So I've never really played a RTS before, and when I heard the genre like a month ago it really sparked my interest. I was originally going to choose SC2 as my first RTS game but while I was looking for guides I came across Day9, who supported BW so vehemently that I've changed my mind and decided to give it a shot. I watched the first 15 episodes of his series and even though I'm still struggling to choose my race I'm leaning towards Protoss.
I've so far only played against AI and I get absolutely crushed every time. I'm trying to apply the main build order I've come across at Liquipedia (One Gate Core Build is the name I think) but
1- I suck at keeping track of my units, e.g I forget I sent a drone out to scout, I sometimes forget to produce drones 2- My buildings sometimes block my own units, especially Dragoons 3- I don't know how to advance from building Gateways, I don't know how to use advanced units 4- I pick Terran for the AI because it's the first matchup Day9 talks about but the AI always beats me with a silly marine-medic build, besides I don't know how to properly "direct" my army. For example, I spam click to a marine and the dragoons start to shoot like 5 seconds later. I know I'm doing something wrong. 5- I generally don't know how to scout
I can go on forever, this game is so hard. So how were you at your first RTS game? How did you practice?
Edit: My post was empty for the first 5 minutes becaue I've accidentally clicked the submit button without writing anything.
If you're brand new to the RTS genre and BW, I recommend starting with the campaign if you haven't already and to play games. Any games. Ranked ladder, BGH (Big Game Hunters), FFA (Free For Alls), comp stomps, custom games, whatever. Just play enough so you feel comfortable with the basic actions of BW and know what all the units and buildings do.
There are plenty of resources online to learn the mechanics of BW. Day9 Let's Learn Starcraft is a good starting point. You can find other guides on youtube, and there are various discord servers to learn and practice with other people.
Coach Pupil League (CPL): A teamleague where players get coached every week during the competition. Ongoing right now, and you can join the waitlist on TL https://discord.gg/4HJZZU
Lmaster Beginner's Starcraft Club: A general beginner's server with guides and tutorials https://discord.gg/WUkz7a8
Foreign Brood War (FBW): The main server hangout of the foreign (non-Korean) scene https://discord.gg/SAEmNf
Feel free to ask questions here in TL or anywhere else. BW is not an easy game to master, but you won't find any other game that has as a rich history and depth in play.
On April 20 2020 09:10 SeaKing66 wrote: If you're brand new to the RTS genre and BW, I recommend starting with the campaign if you haven't already and to play games. Any games.
Well I'm interested in RTS primarily because it's a particularly competitive genre. Do you think playing the campaign is absolutely necessary for players who are only interested in playing multiplayer/1v1?
It's not absolutely necessary, but it's a nice way to getting used to "sim city" (thoughtful building placement), constantly making workers, learn about units, their abilities, and where they're made, using control groups, using hotkeys, etc.
Of course, you can do this vs the AI or in regular online game. But the campaign's story is pretty enjoyable by itself, and provides some direction for a player who is just starting out in the RTS genre. Just make sure you're playing on fastest if you're playing the campaign or the AI.
On April 20 2020 08:19 musixelect wrote: Hey guys,
So I've never really played a RTS before, and when I heard the genre like a month ago it really sparked my interest. I war originally going to choose SC2 as my first RTS game but while I was looking for guides I came across Day9, who supported BW so vehemently that I've changed my mind and decided to give it a shot. I watched the first 15 episodes of his series and even though I'm still struggling to choose my race I'm leaning towards Protoss.
I've so far only played against AI and I get absolutely crushed every time. I'm trying to apply the main build order I've come across at Liquipedia (One Gate Core Build is the name I think) but
1- I suck at keeping track of my units, e.g I forget I sent a drone out to scout, I sometimes forget to produce drones 2- My buildings sometimes block my own units, especially Protoss 3- I don't know how to advance from building Gateways, I don't know how to use advanced units 4- I pick Terran for the AI because it's the first matchup Day9 talks about but the AI always beats me with a silly marine-medic build, besides I don't know how to properly "direct" my army. For example, I spam click to a marine and the dragoons start to shoot like 5 seconds later. I know I'm doing something wrong. 5- I generally don't know how to scout
I can go on forever, this game is so hard. So how were you at your first RTS game? How did you practice?
Edit: My post was empty for the first 5 minutes becaue I've accidentally clicked the submit button.
The game is really really complicated, and it's going to take some time to ease into, even in the RTS genre. I played SC2 pretty extensively before going backwards to BW (thought I played some BW and WC3 when I was younger, so I had a base in RTS to begin with), and even though I was masters in SC2, I struggled to do anything in BW for a few months.
A long while back, Day9 did a great daily on RTS basics. It's set in SC2, but it's general enough to apply to pretty much all RTS. This is the best intro video to RTS mechanics out there imo.
Basically, Brood War is a game about making more stuff than your opponent, so if you can get to a point where you're constantly making SCVs and marines out of 3 rax while building supply depots one at a time and never getting supply blocked, things will start to click. Don't even worry about scouting, just make stuff. If the comp keeps killing you, just use the "power overwhelming" cheat.
Regarding #4: Never spam-click attack in BW. It will cause stuff to bug out and do weird stuff. There are a lot of "hidden" mechanics like this that you'll get more comfortable with as you get better. For example, spam clicking up or down a ramp makes bulky units move up and down it faster because it's overriding their natural tendency to spread out and get out of each other's box. Another example: Hold position, patrol, attack move, and right clicking all do very very different things regarding attacking; which one you use depends on the situation.
