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Hi TeamLiquid, my name is CTangent, and I suck at Starcraft II.
I want to not suck.
I'm sick of sucking. I'm tired of being bad at this game. Today I have resolved to do whatever it takes to get myself into the Masters league.
There are so many things that I need to work on that I can't even enumerate them all... but I am going to work hard and do whatever it takes to take my game to the next level.
As of writing I am Rank 73 in my Diamond division, with a losing record and an MMR in platinum. I'm here to fix that.
As of right now I am playing Terran. I am sympathetic to the notion of switching to zerg, but I don't want to switch to Protoss, the race that got me into diamond in the first place. I really, really hate PvZ and it isn't fun for me.
While looking at some of my recent games, my weakest point is my horrific macro. My macro is beyond terrible. Just today I played a TvT on Antiga Shipyard where I was able to establish a hard siege contain on my opponent and denied their third base for the entire game (20+ minutes), and I still lost because they macroed better than me, and because I am terrible at drop defense.
So, for my first "session" of trying to get better, my goal is to make no macro mistakes for the first 7 minutes of as many games as I can. No supply blockage, constant SCV production, constant macro, no mistakes. If I can't do that, then I will shoot to perfect the first 5 minutes, and then I will try to perfect the first 10 minutes, and so on. I need to learn how to macro better before I even start worrying about the subtleties of unit composition (PvT) or pushing (TvZ).
I will try to minimize supply blockage as best I can.
I hope to document my adventure here in this blog. Hopefully, if my journey to Masters is successful, other people may read this blog for inspiration on how to become a better player, and overcome bad mechanics and bad habits to make it into Masters.
Here are my matchup plans:
TvZ
+ Show Spoiler +TvZ is my best matchup. In every game on every map, I open reactored hellions and transition into a 9:30 3 tank push while securing my third base. If the zerg tried to take their third early, I can kill it or force a cancel. Against 2 base tech play, I can do a huge amount of damage and hopefully force mutas to engage to destroy the push. Once I secure my third base, I go up to 5 rax, 2 fact, and 1 starport with double upgrades while making strong tank pushes around the map.
TvP
+ Show Spoiler +By far my weakest matchup, TvP is somewhat of a mystery to me. My bad macro is punished every game by any competent protoss player. In every game, I open 1 rax gasless FE into 3 rax fast medivacs. I opt for a 2 medivac 35 marine timing push at around 9:30-10 minutes, which hits right before protoss tech kicks in. I try and drop and do whatever damage I can, and back off. I tend to go marine heavy in TvP, which results in my army getting vaporized at the sight of any protoss AoE.
TvT
+ Show Spoiler +In every game, I opt for a 1 rax gasless FE into 3 rax medivacs, similar to TvP. However, this build is different in that it starts upgrades much faster and leaves the factory around for siege tanks. The build that I use is Thorzain's TvT 1 rax FE, the build that Day9 covered in a Terran Week daily. I am terrible at drop defense and often lose my entire main to double or triple drops in the mid to late game.
 
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I can't help you with Terran, but it your Zerg is decent then I personably think it would be Ye fastest road to masters. I maimed Protoss and got into masters an got bored, and wanted to smash zerg a bit coz it looked fun. Took me about 5 weeks to get into masters, it's really an easy race to play once you get a few fundamentals down.
Other than that, you have to play to improve not play to win. I know it seems obvious, but the more frustrated you get with losses the harder it is to execute good strategies just coz your so angry all the time. And just keep playing. That means game after game after game, regardless of outcome. You don't have to play 'standar every game, mix things up see what works and what doesn't etc.
As Protoss I remember losing so many times to long run by's and simple marauder rushes etc. so I learnt to build right sim city, and units and certain timings.
