Introduction to a Team Game
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the
greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they dont play together,
the club wont be worth a dime."
--Babe Ruth
When you are involved in a team game of Starcraft you are placed into one
of the many difficult situations that SC can bring you. Players of the game
of Starcraft in my opinion are judged on two levels. The first level, is
through 1v1 battles and the second level(and the level I value higher) is
their ability to play well on a team. Personally, I find that 2v2's usually
develop into more interesting games then 1v1's although exceptions do arise.
Team Games Involve More Strategy
Now perhaps it might not seem true from a base level, but considering some
facts about a team game, I might be able to change your mind. In a 1v1, you
have two things to worry about. These details are yourself, and your opponent.
In a team game, one person working alone against an opposing team will rarely
have any success against a team who works together well. The strategies are
endless.
However, some people will agree with one other fact. The hardest part of
a team game is working with your own teammates. There is some truth in this.
Normally a player is too above themselves to discuss any details during a
game of Starcraft. In a team game, a team that decides to build their own
way and go their own seperate roots are technically playing a 1v1v2.
What are the five main factors to a team game?
#1: Communication- It's not like I actually implied this fact in my previous
statements. When you and your partner are playing against another team, your
objective is to come up with a stronger plan to defeat your opponents. However,
if you don't talk to each other, it's difficult to plan anything. Consider
a team game like a large scaled war. Let us assume that you and your partner
are two generals of the army, but command different sides of the field. The
one general decides to attack the left side of the much stronger army, while
the right general decides to push back because he is more conservative. Of
course, this maneuver ends up failing miserably. However, had they communicated
and agreed to one plan of action they could of been placed into a better
position to set up their next move.
#2: Positioning- It seems interesting how I led right into this one. In a
1v1 game, positioning is very important because it will allow for you to
do some certain manuevers. However, in a team game you have to be a bit more
creative with the positioning. However, to compensate you also have the opportunity
to do more with the troops you have.
The positioning on the map also can be useful for determining some future
strategical manuevers you encounter. With superior positioning you can put
yourself into a position to gain an economic advantage by taking expansions
which are easy to defend. However, with inferior position you will either
be forced to go on the agressive to gain back some positioning(and spend
most of your effort doing this while they build up) or forced to go into
a shell and defend to get to a point where you can break out. In a team game,
containment is very difficult. However, if done? It can be one of the most
effective moves to 100% annihilate an opponent.
#3: Coordination- Even though communication is vital, another key thing is
through the execution of the manuevers that are discussed in your communication.
You will want to coordinate everything. You will want to be able to support
each other at any time throughout the game. You will want to be coordinating
attacks so they are the MOST efficient. A flanking attack is more efficient
then nailing the choke point if they play like most standard SC players.(Remember,
flanking is attacking the outsides and squeezing in on their forces.)
Expansions and every move that you execute should be detailed. If you agree
apon a plan at the beginning of the game and agree to stick with it, stick
with it. DO NOT Change unless your opponents completely understands the thought.
If forced, tell them. This will allow for both of you to readapt quickly
and easily instead of causing headaches at a point when he expects you to
have something.
#4: Economic Superiority- I also hinted a little at this one. In a team game,
minerals and gas become much more valuable. You will need to fight to gain
the most minerals and keep hold of this major point. If you do not, your
opponents will gain a better position on you(sound familiar) and ultimately
own you. Keeping yourself in a position where you can have minerals constantly
flowing and yourself constantly teching/building/doing something, will keep
you ahead.
#5: Execution- Some teams are better off at executing certain manuevers in
a game. A team needs to execute their strategy without a hitch, which also
means that they should be prepared to put themselves into a position in the
case of failure where they will still survive. Just last night, an example
of this came to me. I was playing against [OBK]Nightcloak and FatBoySr(two
friends of SC:L), and I decided to be sneaky and use my entire force to attack
[OBK]Nightcloak. However, I didn't have any troops remaining in case of a
failure. Of course, the attack failed and Night(being a smart player as he
is) counter-attacked and destroyed me. You must consider all of the alternatives
of a game of SC, you cannot neglect anything!
My hope is that this introduction and the different styles of game plans
that will be introduced will give you a better view on team play and how
to have more success. This is just the beginning of a large series to come.
-Space Dominator
-- Starcraft
Millenium - http://www.scmillenium.com
Back To Top
