• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 11:30
CEST 17:30
KST 00:30
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall9HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0TL Team Map Contest #5: Presented by Monster Energy6
Community News
Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL62Weekly Cups (June 23-29): Reynor in world title form?13FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event21Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster16Weekly Cups (June 16-22): Clem strikes back1
StarCraft 2
General
Program: SC2 / XSplit / OBS Scene Switcher The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation Statistics for vetoed/disliked maps Weekly Cups (June 23-29): Reynor in world title form? PiG Sty Festival #5: Playoffs Preview + Groups Recap
Tourneys
RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Mondays FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Korean Starcraft League Week 77
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome Mutation # 478 Instant Karma Mutation # 477 Slow and Steady
Brood War
General
Player “Jedi” cheat on CSL SC uni coach streams logging into betting site Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL Practice Partners (Official) ASL20 Preliminary Maps
Tourneys
CSL Xiamen International Invitational [BSL20] Grand Finals - Sunday 20:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread What do you want from future RTS games? Beyond All Reason
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Summer Games Done Quick 2025! Trading/Investing Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2025 Football Thread NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Blogs
Culture Clash in Video Games…
TrAiDoS
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
Blog #2
tankgirl
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 617 users

Too Late to play Brood War?

Blogs > overt
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
overt
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States9006 Posts
November 05 2010 19:03 GMT
#1
I tried playing Brood War a few years ago but found that I absolutely suck at it and got beat by my friends all the time. Playing online was just as bad. So instead I just watched pro-BW and played other games. When StarCraft 2 came out I thought, "cool I can start from the beginning and easily become an average player!" The only problem with that was when SC2 released I found that I really didn't enjoy it very much. Part of the reason why I disliked it could be because I might just not enjoy RTS games as much as I think I do or it could be because of how much pro-BW I've watched, I'm not sure and I'm in no way trying to suggest that SC2 is a bad game.

However, I was toying with the idea of getting into BW. I just wanted to know from people if it was possible or even a decent idea to try and pick the game back up. I play Protoss in both games and I realize to some that means I picked the easiest race to get good at quick. But, I'm a complete noob at BW. I don't know of any build orders. When I used to play friends I would get 'ling rushed and only have a few Zealots out to protect me or get Terran bio rushed and have one or two Dragoons against like twenty Marines. The main point of this paragraph is I'm really bad.

So, my question is, if my goal is to get at least decent on iCCup (I'd be satisfied with getting to C- one day which I've heard is crazy hard) what would be the best way to do it? Like, how should I start out practicing so that I can get good? I feel like if I just jumped into iCCup or B.Net and got my head handed to me over and over again I wouldn't really learn anything, and if I played the computer I wouldn't get good at playing real people. Would it be best to just give up on this idea and keep playing FPS games or is it worth attempting to learn Brood War?

***
a176
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Canada6688 Posts
November 05 2010 19:08 GMT
#2
you can get strats from liquipedia, start there.

secondly, you need to find opponents that are around your skill level. probably going to be friends or somesuch because there are very little d rank players left on iccup. you could try using AI to practice against as well, google for bw ai or something like that.
starleague forever
Bosu
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States3247 Posts
November 05 2010 19:10 GMT
#3
Honestly, if you are just starting now you will probably ever get to c- with the current iccup skill level. If you enjoy the game then by all means play it though. Liquipedia is a great resource for bw strats.
#1 Kwanro Fan
Kyuukyuu
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Canada6263 Posts
November 05 2010 19:10 GMT
#4
Well, iCCup is your best learning resource but you definitely aren't going to get anywhere if you have no idea of any of the basic build orders and strategies involved. If you watch pro-BW you should have some sense of the very basics, reading liquipedia also helps a lot, and then after that it's just grinding (ie. losing) until you get where you want to be :D
EchOne
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United States2906 Posts
November 05 2010 19:12 GMT
#5
Play 3v3 BGH and copy your allies' builds.

C- is ridiculously hard if you're bad at RTS. If you keep a solid, non-cheesing C-, especially now that the foreigner presence is lower on iccup, you're basically a fucking demigod of gaming.

If you have a friend willing to tutor you that'd be great too.
面白くない世の中, 面白くすればいいさ
overt
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States9006 Posts
November 05 2010 19:19 GMT
#6
On November 06 2010 04:12 EchOne wrote:
Play 3v3 BGH and copy your allies' builds.

C- is ridiculously hard if you're bad at RTS. If you keep a solid, non-cheesing C-, especially now that the foreigner presence is lower on iccup, you're basically a fucking demigod of gaming.

If you have a friend willing to tutor you that'd be great too.


