Today is a good day. For today it is 1 month since I set out to drastically improve my 1v1 prowess. So I guess the question is, has any progress been made? Well simply put, yes. Lots of progress.
The first thing I talked about was the fear of playing or rather the fear of losing. Now while I still have a slight anxiety I find myself almost enjoying and even looking forward to playing 1v1. I have learnt that getting my ass kicked is all part of the learning process. With each loss I can learn something new, see a new build order or strategy that has to be countered and overcome.
I didn't work this out at first, with each loss making me feel like I didn't know anything about Starcraft 2 and that I could never improve. But its amazing how a few wins can improve your out look on life. I have come up against some tough opponents and played some close games but playing and even loosing these games has forced me to re-evaluate my game style and change my fundamental mechanics.
Thanks to these losses and having Comadevil watch me play and tell me where I am going wrong, I have learnt to play a very different Zerg game then I did before. Gone are the days when I would try to win the game by fighting off of 2 bases or doing some sort of crazy banneling rush. Now its all about the economic powerhouse. Its all about holding back and expanding, waiting until the last possible second to build an army once my economy is in overdrive.
I can already see that my games are progressing along the 'standard' play as Day9 would call it. This is exactly what I need if I ever want to survive outside of the gold league.
Aside from big game changing fundamentals that have been learnt, I am slowly improving lots of little things. I am now using my overlords more effectively, scouting the back of the enemy base, keeping one over my expansion so I can spot any cheesy cannon or bunker rush and lining the route to enemy Zerg base with Overlords so I can see whenever they move out. I have even re-arranged my control groups to give me more flexibility with my army and to more easily find my Queens so I can get those larvae spawning quicker.
I think If I went back and played myself from a month ago, I would kick my ass.
Although I have been playing much, much more then before (well its not hard to play more than zero), I am still not playing as much as I would like. I need to play more, I need to get those 5 games a day in. When season 3 starts I have a new goal: to keep my bonus pool at zero. That means never letting it build up, playing every single day. Only by doing this will I get anywhere.
Its been a great start and I feel more confident than ever in my 1v1 ability but there is a long way to go yet. Rome wasn't built in a day and a noob cannot be turned into a master in a month. I'm looking forward to seeing where I will stand in 4 weeks time, so here's to the next month!
Let's Rock!
Welcome to my blog! This blog will document my life of Starcraft as I attempt to go from a casual noob to a hard core master!
Monday 18 July 2011
Wednesday 13 July 2011
In the rear with the gear
So last night I had a revelation. Something I already knew but perhaps didn't understand its power fully. The secret to success with Zerg, is to build a massive economy. Zerg do not win fights with superior units, they win with superior numbers. To do this they need to have a huge economy, Zerg players have to have great macro games.
I did know this already, but I didn't know to what extent I had to build my economy. Apparently I still play in the mindset of the many team games I have played where you are limited to only 1 or 2 expo's (expansions) each. This means that you have to fully saturate each base with 3 drones per mineral patch and gas, roughly 30 workers per base.
However in 1v1's a lot of maps offer you way more potential expo's that need to be taken advantage off. But hey 60 workers spread over 3 bases is the same as 60 workers spread over 4 bases right? Well no. No times a thousand.
This is the part where anyone who considers themselves experienced or above average in Starcraft 2 looks away in derision. As I discovered last night the third worker on each mineral patch is only 50% efficient as the first two. This is huge! Understanding this one basic rule of Starcratt 2 will increase my economy by 50%. Now, say instead of getting 1000 minerals per minute, I can get 1500. That's like 20 zerglings worth per minute. That builds up over time to a lot and can mean the difference between victory and crushing defeat.
Or that extra 50% will mean I can build my Evolution Chamber earlier and get those critical upgrades or vital stealth detection out earlier. 50% might not sound much but in a game where every second you can shave off a build or that 1 extra Colossus you can squeeze out can make such a huge difference. If you can rush 20 seconds earlier the other guy is going to have less stuff to defend with. If you have 3 Colossi and the other guy only has 2, you are going to win (ignoring my horrible micro of course).
