Impressed So Starcraft 2...

[Madmaxx]

I've basically been watching alot of streams recently as I'm recovering from a visit to the hospital, and Starcraft has usually been on the Twitch.tv front page.
I've only ever played Fps's and rpg's before just wondered if its easy to get into at all, just watched some IGN Starcraft and 1 guy beat all the enemy team; and I actually got quite excited even though I didn't know what the hell was going on

 

[old.Tohtori]

If you've played RTS before, it's rather easy to get into, especially if you play the campaign first.

The multiplayer is something that you just have to keep doing to compete in and not be afraid of. Everyone loses

 

[PLightstar]

Its good fun. I never got into the leagues heavily, just played with a few mates usually 2v2 or 3v3. People are generally friendly and will answer questions mid-play.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Not to mention that there's a lot of custom game modes in there too, with one purchase you basically get starcraft, one of (if not best) pvp rts around and tens of other games.

 

[ECA]

It's reasonably easy to get into. gogoggogogogogogo.

 

[BloodOmen]

Don't do eeeeeeeeeet takes far to much time to stay good on SC2 because builds change all the time. Just play PROtoss and cannon rush everyone to death xD

 

[Shagrat]

thats sooooo annoying when some idiot starts building stuff inside your base

 

[mooSe_]

It's definitely worth learning to play, if only just to make watching it more entertaining so you actually know what's going on

 

[Ono]

I love it but found it really difficult to play with my turtling style as it doesn't really work. When I adapt and start early hassling I do better. The game is so tight. Not many RTSs punish for taking a piss but this does.

 

[pikeh]

I'm sorry but SC2 is not easy to get into. Its fucking hard. Hard Hard Hard. Bronze league now isn't bronze league from release, for example.

Just to progress up to plat it is kind of a requirement that you learn to macro like a beast. But then again, maybe Im just not cut out for RTS's. Ive had since 6 months after release and I'm still shit.

1v1 Ladder can be frustrating to the point of boredom - don't get scared of pushing the 'find match' button like I do.
2v2 Is great fun with a mate, but unbalanced and any form of early rush can win unless you happen to wall off perfectly x 2.

Admittdely, I've not really had the time to put into learning several different build orders for different match-ups, learn timings of specific units/builds etc. If you let it, it will consume your free time like any MMO does, easily.
I'm bailing on SC2 until the expansion. Hopefully that'll give me some more ideas/options etc.

I would prefer to sit down and watch a SC2 match than anything on telly at the moment.

Also, WORKERS, CHECK SUPPLY, WORKERS, CHECK SUPPLY.

 

[pikeh]

People are generally friendly and will answer questions mid-play.

Sure you played SC2?

 

[opticle]

ve not really had the time to put into learning several different build orders for different match-ups, learn timings of specific units/builds etc. If you let it, it will consume your free time like any MMO does, easily.
I'm bailing on SC2 until the expansion. Hopefully that'll give me some more ideas/options etc.

This is why I don't play RTS's online unless it's with mates. We just *play*.

Fuck all that memorising, rushing, cheese, etc. bullshit.. Maybe it's just me and my friends, but we find playing those kind of games (as we did for a while on match ups) grow really, really dull very quickly.

If you ask me, it leaves out so many other styles of strategy.

 

[PLightstar]

Sure you played SC2?

lol, non-league and custom games, my point still stands. But League matches can get a bit heated shall we say.

 

[mooSe_]

This is why I don't play RTS's online unless it's with mates. We just *play*.

Fuck all that memorising, rushing, cheese, etc. bullshit.. Maybe it's just me and my friends, but we find playing those kind of games (as we did for a while on match ups) grow really, really dull very quickly.

If you ask me, it leaves out so many other styles of strategy.

I guess I'm the opposite. Trying to understand the game better and working to become a better player is a big part of what makes it enjoyable. If I was just messing around in bronze league making random units then I would've got bored and given up about a month after release.

