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Your practice routine with very limited time

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1 2 Next All
QuadroX
Profile Joined August 2017
386 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 08:58:33
November 28 2019 08:57 GMT
#1
Say you work full time and every day there could be from 1 to 3 hours at max to practice brood war. Some days may be skipped for family/work/friends or some other reasons.

Is there a way to consistently improve at a lower pace having such small time to dedicate to the game, and if it's possible what's the most efficient way of doing that?

P.S. It's very challenging mechanically to do what you want to do, and you get to that point when you can think and do things (at your "previous good" level) only after pretty big amount of games played before.
HerbMon
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States460 Posts
November 28 2019 09:02 GMT
#2
Host a game vs computer and close slot after count down begins. This will leave you with a map to yourself to which you can practice any build you want.
How we will win in the period ahead.
kogeT
Profile Joined September 2013
Poland2037 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 21:03:21
November 28 2019 09:06 GMT
#3
This is something I spent a lot of time on, e.g thinking how can I maintain some skills with literally 2-3 hours a week to play.

So my "practice routine" is:

1) Have 1-2 maps where you can practice micro / macro, just run through hotkeys on keyboard to make units, practice f2,f3,f4 macros, wraith/muta micro etc. Do it for 20 minutes a week mb.
2) In your free time, watch some starcraft (traveling, before sleep etc) just to keep up with meta a bit
3) Forget ladder, do that only if you have extra time. Try to have few practie partners OR participate in leauges or tournaments that have a fixed time, that way you are committed to something.
4) Try to have a plan for every game - think about the map, build you will play & why, and make sure you have a basic analysis in head before start. This is also your place to experiment and develop based on new meta.
5) Rest of the time focus only on playing 1-2 standard builds on standard maps where you focus primarly on late game, mechanics and standard skills
https://www.twitch.tv/kogetbw
Poegim
Profile Joined February 2017
Poland264 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 10:30:29
November 28 2019 09:40 GMT
#4
Koget, for me it seems like nice guide to stop taking fun from a game : D. Playing so small amount of games u will never be so good as you want, so just enjoy being noob and take a fun from a game, even from loses.
Aka: Poezja[T4], Zulu. [[ Probably second best player in the world. In honor of my best friend Moagim, he was a Kraken from the sea. Poegim ]]
IntoTheStorm
Profile Blog Joined October 2016
116 Posts
November 28 2019 10:53 GMT
#5
On November 28 2019 17:57 QuadroX wrote:
Is there a way to consistently improve at a lower pace having such small time to dedicate to the game, and if it's possible what's the most efficient way of doing that?


I do not think there is a way to improve at a lower pace after a certain cap is reached. I used to play like 4 hours daily, back in 2003 to 2006. Then I reached my limit for those hours - I mean the following: every game I won or lost I knew why I won it or lost it. And the games I did lose, the losses where I was outsmarted were few (except cheese games but I do not count them as being outsmarted. And yes, I main protoss so I did my fair share of dirty cheeses as well). It was usually because the other player was more efficient with his execution than I was. I got to a certain awareness where they could not sneak an expo just like that, for example. You just scout them and you feel something does not look right with what they have and you start searching where their money is going, we see that all the time on the streams now.
So after I reached my limit I just stayed there and played while still trying to improve of course but in reality I did not.
But look at kogeT's advice - it is pretty reasonable way to reach this limit I am speaking of in the shortest way.
ggsimida
Profile Joined August 2015
1148 Posts
November 28 2019 11:03 GMT
#6
stop playing terran. TvT on average takes longer time to play and finish than the other 2 matchups. within the same time span you get x3/x4 the numbers of games of zvz than in tvt for example,many more times meaningful practice, you become a better player in a far shorter period

