Having Fun With Starcraft Money Maps

You don't require more vespene gas

Starcraft is an incredibly fun RTS game that has been around for over a decade and it still widely popular around the world. People have created thousands of maps and game modes to keep the game fresh and interesting. One of the interesting game types that has gained in popularity are money maps which means that you gain minerals and vespene gas at a rapid rate. Minerals and vespene are abundant, right next to your main base for gatherers, and have a huge number so they will never deplete. Let's explore this game mode and why people love it so much.

Build fast, destroy fast

Money maps come in various styles and shapes but we'll take the "fastest" money map as the example for this article. On "fastest", this map has your main base located right next to your mineral patch which is actually more like a ton of minerals patches all stacked on top of each other. Your gatherers don't have to move at all to get the minerals to your bas

e since it's right there, increasing gathering rate drastically. You will quickly be able to gather enough minerals to form a solid defense and begin to tech up your economy to get stronger units fast. As you begin to build and get your initial defense up there are 10 vespene geysers that are sitting very close to your base. This means instead of the typical one geyser that's in a normal Starcraft game mode there are 10 so you can quickly begin to upgrade and build advanced units quickly since vespene is in abundance. It's not uncommon to see 12-15 minutes into a game having 2 full hot key groups of carriers with observers behind them so they can destroy everything in their path.

The best part about this game mode is the fact that you can build so rapidly. This means that you will be destroying and being destroyed very fast so fights are quick. If you don't have a super powerful defense your opponents will overwhelm you in a matter of minutes because they too have almost unlimited resources as well. This mode is so fun because you can just go around and destroy bases and if your groups get killed off you already have another 2 fleet or groups ready to go since minerals and vespene aren't a problem. This mode has taken off in popularity because typical maps require time investment and strategy. This game mode is for fun and people want to hurry up and get the best units and destroy. Great quick fun is packed into this game mode and people flock to it for that reason.

Computers vs. people

The first way to play a money map is against computers. This means that you will have to have a good early defense because computers will want to attack you early on in a big wave. If you are crazy like me you find a great challenge in playing computers 1 vs. 7 which means that their initial attack will be heavy and protection and defenses will have to be solid to fend them off. After their first assault their next one will include more advanced units and a basic defense will not hold them. Siege tanks firing at max range with lurkers burying on top of your base will quickly decimate whatever you have if your offense and defense isn't adequate enough to hold them off.

Often times I find a strong static defense like photon cannons or sunken

colonies will do for your defense purposes. The real fun begins when you get your offense going. Get Carriers, Battlecruisers, Mutalisks and Guardians, whatever race you are playing and begin to siege the computer bases. Their AI is programed to help each other out so when you attack your first base all of the computer opponents will send their units to stop you. This is your first battle and should you prove victorious you can begin to lay waste to bases like clockwork. Very fun and challenging while at the same time giving you good practice and ability to work off any tension you may have worked up from a legitimate Starcraft game.

People vs. people

The ultimate in both fun and strategy for money maps is against other people. The game completely changes when it's people you are fighting and not computers that are predictable. People will rush you in different ways, you can see shuttle drops behind your static defenses and instead of a typical rush of ground and basic air units you could have 3 fleets of carriers at your door taking out a nexus in 1 second if all of them focused on it. There is a lot of strategy involved to protect you from attacks and go on the offense. To start you have to weigh the odds. Are you outnumbered and everyone is ganging up on you, or are there teams and you can work with each other? Regardless of which it is you have to set up defenses early and all around your base, not just in front because people won't be attacking from just the front. Have aerial static defenses like turrets and photon cannons all around your base and on the sides and front to stop any initial shuttle drops. These certainly won't stop a full fleet of Battlecruisers but it will give you some time to get your forces over there and halt the attack.

Unlike a typical Starcraft game, you can't just whittle them down by killing their units and making them run out of resources. There's no such thing as lack of resources in a money map game; you have to attack their buildings. Get a group of Dark Templar and start hitting their gatherers and while they're trying to stop those stealthy buggers from killing their resource gathering you hit them hard with Carriers to the north and Reavers to the south. Go all out and hit them hard and you will prove victorious. Strategy can't really be discussed because games change frequently and game plans have to be altered but you should get the basic idea from this article how to fight human opponents.

Have a blast!

This game type in Starcraft is insanely fun to play and really gives you a rush without the stress because it's just for fun. Download the maps by going on battle.net and find some people to play with you, or take a challenge and face multiple computer opponents to gain knowledge of strategies and unit maneuvers you've been wanting to try in legitimate games to test our your APM or speed. Just enjoy yourself and have fun getting a ton of powerful units to destroy everything in their path and you will quickly become addicted to this game type and play it frequently for years to come. Starcraft certainly isn't dead and people will continue to play it for years and years so you can still have a blast with other players looking to take on others with quick resource gathering and fast destruction.