Table of Contents
- SCAG Color Wheel
- Anti Backstabbing
- DT Rushing
- Mining
- Queueing Units
- Ground Rushing
- Carriers
- Pylons(And other structures!)
- Nukes
- Stasis/Lockdown
- Battlecruisers
- The Exploding Microwave Trick
- Science Vessels
- Map Critters
- Medics
- Vespene Geysers
- Tanks
- Silence Trick
SCAG Color Wheel
BannedScag,
I
would like to mention my update of the SCAG Color
Wheel. It now has %40 more colors (New SCAG
Color Wheel). I hope BannedScag
finds that this breach in SCAG Protocol is acceptable. I feel confident
that by the end of the decade we will have ALL the colors with which to
work with. This is truly a momentous occassion surpassed only by the appearance
of the color TV set.
Sincerely,
Devyn[SCAG]
P.S.
Thanx for the font. I can now type sweet nothings and other various crap
in style. www.iconian.com has more such fonts. If you are having trouble
reading any of this then highlight the text.
Anti Backstabbing
F irst off learn about your enemy. Visit sites like scbackstab.com and read their reports to see how skillfully they manipulate their opponents against themselves before finally killing off that 1 player that is left. Here are Devyn's 16 Nuggets of Wisdom against backstabbers that seam to work for me in any game.
[1] Dont' leave your base defenseless. If you are rushing make sure to have something that can shoot in your base at enemy units. If you just sent your army, start making some D or training more units in your base. Take as an example Maverscag recent backstab where he won. The only reason his opponent backstabbed is probably because he saw that Maverscag had no D. Had there been a D of substantial size the bs'er would have to have waited longer to make men and prepare a proper counter offensive. Maverscag inspired the next rule:
[2] Be quick to respond to any backstabbers attack. Pay attention to enemy unit placements esp. at the end of any game. If you do you'll win like Maverscag.
[3] Always augment your defenses. If you have 2 layers of canons, make a third, get Templar/Defilers/Ghosts with appropriate research for each unit.
[4] Never build defenses in your opponents base. Encourage them to build theirs. This will show that you are not going to backstab since you're asking people to make their bases tougher to breach. So no one can argue that you are a bs'er because you can argue that if you were going to bs, why would you ask them to make bigger D's. And you can't argue with that.
[5] If you are bs'ed, protect your allies against the bs'er. You want to break down your bs'er to the core. Make sure they are unsuccessfull at doing anything in the game except getting their butt kicked. Regardless of how bad your allie is. Also this will give the bs'er more worries at strikes coming from multiple players on multiple sides.
[6] Keep your forces moving, esp at the end of any game. If a bs'er unallies you they'll spend more time chasing your men then attacking while you unallie the bs'er. This will greately reduce the amount of damage you take before you unallie the bs'er.
[7] When joining games of 3 comps or less, get another clan member to come. This more then doubles your chances of winning against any bs'er. Most backstabbing happens in games of 3 or less comps.
[8] Leave something for everyone to do in a game. Don't hog all the kills. Otherwise they'll get bored and backstab you.
[9] Leave something for everyone to do in a game. Don't hog all the kills. Otherwise they'll get bored and backstab you.
[10] Build D around your mining.
[11] Dont' let other players go through your base unless you know they won't bs or that any force they bring is at a big disadvantage. If their forces can do substantial damage tell your opponent to go over your most heavily defended parts so you can easily win in case of any betrayal or ask them nicely not to come over.
[12] If your opponent insists on putting units in your base, bring your forces back into your base as well or near it. You don't want to be at the opposite end of a 192x map when the bs'er starts ripping your base apart from within.
[13] If a player was making reavers then he/she brings shuttles into your base, mind control them, then fly them back to the player so he can mind control them back. Technically that is not an attack (you have not killed that players units) as that player can mind control the shuttles back.
[14] Never think of a player that follows these rules as an untrusting bastard. Think of them as smart.
