – Zealot, Assimilator (if not built already) | * 15/17 – Zealot, Assimilator (if not built already) | ||
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Watch out once again for fast robo and either reaver drop or a turbonewbie if there is a cliff over your natural. You should have fast archive covered nicely since you have the pylon to make cannons down there. Make sure you get warp pylons earlier than in other builds since you will have two nexuses pumping probes. | Watch out once again for fast robo and either reaver drop or a turbonewbie if there is a cliff over your natural. You should have fast archive covered nicely since you have the pylon to make cannons down there. Make sure you get warp pylons earlier than in other builds since you will have two nexuses pumping probes. | ||
²If the enemy toss went straight for goons, then make that second gateway an assimilator and rush up to goons as well. If he went zeal rush, then throw up a battery as soon as the first gateway finish next to your choke pylon, and gather some probes ready to defend with the zealot. | |||
Pvz: | Pvz: | ||
* 13/17 – Forge | * 13/17 – Forge | ||
* 14/17 – Cannon, | * 14/17 – Cannon, Gateway³ | ||
* 15/17 – Assimilator<sup>4</sup>, Pylon [b](in main) | * 15/17 – Assimilator<sup>4</sup>, Pylon [b](in main) | ||
* 16/25 – Zealot | * 16/25 – Zealot | ||
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You will need the stargate for the muta. Two stargates may be needed even. You will have the gas to get +1 air if you want. You will also ave the gas to go double robo or fast to archive, slapping down another 3 gates before the archives finishes. Make sure you get legs before starting the archive. You can do anything you want really (zeal-sair-reav or zeal-temp or dragoon-reav) just scout well to make cannons as necessary. Make sure you get warp pylons earlier than in other builds since you will have two nexuses pumping probes. | You will need the stargate for the muta. Two stargates may be needed even. You will have the gas to get +1 air if you want. You will also ave the gas to go double robo or fast to archive, slapping down another 3 gates before the archives finishes. Make sure you get legs before starting the archive. You can do anything you want really (zeal-sair-reav or zeal-temp or dragoon-reav) just scout well to make cannons as necessary. Make sure you get warp pylons earlier than in other builds since you will have two nexuses pumping probes. | ||
³Make a 2nd cannon if you scouted a mass ling attempt, you will need it. Make sure to space out both cannons and place them behind buildings so the lings do not have easy access to them. Hold your ramp so the lings do not try to sneak by and run into the main. | |||
<sup>4</sup>Gateway goes here followed by assimilator and pylon if you made a 2nd cannon. | <sup>4</sup>Gateway goes here followed by assimilator and pylon if you made a 2nd cannon. | ||
==Defense== | ==Defense== | ||
===Observers=== | |||
The Observer is a great early warning unit when playing on levels like Wheel of War when you can spy on the enemies advancing army and, due to the Observers detection ability, you can also tell if there are cloaked units. The ability to detect is also useful when attacking burrowed Zerg units such as Lurkers, this will surprise and confuse the enemy as well as prevent an ambush from behind. | |||
===Photon Cannons=== | ===Photon Cannons=== | ||
A common mistake among amateurs is to rely too heavily on Photon Cannons, placing too many of them close together in "cannon farms" or concentrating them in bottlenecks of anticipated attacks. The opponent can easily counter this by investing in air forces that can bypass the cannon farms, or by developing an antidote to the cannons such as Guardians. Either way, the heavy investment in stationary artillery is neutralized, and the enemy's superior investment in mobile units is likely to pay off. Also, as enemy units receive upgrades, the effectiveness of cannons degrade over time. Cannons should either be in tight clusters so that they can defend each other, or scattered to maximize their ability to detect cloaked units. Another common mistake is to power a group of many Photon Cannons with only one Pylon, which allows the enemy to simply destroy the Pylon powering the Photon Cannons before they have time to cause substantial damage to the attacking force. Even a simple cluster of a few Pylons or a number of overlapping Pylon fields is enough to solve this problem. Experienced players often use pylons or other buildings to prevent melee units from properly attacking their Photon Cannons. | A common mistake among amateurs is to rely too heavily on Photon Cannons, placing too many of them close together in "cannon farms" or concentrating them in bottlenecks of anticipated attacks. The opponent can