Ideas blog

Yesterday the "GT gamefest" LAN was held at my school (Georgia Tech). There was a 2v2 and 1v1 SC tournament, so naturally I attended.

It started at 6 PM and went on until 8 AM (I ofc left when the 2 SC tourneys were over because HOLY SHIT THAT'S LATE I GOT HOMEWORK FUCK YOU). I arrived right when it started and quickly sat near some of my friends entering the tournament. My 2v2 partner, Hasuprotoss, to my left (he obvi. played P and I played Z). We only ever 2v2ed with each other like 3 times, and we only had 1 practice game (which ended up being a 1v1 because we couldn't find anyone to play against) before the 2v2 started. I predicted doom.

I believe that there were 6-8 2v2s teams participating. We had a Ro8 bracket but I think there might of been a team or two that got a bye ( I have no idea what the bracket looked like because the guy running the tourney was an asshole). Round 1 hasuprotoss and I (team name "4-gate and proxy-pool") are matched up against our arch rivals, "the folks." The folks are our 2 friends from the StarCraft club at school. Our 2v2's are pretty evenly matched, but the last time we played each other they totally fucking raped us, and they also had way more practice before the LAN started that day. I really thought we were screwed.

The Ro8 was supposed to be a single game with the semis being a Bo3, but both teams decided we would way rather do a Bo3. The maps were Python-Luna-Python (which apparently are the only maps ever allowed to be used in a LAN EVER and every game I saw played at the LAN was on that map). I don't remember too many details, but I know we lost the 1st game and came back and took the next 2, with game 3 being especially awesome. Will upload replays if you actually want them (bare in mind that my definition of epic is skewed by the fact that I'm a D rank on ICCUP).

In the semi's we ended up playing these 2 super badass B-level koreans who fucking raped us 2-0. Not much to say except that I will NEVER EVER COME CLOSE to being that good. And it's depressing. They went on to win the whole tourney while hasu and I got to play for 3rd. We ended up playing this korea-american brother-sister team. No longer were we playing for just the 3rd place prize of some 1gb MP3 player, we were playing to uphold our manhoods. We were able to win the 1st game by the time-tested 2v2 strat of "double-team 1 player before they double-team one of us." The 2nd game (on luna) went similarly except for the fact that the brother(protoss) was still way in the game after we killed the sister(zerg). Eventually the brother actually killed hasu after a failed contain and a severe attack against me. It basically boiled down to a 1v1 where I freaked out because I let my macro slip big-time during the contain because I eased up assuming we won. eventually I out-expanded (by taking the sister's nat and main in addition to my nat) and ultra-ling defilering my way through his heavily turtled 3rd. Victory was ours.

After that series we went over and talked to the brother/sister team for a bit and Ack1027 saw me wearing a TL shirt and came by and said Hi. I believe his exact words were "you're TL?!" We talked for a bit about TL about to be selling MBC shirts and then about how OGN uniforms just look like band shirts and then I forget why but we parted ways. I was hoping that he was going to be in the 1v1 so we could talk more but I didn't see him again for the rest of the event.

I was then hungry as hell from the huge workout of not losing to a girl in 2v2 so I went and ate pizza and received the amazing award of a 1gb samsung MP3 player(batteries not included)! The 1v1 tournament was soppose to start at 2am, but because the dude running the thing was an asshole we waited around till 3 45 wondering wtf was going on until he finally announced that the tournament would start. In that time my friends and I played some random games, even dabbled in some really crappy UMS maps and each took turns getting totally fucking raped by one of the Koreans from the 2v2 team that won the tournament. By the time the tournament started, only about 2/3 of the people that actually signed up participated, probably because it took so fucking long to start that they left and/or decided to quit SC and play DOTA. Speaking of which, DOTA is fucking popular as hell. WTF. It's a sad day when motherfucking DOTA has more players at a LAN than SC .

The tournament admin had to redo the brackets because so many people left. I originally had a BYE, but the redone brackets lead to me being pitted against amazing korean in the 1st round. And to top it off it was just a single game instead of a Bo3, because the admin said otherwise it'd take too long. FUCK HIM WE WOULD OF HAD TIME FOR IT IF IT STARTED ON TIME. So I spawned as Z on python vs Korean-god P. My plan was to do a 3-hat hydra all-in cannon break, but unfortunately he went 1 gate tech. Since I'm such a shitty player I had no idea of how to counter that and his 1st push did significant damage, and his 2nd push ended the game.

Hasu had a luckier bracket than I and was able to get to the semis playing non-koreans, assuring a PPPP semis. He suitably enough got fucking raped by Hikari (I think that his SN) who met Ed (AKA TanMan) in the finals. Ed has a pretty slow APM compared to Hikari and the Korean-megagod who he played in the semi's. Ed play's really fucking smart though. He actually used the same strat in every PvP I saw of his, where he basically did (bare in mind I don't play P so I'm not too sure on the very specifics) a 2-gate zeal harass (just sending in 1 zeal at a time to attack probes) and then expanded to his nat and cannoned it up. After his harass was over the other player would start to put pressure on Ed, but it never worked because they're army size advantage was never big enough to overcome the cannons. Ed would also take a secret 3rd during this time, and for some reason it would always get scouted WAY late. The opponent would almost always go shuttle/reaver and then attack the nat with his army + shuttle, and Ed would counter that by double-storming the reavers once they dropped, and it almost always killed the reavers way before they could do any sort of damage.

