Beta? Beta!! Beta... Release Date?

So the Beta is finally out and about. Now I have something to live for - besides the feeling I get from showing people my hairy feet (People are usually amazed, rarely disgusted). And it looks great. Now that it definitely seems SC2 will be released this year, I'm beginning to have doubts that anyone I know would get into as much as I. As I watch some streams, I can see that there is still going to be macro and micro involved. And massing games will still be key. Practice.

I've got a secret weapon for when Starcraft 2 comes out, and I'm almost bursting to tell it, but I'm going to wait until the release date to show it. It's going to be one hell of a fucking weapon. I've thought and thought about how I could improve my game, and I've finally figured it out! The 2009 Redus would seem like ... a toddler trying to figure out how to drive or pay bills.

FOREWARNING : I am waging war on all people under the age of 24. I'll do whatever it takes to beat the crap out of you. You haven't seen the last of me! Any readers below 24, pray you don't ever play me. That's right, get down on your knees. Look up into the sky and clasp your mouse and keyboard close to your heart. Pray you don't cross terrible terrible damage.

I gaurantee you, I'm going to stun you, and it's not even going to be from looking at my feet.

Season 11

It's a new season. This will be the best one yet. I'm going to really dig in!

Top goal for this season: Not allow any protoss under 170 apm to beat me. On my off time, I've learned about the specific 5 factory push. This punishes the toss if they try to take a third, and I have a timing window where I can semi-explode. My TvP will be different. I've downloaded an excellent UMS map where I use vultures offensively, for dragoons in particular. This kind of thing will be put to practice, I'll be trying it every game.

Time to really stick it to the protoss. Expect a first person video sometime soon.

This season, C- will be reached, and I will win at least 3 games while I'm there! How's that!?

As for TvT ... no ...

Just what is iCCup going to throw at me!?

Map of choice for this season will be Fighting Spirit.

Just you wait, I'll be the first black pro starcraft player ever.

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.