Roomates finally got me to buy Starcraft 2 to play teams with them. I like to turtle but I know you can't do that in real competition. Anyone have a good beginners guide to competitive playing or esp. team coop.

Just go into comp stomp with a buddy, complete single player, play for around 30/40 hours to get the hang of it, and watch lots of Day[9] videos.
 
Turtling can also be called playing defensively, and you most certainly CAN do that at the higher levels of play. So long as you realise when to adapt and change your tactics at the opportune time.

Thank You!

I'm a new player myself.  Practice and observation really is the best and only way to grow competent in StarCraft, from what I can tell.  If you can tolerate the slow speed, don't be afraid to use up all 50 practice rounds online.  Unfortunately, turtling (aka "dying slowly") only works well against human players in my experience, since it requires an aggressive partner.
 
As for replays, Husky and HDStarCraft, while not quite as knowledgeable as Day9, are more beginner friendly, and post tutorials on basic openers and strategies:
 
  

Check out TotalHalibut's I Suck At Starcraft II videos. They give some great insight on little things that you might have not thought about that can really improve your game.

Just don't go into this game expecting your units to act within the guidelines of any sort of AI - there isn't any. Apparently "micro" means "no AI". What a fucking joke.

Black Ops avatar... not surprising. 
 
Anyway, you should watch some replays:  www.sc2rep.com
Press 'd' to bring up the production tab and see how high level players macro.
Learning opening builds is nice, but for beginners it's much more important to just constantly build stuff through the entire game: harvesters, supply buildings, production facilities and units. By watching pros constantly build stuff you can get the general sense of macro.

" Just don't go into this game expecting your units to act within the guidelines of any sort of AI - there isn't any. Apparently "micro" means "no AI". What a fucking joke. "

" Just don't go into this game expecting your units to act within the guidelines of any sort of AI - there isn't any. Apparently "micro" means "no AI". What a fucking joke. "

@1xmilox1:

" Black Ops avatar... not surprising.   Anyway, you should watch some replays:  www.sc2rep.com Press 'd' to bring up the production tab and see how high level players macro. Learning opening builds is nice, but for beginners it's much more important to just constantly build stuff through the entire game: harvesters, supply buildings, production facilities and units. By watching pros constantly build stuff you can get the general sense of macro. "

Remember to say gl hf (good luch have fun) whenever a match starts, and when you lose or win you say GG (good game).
 
Also, watch HD Starcraft, Husky and Day9.
 
Beware though, it may take over you life, lol.

" Just don't go into this game expecting your units to act within the guidelines of any sort of AI - there isn't any. Apparently "micro" means "no AI". What a fucking joke. "

" @RsistncE said:

" Just don't go into this game expecting your units to act within the guidelines of any sort of AI - there isn't any. Apparently "micro" means "no AI". What a fucking joke. "

what does micro mean to you?  I know I ain't microing if I can just let the AI handle it.  "

"It's pathetic when your own units have absolutely no AI and as a result can and will actually kill your own units. It's piss poor game design masked under the guise of "IT REQUIRES MICRO AND SKILL YOU NOOB LAWL". "

" I understand micro and the important role it plays in starcraft, but seriously, some things are just fucking dumb. For example: siege tanks firing on your own units when melee units engage them and not stopping until they are all dead. Is my entire army composed of down syndrome inflicted infants? Is this what the concept of "skill" has come down to? The fact that I have to literally babysit even the most basic brain functions of these supposed "terrans"? That's the point where this game makes me shake my head. I have no problem with macro, base maintenance, unit micro during combat for better positioning, but god damn...friendly fire that doesn't even make your own units stop and think, "wait, maybe killing all my own marines was a bad idea?" "

" @RsistncE said:

"It's pathetic when your own units have absolutely no AI and as a result can and will actually kill your own units. It's piss poor game design masked under the guise of "IT REQUIRES MICRO AND SKILL YOU NOOB LAWL". "