Check out this link for further information
To prove this point my friend Coma Devil suggested to play vs the AI and just expand a lot. As one of my goals this week was to get used to expanding a lot, I gave it a go. So for the first 10 minutes or so I just built Zerglings and expanded like crazy, making sure not to over saturate my bases and grab all the gases. At the 12 minute mark my economy started to sky rocket. I had so many minerals and enough gas to build an army of Mutalisks. Never during my ladder games could I afford so many mutas at once. With them I devoured the enemy army then ripped apart their base. And still I had enough resources to do what ever I wanted after.
How could I have not seen this before? Just expand. Always. Build enough to survive and then when you have 3 or 4 bases up build an army. This way you can just replace your losses instantly and easily afford it. Sticking to 2 bases for so long and then building a 3rd only once I have fully saturated my other bases has cost me more than I know. How many times have I lost 1 base and just fell apart because of lack of income? How many times have I mined out my main base and not had another base to send my Drones to?
Its past time I realized that expanding is the key to Zerg success and now I know how to distribute my Drones. Its time to stop focusing on my army and focus more on those hard working under appreciated guys in back who do all the heavy lifting and are the true key to victory. So in honor of the hardest working of all the worker units, the SCV, I will sign out saying:
In the rear with the gear!
I did know this already, but I didn't know to what extent I had to build my economy. Apparently I still play in the mindset of the many team games I have played where you are limited to only 1 or 2 expo's (expansions) each. This means that you have to fully saturate each base with 3 drones per mineral patch and gas, roughly 30 workers per base.
However in 1v1's a lot of maps offer you way more potential expo's that need to be taken advantage off. But hey 60 workers spread over 3 bases is the same as 60 workers spread over 4 bases right? Well no. No times a thousand.
This is the part where anyone who considers themselves experienced or above average in Starcraft 2 looks away in derision. As I discovered last night the third worker on each mineral patch is only 50% efficient as the first two. This is huge! Understanding this one basic rule of Starcratt 2 will increase my economy by 50%. Now, say instead of getting 1000 minerals per minute, I can get 1500. That's like 20 zerglings worth per minute. That builds up over time to a lot and can mean the difference between victory and crushing defeat.
Or that extra 50% will mean I can build my Evolution Chamber earlier and get those critical upgrades or vital stealth detection out earlier. 50% might not sound much but in a game where every second you can shave off a build or that 1 extra Colossus you can squeeze out can make such a huge difference. If you can rush 20 seconds earlier the other guy is going to have less stuff to defend with. If you have 3 Colossi and the other guy only has 2, you are going to win (ignoring my horrible micro of course).
Check out this link for further information
To prove this point my friend Coma Devil suggested to play vs the AI and just expand a lot. As one of my goals this week was to get used to expanding a lot, I gave it a go. So for the first 10 minutes or so I just built Zerglings and expanded like crazy, making sure not to over saturate my bases and grab all the gases. At the 12 minute mark my economy started to sky rocket. I had so many minerals and enough gas to build an army of Mutalisks. Never during my ladder games could I afford so many mutas at once. With them I devoured the enemy army then ripped apart their base. And still I had enough resources to do what ever I wanted after.
How could I have not seen this before? Just expand. Always. Build enough to survive and then when you have 3 or 4 bases up build an army. This way you can just replace your losses instantly and easily afford it. Sticking to 2 bases for so long and then building a 3rd only once I have fully saturated my other bases has cost me more than I know. How many times have I lost 1 base and just fell apart because of lack of income? How many times have I mined out my main base and not had another base to send my Drones to?
Its past time I realized that expanding is the key to Zerg success and now I know how to distribute my Drones. Its time to stop focusing on my army and focus more on those hard working under appreciated guys in back who do all the heavy lifting and are the true key to victory. So in honor of the hardest working of all the worker units, the SCV, I will sign out saying:
In the rear with the gear!
