How are the teams balanced in a versus match with less than 8 players?

Suppose I play with 3 other friends a versus match, and would like the teams to be random.

Can I leave all characters unchosen and get a 2 v 2 match? Or the result would be random also? Perhaps all 4 survivors, or infected, or 3 v 1?

Can it be configured somehow to always balance team equally (in terms of number of players)?

From gaming Juan Manuel

• StrixVaria is correct. Playing regardless of the configuration of players in Vs, the AI will fill in blank spots. When you are in game and kill a special infected, if it comes up with "Juan Manuel killed Boomer", that Boomer was an AI boomer.

  Juan Manuel : Yes Albort, but that's not what I'm asking.

  Albort : Ah yes...I see. Now that I have re-read the question. In theory, it will split 4 people up into 2v2. Once in game, you can change it around so that it is 1v3 or 3v1, and the AI will fill in the rest........(in theory)

  Juan Manuel : What does "in theory" means? Is this what you suspect? Have you read it but not tried?

  Albort : its what i remember. but it has been a while since i last played :(
  From Albort

• From some 6-player lobby experiences, the teams have been split 3/3. I have never tried with 4-players, but I'd do one of the 4p modes instead, or Team Versus (premade groups).

  The teams are selected once you hit the go button, so if it gives you something screwed up (3v1) you can cancel searching for a server quickly and balance them out.

  From Nick T

• In my experience, it will even out the teams with the advantage going to survivors. In other words, if you have 4 players in a lobby and all go random, it will put 2 players as survivor and 2 players as infected. If you have 5 players in a lobby and all go random, it will put 3 on survivors and 2 on infected, with the next player to join filling in the vacant spot to even out the teams.

  From Hooray Im Helping

Do I need to put more focus on making armour and weapons?

How important is it to get my military squads fully equipped? I'm having a really rough time surviving any goblin ambushes.

From gaming antony.trupe

• If you're having trouble with ambushers, there are multiple defenses you can employ to defend your fortress.

  • Troops
    • This is the most flexible, but also most time intensive way to defend your area.
    • Requires dwarves, weapons, and armor.
  • Walls
    • A fixed defense, but can completely stop current goblin ambushers.
    • Requires stone (usually abundant) and masons.
  • Traps
    • A fixed defense, but it can stop most ambushes.
    • Requires stone, mechanics, and sometimes weapons.
  • A moat (or other terrain features)
    • A fixed defense, but the simplest of defenses.
    • Just miners
  • War animals
    • A fairly strong defense. Usually dogs, but more effective with bears, etc.
    • Tame animals, and an animal trainer.

  Most people combine these in some arrangement. You will need some sort of defense in dwarf fortress because you're almost guaranteed to be attached by something.

  From C. Ross

What are the popular build orders for Protoss in StarCraft 2?

I've played a lot of Protoss in the original StarCraft, but I thought I might try to play it in StarCraft 2 also. What build orders are being used competitively?

From gaming McKay

• I'm not sure if you mean openings or builds, but I'll give you both.

  For openings, most Protoss start 13 Gate (9 probes, a pylon, 4 more probes, then a gateway). From here they will usually either build another Gateway or a Cybernetics core. You can go 10 Gate into a 2 Gate rush, but its less common.

  There are a number of builds which go down these two routes:

  • 2 Gate Rush
  • 3 Gate Timing Push
  • 4 Gate
  • 3 Gate into Robo
  • Tech into Starport

  Since Protoss revolve around gateway units, its common to refer to Protoss strategies by the number of Gateways you build. Its worth noting, that with the exception of 2 gate, all Gateway based builds involve turning your Gateways into Warpgates (Learned at the Cybernetics Facility).

  2 Gate Rush usually involves walling off your Main or your Natural with your first two Gateways and building 5-7 Zealots to rush with. This helps as a defense against any counter rush. This early rush style latter will rely on using Warpgate technology to warp in units past that wall. This early rush banks heavily on Zealot's superiority to small numbers of other tier 1 units. This is most effective vs Fast Expand strategies. It also allows for an earlier expansion if you block off your natural.