stop taking the dumb purist stance of "macro is the only way to play the game" inculcate more cheese and aggression into your game. such games are more action packed, makes your mind constantly engaged (great for warding off old age dementia), also makes games shorter allowing you to squeeze more games into a limited time span. also adds more unpredictability when you do play competitve boX, also makes you more cheese resistant. know thy self, know thy enemy.
iFU.spx
Profile Joined April 2011
Russian Federation369 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 11:47:19
November 28 2019 11:45 GMT
#7
Dont waste time to practice mechanics.
Don’t think about apm.
Be focused. Try to remove all things that disturb.
Choose one strategy to play vs each race and go ladder or custom (play vs better player if you can).
Get a conversation about your games with someone near skill.
Think about strategy as a tree of decisions and its impact for win probability.
Always watch replay of losses and analyse why it happened
Dangermousecatdog
Profile Joined December 2010
United Kingdom7084 Posts
November 28 2019 13:46 GMT
#8
Just play the game. If you are only playing 1 hour a day, that hour better be used for playing and analysing your losses.
A little micro, a little scouting, a little gamesense goes a long way. Concentrating on macro is just limited returns.
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2260 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 14:37:06
November 28 2019 13:54 GMT
#9
try to play as cleanly as posible, try not to spam while playing, play at your natural speed, look at bonyth and ty2, they are masters of playing at his own rythm.

try to implement the whole keyboard to your game play, do this by playing vs PC or in an empty map like herbmon said. This process takes about a week of practice 1 hour daily, force yourself to use the F keys, muscle memory is key, use all keybinds, use all hotkeys from 1 to 0, learn all the shift and ctrl comands, get used to them, get comfortable with them.

https://tl.net/forum/bw-strategy/104910-mechanics-of-starcraft
https://tl.net/forum/bw-strategy/450579-other-basics

Then comes the process of cleaning your actual play, building placement, timing, build orders, etc.

once you are comfortable with your speed/keyboard usage/mechanics/builds you can practice like spx and koget posted above.

at this point you can save the replays of games that u lose and u had no idea why, take one day to review them critically. Compare your own play to top players, recording youself is really useful to see when and why u are missclicking, miss controling, missing macro rounds, how Good or bad your camera positioning is, etc...

read this : https://tl.net/forum/bw-strategy/135766-how-to-improve

if you are consistent enough, u Will improve rapidly even with Little practice time.

3 hours daily is like 12 games a day, that is not a low number of games imo, specially if you are focused on improving and your main focus is not to just get mmr. Starcraft is a long term goal, no top player came out of nowhere, + Show Spoiler +
unless ure playing zerg, that shit is easy, 6 months and ure gosu
be patient and enjoy the process of learning and improving.

On November 28 2019 22:46 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
Just play the game. If you are only playing 1 hour a day, that hour better be used for playing and analysing your losses.
A little micro, a little scouting, a little gamesense goes a long way. Concentrating on macro is just limited returns.


this advice is actually quite bad, im sorry to point it out , but if you just play the game with no clear plan / goal / method , you will stagnate and get frustated quite easily because there is no clear path to follow, unless ure a genius for RTS games, and strategy comes to you naturally just playing the game blindlessly wont help you improve.

StarCraft & Audax Italiano.
PorkSoda
Profile Joined September 2015
170 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 17:41:30
November 28 2019 17:38 GMT
#10
Koget and Herbmon’s advice is like the preparation for a game. You don’t get better at football by just playing football. You have to run, lift weights, and study to prepare yourself for the game. Maybe on days when you only have one hour you practice like koget says. Times when you have 2 or 3 hours you warm up and then play games. When you have a spare 15 or 30 minutes you can analyze replays. This seems a reasonable way to train, play, and study.

I’m in the same boat as the OP. I work full time, have a 1 year old, and a wife that wants to hang out with me. I only play stupid games like bunker d and random turret d because I don’t have to practice to play them and won’t care if I have to stop playing in the middle of a game. I want to play more Starcraft and will have to do something like I described above if I ever want to play 1v1.
Cryoc
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany909 Posts
November 28 2019 19:14 GMT
#11
I like Kogets advice alot and do something similar when I want to get better. It may be not the most fun approach, but it will probably improve your skill the most. Especially the part about not playing ladder but instead playing vs a practice partner helps alot, since you can focus on 1 matchup at a time vs a similarly skilled opponent.
http://www.twitch.tv/cryoc
QuadroX
Profile Joined August 2017
386 Posts
November 28 2019 19:25 GMT
#12
Wow thank you guys who contributed so far. Didn't expect that level of involvement tbh.

