Retreat is one of the most CRUTIAL functions of this game and one that is LEAST understood. Time after time I play vs opponents that get the edge over me and even take out my naturals but their biggest mistake is trying to go take my main with what ever forces they have left. Being on the defence it is in my intrests to fight on the most advantagouse peice of land i can so an on ramp is perfect to focus his rag tag army remains. Thats the crutial moment. he sees this as a victory for him but i see this as a huge waste of resources and a loss. people need to understand that when you knowingly send your troops into a battle that they will lose in to try and keep "pressure" on him or harass it is an il concieved plan. People need to learn when to say i have had enough. Starcraft is a mathematical game and numbers do not know what luck is. everyone starts out in the game equal. at this point in the game everyone has as much of a chance to win as the next person. and from here on out belive it or not you either lose or win your game. the enemy does what he does but it is completely up to you and your actions that will dictate the game. your choice of scouting and expanding. your choice where to take the naga towers or to destory those rocks. Every action you take uses up something. be it resources troops or time each and every one of these is very important so do not waste any. because the one with the most wins. The point of this thread is to try and teach retreat. the only other game i have ever seen it build in to teh mechanics of teh game is company of heroes and if you have played that game you will know what i am talkign about. Lets say you are pushing MM an enemy and yoru able to kill part of his forces the rest run of. you see a natural and you destroy it. you have a choice here that 90% of peopel get wrong. you can either charge up the ramp to try and finish his army and base of or you can go home. from when ever i play i see time and tiem again those reamainign troops try and fly up those ramps and get slaughtered or pitter against a force they cant win and are left to die. for what?? for another hydra kill and soem damage on a queen and units?? its not worth it. you need to play this game with numbers inmind. if i send in 1k worth or marines up that ramp will i be able to kill more then 1k or will i only killl 300 worth and get slaughtered? The point i am trying to make is that try retreating and sendign your troops back and taking the chance to expand but never send your troops on a suicide rush to "try" to kill em or hope to get "lucky". call em back heal em up and add em to your next wave. i hope this is helpful going camping so kinda in a hurry so enjoy
What if the guy up that ramp is teching to battlecruisers and hoping to whatever deity he believes in that you don't attack?
Err... if he's gaurding his ramp too much you should know what's there... Then you just expand all over the map and win because then, you can afford to trade your 10 food vs his 1 food. Too many people don't understand what Starcraft 2 is. It's not Company of Heroes! There will never be such thing as a retreat button, when you try to engage his army in the battlefield, there has to be a point of pushing out. Not only that you have to scout your opponents army before you actually engage it to see if you can take it down with your army and if not, macro and build whatever units are required to counter. Then again, you can still retreat in combat, but it depends on what your opponents have.
Math is ok in Starcraft, but count in everything. For example Player 2 has one base, one barrack and therfor only one income. Player 2 has 3 bases, 3 barracks and therefor 3 times income. While player 1 can only build up 1 marine, player 2 is able to get 3 (in equal time, at procentually equal costs). If Player 2 attacks with 3 Marines up a ramp against 1 marine and loses 2 of his with 1 surviving, its still a win for player 2! simply because of high income and low procentual unit-costs.
The point of the post is that if you send your unknowingly up a ramp, the army can get decimated. Why lecture on why you should retreat with your wounded army, when you just in the first place could get some intel of the ramp before blindly attacking? Anyways, i may have misunderstood you due to misspelling and bad typography. Starcraft 2 is as much about knowing as having the better army and economy.
Honestly, at that point you aught to be out-producing your opponent so why not charge at least some of your units up the ramp? -You find out what your opponent has left and what they are going for -You might just find that they didn't actually create a new army and you could wreck their base enough to basically win the game. You either dont value scouting/winning early.... ORRRRR you are reallly reallly cruel and just want to sweat them out a bit lol
In my opinion, you need to know when to retreat. If the enemy has superior defences to your slightly decimated army, then get the hell outta there, regroup with reinforcements, then send that base to hell =D
Lol irony! Typography isn't anything gramatical. It is an area of technical knowledge in the design industry based around the intelligent design of typefaces (Fonts), in when to use which one for which target audience to create/develop an intended effect or feel of the advertisment/design piece. Its nothing to do with spelling or use of grammar. God knows where you picked the word up, its not very well known outside of the industry! Sorry lol, had to point that out Anyway, in regards to the discussion. You can't really ever say its 'wrong' to rush a base with a dwindled army instead of retreat. Its entirely situational. Sometimes its the crucial move that will win you the game. Sometimes its you getting your forces raped. I think the real point here is "know how to scout effectively". Always think 2 steps ahead and have on overlord/observer e.t.c. set off to the side to pop in and give you the highly important intel you need at that critical point so u know wether pushing is a good idea or not.
its a question of advantage. If you see that your army has the advantage over his, then go for it. Big battles are hard to tell, i assume you have your army selected and if you see that those little green boxes are disappearing fast... back off Even if you are winning the fight, depending how fast you are owning them. If you believe that your army after the battle will come down to leaving you with only 3 stalkers, back off while you still have the advantage, because you will be reinforcing better than your opponent. Only continue if you think your remaining army is worthy of keeping pressure or finishing the game. Also, I tend to like sending half my army at their front to lure his main army out because he can tell he can take me out, but i use my other half to attack his backdoor or his expos, i move in a way to lose the least possible, do not commit to a full out attack, just cripple him little by little. This process takes several retreats. My food for thought. my food for thought.
Another thing i guess i didnt specify is that retreat should be used even before combat. if you see that your army will lose under the current conditions there is NO reason to fight at that point in time. yes maybe if you dotn fight you will lose an expantion however what is more valuable to you an expantion or the game. retreat to an on ramp and demolish em as they come up. you really do need to learn that if losses are unevoidable you need to choose what is better for you. so you can either use your troops to defend next to your natural and lose but buy time for your workers to run and your CC to float of or lose the CC but still be able to defend yourself.
This is a really good topic, knowing when to retreat is very valuable. Learning about the units and what counters them will help you figure out when your army will be able to beat the opposing army, but experience is the best teacher. Just by playing a lot and getting practice will help you know how many of your units can beat your opponent's army. The unit tester can be sweet too. For example, I took some of my SC1 prejudice into SC2 and thought Marauders would get stomped by Hydras. But I tested it and it's actually fairly even with no upgrades. If marauders stim the hydras are in trouble.
If you're running 3 bases and he's on one, I see no reason you can't continually send forces at him (while keeping at least a small standing army as backup) and accept the losses to keep him from expanding and to scout what he's got.
