On November 06 2011 01:48 Sawamura wrote: Dear playa, I am really thankful for your strategy book, However I have been always a low/mid D player, Originally started as terran and my mechanics are still there . Every time some one plays with me TvT , My brain just freezes and I can't do a thing ,compared to my other match up . I am not sure how should I react . There was once I knew my opponent is on one base and is making tons of dropship ,yet I decided to take a third and he sees that as a opportunity to drop tanks on my base and I immediately lost despite me having the economical advantage.
I really like playing terran but TvT has always been the downside of my game . Any advice ? I am thinking of going protoss but my mechanics are really not that strong however I like the freedom I am given in protoss having observers to scout my enemy and to flank when needed if i see a opening . PvP is not really favourable for me also but I can deal with it .
Thanks. I switched to pvt as I really disliked tvt. The games ran too long and it just felt bad for my health. That said, I could maybe play 25 tvt games or play to C rank. I can only handle so much tvt, but every once in a long period of time it can be amusing to play. It would be a learning experience for me as I never play it, but I can give thoughts as I learn
As for losing to your opponent when you have an advantage, a big part of not losing when you have an advantage is simply putting yourself in your opponent's shoes. If you can understand how you could lose a game and you understand what is in your opponent's arsenal/capabilities, that goes a long ways in enabling you to defend against that. If you realize your opponent is going a different route, then you can adjust.
When I was just starting out at pvt, I beat a B-team pro gamer terran (gosi[desire]). My build was such a joke. Proxy expo for my natural, early cannons. My play was just god awful, but I made it to the middle game with some expos and I had arbiters. As long as you have arbiters and some expos, you're in a good spot 99% of the time. Arbiters make the game so, so complicated for terran. Point is, odds are it wouldn't take you very long to be playing pvt at least at the same level as you're playing tvt now, so it just comes down to what matchup you want to play. Don't be afraid to experiment.
So in the midst of macroing my base , I have to put my self in my opponent shoes and figured out what steps will he take . I didn't really think about that and it never occurred to me . I could have thought out things like that .. Thanks again playa... I will definitely remind my self to do that and not let my advantage slip away from my hands again.
Also, think about it this way -- why is map hack banned? Obviously because it would give the other player an enormous advantage because he would already know what's going on. Well, the same premise is behind why you need to be comsating as much as you can. Whoever gains the information advantage is better able to counter a "real" opponent and, in turn, win the game.
I use the term "real" to refer to players that spend their time and resources countering non existent threats because they either aren't using comsat enough or they are not processing the repercussions of not utilizing every unit and mineral to its fullest. For instance if you're defending against a drop and your opponent doesn't even have a starport, wtf are you doing? This is something you only do when you can afford to error on the side of extreme caution, or because you haven't been using comsat properly so you can't be sure until you become more informed.
On November 07 2011 10:44 BlazeTSR wrote: Starcraft 2 is a brand new game. Players in BW had been playing for years to get to the level they had achieved.
I'm definitely aware of that. On one hand that has made me think about what it would be like to start on an even playing field. On the other hand, it has made me quite indifferent on when I play, if I ever do.
Over the years, I've realized how hard it is to win tournaments when you're not in a team or don't have any practice partners outside of ladder games. It's tough coming from a ladder setting and not really being aware of how people will adapt to your play or if you need to change it up to remain "optimal." Also, unless the maps you need to practice are MOTW, you just can't ever practice the maps.
In short, if you play SC 2 and you want to be competitive in tournaments, you have to join a team. If that involves living with others guys, some that you don't even respect or like, I'd rather not. Maybe if it was a girl team...
The day that online poker in the US ceased, I told my friend that it will eventually come back and US players will probably only be allowed to play against each other. There will be a window of time where the game is very easy and the "easy money" will be somewhat comparable to what we hear the old school poker players talk about when online poker was starting out.
I don't know if the above scenario will play out that way, but it's looking like it's going to go down that path for the time being, and I find that prospect to be more of a thing I wouldn't want to miss than playing a game that people deem inferior to BW.
I played 25 tvp games, going 23-2 (replays are on my site). I feel like I played it considerably more correctly than other terran players, yet I found it challenging. It spurred me to play pvt, as I figured I probably should be expected to go 40-0 in pvt without breaking a sweat. While I do believe that to be true, as you're only required to be able to counter standard play and 2 fac... (o gawd, will he make tanks and vultures!?) I stopped at 30-0. Replays are on my site.
I think anyone who has reached any level beyond a "casual" level in SC has to have some sort of perfectionism drive in them related to SC; I was bothered by my previous tvz games through C rank. So, I played more. I have stopped at 25-1. I "forced" a player to go 3 hatch speed lings, all-in, at close positions. Tough loss. Would like to comment on the only viable solution to this, in my eyes: you have to have a scv or vulture at your opponent's natural to give yourself a chance to react. At close positions, once spotted, since you don't have time to make another bunker, you simply have to look to hold your ramp, using quite a few scvs.
While playing these games, I saw some initiative by two other players to record FP vods. I made a couple for personal use in the past, so I went a head and made two, as I know a lot of people would much rather view a FP vod than a replay. I didn't cherry pick: I simply recorded my last game played in each matchup. These are on my site, too, btw. T vs Z is against a b- player. P vs T is against a C player.
I think a friend once said "I'm not saying I'm right, but I'm definitely saying you're wrong." That's, at least, the feeling I get when I watch others play. For the love of god, try doing something different. If you just sign up to the affiliate on my site, feel free to send me replays (losses). At this point most players have peaked, without additional help. It only makes sense to explore that. Btw, I'm probably done playing games in the near/foreseeable future, unless I'm messing around in pvp.
