Creep is a living Zerg organism. It has a purple coloration  and feels thick and slimy. Creep is psionically-sensitive and may be influenced and controlled by psionic entities.  It is used to nourish Zerg structures and larvae.

Creep may be deposited in a number of ways. Some zerg structures, such as Hatcheries, serve as a home for creep growth. In the initial stages of infestation Hatcheries started the spread but through evolution Zerg creatures have gained the ability to spread creep as well; overlords by direct secretion, and indirectly by queens through laid creep tumors that can reproduce by themselves.

If left unchecked, creep can consume an entire planet within days.

Most zerg structures can only be created upon the creep. Terrans and Protoss cannot build structures on creep. Terran buildings may not land on the creep, however they may lift-off if constructed prior to creep spreading underneath them. The creep will expand to fill the vacated space over the course of a few seconds.

In Starcraft, creep is intended to be used as a resource, and zerg players will want to invade the map with creep. It will dissolve in 30 seconds if not supported.

Most Zerg units move 30% faster on creep. Drones are an exception along with all air units. Spine and spore crawlers, as well as hydralisks and queens, move considerably faster on creep. Creep does not “climb” or “fall” down cliffs, but does flow down ramps. If a carefully positioned overlord drops creep on the edge of a cliff, it will expand on the hill and the lower ground simultaneously. Creep can also be poured onto ramps from an Overlord, but Tumors can’t fixate to the ramps (note creep is as i said a resource that both players can use, meaning if it is ZvZ both Zergs benefit on each others creep.)

Creep only dies if the nearby generator dies and it is on the edge of a patch. Creep inside a large patch, but deprived of generators, will not die. A ring-shaped patch will not automatically expand to cover the “empty” center without the normal assistance of generators. In short, Infest the planet and thrive.

Good Luck, Have Fun

OpGKnight

In order to play the Protoss well you need to understand how their mechanics work and their advantages and disadvantages. Every race in Starcraft 2 is very unique. The units in Starcraft 2 are largely asymmetrical. There is a basic idea of tech levels, but otherwise the units found in each level are much different. The Protoss Zealot, for example, is much different from the Terran Marine or the Zerg Zergling.

The differences between the races go even deeper than that, however. Each race has its own way of building structures and units. In this guide we’re going to take a look at the basics of the Protoss and highlight some of their unique mechanics. These mechanics are very important, and they make it possible for the Protoss to execute strategies that are not available to any other race.

The Protoss race has the quickest, easiest and most efficient building mechanic in the game. Protoss buildings are not built, but are rather “warped in.” The idea is that the Protoss already have all of their structures built elsewhere, and the buildings merely need to be teleported to your location. Because of this no construction is required. In order to build a new structure, you merely need to send your Probe to the location and place the building. The warp process will begin, and the probe is free to go back to mining resources or whatever other task it was performing.This provides a small benefit to the overall efficiency of the Protoss mining operation, since workers have to be taken off the line less often. Building a base simply requires less micro-management for Protoss players.

Another real advantage of this comes in the construction of buildings which are not in your base. A common part of Protoss strategy is the construction of proxy buildings. A probe can easily move to a location, construct a Pylon and a few other buildings, and then move on. Note, however, that Protoss buildings can only be built in the radius of a Pylon. Protoss strategy must always be mindful of this. Pylons are your lifeblood – they provide supply for building units and they provide power for buildings in your radius.

If a Protoss building is within the radius of a Pylon and that Pylon is destroyed the building WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION. This is very important to remember! New players often use Protoss strategies which require a proxy base to be built near an enemy base, but they place their Pylon in a vulnerable position. You must place your Pylons behind other buildings so they are hard to get to!

One of the most important mechanics in Protoss strategy is the Warp Gate. The Warp Gate is built by converting a Gateway. It costs nothing, but you have to research the Warp Gate technology at your Cybernetics Core. Warp Gates produce units, but when you construct a unit at a Warp Gate it can be instantly teleported to anywhere within the radius of any Pylon you have. Instead of taking time to build, the construction of the unit has a “cooldown” timer – once it is refreshed, you can teleport in another unit from that Warp Gate. Overall, Warp Gates do construct units slightly quicker than standard Gateways, so there is no reason not to obtain Warp Gates as soon as possible. The importance of the Warp Gate in Protoss strategy can’t be overstated.

