• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:45
CEST 14:45
KST 21:45
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out6RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-2212Weekly Cups (July 27-Aug 2): SHIN's big week0SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-69SC4ALL II announced - $10,000 prize pool, Dec 5-64
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out SC4ALL: II Talent Announcement! SC4ALL II: StarCraft 2 Player Announcement 5/8 Protoss AoE skill expression August World Ranking: Clem climbs to #2
Tourneys
2026 KungFu Cup Announcement PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 538 Media Blackout The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 537 Hostile Territory Mutation # 536 Railroad Switch
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion BW General Discussion Michaelbg appreciation thread How FlaSh Nearly Forfeited MSL Finals being late BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 2v2v2v2 Tournament Escore Tournament - Season 3
Strategy
Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Fighting Spirit mining rates Any training maps people recommend? Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread EVE Corporation Diablo 2 thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank TL Mafia Community Thread NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread The Letting Off Steam Thread Iain M Banks Says He Has Cancer And Months To Live Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Are High-Level Gamers more A…
TrAiDoS
Cathedral Of CS And NY pizza a…
FuDDx
Please support my new stand…
Peanutsc
Hello guys!
LIN1s
ASL S22 English Commentary…
namkraft
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9363 users

[Q] Mechanics or Strategy First? - Page 3

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
AttackZerg
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
United States7584 Posts
July 26 2009 08:37 GMT
#41
I think playing very low eco strategys is a great way to first start playing and building skill.

2 hat hydra-3hathydra-2hat muta-3hat ling all in 5 pool into macro ect .... then you learn micro mechanics and are forced to execute them well on a mechanical level for the strategys to even have a chance of paying off.

Macro mechanics are more important then any strategy at this phase of broodwar imo.
Batibot
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Philippines348 Posts
July 26 2009 09:10 GMT
#42
It's better to play standard because you only need to study one build though it's a more complex build than 5pool or 2 hat hydra at least, you get to have a good shot even your opponent is good in defending low-econ play. + There's a difference between low-econ play and all-in. Imo, 2 hat hydra is all-in and 5pool too. Because, you have to rely on your opponent not knowing what you're doing. And it's hard to deal enough damage if your opponent already scouted. Going standard involves micro/multitasking too. You have to keep your scout alive, try to scout for proxies while killing your opponent's scout.
Jaedong has to be a Bonjwa. Tired of of rooting for July.
Saikyun
Profile Joined July 2009
Sweden20 Posts
July 26 2009 12:31 GMT
#43
I think both are rather important. Without mechanics, you're screwed, since you lose whatever you do, but if you don't know how to respond to different things (which can be quite a lot of different things) you're also screwed. I think it's a good idea to know why you lost a game though. If you don't, try to figure it out, and then try not losing that way again.
Batibot
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Philippines348 Posts
July 26 2009 12:45 GMT
#44
The point here is that if you're starting to play Starcraft, you should focus on strategy, which entails: watching vods of pros and reading guides and whatnot. You have to know what you're doing first before you practice doing it. You have to learn the basics of addition first before you try practicing your addition skills. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE GAME FIRST BEFORE TRYING TO MASTER IT.
Jaedong has to be a Bonjwa. Tired of of rooting for July.
Metallingus
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Philippines468 Posts
July 26 2009 14:44 GMT
#45
On July 26 2009 21:45 Batibot323 wrote:
The point here is that if you're starting to play Starcraft, you should focus on strategy, which entails: watching vods of pros and reading guides and whatnot. You have to know what you're doing first before you practice doing it. You have to learn the basics of addition first before you try practicing your addition skills. YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE GAME FIRST BEFORE TRYING TO MASTER IT.


This, end of discussion. Can't shoot that fadeaway if you can't make a jumpshot in the first place. Strategy comes with what you can and cannot do based on mechanics. No use flanking an M&M blob if your micro is crap or you don't have the units to do it in the first place because of bad macro.
Overcome all. Especially plateaus.
csfield
Profile Joined October 2008
United States206 Posts
July 27 2009 00:56 GMT
#46
You don't have to choose between working on mechanics or strategy. That's a false dichotomy. Why argue about whether your heart or lungs are more important? You need both.

The best way to improve is to play the same solid BO over and over.

Your skill in handling your units will improve along with your understanding on how to adapt to what your opponent does.
I know that I have never once considered how my TV viewing habits impact the progression of civilization. --Bibbit
doubleupgradeobbies!
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Australia1353 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-27 02:35:48
July 27 2009 02:25 GMT
#47
If your already at D/D+ then I assume you have a baseline of mechanics and strategic knowledge to work with.

In which case play a few games until you have a few losses. Then analyse the primary reason for those losses and determine whether strategic or mechanical failure is leading to more losses. Work on your weak point until they other one is causing more of your losses and switch over etc.

Seems pretty obvious to me. Everyone is going to have different weaknesses so there is no blanket answer or which one is more useful as you obviously need both of them. Switching periodically between both would insure you mature into a well rounded player. Being weak in either department is going to hold you back significantly.

