Let's say if you don't want to think about anything at all. Just collect resources, build objects and send units to attack. This will probably win the game against A.I at "very easy" and those are the basic physics.
But against human you need to be more creative. It is not how strong unit is but how you use it. Human brain is dependent of "if...then" analysis in decision making. SC2 offers plenty of opportunities, endless number of combinations, it is almost like life: you start something, make a plan, recognize the problems, make decisions, correct things, adapt to circumstances... And you always need to have in mind that your opponent is doing the same, so he will not make it easier for you.
So here I would like to point 15 things that I found interesting, kind of "how to set up your mind" while playing your battle. Some things are more important than others and here they are in no particular order.
1. Have fun!
It is just a game. It suppose to entertain you. Be ready to win with the glory, as well as be defeated. Don't take it to seriously. When you start a match, just let it flow with your best abilities. Don't feel ballasted with the game as this may lead to mistakes in any stage of the game. That can turn winning chances against you.
2. Be concentrated
Well, if you know what you want to do, stick to it. Pay attention to every aspect of the game that matters. Try not to get distracted by things that are not important. Most people get distracted by early scout smuggling into base. Start to chase him, kill him, leave it alone, do whatever best suits your plan but be concentrated on what you want to do. Don't waste a minute dealing with scout, while enemy reapers may came every second.
3. Think fast
Sure you think very fast, but the actions per minute leads to success. On replay you can check players APM, and sometimes you will see some silly numbers like 200 or 300 APM. Can you believe that someone is doing 4-5 actions per second? Probably most of the actions are unnecessary. Watch on the replays: pro players are clicking all the time, every move or attack point is clicked many times, hotkeys make UI blinking etc. It is not that they actually do something useful with every action, they just want their mind to be set on rolling fast. If sometimes you need to wait for something to be built, don't just sit and do nothing. This will slow you down in future actions. Try to keep yourself busy at the rate that you can stand, let your actions clock tick.
4. Scout
Many pro players will tell you that scouting is a must. Don't try to be smart. Starcraft is strategy game. Strategy is a bunch of decisions, actions and responses, which are made based on information. Every piece of information is important. First of all, you would like to know what is your opponent doing. Early scout can provide that information. Worker itself is worthless compared to information he brings. It may lead to your victory. Scout on time, not to early not to late. When you figure out that that he has not have barracks in his base, you probably already lost the game. Scout all the time, check for expansions, watch towers, brushes, get familiar with the map and enemy movements and positions.
5. Make conclusions
Learn how the game works, what are relations between units or buildings, their power, requirements and building times. Yu may get many conclusions from the circumstances and events that are available. If you scout that your opponent start with two gasses early, you know that you can expect some tech units. You know that he spend minerals to build those, you know that he may be a bit late. Will you push with tier one units based on this? Maybe you would like to figure out what all this gas will be used for. Scout again, but don't stop with your building, keep going and make transition if necessary. Right conclusions makes you be prepared for what is eventually coming your way. You can't see the barracks in your opponents base after 3 minutes? What is he up to, where and when?
6. Make decisions
Continuation of the point above is to make decisions based on what you learned about the current match and your opponent intentions. Start to pump units, make transitions if necessary, decide what you are going to do. Time is passing, don't be late, try to decide right and on time.
7. Have a plan
Your match should be consisted of many macro or micro plans. After you decide what to do you will have a plan. Try to make your plan so they can interact or be continuation to each other. once you have a plan stick to it and carry it out as fast as you can until completion. Don't get distracted by other unimportant events, except they require change of your plan.
8. Build economically
One of the major mistakes is building unnecessary things, with the excuse that you may need them later. You don't need two gasses if you want to mass marines, or if you don't have any workers assigned to them. You don't need four armories if you don't have enough minerals and gas for fast tech. You don't need five workers queued in early game. Produce one by one what you want to use. Exception to this is only if you need to build something to advance over tech tree, like you can't have Starport without Factory first. The things that you need the most are supplies, and expansion bases, but take care of timing. If you have plenty of minerals and gas you are obviously slow. You should always lack resources, but make sure that your mineral and gas production are descent in all stages of the game.