The Protoss is the only race which can instantly call in reinforcements to a battle. Many Protoss players use this strategy defensively, but good Protoss players also use Warp Gates offensively. Remember, you can warp units anywhere in the radius of any Pylon. If you hide a Pylon near the enemy base you can warp in units to his front door. This is a very effective way to maintain pressure on your opponent – do this often!

Protoss units are the only units in Starcraft 2 which have shields. Shields are like a unit’s health, but shields regenerate. Also, note that Protoss units cannot be repaired at all (unless you are in 2v2 and your partner is terran, he will lose gas and inerals by repairing Mechanical units, note that buildings are not mechanical) once they take damage to their actual health, which means that Protoss units which are damaged in battle remain somewhat weaker than the units of other races, which can either be healed or can be repaired.

The Chrono Boost is a special ability given to the Protoss Nexus. It requires 25 energy, and the effect of Chrono Boost is that it increases the production or research speed of a building for a short period of time. Your Nexus can hold 100 energy, so you can store a maximum of four Chrono Boosts at a time. Of course, any energy beyond 100 is wasted, so you don’t want your Nexus to be sitting around with 100 energy. Chrono Boost is an important part of Protoss strategy because it gives the Protoss player the ability to accelerate certain parts of a build order. For example, let’s say that you’re playing Protoss and you’re going for a two-gate rush strategy. If you do this, you’ll be using a lot of Chrono Boost on your Gateways in order to produce Zealots as quickly as possible. You’ll need to do this to beat Zergling rushes. On the other hand, let’s say you have decided to try and rush out Void Rays. With this strategy you’re best using your early Chrono Boosts on your Nexus to rush out more workers, and then once your Stargate is complete you can start using the Chrono Boost to rush out your first Void Ray. Many players neglect Chrono Boost in their strategies. It can hard to remember to check and make sure your Chrono Boost is constantly being used. Remembering is important, however, as it can mark the difference between a strategy that succeeds or fails.

Now the Protoss are a powerful race, but as with any race in Starcraft 2 you need to use their mechanics well. If you don’t make proper use of their benefits you will have trouble once you start getting into the Gold and Platinum leagues. On the other hand, simply remembering the mechanics and executing strategies which take advantage of them is often enough to put you into high Platinum, if not Diamond. Learn the race well and you will be rewarded. Good Luck, Have Fun

OpGKnight

Terran APM / Mechanics Guide

This guide is rather for beginners and focusses on the mechanics a Terran player must be proficient in, if he wants to keep up with the other races. Although I mainly aim for beginners, this might be interesting for more advanced players as well.

1. The problems with APM and mechanics

Terran players are a rather rare species outside of Korea. If I was to guess how many percent of all the foreign players are playing Terrans, I’d say it’s not more than 25 %. TL.net does have slighty more Terran users, but I consider TL.net a pretty skilled community anyways and I’m convinced, that in general, Terran is the least played race.

Now how come only a few people are playing Terran? I think it’s related to the mechanics and high APM required. Don’t get me wrong, the other races require skill as well, but I think they’re more challenging in a tactical way, than in a mechanical. The fact, that Terran requires quite a lot of APM is detering a lot of beginners and even intermediate players from using them.

1.1 TvZ as the modelcase

TvZ in particular, is commonly known as the most challenging matchup concerning Terran mechanics.
This, because Terrans have to play a very infantry-heavy style of play, which requires a lot of micro and troop control and further more requires a good macro, because of the rather short building time of Terran infantry. This is not all yet, since you have to multitask very well, because multiple attacks at several expos and using dropships is a absolute must to hold a competent Zerg down. Therefore, everything I write is in regards of this matchup, although it can as well be used for the other two matchups.

What I want to do is giving beginners and intermediate players a guide to help them get their mechanics straight and increase their speed, so they won’t give up the race simply because they’re overstrained.

