How to get better?

On October 23 2004 14:12 Orome wrote:
Plz read this, I spent a lot of time writing it

The two main things in SC are theory and execution. You have to practice each one individually.

For theory:

Analyze the replays where you lost, analyze what you did wrong, where the point was where you started to lose and how that point came to be.

If you are unsure, what you should do against a certain strat, watch progamer reps and look, what they do. BUT DON'T JUST COPY, WHAT THEY DID, UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DID IT, AND MAKE CONCLUSIONS.

When you are thinking about something, it can help alot, if you talk to other players. They might give you new ideas, which you hadn't thought about yet.

Try to make generalisations about MUs. Don't just say I go reaver because it can fuck up Terrans eco and that's good. Say: TvP is all about not letting Terran push you to death and expo as much as you can, without losing the expos, while trying to get enough eco for carriers, which will give you an advantage. Therefore, I go reaver, because if it succeeds, the terran will be set behind with economy and have to play a safer game, meaning I can expand more safely and turtle easier to Carriers and kill him.
Of course this isn't true everytime, you don't go for Carriers every time in TvP, but it's good to make some sort of generalisation, which will make a goal. For TvP you can also have some generalisation like P has to overmacro Terran.

Try to get some theory first, so you'd actually know what you have to do, but can't do it because your execution sux. ->

For execution:

Play alot. Practicing is the first step to becoming better. It is so insanely important, if you don't practice enough, you won't get good.

Don't play with players that are worse than you. If a player is worse than you, it means you can kill him, with the skills you have, meaning you don't have to get new skills, meaning you won't get better. Ideally, your practice partners will be better than you, but so you still have a chance (PGTour's very good for that).

If you want to practice BOs do it in single player, practice them so long that in the end, you don't have to think of what to do anymore in 1 fac exp for example, but do it naturally. THIS WILL NOT MAKE YOUR BO GOOD, BECAUSE YOU WON'T HAVE GOOD TIMING OR ANYTHING. But it's a good start, so you have some basis.

Once you really know some BOs, play Multi Players and practice them. Here is, where the theory also comes into play, you have to know, when to use which BO. I wouldn't practice one BO 100 times in Multi Player single player's for that I'd say. In Multi Player you also have to learn to scout correctly and make the correct conclusions -> good counter BO.

Now, both theory and execution come together and you know some of both, know, you just have to practice, practice, practice. gl

If you follow these steps, you should become a good player in quite a short time I think

On November 15 2004 12:31 iNCuBuS_ wrote:
Thats all I have to do to get better. Somehow I doubt that :/

On November 15 2004 14:13 ahk-gosu wrote:
play vs a person thats better than you
lose to him ( not on purpose)
watch the rep
see what you did wrong
adjust
win

On November 15 2004 12:33 Orome wrote:


That's a fucking lot to do, even if it doesn't look like it. And of course it's only the approach to how you should try to improve. The most important thing is still practice.

On November 15 2004 20:13 Oxygen wrote:
I use this technique to improve:

Play games with people better than you, that beat you consistently 70+% of the time (7/10 games), but that you can still beat (3/10 games).

Now, play a few games with each of them while they're willing. Save at important parts of the game. I.E. before you attack. After you attack. After you pull off good micro. After you expand, before you expand, before/after you've made your tech choice. If all else fails, every 2 minutes.

Scouting doesn't matter. Scout every minute to know what your opponent is up to. So, a surprise attack shouldn't work all that well. If you lose, start back from the place you THINK is the turn of the game (you should be winning the game the entire time. If not, go back and start again. Have your friends give you some space. If they are winning because of X strategy or Y moves, go back and have them make X strategy or Y moves again, and counter differently. See what works and what doesn't, first hand).

This works for me. I've tried it only a few times but the few times it has helped me IMMENSELY. 20 games like this and you are 10 x better.

Good luck.

On November 16 2004 12:19 Casper... wrote:
if i suck at golf, do i try to play like tiger woods?
no
i try to play how my instructor teaches
step by step
incremental improvement

On November 15 2004 21:52 NeverTheEndlessWiz wrote:
1-Macro
2-Builds
3-Strategy
4-Micro

y?

if you can't macro well at all, you won't be able to even do the build correctly.

if you can't even do the build at all, you won't be able to start to understand the strategy of the build

if you don't understand the strategy, you won't know what to and how to micro

The Wiz has spoken =P

On November 18 2004 17:04 Demi wrote:
is mult-accounting on tlnet legal?