You have to click "A" and then target your unit to have it attacked by your other units, and you have to do this every time (the units will only kill the one you targeted). This is not bad game design, that's just your own mistake (a very stupid and uncommon one, if I might add). "

" @Roasted said:

" Black Ops avatar... not surprising.   Anyway, you should watch some replays:  www.sc2rep.com Press 'd' to bring up the production tab and see how high level players macro. Learning opening builds is nice, but for beginners it's much more important to just constantly build stuff through the entire game: harvesters, supply buildings, production facilities and units. By watching pros constantly build stuff you can get the general sense of macro. "

What is it with you trolls? Apparently a guy can't appreciate a piece of game art without getting labeled as a fanboy of that game. Just to clear something up for you: I dislike Call of Duty and where it took the series from 4 onwards. Additionally I played sc bw a lot back in the day...the problem was that was 1998. It's 2011 now. It's pathetic when your own units have absolutely no AI and as a result can and will actually kill your own units. It's piss poor game design masked under the guise of "IT REQUIRES MICRO AND SKILL YOU NOOB LAWL". "

" @imsh_pl: I understand they are targeting the enemy but it is EXTREMELY close fire. There is absolutely no circumstance under which a friendly unit should be dumping damage on friendly units unless explicitly told to do so.

" @imsh_pl: I understand they are targeting the enemy but it is EXTREMELY close fire. There is absolutely no circumstance under which a friendly unit should be dumping damage on friendly units unless explicitly told to do so. It's backwards thinking to have to STOP units from committing friendly fire instead of commanding them explicitly to do so. Like I said Starcraft 2 is a great game, but there are major issues with parts of the game design that reek of 1998. And what you said about it being a handicap if they calculated the decision on their own...that's exactly what I'm talking about. Somehow telling your own units not to kill each other has become a skillfull act. Really? And like I said I'm not asking my units to make decisions on the ground for me, I'm just asking them not to do completely retarded shit like kill each other. "

"  It's nonsensical and it would be solved by the basic parameter that units don't fire on one another unless given the order to do so. Such a simple request that makes so much sense on it's own I think. "

" @RsistncE said:

"  It's nonsensical and it would be solved by the basic parameter that units don't fire on one another unless given the order to do so. Such a simple request that makes so much sense on it's own I think. "

 There is no maybe about it. Those marines have had a criminal past and the guy behind the tank has a criminal past as well.    Seeing as its the splash damage thats the friendly fire, what you're asking is for the marines to die off by themselves while the tanks sit back and watch. If that happened, somebody else could use that example of poor AI as well which is nonsensical because when the army units finish off the marines, they will just rush up to the tanks, which still cannot fire because there is a minimum range.   "

" @StaticFalconar said:

" @RsistncE said:

"  It's nonsensical and it would be solved by the basic parameter that units don't fire on one another unless given the order to do so. Such a simple request that makes so much sense on it's own I think. "

 There is no maybe about it. Those marines have had a criminal past and the guy behind the tank has a criminal past as well.    Seeing as its the splash damage thats the friendly fire, what you're asking is for the marines to die off by themselves while the tanks sit back and watch. If that happened, somebody else could use that example of poor AI as well which is nonsensical because when the army units finish off the marines, they will just rush up to the tanks, which still cannot fire because there is a minimum range.   "

No, I think what he's trying to say is that you should at least have an option to choose a "stance" (something like hold position, "stop", patrol, etc.) in which your units won't attack enemy units if they can deal friendly fire. So instead of attacking enemy units no matter what, they would try to not damage their own units no matter what.  I think that would actually be a pretty good idea. "

" @imsh_pl said:

" @StaticFalconar said:

" @RsistncE said:

"  It's nonsensical and it would be solved by the basic parameter that units don't fire on one another unless given the order to do so. Such a simple request that makes so much sense on it's own I think. "

