Shall We Play A Game?
There are a variety of ways to grow in skill while playing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, from progressing through the single-player campaign, to playing Challenge Missions, to taking on other players in head-to-head competition in multiplayer quick matches. But there is yet another path to global (or Koprulu Sector) domination -- custom matches against the AI (artificial intelligence).
Playing against the AI opens up a variety of opportunities to learn more about build orders, hotkeys, or even unit creation and strategies. Much like within the single-player campaign, you’ll be given the option to choose the difficulty level of the AI you match yourself against. Difficulty levels range from Very Easy to Insane. The additional options available when setting up a match against the computer are race, color, and handicap. You’ll also be able to control the speed at which the match plays out, either to allow yourself more time to build and scout or to speed things up to test your APM (actions per minute).
When the match is over and you’ve won your match (of course you’ve won, right?) you can take a look at your replay and work on improving for your next battle.
So how do you go about setting up a match? It’s simple.
- While in Battle.net you can either choose Single-player or Multiplayer. (By choosing Multiplayer you may just earn an Achievement or two.)
- Choose a map that you’d like to play and select “Create Game.”
- In the lobby you will have the option to add an AI opponent. (+A.I.)
- From this point you will be able to use the drop-down menus to select the race, color, and handicap for yourself and the computer, along with the game speed, in the settings.
- Once you’ve selected all of your options, simply click on “Start Game” and you’ll be well on your way.
Pitting your skills against the AI could be that additional practice that you’re looking for before you begin challenging your friends to a king of the hill match.
Comments (73)
"The AI are repetitive."
They're repetitive because you keep repeating a build or builds that yield the same units and results as you want. The computer scouts this and does the same build to counter what you're doing.
"I'd rather play humans."
The AI in this game are built to play like humans to give you some sort of perspective on what other humans could do to you in a multiplayer game. The AI was also built to win. The Brood War AI was not built for this. At all. Playing against these AI help test builds that you want to test.
"The insane AI cheats."
That's why they're called insane. Brood War had an insane AI also.
"The computer can't even micro, which is why I won't play them."
The computers in StarCraft II micro. Though it's not as good as a human's micro, they do micro.
"Do the computer show APM in replays?"
Yes, they do. The computers actually have "clicks" like humans do. Watch a replay against computers and put your view perspective on a computer. You'll see they 'click'. Check the APM meter, because the very hard AI can occasionally reach 500 APM, which is ridiculous.
"What can I learn from an AI? It's not human."
How to stop beginning rushes or certain builds the computer will do. Understand, the computer plays by how you play, ONLY if they scout you. If you manage to wall yourself off in the beginning and they can't come into your base, they won't know what you're doing, which most of the time, they won't even bother rushing you unless they know what you're trying to pull.
One game, I walled off perfectly to prevent a computer from scouting me. The computer went reapers and rushed me with them.
Another game, I walled off, but this time, the computer went fast thors and droped me with it. Game.
You can crush em if you hold off the initial wave. Of course this is only on medium, but whatever. It's nice to know they're tough, I just wish their difficulty stayed throughout the match. :)
1) You complete all 29 campaign scenarios (i.e. go back in the Mission Archives and play through the choices you didn't make), and
2) Download the latest patch (1.0.2).
I recommend Blizzard sticky this somewhere so other people like me aren't stuck with hours of trial and error.
you should also set up a plan to counter the initial rush and attack them back to ensure you get the achievements without having to do several games over and over again.
I don't get achievements for it for whatever reason, but that's okay—I'm just using it to practice for when I can get online and play real opponents.
Either way, just FINALLY, managed to get the achievement for getting all the outmatched achievements. Holy moly; some of them are border-line impossible via any conventional approach (vs 3/4 very hard / 2insane comes to mind) and only way I managed to barely do them is to take turtling to a whole new level and wait out the computers while they mined out the entire map. Not pretty and still extremely challenging.
if u do this with any race just try new strategies and sooner or later you will no each race like the back of your hand.