After a playing hundreds of online matches, we have come across a few tactics and strategies that every newcomer to Starcraft 2 should know if they plan to survive on Battlenet.

General Tips:

Hot Keys

Think of controlling StarCraft 2 like taking notes on a lecture or a speech. Taking notes verbatim is time intensive and is easy to fall behind. Rather, it is more efficient to use shorthand in order to quicken the process. Hotkeys are Starcraft’s shorthand.

Memorize the hotkeys for your building and units as it allows for you to quickly manage your forces with little mouse movement. The better you can get at utilizing your hotkeys, the faster you will be at being able to tactically act or react.

The Shift Key is your friend

The Shift Key is the multipurpose key. When you have a group of troops or buildings, hold the Shift key and a number. That number then coincides with that particular unit or building. So binding your Command Center to 1, you can command that building without actually having to look at it. Also, the Shift Key can issue a list of commands. Hold the shift key and have a unit move to a point on the map. Still holding down Shift, any other command given to that unit will be dealt with in a sequence. This is ideal when sending out a scout in the beginning of a match as it affords you the luxury of not needing to micromanage the unit’s movement while you micro your base.

The best application for of Shift during a game is adding secondary actions for gather/builder units. If you have a SVC building a Supply Depot or a Barracks, Shift command him to gather minerals as he builds. It will instruct the unit to go gather minerals immediately after it is done building, eliminating any idle (and thusly wasted) units or time micromanaging.

Your Economy

The core of the game is about managing an economy. The more efficient you are able to mine resources, the better chance you have at building a winning army. The only way to efficiently mine for resources is by having the optimal amount of workers. As a rule of thumb, you should be aiming to have roughly 20-24 workers mine per base; 3 for every refinery, and three for every ‘patch’ of mineral. Essentially, always be building workers.  Once your economy stagnates, your army stagnates.

Their Economy

The quickest way to victory is not by attacking structures or enemy units one by one. Rather, if you kill their entire work force, their economy comes to a halt. With little to no income coming in, your opponent effectively has a finite budget of resources. They then have to make several tactical decisions: do they invest in more soldiers to repel your forces in hopes that they are successful in saving a few workers, or do they make more workers to minimize their economic collapse? Either way, taking out their economy is fastest and more efficient way in crippling your opponent.

Base Building

Build your structures at the mouth of your base, and do so early. Building at the entrance of you base slows/stops the advancement of enemy troops and funnels then through a corridor, ideal for counter measures. Defending this point is ideal as you have the high ground, allowing you to have a larger field of view that the invading army. If faced with a similar base as the aggressor, try not to storm your way up the ramp at a disadvantage. Try to draw their forces out of their base, hopefully allowing for a secondary strike air force to assault their economy.

Good manners

It is a common courtesy to start a game by wishing your opponent well. “GL HF,” which means Good Luck Have Fun, is a commonly used term. Also, when you see that defeat is the only logical outcome to a match, conceding with “GG,” meaning Good Game, as it is the gentlemen’s way of dealing with defeat.

There is more to come in our StarCraft 2 beginners’ tips and tricks, so stay tuned. Next week, we will look at key tactics for each race.