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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » StarCraft II Beta available via pre-order (Page 2)

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Author Topic: StarCraft II Beta available via pre-order
BlackBlade
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I haven't really seen the phoenix used virtually at all since I've started playing.

I'm a big fan of two barracks, churn out reapers, research faster jetpacks, build comm center, pump out 4-6 reapers, have them all way-pointed to a spot just outside the protoss (or Terran if there are no protoss base), radar sweep, jump in, kill peons, runaway if you see stalkers or marines otherwise play ring around the rosies, kill their defenders if you can while they chase, go back to killing peons, if you get all the peons, try to take out the nexus, if you take out the nexus, it's game over, if you lose all your guys, be building your expansion command center while the attack is going on, build factory, build starports 2-3, build armory, research cloaking, build banshees, followed by vikings, send banshees (when you've got 3-4) off towards possible expansion base locations, build second expansion base, start research on upgraded weapons, blow up expansion bases, cloak and kill units that can hit air, proceed to main base, radar sweep for turrets/proton cannons, send vikings in case they've got air, wipe out main base, GG.

That's the general gist, but obviously things don't always go according to plan and you have to rebuild your entire strike force, lay out a parameter of turrets if they've got air, continue researching if things are going long.

I will say that I absolutely love surgical strikes with banshees. People often have turrets, or proton cannons setup, but just as often they are only protecting from one direction, so I'll fly around attack their expansion bases from behind, knock out the pylons powering the canons and laugh as something like 4-5 canons go offline without firing more than one or two shots.

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Kwea
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I have a laptop that is about a year old, with an ATI video card (Radeon 3100). Anyone know if this will be able to play SCII?


::::Edit:::: It plays Crysis and MW2, I just found starts on it. On low, of course, but it's a l;aptop so I don't expect wonders. [Big Grin]

:::::Edit::::

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Raymond Arnold
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quote:
I haven't really seen the phoenix used virtually at all since I've started playing.
Phoenix became much more amazing a week ago, when it gained the ability to move and shoot at the same time. Obviously only useful against air, and Void Rays are still pretty good by themselves, so they'll still only show up if the enemy realizes early on you have a dedicated air force.

What I love are the people complaining that the Phoenix spinning around in mid flight to shoot "looks stupid," when it fact that's PRECISELY how a spaceship would spin around to shoot. (I'm assuming that the ships in game fly in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, at a point where the the arbitrary inability to point their missles downard makes some degree of sense).

quote:
can my computer run it?
You'll definitely be able to play on the lowest settings, but ideally you want to play on the second lowest settings at least (there's a setting called "shaders" which, if set to low, will make the game look worse than StarCraft I, but if set to medium will be pretty much the only setting you need to look pretty classy)
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Samprimary
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the shoot-while-moving change is nice but I still don't see much of a use for the phoenix as long as AA is still so niche and the void ray is still so abusable.
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Raymond Arnold
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Well, yeah. I think my disclaimer covered that though.
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Samprimary
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(was a response to BB)
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Kwea
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If this can run Crysis I think it can handle SC II. Plus I will be getting a new desktop soon, I hope. [Big Grin]
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BlackBlade
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SC2 doesn't have the highest minimum requirements I've seen, I think your laptop should run it fine on the lower settings.

Samp: void rays are pretty crackalackin. I feel like vikings have a stronger air to air attack then they do a ground to ground attack. I find it kinda frustrating. It's also difficult at times to get a big group of vikings to land, especially in the middle of a cluttered base.

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twinky
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I don't know if I'll be able to hold out and not buy a computer that can run StarCraft 2 before July. My resolve is weakening...
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Raymond Arnold
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If your computer can't run StarCraft II at all then I think you are justified in getting yourself a new computer anyways.
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twinky
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It's a compatibility issue; the Mac version of SC2 is Intel-only. My dual 1.8GHz G5 with 4GB of RAM and a 10,000 RPM boot drive is still reasonably capable when it comes to non-gaming tasks, six years after I bought it.

Reasons to upgrade are mounting, though; the current version of OS X and the current version of Logic Studio are both Intel-only and have features I want. Steam and (everything on it) is also Intel-only. So I'm pretty set on buying at least one new computer before July 27th, but I'd like to wait another 4-6 weeks for potential Apple hardware refreshes and for driver updates that would make it a lot easier for me to build a "hackintosh" if I decide to go that route.

However, I can't seem to resist reading all about SC2, which makes me want to just build a Windows box now and worry about running OS X on it later. [Razz]

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Kwea
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hackintosh......LOL.....I love it!
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Kwea
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Just bought it on Gamestop.com, should have the beta soon. [Big Grin]

I hate you all. [Wink]

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BlackBlade
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quote:
Originally posted by Kwea:
Just bought it on Gamestop.com, should have the beta soon. [Big Grin]

I hate you all. [Wink]

Hey when you get on here's my friend info.

BlackBlade.Hatrack

^^Name ^^ Identifier.

