Two Mindless Games

Most people know of Bust-A-Move. It's a classic arcade game. I've always loved it and have played many similar types of games. Two of them stood out the most and it took SO MUCH effort to stop playing them. Dynomite is one, the other is Bubblez (which I think is better). After playing either of these, you'd never go back to bust-a-move.

Eye See See You Pee

I see the truth in that no matter how good I am at this game, lots of things are going to happen that reeeeaally squeezes the tit! The unexpected is probably the worst thing about this game, where experience is the only cure. A Protoss abruptly switches to carriers as I kill all off his ground units. A zerg goes lurkers asap and totally rape me. Many guys rush, fully focused on ending it quickly. If they aren't beating me with good macro and micro, they are beating me with lame tactics that upset me too much for me to admit my own noobyness.

Playing people you are familiar with can be a good thing and a bad thing. If you try to get good ranks on iCCup by rarely playing the same person twice, you'll be in for a lot of surprises. I recommend to not play someone obviously better than you too often.

I've gotten to 2800 points, then it's all losses. Somewhat sucky people still walk up behind me with a kick to the groin. And what if I DID get to C-? I'd just be knocked right back down to D+. If I make it, I want to settle, not visit. I'm pretty sure most C- Protoss players usually have 180 APM, while I merely dance around with 130-140.

But I have a few surprises of my own at times, I have beaten Tosses with 200 APM. Usually when they fail hard or I become aggressive in harassment. If I were to rematch they'd most likely beat me. My latest TvP, our armies went around each other, and I barely managed to hang on for the win. Woo... the intensity.

The Protoss Point of View

Just finished reading this. Looking at PvT from the Toss point of view has even taught me something. I have never known that vultures do full damage to the dragoon's shields, I only knew that it took lots of vulture shots to kill them. It has somewhat perplexed me when I see good players shoot the goons when in for a early push (well... I knew vultures were better in receiving damage, as they are more easily replaced and cheaper). Having many vultures ahead of tanks makes your army even very dangerous.

What about reavers? Do vultures do full damage only to their shields? What about buildings? If I could hazard a guess, I would say yes to both.

Maybe I could start working on having vessels in my attacks. The matrix shield and EMP can be more helpful than I've realized.

Watched a replay of a D Protoss and I. I was vulture harassing and thought it would be better to shift-click each probe so they won't go for a goon or cannon if one is attacking. I noticed that whenever I did it, they'd all shoot at one at the same time, again and again. It was as if there was really only 1 vulture there. And so, if there are no goons or cannons, use stop... sometimes I can be just out of range of the cannon. If there is a cannon thats going to hit no matter what, shift-click. These small things can go a long way :-)

Not Enough Supply Depots

Rarely does a game bring me to such trembling. I went into it knowing I could definitely lose as he was Protoss with little over 2800 points. Man, I was sooo close! I went in with the mentality of spending all my minerals and having enough buildings... didn't do such a bad job of that.

Check it out!!! (Click)

In the end, there was no 'gg'. No big deal, most of my wins don't have a 'gg'.

I haven't looked at the replay, because I already know what I could have done differently. At least, I think so... if I went for another expo as I pushed (the mineral only spot), I would have had a stronger reinforcement. Also, more mine laying would have been helpful.

Hope you like it. If you first look on bwchart, you may think I never had a chance. But I did, oh I did.

Weak MU

Looking into why I'm not C- yet, my TvP doesn't look good at all. I currently have a 27.3% win ratio (6-16) compared to 64% (16-9) in TvZ. It's simple to explain. I've playing almost 100 games straight of TvZ after all. As much as it may pain me to think of, I may have to do the same in TvP's. There's a dark feeling looming in the back of my mind in each game. My army constantly feels so vulnerable. In TvZ, I've gotten used to waiting for the right time. When I finally get a vessel, a tank or two, and explode my way across the map, up their ass. Lots of zergs will be completely overwhelmed, but things are different now. I'm getting out-macroed and out-microed by guys with lower APM and EAPM than me. And it's hard to believe because in 20 minute games I'd have produced almost 300 units.

Dragoons, in mass, are currently giving me reason to become emo. The positioning of my tanks and mines aren't so great. There's one thing I can do about that :-)

Oh, and I've been playing a bit of Python. Most people don't play it on account of it being overplayed, but I've never really played it that much. I've probably played on Destination more than Python by now (just checked my replay folder, and I have). It's a good map for guys like me, nicely balanced and simple.

Just Playing

Now is a good time to write a blog. My right hand is strained, reacting from excessive mouse work. It's time for a two-day computer break. 31 games have been played in the last 5 days... but I continue to play even with an 8 game losing streak.

Only one this on my mind. Get the timing down perfectly.

In TvP, I believe it would do me wonders to find a guy and have micro battles. Him using goons or whatever else. Me using vultures mainly. Maybe switch up the variation of units.

I just go from one game to the next. I don't look at replays, I don't want to over-analyze. Maybe it's the 3 cups of green tea I drink, the punch of caffeine is perfect for staying alert, but calm. Or maybe it's because I've looked at some of the latest gameplay videos of Starcraft II and became so excited at how well it looks and feels, I can now overlook any shortcomings I have of Brood War... and just play because I know I'll be playing SC II a lot. I'll play a lot even if it turns out shitty. Soon after I saw the TvZ with the rain and lighting, I fell in love. Though the big ass Ultralisks made my blood boil... Pure terror.

Goddamn Starcraft

Battle Report Pet Peeve

I absolutely can not stand trying to follow a game when there is only scrolling from one area to another. Just click the mini-map for crying out loud. Put the obs mode in the hands of a pro for crying out loud. Since macro is such an important mechanic, how about focusing more on that? Show us the expansions, show us vital defenses and positioning of the most relevant units.

Poll

My poll "Which would you rather have" has finally closed. I've had it up for maybe 8-9 months, so sure that the beta or a release date would be presented before it closed.

I'm rather disappointed in the results, hoping "Brood War: Revamped" would take it over. I believe a Brood War: Revamped would be more interesting than Starcraft 2. As long as it keeps the basic mechanics of Broodwar (I've mentioned things like this before). You'd have all the cool features that have been talked about in Starcraft 2, it would make the game fresh for another eight years. Unit pathing would be better... Protoss probe's hotkey will be closer to the left side of the keyboard, replay features, and so much more. You also don't have to worry as much if the gameplay is balanced. With a game like starcraft 2, I believe it won't be long for the hardcore players to find a mechanic exploit that will turn everyone away from any serious play, the possibility is greater than it would be in a revamp.