Monday 11 July 2011
Let's Rock! - Week 3
Here we are again. Another week, another Monday and a chance to go forward and kick ass all week! If only. Its week 3 on my journey and its time to settle in for the long haul. The last two weeks I was still getting used to everything, buying new toys to play with and working out a timetable to play. Now I must concentrate on nothing but getting my games in and improving my game style.
Last week was not good for my ego. I took loss, after loss, after loss but with each loss came a determination to get another win. Determination is good and all but determinedly trying to lift a car with your mind is only going to give you a headache if you ain't got the midi-chlorians.
So instead of gritting my teeth and diving head long once more into my next match, I have realized that taking some time to stop and watch the replay of the game I have just played might be a good idea. It might give me a chance to settle down and see just where I went wrong and the other guy or gal went right. Doing this I might discover that going 14 pool isn't such a great idea in a Zerg vs Zerg (ZvZ) on Xel'naga caverns with its close base proximity.
I faced a lot of cheesy 6 and 9 pool rushes last week that left me feeling frustrated and cheated and I need to look into how I can beat those back comfortably. Whether it is just a question of going for an earlier pool or better drone micro to kill it off.
One thing I have discovered from my games so far is that my Zerg vs Terran or ZvT, is by far my weakest match up. I don't know what it is about Terran but I never feel in control in those match ups. If I'm not losing my expo to a bunker rush then I'm living in fear of a fast banshee rush or blue flame hellion drop. The ability they have to wall up with supply depots and Tanks whilst simultaneously making multiple medi-vac drops leaves me running round in circles trying desperately to defend whilst unable to effectively attack. Always ending in the same way as the Terran's brutal death machine gets slowly bigger and bigger until their unstoppable army comes to my base and squashes my army like the insects the Zerg are. But the Zerg are not insects! We are the Swarm, the bringer of death and darkness and we shall flow over the Terran and devour them until nothing is left but ash and dust. After that I feel like an evil laugh is needed: Muh ha ha ha ha.
But how to bring about this grizzly end for the Terran? Well to start with I will read and try to understand SieGe’s excellent ZvT guide found over at Team Liquid. Understanding theory craft and what to look out for and how to play against Terran is essential if I am to get anywhere higher than Gold league.
Despite the losses I was happy with how I have started to rally Overlords away from my base. It felt clumsy at first having to mentally think: don't build that Overlord yet, deselect the Larva you have just started to morph and reselect them, then build only Overlords then manually rally them somewhere else. The end result however was a much easier time finding my units at my rally points and not losing loose Overlords to counter attacks at my front. Hopefully after another week of doing this it will become second nature.
One final thing that I need to do in all my match ups is to aggressively expand. My friend Coma Devil watched one of my streams and told me I needed to expand more. I was like I just got my natural going I'm good. Of course I was wrong. After losing a number of games because I failed to secure a 3rd or 4th and falling onto one base as my main dried up, I realized he was right. Watching some replays and the pros at the North American Star League opened my eyes to just how much Zerg expand. Win a fight? Expand. Terran is building a command center? Expand Got 600 minerals? Expand. Expand. Expand. Expand. This way not only does Zerg get a massive economical boost, they gain access to loads of Larva with which to build units and can control more territory making your main more secure.
Coma Devil told me that Zerg must always have one base more than their opponent to stay on even terms with them. Well if you think about it, that makes perfect sense. As Zerg one Hatchery spawns 3 larva plus 4 more for every time the Queen uses the Spawn Larva ability and vomits extra all larva all over it. This means that from this building you are building both your economic units and your military might. So generally you must choose to either build an army or build Drones and beef up your economy.
Terran and Protoss can build both at the same time giving them an immediate advantage. So in order to catch up you need to build twice as many hatchery's so you can build both army and economy at the same time. A simple concept, yet one I have failed to observe so far.
So this week besides playing more, I have a few objectives:
Let's Rock!
