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Background
I switched to Terran over the New Year holiday. I was a gold Zerg. I lost my placements intentionally but ended up in Silver. At one point (beginning of season 6) I was gold for a while, but when I stopped doing my standard builds and started experimenting, I got demoted, and stayed silver. My goal was always to play a macro style, from the beginning. My builds were:
TvT: 1 rax expo into marine tank
TvP: 1 rax expo into 3 rax w/ upgrades and medivacs
TvZ: Reactor hellion expo into marine tank
Despite playing quite a bit for a casual player, I was not really progressing. I would play well and have a good streak, and follow it with a long losing streak. I was losing to a lot of 1 base tank pushes, 1 base colossus or dt or immortal builds. When I would go late game against P or Z I would lose. In fact, until recently, the only games I was reliably winning were TvTs in which the other guy expanded like I did.
From a Rabbit Hole to a Rededication
My frustrations led me to switch builds. As shameful as it is, I started 3 raxing against T and P. I was winning a lot more, but the games were unsatisfying. I would either waltz into a poorly defended base and immediately destroy, or I would lose to something like DT, cloaked banshee, void ray or, just a good standard defense. The wins and losses felt equally like flips of a coin.
I was looking for a good "pressure" build against zerg when CecilSunkure posted about poor macro in the low leagues ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=326528 ). Having closely studied Cecil's earlier posts (mainly the guide on improving--IMO required reading for players who take the game seriously-- http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=208343 ) I already knew and respected the guy.
I decided to rededicate myself to macro as I understood it. Fast expos, lots of workers, win by out producing. I went back to losing.
Breakthrough with Benchmarks
Then I watched filtersc's Terran Bronze to Masters tutorials (on youtube). These tutorials teach you how to play a macro game from the ground up. Conceptually there is nothing there I didn't already know--constantly produce workers, don't get supply blocked, constantly build out of production structures. I've heard all these from Cecil, Day[9] and numerous other SC2 experts before.
There are two things that filter has done that resonated with me. First, he demonstrates his point (that macro is of prime importance) by winning using a basic, barebones strategy that eliminates high-level tasks like microing units and scouting. He basically handicaps all the aspects of his play besides building scvs, depots, basic tech and units. This has all been done before, but what really tied it together for me is the easy benchmarks.
Filter's most fundamental benchmark is 50 SCVs at 10 minutes. As he progresses through the leagues, he adds new benchmarks to address added complexities to the game. At bronze it's just SCVs, marines and depots. At silver he adds stim and medivacs. At gold, +1 attack and combat shields, plus minor gas management (building marines instead of marauders when gas needed for other things). As the leagues progress, filter adds timing benchmarks, but in each case, you need 50 scvs at 10 minutes.
I opened up YABOT and practiced until I could hit most of the benchmarks without struggling. Since I hit the ladder I have had amazing success. I'm crushing. Right now I'm playing only golds and plats. After each game I review the replay looking for very specific things to determine how well I am executing. For the first time I am refining my spending down to the 10s of minerals, and my building placement to within a few seconds.
Conclusion
Any low level player, especially ones who argued on the "importance of strategy in the lower leagues" ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=327342 ) that macro is not the single most important aspect of success should watch the videos and follow the instructions. If you can hit the benchmarks, you will start rising up the ladder immediately.
I'm not affiliated with filter ( http://www.youtube.com/user/filtersc ). I'm just happy that someone was able to get what should be a basic message past my brain and into my game. I have a long way to go to reach my goals, but right now I feel like I am definitely on track.
You can get on track too. GLHF
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On April 18 2012 03:13 madmandrit wrote:
This is what I needed :D
Nice blog. I like reading stories like this. I've not thrown any games personally, but whatever works to take the pressure off.
In addition to Yabot, I really have to recommend the 1.18 GTAI practice bots. Set it to easy, pick a random opponent, or select the computers build. It can be really handy for things you are having problems with. I think each race has about 18 play styles/openings.
For instance I know last week I had it cannon rush me at least 10 games in a row on all the ladder maps. Excellent for ironing out reactions and getting better game sense to how many different ways you can solve the same problem. I snuck it on my practice partner. It beat him. The next day looking through his match history to see how he was doing, ya know. He had his other buddy play it. It beat him too. Fun stuff GL HF
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Huh, I will be sure to check this out when I get home today. To anyone who feels like they are on top of these kind of things though, another YouTuber who I HIGHLY recommend for Terran players is HalbyStarCraft. He also is very strong about things like timings and benchmarks. He is very analytical and can really change your perspective on the game.
No I am not affiliated with him in anyway, just want to spread the brotherly Terran love.
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Don't really have anything to add but wanted to thank you for the blog post. Was nice to read, and grats on your improvement! 
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Any for protoss :D? I have watched dapollos videos.
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I've watched Halby and I like him too, but he focuses on 1 base timings before expanding, mainly.
What I have always wanted to do is macro, and it is refreshing to see major improvement after a period of stagnation.
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On April 18 2012 05:19 Mr. Black wrote:
I've watched Halby and I like him too, but he focuses on 1 base timings before expanding, mainly.
What I have always wanted to do is macro, and it is refreshing to see major improvement after a period of stagnation.
Really? I did Halby's mineral drill, which is pretty similar to the vids you've posted, but the only difference is that Halby says to keep expanding whenever you have cash saved up and to attack at 200/200 (~13-14 minutes) instead of at 10 minutes.
One thing that actually helped me when I started is the fact that I literally can't micro because my computer futzes up and lags like crazy after 5 minutes of play even with everything on low, so all I can do is a-move anyways.