Well, whole new and larger crowd will come to play Starcraft 2. If it hits big, it could last longer than Broodwar and spark something amazing in America, I wonder if it's possible for it to become a popular sport as it is in Korea. Blizzard knows there is a lot of money to be made too, they've implemented ways to make more money, and will probably surprise us with something that we have to pay for, maybe a map or feature that will make the game more pleasurable. They will explore every way possible to make money, but will make it just so people don't believe it's too unreasonable.

What are your thoughts?

Also, I should add that I've not been playing starcraft, as a matter of fact I've been playing Halo: Odst, and I love it. For starcraft, you have to invest so much time to learn it right!

Sorry for anyone that reads my blog, it would be much more interesting if I were a dedicated gamer. My mojo has been lost... at least for Broodwar....

Be The Best?

I'm usually interested in observations of human nature - observations of our minds ability to understand, our ability to process and store information and how the evolutionary theory allowed our brains to come to what it is today. Lately, the male's nature in gaming, competition and brain activity during these moments of activity has peaked my interest. I've always seen guys to be more competitive than the female. But why? What does it mean to males when they win or lose? I believe males all naturally possess the "instinct" to win, overcome an opponent of some kind, gain territory. I started a bit with this excerpt. I've read that one's testosterone level is correlated to mental depression, irritability and other things. This brings to my attention that maybe winning, overcoming opponents, and rising in some kind of social hierarchy makes a male's life more worthwhile and cheerful. Whether it's through hunting, gaming, swimming, golfing, scrabble, whatever. We should be good at something and pursue being the best or one of the best. We should find people that are close to our level and overcome them (in whatever it is we decide to do), or maybe just learn to be satisfied in all that we do, even in failure.

I see this in almost every male. They build up the "respectability" in whatever it is they are interested in (what is usually what they are better than most at). Even when it comes to academics, many of the intelligent glow in their intelligence or in some kind of mental ability (eg. highest ACT score in school). I highly doubt that if these "intelligent" people were surrounded by people surpassing even them they would glow as much. If they were thrown in a city of geniuses, there is less of feeling of being at the top of an hierarchy, thus no more glow. I've seen in others and myself the let down in growing up, realizing that there are people that are better, faster and more intelligent than you, no matter what you do. I've heard becoming wise is really us realizing how little we know; it's our ability to deal with these realizations. It can really hurt depending on how much importance one puts on being special in some area of interest.

We are all social animals, we all have some instinctive pressures to be the best or 'better'. Is it worth all the effort to be good at something knowing full well you will still be sucky (that's a current problem I'm having with starcraft)? Even if it isn't your overall life goal to be the best in gaming, I believe even the smallest of wins can be beneficial to one's wellbeing. It's all about receiving just the right amount for yourself. It's okay to believe there's respectability even in D ranked iCCup gameplay.

On the internet, watching videos on youtube and reading comment sections of gaming pages, there are all kinds of people trying to build up respectability of games they play and love, even if they aren't 100 percent serious in gaming, it still brings a certain feeling to themselves that they like, otherwise they wouldn't say anything.

I'm throwing out some ideas and will probably think of more things to say just as I publish this.

Season 10

Click For Enlarged

I want to talk about a special apm- the vapm (Valid Actions Per Minute). You can see this with BWChart and it's one of the most important things in one's game. It truly says something about your macro. It's one of the things that have gotten much better in my TvZ. As far as I can see, the main way you can raise it is to find a build that works well. Don't try to do anything too fancy while your working on this build. Keep a tab on how soon you get certain units out, you can check BWChart to see how soon you hotkey your first templar, vessel, mutalisk, etc. If you feel you are slacking on your timing, try to pay more attention to activity in your own base, one of the toughest things I've learned is how to work in some macro in the midst of a big battle. I'd have to force myself to pay attention if any further micro or screen time in one area made any significant difference. Question if you can attack/move through the mini map to bring a position into full view the moment you run into something. This is much easier to pull off when you know what your opponent has and their current location, it leaves you more time to focus on macro. Lots of these things become obvious when you record one of your games. I use Fraps.

When you're trying a set build and micro becomes crucial, you want to make sure your micro is top notch. I recommend getting a micro-oriented UMS map, specifically made for the races you're interested in, find a friend and do it over and over until desired satisfaction. Or just simply consider, before any moves, what the most effective way to handle the opponent can be. This is a game of execution with micro and macro. Always remember that what you do with each second matters in your overall game. Don't be nervous if you think you'll lose. Back in my wrestling days, when I knew I'd lose, I'd figure I'd give my opponent as much hell as I could. I proved to be satisfied in my losses when they lose their next match due to spending too much of their energy on me. In the face of defeat, raising hell can leave you satisfied, it's when you screw up normal things that should bother you the most. Just be careful.

I want to do another 100 games of TvZ. I've learned to look at Starcraft as 9 separate games: TvP, TvZ, PvZ, etc. As a casual gamer, I feel I should master one of these games before I move on to another. I want to work on taking down 2 Hatchery builds. The game is becoming more technical, I remember when I referred to every Zerg build as just Lurker/Muta build. Some folks seem not to think it's a big deal to become a decent D+ in just one match-up, I agree. Even so, I'm just a casual gamer. To become a C- in this one match-up but suck at the others... the hilarity of idea will makes my eyes glow. I'd rather be deadly in one match-up than mediocre in all MU's. Many top level players go hours on end playing a certain MU or map - it's a smart thing to do. I haven't even branched out to other maps! I plan to do some map switching in my next 100.

My blog is now 1 year old!

FPVOD vs Tragic

One of my latest TvZ FPVODS Pretty sad gameplay on his part.

There is something I'm quite proud of. On the bwchart, my macro comes to around 70 in a normal vs 3 hatch muta game. While attacking, my F2 key becomes my best friend, I just hit and add units to a group, keep attacking. It's extremely helpful. The main way a zerg beats me now is using 2 hatchery strategies, namely fast lurkers. I'd have to pay more attention to that and make bunkers, turrets much sooner.

I played a random TvP the other day against my old rival Stryxis, 36 minutes long. The game was hilarious- he plays surprisingly like Fafner. See? Only 11 more games to go vs zerg, I don't think I'll play any one race for 50 games anymore. Maybe 10 a piece instead... 800 games is ridiculous. I plan to play some of my old opponents whenever I can and whoop ass.

