The term macromanagement (in this context, often abbreviated to simply macro) is used in strategy computer games to describe a facet of gameplay.
In turn-based games, macromanagement is a style of play where the player manages the overall strategy of the game, such as the overall economy or armed forces. In real-time games, macromanagement refers to a player's management of the overall game or the management of large groups of units rather than individual ones, whether those units are involved in resource-gathering or combat.
Macromanagement is contrasted with micromanagement.
The central objective in any StarCraft (multiplayer or single player) game is to defeat opponents (human or computer-controlled) by overpowering them, usually by destroying all their buildings.
This makes the Zealot useful both at the beginning of the game, where it is the first combat unit the Protoss can construct, and also at the end of the game where it becomes the fastest moving Protoss ground unit.
Custom games in the Melee mode (the mode most often used) against computer opponents is very similar to online games against other human players, with the exception that computer controlled players often display very characteristic behaviors (like the ability to give several orders simultaneously, or distinctive building and expansion patterns).
The precursor of modern RTS games was The Ancient Art of War from Evryware (distributed by Brøderbund) in 1984, followed by Nether Earth for Sincair ZX Spectrum in 1987 and Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis in 1989.
In the past some traditional strategy gamers regarded RTS games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based games, arguing that RTS games had a tendency to devolve into "clickfests", in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate.
It is noteworthy, however, that due to the games being shorter because of the faster pace of the game and absence of turn switching pauses, RTS games are far more suitable for Internet play than turn-based games; this is indubitably an important reason for their popularity.
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