So I posted a blog a while back about my goal to get to a D+ rank by the end of the season. Ha! Well, the beginning of the season beat me like a rented mule, and I fell deep into the depths of despair. I wasn't sure I could ever post on this blog again, because my results were so abysmal. I was losing to scrubs- people I knew were terrible- and yet I kept losing in the stupidest fashion. It was maddening, and my rating plummeted all the way to 293, the lowest it has ever been. Even in my very first iccup season I never fell so low.
The season so far.
How could I play at a sub-300 level after a whole season maintaining a D rank? Was I just that incompetent at macro and micro that I couldn't even out-play awful players? The final straw was a loss against a three base protoss as a four base terran. Consistantly, his arbiters wore down my stream of tanks and vultures and harassed my expansions. He was doing nothing special, but I just could not get off the back foot. I had the economy, the army, and I had gotten off a good vulture drop early on which has slowed him considerably. And yet, here I was losing to 1a2a3a.
It was time to do something. And so, in proud terran tradition, I sat down and watched a few hours worth of fantasy games. Then I went and practiced the fantasy build v. zerg and faster expanding builds against toss. I had noticed that all my builds invariably had me building a quick two-fact, but especially against protoss I was never able to make it effective. So I switched it up.
The changes were part technical, but also largely psychological. I was just having more fun defending by the skin of my teeth like fantasy always does, and playing a more aggressive harassing style. And I was putting in place real objectives for my games, real thoughts about when to take my second, real thoughts about where to push, real judgments about the relative strength of our armies. And so this post comes as I have finally pulled myself out of the pit and gotten back to a D.
The future?
In particular, I'm proud of this game because I didn't try to force anything. I never tried to break down his nat until I was miles ahead, because there would've been the possibility of losing my army and the game. Instead, I defended, and kept army and map control at the same time. It's clear that I was better than this guy, but obviously I didn't know that at the time, and like this game because I didn't play overly defensively, nor did I play overly aggressively. I played, I think, exactly with the mindset you should have- caution coupled with a sense of what you need to do to win. Now, I made plenty of mistakes in the game, expanding too late, losing small groups here and there pointlessly, macro'ing poorly as ever, but I felt after this game that my mindset has changed for the better. I can only hope that'll improve.
And here's some more optimistic music. You may have heard it before- Minnesota (my new home-state) native!
You probably don't want to hear this but the real problem why you aren't D+ is that you just need to sit down and learn to make workers and units. Any player that continuously makes workers, farms, and units smoothly will get to D+. You really don't have to harass or micro or do anything fancy past 1a2a3a. Players completely underestimate how bad their macro is at these levels. Just practice these things and you'll get to D+ in no time.
On October 02 2009 00:56 Hot_Bid wrote: You probably don't want to hear this but the real problem why you aren't D+ is that you just need to sit down and learn to make workers and units. Any player that continuously makes workers, farms, and units smoothly will get to D+. You really don't have to harass or micro or do anything fancy past 1a2a3a. Players completely underestimate how bad their macro is at these levels. Just practice these things and you'll get to D+ in no time.
SERIOUSLY. Until you hit C-, learn to make a lot of shit. Never miss a worker or depot or round of units. It doesn't even matter if you make the right shit.
For clarity: DO NOT TRY FANCY HARASSMENT STYLES AT D. You will harass, let your minerals run up to 2k, and die to 10 dragoons because you didnt make units while microing your 1 vulture.
I actually feel like a big part of my problems at D+ level are timing-based as opposed to just unit-production based, but that might just be a terran issue (ie. trying to get a third to keep up with a guy's double exp and then losing it -> losing game).
It's not that I don't underestimate my macro. I've played enough against ASL-ers this week to see that difference pretty clearly. It's just that I was getting beaten before I even had taken a third in a few consecutive games (obviously the TvP I mentioned was a clear exception) but it had gotten to a point where I was just sick of playing these dumb games where I got run over by dumb things, like letting a supply depot in my wall break to a 9-pool. Playing new builds focuses me so that I don't forget what I'm doing until after the time for it has past.
On a side note, I've never really known how many factories I should be aiming for, and what that number is based on. Time? Bases? I' usually get stuck on two early game and then six late game, and I don't build them in a natural way, I just notice I don't have enough and build a lot more. Is there a number I should keep in mind?
I agree with Hot_Bid and Chill. I could never make it out of D ranks until I just learned to get timings down of when to place pylons/gates and to just keep making workers/units.
My macro is still terrible but it's enough to keep me at C.
I'm sure my two-base macro isn't perfect by any means but when I end up fighting 2-base vs 4-base TvP I can't help but feel like I "missed a timing window" as opposed to just "I didn't make enough units."
To that end I feel like my problem is more timing/build order than just pure unit production. Meh.
On October 02 2009 00:56 Hot_Bid wrote: You probably don't want to hear this but the real problem why you aren't D+ is that you just need to sit down and learn to make workers and units. Any player that continuously makes workers, farms, and units smoothly will get to D+. You really don't have to harass or micro or do anything fancy past 1a2a3a. Players completely underestimate how bad their macro is at these levels. Just practice these things and you'll get to D+ in no time.
SERIOUSLY. Until you hit C-, learn to make a lot of shit. Never miss a worker or depot or round of units. It doesn't even matter if you make the right shit.
For clarity: DO NOT TRY FANCY HARASSMENT STYLES AT D. You will harass, let your minerals run up to 2k, and die to 10 dragoons because you didnt make units while microing your 1 vulture.
Just make a lot of shit.
LISTEN TO THEM. I am no god at StarCraft, thats for sure, but anytime I help someone improve their skills the FIRST thing you have to learn is MACRO MACRO MACRO. If you are not making units, workers, and 'farms' the entire game correctly THAT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO BE WORKING ON, not micro, timing, or creative strategies.
These two quotes need to be posted on the homepage of TL because it is the single most important thing about StarCraft. Learning these basics is like learning to ride a bike, you can worry about BMX racing after you get the basics down.
On October 02 2009 01:24 tree.hugger wrote: It's not that I don't underestimate my macro. I've played enough against ASL-ers this week to see that difference pretty clearly. It's just that I was getting beaten before I even had taken a third in a few consecutive games (obviously the TvP I mentioned was a clear exception) but it had gotten to a point where I was just sick of playing these dumb games where I got run over by dumb things, like letting a supply depot in my wall break to a 9-pool. Playing new builds focuses me so that I don't forget what I'm doing until after the time for it has past.
On a side note, I've never really known how many factories I should be aiming for, and what that number is based on. Time? Bases? I' usually get stuck on two early game and then six late game, and I don't build them in a natural way, I just notice I don't have enough and build a lot more. Is there a number I should keep in mind?
Aim for enough factories that you can spend all your money. Really your main goal is to spend all your money. If you have 2k minerals, you don't have enough factories.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/depression_small.jpg)
fantasy games. Then I went and practiced the fantasy build v. zerg and faster expanding builds against toss. I had noticed that all my builds invariably had me building a quick two-fact, but especially against protoss I was never able to make it effective. So I switched it up. ![[image loading]](http://alicewwong.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/red_balloon.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.repdepot.net/img/thumbs/21795.jpg)