As for Starcraft 2, no release date, no beta... no interest. As for pro starcraft gamers... no interest. I'd rather watch two close skilled D ranked players than pros.

11 more. Something about the last few games makes me a bit nervous.

New Name

Had to change my name to 1pq[FuN] for the team I'm on. I tried to transfer my stats and ended up sending my new name's stats to the old one. Maybe I can't do anything about it, but I hope the D+ shows up on my history at least.

I'm going to try to reach D+ before the new season. I was fired from my last job (my drawer was short one too many times). I'll have a bit more time to play until my next job, and I can exercise a bit harder now.

My speed and macro are still better than it used to be, I have a pretty good chance against these D guys even when I forget to make a depot and have to wait longer for a vessel. Heck, so far my TvZ games are no longer than 15 minutes. I'm reaching a new height.

Here is my new profile

Been a While

I've gotten back, and just played DetZero twice. hehe. I won one and lost the other, but had an incredible advantage in the game I lost. All I had to do was... well

ah just check out the replays.

First game

Second game

I think I have an excuse for my improvement... even though I haven't been playing. For one, I've got a job and the multitasking and constant short term thinking helps a ton. My brain is pretty used to it. Also, I've been exercising really hard lately, resulting in a faster brain.

I honestly haven't played in a little over two weeks.

Not Worth Showing

I'd post a replay or a FPVOD of myself, but almost every game seems not worth showing... I'm still getting beat by DetZero. I beat him once, that's all. Whenever I play him I question if I've gotten any better, cause I still get pretty close to winning. I understand his game style more though, and he understands mine good enough. Scourges seem so unfair... but I see his VAPM is always higher than mine, actually most guys that beat me have a higher VAPM. He always has lots of lurkers.

Understand, not much has changed lately, as Starcraft is motion memory more than anything, I'm still learning. What to do... it's tiresome to keep saying the same things... play more. I'll be trying to focus MUCH more on keeping my mineral bank low, even at the risk of losing all my army. It's not easy...

...being greasy...

I need some luck

D+

Something is wrong, I've reached D+ and somehow still beat other D+ players. At 2611 points, I'm not sure if I deserve it or not. Sure, I win fair and square, but a few of them have weird gameplay, I question how they've reached it at all.

One of them came hard with 2 hatch mutas and killed off almost all of what I had. I had 30 to his 60 unit count and was waiting for the final blow. But the blow never came... turns out that he didn't macro at all and could barely work off 2 expansions. He put way too much time and effort into muta micro. When I came out for a push, he sucked hard with lurkers and zerglings. When defilers came, I irradiated the only 3 of them before they could do anything. The rest of it was pretty simple... May have been the greatest comeback I've ever had. A better player would know how to finish up, hell all he had to do was mass zerglings when I had nothing, he definitely had the money. D+

The other two just had terrible micro. I could take out most of their lurkers without even evading.

I used to think I'd enjoy beating noobs, but I don't think I could enjoy that anymore. I'd feel too sorry. It's weird because playing noobs may be the best way to practice builds without the pressure. But fuck that, I don't want to be an asshole.

33 more to go. I expect good things to happen. Maybe C-? Doubtful... but would be nice.

Also a tip for other iCCup players out there. If you want to play people that are close to your skill level, check their profiles before you play them, if they seem to be new players, don't bother playing them. Check previous seasons ranks. I like to stall them by asking them where they are from.

Controlling

So I've somewhat gotten the hang of how to control my army. I see that the terran in tvz has more strength in evasion. When you've stimpacked your marines and evade... it's much harder for lurkers to hit and makes it more of a necessity for them to flank from some angle. For your vessels, evade scourges. For tanks, try to keep them alive for lurkers. It's okay to attack, but when the zerg is pushing back, definitely have an evasion path ready and try to know what's coming at you. If you have enough alive and a few tanks, you can do some real damage.

Man, I love this game :-D I just beat someone that beat me last month. In both games, I slacked when I had a clear advantage. I guess my advantage this time was so large that I HAD to win it. And I'm sure the guy thought he could come back, and I'm sure he had a small window of hope, but he only prolonged his loss for about fifteen more minutes, trying to kill me off with only his main (I took his expo out really early and set up bunkers and turrets). heh

My old partner DetZero hasn't been on in a while. I'd surely like to play him now.

I'll also be looking forward to playing the So I Suck at Starcraft guy. He seems to be around my skill level. I wonder how my TvP will change when I do standard and pro BO's. I must finish 40 more TvZs asap!

Training in Starcraft

I've been away for a month... but I'm back.*

I'm going to be homeless in the next month (long story). Just got a job to pay for a future home. I may or may not have easy access to a computer in a few weeks, I'll have to use computer time wisely.

Anyway, after a month of no interest in SC (playing Dodge the Rapist), I came to a fork in my starcraft career. Either I continue to play this game and learn the standard builds of experts, or quit it forever. Playing through trial and error is too tough these days, and it's simply idiotic doing that kind of thing. I was stupid. I look onto my blog, and remember my goal... I suddenly want to make it to 100 games ASAP. I've had a pleasant surprise waiting for me... I play exactly the same as I did a month ago, like I haven't left at all. It's just that I now actually work on the pro builds, mainly the TvZ vs 3 hatchery ... pretty standard...

ugh.

A few games, the first guy was super easy. Second guy had a record of 62 - 132 with 1121 points, yet took him down fairly easily.

Third guy... 205 apm and gave me a pretty hard time.... lost.

But the one I really want to talk about was around 1500 ranked and played almost 200 games this season (I check profiles on iccup before the game starts). Thirty minute game... and I had lots of trouble winning. Turned out his apm for the game was 70. He started out with 2 hatchery, and I'm still not quite sure how to do gosu build against that so I start screwing up... panic mode settles in (after looking at replay he built a third hatchery immediately after my scout died). He sends a few mutalisks and kills about four of my units... and about 3-4 minutes later drops many lurkers and hydras into my main, just as I'm moving halfway across the map. I go back, fend it off, feel like I've lost but find myself able to effectively push out again. My attack and the next fail, but I managed to kill most his lurkers so I wasn't all a complete waste. After looking at the replay, I see my marines stay in one spot, there was a hill to the side but didn't think of moving up while I had the chance. Map awareness is shit. I lacked unit production for most of the game, but towards the end I had a decent amount of tanks and vessels (he quit after telling me I suck).

