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[H] Skill gap from D+ to C- - Page 2

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
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ProoM
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Lithuania1741 Posts
September 23 2009 10:21 GMT
#21
I suggest you to slow down and concentrate on strategy and macro more.
IMBA - International Mountain Bicycling Association.
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
September 23 2009 10:30 GMT
#22
On September 23 2009 16:38 JMave wrote:
Hi guys. I've been loafing at D+ ever since I started getting into SC 2 years ago and I've been stuck there ever since. Apart from the occasional cheesy games that I play, I find myself being unable to surpass the D+ ranks.

My APM average is around 250, which I feel is sufficient to carry me through to at least a C rank(I doubt that I spam in my games).

I was wondering what is the skill gap between a D+ and a C- player. Proper mechanics and a higher level of game sense to scout all-ins and know what is coming is my guess but I've been at this for too long and I need some help.

I've just managed to drag myself out of D+ this season, and there isn't any real secret. Just basics.

1) Practiced builds. Pick one standardish build for each matchup and play it every time. You'll run away with a lead over players who don't execute theirs well.

2) Macro. D+ players are sloppy, and often the one that makes more stuff is the one that's going to win.

3) Safe play. Be being greedy, you're probably going to lose a lot of games, and the gains are pretty minimal at this level. Don't play reckless.

A rep would be helpful here.
Catch]22
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Sweden2683 Posts
September 23 2009 10:31 GMT
#23
Sounds more of an issue with strategies to me, while your mechanics might be good, there must be something you're doing wrong, I played Zerg for about a month and I had a brief guest appearance at C- last season...
JMave
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Singapore1806 Posts
September 23 2009 10:38 GMT
#24
Ok. I'll be going to play 5 games right now and I'll post a rep of each game and just to see what you guys think.
火心 Jealous. I always loved that feeling when I was young. Embrace it.
JMave
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Singapore1806 Posts
September 23 2009 10:38 GMT
#25
Okay well, my apm isn't exactly at 250 but it ranges from 200-250 most times. Just to clear things up.
火心 Jealous. I always loved that feeling when I was young. Embrace it.
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
September 23 2009 10:42 GMT
#26
On September 23 2009 18:29 Day[9] wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 23 2009 16:44 maybenexttime wrote:
Listen to saome Day[9] audios. Maybe they could help you.



gAhhahahhA best quote ever
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
[DUF]MethodMan
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Germany1716 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-23 10:59:54
September 23 2009 10:57 GMT
#27
On September 23 2009 19:07 lazz wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 23 2009 18:34 [DUF]MethodMan wrote:

btw:

On September 23 2009 17:15 lazz wrote:
like others have said, your apm doesn't matter. eapm is the better indicator, but it's not perfect. im assuming your race is toss, I'd say that the difference between a D+ and C- toss is about 90 eapm D+ to 110 eapm C-. that's just approximate though. for terran it's probably like 100 eapm to 120 eapm and zerg somewhere in the middle.


this is just so wrong. i can get with my 150 apm max and my 120 apm lazymode to C+ easily.
theres absolutely no correlation in between apm and skill or rank level. especially on the lower ranks you can win by pretty much everything. if its vastly higher apm than your opponent or more experience or whatever.)


learn to read please. i said eapm. effective actions per minute. apm without spamming and redundancy.


i just checked and my eapm is around 100-120. so by your logic i should be at C-. seriously, apm doesnt matter shit as long as youre a) protoss and b) not trying to get over b-.

edit: maybe the OP should switch to T because hes obviously a much more mechanically oriented player than strategically. learn 2 bos per matchup and how to execute. with 200-250apm it should carry you above D+ easily.
Shauni
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
4077 Posts
September 23 2009 11:13 GMT
#28
I don't know how the hell a D+ guy gets 250 apm because apm usually is related with experience. If you're not playing very flimsy 250 apm takes years to build up, that's why people use it as skill measurement. Of course it's wrong in a lot of cases, but if you're really that fast (while knowing what to do) you could just harass while macroing up to win every game at D+ level. But to me it sounds like you don't really know what to do (you built your apm up way too fast) and struggle because of lack of experience.
And to the people talking about good players lowering their apm on purpose to prove that it doesn't matter - It doesn't prove anything...
I'm taking whatever coverage I can get, because frankly, I'm busy working on this million dollar deal at my job. Early retirement is a good thing brotha man. - MessengerASL
Kyo Yuy
Profile Joined January 2009
United States1286 Posts
September 23 2009 11:20 GMT
#29
On September 23 2009 20:13 Shauni wrote:
I don't know how the hell a D+ guy gets 250 apm because apm usually is related with experience. If you're not playing very flimsy 250 apm takes years to build up, that's why people use it as skill measurement. Of course it's wrong in a lot of cases, but if you're really that fast (while knowing what to do) you could just harass while macroing up to win every game at D+ level. But to me it sounds like you don't really know what to do (you built your apm up way too fast) and struggle because of lack of experience.
And to the people talking about good players lowering their apm on purpose to prove that it doesn't matter - It doesn't prove anything...

