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This will be the first post of Improvement Week. I will release the first week coverage (and maybe just that week) in segments.
Over the past 3 days, I have tried to improve my PvZ matchup as Protoss. It is indeed one of my worst matchups apart from the coinflip that is PvP. However, it's been a hard trek, and I can sum up my journey as follows.
Build I have attempted:
Forge Fast Expand.
9 pylon (below ramp, scout with probe
16 nexus
16 forge
16 pylon
Gateway @150 minerals
Cannon @150 minerals
Assimilators 1 and 2 @100% nexus
With the following transitions:
7 gate +1 weapons timing attack
1 Gate Stargate into 6 Gate +1
4 gate robo into 2 base colossus
My first order of the day
I was going to practice all 3 variations of the opener until I was comfortable with them. Today, I had completed 9 games vs Very Easy AI just trying to hammer down the build. The results in order of game:
- 5 gate robo - Significant supply blockage. Very risky transition into 3 base Immortal that gets me to 200/200 in around 16 mins.
- 1 gate stargate - Minor supply blockage, floating thousands of minerals by the time the void ray and 2 phoenixes come out. Somewhat delayed Gateway and Cybernetics Core too and only 2 gas
- 1 gate stargate - Moderate supply blockage, same mineral stockpiling issue as game 2.
- 5 gate robo - Very well executed, aside from a minor supply blockage when the 5 Gateways were done and convented to Warp Gates.
- 6 gate robo - Significant supply blockage when the Robotics Facility was complete. Push started before Immortal came out.
- 1 gate stargate - Remembered to make 5 more gateways after the Stargate finishes. However, the lack of forward pylon and supply blockages fucked up the effective power of this push.
- 6 gate push - Pooling resources. Is 6 gateways enough for a +1 timing attack?
- 1 gate stargate - Balls'd up my build order somewhat but managed to execute a bit later than usual.
- 1 gate stargate fail - Quit the game when Stargate was due, which was going down by around the 8 min mark instead of the 6 min-ish one.
Other criticisms in my play (across all games played today):
- My probe production is around 90 - 95% perfect. Some delays later in the game but early to early-midgame it's almost flawless.
- Frequent supply blockages, particularly when at the stage where significant unit production is mandatory.
- Occasional build order cock-ups.
Practice Partner Time
I sought (and found) a Diamond level Zerg practice partner to play 4 games with. To give a brief synopsis of these 4 games.
Game 1 - 7 gate +1 timing push.
I made 3 significant, even fatal errors in that game:
- I didn't research +1 weapons.
- Supply blockages delayed my push considerably, particularly in the part where all my warp gates were complete and ready to warp but I heard "YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS"
- I didn't go for the third.which was virtually undefended and was probably easy to spot considering the creep seepijng down the ramp. I instead went for the well defended with spines natural and got raped by mass roach speedling, counterpushed then died.
Game 2 - 1 gate stargate into 6 gate timing push.
Made 3 significant/fatal errors:
- Didn't research +1 til later. Had I obtained it sooner, I could have done more damage.
- Didn't get a 4th gas geyser, hence my tech was limited.
- Acted fucking greedy and attempted to take the gold when a huge roach ling hydra ball was hurtling at me at 120mph.
Game 3 - FFE into 2 base colossus
Made 3 massive mistakes
- Pushed out before Blink was done
- Didn't get enough gates (perhaps expanding from that timing attack was too risky.
- TERRIBLE unit control. My Zealots and Sentries were separated from my Stalkers and Colossi, hence the Zerg melted the fuck out of them with ease. Before I even had a chance to retreat, they were gone, I ragequit.
Game 4 - FFE into 3 pylon contain
One big mistake:
- My strategy didn't accomodate for 1 base Nydus ALL THE THINGS style strategies.
  
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I play zerg but shouldn't you be getting the forge before the nexus. A 16 nexus is very late and puts you in vulnerable situations with ling run bys.
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On November 26 2011 11:33 juked wrote:
I play zerg but shouldn't you be getting the forge before the nexus. A 16 nexus is very late and puts you in vulnerable situations with ling run bys.
That's how ideally I wanted to do it, and I did it in the last practice game I did against the Diamond practice partner I had, hence why I did the 3 pylon contain successfully in the last game (I may be wrong but I heard the MilkyWay trick got patched out.)
However, I have been struggling to find pro replays where a forge first FFE has been done. Most pros opt for the Nexus First style because they're usually accustomed to handling ling runbys with limited cannon numbers. It took me a bit of asking around and trial and error the previous day to do a Forge first FFE. One idea was that I did 13/14 Forge then probed up to 17, laid down my expansion then and gateways and cannons as I gradually hit the minerals required for them. Of course I'd continue probe production when I had the 100 mins necessary for a pylon after that.
Point is, this game is bloody tough. I feel like no matter how hard I try, I cannot hammer down the transition for this build order. That is usually where I fuck up hugely in PvZ.