2. How set the stage to increase your speed

How do I increase my speed? This is one of the most frequent classical questions and I think there’s a simple answer to it. I absoultely believe, that everyone is capable of reaching about 200 – 250 APM without much trying. How to achieve this is easy to say, but not quite as easy to achieve:

2.1 Awareness

I’m convinced that it’s all about awareness in the end. At any point of the game, you have to be absolutely aware of what you’re doing and what you’re supposed to do next. You have to keep those things in your mind literally every second. Also, you have to focus on improving your multitasking and execution, but don’t mistake this with spamming, it’s not the same. Don’t just play and see what comes, you have to know what you’re supposed to do! As an example, I try to list a couple of things you should be constantly keeping in your mind:

- Build Order

- Strategy and timing i.g. (i.e. defending vs Muta, pressuring, expo hunting with Dropships)

- Supply production (hitting the supply limit is going to mess your macro up severely)

- SCV production (keep the production upright until you have 2 SCVs per mineral patch)

- Troop production (for our level of play, I recommend to queue two units, if possible)

- Teching

- Unit hotkeying

This is the hard part of the game, the execution of the things you’re supposed to do is not hard to pull off at all. Don’t try to be fast for the sake of being fast. It won’t help you sh*t, if you’re capable of spamming hotkeys and mouseclicks. It’s important, that you spend your APM on completing the tasks you have to accomplish.

2.2 Hotkeys, shortkeys and F-Keys

The way to converse your awareness into the game are hotkeys, shortkeys and F-Keys. They are your instrument to get the things done quickly and comfortably. If you want to multitask effectively, there’s no way around using those keys. Your mouse should only be used to give commands and micro single units, not to select entire groups of troops.

Hotkeys:

Hotkeys help you to maneuver over the map, build troops from buildings and most important, they help you control your units. Hotkeys are a absolute must for a Terran user. If you look at replays of good players (semi-pro and pro), you’ll notice, that around 40% – 50% of their APM come from hotkeys.
To set a hotkey, simply select the building or units (remember, you can add new units to existing groups by holding SHIFT down), press CTRL + a number from 1-0 and from there on, you can select the unit by simply pressing the assigned hotkey.

3. Practice makes perfect

3.1 Awareness

There are several things that can help you keeping the important things in mind:

- Some players like to watch their supply count and build/train their stuff accordingly. I think this is
a good thing to do when you’re in the earlier stages of the game, but I don’t think it’s wise to stick
to the supply count further than 35-40 psi.

- Create some sticky notes with the most important tasks written on them and put them on the
monitor frame. This is a good idea, although you should make sure that after a while, you will be able
to keep track of your tasks without it. Don’t rely on it to heavily, your goal is to do it without the
stickies.

- Have somebody watching and reminding you, while you play (I heard some TL-users force their little brother/sister to remind them  ).

3.2 Hotkeys, Shortkeys and F-Keys

Here too, there are several possibilites to get accustomed to hotkeys. These are just examples:

- Open a text-editor, close your eyes and try to accurately press the hotkeys. This way, you can see
whether you misspressed any hotkeys.

- Open up a game vs a computer and close his slot, when the countdown starts. Then proceed to play normally and focus on hotkeys especially. If you feel that you have learnt the keys properly, you can add a computer, later maybe even two of them.

Note: It is really important that you force yourself to use hotkeys, where it’s needed. You have to shake your old habit to become faster.

Hope this helps, thank you for reading. Good Luck Have Fun, and Happy New Year!

-OpGKnightmare

Ever wonder where builds come from? Why is 14gas/14pool considered “standard” in ZvP? What makes 15hatch16pool better than, say, 13h/19p, or some other arbitrary number?

People play thousands and thousands of games of SC2 every day, and the way that builds are optimized are by trying to cut as many corners as possible, while still retaining the “key” element of the build you had in mind.

For example, in 14g/14p, you want to get 4 lings out to destroy the Protoss pylon so you can expand immediately after. You also want to start ling speed as soon as the pool finishes so you can retain map control with your lings to prevent the Protoss from laying down any pylons in proximity to your base (“proxy” pylons).