 There is no maybe about it. Those marines have had a criminal past and the guy behind the tank has a criminal past as well.    Seeing as its the splash damage thats the friendly fire, what you're asking is for the marines to die off by themselves while the tanks sit back and watch. If that happened, somebody else could use that example of poor AI as well which is nonsensical because when the army units finish off the marines, they will just rush up to the tanks, which still cannot fire because there is a minimum range.   "

No, I think what he's trying to say is that you should at least have an option to choose a "stance" (something like hold position, "stop", patrol, etc.) in which your units won't attack enemy units if they can deal friendly fire. So instead of attacking enemy units no matter what, they would try to not damage their own units no matter what.  I think that would actually be a pretty good idea. "

Well the tanks don't do AOE damage unless the user puts them in "siege mode" to begin with.  "

" @RsistncE:  Picutre this scenario: 20 zealots with zealot charge. you got 10 marines and 10 tanks. According to your logic, tanks shouldn't attack when the zealots close the gap...  so basically your tanks don't fire until all the marines are dead. Then the zealots charge on the tanks. The tanks don't fire again, since AOE will harm other tanks. All your units are now dead.  So your only choice is to order the tanks to attack the zealots, right? good luck trying to micro 10 tanks separately without overkill.(Did you know the tank's AI won't allow 3 tanks to fire at the same unit if it's an overkill? for example firing at a Zergling) "

" @imsh_pl: still a bad idea due to: 
 
@Roasted said:

" @RsistncE:  Picutre this scenario: 20 zealots with zealot charge. you got 10 marines and 10 tanks. According to your logic, tanks shouldn't attack when the zealots close the gap...  so basically your tanks don't fire until all the marines are dead. Then the zealots charge on the tanks. The tanks don't fire again, since AOE will harm other tanks. All your units are now dead.  So your only choice is to order the tanks to attack the zealots, right? good luck trying to micro 10 tanks separately without overkill.(Did you know the tank's AI won't allow 3 tanks to fire at the same unit if it's an overkill? for example firing at a Zergling) "

  And the thing is, the splash damage isn't as painful as being the main target, so if you're entire front line dies "because of splash damage", then there was no way they would have survived if the tanks had provided no support fire at all.  "

So, from what I can gather, the complaint is "the AI does not act realistically."  That is pretty fucking hilarious.  Nydus worms can burrow through space onto other orbital platforms.  Banshees are helicopters, but somehow manage to fly in space.  Did I just blow your mind?  There is nothing "realistic" about the game.

yo, slapfights aside, if you're playing team games, don't even worry about it, eventually it will just come naturally from experience. 
 
i started out playing some 3v3s with friends, but they got discouraged from losses after about the 5th one, and not wanting to try to get better they just went back to playing 360. then i picked a race and started doing 1v1s, and played a ton of those, learned hotkeys, got a basic build down, and finally started racking up more wins than losses. then, i tried 2v2 with someone i met on ladder, and i swear it's like i was starting the game all over again, most of what i learned in 1v1 was wrong, or irrelevant, and a good half of the players just do the fastest rush to one of your teammates, and then it's an uphill battle if they don't finish you off too.
 
if you got it to play with your friends chances are they're at least on your level, or can carry you while you figure stuff out. if one of them is like way good just ask them what do do at the start of the game in ally chat. if they know anything about playing the game they will understand that picking it up day 1 you're not going to be playing at masters level and know everything. 
 
a good idea is to have a gameplan going in like if you really like to defend, pick terran, get some bunkers filled with marines, some siege tanks, and some missile turrets, not just your base but your allies as well. or if you're not comfortable making tech units yet, just get the bunkers and marines, and make more bases to mine from. just mine and mine and feed your better friends resources. play some vs the ai first to familiarize yourself with your race and what buildings you need to make to get what units.

