I didn’t think it was possible for me to suck so bad at this game that a build shown time and time again to be effective for lower leagues makes me lose way more games than before I tried Vibe’s strategy but I guess life surprises you every day.
I’m not hating on Vibe. I trust him but it’s frustrating to see others use his videos and profit from them whereas I just lost about 8 out of 10 games trying out Vibe’s mech strategy after giving up on bio.
Here’s some replays:
https:// sc2replaystats. com/replay/13036449
https:// sc2replaystats. com/replay/13036305
I know I shouldn’t expect to master Vibe’s strategy in a few games, but in the replays I have somewhat reasonable stats compared to my opponents but engagements just didn’t work out.
Help is appreciated
The next time you add links, please just add “_” in front of it - I’m having a look…
Edit: Ok so 2 main things (game1):
- you forget upgrades and get supply-blocked a lot
- you make micro units (tanks) but your micro sucks (positioning, not gathering your whole army before the fight)
[3) Get sensor turrets - like 1 per 2 bases starting with your 4th base]
[4) Use shift more and queue up SCVs instead of moving your screen so much.]
I would recommend to learn how to use tanks first (use high ground and hold it at all costs and learn tank positions.
Also think about control groups (armories at the same control group as your command centers and production on a single hotkey).
Edit: 2 (game 2)
In addtion 2 more things (besides supply blocks which you can solve by using idle SCVs - 1 depot per base starting at like 2 base saturation, let the SCVs building the supply depot building get idle so you can check your depot production easier).
- upgrades (again) - this time, blue-flame for hellions/hellbats would’ve been amazing.
- keep your army together (first big fight you split up your army - why? and 2nd tanks could be near the bunker to shoot the adepts all the time - you don’t just defend vs. units that attack the front - especially vs. drops in TvT!
- Mind your mineral to gas ratio! If you have 3k minerals but 1 gas, don’t saturate the minerals at new bases but gas asap. (that’s why you lost in the end; though you could’ve switched to mass widow mines and hellbats + blue-flame & drilling claw upgrade as long as he doesn’t have mass collossi).
- 108 SCVs is a bit much. In TvT you had like 66 that was ok-ish (70 or 75 is better imo but 108 is like 30 too many which could be like 5 more thors if you had cared more about saturating gas).
Edit 3: Hellion runbys
→ Especially with blue-flame upgrade and smart servos, you can drive to a base and transform to hellbats. Just scan if it is heavily defended or not and then grab a few hellions and go for it. (“add to control group and take away units” - use these control group hotkeys!)
TL;DR: Try to keep a ratio of 2:1 (minerals:gas) or something like that and keep your army together.
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Vibe claims he can reliably max out at 10:40 or faster with low hassment.
I’m more than two minutes slower.
I’m becoming convinced that it is almost always possible to defend a second CC at 19 supply and make it orbital. Priority tanks and one bunker makes this possible.
When to add supply, when to start CC 3 and 4, add factories, etc Vibe makes seem automatic, but this is probably where my time gets screwed up.
Adding adjustments to Vibes bronze and silver technique requires more micro or slows down your economic boom. But it simply must be done when you reach opponents whose macro is as good as yours.
For me the easiest things to add are
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marines - within 18s you can crank out 2 marines from every reactor barracks. This means in the time it takes for your mech army to plow through his army with 25% casualties, you can remax marines and send 8 marines a-moving around the other side of the map. Occasionally it is better to get marines than hellbats, or mix them evenly.
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liberators - I like one liberator to patrol my side of the map for overlords and medivacs. If you get surprised by siege tank drops, or immortal warp ins, liberators can deal with those.
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battlecruisers - unlike vibe, there is a point in my games where I’m getting ready to make thors, but I can only produce a few at a time, and all the opponent has to do is micromanage his range. If I keep a battlecruiser near my turrets and workers, it can deal with an immanenent air attack where my Thors cannot defend or would run in single file. The yamato cannon and several protoss flying units can hit thor before he closes the range.
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planetary fortress and turrets - be very careful not to make many turrets of fortesses early in the game because it slows the economy and delays max timing. However when you are close to maximum supply and have started double upgrades, you can go crazy on buildings. Vibe always likes to plunk down 6 factories at a time. I have to say that’s not always easy or best. Factories and Thors require a lot of gas. The opponent will try to prevent you getting 3 or 4 bases of gas. You can build 2 Fortresses, 2 Siege tanks and 6 towers on a hill in the center of the map. Then you can go gas and mule action with flying basic CC’s
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Widow mines - these require micro thus usually wrecking the early game. But they do pwn against all types of protoss shields, terran air, etc. Offensive widow mines early is mostly master level micro, but in late game it can rule. If you successfully use 6-8 blue flame hellions to destory all the workers in a mineral line, following up with widow mines is great.