9. Don't panic!
Panic is your primary enemy. It will destroy your thinking and force you to do mistakes. Stay concentrated, make decisions and act. Early rush may lead to your defeat, but panic will make that inevitable. Your units follow the program, they will die for your cause. But you are their leader. You should put your units to best use so stay calm.
10. Spare your units
As a beginner you will find yourself trying to win by "brute force" using basic physics of the game. Produce bunch of units and just walk through your opponent. But it is not that simple. Two armies facing each other and just shooting will give advantage to the one that can take more hits or do more damage. This may be pure luck. Loosing units in suicidal attack is just a waste of time and money. It is not about how to be brave. Retreat is part of the tactics and many times it is smart. Repairing battlecruiser is far more cheap then produce new one. Healing, repairing, shield regeneration and all other things are part of the game, and for a reason. Use this in your strategy. Run away to the safety of your base, or to meet reinforcements, or to get the highground, or just to regroup for another attack. Try to micro, it is not that simple but it needs practicing and it works. Sometimes you can win a stronger enemy if you do it right. Combine different types of units, and use their special abilities. You can't attack with marauders when banshees or mutas are defending. When you push and it doesn't work, release the pressure and get back home with the new information.
11. Analyze your playing
Overall experience over the game, unit abilities and strength will take some time. Watching replays of your own games will provide extremely useful information, especially when you lose. You can always see and analyze what your opponent did to devastate you. Was he faster, was he having more information then you, does he have any special build order? Analyze your replays. All your mistakes are there. Learn what to do and what not to do. When you check the replay where you was defeated, you will sometimes see that you could win at some point of the game, but you just didn't make right move at the right time. You could say: If I only knew he spend money gor tech and he has no army?
You could know that, if you scout :)
12. Be creative
Creative use of units could make a big difference. Creativity is something that may confuse your opponent. There are tons of patterns and build orders that can grant success. But creativity is about unexpected. Remote (proxy) buildings are just part of it. I've seen overlords/baneling drop-bombing, three sided hunter seeker missile attack, thor-ship harassment, getting protoss tech by mind controlling the probe, queen rush... All units and their abilities are bricks that you can use for your creative masterpiece.
13. Learn from mistakes and failures
To be successful you need to be experienced. To become experienced you need to make mistakes. You can learn from your own failures and even better from others mistakes. There are plenty of shoutcasters who comment the high or low level matches. They provide many information based on real examples, with all causes and consequences of certain mistake.
14. Practice
If you have some patterns or build orders that suits you, you can use custom game against AI. You will certainly win, but that is not the point. Try to see, for example, how fast you can get two cloaked banshees to opponents mineral line. on replay you can record the actual time, then you can try to improve. Is it better to go supply, barracks, gas, or gas, barracks, supply or any other way. Another way is to play with your friends so you can practice some new ideas as your friend will offer more quality response then current AI. You can also arrange a scenario with it so you can test your ideas, or compare different orders.
15. Be polite
At last, if you have fun, and you see it is only a game, make friends. It costs nothing to say hi, to wish luck or to admit you are defeated with GG. if you make friends they can help you to improve your game, or play with you again for practice. Don't offend anyone. It is always human on the other side of the battle. Play fair. If you stand no chance as you are depleted - surrender. Don't lift your buildings and spread them through the map delaying your loss and making your opponent to seek for them if you don't have any SCVs and no minerals in your bank. One guy paused the game a few shots after his last building should be destroyed. If I leave the game, he wins. It is bad manner. I left him wait until he decided to finally quit. Learn how to loose with dignity, and respect your opponent. You probably expect the same back. If someone is insulting you in-game, don't go to their behavior level. Just push more and win. Watch out for some silly tricks like asking you something in early game, delaying your building order. If you are not fast enough to produce and chat, delay the chat until you are comfortable. Watch for GG without surrender. If you leave the game - you lost. Can happen if you are brand new.
Oh ok, that would be all. maybe some things are not right here, but I am copper. It may help someone who just joined to get some picture. Sorry for some language mistakes, it is not my native.
Hope you like the article and that you will come back again. I am preparing more things in the future.
Have a nice day ahead.
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