The Protoss Thread

[scoop05333]

i suck vs zerg as well, lose alot to mass muta. ill try the DT rush

[ItalianFX]

A good start for Protoss, this is how I do it:

1. Send probes to middle mineral patch.
2. Click Nexus > E (to start probe).
3. Click Nexus > Right click mineral patch without a probe on it. Usually one at the extreme.
4. Click Nexus > Shift+5 to set Nexus to hotkey 5.
5. 5 > E (Make sure everytime you get 50 minerals that you are doing this).
6. When your supply hits 9, get a probe ready to make a Pylon. Perfect time to put down the pylon is when you're at 9.5 probes (meaning the timing bar is half way finished).
6a. After putting down the first pylon send that probe to scout, Shift+0 (zero) to hotkey on 0.
7. Start next probe for 10/10 supply.
7a. Pylon and 10th probe will finish almost at the exact same time.
8. Start 11th probe, CHRONO BOOST NEXUS.
9. Start 12th probe to be 12/18 supply.
10. Get your probe next to your pylon and get your Gateway down exactly at 150 minerals, send that probe back to mineral line.
10a. Click the gateway (while it's still in production) and right click the ground near your ramp or entrance to put down the rally point.
10b. Shift+4 to hotkey the gateway to your hotkeys.
10c. On bigger maps, this will be right around the time that your scout probe makes it to your opponents base (but this isn't exact and don't use this as a timing method).
11. Shortly after this, put down an assimilator right as you hit 75 minerals.
11a. Keep an eye on the assimilator (30 seconds) so that you can get 3 probes on it when it's finished. If it's close, just send 3 to it and they will wait until it pops up.
12. Put down another pylon. (You should be around 14-15 supply around here (not exact).
13. As soon as your gateway is finished, put a Cybernetics Core down (as soon as you get enough minerals also).
14. Start a zealot and CHRONO BOOST.
15. MAKE SURE YOU ARE STILL MAKING PROBES DURING ALL OF THIS.
16. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR SUPPLY SO THAT YOU DO NOT GET SUPPLY BLOCKED.
***This is pretty much where I start to deviate a little bit.
17. You can put down another gateway.
18. As soon as your cybercore finishes, click the CyberCore > G to start warpgate research. CHRONO BOOST.
19. You might have around 2 zealots right now. Start a Stalker or Sentry.
20. When the stalker or sentry pops out, Shift+2.

I'm kind of a 1a2a3a type of guy. Hotkey 3 gets my air, colossi, immortals.

This is where it gets fuzzy in my head so I won't keep going with this. I know it's longwinded, but take it step by step and practice in a custom game.

Good Luck!

Robotics Bay is good, get an observer out. Once you get a handle on them for scouting, they are very good. They can pretty much put the game into your favor with timing attacks.

For example, your opponent sends an attack your way and you hold him off. You have an observer at his base and see that he is starting a starport (Terran) or a spire (Zerg). You have a feeling that with his attack that you held off that he is pretty much hurt right now. Assuming you have somewhat of an army, you want to push out right now so that he can't take control of the air.

Other uses for observers is if you don't know what is going on, you see he has tanks (tech to Immortals > IMMORTALS ARE EASY GAME AGAINST TANKS!).

So yeah, I'm not good by any means, but these are some quick tips.

BTW, dark templar IS the nuts if you can catch your opponent offguard without any detection. 1 dark templar can destroy an entire mineral line. 2 dark templars can destroy almost anything. However, if they get detection, I have a hard time finding a use for DTs.

[giarcfrost]

Originally Posted by scoop05333

i suck vs zerg as well, lose alot to mass muta. ill try the DT rush

sentries guardian shield, phoenixs, archons are all > mass muta

[ItalianFX]

Just want to throw this out there also, in a 2nd post so that it doesn't get lost in the clutter of my previous post.

DETECTION (Units that detect). All classes have 2:

PROTOSS

Air: Observers
Ground: Photon Cannons

TERRAN
Air: Ravens
Ground: Missile Turrets

ZERG
Air: Overseers
Ground: Spore Crawlers

Know what these look like. Try not to send your observer directly into the middle of your opponents base.

I usually rally my Observer to the entrance and then when it gets there I'll inch it forward so that incase they have detection I can turn around quickly.

Another tip: Click your Observer and I think you can right click your opponents unit. This will fix the Observer onto that unit so when your opponent moves out in his mass ball of army, the observer will track right on top of it. Kind of like a satellite.

