When I first purchased StarCraft 2, I thought I was going to be able to start winning multi-player games right after I finished installing the game. Boy was I wrong! No matter how fast I would build, it always seemed like my opponent was able to build faster. In addition, it always seemed like my opponent had more units, with better upgrades than mine. It was not until I discovered a few important basic tactics that I began winning at Starcraft 2.

The first technique that helped me win was using hotkeys, most importantly for buildings. I start each game by sending my workers to collect minerals, then selecting my main base and pressing "ctrl 1". Next I build a worker by pressing the corresponding hotkey. For an example if I were Protoss and I wanted to build a probe, I would simply press "1" then "e". Likewise as Protoss after my gateways are finished building, I will select them and press "ctrl 2", setting all gateways to be group 2. Similar to the Nexus, if I want to build three zealots, I would press "2" then "z z z". This is probably the most powerful macro management skill, due to the fact that you can train reinforcements with out taking your focus off of combat.

The second basic 101 tactic that helped me win at StarCraft 2 was to constantly spend. The idea of saving up money for a massive number of forces down the line never seemed to work for me. Instead, if I would just spend like there was no tomorrow, I found myself much more able to survive being attack, as well as winning the attacks I would launch. If I were buying many units that cost a lot of gas, if I ran low on gas and was unable to afford that unit, instead of waiting I would train a unit that only costs minerals. The basic strategy I try to use is to never have more than 500 minerals and gas.

The final way I improved my StarCraft 2 basics was a tactic during combat. Combat tactics are often referred to as micro management. Often times I would face off against an opponent with the same unit as myself, say stalker vs stalker. I noticed that sometimes I would win, and sometimes I would lose, until I had an idea. When 6 of my stalkers face off against 6 of my opponents, what I will do is select all my stalkers, and have them all attack a single one of my opponents. This way the fight starts of as 6 vs 6 but before long, it is 6 somewhat weaker of my stalkers vs 5 of his. Then I have my 6 again focus fire on another one of his, then its 6 vs 4. This tactic can be further improved if I move my weakest stalker out of range when its life gets low, forcing my opponents units to either break formation and chase it, or target a brand new stalker.

Once you begin to poker francais your buildings, and focus fire with your troops, you will see a fast improvement in your skills, as well as you will be having way more fun!