Give the campaign a try. It's good for learning the basics and should offer a decent difficulty (starts out easy, and grows more difficult). Don't worry about competitive play yet. Just have some fun and learn what units do n stuff.
When you're totally new don't worry about scouting too much. If I had to give really broad advice I'd say:
1. Focus on always keeping your nexus/command center/hatchery building workers. Keep production buildings having units in progress but don't queue up more than two units per building. Obviously zerg is a bit different since everything builds from the hatchery. 2. Don't get supply blocked (ie: be continuously building overlords/pylons/supply depots so that you can continue to produce units. But don't build them too early or it's wasted money that isn't doing anything.)
If you don't want to play the campaign, I suggest to just continue practicing vs AI. Like you mentioned earlier, keep playing vs a Terran AI with and keep practicing your build order. Once you can consistently beat the AI without using a cheese, that's a good step for you. I suggest not playing online yet unless is casual or Use Map Settings modes because everyone will just be better than you and it won't be fun for you, so just keep playing vs the AI until you can beat it consistently and then you can slowly transition to competitive 1v1s and eventually you will get decent at this game and you'll start beating people.
Congrats on picking up one of the hardest competitive games in existence. Don't get discouraged, it's difficulty makes it incredibly rewarding, and no one is good at first. It requires practice and a kind of discipline that lends itself to a particular kind of respectable gamer. It doesn't get easier, you just get better and make less mistakes. And everyone makes mistakes every game, pretty much. Finish the Day9 series, it's excellent. There's plenty of resources available after that. Have fun!
There's a trick you can use for practice: create a game in multiplayer (with password so nobody joins), add one computer, press ok to start and as soon as the countdown starts, remove the computer. Now when the game starts you'll get victory, but just press continue playing and you have the whole map to yourself with nobody bothering.
Then you can practice any build order you choose. This is like practicing tennis against a wall - learning the very basics. But this is a VERY important practice, way more important that playing vs opponent. Once you learn a good stable BO (build order) for every match-up, you should be able to be keep up with D rank players.
Once you get the BO down, then you can watch the replay and compare your timings with pro videos. Like, when should you have storm ready, when should you take 3rd base etc. Then see what went differently, where can you optimize. Then continue polishing the BOs
The one gateway core is not a good build vs Ai that just spams basic units, you need some ability to control your units and build units constantly for that.
If you just want to win vs ai, build a cannon defense on 2 base and produce a lot of any units.
I also suggest to play all campaigns 1st as you will learn different units and how to use them.
On April 20 2020 08:19 musixelect wrote: Hey guys,
So I've never really played a RTS before, and when I heard the genre like a month ago it really sparked my interest. I was originally going to choose SC2 as my first RTS game but while I was looking for guides I came across Day9, who supported BW so vehemently that I've changed my mind and decided to give it a shot. I watched the first 15 episodes of his series and even though I'm still struggling to choose my race I'm leaning towards Protoss.
I've so far only played against AI and I get absolutely crushed every time. I'm trying to apply the main build order I've come across at Liquipedia (One Gate Core Build is the name I think) but
1- I suck at keeping track of my units, e.g I forget I sent a drone out to scout, I sometimes forget to produce drones 2- My buildings sometimes block my own units, especially Dragoons 3- I don't know how to advance from building Gateways, I don't know how to use advanced units 4- I pick Terran for the AI because it's the first matchup Day9 talks about but the AI always beats me with a silly marine-medic build, besides I don't know how to properly "direct" my army. For example, I spam click to a marine and the dragoons start to shoot like 5 seconds later. I know I'm doing something wrong. 5- I generally don't know how to scout
I can go on forever, this game is so hard. So how were you at your first RTS game? How did you practice?
Edit: My post was empty for the first 5 minutes becaue I've accidentally clicked the submit button without writing anything.
I was absolutely terrible at RTS when I compete with veterans. When I first played BW (in 1998), I was a little boy and I got stomped by my brother and uncle. In my first season of playing Brood War many years later after getting a good internet connection, against people I don't know on ICCUP, I went 4-32, which is an experience shared by many people. I slowly improved after finding some friends who are at the same level as me, so we can learn the game together while providing a challenge each other, without having one person stomp the other and make things boring.
Therefore, aside from the many good advice already mentioned (I improved a lot from watching Day[9] too!) I highly recommend finding a friend who is also starting out, just like you, so that you can both have fun without being discouraged when you play against veterans.
On April 20 2020 10:03 Jonoman92 wrote: Give the campaign a try. It's good for learning the basics and should offer a decent difficulty (starts out easy, and grows more difficult). Don't worry about competitive play yet. Just have some fun and learn what units do n stuff.
When you're totally new don't worry about scouting too much. If I had to give really broad advice I'd say:
1. Focus on always keeping your nexus/command center/hatchery building workers. Keep production buildings having units in progress but don't queue up more than two units per building. Obviously zerg is a bit different since everything builds from the hatchery. 2. Don't get supply blocked (ie: be continuously building overlords/pylons/supply depots so that you can continue to produce units. But don't build them too early or it's wasted money that isn't doing anything.)
UMS games are also fun to play when ur beginning. Theres less pressure and it slowly lets u learn more about the units and buildings.
Good ones include lurker defense, tank defense, hydra defense, sunken defense, tower defense variations. Also the so called "special forces", "cat vs mouse", poker defense, random defense etc. All this good stuff lets you slowly learn the game without smacking you with a huge difficulty that the ranked game modes do.
EPT