There is good news... I've learned a key vessel micro technique (thanks to a guy in my team), but seem to have trouble doing it in the heat of battle. I select all my vessels and tell them to irradiate something. The ones that have enough energy for the spell will begin to move. I, then, can deselect one of them and make the others return. Now that I think about it, it seems to be better to find out which ones have energy and just hold those momentarily ... irradiate one at a time. It may be good enough to just know which have energy. I'll experiment.

sigh

I'll now allow all D+ players into my games. Rank must be 1001-2999 points. Must be Zerg.

Lastly, I'm not excited about starcraft 2 as I was before. It's been too fucking long without a release date.

* I guess that's a curse that comes with 'Learning Starcraft'.

Learning Starcraft

(Click for clear picture)

I'm sitting in my comfy writing chair with mixed feelings. My goal... as it stands, is 6.25% complete. Here's a list of what has happened.

1. DetZero beat me 6 more times. I came incredibly close to beating him three times. In one of those, I had an extreme advantage, I had about 50 units more than him, but defilers owned me as I had only 1 vessel with no energy. Scourges always seem to have their way with my vessels. I have started to upgrade as much as possible in every game. It's becoming natural to do so. Before, I'd try to push out way too soon, and be too aggressive. Mostly due to how I suck against lurkers. Now, I usually try to have a hefty army when trying to end the game. My lurker killing has gotten a tad bit better... I'm still working on expanding as I push.... I also notice that a terran can be quite deadly with only one expo.

2. I have gotten better, but am not sure if it shows in my rank. My rank is still D. It fluctuates between 1200 and 1600 points.

3. In the last 8 games, tactics have changed a bit. Mech was largely mixed with my army for a while, only to realize goliaths weren't all that good except for lurkers.

I wanted to go on to play the protoss but now I want to work on my vs. zerg for a bit longer. I may do another 50 against those bastards -_- I'm really starting to enjoy the match-up and I haven't quite got down my vessel tank push timing down.

I've got a FPVOD of my 49th game.



Replay Here. I've got replays of all the others if anyone is interested -_-

I should have went up the upper right side of the map first instead of left. If possible to get behind there, range to his minerals and gas will be devastating.

I want to work on my terran mid-game, it's crucial to not give the zerg much freedom. Shouldn't let them have their way with vespene geysers everywhere. For now, I'm not sure if I want to play any other maps.

Tools of the Trade:

Hotkey use is getting better and better, although I have noticed that I 1a2a3a4a far more than necessary. Oftentimes, his army isn't even close and I can just click move. Then, there is less chance I skip over one of the hotkeys. Unit separation is quite annoying. I'll be happy to group everything into one hotkey as will be done in SC 2.

Poor Macromanagement: An attack is usually the best time to expand, but overdoing an attack can be a poor thing. It would be wise to give self a chance to drop somewhere.

Poor Unit Composition: The reason zergs keep me at bay for so long was a general lack of enough barracks and factories. Basically, my follow-up attacks suck. If the zerg has enough gas, ultralisks make a fool of me. Firebats would be very useful in follow-ups, yet I rarely do that.

Poor Micromanagement: Marine (and even firebat) placement is particularly important. Firebats should be moved toward zerglings - marines to absolute edge of lurker range. Stim pack becomes very important, and I struggle with that.

Lack of experience: New trials and tribulations smack me in the forehead. I'm like a guy wobbling on a tightrope. Like a fat guy walking on ice. Like... a little kid trying to drink from a cup and run at the same time.

So I Suck at Starcraft

Lately, I've been wondering if I should have ever came back to starcraft... and that can attest only one thing... I've been losing. Man, I suck.

A team member named 'DetZero' has now played me in 8 mind numbing games. He's a zerg player, I figure him to be a great practice partner. He isn't the kind of zerg player that likes to finish the game asap, but instead likes to tech up and focus on macro just as I would like to. The only let down is that his macro is much better than my own, superior. To make it to his section of the map is in itself a huge pain in the ass. Multiple times, he only has to attack move his units and easily take my lunch money. Approaching the end of each game, I can even see he usually upgraded 2 weaponry/armor higher than myself.

In the midst of my tormented soul, I suspect struggling to spam the entire game isn't much help, as I usually only regrab my army and attack move them around. For now, I will attempt to drop the unneccessary spam (except for at the start of the game) so I can SEE a bit better.

Gah... am I even getting better? Or is it not possible to be better in 8 games? No matter... I have a goal. Surely, I'll see DetZero every day, and I will play him every day (unfortunately, likely to be beaten everyday). My mind is bountiful of things I know I can correct and strengthen, but it's going to take time.

Too many times, I've got too many minerals stored up... embarrasingly over 3,000, with 6-7 barracks. Taking a week off isn't a bright thing to do. I'm 26 of 50 into my vs. zergs games, and I'm craving protoss.

My next post will consist of my 50th zerg game. It shall be lengthy.... so keep in touch ^_^

Maybe I will suck a little less.

iCCup and Koreans

I've been watching a korean online gaming television station thingamajig lately. How interesting is that? Koreans really love their starcraft. I've watched a few matches and feel the intensity from each game. They show the faces of the players and quite often seem on the edge of passing out. I don't know any of their names or what the fuck the commentators are saying (except for "stuuum!" and "tempwaar"), but I like them all. I finally understand what Starleague is.

Those Koreans have already taken over iCCup in the first four days of the new season.

And I noticed something rather peculiar, most of the top players have only played Destination. That map must be most fun and balanced.

Look at the picture. The one in fifth place has played EIGHTY GAMES and it's been about 3 days! He must be insane. I've never been one to take games too seriously, as that seems to be missing the whole point of gaming, but I at least offer respect to people that dedicate so much time.

In other news, I joined the team "funtastic". It consists of mostly D ranked players, and there's about 80 of us at the moment. Just a bunch of well mannered folks. You can get a decent game from almost any of them and they offer tips afterwards. Whether the clan has helped me become better is not completely clear. The chatting more than anything helps. ICCup is soulless as it is, almost no personality in a ranked game, you have a more comfortable (human) experience with a team. One may even find a worthy rival.

Lately, I've been going back to Battle.net for some mindless gaming. A part of me doesn't want to go back to iCCup.