[15] Talk to allied players. There is nothing more annoying then someone who hasn't said anything for 3 hours in a game.
[16] Get an expansion. Whether you need one or not doesn't matter. No bs'er wants to play 2+ hours trying to smoke you out of your base. They usually want it quickly done with.
Optional:
[A]
Use the /squelch
DT Rushing (That's 'Dark Templar rushing')
First off, read the section on 'Mining', if you haven't yet, as this will be crucial to your quick DT deployment. Also glance at the last paragraph in 'Queueing units' section. At first glance, it may seam that DT rushing is a very complicated art and is very difficult. I disagree. Not only this but there are really only 3 steps to DT rushing:
- [1] Proper time to start getting gas.
- [2] Quick building tech tree progress to DT's.
- [3] Pylons!! More Pylons!!
[1] So when do you get gas you ask? When you digest too many beans I say. Personally I get gas when I ate too much cheese. Then I can barely hold it in. Salad dressing is particularly effective for giving gas. Plant one in front of Jumbo Video I say for best effect. Stealth is of the upmost importance. If you get caught, you could end up in the local jail with your picture posted in a local paper the next day under a title such as "Jumbo get's Fart Boy!".
Oh you mean vespene. I c. Ok let's not bullshit anymore then. Build your gas building whenever the next tech tree building to build is not yet available AND only if you will have enough minerals to build that next tech tree building when it becomes available. If you don't understand what I just said, then build it after you've started to build your gateway. When it's complete put 2 probes mining gas. After you start Cybernetics core, add 2 more probes mining gas. Mine only 1 gas until you started making Templar archives and have at least 2+ cannons around your base for detection.
[2] Quick tech tree progress is the most important step. First off you want your pylon without pausing your worker production at all. I usually get mine at the 7th probe while I have at least 1 probe being produced. After you get that pylon there is only one rule to get a very fast tech build-up:
Make sure your probe is at the right place with enough minerals when that next structure in the tech tree becomes available.
Against any opponent, if you are never attacked at all but you are shreading their armies then you know you have pulled off a very efficient DT rush. My best DT rush begun with my first DT popping out of my Gateway at the 4:45 minute mark and I'm sure you can go below the 4:30 minute mark. (Assuming Fastest speed setting)
[3]
Yup!
If you want to check out some classic DT rushes, look at the
second DT rush by Tigerscag.
He not only get's 2 terrans but proceeds to pound two toss into the ground
in a regular game and with random comps to start.
Mining
Gas:
4 workers per gas (Or until there is 1 waiting outside)
Minerals:
2X the number of patches you have, or until you see groups of 4+ workers
run around looking for available patch to mine.
Miscellaneous: Have you ever wondered (Don't lie to me now!) if it's better to select the 4 workers you get at the start and mine with them THEN make the 5th worker with the measly 50 you get? Or is it the other way around? Obviously if you can do both these things at the same time then it really doesn't matter. But we can't. WER'E NOT FREEKING COMPS DAMNIT! Well even comps don't do things at once. They're just faster. (This leads us to an interesting observation: "Just because you're faster doesn't mean you're smarter.") Let us suppose that we follow the following sequence(s) (Step in parantheses (()) has been omitted from the cons and pros):
Method [1]- Select nexus/hatch/cc
- Make worker
- Select the 4 starting workers
- Tell them to mine (right click a mineral patch!)
- (Distribute the workers to individual patches on their way down to the minerals.)
PROS:
That 1 worker is queued up and is being created while we are telling the remainder to mine. (Relative to how fast you click)
CONS:
Workers are losing time not mining while I'm making one. (Relative to how fast you click)
Method [2]- Select the 4 starting workers
- Tell them to mine (right click a mineral patch)
- (Distribute the workers to individual patches on their way down to the minerals.)
- Select nexus/hatch/cc
- Make worker
PROS:
Workers have started to mine instantly.
