General

*     Battle.net Chat Channels have been added! Players can now join others in both public and private channels.

o         Added in-game chat bar command to whisper to other players. Using the “/w” command will open up a list of available friends, party members, chat channels, and other players within your current game.

o         Added Battle.net option to auto-join previous private channels.

o         Added Battle.net option to prevent chat channel text from appearing in in-game chat display

*     A new Master League has been added! This league now represents the highest tier of players.

*     Customizable Hotkey Support has been added.

*     Stalemate Detection has been added. This will end the game in a tie for all remaining players if no players have income, production, or destroyed structures for three consecutive minutes. A countdown timer will now appear when the game detects this scenario.

*     An Extreme graphics option is now available. Players can now configure screen space ambient occlusion.

9 Pylon
12 Gateway
14 Assimilator
16 Pylon
16 Cybernetics Core
18 Assimilator
Start saving Chrono Boost for Warp Gate Research
20 Twilight Council
22 Pylon
22 Gateway
24 Dark Shrine
24 Gateway
24 Warpgate Research

You should be able to get 3 Dark Templars out at around 5:00 (~7:00 ingame time). At this point, Dark Templars should be quickly moved to the opponent’s mineral line. Once there, they should proceed to attack enemy workers. Against Terran and Protoss opponents, it may be beneficial to have one Dark Templar attack a spot away from the mineral line, to force the opponent to use Scanner Sweep or send over their Observer. This will help protect your Dark Templars near the mineral line.

Smart opponents who lack detection will usually counter attack your base immediately once the Dark Templar attack begins. If this happens, you must use your best judgment to proceed. If you think you can destroy your enemy’s base before he destroys yours, do so. Most often that not though, you will want to pull back some of your Dark Templars to help defend. Again, the amount you will want to pull back is up to your discretion, although generally taking 2 back to defend and leaving 1 to harass is the best way to go.

Tips:

• While applying pressure with your Dark Templars, make sure to keep building Warpgates, expand, etc.
• Transitioning to High Templars for mid to late game works well with this build.
• Even when your opponent gets detection, occasionally sending Dark Templars to harass is a great way to slow down an opponent’s macro, cause fear and frustration, and have them over invest in detection.

Almost all build orders are a rough estimation and can usually be adapted depending on your enemy’s actions. ALWAYS scout your opponent and adjust your build accordingly.

Scouting

The most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Void Rays, and to protect yourself from ANYTHING in the game, is to SCOUT. Many players, especially new ones to StarCraft 2 or RTS games in general, simply will not scout, or scout too late. You need to be in your opponents base fairly early in order to see what he is doing, especially if he’s going for a rush. There are several things you can look for to help determine if your opponent is going Void Rays:

1. Early Gas: Void Rays cost a lot of gas, and most Protoss builds dictate an Assimilator at around 13 or 14 supply. If your opponent is warping an Assimilator in before then, this is a huge warning that the player will be teching very quickly, and very likely to Void Rays. If you want, you can even build a Refinery with your scouting SCV on his second gas to slow down his gas collection!
2. Pylon / Gateway / Cybernetic Core Wall Off: If your opponent has completely blocked off his choke with any of these buildings, it’s because he doesn’t want you to see something. And more often than not, it’s a Stargate.
3. Only Zealots: If for some reason you can’t scout your opponent (or if you’ve been chased out his base), and you see him with a group of Zealots without Stalkers and Sentries, your opponent is saving gas for something. Most Immortal push builds will not produce only Zealots and this is a huge sign that your opponent is going for Void Rays.
4. Certain Maps: You are much more likely to see Void Ray rushes on maps with short air distance between bases such as Desert Oasis and Scrap Station.

Defense

Scouting is only half the battle though; once you have determined your opponent is rushing Void Rays you still need to do something about it.

Apply Pressure

One of the best things a Terran player can do if they know their opponent is teching to Void Rays is to apply pressure. The reason for this is quite logical: if the Protoss player is teching extremely quickly and saving resources (especially gas), he will not have many units to defend himself with. You have a window of opportunity to attack him when he’s vulnerable giving YOU the advantage; when that window passes and your opponent is creating Void Rays, you will lose that advantage.

