Don't Call It A Comeback

BlueInkAlchemist

United States73 Posts

October 17 2013 03:34 GMT

Getting back into StarCraft 2 after a long break isn't easy for anybody. Heart of the Swarm has hit since I last played on the ladder, and that may have changed things up drastically. My only recourse is to change with them, and that means starting over again, from scratch, to build myself back up into a better gamer. What I like about StarCraft as opposed to say, Magic, is that the random element is minimized and, on higher levels of play, non-existent. It's entirely skill and strategy. But before I can get anywhere near that level, I have to get my bare bones basics nailed down. And that means mechanics. That means making workers.

Building workers is pretty much the foundation of any future play. It's the fuel that runs a player's engine in StarCraft. It's the mana of Magic: the Gathering, the production certs of Axis & Allies, the planetary resources of Twilight Imperium. I can't spend any time worrying about build orders or army composition counters or even the meta-game at large. Not yet, at least. As much as I love to tie my strategic and tactical gameplay into a greater philosophy or Sun-Tzu or something, there's a reason soldiers start at boot camp and aren't just shipped into combat. Eren in Attack on Titan doesn't strap on the Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear and get right to titan-slaying without some serious training. That's the way it has to be for me, as well.

So I've looked up some notes on the changes to the game, watched some videos by Filter, and started drilling against the AI. Not to practice tactics, not to ensure wins, not to nail down build orders. I'm just making workers and basic units, focusing on the workers. So far, Terran and Protoss are going fine. Zerg, I'm struggling with. But I'll get there. And when I do, at that point I'll jump on the ladder and start fighting live opponents. Though 'fighting' may be a bit of a stretch, as all I'm likely to do is bunch up all of my basic dudes and lob them at the enemy with no real tactics involved.

Then again, I don't think many people at Bronze level will know what to do when 50 Marines or 30 Zealots or 40 Roaches come knocking at their door en masse 10 minutes into a game. I guess we'll see once I have my benchmarks nailed down.

Those benchmarks are:

Terran
10 minutes: 52 SCVs
Natural @ 3:20

Protoss
10 minutes: 56 probes, 18 zealots, 8 gateways
12:30 - 72 probes, 3 bases, 8 gateways

Zerg
Drones
6 minutes: 30-35 drones
8 minutes: 50-55 drones

Queens
Less than 10 energy combined @ 10 minutes

6 minute quad gas
7 minute Roach Warren
7 minute double Evo Chamber

sluggaslamoo

Australia4494 Posts

October 17 2013 03:48 GMT

Don't call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
Listen to the bass go BOOM
Explosion, overpowerin
Over the competition, I'm towerin
Wreckin shop, when I drop these lyrics that'll make you call the cops
Don't you dare stare, you betta move
Don't ever compare
Me to the rest that'll all get sliced and diced
Competition's payin the price

I'm gonna knock you out (HUUUH!!!)
Mama said knock you out (HUUUH!!!)

Sorry couldn't help it

Tobberoth

Sweden6375 Posts

October 17 2013 07:10 GMT

If you can pull of the classic filter benchmarks, you can amove into Gold, regardless of race. You won't win every match, but you'll win far above 50%. It's downright ridiculous just how massively strong spotless macro is.

FFW_Rude

France10201 Posts

October 17 2013 13:15 GMT

On October 17 2013 16:10 Tobberoth wrote:
If you can pull of the classic filter benchmarks, you can amove into Gold, regardless of race. You won't win every match, but you'll win far above 50%. It's downright ridiculous just how massively strong spotless macro is.

True that. I came from being plat zerg to terran (ended up in silver).
I did the bronze bench (yes with no gaz scv+marines) and i'm currently top gold. I don't play very much but i killed plat and even ex-diamond/plat players with only that.

So you can really have more than 50% if you do gold bench

I have a rep (i can find it if you want) where i a moved marines into colossi and won (of course no colossi micro and not really mass stuff). But i just a click on the minimap and never scout or leave my base with camera

Th1rdEye

United States1074 Posts

October 17 2013 13:48 GMT

Having a solid macro mechanic and setting benchmarks can be really helpful if you start from the beginning and set some good habits. You can decide a lot of games just by sloppy SCV making early on etc. Those things are sometimes hard to notice in replays as to being a deciding factor into who won or who didn't, but definitely can come in to play.

By the way, is that title a reference to any song title or anythign in particular?

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