It's Still Fun

I've played Fafner in the last two days, five games in all. In one, he spanked my ass all around the map. I'm feeling the improvement on his part. Before the games, I remind myself to experiment with spam, but it's difficult keeping it up for long. We have great games and I believe we will strengthen each other.

In the first couple of games, I see he gets many more minerals than I. He also loves to storm my workers. My gameplay had to adapt and I tried to use the map to my advantage.

Where do I go from here? I think I've reached the level I wanted in preparation for starcraft 2. I can actually enjoy the game and slowly get faster and better after each match. It's quite simple to calm down for the sake of learning and experimenting. I'm not even halfway with my mass TvZ (50) games.

Lately, each game (TvZ) I've won felt on the brink of a loss. I dislike that feeling. So:

1. Work on spamming, make changes where necessary, keep it up. My avg. apm is 150 (TvZ) but around 130 when losing.

2. Against zerg, atttack ASAP. I rarely go for a second expansion -spending all my money is already difficult enough, but I should work on it if the zerg tries too. I could always queue many tanks just so minerals go out faster.

Lastly, given the choice of D+ rank or beating FafnerX 4/5 games, I'd choose the LATTER! It's all good ;-)

GG

Ohooooo, I've looked at BWChart, and see the first game between Fafner and I. One can't help but smile at his 64 apm, followed by 79 in the rematch... and to think that was just in January. Map: Othello, the same map in our last 5 matches. Me: Impaired. FafnerX: Knows not WTF to do. I will save that replay for the rest of my life.

TomPhoenix, I may have to play one handed against you.

Entirely

Am I fucking crazy? There's no way I could have done that.

The Whole Day?

Time to experiment. Never in my life have I spent the ENTIRE day on the computer to play starcraft. Tomorrow, I'm going to give it a go. I'm going to squeeze as many games into that day as I can. Which means I'm going to wake up, get some breakfast and start playing.

I'll take a break when I feel necessary or when hungry.

Should be interesting. No?

New Goal #2

I've decided not to get to D+ anymore. I've chatted with a guy and he's convinced me that, for now, each game should be a learning experience. There should be no pressure to win or lose, for I am a grasshopper. Having a goal like D+ will not be a admirable goal. His recommendation was to play 1,000 games. 1,000... games. Playing is mostly instinctive, and mass gaming is most likely going to take me to the stars. Now, I believe I'm going to cut it down to 800 games.... and finally, I will be done with Starcraft for good.

There's no telling how long this will take. But, I've got the rest of my life to get there. I'll begin the count first game after this post.

I'll try to make each game a learning experience. Every 50th (or whenever I feel like doing it) game will result in a progress report. I'm going to count every single game with another person, doesn't matter if it's on iCCup. And I will also not discriminate. I will not ban anymore D- ranked people from my games and it has to be 1v1.

I'm contemplating playing ONE race for 50 games before changing to another. The first will be zerg, second will be protoss, third will be terran. Since I dislike playing terrans the most I may play them less.

Now, anyone that has kept in touch with my blog will know that I'm rather bipolar. After a loss, my internal switch goes to "FUCK IT ALL" which may last hours or even days. But, this may be a special case since my only accomplishment is to play a certain amount of matches.

I will NOT change my goal anymore! This is final.

What the @#$!

Oh mighty Zeus, god of thunder, please bless me with a win. Just... one is all I want. I've lost 11 games in a row. And.. now sure, it may SAY I won one of those, but the guy disconnected just as he was mutalating (get it?) me alive. Mutalisks are definitely a terran nightmare. Their spit is disgusting and movements are erratic and mind numbing. But oh holy Zeus, I am learning the way of the godlike vessel that contains the gas of 'mutannihilation'. They are precious and few, just as the few marines lain around my base.


I wonder if I would play better against a player I'm familiar with? I still need a zerg practice partner, one that is skilled with mutas. Here's a replay of my latest ZvT game. It's the closest so far of winning against mutas. Whenever it feels like I'm clear of enemy attacks, I feel the strong urge to push, but that's probably why I ended up losing. Pushes are lacking power.

Could I lose my sanity for playing this game?

I'm not even going to mention I've not won any TvT at all...

Click Here

Redus Strategy

(Last Updated 5-3-11)

What Liquipedia says :-)

Insect Problem

I've played 14 games on iCCup and find myself having the same amount of points as I did a month ago. A large number of my losses are from playing zerg. Right now, I'm 1-5 (EDIT: Make that 1-8) against them. I can see that I don't seem to spend all my minerals and hotkey my units very well. I think I'm going to settle with firebats + medics on 1 and marines on 2. The rest of my units will be grouped in no specific order, I think that would be best for me because having everything nice and neat takes a little too long. From now on I'm going to make sure my minerals are below 500 before I begin any kind of push when around mid-game. Keeping an eye on minerals is quite difficult when so many things are happening.

I've been cheesed three times and lost each one of them which is why I'm steaming right now. I figure I can muster up the courage for one more game today, see if I can do slightly better than usual. D+ looks so far away... it's maddening.

New Goal

So the 150 apm didn't seem like a good goal. I'm going to change it to being D+ on iCCup. When I hit that mark, I'll be done with starcraft.

POV

Just a little update. I haven't improved at all and need practice... as you can see from this game.

The quality on youtube sucks, need to look into how to make it look better. You can download it here if you want better quality.

150 APM

Anyone out there willing to help me reach 150 APM?

Eh

Haven't played starcraft in a while...

BUT I've found a few somewhat strategic fast thinking multiplayer games that are fairly easy to learn. (I got two of them from torrents)

1. Globulos - which can get frustrating after while

2. Galcon - Which is sorta like Phage Wars but better and with actual people you can play so they can rape you

3. Worms Armageddon - I've played this over LAN with a friend and it keeps getting better and better. The intensity of our games seem to always be high.

You may want to try them out.

So-So

There have been a few english speaking koreans I've chatted with. I'd ask the same question and would receive the same unexpected answer. My question: if koreans were just as excited for starcraft 2 as many of us Americans. The responses would show koreans as indifferent of the sequel. Out of total confusion, I'd exclaim, "But it's starcraft!!! How could you all not get a collective hard-on over this whole new refreshing starcraft!?". All I could get was "It's still all about Brood War".

Suddenly, I remember an article covering blizzcon where people were more interested in a pro game than SC2 displays. Has anyone else spoken to any koreans? Does anyone have a thought as to why they aren't super excited?