I think you only end up leaving out parts of strategy at lower levels. When people start learning to follow a build order, they don't understand why they're doing what they're doing so they just have to blindly stick to the plan. When you understand why you are doing something then you know which parts of the plan can be changed and which parts are necessary. If you know the basis of your strategy is completely solid then you don't have to worry about losing to stupid things like 6pools or cannon rushes and you can focus on the more interesting decisions in the game.

When you have 2 players who don't understand how to play starcraft correctly, I think the games are usually boring. Both players pick some random thing to try and it turns out that one players plan beats the other players plan and the game ends. When you have two good players who are both playing well, the game can be more exciting because both players have the skill to deflect each other's attacks and the game keeps going back and forth until one player manages to trick the other or one makes too many mistakes. When bad players have long games it's usually because one player had an advantage but didn't even realise, or both players thought it would be cool to sit around doing nothing for 20 minutes.

lol, non-league and custom games, my point still stands. But League matches can get a bit heated shall we say.

People regularly tell me to die of cancer on ladder lol. Someone once told me I had 24 hours left to live and he was coming to get me. I think he must've got lost on the way though

 

[opticle]

I see what you're saying I'm probably partly just bitter that I don't have that kind of time to invest - and I love watching a good siege. They're pretty.

That and I probably used to get matched up to too many very good (or just not mediocre) players when matchmaking systems weren't so good on Warcraft 3

 

[old.Tohtori]

I've never had anything largely offensive thrown at me in ladder and i could care a toss about "proper timing and strategy". There is no right way to fight a war

 

[mooSe_]

There's no right way, but there's definitely ways that work better than others

My friend got into the beta for the new expansion and he's gone on holiday so I'm playing a load of heart of the swarm on his account at the moment. The new zerg units are awesome, not such a big fan of all the other ones yet, but definitely some cool stuff to be tried out.

 

[wolfeeh]

I got this on release day for my mac ages ago and played a bit of the campaign before real life took over, about 6 months later i tried the multiplayer for a few weeks and got to the gold league, it wasn't too bad. with my new gaming pc (built yesterday) i've tried playing it again multiplayer and fuck me has it gotten hard! i don't do reading up on tactics, build orders etc.... i only ever play Terran... today i've lost maybe 8 matches in a row... then come up against someone who was allegedly better than me, but 1 x 2 hour pitched battle later, i handed him his arse, on a plate :> (hint, come at my small lil fleet of vikings with like a thousand battlecruisers, kill a couple... chase them.... then find my trap of missile turrets x 20 )

love it. is it balanced? god only knows. am i any good? no. is it worth playing for the odd victory... hell yes!

 

[Madmaxx]

haha the games I was watching in hospital/ recovery period were apparently of a player called Liquid Taeja, As I got home from work about 9pm or so and it was a Dreamhack final on Twitch front page. The guy was 0-2 down and won 3-2 I need to either get the full version of the game or stop watching Twitch.tv I just wonder if it would be as interesting / fast paced if I played, god know if I can reach APM speeds of some of the leagues.

 

[mooSe_]

Liquid'Taeja is arguably the best player in the world atm. He's been winning everything outside of Korea recently. All that's stopping him from being definitely the best is that he hasn't won a GSL yet. He's through to the final 8 of the current season though so it might not be long. Was a pretty sick comeback at dreamhack this evening. I quite enjoyed it and I'm not usually a fan of terran vs terran.

You don't need super high apm to play fun games; in lower leagues people get by with like 50 apm lol In fact you can probably play up to master league with like ~120 or something. You shouldn't really worry about your apm; just try to do everything as accurately and efficiently as possible and you'll be fine. There's plenty of terrible players with high apm because most of their apm is useless spam (Not that there's anything wrong with spamming I do a shit load of that). Top players aren't only insanely fast, they're also incredibly accurate. There's no point having 300 apm if you misclick everything 5 times before you get it right.

