You probably won't be surprised by anything below, but if you're used to the leisurely pace of the single player game you may want to consider some of the differences to be taken into account when your opponent is human and the only objective is to wipe you off the face of the map. Even the computer opponents will behave differently in multiplayer; they'll be starting from the ground up too, and they'll be building VERY efficiently.

Mining

Your typical melee game will start with your Command Centre/Nexus/Hatchery(C+C) in place with 4 SCVs/probes/drones(gatherers) available, and 50 minerals available. Typically you'll aim to build 2 more gatherers, then start to get a building going and increase available supply, then build more gatherers while the buildings get made. Or grown of course. Apparently in an ideal scenario you should have 2 gatherers for every clump of minerals. Now, there will of course be a Vespene gas geyser nearby. Don't bother wasting resources on a refinery at this point. Especially not if it's a small map. Why? Well, because of...

Rushing

It became obvious early on in Battle.Net's history that games weren't going to be played leisurely, and they weren't all going to be long drawn out affairs, although games on big maps have been known to last anything up to 2 hours. Rushing is all about speed and efficiency. You get yourself in a position where you can generate a largish force of your most basic units and send them at the enemy, with the aim to a)take out his rushing force before he does it to you and continue to wipe him out or b)kill his gatherers in order to cripple his ability to make more units at speed, thusly allowing you to out-muscle him. The Zerg are probably the most notorious rushers. Rushes are most successful on small maps, because it's easy to find the enemy and you can reach him quickly. On a large map, your force will be outnumbered (probably) before it reaches the target, then you'll be in a weak position to defend the counterstrike. Trust me, I know! A serious rush will involve you having more than one production facility. Typically 2 hatcheries are enough, but Protoss and Terran will commonly have 3 troop producing buildings churning out troops constantly. To give you an idea of a rushing scenario, these are the standard Zerg steps (the way I do it, anyway):

• Get 2 more drones on the minerals. With the 3rd, mine until you have 150 minerals and then get the spawning pool going.
• Get another drone to replace the one that's now growing the spawning pool, and once you have 100 minerals again get an Overlord going.
• Until the Overlord hatches, get more drones going.
• The Overlord should hatch out about the same time as the pool is ready. So from here on in it's Zerglings a go go.
• From this point, it's a question of perhaps getting a few more drones on minerals and reaching a point where you can maximise Zergling production. Remember that a Hatchery provides control as with an Overlord, and an extra one will allow for increased unit production. It's just a question of beating the other guy to the punch from here on in...

The Long Game

Somewhat unusual, but it can happen, especially with big maps. The overall strategy remains the same of course - produce like crazy, but make positive decisions about how you're going to play it. Will you aim to go in by air, breaching enemy defences on the way, or mount an all out ground assault? You should try and secure additional base sites as soon as possible if it looks like being a long one. Consider building within an ally's base, to improve his defence and to allow you to stay in the game if your base is trashed but you still have useful numbers of troops. What it will come down to is whether or not you can hold your base together against probing attacks long enough to get an unstoppable strike force together. Try and leave something in reserve if you can, inside your base. The type of map will influence the way you're playing so make sure your strategy's appropriate. I find the hardest thing for me is to actually remember to keep building units. You get so caught up in fending off strike forces with existing troops you stop churning them out. To guard against this, you could save construction buildings into memory, allowing you to select them with a key press and get building without leaving the area of screen you're currently looking at. Above all else, try and keep your concentration up. Caffeine is highly recommended!

General Tactics

Never send small groups to an enemy base, he'll eat you for lunch. If possible go in with your partner's forces to back you up. Locate the enemy as early as possible. I've lost games because I couldn't counterstrike soon enough, and if you can, attack before the enemy does and even if you can't finish him, take some gatherers out. Don't dig in with bunkers and so on too soon. The Computer will, certainly, but humans play more fluidly. Having a large mobile force is far more important. Try and communicate with your partners. If no-one's producing Dragoons, a few Mutas could murder you very quickly. Don't attack to a specific building, or move to a place. Instead, attack to a point on the ground. That way your troops defend themselves as they move. If your base is getting overrun but an ally's on the way, make sure you get gatherers clear; you'll need them to rebuild. Oh, and technically, if the game's laggy, make sure the music is off. Effects are OK, but make sure the CD's not spinning, and alter the latency setting in the Options menu.

Anyway, by far the best way to learn how to kick butt for yourself is just to play with those more experienced than yourself. You'll soon figure out the tricks of the trade, like Reaver drops.

Fight hard, die well.

Last updated 31 January 2002