Noted so far:

* Practice builds/mechanics/F-Keys on empty maps (about 30 mins)
* Practice micro on micro maps e.g. muta control (15 mins +-)
* Always have a game plan, solid single build for each matchup and prefer standard macro maps (FS, CB) where you can practice it
* Watch Starcraft when you have time (but prioritise playing I guess), like if you're waiting at the post office or taking train
* Watch replays of games you lost if it's not clear, should always know why you lost a specific game
* Practice partners/custom games are better than ladder practice
* Cheese builds come to resque when you accept that you're worse player and never can compete mechanically at macro due to being old and rusty, or/and lack of practice

Oh and some people still hit the wall knowing that only putting more hours into the game will get them further in ranks.
Dangermousecatdog
Profile Joined December 2010
United Kingdom7084 Posts
November 28 2019 20:25 GMT
#13
On November 28 2019 22:54 XenOsky wrote:

Show nested quote +
On November 28 2019 22:46 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
Just play the game. If you are only playing 1 hour a day, that hour better be used for playing and analysing your losses.
A little micro, a little scouting, a little gamesense goes a long way. Concentrating on macro is just limited returns.


this advice is actually quite bad, im sorry to point it out , but if you just play the game with no clear plan / goal / method , you will stagnate and get frustated quite easily because there is no clear path to follow, unless ure a genius for RTS games, and strategy comes to you naturally just playing the game blindlessly wont help you improve.

Hey, I am no genius, but I recognise that if time is limited, a greater proportion of more of that time should be used to actually play the game and analyse your games. Where did I say he should play with no clear plan / goal / method ?

I said he should analysis his replays.You can't analyse your replays if you have nothing in mind to analyse. He didn't say he is starting to play the game for the first time. He said he played the game at a previous good level already. So, I am assuming he has a basic level of knowledge and skill already. The year is 2019 not 2009. There's tons of resources available for him to learn already, what is missing is applying it. So he must know a build already and how to execute it. Where people fail mostly is in scouting and recognising when to change the next branch of the build. If he can't play mindfully, then he can't improve anyways. If you hardly ever go ahead and play the game, you aren't exactly improving at the game are you? You are just improving at a hallucination of the game.
capacityex
Profile Joined June 2019
27 Posts
November 28 2019 20:46 GMT
#14
prolly get banned, seems to be the way these days if you talk like an adult.Why dont you just press play?

User was temp banned for this post.
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1404 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 21:11:23
November 28 2019 21:03 GMT
#15
Firstly, I think laddering is not to be shunned in the situation that OP described, because it's fun (!), fresh every game, and "like a box of chocolates", so you'll be able to re-visit the whole variety of matchups/strategies/cheeses etc.
AND most importantly: It's actual competition, keeps your fire buring.

edit: Extra hint: Don't care about stats/winning.

Personnaly, if I know that I currently don't have the time to actually practice, I do one of two things: I ladder whenever I'm even even just slightly in the mood, for the reasons mentioned above. Or, if the day at work was too hard, I make a few dry-runs through my bread-n-butter builds in the singleplayer.

I think the only realistic goal in those times is to stay in shape, somewhat, not to improve. Better wait for a free weekend or a few days of vacation and prepare to really go all out on practice of one build, one micro-technique, one map that's been bugging you, etc.

And if you think you have some spare cerebral-activity, obviously you can try to practice specific stuff for an hour or two, or look up a few facts, analyze a pro game, etc.