I do think the game becomes more deep and exciting if you make an effort to learn some strategies and stuff though. Just find a strategy that looks fun, find a replay or build order of someone doing it and try to get it down. In no time at all you'll be macroing away like a 14 year old korean kid. It also makes the game more interesting to watch because you'll have a better understanding of the decisions the players make. The casters at events are quite hit and miss with how good their analysis is. For example, Artosis and Apollo both have a pretty high level understanding of the game but some casters like HD or moletrap just seem say a load of bollox and make up for their lack of analysis by shouting a lot.

Got my own Heart of the Swarm beta key on friday! Been trying to climb the ladder today. Today's ladder record: 16-2. Hopefully my rank will increase high enough to play someone good soon

If anyone ever wants to play some team games or wants some build orders/replays/strategy advice feel free to add me Moose.746 on the EU server.

 

[old.Tohtori]

The moment you realize that insane AI has lower APM then the pro-players you might as well uninstall

 

[wolfeeh]

Actions schmactions. Strategy and tactics is where it's at. A long as you're not Stephen hawking and controlling the cursor with your chin you'll be fine.

 

[mooSe_]

The insane ai is insanely bad lol

You don't even need hands to be good at starcraft tbh:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GBc6TMjOPM

 

[old.Tohtori]

Yeah the AI is predictable ofcourse, but the actions it makes comes from controlling every unit and building at the same time. Players doing that and sipping coffee while they do the same are the real insane

 

[Ctuchik]

Also, WORKERS, CHECK SUPPLY, WORKERS, CHECK SUPPLY.

27/27?

 

[Ctuchik]

Got my own Heart of the Swarm beta key on friday! Been trying to climb the ladder today. Today's ladder record: 16-2. Hopefully my rank will increase high enough to play someone good soon

Be careful what you wish for. There's still not enough players in the beta to have a fair matchmaking, so the higher you get on the ladder the more pro players you will go up against.

Mate of mine got to gold and the first player he faced after that was from EG.... xD

 

[mooSe_]

Just adds to the fun I beat GoOdy, ToD and MoMaN as well as a few other pros who were playing off race. Lost to DeMusliM and some others too. Mostly I'm back to playing WoL rather than HotS though because the HotS maps are all horrifically bad and so are the majority of the players I play against. Much better practise to stick with WoL for me atm. Besides, any builds I learn now would probably be nonviable by release since it's still so early in beta and there will be loads of changes yet.

 

[Ctuchik]

Speaking of nothing, you seen huskys HoTS video with Stephano vs Mathies?


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eapAPxPjW88

 

[pikeh]

Back into this again, its a game I'll always keep coming back to I think. Being quite strict this time and I've done pretty well in my first few matches, only losing to some chickenshit turtle terran and a lameass proxy-rax cheese shit face as well. Bastards. Shit like that makes me quit, but I'm being hard on myself and not being bothered about wins/losses and only taking what I can from losses and loling at wins (I did win vw some toss that proxy-8-gated me, but they were only powered by one pylon?

I think you can learn all you want about SC2 and still be kept short from some of the shit that the lower level players throw at you!

 

[pikeh]

Moose!!!

SO ive been doing some exercises etc, basically to have goals for certain timescales. I think this is better as it lets you be more flexible with what is happening in the game other than sticking to a strict build order and getting hard countered.
Ive been aiming for
50 scv's @ 10 mins,
3:45 natural started,
6:30-50 fac started/take 3rd gas,
7:55 starport started/reactor on fac and switch over when starport done,
10:00, push with 100 food of army.

Manage to hit these pretty easily, sometimes get -2 scv's or something. The thing is, at 10mins I have a surplus of like 800+ minerals. Im never supply blocked, always producing.
It feels like a cop out to build 4 rax all in one go. Should I be starting a 3rd when I push or should I have just made more production builds earlier on? Its things like this that are so hard to decide.
Im always guilty of floating minerals when I attack/scout, like I guess most people are, but my answer to recovering from this is hold down A on my rax and hope it drops a bit!

I know you don't play terran but you've helped a lot in the past!!