My Practice Partner

If you had practice partner, wouldn't a piece of you want him to do well playing others? One may feel like they've not played well enough for their partner to get better, and that your tips aren't all that good. I'm not quite D+ like I initially believed, not yet. A part of me doesn't want to keep it up on iCCup until my practice partner is up to par (well okay, so we hardly play each other much. Maybe we'll get more games in the future). He seemed to believe there wasn't much he could have done this game but I begged to differ:

1. Have units prepositioned. This will be handy for a flank while a terran is pushing. Unit positioning is quite important in Starcraft.

2. Expanding at random spots may be smart. Sometimes the enemy isn't aware of an expo until it's too late.

3. There are plenty of points I queue 5 units per building seeing as how my macro isn't all too good. It just seems like a smart thing to do until I become faster and comfortable.

4. Know when the best time to attack is. It's well known that timing can be pretty important.

5. Don't stress too much. You can't execute things the way you want when you're unable to think.

Me vs Fafner

No hotkeying

I'm still having trouble with guys that don't use hotkeys 1 through 0. The guy's macro wasn't all that great but I keep seeing myself not expoing effectively and making units. My train rate wasn't all that good. I was expanding, but we had quite a few head-on collisions so it was slowed down a bit. Most of the time I had just as many vultures as tanks. There should be at least double the vultures and with good microing. I've only played Othello but I've still not dropped on cliffs above expos where it would have been a very effective blow.

I've got a plan for the next game I play. I will use at least 4-6 vultures to harass and plant mines the entire game and maintain good macro. If I can learn to have good macro while harassing, I believe my speed will get better. This kind of thing can't be learned playing a computer either (Edit: on second thought, maybe it can) Now don't get me wrong, I've been trying to use vultures in my games but not enough. Not the ENTIRE game. And that's what I need to do.

Just as the hotkey trainer showed me to do, switch back and forward from units to base very quickly, that is the key to my future victories. I will learn the skill.

Macro Noobing

Many people don't do as well as they do when they practice, they more than likely blank out on ladder or more serious games. That is basically what happened to me in this game. His DT drop made me panic a bit and I think I was spooked for the rest of the game. I didn't scout until it was WAY too late, and had too many minerals in my bank. It felt odd, he didn't seem to care about me killing off his main in such a way. That kind of thing would definitely set some alarms in my brain if it were a friend.

On BWChart, I see he didn't hotkey his buildings... only his units... and his train rate was ZERO for at least 10 minutes of the game. His APM 118, mine 119 (last 5 minutes our apm went down). I was so wanting him to attack me head on but he never did it. Players on iCCup do so many unexpected things. My game will get better. Hopefully the next one won't BMs me by prolonging the game unnecessarily.

I've looked at FPVOD's of pro players again and I can better understand how I should play. It's a good thing to harass with vultures and not to focus on my army too much. Simple. Conditioning myself to not take it too seriously and believe I have a chance is what is on my mind. The only reason lots of these people on D beat me is because they've played more games than me. It has nothing to do with one's intelligence or reflexes, everyone should remember that.

Testing... testing

I've been doing a little bit of experimenting :-)

Here is my POV with Diesel.



:-) My apm was 99.... Guess I was confident/lazy. I tried this same strat on iCCup and it failed twice.

I hope to have higher quality next time. You may have to change your settings on youtube so you see the highest quality. The default is low quality.

Micro is the First Thing to go

I've been told that without warming up or practicing the micro skill is the first thing to go. So true... so true... After my last match with Fafner, I've not played for almost three weeks. I've not even practiced my macro, or warmed up before playing a familiar face. Over the course of this week, I became uncomfortable with my macro, and that led to terrible micro - but surprisingly not to many losses (another terran had me).

I played Stryxis of whom is about even with me in skill, both of us could make a slight change in our tactics and easily win. Two out of 4 games I've played stryxis were supposed to be losses. I'm sure he believes he'd definitely beat me in our next playing session after viewing a replay- he had me beat. All this time I had no interest in getting better than I am now, but I will not let Stryxis outdo me. I won't let myself get too out of shape.

150 apm is what many consider to be 'good enough'. I wonder if that should be my goal until sc 2. I believe I can make it to 150 against the computer; apm doesn't drop dramatically when facing a real opponent. My current average apm is 110. Even if I only play three guys until sc 2, I'm satisfied with that. I like to use previous games to see where their weaknesses are and hit it hard. It brings joy to my world. One thing holds true even now, my resource gathering and macro is better than theirs. Yet, I've got plenty of space to grow on.

Back to practice I go...

Pics of the Month

Redus Vs Fafner
2/12/09

1st Game - 11 Min.

(Click for clear Picture)

2nd Game - 25 Min.


3rd Game - 11 Min.




And a 2v6 computer with some terran guy.

How Humiliating!

One of the greatest strengths of Starcraft multiplayer is perhaps it's greatest weakness - The humiliation involved in losing or being the worst player on a losing team. Everybody that plays starcraft regularly knows what it means to humiliate, everyone has that struggle as a noob. As difficult as it may be to believe, it doesn't matter if the game is a low money map, somewhat ridiculous money map (Ex. BGH) or ridiculous money map (Ex. Zero Clutter). I would go so far as to include ANY game (other than starcraft) that consists of multiple players, there's a good chance of being embarrassed or humiliated, it's just heightened in 1vs1's.

This humiliation varies from player to player but it exists nonetheless; it either drives one to get better or drop the game for a different, more noob enticing game (UMS). The regular ZeroClutter player may play 3v3 bgh and think it's ridiculously unfair, difficult and especially humiliating. A simple 5 zeolots or 10 lings would prove to be too much for them early start. It's all basically because of the poor macro control commonly known among the majority of the battle.net world. When one's macro isn't in good shape early game, even when making it 10 minutes into a game, one is already far behind from a decent player with good macro, and in the end is left to call out the worst teammate a 'fucking noob' and to 'throw away your fucking starcraft CD NOW', although the other obviously did better but was triple or double teamed while you did nothing - an all too common scenario. It's not very fun when you happen to be the first one out, but it feels great when you are the strength of your team. Even if you lose, you can blame your teammates that didn't do so well. It's wrong, I know, but it's all a part of the game. Everyone has an ego, even if you keep it all to yourself. In my zero clutter days, I would feel proud even in losing because I'd always have the most unit kills out of everyone.