I like the idea you raise up , for example if your opponent isn't doing something to kill you , he's cooking up some other drastic plan to make your life miserable .Again I want to thank you for this awesome guide . It's recommended that any newbie who wants to be better at broodwar , has to read playa's fight to the top guide .
On January 08 2012 23:34 Sawamura wrote: I like the idea you raise up , for example if your opponent isn't doing something to kill you , he's cooking up some other drastic plan to make your life miserable .Again I want to thank you for this awesome guide . It's recommended that any newbie who wants to be better at broodwar , has to read playa's fight to the top guide .
Thanks. I haven't played a game since uploading the FP vods, and my comp recently broke, but it's still great to see that there are players playing such a good game.
I think I cover a lot of basic stuff, but I also think there's so much neglect when it comes to simply basic stuff, that it, alone, can make all the difference in the world. If you can simply win the "information war," in-game and out-of-game, improving should be made much easier. When I say out-of-game information, to me it means just downloading a ton of replays and knowing the ranks of all the players you're watching; after you accumulate so many replays from various levels, you will begin to understand why players are certain ranks and know the "ingredients" to it. This makes it soooo much easier to go about reaching the next rank and so on. It takes some of the guess work out of it and the need to try to emulate a pro gamer in one giant leap.
In-game information.. think of StarCraft as chess.... if you're pieces are visible and your opponent's are invisible to you, who will win? How good of position will your pieces be in comparison to his? How likely are you to capitalize on your opportunities? You can see, by simply scouting your opponent frequently, you're really not even playing the same game.
You just have to be mindful of "am I utilizing every unit I have to its fullest?" Don't defend against imaginary threats when you can obtain the knowledge to know there's nothing to fear. Whoever has the most information is always able to make the most-informed decisions.
Both players go standard, you're saying "I'm going to try to win by having the better execution." If you go non standard, you obviously want to have crisp execution, but you're also aiming to take your opponent of his comfort zone. You want to play the same game you're accustomed to playing, while you're opponent feels like he is playing a different game, a reactionary one that puts him/her at least a few steps behind you. Just be aware of where the advantages lie and what your objectives must be.
Wow, as I read this I cannot help but be reminded of this: LockhartsLament.pdf You showcase the artistry that Starcraft can be -- Very insightful writing! Thank you!
dam thats a lot of apm spam at the start for the tvz one. lol another alternative to apm spaming as terran in the start is to micro ur scvs to mine faster. just a random tip btw i loved ur book
Damn, that thing is nicely written. It's rather rare to see someone trying to get the important points across instead of mindless fluff about "Just micro and macro better and play tenthousand games!!!11"
:o I was hoping this thread was dead and would remain so! Due to megaupload going down and my prior computer having "died," I haven't had the book myself. Ultimately, anytime someone does something, a judgement is rendered. Anytime your anxiety is increased, you'd like to think there's something to either help offset it or make it worthwhile.
I feel sheepish and treasonous or something I honestly never planned on playing SC 2. I unexpectedly found myself with a week off, and I really wanted to get a game. I really wanted to get a hockey game, as I just think it's the best sport and love the hockey video games. But, eventually, I was like "I can't rationalize getting a PS 3 just so I can get 1 game, with no intentions of getting anything else." Thus, I settled on trying out SC 2.
I can't stress how big of a thing it is to see a lot of tournaments in SC 2 that accommodate players, who qualify for their events, with flights to their events. In WCG this year, in SC 2, you saw people winning their national WCG finals and then turning down going to the World Finals. Personally, if I had any aspirations of being competitive, I would probably choose w/e game that gave me less reservations about choosing to advance on after winning/qualifying.
I'm currently playing HotS and I find it fun/interesting/new challenge, but be it SC 2 or HotS, I pretty much find every mu but p vs p (more times than not) to be trash, or at least far inferior to watch to their BW "counterparts." It's really sad almost to think how much worse of an experience it is to view SC matches now. And to couple that with SC 2 basically replacing the BW show, it feels wrong to some extent.
To me it just seems like it should perhaps be some kinda egregious offense anytime an inferior product ends up completely supplanting a superior product, that the current product can only hope of becoming. Ultimately, there's a sense of that's not how the world should ever work; that's simply our world revolving around money and Blizzard being out of ideas on how to create more money inflow from BW.
Anytime incentive is lost to cater to people that are simply playing the superior game, then you do have to worry about the inevitable "death" of that game. I frankly enjoy playing SC 2 and welcome the change of pace/differences, but you'd hate to think you're contributing to the death of something that is "objectively" better. At the bare minimum, they should co exist. The superior product should never fade into oblivion, even if the successor has promise of blossoming into a really amazing game. If BW fades away, it should only be after a successor has proven to be a better game; not simply a game with the most potential for money to be had.
Anyways, all I'm really trying to say is that I really enjoy seeing that there are still people playing BW and/or care about the game. 40k people with no ambitions of being a pro gamer could watch a 30 minute turtle fest, with broodlord, infestor, or they could watch a real game, with entertainment value, granted there was still a BW scene to watch. Why are we subjecting ourselves to watch something that is clearly not as good? I don't know the answers. I just know I have a lot of respect for people that say, "I like this. I know there is more value here. You're not going to get me to accept less value for no reason without substance."
It's great to see and hopefully BW can have a resurgence of some kind, even though it probably will take outside forces (not Blizzard).