CONS:
That one worker will take longer to build now that it has been started later.
At this point either method is fine, if you omit the bracketed step above. Using Method [2] in some games turned out that the 4 workers gathered over 50+ minerals before the first worker was complete slowing the build of other workers down.
Let us discuss the the stupid bracketed statement now, that so far, has not been used by many people at all. Generally, most people select the 4 starting workers then right click a patch. When this is done though, 3 of the workers don't mine at all just wait for that 1 that got to the patch first to finish. Then the same thing happens with the 3 that are left on that patch, 2 of which remain waiting for 1 to finish and so on. And so you lose valuable time getting minerals. Obviously this slows everything down and makes only one of the above statements viable, Method [1], because the time before you start making that 5th worker (due to distributing workers to different patches on their way down) has just increased by several times.
Queueing units
Most people agree that queuing more then 2 units is an unnecessary tying up of valuable resources. I agree. Having 5 goons/zealots queued at the early stages of the game takes out 375M/300M (respectively for 3 goons/zealots) that could be used to further progress through the tech tree or get other men. However, I recently noted one exception to this ever usefull rule: when ground rushing. At population 200 you'll likely start the rush, in the process you'll lose plenty of men along the way, which will keep you going back to your gateways to make more men. But why not queue up 5 in all the gateways so that when one unit dies, you won't have to go back to retrain one, the unit will begin as soon as there is population headroom (due to loses). I noted this will give you about 20% faster unit deployment in a rush and you won't need to click those gateway's as often. For most purposes and best effect, having 1 unit queued up is best. Queue up that second unit when the one being built is at 75% completion or more. This will give you optimum resource distribution for other structures/units. If you queue too much you'll end up waiting for minerals when building other stuff. Like that 1 cannon which could saved you a whole game against some other player's DT's.
Ground Rushing
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Toss: Goons + Zealots/DT's + Arbiters (If opponents mass units bring about 4+ templar with you for storm) Avoid archons, EMP can easily end your rush as soon as it starts. Even against zerg they're hard to get in range. Drop them from shuttles into massed units for best effect. (Shuttle makes it ~75% of the time.) Make sure shuttles are backed up before you attempt this though. Here is a replay of a ground rush I executed that worked well and demonstrates the 'Queueing' technique you see in the image too. |
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Want to make your cannon
formation invincible against enemy Carriers/Bc's? Even 16+ carriers/bc's
wont' be able to touch your cannon formation if you keep reading.
Make your wonderfull cannon formation. Get at least 1 of your
own or more. Put those carriers adequately spaced out between
the third and second line of your cannons. That's all. When
enemy fleet comes to attack, the player has likely used the
attack button by clicking on empty ground. Most players do that
so Carriers/Bc's pick their own targets on approach. This is
where it pays off for you. The Carriers/Bc's will target the
interceptors instead of the cannons! They will just sit there
chasing your little itsy bitsy interceptors leaving the canons
completely untouched!! The player will have to specifically
target each cannon to kill it. AND THAT'S FRUSTRATING!! On islands
this will make your base invincible against any Protoss player.
This little base that blue is trying to breach will take him 45 more minutes to get. |
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He'll lose over 60+ carriers doing so but will eventually take it because I ran out of resorces and lost the war. It was an excellent game though. I lose only 8 cannons and a few assimilators in all that time due to the strategies I use here. |
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Pylons (And other structures!)
This works against carriers mostly but is good against any rush. Put pylons in front of your cannons. This reduced the number of non ranged ground troops the enemy can get around each cannon, and causes them to weive around the pylons and each other to get to the cannons. It takes approximately 50% longer for approaching army to reach your cannons in this way. This works much like the Carrier trick above as well and gives you a warning before you lose any Defenses.