Well, I used to be really good at Age of Empires II but that game is very different from Brood War. I think the thing I have the most trouble with in Brood War is the speed of the game, which I'm guessing you get better at after a few hundred games.

I realize that something like C- while being a complete noob and knowing next to nothing about iCCup is probably pretty impossible but you have to set a goal somewhere. I'd honestly be happy if I could just get build orders and win a game against equally bad opponents every now and then. If nothing else it'd make watching ProLeague and the StarLeagues more entertaining/rewarding.
RoboSnail
Profile Joined June 2010
United States59 Posts
November 05 2010 19:31 GMT
#7
I'm a little annoyed with the people basically telling you it cant be done. My friend and I picked up sc1 recently after not playing it for about 6 years or so and got to C- in about 3-4 months practice. We played 2v2 though, however i was also D+ in 1v1 and i feel i was winning enough games to quickly make it to c-. The point I'm trying to make is that if your willing to put the time in and really give it your best your gonna easily be D+ C- in 3-5 months time.
scDeluX
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
Canada1341 Posts
November 05 2010 19:39 GMT
#8
Too Late to play Brood War?
In all honesty I will say yes. ICCUP is ridiculously hard. You will get crushed to hell.

If you wanna get to C-, try my strat : PvT, Destination, send one of your first 4 probe and 2 gate in main. It cheesy, you won't be better at BW but hell it's funny + you get the shiny yellow C icon !

I'd say give Sc2 another shot, with all the leagues, ez macro n stuff , it's more a 2010 noob friendly game.
Brood War is forever
DoctorHelvetica
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States15034 Posts
November 05 2010 19:43 GMT
#9
i played a game of broodwar yesterday

it was fucking embarrassing. i was D- before but i was 10000x better 1 year ago than i am now
RIP Aaliyah
phosphorylation
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States2935 Posts
November 05 2010 19:54 GMT
#10
It can be done,my friend. and what you achieve will be far more wortwhile than anyhting u achieve on sc2
Buy prints of my photographs at Redbubble -> http://www.redbubble.com/people/shoenberg3
Boblion
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
France8043 Posts
November 05 2010 19:56 GMT
#11
If you are bad at Sc2 you will be terrible at bw =/

Sorry to be pessimistic but it is arguably the most competitive game ever made. There are tons of hackers on Bnet and Iccup is full of skilled Koreans so you will have a really hard time if you want to get to C-

I wish you good luck though.
fuck all those elitists brb watching streams of elite players.
Cofo
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States1388 Posts
November 05 2010 20:02 GMT
#12
It's never too late to play BW. But it's hard as hell to go from scratch to decent on iccup. If you can, try get some friends with similar goals and practice with them. For a really long time. THEN try iccup. At this point there are very few people on iccup who would be considered "bad" my anyone other than really really good players.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aerox
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
Malaysia1213 Posts
November 05 2010 20:03 GMT
#13
No worries and it's not too late. Just go ahead and get crushed, smashed and stomped. Slowly work your way to be able to fight back. It's like resistance training. Getting the hang of BW improves your SC2 potential even more each step of the way.
"Eyes in the sky."
KlaCkoN
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Sweden1661 Posts
November 05 2010 20:13 GMT
#14
Maybe it's just me but I know a few people who have started playing bw quite recently, it's never too late to have some fun with the best game ever xd xd.
Also if you have any RTS experience whatsoever it's a very easy game to learn, no real complications or anything, just build tons of shit (preferably the right shit) and micro it
You might want to start with bnet rather than iccup though if you can find games there.
"Voice or no voice the people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders ... All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."
PUPATREE
Profile Joined August 2009
340 Posts
November 05 2010 20:25 GMT
#15
It's not too late. I can't accept why people seem to think it is. Just look at all the younger gamers who pick up bw and get very good within 3-12months. It's definitely doable.

I'd suggest you start hanging out in the 'op teamliquid' channel on iccup. You can practice casually and get valuable feedback from the friendly people there .

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=135766 is well written. Take a look.

There are some other great resources though. For strategy, Liquipedia can give you starting build orders, instructional FPVOD's (my favorite) can provide lots of information about what you should be focusing on and how they work out, BW livestreams normally have viewers commenting (good place to ask questions), and other players (like in obs games or when watching reps together) can explain things on any level you ask for.

On the other hand, improving on your mechanics (macro/micro/control) is 90% practice. You need to consistently practice, whether it's through laddering, casual games, 4v4 bgh, ums maps where you have huge bases, 1v1 with the cpu, or whatever. You can have the best bw knowledge in the world, but it won't matter if you can't execute your ideas or keep up during the game itself. Be sure to watch your own reps to find out where/when you slip up the most.