This pressure will come from Marines, Marauders, and Hellions, depending on your build. If you were planning on going a 2 or 3 Barracks build, you will only be using Marines and Marauders. Marines have a higher DPS and are mathematically more efficient than Marauders in this type of attack and should make up the majority of your force. If the Void Ray gets out, Marines are also your only unit at this point to stop them. However, mixing in around 2-3 Marauders with their Concussive Shells upgrade will be extremely useful in order to deal with Zealots (the only unit he will probably have). If you were going a quick mech build, you will want to produce a few Hellions (also excellent at kiting Zealots).

Timing the pressure attack can be slightly difficult. You will want to have the largest force possible attacking his base right before he gets his Void Ray out. You will want to continously scan the Protoss player with your Orbital Command energy in order to know the right time to attack.

Spotting

If you don’t think applying pressure will work, or would like to play more defensively, you will need to gain as much vision of the map as possible. If the Protoss player attacks when you are out of place, the results can be catastrophic. The main reason for this is that Void Rays need a target to charge their beam on in order to do their maximum damage; if they find a solitary building at the edge of your base to attack, they will be able to charge to full damage even before you can attack them. If your units are in position to deal with Void Rays, their threat is reduced significantly. There are several things you can do to spot the Void Rays before they reach your base:

1. Surround: Position a few Marines around your opponents base. As he moves his Void Rays out you may be able to spot their direction.
2. Xel’Naga Watch Towers: Self explanatory. Get a unit on each!
3. Intuition: There will be times when you may think Void Rays are nearby. Follow your gut and scan to check!

Combat

You have several options when dealing with Void Rays. One of the best ways is to mass Marines and upgrading Stim Packs. When engaging Void Rays with your Marines, you will want to Stim and focus fire each Void Ray down individually. If you have a large group of Marines, make sure to move the group closer to or even under the Void Rays in order to make sure all Marines are within attack range. If you scout the rush and are constantly building Marines, you should have no trouble taking out the Void Rays.

Turrets can help, but be careful about how many you make and where you position them. Void Rays can rip through Turrets very quickly if they are fully charged. Placing 2-3 around your mineral line is your best bet.

It is possible to tech to either Ghosts (for EMP) or Vikings, both of which will help tremendously. If you have gone a 3 Barracks / Ghost Academy build, your Marines and a nicely placed EMP should demolish any Void Rays. If you were building Tech, Vikings do extra damage against Armored units such as Void Rays and can kite them very well with their insane range; they should be produced immediately (do not risk getting a Reactor). Ghost and Viking timings against Void Rays can be tight though, and practice may be needed.

9 Pylon
12 Gateway (Scout with Probe)
14 Assimilator
16 Pylon
18 Cybernetics Core
19 Zealot
23 Pylon
24 Stalker
25 Research Warpgate Technology
27 Gateway
28 Sentry
30 Gateway
30 Gateway
31 Proxy Pylon

The build is fairly straightforward from this point on. Once your Warpgate research has completed, you will want to continuously warp in units at your proxy pylon outside of the enemy’s base (your unit composition should be based around whatever you scout your enemy making). Move your army into the enemy’s natural expansion. If you find his army at his expansion and have the superior force, Forcefield his ramp with your Sentry to block off reinforcements and engage. If you don’t find his army at the expansion, send a unit or two up his ramp to check the size of his force. If you don’t think you can win the fight, continue to warp in units until you feel safe to engage.

On some occasions, you may find that your opponent has scouted your 4 Warpgate Rush and  invested in a substantial amount of static defense such as Bunkers, Spine Crawlers, or Photon Cannons. In this situation, it’s best to abort the rush and immediately expand to catch up in economy unless you’re sure you break through.

Tips:

• Feel free to use your Chrono Boost however you see fit, but make sure to save 50 energy to Boost your Warpgate Research twice.
• If possible, do not let your opponent scout your third and fourth gateway: place them after you’ve killed their scout, hide them in a corner of your base, etc.
• As a general reference, Gateways placed when WarpGate Research is at 50% completion will complete at around the same.
• It’s generally a good idea to place a second proxy Pylon at a different location just in case one is scouted and destroyed.