easily counter this by investing in air forces that can bypass the cannon farms, or by developing an antidote to the cannons such as Guardians. Either way, the heavy investment in stationary artillery is neutralized, and the enemy's superior investment in mobile units is likely to pay off. Also, as enemy units receive upgrades, the effectiveness of cannons degrade over time. Cannons should either be in tight clusters so that they can defend each other, or scattered to maximize their ability to detect cloaked units. Another common mistake is to power a group of many Photon Cannons with only one Pylon, which allows the enemy to simply destroy the Pylon powering the Photon Cannons before they have time to cause substantial damage to the attacking force. Even a simple cluster of a few Pylons or a number of overlapping Pylon fields is enough to solve this problem. Experienced players often use pylons or other buildings to prevent melee units from properly attacking their Photon Cannons. Some players think it is effective to "bottle cap" the enemy base on fastest maps with Photon Cannons. The downfall is that in order to be effective you need to pull together all your minerals to supply this "bottle cap" defense. Also to attack you either are super rich and can supply cannon bottling and units, then you can save your troops and attack when the time is right. Otherwise, it is good to tell your allies in allied games you are going to pump up some Photon Cannon walls when you spot the enemy. The goal is to be quick and efficient. If the enemy spots you when the cannons are still producing, your done. When your done, it's good to have a good 2 allies at least swoop in for the kill. On other maps, however, a smart cannon farmer would create cannons on all levels of ground. That means cannons on ground, hills and trenches. That way, when things like Siege Tanks, Guardians or Reavers can focus on one cannon while the others on different ground levels go for the kill. | ||
===High Templar=== | ===High Templar=== | ||
Keeping several High Templar near the base often proves to be an invaluable component of defense, particularly in combination with Photon Cannons and Dragoons. Having High Templar that can get just within range of a bottleneck the enemy is trying to pass through, in a tightly packed crowd, can have brutal effects on attackers. Keeping a few High Templar wandering around the core and back areas of the base can provide effective aerial defense. If an invasion continues when the High Templar have expended all of their energy, it is often worthwhile to merge them into Archons. By waiting for the Templar to regenerate enough energy for further Psionic Storms while an enemy is actively advancing, a player risks losing them and wasting their potential. | Keeping several High Templar near the base often proves to be an invaluable component of defense, particularly in combination with Photon Cannons and Dragoons. Having High Templar that can get just within range of a bottleneck the enemy is trying to pass through, in a tightly packed crowd, can have brutal effects on attackers. Keeping a few High Templar wandering around the core and back areas of the base can provide effective aerial defense. If an invasion continues when the High Templar have expended all of their energy, it is often worthwhile to merge them into Archons. By waiting for the Templar to regenerate enough energy for further Psionic Storms while an enemy is actively advancing, a player risks losing them and wasting their potential. | ||
===Reavers=== | ===Reavers=== | ||
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===Carriers=== | ===Carriers=== | ||
Carriers are expensive units with both extreme strengths and weaknesses. Though their firepower is not overly impressive compared to their cost, they are able to fight efficiently in large packs. Seeing as most good counters to Carrier armadas are ground based, their aerial mobility makes them excellent for hit-and-run tactics. They also are invaluable in controlling isles - parts of the map separated by water or other terrain limited to air units - because it is difficult to muster large ground forces to defend such areas. Tightly packed Carriers are extremely | Carriers are expensive units with both extreme strengths and weaknesses. Though their firepower is not overly impressive compared to their cost, they are able to fight efficiently in large packs. Seeing as most good counters to Carrier armadas are ground based, their aerial mobility makes them excellent for hit-and-run tactics. They also are invaluable in controlling isles - parts of the map separated by water or other terrain limited to air units - because it is difficult to muster large ground forces to defend such areas. | ||
