Defeating the Computer

Let's be perfectly honest, I could sit here and prattle on about advanced strategies and techniques which would make absolutely no sense to anyone who hasn't been playing starcraft for at least a year, or I could focus on the basics which so seldom seem to be touched upon. I may end up moving into some more advanced stuff later, but to be honest there is lots of great information out there regarding that type of thing, and I think I'd be better of to focus on the basics.

I've said it time and time again, defeating the computer in a no cheat one on one is the first step a person must take to becoming good at competitive starcraft. It seems like an impossible task at first, as the computer appears to have the ability to do everything at once. By the time you are just getting started, they've already rolled out with a fair sized army and taken an expansion.

While this seems to be discouraging, hopefully by the end of this post you will realize that it the computer plays like a handicapped child. To begin with, we will look at some of the advantages that you will always have over the computer:

You can adapt - The computer is almost completely incapable of changing it's game plan. If you watch a few replays of you (or someone else) against the computer, you'll notice that 90% of the time they do the same build. Basically the Terran AI does a medic/marine/firebat push, the Protoss will either 3 gate zealot rush or do this idiotic fast expansion build which makes a ton of cannons rendering the build pointless, and the Zerg AI will either do a standard zergling rush (I think it's a 9 pool but I don't remember), or they will do an in-base two hatch build and roll out later with a large amount of hydras and lurkers. Once you learn the never changing and always monotonous builds which the computer employs, you'll be able to know exactly what you'll need and when you'll need it.

You can play better - To put it simply, regardless of technically being able to do everything at once, the computer plays terribly. If you've ever watched a replay against the computer and watched one of their production buildings by clicking on it, you'll notice that they constantly queue and un-queue units up for no concievable reason. 90% of the time you should never queue units up beyond two of them. If you need more units, make more damn production buildings. Humans can also multitask far better than the computer with practice, and the computer will quickly be over run by any human who has had a bit of practice with macroing.

You can even bug out the AI - Let's be honest, this is a pretty cheesy tactic, but you have to start somewhere. Tired of getting rushed by zealots every game? block your ramp. Trust me, it works.

Those are a few advantages you have over the computer. Now we'll talk about what you'll need to practice.

To begin with, you will need to learn *A* build order. No, it doesn't need to be creative, and it doesn't need to focus on getting a late game goon/temp/arbiter push. The focus of the build will be as follows, and in proper order:
1 - Defend the first rush
2 - grab atleast an expansion
3 - set up a solid economy
4 - attack the computer (gasp)

That's basically it. Keep in mind that this is not how you should play against humans, and focusing on those things in that order will only help you with the computer primarily. Also note the sometimes 1 and 2 will be interchangeable as you may be doing a fast expansion build.

If you don't understand how build orders work, I'm not going to explain it again, but either google it or check my youtube page for a video of voice-cracking fun on build orders. Unfortunately I'm not going to write out a list of build orders you may want to use, as one order might only work for one match up, and I'm not writing them out for every bloody match up. Google liquipedia, go to the starcraft broodwar one, and look up some builds on your own. Try to focus on what goes on early game. Late game will come when you can beat the computer easily.

Aside from the build order, you need to practice your mechanics. Mechanics is a fancy word for speed and efficiency, and it's what separates the pros from the joes in starcraft. A friend of mine would always try to create innovative strategies to fool me and my brother when we played starcraft, and invariably they would fail because he would never take the time to manage his base while he was busy making sure the barracks he placed half way across the map was completely queued up with firebats. Point being, when your starting out you need to focus on player mechanically correct. It doesn't matter how creative you think you are, without the mechanics to back up annoying crap like that it won't work.

To practice mechanics, you simply need to play a lot of games with the intention of playing faster, and getting things right. I recommend watching my video on starcraft tricks as it has a whole bunch of nifty ways to play faster and smarter, as well as some other tidbits of info I don't feel like repeating.

The last thing you need to do, is simply watching your replays. It doesn't take a keen eye to see that your minerals and gas had built up to the size of a wall-street bailout 5 minutes into the game.


I left a lot of info out of this one, namely how to manage your economy properly, because it's already been said and done. I don't need to reiterate how to keep your minerals and gas low, so it is your responsibility to search for that info on your own.

*If any of the words I used in this post, or any other post are unclear to you, please visit this page:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=61389
support that website and don't be a dick or you'll face the ban hammer.

Thanks, peace off
Rad301