Help:The Organization of Strategy Pages

Overview

In order to provide easily accessible information for Liquipdia users there is a system that is used in order to categorize, format, and present the various articles in the wiki. This article discusses the format for presenting information in the Guide, Strategies, and Techniques section as well as discussion on which category a particular article should be placed in.

The Matchup Guide Category

Guide articles in Liquipedia provide overviews of Starcraft matchups whose gameflow can be described as falling into three game pahses: Early, Mid, and Late game. Strategies and techniques that contribute towards one game flow are by this definition "Guides." For instance, Bionic Terran vs Zerg play includes opening builds like 1 Barracks FE Expand, Late game Strategies like SK Terran, and Techniques like Terran Timing Push Vs. Zerg. Because all of these things contribute to the same Gameflow they are discussed in the same matchup guides. Included also in this category are Timing guides, which discuss the points at which each race are able to pressure and harass their opponent in the corresponding Matchup Guide. Some things to remember about the Matchup guide category:

• Matchup Guides describe an overarching gameflow rather than a game phase
• Guides are about generalization, Strategies and Techniques are about specialization
• There can be more than one matchup guide for a racial matchup provided that their gameflows differ drastically. For instance, Bionic TvZ and Mech TvZ would have their own Guides and corresponding Timing articles.

Guide article Structure

Guides are broken down into Branches, which discuss the flow of a particular game phase. A guide will contain as many branches as necessary and include a few key subtopics:

Branch I: (as many branches as needed)

    Initial Build Order
    Intermediate goals
    Transition I: (as many transitions as needed)
          Counter Strategies
          Example Games:
    Transition II: (as many transitions as needed)
          Counter Strategies
          Example Games:
      
    Endgame

Initial Build Order

A Initial Build order describes the particular opening build that creates this branch in a matchup. Different build orders that lead to different early game variations are presented as their own branch. Variations on a build order, such as building placement timing that do not produce a game flow that is clear and distinctly different do not recieve their own branch. This distinction is discussed in that particular build order's article.

Intermediate Goals

As its name implies, this particular section discusses the goals that a player will have during this particlar branch's game phase. Example of these goals are Scouting, preparing for a harass, etc... Intermediate Goals discuss things that will need to happen every time this branch is played. Variations on the next tep in the match are discussed as Transitions.

Transitions

Transitions discuss the mid game options that a player may choose depending on the particular game's events. Some branches include the same transitions while others will have their own transitions not available or viable to others. Similar transitions are repeated in each build order as they will discuss things that are branch specific.

Late and Endgame

The late or endgame section discussion describes the possible endgame situations that a matchup can end in as described by the types of units clashing. Endgames are included in the Matchup guide outside of branches as it is assumed that all branches eventually end up at one of these endgames. a Matchup can have more than one endgame in it, for instance Terran Vs Protoss has both a Terran Ball vs Arbiter Dragoon/Zealot endgame and a Goliath vs Carrier endgame.

Timing Article Structure

Timing articles discuss the various points at which a player can pressure their opponent as well as the points at which a player is susceptible to pressure, contains, and other timing based strategies in their corresponding matchup guides. Each article includes a Gameflow Overview which defines the early, mid, and late game phases and the units that are used in them. The game phases are then broken down into the following format:

 Game Phase:

 Scouting:

 Adaptations:

 Applying Pressure:

Game Phase

The Game Phase section is the overarching category for the particular phase of the game and includes the various events that occur during that phase. There are three game phases per article: Early, Mid, and Late.

Scouting

The Scouting section discusses when and how a player will choose to scout their opponent in each particular game phase. The scouting section lends itself to the Adaptations section in that a player is looking for one of the branches that their opponent will be implementing.

Adaptations

The Adaptations section discusses how a player will need to adapt their build depending on what they scout their opponent doing. This section includes sub sections that discuss the specific adaptations based on what strategy a player's opponent is implementing.

Applying Pressure

The Applying Pressure section discusses the point during a game phase that a player is able to contain, harass, or Timing Push their opponent. Included in this section is the kind of pressure and a time frame in which a player can implement the pressure.

The Strategy Category

The Strategies section deals with Opening Builds, Midgame Transitions and Lategame theory. These articles are intended to be more specific than a matchup and discuss options that a player might implement to deal with conflicts that arise during these game phases. Tactics that can be used to implement these Strategies are contained in the Techniques category.

Opening Build Pages

Opening build articles provide instructions for implementing a build order in the early game pahse as well as some discussion on mid game transitions out of those builds. opening Build pages include the Category Openings in their infobox under "type." The structure of such artilces is as follows:

1 Build Order

2 Build Order Clarification

3 Transition

4 Countered By

5 Counter To

6 Notable Maps
  6.1 Strong
  6.2 Weak

7 Mentality

Build Order

The Build Order section discusses the supply counts at which buildings are placed down. Syntax for this is: X-<Building> @Complete-<Do this>

Where X is the supply count. It is preferable that supply counts are given for buildings complete as well, though this can be difficult as more and more production facilities are added.

Build Order Clarification

This section clarifies things in the build order section that cannot be determined from the supply count and the action. It is important to include things in this section instead of the Build Order section if the explanation is lengthy, that is more than a phrase.

Transition

The transition section abstractly discusses the transition that a player will need in order to move towards a mid game strategy.

Counters

The two counter sections include the builds that the build discussed counter and what strategies counter it. These sections include two subsections titled Strong and Weak counters. A Strong counter is a counter which at best will set back a player's economy and at worst can beat the player outright. A weak counter is a counter which at best will deal minimal damage at at worst set back a player's economy.

Notable Maps

Notable maps are maps on which the build is exceptionally strong or weak. This section will include the map and a brief description of why the build is strong or weak on the map.

Mentality

The Mentality section gives an abstract description of the build and things that a player will need to know about when implementing the build. This section has loose guidelines and should aim to improve a player's knowledge about the build with information that can't be included in any of the other sections.

The Technique Category

The Techniques section contains articles that discuss Tactics, such as micromanagement based skills and techniques that a player can use to implement and counter specific situations. For instance, an article about micromanaging Mutalisks would be included in Techniques as well as an article discussing the options a player has for countering a Terran timing push in the Protoss Vs Terran matchup.

Because Techniques can include so many different kinds of articles there is less of a set structure these articles. Each article will however need to include an Overview section and an infobox in order to be considered complete. The article should also be structured in a manner that is beneficial for the user reading the article and should make use of headers in order to split up information into digestible sections.