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...