Hey guys well I'm glad to inform you all that i finally reached D+ (with a losing rec.) ofcourse on iccup, the bad news is that i still suck at the game .
Anyway this week ive had a lot of games that have turned out the same PvP and yesterday i decided to crank up the camtasia recorder so ive made 2 fpvods of me playing on iccup and somehow i fall behind and i don't really know why.
So here are the vods on youtube (im sorry for the bad quality on the first vod :o ) infact just watch the 2nd vod, first is unwatchable quality in my opinion, im just gonna put it back up with diff. compression.
So if anyone will take the time to watch one or watch half of one whatever you can handle and tell me any reoccuring mistakes you see, both of the games are PvP on python and are very similar.
Notes:
- I know to lose one of the games i sat in some stupid spot with my whole army and let him fight only half of it, i don't want comments on stuff like this i'm looking for general comments on what ive been doing the whole game that has made me fall behind, that has made me lose.
e.g. macro, bad builds, micro, stuff im doing on screen, whatever you can spot that im doing wrong please tell me and leave some tips or advice on what i should be doing instead.
Thanks to all people who take part, and i'd be happy to let anyone know how to record fpvod's, just pm me (however i req. you give me some advice on the games first ).
Congrats on the D+, if I had any one suggestion, it would be to improve your macro and add more gateways. You also forget to macro while your microing at times in both games. In both fpvods, you sit on 1k+ mins with 2base, and when you gg'ed in the second u had 2.5k unused mins. That is unnacceptable, make zeals if you don't have gas. And don't press a failed attack.
On January 20 2008 06:31 Trick wrote: Congrats on the D+, if I had any one suggestion, it would be to improve your macro and add more gateways. You also forget to macro while your microing at times in both games. In both fpvods, you sit on 1k+ mins with 2base, and when you gg'ed in the second u had 2.5k unused mins. That is unnacceptable, make zeals if you don't have gas. And don't press a failed attack.
Edit: Now tell me how to record fpvods xD.
There is a program called Camtasia, look it up on www.thepiratebay.org and download/install it. It's very user-friendly and produces fpvods like this one.
Of course you need a program that downloads torrented files to get it for free.
Well there's certainly a big need for improvement in your play. As already mentioned, you need to improve your macro. An even bigger problem is your decision making and lack of scouting though. You dont get the basics yet. I suggest you watch some Nony FPVods or something.
rage can you point some of these problems out then? I been playing on and off for nearly a year, only lately ive been massing up games on iccup and really trying to improve but im hitting a brick wall now.
Edit : Yes i have watched many nony vods but basically it's just him showing good his reaver micro is but that doesnt really help me because i can't micro reavers or such things. Also his lately pvp one gets raped by 2 gate zealots for me on iccup.
Hey, congrats on D+. I watched VOD2 and agree with Trick- the reason that you fell behind was largely due to macro. I'll list the things in order that I noticed (sorry if I seem too harsh or retentive...list is pretty long ) Skip to the very bottom for overall notes:
- You let the first scouting probe die, and didn't replace it asap / didn't scout until much later in the game - Seems that you don't use hotkeys very much (ie. Pressed the probe icon to build instead of pressing 'p', or gateway instead of 'g'). This probably isn't a major issue, but it could add up in terms of the speed you get things out - You kept 5 zeals and 2 goons on your ramp, doing nothing when you could've harassed him (or at least pressure/contain). Basically you gave him free control of the map- when you send out another probe, he has his probe there to detect when you move out/expand to nat-> You should do this! - More gateways! I prefer to think of robo as midgame, and you should definitely have more than 2 gateways by the time robo + obs is done if you want to match your opponent's production (also, seems like your robo + obs was delayed) - I prefer expanding to natural asap after robo/obs, esp. if there is no pressure. Anyway, your nat expansion was VERY late (iirc, you only expanded after you noticed your opponent had established a solid expo). This results in your very low gas count. - Late tech: at the point you get your nat, you still have +400min/gas that could've been used for a bay, or citadel+templar tech - You...suicide your second probe (into a mass of goons) for no reason? - You choose to engage and seem to just watch while you have 4 idle gates; you move everything back to nat when you are losing, giving him map control again (imo, should keep it somewhat close to stop any further expos from him) - Late in maynarding probes from main to nat - Your citadel has been done for God knows how long, but you're late in teching zeal speed (or getting temp tech) - Uber late forge upgrades; you have hundreds of min/gas but slow ups cost you in the big battles (esp. in PvP) - You choose not to expo (!!!) in bottom corner even though you have +400min (meanwhile, he's setting up expo at min only). Also, you fail to kill off that expo ASAP before being attacked - You manage to fight him off outside your nat, but try to push out immediately before reinforcing. - Really late storm tech hurt you in battles; your robo isn't doing anything (make obs, or with your min/gas, get a bay + reaver even) - You experience lack of minerals due to your extremely late expo (dozens of probes in your main are running out of mins to mine) - He had pretty good storms and manages to push you back to nat when you try engage him. - Empty expo; you see this and still take a few minutes to maynard probes from your expo or main (which are way overcrowded) - Obs-less army. With his temp tech, he could've DTed and you would've been defenseless - Good timing and great job killing his south expo, but by not moving your army back (even to middle of map would be good), your army is contained; his storms are more effective than yours and your army is killed. He also could've easily attacked your defenseless nat or expo. Speaking of which, you have ZERO cannons in nat and bad cannon placement in your expo, which screams out "DT me" imo - Idle min-only expo with 1 probe, no cannons lol. - 2k+ idle min/gas when you type out D:
Basically, I think he held the advantage as soon as he had the natural, while you were running on 1 base, 2 gate for God knows how long. Also he was far more teched than you (he had +4 HT before you even have one)- if you have as many minerals as you did, TECH. I'm fairly certain he had higher ground upgrades than you (you had idle forges for a while). You often had hundreds of minerals sitting there while there are idle gates. If you can't keep up production at your gates, at least queue up another unit or build more gates (since you had so many resources anyway). Don't let him have map control so often- you lose your start probe, don't harass, don't scout, keep army at your base, etc.