Little things as Terran like bunkers with 4 marines in it at your expos bs Zerg, depot sim city and splitting marines in 2 if u are expecting muta help a shit ton. Seems obvious but I'd be surprised when ur so fixated on doing everything 'right' ( build orders, etc) you forget logical, clever things to do
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On February 23 2012 10:22 CTangent wrote:Hi TeamLiquid, my name is CTangent, and I suck at Starcraft II. I want to not suck. I'm sick of sucking. I'm tired of being bad at this game. Today I have resolved to do whatever it takes to get myself into the Masters league. There are so many things that I need to work on that I can't even enumerate them all... but I am going to work hard and do whatever it takes to take my game to the next level. As of writing I am Rank 73 in my Diamond division, with a losing record and an MMR in platinum. I'm here to fix that. As of right now I am playing Terran. I am sympathetic to the notion of switching to zerg, but I don't want to switch to Protoss, the race that got me into diamond in the first place. I really, really hate PvZ and it isn't fun for me. While looking at some of my recent games, my weakest point is my horrific macro. My macro is beyond terrible. Just today I played a TvT on Antiga Shipyard where I was able to establish a hard siege contain on my opponent and denied their third base for the entire game (20+ minutes), and I still lost because they macroed better than me, and because I am terrible at drop defense. So, for my first "session" of trying to get better, my goal is to make no macro mistakes for the first 7 minutes of as many games as I can. No supply blockage, constant SCV production, constant macro, no mistakes. If I can't do that, then I will shoot to perfect the first 5 minutes, and then I will try to perfect the first 10 minutes, and so on. I need to learn how to macro better before I even start worrying about the subtleties of unit composition (PvT) or pushing (TvZ). I will try to minimize supply blockage as best I can. I hope to document my adventure here in this blog. Hopefully, if my journey to Masters is successful, other people may read this blog for inspiration on how to become a better player, and overcome bad mechanics and bad habits to make it into Masters. Here are my matchup plans: TvZ+ Show Spoiler +TvZ is my best matchup. In every game on every map, I open reactored hellions and transition into a 9:30 3 tank push while securing my third base. If the zerg tried to take their third early, I can kill it or force a cancel. Against 2 base tech play, I can do a huge amount of damage and hopefully force mutas to engage to destroy the push. Once I secure my third base, I go up to 5 rax, 2 fact, and 1 starport with double upgrades while making strong tank pushes around the map. By far my weakest matchup, TvP is somewhat of a mystery to me. My bad macro is punished every game by any competent protoss player. In every game, I open 1 rax gasless FE into 3 rax fast medivacs. I opt for a 2 medivac 35 marine timing push at around 9:30-10 minutes, which hits right before protoss tech kicks in. I try and drop and do whatever damage I can, and back off. I tend to go marine heavy in TvP, which results in my army getting vaporized at the sight of any protoss AoE.
In every game, I opt for a 1 rax gasless FE into 3 rax medivacs, similar to TvP. However, this build is different in that it starts upgrades much faster and leaves the factory around for siege tanks. The build that I use is Thorzain's TvT 1 rax FE, the build that Day9 covered in a Terran Week daily. I am terrible at drop defense and often lose my entire main to double or triple drops in the mid to late game.
Diamond Terran here as well. Hit me up if you want some TvT practice. Just send me a message on TL to my inbox.
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Diamond P, I'm down for practice vs either, just hit me up via PM or bnet if you see me on. juliette.599
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Just curious do you make maruaders in the 35 marine push against P? 3 rax fast mediavacs is fine but what comes after? Because you went gasless FE Protoss will usually defend pretty easily with their tech. You should add 2 rax during push or CC for third and go 8-10 rax and upgrades. A plan that ends with one push is an all-in and thats a pretty weak one too. Drop play is not necessary against P, especially if they have less area to cover (2base). Mass marine is never a good idea once P gets their tech.
Instead of thinking about composition/timings/drops, focus on a rax timings/counters to opponent. Even at master level many Terrans focus too much on their own play (drops/timing attacks) and not on the opponent. Another thing I notice is laziness. So many Terrans keep their army at their natural and wait for upgrades/key units. This encourages heavy macro and then a heavy micro phase where they forget to macro at all Instead do both together so you get into a proper rhythm. Constantly moving your army is very important in TvP because it scares the Protoss and allows you to get good positioning. Protosses tend to focus on chronoboosting units when you're at their door rather than teching/upgrades which is bad for you.
Basically, moving an army around does so much damage to Protoss already. I often see: LOL protoss 50 apm too ez. Thats because Protoss is so relaxed defending pointless drops and army suicides whilst macroing up a deathball.
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On February 23 2012 16:35 Artline wrote:
Just curious do you make maruaders in the 35 marine push against P? 3 rax fast mediavacs is fine but what comes after? Because you went gasless FE Protoss will usually defend pretty easily with their tech. You should add 2 rax during push or CC for third and go 8-10 rax and upgrades. A plan that ends with one push is an all-in and thats a pretty weak one too. Drop play is not necessary against P, especially if they have less area to cover (2base). Mass marine is never a good idea once P gets their tech.