I think it has to do with the fact that players want to get good really quickly, and while they can't improve mechanics, game sense, macro, or micro really quickly, they can get their APM really high in only a week or two.

Starcraft is a really difficult game, and everybody wants to get really good, really quickly. Nobody wants to take the time and effort to slowly learn to play the game through experience, so they hope that by increasing just their numbers to progamer level, they can therefore be as good as progamers at the game.

That's my two cents. D:
#1 KawaiiRice fan :D
JMave
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Singapore1806 Posts
September 23 2009 11:20 GMT
#30
Okay here are 2 reps then I totally get owned in
http://repdepot.net/download.php?type=rep&id=21477&name=FoodlePenguin vs JJ_STL.rep

And

http://repdepot.net/download.php?type=rep&id=21476&name=courven vs FoodlePenguin.rep

I really think that I should have won this one. I mean he was so slip short. Both my DTs got over 60+ added kills of drones and zerglings.. I guess I'm really bad.
火心 Jealous. I always loved that feeling when I was young. Embrace it.
lazz
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Australia3119 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-23 11:41:04
September 23 2009 11:23 GMT
#31
On September 23 2009 19:57 [DUF]MethodMan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 23 2009 19:07 lazz wrote:
On September 23 2009 18:34 [DUF]MethodMan wrote:

btw:

On September 23 2009 17:15 lazz wrote:
like others have said, your apm doesn't matter. eapm is the better indicator, but it's not perfect. im assuming your race is toss, I'd say that the difference between a D+ and C- toss is about 90 eapm D+ to 110 eapm C-. that's just approximate though. for terran it's probably like 100 eapm to 120 eapm and zerg somewhere in the middle.


this is just so wrong. i can get with my 150 apm max and my 120 apm lazymode to C+ easily.
theres absolutely no correlation in between apm and skill or rank level. especially on the lower ranks you can win by pretty much everything. if its vastly higher apm than your opponent or more experience or whatever.)


learn to read please. i said eapm. effective actions per minute. apm without spamming and redundancy.


i just checked and my eapm is around 100-120. so by your logic i should be at C-. seriously, apm doesnt matter shit as long as youre a) protoss and b) not trying to get over b-.

edit: maybe the OP should switch to T because hes obviously a much more mechanically oriented player than strategically. learn 2 bos per matchup and how to execute. with 200-250apm it should carry you above D+ easily.


if you get 120 eapm as toss there's no doubt in my mind you'll be able to pump out a C-


edit:

On September 23 2009 20:20 JMave wrote:
Okay here are 2 reps then I totally get owned in
http://repdepot.net/download.php?type=rep&id=21477&name=FoodlePenguin vs JJ_STL.rep

And

http://repdepot.net/download.php?type=rep&id=21476&name=courven vs FoodlePenguin.rep

I really think that I should have won this one. I mean he was so slip short. Both my DTs got over 60+ added kills of drones and zerglings.. I guess I'm really bad.


i watched the second one. that was painful. you canceled not only 1 cannon, but a gateway as well. those 100 minerals are critical in the first few minutes to get your nexus up.

imo you should go back to single player and learn your build order..

just watched the PvP as well. first off your build order, again, was really sloppy. you went 2 gate, which happened to be a good thing cos your opponent ended up going 3 gate all-in, however your gas was way way too fucking early. you can't tech, pump probes and pump 2 gates that early in the game all at the same time. if youre going 2 gate before core, delay your gas, instead put it up about 20 seconds before you put up your core. and if you want to play standard pvp go 1 gate zealot before core, it's over all a much safer build than 2 gate before core.

like i said you're making really basic mistakes, you should get your hands on a few pro replays of each protoss match up and basically just carbon copy a pro build order in single player until you get it right. then go back to iccup and let you rown style develop after that. GL man
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
September 23 2009 11:31 GMT
#32
Watching the second game:

You have 1000 minerals and 500 gas before 8 minutes. Either throw down a bunch of gates while using gas on templar, or try to take an expasion.

20 minutes in, and you're still on 2 gas against 4. You've floated a lot of minerals that could have been poured into expo/cannons, gates, mass zeals. The only reason the game lasted this long is Zerg had over 5k mins and 2k gas sitting in the bank.

By the end, you haven't gotten off 2 bases and Zerg has 6. Poor macro killed you that game.
zatic
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Zurich15366 Posts
September 23 2009 11:42 GMT
#33
Moved to Strategy. Please edit in replays to your original post.