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On April 18 2012 05:32 babylon wrote:Show nested quote +On April 18 2012 05:19 Mr. Black wrote:
I've watched Halby and I like him too, but he focuses on 1 base timings before expanding, mainly.
What I have always wanted to do is macro, and it is refreshing to see major improvement after a period of stagnation. Really? I did Halby's mineral drill, which is pretty similar to the vids you've posted, but the only difference is that Halby says to keep expanding whenever you have cash saved up and to attack at 200/200 (~13-14 minutes) instead of at 10 minutes. One thing that actually helped me when I started is the fact that I literally can't micro because my computer futzes up and lags like crazy after 5 minutes of play even with everything on low, so all I can do is a-move anyways.
Halby plays a lot of styles (including macro), but he definitely focuses on aggressive builds that must do a lot of damage. That said, good macro is such an essential building block of any playstyle that even the most aggressive build needs good macro to win at a high level. Hell, I even posted a version of Halby's mineral drill (albeit minus the rampant queueing) as a macro exercise video in a previous blog--I've since seen a lot of his videos. However, I just don't identify as much with the style of using creative build orders to hit funky timings and win.
My aspiration is to be a player who plays one consistent, standard, economy focused style for each matchup and uses scouting and small adjustments to gain advantages (hence why I played zerg for so long). This is what I feel like I am finally progressing toward learning.
When I would work on macro before, I was always focused on maxing as quickly as possible. I actually think that is a less helpful benchmark than 50 scvs at 10:00 for a few reasons. First, because supply is generated by both workers and army units, different compositions will max at different times with equal execution, which makes the benchmark less helpful for learning. Second, if you are early or late to max, it could be due to lots of factors: missing workers or missing army units or supply block, or building timings and therefore more analysis is needed to determine where the problem lies. Third, it is easy to watch a replay through on 8x, and really satisfying to watch your ccs never stop making workers--if you see a gap, you can see how it affects the other specific benchmarks (expo, factory, etc.). Finally, in order to hit specific benchmarks you need to be precise--starting with 50 SCVs in 10:00 and knowing that that is going to be a foundation of every game you play lets you master the basics before adding elements to the style. It's like building a skill-set from the ground-up.
Because I have been playing for so long and improving various aspects of my play (I've played a ton of micro challenges and can split, stutter-step, push with marines and tanks better than most at my level) without seeing solid, concrete improvement at the rate I anticipated when I switched to T, making good progress in macro has given me a glimpse of a future in which I don't make posts like this one.
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Wow I am currently in the same situation as the TS. Your blog really reflects how I am like in SC2 now.
Especially this paragraph.
Despite playing quite a bit for a casual player, I was not really progressing. I would play well and have a good streak, and follow it with a long losing streak. I was losing to a lot of 1 base tank pushes, 1 base colossus or dt or immortal builds. When I would go late game against P or Z I would lose. In fact, until recently, the only games I was reliably winning were TvTs in which the other guy expanded like I did.
Glad to see this post as I myself was in a losing streak yesterday. >,< winning only 2 out of my 10 games, and somehow losing to everything and anything.
Will try and give myself specific benchmarks to follow, and hopefully improve from there!
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Just wanted to bump this. I'm a high diamond terran and I saw improvement in my play by going through his tutorials. I love the way his money naturally dictates his build order.
By the end of the gold tutorials, you have an excellent barebones build that I use (with minor variation by matchup, techlab/reactor/reactor vs tech/tech/reactor) to the 10 minute mark in high diamond. I have beat masters with this build. That being said, I continue the build past 10 minutes into 3base+ play, and I don't neglect scouting. Point is, meeting the benchmarks he sets here will continue directly and without change into higher level play.
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Yeah, I already typically go into 3-base, unless the first push just outright wins.
I am looking forward to the scouting video--its already been posted but I don't have time yet. I already know the basics (saved chrono = 4gate) but I know this is an area that I could really improve on.
ALSO: Last night I got promoted to Gold and I'm presently playing mainly top 8 platinum players. I'm fired up!
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On April 19 2012 05:07 enigamI wrote:
Just wanted to bump this. I'm a high diamond terran and I saw improvement in my play by going through his tutorials. I love the way his money naturally dictates his build order.
By the end of the gold tutorials, you have an excellent barebones build that I use (with minor variation by matchup, techlab/reactor/reactor vs tech/tech/reactor) to the 10 minute mark in high diamond. I have beat masters with this build. That being said, I continue the build past 10 minutes into 3base+ play, and I don't neglect scouting. Point is, meeting the benchmarks he sets here will continue directly and without change into higher level play.
I've been watching fOrGG stream tonight, and he does this build almost exactly the same with techlab/reactor/reactor in TvT and techlab/techlab/reactor in TvP. Only major difference is that he starts stim (TvP) or shields (TvT) and +1 attack before factory instead of after, but it's essentially an identical build to what filter teaches. So yeah, Code S approved. It's not a build designed just for learning that you'll have to drop later like 3 raxing.
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That's really cool about fOGG, I saw Polt doing similar things today too in the dreamhack finals. Obviously it's just a very safe standard style of play that has a natural flow to it. The really inventive stuff is cool, but it banks too heavily on the opponent not understanding it to win.
This blog is really cool, you're pretty much the exact type of player I was aiming at Mr. Black. The ideas are hardly knew, but I wanted to create something that was really easy to follow made looking at replays quick and easy.
It's really good to see players not just improving, but really enjoying the game more.
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I'm glad ppl are trying this out and posting about it.
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EPT