  3 Gate Timing push can involve either an early Cybernetics Core (preferred) or out of a 2 Gate style build. Given the high build speed based around Chronoboost and Warpgates, this build relies on building a very nice tier 1.5 army composed of Zealots, Stalkers and Sentries. This is a very standard opening for most Protoss players as it builds a very powerful army right at the start of the midgame. Try to remember to build Sentries as they are key to this build and Chronoboost your Warpgate technology.

  4 Gate is the natural extension of 3 Gate allowing for a more powerful mid game push (possibly as a follow up to an earlier 3 Gate). This is the logical alternative to 3 Gate into Robo as a Protoss base can support 4 Gateways of continuous production or 3 Gateways and a Robotics Facility. 4 Gate can then move to Robo with the extension of an expansion or move to Templar tech. Templar tech is useful for Terran Bio assisted by Ghosts as the Templar can "snipe" the Ghosts, where as Robo is more effective against Terran Bio or Zerg Hydra/Roach

  3 Gate into Robo rose up as a response to early Roach pushes at the beginning of Beta. This usually involved building the first gateway and then immediately teching to Robo before adding on additional Gateways. This provided for the Immortal timing push, which was a strong force backed up by an Immortal. Since the Roach nerfs, and other changes, its more common to build the Gateways first and add on the Robo later as a tech to Colossus. The colossus gives this strategy an advantage vs Terran Bio or Roach/Hydra Zerg builds.

  Tech to Starport builds grew out of early Void Ray rushes. Since those strategies cannot be maintained, a more common move is to instead build Phoenix out of the Starport and use graviton beam to destroy high priced units. These builds usually involve getting a number of Phoenix early and then bringing them along for a 3 Gate timing push. The delayed push is bolstered by being able to remove enemy units from the board. This is especially effective vs Terran mech.

  Finally, it is worth noting there are a number of cheese builds. These revolve around hiding a Dark Templar shrine or Starport for Void Ray. While they are not sustainable builds, they are worth mentioning.

  Note I use the terms:

  Tier 1 to indicate: Zerglings, Zealots, and Marines.

  Tier 1.5 to indicate: Stalkers, Sentries, Roaches, Banelings, Marauders, and Reapers.

  McKay : Nice. Well done again.

  tzenes : I possibly spend too much time playing/watching/thinking about Starcraft 2

  Tomas Lycken : "Possibly"...? ;)

  tzenes : @tomas ;_;) ....

  wormintrude : Hats off to you sir!
  From tzenes

• In addition to Tzenes' excellent answer, you might want to check out this wiki; there you have:

  • 1 Gate Core
  • 10/10 Gate (vs. Protoss)
  • 2 Base Robo (vs. Zerg)
  • 2 Gate in base (vs. Protoss)
  • 2-Base Zealot/Templar
  • 4 Gate Push
  • 4 Warpgate Rush
  • Immortal Rush (vs. Zerg)
  • Korean 4 Warpgate All In (vs. Protoss)
  • One Base Colossus (vs. Terran)
  • Photon Cannon rush
  • Wall-In at Natural

  And a general strategy for Protoss' build orders

  From Juan Manuel

• 1 Gate Fast Expand vs. Terran is more and more popular lately (according to TeamLiquid.net) I have had amazing success rate with it in gold/platinum

  But seriously if you are looking for SC2 Builds: goto liquipedia

  http://wiki.teamliquid.net/

  From Zach Lysobey

Should I get a laptop or a PS2 for playing recent games?

I'm planning to buy either a laptop or a PS2, and I want to know which one is better for playing games released between 2005 and 2010.

If I buy a laptop, I will use it mainly for playing games, and a little for browsing.

I do not have a television, but I can afford a computer monitor for a PS2.

From gaming Onnesh

• This depends entirely of what you like more. I don't like console, so for me a Laptop works best. Furthermore you can do "more" things with a LapTop (writing, surfing, emails...).

  Additionally to Browsergames you can also play classic games on a laptop (assuming you buy one that is equally cheap as a PS2 + Monitor).

  Thus I'd start with a Laptop.

  As already stated somewhere else, a desktop computer usually gives better performance for an equal amount of money and can be upgraded easier.

