Starcraft Strategy: Micro Tips and Tactics
Starcraft, the incredibly popular real time strategy game released by Blizzard Entertainment, set in a dark sci-fi world, is one of the world’s most recognizable strategy games. Few veteran gamers have not at least heard of this game, and many people (including me!) worldwide have played this amazing PC game. It is especially popular in South Korea, where there are even TV stations that carry professional matches. Now, there is several types of gameplaying styles and strategies in Starcraft, and one such tactic is called ‘micro’ or ‘micromanagement.’ I’ll be the first to tell you that micro is not easy to pick up at first, but is can be learned with time and effort while playing Starcraft. Micro is used to refer to a gameplay style in which players concentrate on actively controlling each of their units, concentrating on moving them and fighting with them each, which often requires a lot of clicking and can be very time consuming if not done right. However, being able to manage many soldiers and vehicle troops while still being able to control what is going on with your armies resources and positioning is vital to success in game. Learning how to micro effectively is essential to at least maintaining a slight amount of success while playing Starcraft on Battle.net or against friends on LAN games.
Now, at first, micro in Starcraft may seem quite difficult to gamers just seeing this style of play. It may resemble a bunch of frantic clicking and pointing randomly, and not too of any particular style of gaming. Before you get confused by this seemingly random clicking and moving, and the frantic fast paced gameplay, take a step back, and try to learn what is actually going on. Basically, the idea is to control your units better than your opponent does, and take advantage of how different units perform in the game of Starcraft, to the best of your knowledge. It may appear to be mindless clicking, but there is actually a science behind it.
If you go to YouTube.Com or another popular video site, and go and do a search for ‘Starcraft Micro.’You should find videos onYouTube of players pulling off some ridiculous micro, and some very informative micro videos of how to micro in certain situations. Watch these ‘how to’ videos, and notice the different tactics players use to often defeat much stronger or more numerous enemies by utilizing micro tactics. These videos are often a great resource for learning how to pull off certain attacks and moves. Try and learn some of these, although they certainly take practice.
Here is one ridiculous video of uber mutalisk-micro from Jaedong.
One of the important concepts in Starcraft micro is, when fighting, to take those units that are getting damaged, and pull them back behind your healthy, good units, thus protecting them from close combat and ranged attacks. You’ll see this happen a lot, in many micro situations. Movement is key in micro, and is often mistaken for mindless clicking-but actually is done for a reason. The more you can learn about micro, and how to do it, the more you will understand when you see a gamer ‘microing’ on Starcraft.
If it all feels a little bit hard to understand and pick up, take heart. It may seem hard at first, and, well, it actually is! Fast reflexes, and quick thinking is vital to pulling off micro. Keep on practicing, and keep on watching how to videos of micro and you may eventually be able to pull off some of those crazy moves in Starcraft as well. Game on!
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It seems like Jaedong’s mutalisks are immortal. Only 1 died out of all the things he slaughtered!