If you are considering more marines, bunkers, or towers to defend your natural, 2 widow mines next to a bunker work wonders. Be careful not commit to too many widow mines too early. They need the upgrade to be effective against his minerals. Holding chokepoints is a waste of supply points compared to actually attacking or defending. But if you ever deploy siege tanks in the middle of the map to deny an extension, widow mines are very effective spotters. If the enemy knows you have a fortress or a bunker or a siege tank he knows how many units he needs to rush it, so you need just a little extra to actually hold it.
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I agree with you that Vibe micros a ton despite saying that he doesn’t micro (a lot) with terran and protoss before diamond leauge.
I would also advice to play a little more safe in lower leagues at first and the better you get, the more greedy you can play.
There is also more than one way to learn Sc2 - the main thing is to play a lot so remember that you might not be able to perform as well as when you played 5 games per day for a week compared to the first game after 2 weeks of not playing at all. So be patient there.
There are a lot of micro trainers - especially on the EU server:
Darglein’s Micro Trainer
Pimp My Micro
Knalle Micro Map
And also the “multitasking/mechanics/warm up” map is great but sadly you start with only 6 workers.
For Terrans, the marine split challenge thingy is also very nice and be it to better refill your gas or split your workers vs. banelings.
Once you know how to micro a little, everything will be way easier and you can focus mostly on macro.
I’m new player and I play like Vibe told and in last 16 games i lose only 3. If I don’t fail hard at begin (often forget things like build orbital command, putting SCV to gas or just macro overall) its almost always win with my 60APM. I’m in Plat 3 now and I think that Diamond 3 is possile for me but i just geting bored playing 
With someone at your skill level and your dealing with harass or constant aggression, even a GM player will fall behind on that 10 minute mark before maxing out. It really depends how the game goes.
Vibe’s main focus, depending on your skill level is all based around Macro. Thats it.
Macro involves
- Keep this up first and formost. This should be priority 1. Building workers nonstop. Until you hit critical mass which is around 70ish for all races. Vibe mentions a specific count but i dont recall offhand.
- Building units as much as possible.
- Expanding and proper worker micro.
- A balance between teching up, worker production, upgrades, and unit production.
- Build more production buildings to make more units as you expand. Terran has the most, followed by Protoss, and then the Zerg.
Do not worry about attacking. Do not worry about defending. If you are being attacked make some workers. Who cares if your in Dia or Masters and your playing like a Gold. Who cares if you lose. Work on the basics under pressure. Then when you get 200/200 just A move.
There is so many things to worry about in this game. There is so many ways to attack, to defend, to counter certain units, how to scout, etc. There is so many ways to deal with cheeses. FORGET all about that if you can’t keep up your macro.
Even if you want to play a short game or not economy focused and be very aggressive. Then do that… as long as you keep up your macro. GM players have macro mostly down, but even they screw up based on what happens in a match. Don’t even worry if your build is not 100% hitting all its timers. Its not that important in the low leagues. You will learn through osmosis as you play.
Do not get bogged down in niche situations where X player took x unit and did x when I had this many workers or bases. That’s GM level stuff.
Most unique situations your not going to run across on ladder very much. Have a general strategy on how to deal with styles of play.
Pros want to beat Serral. They are just going to have to up their game and practice. Its certainly possible to beat even your most difficult opponents and overcome your hardest obstacles in the game.
Vibe’s advice is solid. Its something that has been said 1000 times over since WoL. Once you have the basics down you can divert a bit to your style of play.
I don’t know what league your in, but i hope this helps. And don’t fret when you lose a game or 10 in a row. Because it bound to happen to all of us at some point.
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yeah the biggest thing i learned from vibe was macro/economy. its everything in this game. i hated expanding so much i wanted to rush and all in as much as possible. it stops working after awhile and you need to get your macro down properly to be competitive. i will say that a couple of other things that help is scans/scouting. it can make or break a match and people dont do it enough. being able to react ahead of time is key
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I think his Bronze to GM works to a certain level. that level would be diamond maybe just maybe low masters. He said that it was outdated if you watched one of his vids. I am able to max consistently less than 11 mins.
However when you get to diamond you have reaper wars, if playing zerg they will go viper/lurker when they spot mass thors. if going against protoss they the mass immortals or worst they go carrier/disrupter. Each one of these require a different response.
his build is mostly thor/hellbat. so once you get to diamond you have to get ravens and ghost and you may have to slightly delay your build in tvt because of the meta and reaper wars.
If you are in diamond I would say start to include ghost/raven and thors is your main unit. Depending on your opponent composition you may have to build a few more tanks when normally you would not and maybe even a few Vikings deepening on the match up.
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