Scouting 101

Losing a game in Starcraft II is supremely frustrating. There’s no respawn and a chance for some quick payback, just queuing up for another ladder game against some other guy who doesn’t know or even care that you just lost. But even worse than the standard loss is the blindside hit that takes you out. You would have been able to handle it had you known, but you didn’t know. You just didn’t know.

That’s where scouting comes in. The unequivocal best way to prepare for your opponent’s strategy is to see it coming. Double Stargate is less scary when a Zerg has time to throw down a Hydralisk Den. Masses of Zerglings can’t do much when you’ve set up a couple of Bunkers.

The "one-Queen Phoenix defense". Commonly utilized by player who don't scout.

 

Truth be told, Starcraft II units are not complicated. It doesn’t take a big brain to figure out that Roaches don’t work well against Banshees and Blink is a good way to fight off harassment. If you know what’s coming, then I probably don’t have to tell you what to do. The trick is knowing what to look for and how to look for it.

Your Scouting Tools

Each race has at least one scouting unit/ability that is unique. Terran has a Scanner Sweep. Protoss has an Observer. Zerg have Overlords/Overseers. There are others, but let’s focus on these.

 

I can show you the world . . . .

 

Every one of these units/abilities shares a trait when it comes to scouting. By virtue of invisibility or flight or infinite range, all three have the capacity to circumvent your opponent’s army and defenses to look at what’s going on behind the front lines.

Harassment units are capable of the same thing. Medivacs, Mutalisks, and Phoenixes can waltz into a base and take a look at everything (while destroying it, no less).

The final tool for scouting is your army. A fast army can run around the map in small groups, take a peek at what’s going on, then run away. A sturdy army placed aggressively can force your opponent to focus his entire army in one place just to push you back, and what better way to understand the enemy’s unit composition than seeing the units?

What are you looking for?

Expansions: I can’t stress this enough. The single biggest giveaway of anyone’s strategy is the number of bases they have and the number of bases they are trying to procure. In some ways, expansions are the easiest things to scout, but that’s assuming you are doing a number of things that beginner players tend not to do.

Expansions are easy enough to notice, so any of the tools listed above are great for this kind of scouting. A single Marine is enough to see if a base is set up, but a Medivac full of them will not only scout the base, but possibly deny it. Overlords are built for this kind of thing. They can sit on an expansion site and spew creep. Not only will you easily notice any expansion attempts, but you’ll delay everything on top of it.

Always be on the lookout for new expansions, because they signify huge investments by your opponent. So long as he’s spending all his resources trying to put down a Town Hall and defenses, you know he can’t simultaneously build an army.

With that knowledge in hand, you can make your own macro decisions without fear of losing the game the moment you stop producing units. 

 

I see what you did there.

 

Tech/Production Structures: These buildings tend to be tucked away from your opponent’s front, so a ground army isn’t usually the best way to scout them. Harassment units or any of those units that can bypass defenses are pretty good, though.

Your goal is to see as much as possible when looking into an opponents base. Usually, you’re not going to see everything. The enemy is going to deny scouting information with all possible speed, but you can get a pretty good idea of what’s going on with just a few glimpses.

 

Though every now and again, you'll see everything.

 

Let’s say I run an Observer through the main base of my Zerg opponent. All I see is a Hatchery transforming into a Lair. Ideally, I would like to see upgrade structures, a Baneling Nest, etc., but the Lair is good. It means that Zerg is still a few minutes from the midgame and I won’t have to deal with Infestors or Mutalisks in the immediate future. Every bit of information helps.

Armies: If you're checking on an opponent's army regularly, you should be able to spot the units he's making. More importantly, you can spot them before they reach large enough numbers to be dangerous. That way you have time to prepare for them. But that's not all looking at an army will do for you. Just as buildings tell you everything about an army, an army will tell you everything about your opponent’s buildings.

Sometimes, that information is painfully direct. Thors mean there is an Armory on the field. Who knew? But make sure to think a step deeper when you see an opponent’s army.

A smallish Terran army, for instance, means that the player is spending his money on economy or a fast tech build. Now you know to scout for expansions. No expansions? Best prepare for those cloaked Banshees. The army itself doesn’t solve the riddle of what your opponent is up to, but it’s a piece of the puzzle and directs your next scouting move.

It’s also important to look at upgrades. This requires some knowledge of the tech trees, but can be extremely useful.

Let’s say you burned a Scan on your Zerg opponent’s main and didn’t see a Lair. “How odd,” you think, then continue about your business, confident that you don’t need to worry about Mutalisks or Infestors for at least another couple of minutes. Then you spot a Roach with a speed upgrade. If you’re familiar with Zerg’s tech tree then you know that Zerg not only has a Lair, but has had enough time to build some Tier 2 units. If they're not already out on the field, they will be soon. You need to prepare. Now.

 

Terran spots an Overseer. He knows without a doubt Zerg has a lair.

 

The Scout on Nine: As my last bit of scouting advice, let me explain the concept of the “scout on 9” to new players. You take your ninth worker at the beginning of the game and instead of sending him to mine, you send him across the map to check inside your opponent’s base. It’s early enough to bypass wall-offs, and late enough that you have some idea what’s going on.

 

Yes, yes. Everything seems to be in order.

 

Nine times out of ten, you’re not going to see anything with the 9-scout that’s particularly useful. That’s why most professional players don’t bother scouting so early. But that tenth time, you’ll be glad you sacrificed a bit of economy in return for the early information.

The 9-scout is great for finding early cheese strategies, like a six pool or proxy plays (you probably won’t spot the proxy, but you’ll see nothing in your opponent’s base). It’ll also spot early shenanigans, like a Terran player who floats his first Command Center to someplace it shouldn’t be. I remember my time in the Silver League, and my early scout saved me from some ridiculous stuff.

The nine scout also has the capacity to see early gas production. That’s not usually enough information to pin your opponent on a single strategy, but every little bit helps.