On September 23 2009 20:31 Dfgj wrote:
The only reason the game lasted this long is Zerg had over 5k mins and 2k gas sitting in the bank.

By the end, you haven't gotten off 2 bases and Zerg has 6. Poor macro killed you that game.
ModeratorI know Teamliquid is known as a massive building
JMave
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Singapore1806 Posts
September 23 2009 12:03 GMT
#34
Hi again. I have uploaded the third game. This is a game where I won. It was PvP. I think my opponent knew nuts about PvP. No offense but he went for a really early second gate right before his core, making me think it was a 2 gate zeal attack when it wasn't. I teched up more and I won that game.

If you were wondering why I'm uploading games that I win, its because I'm just trying to show some consistent results to determine what I lack in game, whether mechanical or if my actions are actually spam.
火心 Jealous. I always loved that feeling when I was young. Embrace it.
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-23 12:17:47
September 23 2009 12:13 GMT
#35
Third game thoughts:

You cut probes pretty early. Make your pylons earlier and keep probe/goon production up.

Your build isn't very good. You made an extremely early robo, but by 7~ minutes you had 1 reaver/shuttle and about 7 goons, with under 60 supply. You can have 10g/2z and 2 reavers in a shuttle pushing out at 8 minutes. Given that you weren't really maximizing 2 gates, a third was unnecessary.

Overall: refine your BO and macro as much as possible.
JMave
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Singapore1806 Posts
September 23 2009 12:37 GMT
#36
On September 23 2009 21:13 Dfgj wrote:
Third game thoughts:

You cut probes pretty early. Make your pylons earlier and keep probe/goon production up.

Your build isn't very good. You made an extremely early robo, but by 7~ minutes you had 1 reaver/shuttle and about 7 goons, with under 60 supply. You can have 10g/2z and 2 reavers in a shuttle pushing out at 8 minutes. Given that you weren't really maximizing 2 gates, a third was unnecessary.

Overall: refine your BO and macro as much as possible.


I adapted this build from Bisu in the IEF tournament game 3. I always saw him go this build so I followed him. Isn't the build correct? Or am I wrong?
火心 Jealous. I always loved that feeling when I was young. Embrace it.
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
September 23 2009 12:51 GMT
#37
On September 23 2009 21:37 JMave wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 23 2009 21:13 Dfgj wrote:
Third game thoughts:

You cut probes pretty early. Make your pylons earlier and keep probe/goon production up.

Your build isn't very good. You made an extremely early robo, but by 7~ minutes you had 1 reaver/shuttle and about 7 goons, with under 60 supply. You can have 10g/2z and 2 reavers in a shuttle pushing out at 8 minutes. Given that you weren't really maximizing 2 gates, a third was unnecessary.

Overall: refine your BO and macro as much as possible.


I adapted this build from Bisu in the IEF tournament game 3. I always saw him go this build so I followed him. Isn't the build correct? Or am I wrong?

I could be wrong, but it seemed you had less units than you could have had.

koreasilver
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
9109 Posts
September 23 2009 13:46 GMT
#38
Chill said something like this last night on his stream before he logged off.

"Lower level players focus too much on finesse when the most important thing into becoming a better player is learning how to just make a lot of shit."
Tosu
Profile Joined June 2008
Bulgaria9 Posts
September 23 2009 14:05 GMT
#39
Just learn some basic bo's for the 3 mu's, and practice them only. That should be enough to get u to C
jhNz
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Germany2762 Posts
September 23 2009 14:08 GMT
#40
On September 23 2009 21:37 JMave wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 23 2009 21:13 Dfgj wrote:
Third game thoughts:

You cut probes pretty early. Make your pylons earlier and keep probe/goon production up.

Your build isn't very good. You made an extremely early robo, but by 7~ minutes you had 1 reaver/shuttle and about 7 goons, with under 60 supply. You can have 10g/2z and 2 reavers in a shuttle pushing out at 8 minutes. Given that you weren't really maximizing 2 gates, a third was unnecessary.

Overall: refine your BO and macro as much as possible.


I adapted this build from Bisu in the IEF tournament game 3. I always saw him go this build so I followed him. Isn't the build correct? Or am I wrong?


in my opinion copying build orders from pros is the wrong way to become any better. it's like learning a song by heart to play it on the piano without knowing the instrument. you can learn which keys you have to push in a which order that the you hear the song. the song might sound good but as soon someone comes over and says "hey play a different song" you're screwed. because you learned to play the song and not to play the instrument. start learning the instrument instead. this applies to broodwar as well. if you only copy a bo you might snatch some wins with it. but as soon as something goes a different way than the bo is useful for, you lose.

i haven't watched the rep though. this is just a reply to this quote.
http://twitter.com/jhNz
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