I, uh, just impulse purchased Starcraft.

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Yeah, I know, it's old and obsolete, but so is my laptop. I got the warchest, so all the expansions are there (I think). Anything I should know before I install this one and start a game?

 

Fantastic game, you can't go wrong.

 

Enjoy! More than a decade old but still worth playing.

 

Quick question: Why would you buy the original when the 2nd is out, and has lots of players?

 

Perhaps because his laptop is obsolete. He could still meet the requirements for CPU and RAM, but the game needs a separate video card. I can't play the game either on my laptop.

 

When I get a new machine it usually spends its life being used to catch up with the previous decades releases I couldn't play on my previous one

 

the first one was better

 

It was only 20 bucks and I, uh, like to play my games in order. I could run Starcraft 2 on my desktop with ease (and will eventually get around to doing exactly that), but I plan to put this one on my laptop -- my laptop runs Ubuntu, and Starcraft supposedly runs great on WINE.

 

It is definitely worth $20 to play through - even if you're pretty good at the game, and don't have to repeat too many missions because you fail, there's about 60 total missions between the original game and the expansion. While the early ones are relatively quick, the later ones can easily take an hour or more to complete on your first try.

If you've never played them before, I say you easily have 50 hours of gaming ahead of you to run through all the missions. You'll quickly find favorite units as you progress through the game and use them heavily. For example, siege tanks rock.

 

nothing like 36 hydralisks for taking out anything in your way

 

Yup - the zerg are the exception. The best unit for them is one that is acquired fairly early. I usually roll with a group of the heavy flyers (forget what they're called - not mutalisks - the ones that only attack ground units) with hydralisks as anti-air support.

And for the protoss that's easy. A group of fully loaded carriers can plow through anything. The computer AI isn't smart enough to focus fire on one target, so they just attack the closest mini-plane that's near it instead of focusing on the carriers themselves.

 

Fall in love with hydras in the first one, then get dissapointed when you see them in the second

Hoping when Heart of the Swarm comes out that they change that!!

Get a few mates and play, the computer isn't really much of a challenge in SC1. Nothin like playing LAN like the good old days.

 

Hydras in SC2 do sick dmg but die if someone looks at them funny. I love the unit animation and sounds, it is the "essential" zerg unit. Also hoping it will get an overhaul in Swarm. Smaller, weaker, less supply and way cheaper is my hope. Zerg are supposed to swarm afterall.

 

Uhh, check the description: "4000 muscles compared to a Terran's 629". Bigger & faster thanks.

 

Play your way through all of the tutorials, so you really get a feel for the different units, and their game play against everyone.

 

AI easy in SC1? I get my ass handed to me quite regularly if I fail to put up early defenses at warp speed. And even more often a while after that, when I fail to prepare for the early onslaught part two that invariably comes right before I think it's time to do something about my defenses again.

While real pros take on the AI at two to one, three to one or even five to one odds. Man, I suck at RTS.

 

While I wouldn't go so far as to call it easy, I was never able to take on more than one computer unit at any given time.

 

In SC2, taking on more than one computer is HARD. It's a lot easier in sc1 but obviously taking on more than one is going to be difficult.

The best way to get better is to learn build orders. Continue to play against the computer until you can do them perfectly. Once you've done that, start to branch out. You need to learn to react to your opponents every move. Learn to scout. Again and again. AND AGAIN.

 

I hate scouting, I always play blind. Sometimes it works wonderfully and sometimes not. I just tend to spend to much attention on my scouting and forego anything else, like actually reacting to the scouted information.

As for multiple AIs, it all depends on difficulty. Easy AIs are well, easy and so on. SC is kinda two or even three games, the campaign is one and it is great, skirmish against the AI is one and multiplayer a third. I really enjoy multiplayer in 2 something I never did in 1. I suck and I tend to leave if hte opponent is doing something I find boring but a good SC match is a helluva lot of fun.