On November 28 2019 19:53 IntoTheStorm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2019 17:57 QuadroX wrote:
Is there a way to consistently improve at a lower pace having such small time to dedicate to the game, and if it's possible what's the most efficient way of doing that?


I do not think there is a way to improve at a lower pace after a certain cap is reached. I used to play like 4 hours daily, back in 2003 to 2006. Then I reached my limit for those hours - I mean the following: every game I won or lost I knew why I won it or lost it. And the games I did lose, the losses where I was outsmarted were few [...]. It was usually because the other player was more efficient with his execution than I was. [...]


I think this point has a lot of truth to it - but it's not necessarily "sad but true".

Similarly to IntoTheStorm, if I only get to play a few hours/games a week, I can feel how

a) my best mechanics only return after the 1-2 games I play - and then I have to stop... (and you need those mechanics if you're playing your max-rank).
b) I lose to stuff that I know how to beat, but because my mind drifted away from BW for the last few days/weeks, I get caught on the wrong foot again. Similarly, sometimes I just can't get my head around the madness that is lategame, even though I know I did better when I had more time.

There's no helping this, BW from C-rank or B-rank on (my guess) is like a sport that you do semi-seriously. Several hours of practice a week are just necessary to even keep your level, let alone improve.
You will improve even at that rate, but veeery slowly: The stuff/knowledge that you don't have to practice but that rather you just have to see again and again until it sinks deep into your brain. You'll profit from this if ever you should be able to re-establish a more voluminous playing schedule.

Just play, don't put yourself down for stagnating, have fun and stay in shape.
outscar
Profile Joined September 2014
2832 Posts
November 28 2019 21:11 GMT
#16
I don't know if even playing 1 hour daily will make you better. I play around 2 hours everyday and I still suck so bad at this game, hanging barely on 50% winrate. Some people are naturally bad and they need a lot of time to get better.
sunbeams are never made like me...
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1404 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 22:23:01
November 28 2019 21:12 GMT
#17
On November 29 2019 06:11 outscar wrote:
I don't know if even playing 1 hour daily will make you better. I play around 2 hours everyday and I still suck so bad at this game, hanging barely on 50% winrate. Some people are naturally bad and they need a lot of time to get better.


You know that just means the matchmaking is working alright? But I guess you mean on the same rank also.

Still, with the broad range of skills and kind of competition/opponents you meet in this game, you can improve quite a bit in different skill-fields without even realizing it. Almost everyone who plays has played for many years, there's quite a bit of depth to the play of most people I encounter even on C/B, you fix one hole in your play only to find a dozen more lurking around the corner.
And whenever you have a small run and go 50-100 points up, you're sure to meet better opponents who'll "put you back in place".

Under these circumstances, if you crawl up 10-20 points on your average MMR (which you probably don't know as you oscillate in a range of several hundred points normally) that would be quite an improvement actually, even if you stay locked on 50 win%.
TT1
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada10004 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-28 23:02:14
November 28 2019 22:58 GMT
#18
like everyone has suggested, make sure you have good progamer reps and do 1 standard b.o per mu

Always pay attention to when they expo, how they scout, when they add production facilities (and how many they make) and their worker count. Another helpful thing is comparing your supply relative to a progamer's. So in a standard macro where nothing has happened i have X supply at 10 minutes and FlaSh has 110 supply at 10 minutes.

Setting small in game goals is a good way to improve, it gives you something to focus on. For example, you can start by not getting supply blocked, not missing worker production for the first 5 minutes (if you're T/P), hitting X supply at X minute. Work your way up from easy goals to harder ones.

i highly recommend watching these tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/IIjinjinnII/videos
ab = tl(i) + tl(pc), the grand answer to every tl.net debate
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1404 Posts
November 29 2019 00:17 GMT
#19
On November 29 2019 07:58 TT1 wrote:

i highly recommend watching these tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/IIjinjinnII/videos


You mean these?

+ Show Spoiler +





EndingLife
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
United States1594 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-12-12 17:03:12
November 29 2019 00:35 GMT
#20
deleted
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