What are some strategies to beat Starjeweled AI on hard to insane?

Question

I have been playing the new Blizzard custom Starjeweled, and I have beaten the AI on Medium but can't do anything against hard or higher. I can't even get a tick of damage on the AIs base. Looking for any information explaining strategies or even how the game works. I try to counter units based on what is on the field similar to how I would in Starcraft but I am getting wiped pretty quick each time. My kill count is higher and our jewel matches are very close.

Answer 1

A well working strategy is full tanks, which are a great long ranged unit, and mass hydra to support and kill the anti-air troups that the IA can spawn. Works even with a jewel match way worst that the IA's one ^^.

Here is a video to show it :

Answer 2

When going against insane AI, make sure not to use storms if it can be avoided. The computer won't waste energy on spells, so the "lock" and "heal" spells is what you should limit yourself to. Otherwise the AI will overwhelm you on unit count. Remember, you don't have a partner to keep producing Units while you use storms. Stick to unit counters, and lock down big units like ultras and colossi. Also, be conscious of what they are producing. Have your map view centered on their base so when that colossus pops out you can have lock energy ready, or when the roaches come you can get a head start on a colossus of your own. The same goes for the air units they make. You will get a jump on making hydras if you are watching their base as opposed to the battle.

Answer 3

I won against an Insane abusing the pause button. Look for 2-3 combinations and unpause. Then remove the jewels. After the board refreshes you pause again. Sounds silly but I really didn't feel like wasting so much time and learning a stupid luck game. With that trick I managed to have just a little less energy than the insane AI. It still had about 10% more energy on average.

The second trick is not to waste any units. You want to push with as many units as possible. If you spend all your energy without looking on the situation, it will be very likely that your troops just do a weak push against the enemy towers (at best) or just get steamrollen.You want to wait till the enemy marines are hitting your towers. Until that point you collect as much energy as possible. Then you send out things like Collosus and Siegetanks. The good thing with those units is that they have a very long range and will stay in good safety of your towers without getting hit. Then when your troops start pushing forward you add a lot of roaches and hydras. So a good pushing force would be something like a colossus, 2-5 Siege Tanks and 10 Hydras.

When your troops pushed out very far and perhaps behind the first 2 enemy towers it doesn't really support your troops if you send new units, because it takes them long to get there. When they arive your push might be already over. In this case you want to use energy with spells to immediatly help your push. If the enemy sends collosus or ultralisks, use the disable unit ability. Use storms if he goes air and/or mass units like (hydras, berserkers, ghosts...). Its quite important to keep your colossus alive, because it does so much damage against the many marines the AI has. You can use a healwave to keep your colossus alive.

The last thing to notice is that it's a game of luck. And unless you get very good at it and start seeing combo patterns immediatly, you will have to restart a couple of times, until you get that lucky game. But the first trick makes it a lot easier to keep up with the energy level of the AI.