Has another player built a shiny new army with which to kick your butt? Well don't dispair. Just plug up every chokepoint you can find with pylons. Make sure to put a healthy cannon battery between the pylons. Imagine you had 70 goons all ready to attack, then you scout and see that you'll have to go through about 3 blocked choke points, each with about 12 canons inside. Would you? If they complain (aka Bitch) about you and your cannons and pylons all over the place, and call you a newb, just type a smily face to them and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Nukes
Practice nuking your enemy forces.
When nuking stealth is of the utmost importance. Once they see you, you can kiss your nuts good bye. If you're using shuttles make sure the shuttle is never attacked. Also remember that cloaked ghosts never attack unless attacked. However there is an exception to this rule too. If a cloaked ghost is near a shuttle (That just dropped off the ghost) and the shuttle is attacked. then the ghost will return fire on the enemy unit too. Once the ghost attacks, the enemy brings detectors and you can pull your nuts out, bend over real hard and kiss them good bye again.
Zerg are in their own little class in the nuking manual. Their overlords are often all over the place. When nuking zerg pack a few medics along and blind Overlords. Then you can nuke unmolested.
Two nukes are better then one.
Stasis/Lockdown
Ever wonder how you can plug that river of enemy ground forces pouring into your base? Use Stasis or Lockdown to to lock several units in the choke effectively stopping all the units behind. If you're terran this would be a good time to plant a nuke there too (See 'Terran Nuke Tricks' above). After that it's like shooting fish in a barrel as they say.
Battlecruisers
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EMP yourself. Two Dark Archons can reduce the hitpoint of your entire fleet to half the value they began attacking with. If you EMP yourself, the worst they can do is mindcontrol your stuff. |
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The Exploding Microwave Trick
Hard boil some eggs. Put them in the freezer overnight. In the morning put them in your microwave. Set the timer to 10 on the highest power level. Put your safety goggles and helmet on. Maintain a safe distance of at least 10 feet. Enjoy the show!
Science Vessels
Have you ever irradiated a robotic unit then thought, "That was pointless!". Try my 'Hot Potato' trick. Irradiate your own science vessel, then fly it into some drones/scv's mining. Two irradiated science vessels will kill as many workers as 12 dt's will in the same amount of time if allowed to continue. Probes are not effected by this.
If you have a zerg opponent, get a dozen science vessels. Then just go irradiating the little slimy opponent. Bring some valkeries against scourges or this won't work.
Map Critters
If you are zerg, use parasite on critters. Most people dont' suspect that critters are spying on them so they never bother to check. It's a nice way of having an eye in the sky.
Medics
Have you ever been attacked by a guardian and had no air defense with which to get it? If you're terran use a medic to blind the guardian. You will force it to come close to see what it's attacking and so it'll get in range where as before it wouldn't. If you haven't got a medic or you're not terran, and have no air D, then I should let you know that more guardians are on the way. I hope this helps.
Vespene Geysers
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Go to your opponents base if you're zerg or toss then build an extractor assimilator over their gas. This is great esp if they're DT rushing. Cause it will slow their entire build order if not throw it off completely. Some players tell me that I've just waisted 100 minerals for nothing. I dont' think so. It causes them to build defenses in places they wouldn't other wise build in, causes them to either stop mining minerals to attack the foreign object in their base, spend on military units they wouldn't normally build, make structures they wouldn't normally build etc. It's worth it. Unless the map has a dozen vespene geysers per player, this is fun. Either way it causes them to lose more then 100 in minerals that you had to spend on the structure. |
Tanks
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Put tanks all over a map. There are few things more annoying then having to pull your troops out of range of one tank and into the range of another. Tank/Bunker/Goliath/Turret combo's can hold off a very big Zerg or Toss ground air force. Or at the least, cause twice as much damage to any attacking force as it cost to build it. |
Silence Trick
Use the COMM menu when playing against other players. It won't help your cause if you tell your friends "Ok, I've got DT's hidden away at top right of his main. When you hit on the left It'll distract them long enough for me to get his CC!" if your enemies hear it too.