One on ones are indeed interesting for a reason. Win or lose, it's all fair and square (most of the time). You lose because you didn't play well enough. I believe I'd like it more to replay a guy on even ground with me from time to time. That way it shows how I've gotten much better, out of their league (I feel smarter :-P).

Back in high school, I wrestled and played football. Losing in wrestling was always more humiliating than football obviously. A person's soul could be destroyed for losing, especially when their self worth is connected to winning or losing. Back then, I'd lose mostly due to lack of practice and will to find out moves on my own, sounds all too familiar (we had a shitty coach btw). If you don't like losing, but want to keep playing a game you enjoy, why not practice and try to get better? Why play something you have no will to get better when you have much more to learn? Who likes losing to sucky players? In wrestling (age 13), I felt an odd sense of happiness when I made a kid cry for losing. I bet that kind of thing happens in starcraft for many koreans. That thought makes me smile.

Starcraft and wrestling have both provided me with sweating and an increased heart rate (although more so in wrestling), and that's partly why I like starcraft, because I know guys are out there sweating and panicking. They don't want to be outdone. There was a progamer korean game I watched the other day and one of the players has eye twitches when something unexpected happens, it's quite amusing.

Pet Peeve

I've got a pet peeve. Usually buildings exit their units to the south of the buildings unless it's blocked off. This is a problem for me because depending on my positioning of the map, the marines, medics or firebats exit on the outside of the building blockade. In normal 1v1 matches a scout could result in you having more time to prepare by lifting your barracks. But on a 3v3 bgh match (this could happen on 2v2 low money maps) your unit placement can be crucial.




























I would have stopped that silly attack by yellow if I were in a better position with my units together (see purple sending 9 zeolots my way). It would be great if one could control which direction out of a building a unit exits, maybe in the direction closest to a rally point.

Before and After

Before:

July, 2008 Replays
Click Here for a TvP loss - Here for a TvP win.

At that time, still fresh to low money maps with no knowledge of good macro or micro, I didn't particularly enjoy the game. If my tvp win isn't proof enough that apm isn't always reliable to determine skill level, I don't know what is.

After:

January 30th, 2009
iCCup Match D/D- (Here)

It's been six months, and I'm finally seeing obvious improvement, especially macro wise. I've been practicing. On one of TomPhoenix's comment sections, I saw that I could start the game all by myself, no computer (in multiplayer, change the computer to closed as the timer goes down).

Anyway, I'm not one to be easily pushed around anymore, at least not like before. This very moment is where I want to be because I'm beginning to macro like I should be, enough to carry over to starcraft 2; that's a pretty big deal in my book. I take great pride representing the race of fewest players - Terran. I hope terran stays difficult to use for noobs in sc 2.

For now, I believe I'm a decent D ranked player on my way to D+. Since my ego has been lifted a bit, I shall test myself in more games and commence a deep analysis next blog post.

TomPhoenix, Fafner, Stryxis and everyone... PREPARE YOURSELVES :-)

A Dose of Reality

Yesterday, I replayed Stryxis. He beat me before and I've told him I wanted a rematch over a week but postponed it because I didn't think I was prepared - wanting to practice against the computer a few times beforehand.

The game lasted 35 minutes. Check it out (click here). Sorry for the bad manners on my part at the end.

If you watch the replay, there is a game observer that says things at random. I found out later that he was acting like he was a noob. He explained that he would play people three times, the first time he would play as a complete noob, the second would be seemingly even with the other player, and the third he'd be serious and roll over them. He likes to mess with people's heads :-) It was a good thing I was suspicious when he repeatedly asked me to play him. This is the exact kind of skill that I plan to have one day. I would surely enjoy the game even more.

Anyway, I observed two replays of his and was blown away by how good he is. Here he is as dave-ex (click), and he says he was just playing around. I acknowledged that he was good and asked what he thought I should work on. He let me know that my build order was off. He said it seemed I was making more factories then necessary (moreso at the beginning). He pointed out that my macro was terrible. I only hotkeyed my vultures, and that itself could lead to a loss. Basically, he said I should work on pumping units out and hotkeying my units. When I pump, I should try not to take more than half a second to go through my buildings.

He pointed out my bad unit placements, that along with bad hotkeying. To follow up pumping units with good hotkeying, and laying good mines down. He says if I work on my macro and hotkeying, I'd have much more time to focus on an attack. I should have pumping units as just about second nature (of course), for that is very important and necessary throughout the game.

I knew he gave very good advice. I can see that at the beginning of the game, I can't make units with both of my factories because of lack of minerals when I expo. I've always had in mind to hotkey my units on the battlefield, but thought I could cut corners yet again. I wish I could take back that advice I gave to Fafner... kind of. It's important to hotkey but sometimes it's not necessary when you plan to turtle. Styxis hotkeyed his units whenever he attacked and it did a lot of damage after the fact.

I'm trying not to feel overburdened from what I need to learn.

In other news, remember the guy on Iccup with the terrible record that used to be 3-28 He's now 57-175. There is some obvious improvement in his game. How interesting.

One last thing I want to mention is that iCCup has finally upgraded to 1.16.1 -Very good news! I'd love to test myself out on some people :-)

Don't play with Noobs

I've played two 2v2 games with a funny and interesting guy the other day. We had a lot in common with our thoughts about starcraft and the terran race. We both used them because it seemed the toughest to learn, TvP is the most interesting gametype and his APM is like my self 6 months ago (He was even good at halo 3 like I).

We started to play 2v2, all players were terran, and... he .. only made ... wraiths.. THE WHOLE GAME. I figure it's a good idea to go fast wraiths to catch them off guard, but after the first attack they are useless because the opponent would be ready. Not only did he only make wraiths but he couldn't kill 6 tanks packed together outside of his main. I think he made not one dropship. I think he lied to me when he said his APM was 70-80 because his avg. for the game was around 50.

I found this game to be interesting because at one point, I could tell my partner was going to make it a loss. When the time came where I knew we were heading up shit creek, I suddenly became really hot in the cheeks. I thought he would be better than that! So I gave it a second try with him as protoss. He didn't do well at all. I was attacked by lings and he could have retaliated with his 5 zeolots but he waited and asked me 'Well um... when are we going to attack?' He didn't have any idea of when to do things. I knew he was a bad partner because the opponent almost always goes after the weakest link.

My ally has 5 zeolots that could have taken this guy out easily.

