Starcraft II Glossary

This glossary is here to complement our New to e-sports? Here are the 10 best Starcraft 2 matches on YouTube.

GSL

You'll hear the words 'macro' and 'micro' an awful lot. Macro refers to everything a player's doing outside of battle to build their army – how many bases do they have, how many minerals and how much gas are they pulling in, and how much production capacity do they have? Is it working efficiently or are buildings standing idle? Macro is the core of Starcraft II: because if you've got loads more stuff than your opponent, you'll never lose.

You could say these are the three options at any point in Starcraft II. An all-in attack (which may also be a timing attack) is one that ends the game either way – the aggressor sacrifices investment in economy in order to get out as many units as possible, then goes to try and kill their opponent. Teching refers to players developing a tech path for their chosen race, a significant investment of resources that opens some paths and closes others (for the time being) for their army composition. Expanding is when players try to strengthen their economy by taking more bases: you want to have loads, and stop your opponents getting theirs.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."