The spam isnt to impress for apm its to warmup/habit because im slow anyway i dont want to be slower during the game i freely admit im bad so why would i try to impress?
On January 20 2008 08:15 TechniQ.UK wrote: rage can you point some of these problems out then? I been playing on and off for nearly a year, only lately ive been massing up games on iccup and really trying to improve but im hitting a brick wall now.
Edit : Yes i have watched many nony vods but basically it's just him showing good his reaver micro is but that doesnt really help me because i can't micro reavers or such things. Also his lately pvp one gets raped by 2 gate zealots for me on iccup.
well u gotta scout more often trying to counter his build, and when you come in a situation where he went for fe with superior goon count (while you have superior zeal count) and cannons, while you went 2gate tech robo, try to use your fork, dont just 'also expand, only 1 minute later', because that amplifies your disadvantage of the build. If you have robo before him, try teching reavers, harassing him a bit with them. If you scouted better you wouldnt have ended up in that situation anyways, having 2gategoonobs vs 2gategoon cannon expo is not something you want
basicly: in any mirror matchup your buildorders fork. every fork has disadvantages and advantages and some forks own other forks (Rock Paper Scissors-ish). Every time you notice him doing another build order than you, try to to think of your advantages, his advantages, your disadvantages, his disadvantages, and make a gameplan. You'll predict his reaction, and know how to react yourself.
1.Off the top of my head, you gotta send your zealots to his base to harass and scout his tech/expand. You don't need more than 2 zealots to block your ramp, so I'm really not sure why you're building them. Either way you should be sitting outside his base with them rather than standing in your base (though blocking your ramp is perfectly fine).
2. I guess I can't be too sure of this, but from the way you're moving your mouse and stuff, it looks like you're scared or you've got too much adrenaline going. You'll definitely play better if you can learn to play calmly.
7:25 - Here you just scouted his FE (though it's possible he didn't FE, I'm thinking he probably did). His nat is up and running, and you're already behind. Had you scouted this earlier (see point 1), you would have been able to react accordingly (expand yourself/apply some timing pressure). This is important stuff. You did react by expanding, but it's much later than it could/should have been. So, while he expanded and boosted his econ, you pumped zeal/goon, and did nothing with them. My point is you gotta put the pressure on with your units. This will make your opponent more likely to spend recklessly or just break his concentration, while simultaneously allowing you to a) scout his nat b) prevent him from sending probes out to expand to other locations (or at least allow you to see them leave) c) be right there, looking for an opportunity for a successful strike/harass.
12:45 - You've now scouted that he's just starting mining from a third base. You've got 4-digit minerals. You need to build more tech, and expand. Wait, you just did. Good job.
He'll be maynarding probes over to that expo any second now, and you need to do something to cripple his econ to make up the advantage he's got right now. This will almost certainly require a shuttle (your choice of reaver or templar). He's basically a base ahead of you; you need to do some damage.
I thought you sent your military to attack his 3rd, but you must have stopped or something. Honestly, it's probably for the best, since he'll be expecting that, and will probably intercept with his (likely) superior military. Still, I hate to see an army sitting in it's owner's base doing nothing.
14:25 - Wow, he owned you with those storms. BTW, why did you choose to take the 3 o'clock main rather than the nat? The nat is easier to protect unless you're going to build a pylon wall, and protecting the nat also protects the main.
16:45 - Do you not hotkey your military? 1a2a3a4a really helps to keep your attack force from streaming in single file, and it's way faster once you get the hang of it.
17:00 - I don't know if microing your attack was really worth your time. There's probably something else you could have been doing. On a related note, you should get around to checking the 8 o'clock "island" expo. It's very possible that he's there (although you haven't seen a shuttle, so maybe not). And arbiter tech would rock. Also, you've got 2k+ gas. A few extra gateways devoted to templar wouldn't hurt.
Oh, and a pm with instructions on how to do that would be welcome. Thanx.
I guess I should also mention that I primarily play Zerg, if that matters. It looks like Evolve said a lot of the same things though, so I know I'm not too far off.