Just trying to show how there are lots of things you can do to improve, and that you shouldn't feel like BW is impossible. I'm PUPA555 on iccup. Catch me online and I'll be down for whatever :D

glhf yo, you can do it if you're dedicated.

Oh also, this is from my personal experience, but I don't think iccup's much harder than it used to be. There are way less D players, but reaching D+/playing at that level feel about the same as they did a few seasons ago.
ㅋㄲㅈㅁ
Trozz
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada3454 Posts
November 05 2010 20:35 GMT
#16
Here's my solution:
Find a rival and throw down.
This my happen though:

+ Show Spoiler +

[image loading]
[image loading]
[image loading]
A build is not a guess, an estimation or a hunch, a feeling, or a foolish intuition. A build is a dependable, unwavering, unarguably accurate, portrayer of your ambition.
Raeleigh
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Canada902 Posts
November 05 2010 20:44 GMT
#17
I made a blog similar to this asking generally the same thing.
I was told that the game is mostly just full of people who are REALLY good, and if you're a newbie trying to get into it, it's going to be difficult to get good.
But, if you're playing just because you haven't or want to, and just want to for fun, then go for it. ^___^

I'm thinking about doing it once i'm not so busy. :3
you are perfect porcelain.
Murderotica
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Vatican City State2594 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-05 20:56:38
November 05 2010 20:54 GMT
#18
It's never too late! Might take a while before you can hold D level though lol

EDIT: Also getting your ass handed to you is the best way to learn because you have replays of it, so you can go back, watch it, see what the enemy did, know what the indicators of what they are doing are (with your scout), then prepare for it. The way you prepare for it is by looking up the build on liquipedia!
ǝsnoɥ ssɐlƃ ɐ uı sǝuoʇs ʍoɹɥʇ ʇ,uop || sıʇɹoɟ ɹǝdɯǝs
ilovezil
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
United States4143 Posts
November 06 2010 01:14 GMT
#19
Well, if you're beginning Brood War from the getgo (depends on how much you know from playing back then), you're definitely going to have trouble getting to C- if you consider the current skill level. One guy who I'd say is between C-/C usually (mG.Grobyc) is having trouble just holding onto C- right now. It's just that much harder now to keep up with the players. I'd say unless you have the time (depends on how fast you learn but several hours to play per day) you should stick to sc2 instead.
EsX_Raptor
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States2801 Posts
November 06 2010 03:20 GMT
#20
What is your goal?

Do you want to play for fun? Then it is never too late for anything. You can always pop SC out of the closet and have a good time with friends, or by yourself.

Do you want to play to get good at it? Why do you want to be good at it? If it is to become a top foreigner, then it is sort of too late for you. If you want to just beat your friends, then Liquipedia, a handful of pro reps, and a bit of ICCup is all you need.
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
FEL
12:00
Cracov 2025: Qualifier #2
IndyStarCraft 335
CranKy Ducklings152
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
IndyStarCraft 335
mouzHeroMarine 319
Hui .206
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 4905
Rain 2444
Horang2 1314
Shuttle 1292
Bisu 938
EffOrt 933
Jaedong 903
Hyuk 376
Mini 330
Stork 322
[ Show more ]
TY 291
GuemChi 206
ToSsGirL 117
Soma 115
hero 111
Barracks 90
Hyun 84
Sacsri 75
PianO 58
GoRush 56
Sea.KH 39
Free 34
Terrorterran 18
HiyA 9
ivOry 3
Stormgate
TKL 322
Dota 2
qojqva3424
Fuzer 342
canceldota267
LuMiX1
League of Legends
singsing2833
Counter-Strike
byalli281
edward36
Super Smash Bros
Chillindude57
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor639
Liquid`Hasu416
Other Games
Gorgc3321
B2W.Neo1427
FrodaN1054
ArmadaUGS90
KnowMe75
Organizations
Other Games
EGCTV1327
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 9
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 83
• Adnapsc2 7
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 3707
• WagamamaTV795
• Ler134
Upcoming Events
BSL: ProLeague
2h 31m
Dewalt vs Bonyth
Replay Cast
1d 8h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 18h
WardiTV European League
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
ByuN vs SHIN
Clem vs Reynor
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Classic vs Cure
FEL
5 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
5 days
FEL
5 days
FEL
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
FEL
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 2v2 Season 3
HSC XXVII
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL Season 20
Acropolis #3
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
Championship of Russia 2025
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025

Upcoming

2025 ACS Season 2: Qualifier
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSL Xiamen Invitational
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
SEL Season 2 Championship
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.