So there are two “key” elements to this build – starting ling speed as soon as the pool finishes, and getting out 4 zergling to clear any pylons built to prevent you from expanding. For the purposes of these two ideas, the build is pretty much perfect. If you did 12g/12p, you would have earlier lings, and you could start your speed as soon as your pool finished, but you would have a large delay between when your 4 lings come out and when you can expand. Hence, you could have instead waited longer to put the pool down, gathered more resources, and expanded later. If you build your gas on 17 and your pool on 17, you’ll find yourself with a large amount of resources that you’re unable to spend for quite a while.

Not every “build” is perfect, though. Builds can be tweaked in two ways – either by adjusting timings to match your “key elements” that you want your build to achieve, or by adjusting the key elements themselves. For example, with the 14g/14p build, perhaps you decide that you only want speed to counter 4gate, but you don’t feel like you need it initially because you’d rather have the extra resources to build your economy faster. You would find out via replays (or customing with a friend) that warpgate tech finishes ~6:30/7:00, then plan your build out so that you would have ling speed finished at, say, 6:15, just to be safe. So with your timings, maybe you can afford to put down your pool at 13 to clear the pylon in your natural, then expand, then take the gas afterward. So your “modified” 14g/14p would turn into something like 13p/15queen/18hatchery/17gas, or something of the sort (I’ve never actually tested these numbers before, careful!).

Experiment, make new builds, have fun. Just be “smart” about it! New builds don’t come from people randomly trying stuff, they come from people attempting to achieve very specific goals, and then modifying their builds accordingly!

Now this was compiled from an interview with Col.Firezerg as well as Destiny, hope it helps guys. Good Luck, Have Fun

So lets talk a little about the new Protoss upgrades now that the patch has been out for a while. I personally as a Terran/Zerg player am having much difficulty winning because of the nerf to other races. Let’s talk TvP for a while. So as we all know Protoss upgrades have been buffed in cost so double forge is much more viable. This also encourages twilight counsel and templar play. So if Protoss ups to go for Dark Templars, detection is a must. I think Ravens will come into effect more, earlier engineering bays or a saving scans phase will enter the scene. If they chose to go for the other option, which is High Templars, Ghosts are almost Required. With the EMP nerf to Terran, snipe is looking like the most viable option. The issue is observers being able to see as well as to detect. so far surrounded but the death-ball, temps are a constant threat (PSI STOOOOORM!!!!!!!!!) In ZvP i notice that Roach Infestor is the go-to build, at least for me. However I really wanna hear from you guys. What do you all think of the changes, Good? Bad? Needed? Lets us know do in the comments!!

In StarCraft 2, as with just about any RTS, macro is everything. Macro is essentially your ability to take in resources as fast as possible, spend those resources in the most meaningful way fast as possible, and to be expanding (to gather more resources) and upgrading (to increase your current army’s value) at appropriate times for the most value. You’ll often hear advice of “macro better” or in the negative connotation of “your macro sucks”, and while the advice/criticism might be accurate it doesn’t really help you in any way.

Many StarCraft 2 strategy guides cover the basics of macro and they’re a good place to start for any beginner. If you’ve been playing a while and at least understand the mechanics of macro play then hopefully we can help you improve from there.

Disclaimer: These are “general guidelines”. Every match is different. Use your fucking brain.

You don’t stop making workers until you have 3 bases saturated. This general tip certainly has a lot of caveats but if you stick to this rule of thumb you’ll be in better standing. A mining area is not considered saturated until you have at least 22 workers; 2 on each mineral patch, 3 on each vespene geyser. Total saturation occurs at 30 workers beyond which you get no resource gain by adding additional workers. You get diminishing returns between 22 and 30 workers.

So lets be clear here. Anytime you pause in creating workers is time you’re “sacrificing your economy” and potentially getting behind your opponent’s economy. Now remember, everything has caveats. Sometimes you want to sacrifice your economy for a boost in your army or technology and that’s OK so long as you have a game plan, such as rushing your opponent, to use that “sacrifice” well. Also, Zerg effectively keep stride at a different pace. After the 10th Drone or so Zerg can produce multiple Drones over a single training time. Drones, SCVs, and Probes all take 17 game-time seconds to train. So long as a Zerg player is producing an average of 1 Drone every 15-17 seconds they’re keeping pace. If a Zerg player goes a long period of time though without producing any Drones they’ll actually have to overproduce to catch back up in resources.