Almost all build orders are a rough estimation and can usually be adapted depending on your enemy’s actions. ALWAYS scout your opponent and adjust your build accordingly.

Cheat codes can only be used in single-player mode by pressing the enter key within the game and typing in the codes as shown below within the console.

Caution: Before using cheat codes it’s important to understand that using them will prevent additional achievement gains you might have earned through normal play until either a new campaign is started or a prior save is loaded (one from before the use of the first cheat).

*Unlike other cheat codes, using the Easter Egg Cheat Code, “OverEngineeredCodPiece” will not prevent achievement earning.

Please note: All of these cheat codes have been added deliberately to the game and unlike third-party hacks or cheats won’t flag an account for suspension.

General

New game categories have been added to filter Tower Defense and Tug of War custom maps.

Balance

TERRAN Thor This unit will now prioritize attacking ground combat units over Medivacs.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a desync that could occur when trying to watch replays that had a dependency on bank files.

My Documents/StarCraft II/Account/(your account number)/(more specific numbers)/replays.

Load up the game, access the replay screen on Battle.Net by clicking the replay button.

and you should see the newly downloaded replay(s).

This review is ‘old’, and most of you guys are already playing starcraft 2. But there are still so many people wondering ‘Is it worth buying?’, then let’s check out the review from Gamespot. It will help you make up your mind.

“Some sequels radically reinvent what has come before; others simply buff up a formula that already soars. To suggest that Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty does only the latter and not the former would be to sell short the fresh ideas and exciting gameplay that makes this superb real-time strategy sequel so enjoyable. This package delivers more than simple fun–it serves up incredible amounts of variety, from the cinematic and multifaceted campaign to the competitive and tightly balanced multiplayer. You might scoff at the fact that the game only includes a single campaign and, perhaps, at the high price point (the game retails at $59.99; $10 higher than the average PC game). But these are nitpicks, forgivable quibbles in a high-quality game that provides plenty of bang for the buck. Starcraft II is the natural next step for the series: it both embraces and updates the core components that made the first game a huge hit while layering on important features that give the game endless replay value, both online and off. This is one of the finest real-time strategy games in years, and whether you’re new to the genre or have been studying Protoss build orders for the past decade, there’s something here to delight you.

The campaign is the first of many of these delights. You may have heard that Starcraft II features only a single campaign: that of the human faction known as the Terrans. One of the game’s few disappointments is that the other two factions–the Protoss and the Zerg–don’t get their day in the sun, so if you’re a newcomer who wants to prove your superiority (or inferiority) online, don’t expect the campaign to prepare you for the potential onslaught. But the campaign is hardly a one-note wonder, offering loads of variety, including an entire set of missions that divulges important story elements from an entirely different perspective. Yet even outside of those devious missions, you accomplish diverse and interesting tasks throughout the story. In one early mission, lava periodically rises onto the mainland, posing a threat to any units not positioned on high ground. In another, an exploding sun causes a deadly wall of flame to steadily push you across the map. From one mission to the next, there’s an intriguing new development that keeps you devoted to seeing what surprise is waiting for you next.

Many of these missions are RTS staples: Lead these small groups of units down this linear path, defend this specific structure, and so on. Yet Starcraft II gives these tasks meaningful context. Take the very first mission, for example. It’s a very easy training mission, but one side objective has you take down holograms displaying emperor Arcturus Mengsk’s political propaganda. After destroying these displays and arriving at your objective, the citizens rise up and join you, and you get a sense of the Terran dominion’s heavy hand, as well as the peoples’ desire to be freed from tyranny. A later mission puts you in control of an enormous mech and sends you off on a fiery rampage. Controlling a single unit in an RTS for any period of time isn’t always fun, but because of how the mission is presented and its meaning within the story, this simple single-unit romp feels completely satisfying.