" @Roasted said:

" Black Ops avatar... not surprising.   Anyway, you should watch some replays:  www.sc2rep.com Press 'd' to bring up the production tab and see how high level players macro. Learning opening builds is nice, but for beginners it's much more important to just constantly build stuff through the entire game: harvesters, supply buildings, production facilities and units. By watching pros constantly build stuff you can get the general sense of macro. "

What is it with you trolls? Apparently a guy can't appreciate a piece of game art without getting labeled as a fanboy of that game. Just to clear something up for you: I dislike Call of Duty and where it took the series from 4 onwards. Additionally I played sc bw a lot back in the day...the problem was that was 1998. It's 2011 now. It's pathetic when your own units have absolutely no AI and as a result can and will actually kill your own units. It's piss poor game design masked under the guise of "IT REQUIRES MICRO AND SKILL YOU NOOB LAWL". "

More on topic, since you're playing team games, keep these two ideas in your mind always.  Always keep your armies together if possible.  Always split the opponent armies apart if possible.

" So, from what I can gather, the complaint is "the AI does not act realistically."  That is pretty fucking hilarious.  Nydus worms can burrow through space onto other orbital platforms.  Banshees are helicopters, but somehow manage to fly in space.  Did I just blow your mind?  There is nothing "realistic" about the game. "

" @imsh_pl: there was nothing healthy in what you said.  What you were asking for was a real pipe dream of what ifs and thens."

Luckily that's only your opinion.
 

A healthy discussion would have been talking about the microing required to get around that and how feasible it would be to learn that if you don't know it.  

 
What makes you think I didn't want to talk about that?

" make more marines. they solve almost every problem lol "

" So, from what I can gather, the complaint is "the AI does not act realistically."  That is pretty fucking hilarious.  Nydus worms can burrow through space onto other orbital platforms.  Banshees are helicopters, but somehow manage to fly in space.  Did I just blow your mind?  There is nothing "realistic" about the game. "

" @imsh_pl: creating an additional stance for just one unit, when its been proven that any player with decent micro skills wouldn't have that problem because they can place their units in a way that the default AI script has the least casualty for max damage? Looks like you should just learn to play or, simply not.  "

" @RsistncE:  I dunno man I get your point but it sounds like this just isn't your game. Tank splash damage has been a part of the game since Brood War and it's something you work into your strategy on either side. You have to think about placement and unit composition to minimize possible splash damage whereas the other guy if he gets tough melee units up in your face can turn that damage back on you. Just part of the game, it's like saying "I wish my units would jump out of a medivac before it dies, it doesn't make sense that they'd just sit there and wait to blow up." "

" @RsistncE:  Picutre this scenario: 20 zealots with zealot charge. you got 10 marines and 10 tanks. According to your logic, tanks shouldn't attack when the zealots close the gap...  so basically your tanks don't fire until all the marines are dead. Then the zealots charge on the tanks. The tanks don't fire again, since AOE will harm other tanks. All your units are now dead.  So your only choice is to order the tanks to attack the zealots, right? good luck trying to micro 10 tanks separately without overkill.(Did you know the tank's AI won't allow 3 tanks to fire at the same unit if it's an overkill? for example firing at a Zergling) "

" @Roasted said:

" Black Ops avatar... not surprising.   Anyway, you should watch some replays:  www.sc2rep.com Press 'd' to bring up the production tab and see how high level players macro. Learning opening builds is nice, but for beginners it's much more important to just constantly build stuff through the entire game: harvesters, supply buildings, production facilities and units. By watching pros constantly build stuff you can get the general sense of macro. "

What is it with you trolls? Apparently a guy can't appreciate a piece of game art without getting labeled as a fanboy of that game. Just to clear something up for you: I dislike Call of Duty and where it took the series from 4 onwards. Additionally I played sc bw a lot back in the day...the problem was that was 1998. It's 2011 now. It's pathetic when your own units have absolutely no AI and as a result can and will actually kill your own units. It's piss poor game design masked under the guise of "IT REQUIRES MICRO AND SKILL YOU NOOB LAWL". "