  Especially the last point is what makes a desktop interesting. Depending on the money you have, you can upgrade parts of it whenever you can afford it. This is not answering your question, but I think worth an advice.

  From StampedeXV

• My subjective answer is a laptop as you can do more than game with it. Especially if you dont have a TV.

  From ccook

• You haven't mentioned what games you would like to play nor a budget. A PS2 is what, like $40 now? A gaming laptop (a very bad combination of PC hardware IMO for value/performance/experience reasons) is like $700+ at the minimum?

  Looks to me you would prefer a current-gen console. They're right in the middle of of that price range and they totally play games of that era you mentioned with less hassle than the lap-burning, fan churning laptop and the graphics you expect to see of games from 2005-2010.

  StampedeXV : I guess he wants a laptop in the 200-300$ range. Which would be in the same range as a PS2 + monitor. Result: Playing only old games (but that's the same on PS2)
  From crazysim

• A good laptop might be able to emulate a PS2 (I don't know if there are good emulators, though), plus you can play PC games and do other stuff with it. However, I recommend buying a Dekstop PC + Monitor instead, you'll usually get something more reliable and probably even with better performance for the same money. (Just to note why I say this, my notebook's GPU-RAM is broken and now I can't play without lots of Pixel errors. The graphics card of a notebook can't be replaced so I have to replace the whole thing, while a Desktop PC can easily be fixed and upgraded for a while)

  ccook : Which laptop do you have? This is certainly not true for all laptops.

  Tobias Kienzler : @ccook: You are right, there are exceptions, but aren't notebook GPUs on-board usually?

  ccook : Yes, but I was referring to the series of technical problems. Gaming laptops generally don't though? And most would be warrantied?

  Tobias Kienzler : @ccook: Warranty is only 2 years which are over faster than one likes
  From Tobias Kienzler

• One major pitfall to your question is that the games available on a laptop (PC) are in some ways significantly different to those available on a PS2. Consoles offer a different gaming experience as well as different games.

  In the end the decision is yours, but I am torn between my laptop and my little brother's XBox. A console is a significant investment for me, since I need to have a laptop for college in any case. A console requires me to buy a TV/Monitor, which is several hundred dollars that I wouldn't have to spend otherwise. The positive of a console is that I can turn it on and off very quickly and I can use my laptop simultaneously. PC games also tend to be a bit cheaper.

  Really, it comes down to preference, but I prefer a PC because I can't afford the $300-$500 it would cost to get into consoles, given that I have and need a PC.

  From Mechko

Message from my university IT people explaining why Starcraft II wont work on campus, does this sound plausible?

Is changing how the game is hosted even an option ? I haven't seen anything related to this on the SC forums. Right now any multiplayer game I joins lags out and I get dropped right away..but the games do at connect at least, they are just unusably laggy.

Thanks!

Chandler,

The cause of the poor performance for Starcraft 2 is that the residence networks, and wireless, are setup so no device can be a server, it will not allow any incoming traffic. If you are able to change the setting from hosting the game on your local computer to host the game on battle.net it may resolve the problem.

Let us know if you have any questions.

[revoked]

Technical Support Representative

From gaming Chandler

• Yes, that sounds very plausible. It's the same reason you probably can't ssh into your own computer, even from another machine on campus. A novel solution would be to tunnel out of your network and accessing the internet through said connection. The issue is that the firewall should block any connection to your computer that the machine didn't initiate, so if you hide those initiations through something like an active connection to DynDNS it might work, but I'm not sure. I also don't know the specifics on how you would try that.

  However, this should not be an issue for people playing over the same network (like a single campus wireless network, not two different wifi spots on campus) or joining a game, just hosting, so if you can't join a game hosted by someone else, on an outside network, IT is probably lying to you.

  Chandler : so ya the results are the same no matter if I'm hosting or not, I'm able to connect but then I lag out. So at least some connections are being made. If there's any sort of diagnostics or tests you think I could do on my side of the network to probe this further let me know, I'll get you the results. I looked at a wireshark dump from a game and it seems to me like everything is getting through the network just at throttled speeds.