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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by twinky:
I don't know if I'll be able to hold out and not buy a computer that can run StarCraft 2 before July. My resolve is weakening...

But on the other hand, you can donate said computer to a museum afterwards
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Kwea
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lol....I'll be Kwea.Hatrack more than likely. If the updates ever finish. ::grr::
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Kwea
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Yep. I'm Kwea.hatrack, and I suck. lol

Looks a lot like the original SC, to be honest, but I am still getting a handle on the tech and abilities. I am mainly playing Protoss, I guess, but I am not sure I will stick with it.

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Raymond Arnold
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They briefly entertained the notion of changing it up in some crazy way, but eventually decided that given that StarCraft 1 was close to perfect, there really wasn't any reason too. I pretty much agree with them on this. (They have stated that basically most of the innovation went into the single player)
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Kwea
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I love it, I just suck. [Big Grin]
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BlackBlade
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quote:
Originally posted by Kwea:
I love it, I just suck. [Big Grin]

If you spend about 10 minutes on youtube watching basic protoss/terran/zerg strategies it will chop off hours of crappy games where you get schooled.
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BryanP
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quote:
Originally posted by twinky:
It's a compatibility issue; the Mac version of SC2 is Intel-only. My dual 1.8GHz G5 with 4GB of RAM and a 10,000 RPM boot drive is still reasonably capable when it comes to non-gaming tasks, six years after I bought it.

Reasons to upgrade are mounting, though; the current version of OS X and the current version of Logic Studio are both Intel-only and have features I want. Steam and (everything on it) is also Intel-only. So I'm pretty set on buying at least one new computer before July 27th, but I'd like to wait another 4-6 weeks for potential Apple hardware refreshes and for driver updates that would make it a lot easier for me to build a "hackintosh" if I decide to go that route.

Hackintoshes are pretty easy to make (easy being a relative term with this sort of thing) with current hardware. Check out this site:

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/

He pretty expertly walks you through it. My problem is that I have an ATI card, which complicates things, and I had to do a few installs and find the right kext files before it would work properly. But if you get an Nvidia card and use a similar build to what Tony has (see here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=67), then everything ought to be pretty smooth. Just pay close attention to the hardware components compatibility before you jump in. Just because it's compatible doesn't mean it won't take you hours to get it working correctly.

Still a heckuva lot cheaper than buying a real Mac, though.

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Kwea
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I am getting killed, even after watching the videos. I haven't even had time to read up on the new abilities, even. Not sure how warping works, and most of the battles I lose the guys are going ALL air on me and killing me. I can't seem to get an air force worth mentioning up and running before I lose. [Frown]
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Samprimary
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You need to sit down and practice build orders.

http://tntbazooka.com/222-starcraft-2-generic-build-orders/

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Raymond Arnold
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Not sure if Sam's link covers this, but you can play games against the computer on easy mode to learn abilities. (create a custom game, then fill it with AI opponents).
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Kwea
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Seems like every Terran player is using Battleships and Banshees, not rushing. They all build 3 airfields then load up. I can't attack them with viod rays because of towers, either.

I got a few of them with the creeping psilons and cannon, but Terran tanks have a better range....

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Samprimary
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I guess at lower tiers you'll see people bunkering up and massing battlecruisers but whut.

the battlecruiser is pretty not present at platinum levels of play :/

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Kwea
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I won a couple more last night with the probe/cannon creep to their base, and a couple with rushes. It's a lot more fun when the games are at least close.
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BlackBlade
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quote:
Originally posted by Kwea:
I won a couple more last night with the probe/cannon creep to their base, and a couple with rushes. It's a lot more fun when the games are at least close.

Definitely. You might consider trying to build 2 of whatever building makes the zealots and churning them out, set a waypoint to your opponents base and start sending them off. If your quick enough you might catch an opponent before he's built a single offensive unit and you can have your way with his peons.

Keyboard short cuts are good for speeding things up, and you should also set some of your buildings to your number keys by hitting ctrl #. My command center is always 1 so I can jump back to it and do radar scans, request a mule, or upgrade a supply depot. People frequently make their barracks or starports a number as well so they can select it and build reinforcements while fighting. Then use your remaining numbers to select groups of units, learn their hotkey abilities as well as there just isn't enough time to click everything.

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Kwea
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yeah, I am just looking into hotkeys now, I am not even sure what style of hotkey setup I should use.

Does anyone have a hotkey chart online that I an see?

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SoaPiNuReYe
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quote:
Originally posted by Kwea:
yeah, I am just looking into hotkeys now, I am not even sure what style of hotkey setup I should use.

Does anyone have a hotkey chart online that I an see?

I think if you click on the help menu you can find it through there.

Also another thing that you may want to practice is to be constantly clicking/commanding units. There really isn't any downtime in a game of starcraft even though it may seem that way. There is always something that needs to be done, and the faster you get at the game, the better you get.

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