26-46

Week 1: I still have a problem expanding against a protoss. D+ protoss players are a real pain in the ass because they never go where you want them to go, they make too many zeolots and they expand too fucking much.

Man, it's going to be a bitch learning how to beat a protoss that's ahead, has 10 dragoons and 30 zeolots. Whatever I have evaporates. In the beginning if they make a zeolot first, I struggle dealing with it. Then the dragoons come after that... delaying my CC far too long.

Week 2: Staying D+ isn't as easy as I remember.

Went on a 7 game losing streak to have two interesting games (I won) against protoss players with < 140 apm.

Barely beat a protoss with 67 apm... I think I'm going to cry.

Dreamt I was playing starcraft. Even there... I lose.

So... I'm having trouble harassing. I've been trying but my vultures always die so quickly. I can't rely on my mech ball all the time, as it definitely isn't working in my favor. My eapm is 90-127, very bad. Is my slow speed and poor macro my second wall? Or is it my mechanics? Everything feels so chaotic when I push. I wonder if my brain is even capable of reaching C-... I have little confidence in my tvp :-[ I'm so afraid of recall and zeolots...

Truth be told, I believe my protoss could beat my terran. I honestly feel I can reach at least C- with protoss. How many people could truly say their offrace could beat their main?

This is the most losses I've ever had in a season. (46)

WOE IS ME.

Starcraft 2
I have seen a few of the new starcraft units that will be in the expansion. There will be a flying zerg thing that can create a cloud that stops units from doing long ranged attacks, it's similar to disruption web... Very interesting, blizzard really may know what they're doing after all @_@ I'm still going to wait until the final expansion but if I find these units micro intensive...

There is also a "shredder", battle hellion, and warhound for the terran. The warhound is good against mech units and has area of affect anti air... I'm not sure what to think of it yet. Battle hellion seems meh... But the shredder - Creates a whirlwind of death but disables when friendly units are near. it will be of most use against zerg I think. We'll see.

'Til next month.

Self-Destruction Sequence Malfunction

I continued to play anyway. I went so far as to play 4 hours a day for almost a week before my computer died on me so I had no way of playing. My social life is fine. And my computer seems to be working now. Time to start back up.

Maybe I should work on my TvT. In my early career I've lost so much tvt I've grown afraid of it. How do you overcome fear?

Eventually, I will have my own stream on TL.

I'll update on my progress and my thoughts on the new starcraft 2 units next month! C- here I come!

No Re

And so. That's it. Thanks to the noobs that made the game enjoyable. I will follow the expansions of sc2 just to see what they add, but I don't think anything they add would stir my interest.

I see BW as a great game but it doesn't seem to be doing well for my social life. There are no PC Bangs here. I can't walk up to people and talk about games. There are no friday night gatherings having a LAN party.

This journey has already passed it's peak. I'm halfway back home. It's a shame to be introduced to a world one can't fully explore.

This blog will self-destruct in 16 days

Seeing TvZ with new eyes

Learning things!

I've been barely losing to some zergs I suspect to be C- max. Recently just play a zerg, cut him down to just his main and his one expansion and lost due to bad macro. It was a sure win. Map control has been improving slightly. Just having my marines running around causes most zergs to tense up and defend. My science vessel timing has gotten better. It's nice not to lose to mass mutas anymore.

It's okay to let your macro slip when you're trying to drop and attack at the same time. I just have to make more buildings before that time comes, and try to spend as quickly as possible. Queueing units is more acceptable the longer the game goes.

Mutas aren't of much concern anymore thank goodness. Late game is going to be a challenge. Especially when my drops do no damage. I've been paying more attention to dropping on spots that do the most damage. Surprisingly, dropping behind their natural can do lots of damage and leave them disgruntled.

Something is still perplexing me. How the hell do people have over 200 apm? Are they merely switching between their building units the entire game? How the hell do you make 200 your MINIMUM apm in a 25 minute game?

I am so bad. I'm going to focus more on my TvZ.

Just hit D+. Took only 32 games :-[

Laptop Depression

I've always played Brood War on my laptop for years and never thought I had any disadvantage. Boy was I wrong. After playing some games on my desktop I felt faster and more in control! I absolutely know it's because the laptop keys are so small. It's horrible how easy it is to hit the wrong key. I'm such an idiot for thinking smaller, closer together keys would be better. I've always thought it was hard to irradiate things. Now I know it's because there's a greater chance of missing "i". I have to look down at the keyboard to get it right. The fastest typist in the world isn't going to be using a damn laptop. I guarantee it!

That's not the only thing. I believe a widescreen monitor also gives you a disadvantage. The mouse doesn't move as it should.

Also, the monitor should be a certain distance away from your face. Laptops are usually so close you can't see the whole screen as easily as possible. If I could feel my aim getting off from playing Halo too close to a big screen television, then I know starcraft wouldn't be all that different. Especially when you need to keep an eye on the minimap. Not to mention how being close to the screen strains your eyes even more.

I'm going to be a desktop player from now on.

B- with Protoss

I've been watching a bit of a B- max protoss player's stream. I used to think protoss was easiest up to D+/C- but wow, I think it goes all the way up to B-. All you have to do is make use of DT's and be sure to spend all your minerals. You don't have to micro much. Just send all your units in. You don't even have to hotkey your unit groups. Reselecting them will get you to B-. Though you do have to be sure to send them when the terran army is more open to attack.

In TvP, it's become even more apparent to me that the terran army is vultures alone until you've got a sizable 4 group army pushing out. Tanks ought to be thought of as stationary buildings, especially for the 1 fact expand. Hotkeying them until you are pushing out is not necessary. The first half of the game should consist of vulture harassing, laying mines. Being defensive. Also, not many tanks are necessary in the early game.

It sucks eggs that terran has to be so defensive in TvP for most of the game but it must be accepted that terran is strongest with the large mech ball (which I think should contain at least 4 hotkey groups of units).

It's weird. I beat a protoss that is currently C- (apm 108 wtf?) and all he did was mass up and send every thing. I would have lost if it wasn't for my superior unit positioning. If PvT is so easy, I understand even more how hard ZvP is for most people.

101 Best Free Games of 2010

1up.com has this every year and it's the only reason I ever visit their site. These keep me entertained for quite some time.

http://www.1up.com/features/101-free-games-2010_2

Not laying down to die

Just played a guy I assume to be C- (had a 240 apm) and stuck it out with him for a while. I did some good drops and had a whole bunch of science vessels I used pretty well. But alas, my macro was horrible, and expanding against a zerg is pretty difficult unless you have map control. Fighting spirit is definitely a macro map. The funny thing is, I did have map control, but then, I went to save my expo I stupidly put halfway across the map (one ultralisk was killing it) and map control went right out the window. Science vessels died marines started running low, tried to make another expo and failed.

But I did well to be playing a guy with 100 more actions per minute than myself

ONWARDS TO BLAH

Going backwards

Is it too late to become good at Broodwar? Played my first game in months today. I still want to see how good I can become. So far, my APM dropped in TvP (115). I've got to warm up before I start learning again. All the hotkeys are still in my memory bank, but BO is all screwy.

DOES ANYONE STILL PLAY BROODWAR 1v1!?! My 1000 games goal is still sitting there. Let's see how far I can go before I crack and quit! Any bets on how many games I can go?

The pressure is high on iccup, it's more competitive and there are even more smurfs. One thing I have forgotten is how mentally taxing it can be. I don't know if that is good or bad. May the gods have mercy on my mortal soul.