  Mechko : are you on wireless or lan? most places have much better lan speeds.

  Mechko : I think speedtest.com or something of the sort willtell you what your max speed is.
  From Mechko

• My guess is that it is something that your uni IT people have decided to implement. Where I work on-campus we are able to log into and play sc2 (and most steam games) without any problems (i'm not going to say which uni it is either).

  From Albort

• If you are able to join, it is not due to the restriction of incoming connections.

  Three main possibilities:

  1. The latency of your network connection is to high (ok, that is what lag means). This might be due to some filters in the university (i.e. they scan for P2P packages) which would increase the latency, or you are playing on servers very far away from you. (other possibilities are also possible of course)
  2. Your computer is too slow.
  3. The bandwidth provided for each client is not enough to play (ok, this is pretty unlikely)
  From StampedeXV

• My guess is "no". If you can connect to games at all, then it's not incoming traffic. Your packets are getting all the way to Battle.Net and back.

  What I think is really the issue is that Blizzard has said that they don't allow too many connections from one IP address, and because all computers on campus are connecting, probably from a single IP address or maybe a handful. Too many people are playing StarCraft, and so you're getting dropped because Blizzard can't handle the load of so many people from the same IP.

  StampedeXV : Why should Blizzard care how many clients from the same IP connect? There is (AFAIK) no additional effort for the server side if multiple clients from same IP connect.

  McKay : I think there is, specifically with what ports they're talking to? I don't know why they care, just that they do.
  From McKay

Glitch or Working as Intended in Starcraft2

I notice when I select a group of battle cruisers in Starcraft 2, and choose the Yamato Cannon action, only one of them fires it. I remember in Starcraft1, the entire group would fire YC. Is this a glitch? I have the OSX version.

From gaming Jin

• This is intended and is referred to as "Smart Casting", and it makes it easier to micro manage your units. In Starcraft 1, you would often over cast your spells. For example, if you had a selected group of High Templar and you casted psionic storm, every single one of your templar would cast psionic storm in the same spot, which is a waste of energy.

  It's much more efficient to just press the hot-key of the unit's spell.

  As a note, be careful about holding shift before casting any spell. If the unit is doing anything before you queue the spell, the unit will not cast the spell until the previous action is done.

  For example, your BCs are sitting there, and then a swarm of mutas attack you. You press and hold shift to queue up yamato cannons, but wait! your BCs started auto-attacking before you could give the yamato cannon command. Now they completly ignore the yamato cannon order until all mutas are dead. This same problem exists for all other spell casting units.

  Andy : Is there a way to tell the other BC's to fire their cannon? IIRC, you can't tab between BC's - is there any way other than manually selecting each one?

  RodYan : Yes. 1) Select all your BCs, 2) Press the Yamato cannon hotkey ('Y' I think), 3) click on the enemy target. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all BCs have fired. This is much easier if you hold the "shift" button down, but you will probably run into the issue I mentioned above. Better to not hold shift and just press the button over and over again.

  Jin : @RodYan, thanks. I guess it makes sense. The only time I do a group action is to use multiple BCs to take down a base or mothership. I find a burst of combined YC is more effective. I'll have to get used to the clicking...
  From RodYan

How do I get the "Zergling Rush" achievement in StarCraft 2?

I'm trying to get a lot of the battle.net achievements, but some of them seem quite difficult.

Specifically, "Zergling Rush" the 20 zerglings in 255 seconds achievement

From gaming McKay

• It varies between the players themselves as to whether or not rushing is "cheese" or not. A popular (or if not popular, at least viable) zerg rushing build (on Steppes of War, for instance) is 6 pool.

  I'm not sure if they are trying to encourage so-called "cheese" builds, but to get that achievement, you definitely have to do some non-standard build order (and if you want to call that cheese, then by all means).

  McKay : I'm merely calling it a cheese build, because it isn't sustainable. [Many](http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/359/what-build-order-should-i-use-for-zerg-in-starcraft-2/363#363) would call a 10 pool a rush, and it would definitely hurt economically. But a 8 pool? 6 pool? That's even rougher.
  From Raven Dreamer

• I do believe that it's not so much to promote cheese builds as just to reward a player for doing something really really really hard.