Last week was not good for my ego. I took loss, after loss, after loss but with each loss came a determination to get another win. Determination is good and all but determinedly trying to lift a car with your mind is only going to give you a headache if you ain't got the midi-chlorians.
So instead of gritting my teeth and diving head long once more into my next match, I have realized that taking some time to stop and watch the replay of the game I have just played might be a good idea. It might give me a chance to settle down and see just where I went wrong and the other guy or gal went right. Doing this I might discover that going 14 pool isn't such a great idea in a Zerg vs Zerg (ZvZ) on Xel'naga caverns with its close base proximity.
I faced a lot of cheesy 6 and 9 pool rushes last week that left me feeling frustrated and cheated and I need to look into how I can beat those back comfortably. Whether it is just a question of going for an earlier pool or better drone micro to kill it off.
One thing I have discovered from my games so far is that my Zerg vs Terran or ZvT, is by far my weakest match up. I don't know what it is about Terran but I never feel in control in those match ups. If I'm not losing my expo to a bunker rush then I'm living in fear of a fast banshee rush or blue flame hellion drop. The ability they have to wall up with supply depots and Tanks whilst simultaneously making multiple medi-vac drops leaves me running round in circles trying desperately to defend whilst unable to effectively attack. Always ending in the same way as the Terran's brutal death machine gets slowly bigger and bigger until their unstoppable army comes to my base and squashes my army like the insects the Zerg are. But the Zerg are not insects! We are the Swarm, the bringer of death and darkness and we shall flow over the Terran and devour them until nothing is left but ash and dust. After that I feel like an evil laugh is needed: Muh ha ha ha ha.
But how to bring about this grizzly end for the Terran? Well to start with I will read and try to understand SieGe’s excellent ZvT guide found over at Team Liquid. Understanding theory craft and what to look out for and how to play against Terran is essential if I am to get anywhere higher than Gold league.
Despite the losses I was happy with how I have started to rally Overlords away from my base. It felt clumsy at first having to mentally think: don't build that Overlord yet, deselect the Larva you have just started to morph and reselect them, then build only Overlords then manually rally them somewhere else. The end result however was a much easier time finding my units at my rally points and not losing loose Overlords to counter attacks at my front. Hopefully after another week of doing this it will become second nature.
One final thing that I need to do in all my match ups is to aggressively expand. My friend Coma Devil watched one of my streams and told me I needed to expand more. I was like I just got my natural going I'm good. Of course I was wrong. After losing a number of games because I failed to secure a 3rd or 4th and falling onto one base as my main dried up, I realized he was right. Watching some replays and the pros at the North American Star League opened my eyes to just how much Zerg expand. Win a fight? Expand. Terran is building a command center? Expand Got 600 minerals? Expand. Expand. Expand. Expand. This way not only does Zerg get a massive economical boost, they gain access to loads of Larva with which to build units and can control more territory making your main more secure.
Coma Devil told me that Zerg must always have one base more than their opponent to stay on even terms with them. Well if you think about it, that makes perfect sense. As Zerg one Hatchery spawns 3 larva plus 4 more for every time the Queen uses the Spawn Larva ability and vomits extra all larva all over it. This means that from this building you are building both your economic units and your military might. So generally you must choose to either build an army or build Drones and beef up your economy.
Terran and Protoss can build both at the same time giving them an immediate advantage. So in order to catch up you need to build twice as many hatchery's so you can build both army and economy at the same time. A simple concept, yet one I have failed to observe so far.
So this week besides playing more, I have a few objectives:
- Watch replays of games I have played
- Rally overlords out of the way
- Expand. Expand. Expand.
- Read up on ZvT theory
- Don't loose to any more 6 pools
Let's Rock!
Thursday 7 July 2011
"Mayday! Mayday!"
What do you do when you lose a bunch of games? Lose some more. At least that's what I did. After a successful start to my 1v1 sessions I hit a brick wall on Tuesday and Wednesday. A brick wall covered in spikes. Which I hit with my face. Repeatedly.