Tightly packed Carriers are extremely susceptible to the Zerg Defiler's Plague spell, which leaves them with nearly no hitpoints. Carriers are also vulnerable against ghosts due to being locked down and rendered useless, and to a lesser degree with an Arbiter's Stasis field. Another big weakness is the battle cruiser, being almost completely opposite to the carrier makes it a very effective, and dangerous opponent. | |||
====Carrier Sneak==== | |||
The carrier sneak involves building arbiters and carriers to work in sync to get past bottleneck defenses without detection. To effectively use this attack you '''MUST''' have good information before building, if the enemy is zerg then don't use this method of attack or else you will lose the element of surprise, due to their overlords, and your carriers will be subject to attack before necessary, also if the enemy area that you are attacking has a large number of detectors inside its base this won't work properly. First build carriers and put them in groups putting one arbiter in each group (4 carriers per group works best), then give each group a number or letter (to do this select all the units in the group, then hold shift and press the letter or number you want that group to be). Tip: to confuse the enemy add hallucinated arbiters to the attack. Remember that arbiters move faster than carriers and aren't invisible. For added protection when playing against another protoss, drop two or more reavers behind enemy lines and take out the defense pylons leaving room for a land and air attack. | |||
==Teching== | ==Teching== | ||
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The templar tree has two uses- templar and speedlots. However, if this is early game, you can only choose one. (The leg enhancement upgrade is 150 gas and the archives is 200) The templar would be used to counter zerglings (dts, archons, and storm), hydralisks (storm), or mutalisk (storm or archons) for zerg. Evidently, storm is a must have against zerg. Against terran, this tree would be used to rush templar if they have no detection, but aside for anti- m&m, no other use. For protoss, there is not much use, unless going for a templar drop. | The templar tree has two uses- templar and speedlots. However, if this is early game, you can only choose one. (The leg enhancement upgrade is 150 gas and the archives is 200) The templar would be used to counter zerglings (dts, archons, and storm), hydralisks (storm), or mutalisk (storm or archons) for zerg. Evidently, storm is a must have against zerg. Against terran, this tree would be used to rush templar if they have no detection, but aside for anti- m&m, no other use. For protoss, there is not much use, unless going for a templar drop. | ||
The robotics tree has three units for three uses, shuttle, observer, and reaver. Shuttles are used for drops, such as the reaver drop. Reavers are used in drops, or for bypassing defenses. Observes are for cloak detection and spying. VS zerg, shuttles are used for drops, but reavers are | The robotics tree has three units for three uses, shuttle, observer, and reaver. Shuttles are used for drops, such as the reaver drop. Reavers are used in drops, or for bypassing defenses. Observes are for cloak detection and spying. VS zerg, shuttles are used for drops, but reavers are excellent sunken colony killers with the damage upgrade. They kill hydralisk in one scarab, and kill even masses of zerglings. Vs Terran, shuttles are used to counter tanks. Zealot bombs and reaver bombs are used to great effectiveness against tanks. Observers can make wraiths almost useless, and they can spot ghosts trying to spot for nukes. Vs protoss, reavers can be very effective in terms of stopping charges and blowing through shields and photon cannons. In general, use this tree for taking an island expo.e.g the shuttle. | ||
The stargate tree is for air units, like corsairs and carriers. The stargate tree is, obviously, for getting combat air units. Against zerg, unless going overlord hunting, there really isn't much use. Against terran, however, it is important. Both the initial craft, scout and corsair, can be very effective against siege tank drops. Corsairs cast disruption web, while the scout destroys the tanks. Keep in mind that a smart tank commander would build missile turrets or bring marines/goliaths, so use the web and dragoons. | The stargate tree is for air units, like corsairs and carriers. The stargate tree is, obviously, for getting combat air units. Against zerg, unless going overlord hunting, there really isn't much use. Against terran, however, it is important. Both the initial craft, scout and corsair, can be very effective against siege tank drops. Corsairs cast disruption web, while the scout destroys the tanks. Keep in mind that a smart tank commander would build missile turrets or bring marines/goliaths, so use the web and dragoons. | ||
