Strategical Series 1.2

Micro

Micro-management, or Micro to StarCraft players, is the act of controlling units in battle to make them more effective. On one level, Micro is essential to all levels of StarCraft - there are certain things that all players simply must do if they don't want to get massacred. That includes: patrolling or using attack move when entering into a battle, keeping your forces together rather then sending them in one at a time, and retreating when the battle is going poorly. Those basic things can be accomplished by all but the most newbie of players. After that, things start to get a little more in depth. I'll go into important situations with certain micro techniques I have developed over the years to help me in battle. The situations I cover are the toughest situations a Protoss player has to micro. Everyone knows how to micro two Dragoons against a Zealot, so I'll only cover the most important scenarios.

Microing a Reaver drop

This is something that takes very low hand speed yet is still regarded by many as a defining skill of Protoss players. For a long time in my newbie days I disliked High Templar immensely and so became very proficient with Reavers as an alternative.There are a few things you must do in a Reaver drop. » 1st - the preparation - scout with an observer for likely targets wherever possible. Never send in a Reaver without pre-scouting the drop zone. Hotkey the Shuttle. Try to never bring a lone Reaver. One Dragoon is better then nothing, two Zealots is far better then one Dragoon, and a second Reaver is a little better then two Zealots. » 2nd - be careful - Never drop onto a spot that is defended. A Reaver and a Shuttle are a major investment. Never risk losing one. If the enemy has four Dragoons on your drop zone there is a good chance you can drop and even get a Scarab into his mineral line, but no way will that one Scarab be worth the cost of your Reaver, Shuttle and whatever else was in it.

“ A Reaver and a Shuttle are a major investment. Never risk losing one.”

Remember this too, if you drop beside a turret or spore the Shuttle is guaranteed dead so the Reaver and its cargo are too (though they can be landed before the turret kills the shuttle, with their escape route gone it's only a matter of time for them). Only drop onto a turret or spore if you are 100% sure that you will do enough damage to be worth losing all that, or if you have to make a desperate move to rescue the game. Dropping onto a cannon is different because it will switch to attack your land units after you drop them, so if you kill the cannon you can safely escape. » 3rd - be persistent - Just because you're careful doesn't mean you should give up if he's blocking a drop on his mineral line. A Reaver and a Shuttle are a major investment and not using them is almost as bad as losing them. Therefore try a few things: one thing is to fein an attack on his front to try to lure his defenses away from his mineral line and drop your Reaver into his mineral line as he moves to the front of his base, then run your frontal army away before it gets massacred. Another idea is to drop an undefended part of his base.

“ A decoy shuttle is good for luring away defenses.”

So what if its just an outlying pylon? If you have a speed-upgraded Shuttle as you should, it will be worth it anyways, because of Reaver range it will fire first at the defenders, and you can pick up and run away before they fire back. Repeat that a few times and your Reaver will have enough kills to be worth your while--and may even kill a building or two. Third, if one Shuttle just won't do the trick, try two. A decoy shuttle is good for luring away de