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 :-)
Jan 30, 2009
Jan 26, 2009
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 :-)
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 :-)
Jan 23, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Jan 22, 2009
Jan 15, 2009
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.
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.
Jan 13, 2009
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.
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.
Jan 11, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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