Ed is the best SC player on campus (unless Assem is still around here, I dunno!). After Ed beat Hikari in the finals I tried to persuade a couple of the azn's who were watching Hikari lose to Ed in the finals w/ me to join SC club, I dunno if they will. I did however add one of the koreans from the 2v2 champion team on facebook who wants to join the club, but since they don't live on campus and the club meetings are somewhat late, I don't know if they will be able to come.

After that it was 6:15 AM and I was tired as fuck so Hasu and I left the LAN and promptly fell asleep in our respective dorms. The LAN was fun as fuck, and I wish they were more often than once a semester. Hopfully I can try to organize SC-only LANs since DOTA and the FPSs were really gaying up the LAN a bit (I like FPSs too, but I fucking hate competitive FPS players ).

WOULD LAN AGAIN

Out of the last 15 games vs T, all but 1 tried some sort of gay bunker-rush or marines/SCVs al-in attack. WTF.


And more than half the time it works on me


On the plus side, I think I do a lot better vs the gayness now.

So on Thursday I'll be moving into my 1st dorm (going to be a freshman at Goergia Tech), and I was wondering if anyone here who has already moved into a dorm has any advice on things to buy for it that they might of forgot (trying to learn from the experienced). The GT freshmen dorms are quite shitty TBH (just a somewhat large room for 2 people, and a shared bathroom for each floor). I'm not trying to get suggestions for somewhat obvious things like "clothes hamper" or "shampoo," but if anyone has forgotten to bring something with them when they moved into a dorm, feel free to share that (even obvious things I guess if it's a good story!).

On a side note, it's fucking hard to move into a dorm. I don't know what to bring (all I can think of really is toiletries, clothes, PC/games stuff, TV, and school supplies and my roommate is bring a mini-fridge). I'm pissed at my friend who moved into his mom's house to go to college. He had it easy, all he had to do was bring every single thing he owned with him, while I have to pick stuff :\ (BTW I know I sound like a baby with that sentence).

Any help/advice/good moving into dorm stories at appreciated!

Almost whenever I join a game on ICCUP, the creator will just say "gg" and start.

WTF

2 laptop threads like 6 hours apart 3 days after I got my laptop, and they both are getting/got way better deals than me!





Fucking Dell.

So I was never really good at SC, and spent most of my earlier days (like 2000-2003, when we 1st got DSL) on money maps or UMS, and then eventually moved on to other games, only to dabble in SC once in a while. And then like 1000s others, got really back into SC when SC2 was announced, and I've been trying to play "for real" since about February. Most games I've played this year (about 200) have been against my friend genwar, who has always been better than me. I was only able to "steal" a few games from him in the beginning, and I think he has won the last like 60 games against me (even when he off-races). One cool thing I saw was looking at my BWchart (just installed it like a month ago), I see that both of our APMs steadily increased every few games (me going from like 60 to about 115-120 now, and him going from 70ish to around 200. He IS WAY FASTER/BETTER THAN ME).

Any way, the last month or 2 I started taking my games straight up on Iccup because he has not been on a lot, and I'm tired of never getting a base outside of my natural up for the whole game. I'm currently barely a D right now, 5-13.It seems that every game I win is against someone is just way way worse than me (like super-newbish). I think I'm learning a lot with each game though, and I'm hoping to be a D+(AMBITION) by the time SC2 comes out. Basically I determined that I need improvements in: base-management, timing, scouting, keeping macro up, being able to defend expansions, muta-harass better, control my units after 60 psi, and basic overall strategy (also known as EVERYTHING).

Here is a recap of my 3 games I played tonight:

Game 1:
ZvT on Python (1st game in 2 weeks actually, since I took a little break to watch E3 stuff and play a little CoD4 :\), I'm at the top and he at the bottom. Things go as normal a D level Zvt can (he FEs and I 12 hatch-into 3-hatch muta), but I fuck up twice in 1) letting his SCV scout my spire (I even knew it was coming but failed to properly block my ramp with lings) and then 2) I had a scouting Olord too close to the edge of his nat, and he killed it with marines, which really fucked up my muta-timing.

I finally get 13 mutas out (I always accidentally make like 2-4 extra mutas EVERY TIME GOD I SUCK) and move down to the right of his nat, while I burrow about 8 lings around the map as scouts (which was really just a dumb thing to do since it wastes my precious 115 APM). As I move my mutas down I also send a drone to 11 o clock to expand. As my mutas make their 1st attack at a turrent in his natural(which he was way too many for my mutas to do anything about) my lings spot his marines going north towards my expansion. I rush my mutas and whatever lings I had at my natural to defend, but because i suck so much my lings get there 1st and all die w/o taking out any marines, and my mutas are worthless to that many M/M. He then switches to SK terren and kills my natural in about 3 minutes, I GG in shame.