Without a doubt, the most common mistake new players make is not producing enough workers. In a normal game, fast expansion notwithstanding, you should over-saturate your first base in order to have additional workers to immediately move to your next base. Remember, NEVER STOP MAKING WORKERS, until you saturate your 3rd base. So even if you don’t have your 2nd or 3rd bases constructed keep making workers and slide them over once the base is ready.

Now you have the money, time to spend it. The 2nd most common mistake players make is what’s referred to as “floating minerals”. This means you’ve got cash you aint burning. The forethought of this is that you need to be producing units that cost strictly minerals to keep your mineral count low and you need to producing units that spend the gas you actually have; you don’t want to go after high gas-cost units if you not collecting gas at a high rate (like 4-6 geysers). Sounds simple right? Well, what do your production queues look like?

You want to have 4 production structures per base. Another rule of thumb is that you should have right around 4 production structures per base. This is a basic balance to allow you to be able to spend the resources you have at roughly the rate you collect them. So as you expand you should be laying down additional production structures almost in tandem to stay on top of your spend. P.S. don’t get supply capped.

Upgrade after your first expansion to keep burning those resources. Generally speaking most players won’t start upgrading until they get their first expansion because having that early army is important to either apply pressure or to fend it off in kind. If your collecting resources at the proper rate (see rule #1) then as you expand you’ll find that even doubling your production structures leaves you with extra income. Well my friend, this is to be spent on your technology–on your upgrades. For most players this means double upgrade structures to research armor and attack simultaneously.

A word on “floating minerals“: You should never go above 500 minerals/gas and honestly keep it much lower than that if possible. The only exception to this would be in the very late stages of the game where it’s become a tactical battle.

So dude, I already know all this shit…

So, you know all this and your macro game still sucks? Well then you’re doing it wrong… or more aptly, you’re doing it poorly.

PRACTICE!

That’s, hand to god, what it all comes down to. We’ve covered 95% of what you need to know to macro well. So if you’re still getting punked in the resources and units stats at the end of the game you just plain aren’t doing these basic principles well. Watch replays where someone macros better than you. Look at the timing involved as they progress through the game and look at your own timings.

In comparison to the guy who just kicked your ass:

-We’re you saturating your minerals well?
-Did you expand too early, too late?
-For your main unit composition, when were their upgrades finished?
-Did you ever float above 500 minerals? 300 minerals? How about your opponent?
-Were you ever supply capped?
-How many units, on average, did you have in training queues? Could you have supported additional production structures?

For as “simple” as macro mechanics are people skim over these basics way too much. Watch a pro replay sometime. Those guys are all over the map. Even when they’re micro’ing an army around the map they’re constantly building new units, expanding bases, building additional production structures, and getting necessary and timely upgrades.

So PRACTICE those timing intervals.

If it’s 5.5 minutes and your first base isn’t saturated you’re behind. If you’re not expanding by 8-9 minutes you’re behind. Look, these are just examples and you’ve got to figure out your own intervals for your own race and whatever particular build you may be going after but the point is you’ve got to know what those timing are and you’ve got to know when you’re behind and when you’re on track. And once you analyze that you can set specific goals to practice on. You can load up a custom game against the computer and just focus on your mechanics up until the said interval, and then, do it again.

While this post is already too long to get into the following statement too deeply (I smell an upcoming post) you lastly need to understand that there are 3 pillars in this game. Economy, Army, and Technology. Macro support all 3 but you can sacrifice different elements of you macro game to bolster a single pillar above your opponent. This happens all the time whether players realize it or not and so long as your capitalizing on this small, and often short, advantage you’re fine. In the end though you need to understand which pillar you’re ahead in. Which pillar your opponent may be ahead in and adjust your macro to accommodate.

Final word: Understand these basics, study your replays, and practice as much as you can.

Commenters: Any additional tips for the masses?