Of course, the story plays out in more ways than simple mission objectives. You closely follow brooding freedom fighter Jim Raynor as he struggles to fight off the threat of the alien Zerg race, topple the manipulative Emperor Mengsk from his throne, and come to terms with his own guilt over the fate of Sarah Kerrigan. If you’re headed into this sequel without any knowledge of prior events, you need not worry that you’ll be in the dark: the campaign does an excellent job of filling in backstory even as the current narrative unfolds. The plot is uncomplicated, and the dialogue is action-movie simple, but Starcraft II’s excellent cinematics, evocative soundtrack, and top-notch voice acting have a way of keeping you glued to the screen. Hero Jim Raynor is a strong but troubled man. You hear it in his resolute drawl, and the way the soundtrack signals his presence with its telltale twangs; you see it in the dark, moody way he’s so often lit. The game punctuates its most poignant and thrilling moments with fantastic prerendered cutscenes, but even the in-engine cutscenes pull you in, thanks to expressive facial animations and plenty of humorous winks and nods scattered about.

You do more than just watch cutscenes in between missions, however. This downtime is your chance to get to know the crew of Raynor’s battlecruiser, the Hyperion. In a style similar to that of an adventure game, when you click on various characters and items on the screen, you might be rewarded with a short cutscene, a clever quip from a nerdy scientist, or a broadcast from a not-so-fair-and-balanced news agency. But these interludes aren’t just for clicking and watching: You also upgrade and enhance your units and structures in important ways. By spending research points you earn on particular missions, you will gain access to permanent upgrades and new units normally associated with the Zerg and Protoss factions. However, these are either/or propositions: choosing one research option will lock you out of the other choice offered. You also earn currency to spend on other permanent upgrades or on mercenary units you can immediately summon to the battlefield. By their very nature, these options give the campaign replay value–value that’s further elevated by a few occasions on which you must make a choice during the campaign that determines the course of minor story elements. These decisions don’t just bring narrative consequences, however; they also determine which of two or more potential missions you must complete and have further impact on what units you might have access to or the enemy units you will face.

And so the campaign is certainly not an incomplete game, in spite of the focus on a single faction. The structure of the campaign provides a strong argument for playing the entire thing from the beginning all over again or, at least, from an early save game. Furthermore, the campaign is of a goodly length, lasting 15 hours or more depending on how quickly you blow through missions, how much time you spend tooling around on the Hyperion, and what difficulty level you choose. But there’s also another factor that will keep you coming back: an entire metagame in which you earn in-game achievements for accomplishing very specific tasks. Of course, such achievements are nothing new; Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, Steam, and even Blizzard’s own World of Warcraft have made good use of abstract rewards to keep players dedicated. But these achievements are woven through every aspect of the game, from the campaign to the multiplayer, and in turn, these achievements are broadcast to your in-game friends on the all-important Battle.net online service that serves as Starcraft II’s primary interface.

This Battle.net interface has its drawbacks. In order to play the game at all, you must create a Battle.net account and associate it with your game key. To earn achievements–even those in the single-player modes–you must be signed in to your account, which means always remaining online. (Fortunately, you can play the campaign as a guest when not signed into your Battle.net account, though you won’t earn any rewards that way.) And though you can indicate that you are unavailable and block other users, you cannot make yourself invisible to the players on your friends list if you aren’t in a social mood. Starcraft II is an intrinsically social experience. When friends receive achievements, you get a notification, which might drive a bit of friendly competition. You unlock and select from various user icons, which identify you to your friends and to your multiplayer rivals. You select which achievements you want to show off to anyone viewing your profile. And if you aren’t sure which of your friends might be playing, the game will search your Facebook friends list and automatically send an invite to anyone with a Battle.net account. The social integration, the achievement notifications, and the intuitive and smooth interface make Battle.net–usually–a positive way of interfacing with Starcraft II.

StarCraft II is a competitive game of the highest order, and as such, it offers a fully featured online experience that is as thrilling as it is grueling. It begins with choosing the faction that best suits your play style. Every race offers versatility within its own units, and any number of strategies could be key to your success. If you play as Protoss, you might become enamored with the ominous flying void rays, which destroy both ground and air units with a focused beam of energy. But an enemy with a ready counter (say, Terran marines) might take advantage of the void’s need to charge up before it fires. The Zerg are well known for facilitating rush tactics, but if you face a zergling rush as a Terran, flame-spewing hellions may be your answer. There are great opportunities for satisfying micromanagement with each race, whether that means using the Protoss phoenix to lift ground units into the sky or transforming soaring Terran vikings into assault walkers. Each of the three factions possesses its own strengths and weaknesses, but there are so many different ways of approaching the battle that you need to stay flexible, scout the enemy, and respond accordingly.