[Cueballmania]

You should make your first unit before you send out your probes

[Cueballmania]

Originally Posted by ItalianFX

Just want to throw this out there also, in a 2nd post so that it doesn't get lost in the clutter of my previous post.

DETECTION (Units that detect). All classes have 2:

PROTOSS

Air: Observers
Ground: Photon Cannons

TERRAN
Air: Raven
Ground: Missile Turrets

ZERG
Air: Overseers
Ground: Spore Crawlers

Know what these look like. Try not to send your observer directly into the middle of your opponents base.

I usually rally my Observer to the entrance and then when it gets there I'll inch it forward so that incase they have detection I can turn around quickly.

Another tip: Click your Observer and I think you can right click your opponents unit. This will fix the Observer onto that unit so when your opponent moves out in his mass ball of army, the observer will track right on top of it. Kind of like a satellite.

FYP

[21times20]

yeah you can just hold down the E key during the loading screen and click on the nexus as soon as you see it. that will start the first probe almost instantly

[ItalianFX]

I fixed it Cueball. haha I knew that didn't sound right.

I always send out my probe immediately after the first pylon. That's what the Pro's do. I guess it's a matter of preference. You see slightly different things, but if you wait for your first unit then they probably have one too and can possibly take down the probe. Not saying always. With Terran they might have their ramp blocked and then you're screwed because you don't see anything.

My first 2 placement matches I went for that early scout and the other player ended up pulling all of their workers off their line to chase me. It screws up your economy when that happens.

I like sending my workers to the line first before making my first probe. My timing goes off by a second or two if I start the 1st probe before sending to minerals.

[MaqEvil]

Originally Posted by ItalianFX

A good start for Protoss, this is how I do it:

12. Put down another pylon behind the mineral line of your opponent's natural. (You should be around 14-15 supply around here (not exact).

imo

[ZOMG_RIGGED!]

place where I can safely download some replays to learn from?

[giarcfrost]

A starting bo I use a lot is keep building probes, chronoboost your nexus as soon as you can (sometime around the 9th probe), build pylon as soon as you can at 10/10 and have the 11th probe queued up. By the time the pylon finishes you have enough for a gateway, and another chrono boost for your nexus.

[imolin]

Originally Posted by ItalianFX

I fixed it Cueball. haha I knew that didn't sound right.

I always send out my probe immediately after the first pylon. That's what the Pro's do. I guess it's a matter of preference. You see slightly different things, but if you wait for your first unit then they probably have one too and can possibly take down the probe. Not saying always. With Terran they might have their ramp blocked and then you're screwed because you don't see anything.

My first 2 placement matches I went for that early scout and the other player ended up pulling all of their workers off their line to chase me. It screws up your economy when that happens.

I like sending my workers to the line first before making my first probe. My timing goes off by a second or two if I start the 1st probe before sending to minerals.

I also scout after pylon but you do get a slight economic advantage by scouting after gateway... but it helps to find cheese early and also get in their base. Alot of players are willing to scout after gate just to get that slight boost however.

building probe before sending probes has been shown to give an economic boost, but if it ruins your rhythm go for what youre comfortable with :P. Good advice in your other post outlining the basic first minute or two of play. If you're just starting toss, this opening is extremely important to have down and you should be able to do it in your sleep (:

[imolin]

Originally Posted by MaqEvil

imo

its always good to have at least two pylons powering your buildings, having only one is just asking to have it destroyed... i like proxying later into the game then right at the start

[krimson]

Complete noob to Starcraft, so hopefully people can help me a bit.

When reading a build order and it says "9 Pylon" does that mean you are building the pylon when you are at 8 supply with 1 probe in the queue, or are you building the pylon once your probe is out putting you at 9/10 + 1 in the queue?

[ItalianFX]

Originally Posted by krimson

Complete noob to Starcraft, so hopefully people can help me a bit.

When reading a build order and it says "9 Pylon" does that mean you are building the pylon when you are at 8 supply with 1 probe in the queue, or are you building the pylon once your probe is out putting you at 9/10 + 1 in the queue?

When you look at your supply it'll say 9/10. That means 9 supply. So you'd put the pylon down when your supply shows 9/10. 8/10 would be 8 supply so if you were to put down the pylon then you'd effectively be putting it down early.

As you play more you'll realize why these timings work. They work because as you're pumping out probes, they are increasing the amount of minerals that can be produced per cycle. I think if you tried putting one down at 8, your minerals might take longer to build up and you'll be sitting there scratching your head waiting for something to do. In SC2, waiting will cause you to get behind. That's just the way I see it and think how it works.