That is to say I lost a bunch of games. The thing about becoming good at Starcraft 2 is that you have to resist the urge to crawl into a corner and cry when you go on a losing streak. Because you will lose games. A lot of games. If you win a thousand games, expect to loose a thousand games as well. At least while you are learning and ranking up. Every time you start to do well you will find yourself playing better and better people until you loose a bunch. So get used to it.
But more than that, learn from it.
Every time I lose I must force myself to watch the replays and see what went wrong: when was I ahead? How did I fall behind? What was my biggest problem? No easy task when stuck in a rut and all I want to do is play 1 more game and get that all redeeming win. From now on though, I must stay calm and ignore that search button until I have watched the replay and figure out what happened.
But what did I learn from my 2 day bludgeoning? Well firstly little things held me back and slowed me down. A few things noted were:
This might not be the biggest game changing thing to learn that once mastered will instantly see my skill increase, but it is a small thing that leads to many other problems. Having Overlords all over your base and hovering over your army makes things very difficult. Just trying to find where your Queen is under that mass of floating fat gas balls is a mission in itself. Time wasted trying to find things under Overlords can lead to other problems such as slow lava injects, miss-clicking units, not seeing idle Drones, missing key units such as Infestors and creep tumors and a host of other things.
On the plus side though I was always looking towards getting Brood Lords as was my intent for this game and in a few games they saved my ass. The horrible, nervous, fear of losing was replaced by a grim determination to just win one match. Maybe I have improved since my first post and opening 1v1 session. So its not all bad.
With a bit of luck and a lot of practice, in my next battle that starts to turn ugly I might be able to resist saying the Banshee's distress call:
"Mayday! Mayday!"
That is to say I lost a bunch of games. The thing about becoming good at Starcraft 2 is that you have to resist the urge to crawl into a corner and cry when you go on a losing streak. Because you will lose games. A lot of games. If you win a thousand games, expect to loose a thousand games as well. At least while you are learning and ranking up. Every time you start to do well you will find yourself playing better and better people until you loose a bunch. So get used to it.
But more than that, learn from it.
Every time I lose I must force myself to watch the replays and see what went wrong: when was I ahead? How did I fall behind? What was my biggest problem? No easy task when stuck in a rut and all I want to do is play 1 more game and get that all redeeming win. From now on though, I must stay calm and ignore that search button until I have watched the replay and figure out what happened.
But what did I learn from my 2 day bludgeoning? Well firstly little things held me back and slowed me down. A few things noted were:
- Forgot Zergling metabolic boost
- Didn't expand enough
- Made to few Drones when pressured
- Didn't have Overlords rally out of the way
- Failed to scout with overlords and observers
- Didn't spread creep
- Got control groups confused
This might not be the biggest game changing thing to learn that once mastered will instantly see my skill increase, but it is a small thing that leads to many other problems. Having Overlords all over your base and hovering over your army makes things very difficult. Just trying to find where your Queen is under that mass of floating fat gas balls is a mission in itself. Time wasted trying to find things under Overlords can lead to other problems such as slow lava injects, miss-clicking units, not seeing idle Drones, missing key units such as Infestors and creep tumors and a host of other things.
On the plus side though I was always looking towards getting Brood Lords as was my intent for this game and in a few games they saved my ass. The horrible, nervous, fear of losing was replaced by a grim determination to just win one match. Maybe I have improved since my first post and opening 1v1 session. So its not all bad.
With a bit of luck and a lot of practice, in my next battle that starts to turn ugly I might be able to resist saying the Banshee's distress call:
"Mayday! Mayday!"
Monday 4 July 2011
Lets Rock! - Week 2
So its Monday, everyone's favorite day and the start of another week! As such its time to write down my game plan for the up coming week and review last weeks progress (or lack of).
