Starcraft Strategy for: Large Maps and Long Games

	This section of the strategy guide will give a step-by-step guide to the construction of bases and the over all attack plan.


	When you are playing a game in a large map (192x192 or 256x256) the most important thing to have is to have lots of workers i.e. at least 20 workers on minerals in each base (with a minimum of 2 bases). Gas is also very important. The ideal arrangement for gas is to have 4 workers for each gas geyser. It is also very important that you have all the gas geysers being gathered from. This is because once you start making large amounts of units your gas levels will drop very fast, especially if you are making mutalisks.
	
Construction guide

1. Before you start your game you should choose the appropriate races. I would strongly recommend from team melee to have 2 Protoss slots and 2 Zerg slots. In plain melee I would suggest Protoss or Zerg. Terran is also a possibility but they do not have a good balance of units to fight with so I would not recommend them

2. The first thing to do when you start your game is to get workers on minerals. Do not start gas because it is a waist of time.

3. When you have approximately 10 workers you should scout for the persons base. Once you have found his base, you should build a small amount of defense around the area where he can get out of his area to the main map. The defense should consist of at least 3 bunkers (with a missile turret to detect cloaked units) or about 8-10 Protoss cannons. Zerg is not that great for the initial defense because they need creep to build their units and lurkers take too long to make. This defense is made because it does not allow him to rush if it is against the rules and it also stops him from getting bases. This, except for small more should be the only defense you should construct. This is because large amounts of defense are a waist of minerals and can easily be destroyed by units like Guardians, Siege tanks or Reavers.

4. Though out this time of defense building you should be getting more workers.

5. The next thing that should be done is claiming at least 2 other bases and building a nexus, hatchery or command center there. When they are done you should immediately begin worker production.

6. After you get these bases started gas should be started at your main base only if there is 4 or more geysers there. Gas should be started at all bases if there is only 3 or less at each base. The best setup for gas is to have 4 workers at each geyser this will allow your workers to gather most efficiently and not waist workers at the same time. If your gas supplies become low into the game do not hesitate to build more gas.

7. Once the gas has been finished you should start on unit production and upgrades (if you are playing a team melee one person can do gas while the other person starts the unit production and upgrades). When you are setting up your unit production it should be organized so that all your ground units should be able to move freely around and through the set up and so it uses the least amount of space. The most important thing to remember is that BIGGER IS BETTER.  When you set up things you should have at least 10 Stargates, Starports, gateways etc. Also if you are using Zerg you should have at least 10 hatcheries. This is because it allows you to make units quickly. This is important because it lets you get up to the maximum amount of psi, supply or control quickly and if you mount an attack and get slaughtered you can easily remake your army. Although attacking units are very important it is also important to make units that can detect cloaked units. The best unit for this task is the Protoss observer. This is because they themselves are cloaked and are fast. These units are important to have so you can detect a terran ghost coming to nuke you. Also you can detect cloaked units like wraiths.

8. When you are deciding on what units to build you first must look at the setup of the map. If the map has long and skinny paths then a large amount of ground units is out of the question (also do you not make air to air units such as devourer or valkeries because they are a waist of money and psi). The smartest thing to do is to make air units because they are more mobile and faster. However if you are playing on a very open map in a team melee and you have lots of control or psi left it would be ok to make large ground attack units like Ultralisks in conjunction with air. The most versatile and best air unit in the whole game is the Mutalisk. This is because they can be transformed into guardians (and devourers if you have Brood War). Guardians are excellent units because they can destroy any defense without getting touched and are also extremely powerful and are excellent at killing ground units. Also Mutalisks in there own form are very powerful. The ideal situation is to have full psi before you attack.

9. Once again as with step 7 BIGGER IS BETTER. When you attack it is useless to send over a small party of 12 Mutalisks because even a small amount of defense would slaughter them. Starcraft is very much based on the philosophy that there is strength in numbers. When you attack in a plain melee you should have full psi before you attack. In team melee you should have full psi or at least 150-200 units of your main attack units (like Mutalisks or scouts) if you have 400 or more psi set towards that race. Before you attack you should have a clear idea of what you are up against. This should be done by sending observers or fast moving units like scourge or cloaked wraiths to scout the base. These small amounts of units are expendable so don't worry if they die. If the person has a large amount of defense you should obviously turn some of your Mutalisks into guardians or make Reavers or siege tanks. However if the person has a small amount of defense and you are not Zerg, you should be able do punch though the defense without any problems if you have enough units. Once you punch through his defense you should not just send your attacking units to any target. The first things you should attack are his workers and command center as well as his buildings for constructing attacking units. Attacking buildings like supply depots or pylons is a total waist of time in the beginning. This is because if he manages for some strange reason to fight your massive army off he will be very crippled so it will just be a matter of delivering the finishing blow. Also before you attack his main base you should take out all his other smaller and weaker bases so he has no mineral support coming in to help him rebuild. The last thing you should attack is his main base. 

10. Although this strategy guide gives you the main and most important instructions on how play a game of Starcraft it does not tell you all the fine details of playing. I urge you to experiment with variations in the instructions and also in developing your own attack strategies etc. 

11. If you have done everything this strategy guide has told you to do you should have no problems winning. Good luck. On more thing if you don't believe me that this strategy guide works go to Battle.net and type "/stats Jacen_Solo" and you will get your proof.