I remember the olden days I was ALWAYS the ally that nobody wanted to be with (low money maps). Now, I'm thinking the same thing about others. I didn't play with this person any more. I probably would have played with him if he wanted to practice a little but... he didn't.

Congrats Obama

I went to the inauguration and had a blast! GO OBAMA GO!


That's me in the hoody.

Up-to-Date Brood War

When I observe games, me and the other observers often talk about the mechanics of starcraft and about starcraft 2. There is one thing I point out every time the subject comes up, that an up-to-date Broodwar is really what people want. We should be forcing blizzard to do this.

It should be obvious by now that graphics can still be the same. It's not the graphics that make it a great game, it's the mechanics. I've read things about what blizzard will do in starcraft 2 that probably should have been done in brood war. One of those things is giving the Terran's goliath the ability to fly. This is exactly the kind of thing that should have been implemented in brood war. A bunch of guardians or carriers have a lot of maneuverability, and golaiths would sometimes be rendered useless against good carrier micro, with arbitors close by.

Or the vultures could have energy instead of three lone mines for the whole game. At least let them regenerate or something. I also wouldn't mind ghosts being of some sort of use. Their lockdown ability can be useful, but it's just too much of a hassle to do in the late game, when you could be microing goliaths. One thing is certain, I want there to be a late game type of ability or unit that can be useful for the Terran (against protoss).

Now, implementing all this with the same game engine shouldn't even be that difficult. They only need to add a few things, change a few things.

They could make the unit pathways much better than they are now.

They could start us out with 6 workers instead of 4.

Maybe they can redesign the hud a bit.

As for the amount of units and buildings you can control at once, I wouldn't mind if there is no limit. Having more buildings and units under your control all at once doesn't make it any less of a strategic game; it's only making it a tad bit easier to control everything so one can focus on other matters and plans.

Maybe some useless units can be removed. When was the last time anyone has seen a scout, valkyrie, dark archon, or devourer?

There are probably more things that could be added or changed I'll think of later, but this is more than enough to keep us playing broodwar for many more years, and it'll even bring some people back.

Makin' Progress

I've gotten better at knowing how to play (at least against the protoss). I'm now using much less time following my army and gathering resources all while putting pressure. For a while, I was trying to add my army to a hotkey just as they got out of their buildings, but now I see I don't need to hotkey unless I'm pushing out to their base, or if I want to put on a little pressure with vultures. There's no reason to hotkey much if you're going to sit in one spot, or if it's too much of a hassle. When controlling your army has as little screen time as possible you have time for other things.

The first thing I do in a game is to hit 'shift+tab' so it's more apparent when an enemy is on the mini-map. The red highlight makes the enemy easier to spot off the corner of your eye, and when you see enemy red, immediately shift to your units in case you are being attacked. I've been practicing my macro against the computer and it's all getting better, little by little. I would point out that my APM is higher than normal, but I won't for two reasons: 1. The last few replays have me at a lower APM, but the average for the game is lowered mainly because of the last 5-10 minutes, I stay even though I obviously won or loss. 2. Because apm doesn't really say shit about if you're getting better, you need only to do the right things at the right time, as quickly as possible. Right now I'm learning to do the right things at the right time, apm is sure to go up as I play.

I know better how to defend against protoss early builds after I scout their base, whether they expo, tech or double gate. That's progress.

Couldn't Resist

I managed to uninstall Starcraft: Brood War, but became surprised at my inability to delete the other Starcraft programs. About two or three weeks after uninstalling, I contemplate over the game and figure that I would still find the UMS game 'Dodge The Rapist' quite amusing whenever I get bored. I reinstalled. I didn't have any interest in playing Low Money Maps, so I played Dodge The Rapist and observed a few games. I guess it wasn't the end after all.

Then the even more unexpected happened. I was drugged last sunday. One effect of this drug is the loss of short term memory, but this effect doesn't last forever. I still feel the effects of it this very moment, so I'm hoping drinking lots of water will flush it from my body. I must say, playing starcraft is more difficult when you're impaired. More so on Low Money maps because you have to remember where you leave your units and how many you have. I would not have played if not for Tom Phoenix showing up on MSN messenger. I wanted to help him out a bit so we got a game in. As I played, the weighing of my army and his is barely calculated. But he's still fairly new to the game so it wasn't an even battle. I would put learning the hotkeys as top priority for him. Here's the replay with us two - If you can give him a few tips, leave him a message on his blog. But don't overburden him at this stage, just mention the most important things.

Then, while in the Terran Strategy channel, I meet Stryxis and he convinces me to play him. It was quite an interesting game and was very tiring to play in this condition. I definitely had the upper hand at a time but completely blanked out on how to handle my advantage. One arbitor was my downfall (and I completely forgot my scv was right there) Check out the replay. You can see me struggling with my short term memory impairment... sorry if it annoys you.

(Click the picture for a better view)

I'm definitely going to play this guy again.

I played Fafner yesterday, and I was very well looking forward to it. Halfway through the game I was thinking, "This guy is harder to play than I thought he'd be". It was also a funny game because I had 3000 minerals at one point. Not good. Lots of mistakes were made between the both of us.

Edit: Some of the drug has escaped from my body and I watched the replay again. At one point I tried to use some vulture pressure on him. But I ran right into his goons and didn't realize I was getting killed until 4 of them died. Then, with the last four I had, I guess I was stupid to think he wouldn't expect it from the front, for some strange reason I didn't think of going around to the left to kill some workers.

Then when I sent two dropships outside his main, I thought I would try an attack and drop soon after I attack. I don't know how I thought of this strategy in my condition but it worked better than I thought. I didn't even see his worker that definitely caught me.

But I pursued with a frontal attack and he sloppily tried to defend himself. He sent too many units to protect his main's minerals and, fortunately, his units were all over the place. And I picked them off a few at a time. If you look at the first picture of me and Fafner, my drop was successful as he moved all his defending units away and brought back some workers. I remember as I was playing I thought I was killing about 15 of them, but I see now it was only about 5. But I killed a few more of his workers at his third expo. He gave what seemed like his big chance to take me out, but he didn't group all of his units like he should have, not using them to the fullest. And didn't put more workers on his main's minefield.

He could have easily beaten me if he made more gateways and sent a buttload of zeolots. I'm guessing he was distracted a lot from making what he should have been making. Maybe not even distracted, but paying too much attention to one thing (or the wrong things) in his multitasking. Heres the replay. I'd like a rematch sometime.