Last week I began my long journey to be a master Starcraft 2 player. I never expected it to be easy and indeed working up the nerve to play 1v1 has required some determination, but still I didn't play anywhere near the number of games I wanted. I did however play my first 1v1s in many weeks and from a shaky start identified some key points that needed addressing in my game. Mainly: pick a race and stick to it, and to have a plan. My race is Zerg. My plan, well that's not so easy.
As the saying goes; 'a bad plan is better than no plan at all.'
Indeed this is as true in the universe of Starcraft 2 as any other battlefield. My first games played last week saw me stumble with my next move, with how I would go and win. I knew how to open more or less but when things went wrong I panicked and just kept attacking in the same old way losing many young, brave, valiant, winged insectoid bug things along the way. Alas the Queen that spawned my horde did weep mightily on that first day of 1v1s.
But those deaths were not in vain for I learned my lesson and went into my next few games with a plan. Get: Brood lords. Short, simple but it won me a very close ZvP where both of us scrapped together an army from the remnants of our shattered economies for one last throw of the die that saw me victorious! All because of those wonderful Brood lords.
So what is the aim for this week? Well I have a plan but it needs fleshing out. Get Brood lords is not the most detailed of plans. I think even Baldrick has come up with more detailed plans. So this week as I play I will experiment with a few builds and try and work out the best way to get Brood lords out and the best timing for when this should happen. I will also need to look at how I will survive to this point, as not getting killed is an important aspect of Starcraft 2. As I am fast learning - its a lot easier said then done.
However this week sees the end of season 2 and a ladder lock. This means that for 2 weeks until season 3 starts I won't be able to advance between the leagues but on the other hand I can't plummet to the bottom either. For a period of time then there is no risk to playing, which means there is no excuse to not play 1v1. So expect to see a lot of games appearing on my stream in the next 2 weeks!
To aid me in this I have just received a new gaming mouse, the appropriately named DeathAdder. So armed with my new weapon of choice its time set forth once more and crush my enemies under the weight of the swarm.
Lets Rock!
Last week I began my long journey to be a master Starcraft 2 player. I never expected it to be easy and indeed working up the nerve to play 1v1 has required some determination, but still I didn't play anywhere near the number of games I wanted. I did however play my first 1v1s in many weeks and from a shaky start identified some key points that needed addressing in my game. Mainly: pick a race and stick to it, and to have a plan. My race is Zerg. My plan, well that's not so easy.
As the saying goes; 'a bad plan is better than no plan at all.'
Indeed this is as true in the universe of Starcraft 2 as any other battlefield. My first games played last week saw me stumble with my next move, with how I would go and win. I knew how to open more or less but when things went wrong I panicked and just kept attacking in the same old way losing many young, brave, valiant, winged insectoid bug things along the way. Alas the Queen that spawned my horde did weep mightily on that first day of 1v1s.
But those deaths were not in vain for I learned my lesson and went into my next few games with a plan. Get: Brood lords. Short, simple but it won me a very close ZvP where both of us scrapped together an army from the remnants of our shattered economies for one last throw of the die that saw me victorious! All because of those wonderful Brood lords.
So what is the aim for this week? Well I have a plan but it needs fleshing out. Get Brood lords is not the most detailed of plans. I think even Baldrick has come up with more detailed plans. So this week as I play I will experiment with a few builds and try and work out the best way to get Brood lords out and the best timing for when this should happen. I will also need to look at how I will survive to this point, as not getting killed is an important aspect of Starcraft 2. As I am fast learning - its a lot easier said then done.
However this week sees the end of season 2 and a ladder lock. This means that for 2 weeks until season 3 starts I won't be able to advance between the leagues but on the other hand I can't plummet to the bottom either. For a period of time then there is no risk to playing, which means there is no excuse to not play 1v1. So expect to see a lot of games appearing on my stream in the next 2 weeks!
To aid me in this I have just received a new gaming mouse, the appropriately named DeathAdder. So armed with my new weapon of choice its time set forth once more and crush my enemies under the weight of the swarm.
Lets Rock!
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