Good idea, I will forward this to my n00by friends for sure, it's always hard finding good resources for people that introduce them to advanced/intermediate concepts without linking them to the TLO forums and having them get overwhelmed.
Episode idea (post idea): creating some kind of chart/reference for what scouting means (IE early gas scout terran could be marauders, or reaper rush, or tech build, but rules out mass marines; or pool already under construction when you send your 9 scout = get ready to be rushed)
I find that most beginner/intermediate players will scout, but then don't know what it means, I bet you could cover a lot of possibilities pretty quickly.
Episode idea (post idea): creating some kind of chart/reference for what scouting means (IE early gas scout terran could be marauders, or reaper rush, or tech build, but rules out mass marines; or pool already under construction when you send your 9 scout = get ready to be rushed)
^This.
If I even bother scouting, the most information I can acquire is: - he is over there - he is walled-off - he's fast expanding - he has x Raxes
That's pretty much it. Not going to guess if reapers/mass marauders/hellions are coming just from scouting with like 10th worker.
Episode idea (post idea): creating some kind of chart/reference for what scouting means (IE early gas scout terran could be marauders, or reaper rush, or tech build, but rules out mass marines; or pool already under construction when you send your 9 scout = get ready to be rushed)
^This.
If I even bother scouting, the most information I can acquire is: - he is over there - he is walled-off - he's fast expanding - he has x Raxes
That's pretty much it. Not going to guess if reapers/mass marauders/hellions are coming just from scouting with like 10th worker.
So, are you saying not to scout?! First, on a multiple spawn location map, "he's over there" is vital. Second, knowing he/she's walled off (especially vital as zerg, as this is the deciding factor on whther to drop a bling nest), fast expanding, has x many raxes/gateways/how soon the pool goes up/is he getting fast gas/any early tech are also vital. Furthermore, especially against random, you'll at least know what race you're up against. Another idea, against terran, harrassing the scv building a rax is useful, and potentially a gas steal to hamper them while seeing their worker count is nice. Finally, this is the safest time for a worker to infiltrate for intel, as later they are quickly off'ed by t1 units.
Anyone who doesn't scout, is also sending a message: "I'm either a noob (but if you're high level, I'm probably not and thus the next alternative is true), or I intend to rush you, and allow my rush to serve as the scouts."
So, long story short, despite the limited info, scouting early is very useful. Of course, too many players scout once, and never bother to scout again until it's too late. Continuous scouting is a must, for gathering intel. (I'd suggest scouting with something other than workers later on, such as a fast moving unit or observer/changling/scan.)
New video is up--this time, I just want your feedback! I have covered a lot of the basics in my fundamentals series, and am wanting to know in what direction I should take my videos for the future. Let me know in the comments or in this thread.
I'd like to see a unit spotlight on the psionic units which require micro, preferably the infestor (as I'm a zerg hehe), but I can see the ghost, raven, maaaybe queen, and high templar and sentry. Of course, the units like the phoenix and corrupter which have abilities but are not exactly a pure support unit, might be worthy of a unit spotlight as well.
Edit: Maybe you could also attempt to extend the back to basics thread to both zerg and protoss... :/
Also, I've been having some trouble as Zerg against the terran bio ball. Now I know, counters don't exist! But still, I've been somewhat troubled. I've found that muta/ling/bling tends to be useful (though I really should try to throw in infestors yet haven't perfected the ability yet), although it's been my experience, that even with bling speed upgrade, they seem to fall if the terran micros really well. I'll try to find my replay where i knew I had his bio ball, but somehow masses of blings were destroyed and barely scratched his marines... I think my problem there was inadequate micro on my part, but still some guidance might be beneficial.
In any case, I love your videos, and I look forward to updates in this thread and on my youtube subscription to you.
Okay okay okay, so the thing I was wanting to say with the unit counters video is that unit counters are not the hard set in stone RULES of the game like some people like to treat them. It's definitely true that some units are better against other units, but the idea that "If they have X, you should make Y" just ignores so many other aspects of the game.
That said, against a bio ball if you are planning on using banelings, the infestor will make your baneling's job 100x easier--one good fungal growth will leave the entire ball nicely clumped up and unable to micro against your banelings. Definitely throw some infestors in to your play and let me know how it works out. Fungal growth is an amazing ability
I was wanting to request a Phoenix vs Muta micro tutorial. Apparently I'm to noob to learn it on my own, and I havent been able to find any vids breaking it down for me.
Thx and I hope you continue to have success with your tutorials.
On September 06 2010 12:40 Joedaddy wrote: I was wanting to request a Phoenix vs Muta micro tutorial. Apparently I'm to noob to learn it on my own, and I havent been able to find any vids breaking it down for me.
Thx and I hope you continue to have success with your tutorials.
The thing is they have the moving shot, and I want to say a farther range than mutas. Just keep backing them up while keeping them in range, and the mutas would be stupid to chase you. I rarely make mutas in ZvP, favoring hydras instead, since they're cheaper and great dps for taking down all those meaty protoss units.
Edit: And Trebis, I've been forcing myself to micro those infestors, and so far they work quite well! It seems as if this is like the toss tstorm. I mean, it seems to have a damage component, perhaps less than the toss storm, of course, but it has the added bonus of it stopping them from attacking, making a nice close-in quite useful. I guess I've just been more of a macro player, and micro has always been my bane, thus my propensity for not even bothering to make the micro-intensive infestor.
very good work, your videos have been very helpful to me.
umm, just one question: how do I manually install those trainingmaps? I downloaded a map for training macro and micro at the same time and I really cannot figure out how to get it in the right folder(s).
I think all you are doing is great, really instructive.
I sent you a pm.
I know you will not be able to explain the whole game mechanics in a very detailed way since you can writed about thousands of books regarding this game. Still you do an excellent job trying to explain as much as possible abot the mechanics. Thank you very much for your time in helping other ppl.
You know, I've been watching your stuff since beta, and I must say I've been incorporating your advice (and others, such as Day9 and HD), and I'm now a top platinum zerg 1700-ish, hopefully diamond soon. However, you never cease to amaze. It never occured to me to do the 'X' hotkey while burrowed. I just never thought to try it. Sure, I knew about the auto unburrow right-click thing, but that was definitely useful to know. Furthermore, I always knew bling speed was cool, but I never knew the comparitive speeds. However, one thing you forgot to do, was stim vs the centrifugal hooks off creep. I want to say the marine is faster? If not that is definitely awesome to know, but I guess I'll check out the unit tester to see...
In any case, ty again, and gj Trebis! ~Duncan Idaho
Well, I haven't updated this thread in a long while, but I guess it's about time.
My latest video focuses on the bane of all Zerg's existance ZvT on Lost Temple: The dreaded THOR DROP!
You people have no idea how difficult it was for me to sit and watch zergs get thor dropped for hours at a time. Honestly one of the most depressing things I've ever done....
Oh, and I'm gonna actually update the front page of this thread again--hooray!