  It is very unlikely that anyone, once earning this achievement, will think to themselves, "Hey, I will now do this for every single game I play ever!"

  Rather, they'll switch to more reliable tactics after it.

  From Justin L.

• I pulled it off by doing a 14 hatch, 15 pool and then rushed queens and zerglings. I did manage to make 20 by the 255 second mark.

  With a 6 pool build order you should hit 20 zerglings at 4:05. Put your first 6 on minerals, morph pool asap. Leave the remaining 5. Morph overlord at 100 minerals. Spam zerglings as your larva comes up.

  McKay : Maybe you have better micro than I do, but I couldn't pull that off.

  McKay : Your second idea probably would work, sadly, I can't try that again. The achievement won't pop up.

  tzenes : Did you do it and it didn't pop?

  McKay : Yeah, last night I tried specifically that. It took like 4 or 5 times trying, because I always made a small mistake (like forgetting to have enough overlords or something), but even when I executed your 14 hatch 15 pool method as good as I can given my micro abilities [which aren't that bad?] I still didn't get it in time.

  McKay : I didn't try your 6 pool thing. It was added after I earned the achievement? I can't try it again, because I won't earn the achievement again.

  tzenes : watch the replay its 4:15

  Davy8 : Do you have a replay of the 14hatch 15pool? You said you rushed queens and lings but even with building the hatch right next to my main and overall decent timing queens didn't pop until 4:35. I think a couple seconds could be shaved but I don't think any more than 10-15 secs. I also tried without the queens. Pool and hatch finished at 3:43 for me. Max let's say that was down to 3:30. With 24 sec for lings to pop and 15 sec for larva pop, the latest larvae would have to be at 3:51. Assuming it got caught at the end of cycle (not sure how the timing is affected when you're at 3)[continued]

  Davy8 : you'd at most get 2 larvae from each hatch for 4 more total, and 4 when the 2nd hatch finishes, so 8 larvae = 16 lings. Unless the achievement is to get 20 started and not finished? That I could maybe with absolutely perfect timing.

  tzenes : @Davy8 this was a long time ago, so I don't have the replay anymore. I could try to get another one, when I have some time

  Davy8 : @tzenes np. I generally agree with almost everything you say here about SC2 but this particularly seemed impossible to me. I'm hoping that it is true because that means there's something big I'm missing that I could learn. Maybe you were measuring real time and not gametime?

  tzenes : @Davy8 I think everything I did was in game. I know I did a replay with 6 pool which I talk about in the comments and I had specific timings on. I may have written the 14hatch 15 pool from memory though
  From tzenes

• Here's what I finally got to work:

  • 8 Pool
  • 7 Overlord
  • As soon as pool completes:
  • Queen
  • Zerglings x 3
  • As soon as queen spawns, spawn larvae on the hatchery
  • When money isn't a problem anymore, kill a drone for the extra 1 supply for 2 zerglings
  • Keep building zerglings until the achievement pops up.

  In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have built that 8th drone. He probably just barely pulled his weight before the time limit, and I would have rather started the spawning pool that much sooner, which would make it 7 Pool, 6 Overlord

  Michael Herold : I'm not familiar with the shorthand used for build orders. Could you explain what "8 Pool" and "7 Overlord" mean?

  Matthew : @Michael: "8 Pool" means "After I hit 8/10 supply, build a spawning pool". This will bring you down to 7/10 supply, so "7 Overlord" means you spawn an overlord directly after your spawning pool.
  From McKay

• With a 6 pool build order you should hit 20 zerglings at 4:05. Put your first 6 on minerals, morph pool asap. Leave the remaining 5. Morph overlord at 100 minerals. Spam zerglings as your larva comes up.

  this works perfectly... tested and completed...

  u start with 6, wait for 200 minerals grab a spawning pool, save up for overlord... grab a overlord (total 2 now for 18 food) u have 5 drones remaining,

  keep spawning zerglings... right after overlord... u will make it in time just nicely...

  From BabyOxide

• Its more to get new players to understand how fast things can be done and to be ready for it ;>

  From Potho