Hijinks Inc.

Category: Starcraft 2

  • What I’m Playing (and doing)

    What I’m Playing (and doing)

    It couldn’t last forever. After almost three months of weekly posts, I’ve gone AWOL for the past two weeks. This happens to coincide with a new role I’ve taken on at work, which involves me learning a completely new set of skills and working a lot of long hours.

    That’s not my excuse mind you. My excuse is Starcraft freakin’ 2. That game has taken over what free time I have left and consumed it within its addictive goodness. Which brings me to this:

    What Fred is Playing: Starcraft 2 Edition

    I bet you knew that Starcraft 2 was a thing, but did you know that there were even cooler things within that thing? I just blew your mind, I know. In Starcraft and Warcraft 3 there were these things called Custom games; user created maps that used gameplay derived but usually very different from the core campaign.

    The most popular was a Warcraft 3 map was called Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. One guy (the monosyllabic ‘Eul’) created the map, little knowing he was creating a new genre of games. Several standalone games have been developed based on this core concept, such as League of Legends, Demigod, and the more recent XBLA release of Monday Night Combat.

    Naturally Starcraft 2 had to have its DotA, and it does. They called it Storm of the Imperial Sanctum, or SotIS for short. Its not quite as polished as DotA was (and still is), but the developers are making great strides toward achieving their forerunners success.

    I’ve been playing a couple games every night, along with a couple marathon sessions on my weekends off with some friends. At some point in the future I’m going to write up a couple item builds for my favorite heroes and post them (ya know, so I can say I’m “researching for an article” when my girlfriend asks me what I’m doing).

    I’m hoping to get another promotion in the near future that offers some better hours, but until then, blogging might be a little hit or miss. Til next time!

  • Easy Starcraft 2 Strategy: Void Ray Rush

    Easy Starcraft 2 Strategy: Void Ray Rush

    A standard Protoss build in Starcraft 2 almost always has a basic framework of ground units to start the build. From a basic army of Stalkers and Zealots the natural progression takes you to a Robotics Bay and Immortals/Colossi/Observers. These units are almost indespensible in games that last more then 15 minutes. Any build that ignores this basic progression is banking on ending the game quick. That’s why these posts have “Rush” in the title. If you don’t succeed with the rush, and your opponent is any good at all, you’re probably screwed. That principle is never more true then with this build:

    Void Ray Rush

    Here’s the scenario. You ignore ground units completely. Your goal is to get a Stargate as soon as humanly possble, then Chrono Boost the heck out of it to get your first Void Ray up to your opponent’s base with the goal of either killing his CC/Nexus/Hatchery or killing most of his peons before he can mass enough anti-air to make a difference. This strategy primarily effective PvT and PvZ. PvP is doable, but only if he’s out of position, or if you can out build him early and quickly kill any anti-air he has.

    Also, if you play a lot of 3v3 and 4v4, you’ll see people abuse Void Rays like none other.

    Without further ado, the build:

    (more…)

  • How to change your Battle.net name in Starcraft 2

    Looking for a way to change your name in Starcraft 2? While Blizzard has stated they won’t allow vanity name changes currently, under certain circumstances you can have your name changed by contacting their customer service department.

    First, you’ll need to visit this link and fill out their email form. Choose Starcraft 2 from the product listing, Account Issues as your category, and Account Profile as your issue. It should look like this:

    Then, plead your case. (more…)

  • Easy Starcraft 2 Strategy: Protoss Rush Part Two

    Easy Starcraft 2 Strategy: Protoss Rush Part Two

    Last time I described a quick build to throw out a bunch of zealots early. That build is very situational, and while effective against newer players it can bite you in higher league play when your opponents become better at countering and mass ranged units. This build is somewhat a continuation of that first build, this time with the goal of adding a few stalkers to your army if the first push falls flat, or beefing up that first attack.

    Fast Stalkers

    This build will provide you with around 10 stalkers to compliment your Zealots for optimal ranged goodness. The build is very versatile, and it works well against all race match-ups. Terran can counter with heavy Marauders, and Zerg can counter with mass Roaches, but if you run this build correctly they won’t have the numbers to make a difference, and your Zealots should be able to take care of them in short order.

    (more…)

  • Easy Starcraft 2 Strategy: Protoss Rush

    Starcraft 2With the Zerg rush so common it’s become a meme, the Protoss don’t get the early game respect they deserve. If you’re new to Starcraft, or its been a few years since you played competitively, these builds will push you through the newbies on Battle.net and onto better hunting grounds. I’ll start out with an old favorite of mine.

    Tri-Gateway Zealot Rush

    The goal of this build is to have three warpgates come up simultaneously, with 5-6 zealots already built. Ideally a pylon is built in a corner near your opponent’s base so you can have the other 3 zealots warp in right as the other 5 are running by. By the time they start attacking you should have another 3 en-route, and overwhelm your enemy with sheer numbers. This is a quick newbie killer, and at higher levels its an effective way to counter opponents who are rushing to 2nd and 3rd tier units. (more…)