Best place to discuss StarCraft (and some other questions)

[Poker Plan]

I've read quite a bit about this game and I will probably buy it soon. Before I do so, I have a few questions:-

Which is the best dedicated forum to disucss this game? Is there an official forum, or a better independent one?

How many players still play this game online? (I understand that it's a bit of an old game now?)

How long (typically) does an online game take? (I ask, because I would probably play at lunchtimes, on my laptop.

Many thanks for any info (including any good links you may know of) on this game.


Cheers,
Ian

[Suigin406]

heh, it's never too late to get into starcraft...googling will turn up tons of sites with video and strat forums, so u won't have any problems finding help...

games really can vary...could end from an initial rush, maybe last up to an hour (just my experiences)...

tbh, i don't still know how many people play on battle.net because when i play now, it's usually with friends, so i haven't kept up with the traffic...

[Poker Plan]

Many thanks for the info. Looks like a really in-depth game to get into.

[chrusher97]

there are still tons of players online, however you may find that the average skill lvl of the players is very high. An average game takes 15 minutes.

Stay away from the official forums they are full of noobs. Some good forums are teamliquid.net , gosugamers.net, and sclegacy.com Probably better to do mostly reading first rather than posting.

[EscapePlan9]

I second the Teamliquid.net suggestion.

[Poker Plan]

[ QUOTE ]
there are still tons of players online, however you may find that the average skill lvl of the players is very high. An average game takes 15 minutes.

Stay away from the official forums they are full of noobs. Some good forums are teamliquid.net , gosugamers.net, and sclegacy.com Probably better to do mostly reading first rather than posting.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cheers for the pointers. Will check out the info tonight. I like the sound of 15 minute average playing time.

I take it that it runs OK on XP? I read the specs and it only mentions the older OS's. (Which is good news as it should run OK on my P7010 laptop)

[Capitan23]

If your just starting to play online now, your going to get your ass handed to you by the gosus who've been playing it for 5 years.

[blackize]

[ QUOTE ]

If your just starting to play online now, your going to get your ass handed to you by the gosus who've been playing it for 9 years.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[Artsemis]

The single player missions are pretty good for learning the mechanics of the game -- they go through the mining process and building structures. After the first few missions cover that, quit if they're boring and fire up a 1 vs 1 comp. and experiment with your race of choice... the most basic differences:

Terran: 1 mineral harvester occupied during whole process of making a building, easiest to learn but hardest to master, buildings can lift-off and move to new location, buildings burn once low on hit-points.

Protoss: harvesters warp-in buildings and takes just a second (one unit could build every building you have easily, once it starts warping in you can leave it alone), units and buildings have shields, generally the strongest (but most expensive) units.

Zerg: 1 harvester morphs into one building and that harvester is lost, generally the weakest (and cheapest) units (best used in swarms of large numbers), units regenerate hit-points slowly.


There's tons of other details but if you've never played, that's the basics that may help you decide what race to start with. On an aside, while Terran is the easiest to learn, they are also the hardest to master due to the large amount of micro-management that can be used mid-combat.

[Monster207]

gosugamers.net is the best place for replays.. if ur just starting watch some reps.. biggest rule is a ton of scv's and spend ur money all the time.. just try and stay active throughout the whole game. Let me know if u start playing online, great game and I play quite often