Instead of thinking about composition/timings/drops, focus on a rax timings/counters to opponent. Even at master level many Terrans focus too much on their own play (drops/timing attacks) and not on the opponent. Another thing I notice is laziness. So many Terrans keep their army at their natural and wait for upgrades/key units. This encourages heavy macro and then a heavy micro phase where they forget to macro at all Instead do both together so you get into a proper rhythm. Constantly moving your army is very important in TvP because it scares the Protoss and allows you to get good positioning. Protosses tend to focus on chronoboosting units when you're at their door rather than teching/upgrades which is bad for you.
Basically, moving an army around does so much damage to Protoss already. I often see: LOL protoss 50 apm too ez. Thats because Protoss is so relaxed defending pointless drops and army suicides whilst macroing up a deathball.
I generally don't make marauders unless I sniff out some sort of blink stalker aggression. Here's the build that I'm doing: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=307662.
After the 3 rax medivac, what I do next is generally depending on what I see... I'll always drop a CC unless I suspect a 2 base colossus all in, 2 more raxes, and either a second starport or a ghost academy depending on what I see (starport if colossus first, ghost academy if I see double forge or templar).
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On February 23 2012 10:22 CTangent wrote:
I suck at Starcraft II.
I want to not suck.
I'm sick of sucking. I'm tired of being bad at this game. ............
There are so many things that I need to work on that I can't even enumerate them all... but I am going to work hard and do whatever it takes to take my game to the next level.
As of writing I am Rank [low ass rank] in my Diamond division, with a losing record and an MMR in platinum. I'm here to fix that.
As of right now I am playing Terran. I am sympathetic to the notion of switching to zerg, but I don't want to switch to Protoss, the race that got me into diamond in the first place. I really, really hate PvZ and it isn't fun for me.
....
TvZ is my best matchup.
....
By far my weakest matchup, TvP is somewhat of a mystery to me.
OMG BRO!!! Are you me??? Everyhing I quoted above is EXACTLY my situation:
started Protoss,
got to diamond,
hate PvZ,
switched to Terran,
hate TvP,
TvZ is my best,
macro sucks.
low diamond,
MMR in high platinum,
toyed with zerg, but don't really want to give up terran after 95% of my games being Terran,
will NOT switch to P, my PvZ is silver/gold level,
tired of being bad.
My only big difference from you is I don't have a plan of improving/getting to masters yet - I'm burned out with this game at the moment, and I'm playing AOE2 instead. I hope you post here your game reports, I will read them all. Subscribed/5stars! Hope to hear your progress.
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On February 24 2012 03:49 ggofthejungle wrote:Show nested quote +On February 23 2012 10:22 CTangent wrote:
I suck at Starcraft II.
I want to not suck.
I'm sick of sucking. I'm tired of being bad at this game. ............
There are so many things that I need to work on that I can't even enumerate them all... but I am going to work hard and do whatever it takes to take my game to the next level.
As of writing I am Rank [low ass rank] in my Diamond division, with a losing record and an MMR in platinum. I'm here to fix that.
As of right now I am playing Terran. I am sympathetic to the notion of switching to zerg, but I don't want to switch to Protoss, the race that got me into diamond in the first place. I really, really hate PvZ and it isn't fun for me.
....
TvZ is my best matchup.
....
By far my weakest matchup, TvP is somewhat of a mystery to me.
OMG BRO!!! Are you me??? Everyhing I quoted above is EXACTLY my situation: started Protoss, got to diamond, hate PvZ, switched to Terran, hate TvP, TvZ is my best, macro sucks. low diamond, MMR in high platinum, toyed with zerg, but don't really want to give up terran after 95% of my games being Terran, will NOT switch to P, my PvZ is silver/gold level, tired of being bad. My only big difference from you is I don't have a plan of improving/getting to masters yet - I'm burned out with this game at the moment, and I'm playing AOE2 instead. I hope you post here your game reports, I will read them all. Subscribed/5stars! Hope to hear your progress.
Will do! Thanks! I've been playing some tonight and I'll post some of my notes later.
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Good luck. Breaking Diamond to Masters is hard for a lot of people. Hopefully you'll make it through.
Keep practicing! ^.^
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On February 23 2012 12:48 Juliette wrote:
Diamond P, I'm down for practice vs either, just hit me up via PM or bnet if you see me on. juliette.599
I'll take you up on that offer some time! My TvP is pathetic and needs all sorts of work...
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EPT