Game 2
ZvP on Python
I spawn at 6 he at 9. He picked random so I wasn't sure what to expect, so I played 9 pool and when my overlord spotted the nexus I transitioned into my crappy version of 9overpool, where I always forget ling speed until I have like 144 gas. My olord scouts that he went 2-gate 1 base, so I then realize that there was going to be no run-by. I expand at 12 and start pumping drones, tech to lair and make a 3rd hatchery. I forgot that I had an olord in his base for the longest time, and when I switch over I see that he is building a starport, so for god knows what reason I think its not going to be worth a damn and build a spire (NO DEN YET). His 1st goon kills my Olord, and holy shit it wasn’t the only olord of mine he got. He then saired my ass (really good sair micro btw) and got 1 more olord before my 1st hydras pop out, and then pumps more and more and expands while I sit at 2 base constantly repumping olords and hydras ( I forgot olord speed until like 12 mins in). Finally the sair harassment ends at about 15 mins in and I’m under 50 psi. I finally build up about 2 groups of hydras and a few lings (which scouted his natural not being too well defended) and so I move out and expand to 5 o clock, only to get DT harassed there at at my army. It was a classic sair-DT that I had never actually faced before (and I think I know what savior might of felt like now). About 5 minutes later he walks over my army twice and kills my natural, I GG again.

Game 3

ZvT on Python (Its hard to find non-python games on iccup, and my router won’t let me make games on SC :\)

I spawn at 6 again and the T spawns at 9. This game I made no big mistakes (and my APM was back to “normal” 118), it was just a matter of me being totally outplayed. I go 3 hatch muta and he Fes into SK terren. For some reason my mutas are not instantly destroyed and I get this false sense of empowerment as my mutas kill a few SCVs building things and about 12 marines (at the cost of 1/3 my mutas). I specifically remember 1 blunder I made when I tried hold-position micro and it failed horrible when I held position too far from the marines, and I lost about 4 mutas that way (I was reinforcing my “dominating” mutas). All the while my resources shot up and I struggled to build the essentials (Evo chamber, den, queens nest, 4th hatchery and an expo). I end up sending a drone to 5 and never actually building a hatch there. I was doing okay I guess until I forgot to get hive until like 5 mins after nest was done( same for building hydras and researching lurker).

Then he moves out, and I quickly pump some lings and put up some more sunks at my natural. He had the normal terren ball of M/M , 2 tanks, 1 vessel. I build scourges and then realize I have no lurkers, so I send my mutas over and snipe out 1 tank ( he was sieging my sunks). I then move them to my cliff and go down to my nat to morph my late as fuck lurkers, and then come back to my mutas to realize that they were too close to the cliff. I spam click back to my base but to no avail, only 1 of the 11 made it back (and with very little health). In 3 minutes I GG (only highlight of those 3 minutes would be the scourging of his 1st vessel and killing the other tank with the survivor muta and 3 others I didn’t even remember making).

So basically I suck balls at SC (but losing hard in SC a lot is still more fun than getting spawn-killed 4/5 of the time in CoD4). I think I learned some stuff today (specifically against sair/DT), but I just flat-out need a whole hell of a lot of practice. I hardly ever make it out of mid-game, and when I do I have so little experience controlling 120+ population zerg army that it’s just embarrassing. Today was my 1st day back from a 2 week break though, so I think about 3-5 games a day I can continue to improve, and maybe one day reach the coveted D+.
FYI going random is just BM!

I am currently looking for a TV to buy to bring to my dorm this semester (1st time staying in a dorm). I'm looking to spend under $400 on a TV that goes to at least 720p is is at least 20 something inches. So far I've checked newegg, microcenter, best buy, and some others, and this is the best one I've found:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889234036

Any site suggestions for me to check? Is this TV crap? Is this is the wrong place to ask?

E3 is next week and I'm pretty excited.So far this year there haven't really been any big game announcements (besides like Gears of War 2 and Diablo 3, and I'm hoping some big stuff gets announced next week. Here's what I want to see announced/just see some gameplay fianlly:

Battlefield 3*
new game from Team Ico
Half-Life 2 Episode 3
God of War 3
Brothers in Arms 3 (new multiplayer info!)
New Company of Heroes expansion*
New puzzler-esque game from Q entertainment*
Resident Evil 5 gamemplay (PLEASE!)
Dawn of War 2 (looks like fun)
Alien VS Predator 3 (I can dream, right?)*

*=games that I am just hoping will be announced and are not actually known to be in production.

I would have SC2 and D3 there too, but Blizz isn't going to E3 this year (also they never show new stuff at E3 any more, they save it for their own conventions). Also Spore would be there too if they haven't already shown the entire game basically to the public. THAT GAME IS BASICALLY DONE. PUT IT OUT ALREADY!

What about you guys?