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Forge/Nexus timing is going to depend on what you scout. For the most part, if it's 14 gas 14 pool, or any pool later than that, you're going to be okay with Nexus -> Forge. But if its earlier than that, or if you didnt find him on time, you have to go forge first.
Also yeah if you have more than like 36 probes or so (assuming two gas) and you're not producing out of the Stargate anymore, 6 gates probably won't spend it all.
Edit: Dammit RedFF.  I never wanted that to attack anyone in particular ! Besides, I think this is one of the better written ones I've seen. : )
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I really dunno how to reply to somebody who just merely links a ladder blog bashing post made by another player on a ladder blog in an attempt to moronically bash it, but let me make these points.
1.This sort of statement does describe most low level ladder games but it's mentally retarded to just post this on a blog that's mostly just me trying to hammer down a build order, as in putting in the effort to improve my macro through repetition. Yes, it's not me saying "HAY GUISE, HERE'S MY SUCKY LADDER STINT"
There’s nothing to learn from them, they’re either you rushing and winning in 6 minutes or you getting rushed and losing in 6 minutes, or, at best, they’re a long “epic” game that is actually two people sitting on their ass for 40 minutes and then a-moving at each other.
Yeah, that didn't really describe 3 of the 4 practice games I had.
As I said, game 1 involved me fucking up a timing considerably through both moderate supply blockages and not attacking the correct base and letting my opponent get a literal "Roach deathball" on 3 bases to counterattack me to death. It was effectively a macro game with 2 battles, not one.
Game 2 involved me trying to attack with a Stargate timing, failing to get the third hatchery down without losing a Void Ray and then being at the mercy of pure roach hydra on 3 base because of both my lack of production and tech and because of my greediness/retardation to try and take the gold while I had lost almost my whole army.
Game 3 was probably accurate as far as that description goes. I wasn't advertising it as an "epic game" but rather a colossally fucked up 2 base colossus timing, mainly balls'd up due to my shitty micro and pre-occupation with clearing the XNWs in order to try and hide my colossus (and then losing my whole army as a result.)
As for Game 4, yes, a 3 pylon blockade was cheese, but it didn't really succeed, considering I got counter-cheesed by a 1 base nydus. That's already more interesting than a game that's just two maxed armies clashing and the winner of the engagement winning the game.
2. On the "shitty writer" point, I used to write ladder/game improvement blogs with a huge synopsis on games and replay analysis, but I felt more like I was writing synopses on shitty play than actually practicing. That's why I tried to shorten things down considerably.
It takes time to write interesting shit. Lots and lots of time.
Do you honestly think that these brilliant ladder blog posts mentioned are written out of the blue in the space of 15 minutes by geniuses? Nope.
Obviously while some of the captions are probably made up on the spot in an amusing style, getting screenshots of interesting moments and game analysis takes MUCH longer.
As for if they include replays or replay packs with their posts.... there's the issue of uploading them all to a site like say.... sc2replayed, drop.sc etc, or in the case of replay packs having to deal with horrible file hosting sites like Megaupload and Rapidshare etc.
So you just want to share your progress as a player. Innocent enough, right? But you can’t just upload a bunch of replays from that “sick practice session with your bro who’s totally in platinum, man” and expect anyone with the capacity to change to page not to. If you played a great game in particular, write a battle report or something. If you dont know, all that means is taking screenshots from the game and using (interesting) comments to tell the story of the game. Hell, even if the game isn’t great, you can make it great.
Perhaps one of the best known battle reports is the story of Proberto, which you can find here. It’s BW, which some of you may not be too familiar with, but go ahead and read it anyway. I’ll wait.
Great. See how unspectacular that game was? But Chef is an amazing writer, so he made the game great. That’s what you, Mr. Ladder Blogger, need to do. I’ve done it myself several times, all shameless linked here. If I, a person without an ounce of funny inside my entire being, can write battle reports about mediocre, low level games and have them be well received, you can do. Just stop being lazy and do it.
While I’m at it, I gotta shout out Gheed for perhaps exemplifying this point best. The f**ker just sits there and worker rushes people. Doesn’t exactly make for the most interesting games in the universe. But Gheed is funny as hell and he makes it work. Find a sample of his adventures here.
I don't exactly want to drop f-bombs everywhere, but I suppose the replay screenshots and funny/amusing/interesting captions are a good way to engage the reader. I will note this down in future progress blogs.
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Make a humorous ladder blog please.
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lol while I don't like blogs about personal play, I find it funny that two people wrote two anti-ladder blog posts and the guy with the spotlighted anti-ladder blog blog posts a constructive response w/o bashing the ladder blog.
You were pretty succinct, good luck to you.
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On November 26 2011 12:42 Snuggles wrote:
Make a humorous ladder blog please.
Done. If that's the sort of content blog readers are into.
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EPT