These units and strategies make Starcraft II very similar to its predecessor. You won’t see the drastic changes seen in the most recent Dawn of War and Command & Conquer games; Starcraft II is a highly traditional RTS. But you shouldn’t discount the tweaks, the minor changes, and the additions and subtractions that differentiate this sequel from what came before. The larvaelike Protoss reaver, for example, was jettisoned in favor of the looming colossus, a thin-legged walker that razes ground units with a buzzing beam. (A group of them climbing over a short cliff into your base is a terrifying sight.) The Terran thor is a mechanical mass of limbs and missile launchers that can take on both air and ground units. (Their unit responses also sound suspiciously like Arnold Schwarzenegger.) On the Zerg side, nydus worms allow quick underground travel, and unlike the original game’s nydus canals, they can be placed anywhere in your line of sight. Starcraft II will surely see some unit tweaks in the coming months, but even at this stage, the factions seem remarkably balanced, and every unit has an appropriate reply. You might miss your favorite units from the original, but the new ones are every bit as fun to use.

The amount of content available in online play (and in offline play in skirmish mode) is remarkable. There are dozens of maps that support up 12 players, and matches can be tailored in the usual ways–grouping players into different teams, setting the game speed, and so on. You might group up with friends and conspire to take down an all-AI team or try your hand at a desperate six-player free-for-all. However, to show off your strategizing prowess, you’ll want to get into ranked league matches, which is as easy as playing a series of games to determine which league you’ll be placed in and then inching your way to the top. If this sounds intimidating, don’t worry; you can take part in up to 50 slow-paced preliminary matches to get yourself prepared for the big boys.

If you need further practice, you can always take on the AI in a stand-alone skirmish, and numerous AI difficulty levels let you set your own pace. There are also a series of challenges designed to get you familiar with each faction’s units, as well as the intricacies of hotkeys, rush defense, and other gameplay elements. These challenges are enjoyable, testing your knowledge of proper counters and giving you a chance to learn the ins and outs of units and structures you don’t utilize in the campaign. Like every other mode, the learning curve of these challenges is smooth, rewarding novices with lower-level achievements while pushing experts to try for the top-tier rewards. You may lament the inability to further practice with friends over a local area network, but fortunately, the Battle.net interface functions smoothly, and players that cause extreme lag can be removed from matches.

Starcraft II was clearly built to run on all manner of PCs. Its system requirements are relatively low, and even at the highest settings, noticeable aliasing and some simple geometry keep it from setting a new bar for technical wizardry. Yet, it sports a wonderful sci-fi look and is filled with little details that constantly catch your eye, from buzzards scouring the dusty land to tiny civilian robots flitting to and fro. The campaign features a lovely variety of different environments, from tree-lined roadways stretching through green meadows to the charred crust of once-populated worlds. Units move with absolute fluidity, making the simple act of issuing orders a pleasure. Equally great sound effects augment the pleasure. The clicks and gurgles of the Zerg are appropriately repulsive, while the hums and buzzes of Protoss structures and units are distinctive and satisfying.

The most dedicated of the dedicated will further contribute to Starcraft II’s longevity by using the included user creation tools to develop new maps, new modifications, and even entirely different kinds of games. One such game–a top-down shoot-’em-up–is already featured within the campaign to show off the possibilities these tools bring to the table. These tools aren’t as simple to use as what you’d find in, say, Little Big Planet, but there are already a good number of custom maps and modes to download, and there are assuredly many, many more on their way. But even without a burgeoning supply of user-created content, Starcraft II would stand on its own as a true gem, providing strategy veterans with a tournament-focused online package while easing newcomers in with easier difficulty levels, offline challenges, and even a friendly introduction to competitive play. The campaign’s focus on the Terrans and a few scattered inconveniences aren’t great nuisances–not in an RTS as outstanding as this one. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is not just an old game with a pretty new face. It’s a varied and full-featured jewel that will keep you stuck to your computer chair for weeks, months, and even years to come.”