Basics of mult- player games.

[Luminance]

Most of us have been doing a fair share of campaigns, or 1vs1 league games, or XX vs AI games. However, as some of you might have noticed, 2vs2, is getting harder, and 3vs3 and 4vs4 is totally different. Most techniques no longer work, and it becomes more and more about luck in getting one of the enemy players dead first and hope for the best.
(at least thats the feeling I get).

So how do we improve our selfs?

Personally, I think the biggest gain is changing our communication, and our roles.
2 vs 2 basically is a team, not 2 hot shots same goes for the other versions.
Instead of all going to rush, or all going to defend, maybe its better to assign roles, and depending on the game progress change them.

We should try to let the other(s) know what you're doing and you should know what they're doing at all times.  Don't update them with every probe you make, but let them know stuff about the enemy when your scouting, coördinate your attacks [this can mean swarming the same enemy, or harras 2 different (sub)bases at once), or provide people with resources when they need it if they are temporarilly stuck for a building or an upgrade. (in order to waste no time, so don't be selfish and act if they ask for it)
Also, do not hesitate to ask for resources if you need it, do not wait, maybe the others have enough in stock to give you that little bit your lacking, especially pre-mid game, this makes a difference.

When you do this, you can work together really easily to act like one huge race.  You'll
be able to react to threats much faster and give him/her/them support if they run into problems.

Best tactic I've seen used against me, is only 1 player really focusses on the attack, and the other is building up a defense (unless the attack goes really well) and good big economy. He/she then provide him/her with the resources needed to keep applying pressure. And in mid game or later, starts exploding his tech or buildings.

And in 3vs3 2 players harassing, and one building.

I'll try to come up with better tactics, or find some and test them, before posting.

[Luminance]

Duk and I are now testing Protoss Protoss.

Basically I go for zealots, he goes for void rays. With his support in minarels I can poop out a fair size army of zealots, and keep harrasing one player, if the other decides to help his buddy they are pretty much doomed. as Duk will sweep over them, if they do fend my zealots off.

we won 4 out of 6 games.

3 were very close, in 2 the voidrays proved key, in our last game, I unfortunaly had no workers left, the zerg player did, and slowly started rebuilding.
And the other protoss was defending his base with a hell of a lot of canons, and so won by expending with so many canons, duks voidrays where uneffective

[Marduk]

The "void ray rush" is indeed very effective at times, but if you cannot charge them up before the enemy can get some marines or stalkers in range you are pretty much F'ed. Still a lot of players will not expect this tactic of one melee rush and one air rush.

[TeaLeaf]

Quite like the Void Ray rush, seems to work well.

[Luminance]

Quite like the Void Ray rush, seems to work well.

yeah, especially now against terran that as soon as they see you build canons, they stop reaper and go for battlecruisers, if you then precharge your voids on rocks, or your own building (perhaps a few pylons near them, or a pylon+building and attack your own buildings) then those battlecruisers are no match for your voids

[Azunai]

Void Rays will get changed in next patch I believe. Lower hp but effective against a wider array of units. Means they might not be so effective in rushes anymore since marines can more easily take them down.

As for the original idea in this thread, I agree, coordination is key, but a lot of what you're going to do will depend on your opponents' race/strategy and in part the map as well.

What I liked was that one game we had going a while back where Lumi and Val would reaper harass while I built up mass stalks/imm/HTs. After the harass I made an initial punch and then with your backup we ended up rolling over them. Again though I think stuff like this is hard to pre-plan.

[Luminance]

I agree, you need to understand the basic strategies, plan an initial plan with those you play with (in other words choose races carefully) do some scouting and if needed adapt your plan on the go. Everything after scouting is not planable. It all depends on what races you found, and what they are doing.

[Azunai]

Don't forget that in some maps (mostly 3v3/4v4) it also depends on where you get placed. That one 3v3 map with a T which is really Reaper-friendly (can't remember the name), 1 player will always be facing the blunt of the attacks since he is right beside the initial ramp, while the other 2 are somewhat more safely tucked away.

[Lexander]

Don't forget about the luck factor, sometimes even how good your tactic is luck plays a role in it.