If you can't determine which is holding you back more, just work on strategy, since you said you'll be doing it via mass gaming, in which case your mechanics should improve anyway. Once you start losing lots of games primarily due to not being able to execute strategies then you can switch over.
MSL, 2003-2011, RIP. OSL, 2000-2012, RIP. Proleague, 2003-2012, RIP. And then there was none... Even good things must come to an end.
Batibot
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Philippines348 Posts
July 27 2009 04:43 GMT
#48
On July 27 2009 09:56 csfield wrote:
You don't have to choose between working on mechanics or strategy. That's a false dichotomy. Why argue about whether your heart or lungs are more important? You need both.

The best way to improve is to play the same solid BO over and over.

Your skill in handling your units will improve along with your understanding on how to adapt to what your opponent does.

You can choose on what to focus on first. If you choose, strategy first: you read guides, watch vods, then play. If you choose mechanics first, you do micro maps, you play and play.

What I want to convey to you is that if you don't know what you're doing, don't know what to build, which unit counters which, you should focus on strategy first. You read guides first (focus on strategy first) and apply it to your game then, you play and play and practice in micro maps (mechanics). That way, you can have the BASE knowledge of the game, you know why you do this. You know the art of war, flanking, positional advantage, strategical advantage, tactical advantage etc. You should read this. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=60601 especially this.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=36778
Jaedong has to be a Bonjwa. Tired of of rooting for July.
Foucault
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Sweden2826 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-30 15:25:21
July 30 2009 15:24 GMT
#49
On July 26 2009 02:10 JoMal wrote:
When your mechanics are good, you can execute any strategy.


THIS.

Many foreigners are totally inadequate when it comes to mechanics, which results in them getting dominated by more mechanically sound koreans.


For example, learn how to fucking build units while you're attacking. Don't come back after the fight to find 2k minerals that you could have used while fighting.
I know that deep inside of you there's a humongous set of testicles just waiting to pop out. Let 'em pop bro. //////////////////// AKA JensOfSweden // Lee Yoon Yeol forever.
azndsh
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
United States4447 Posts
July 30 2009 15:34 GMT
#50
fastest way to improve is mechanics first... strategy can be learned later, but mechanics is just lots and lots of practice
nttea
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Sweden4353 Posts
July 30 2009 16:28 GMT
#51
easy! first learn basic strategy, but don't delve very far into it. Then learn basic>advanced mechanics. This is if you want to enjoy a reasonably fast skill improvement curve. If you want to become the best you can possibly be at a point in the future but don't want to have much fun on the way you should focus purely on the mechanics.
wok
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States504 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-30 22:14:48
July 30 2009 18:24 GMT
#52
I have a ridiculously high apm (relative to my win rate)when I'm paying attention, and in such cases, I can safely say my mechanics are passable. I still lose 80% of my games though.
I'll race you to defeatism... you win.
Kyadytim
Profile Joined March 2009
United States886 Posts
July 30 2009 18:51 GMT
#53
Mechanics first. If you focus on strategy first, you'll practice those strategies with wrong mechanics and build wrong habits, which you then need to break to improve your mechanics.
Bad strategic decisions made in a game while learning mechanics will be directly punished in that game, so they're less likely to become habits.

Additionally, it's far easier to find help on improving strategy than on improving mechanics, because other people can look directly at your strategy.
DarkSaieden
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
South Africa254 Posts
July 31 2009 07:41 GMT
#54
first memorize the bo against comp on and learn the standard flows of common variatons. then you can work on mechanics and pick up the nuances with experience
DarkSaieden
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
South Africa254 Posts
July 31 2009 07:43 GMT
#55
first memorize the bo against comp on and learn the standard flows of common variatons. then you can work on mechanics and pick up the nuances with experience
Stimpacked
Profile Joined June 2008
Philippines368 Posts
July 31 2009 08:27 GMT
#56
choose p, build a lot of gateways and 1a2a3a4a5a.. thats it.
live and let live...
FirstBorn
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
Romania3955 Posts
July 31 2009 09:32 GMT
#57
If you're a terran user then you should bassically choose 1-2 build orders for each much practice your mechanics a lot. Once you're mechanincs are solid you will be able to execute crazy shit and improvise better.

Same applies to the other races, but to a lesser extent.
SonuvBob: Yes, the majority of TL is college-aged, and thus clearly stupid.
ReCharge
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Philippines505 Posts
July 31 2009 10:30 GMT
#58
On July 26 2009 02:14 trickser wrote:
I think you should focus on mechanics. On D/D+ Level one solid build with good mechanics can beat almoast anything that is executed with bad mechanics.

So for example for zvp you can play
9overpool speed into 3hatch scourge into 5 hatch hyds, and just practise getting the timing right, not having larva overflow, not missing overloards and microing big amounts of hydras.
Since this build is really robust and gives you alot of map control and gets scouting done easily you dont have to worry about strategy too much.

Same for zvt and zvz. Choose a very solid buildorder and just practise your micro, macro, timing and multitasking.


As long as the build doesn't involve cheese .
David Kim for Bonjwa!
Batibot
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Philippines348 Posts
July 31 2009 10:36 GMT
#59
On July 31 2009 03:51 Kyadytim wrote:
Mechanics first. If you focus on strategy first, you'll practice those strategies with wrong mechanics and build wrong habits, which you then need to break to improve your mechanics.
Bad strategic decisions made in a game while learning mechanics will be directly punished in that game, so they're less likely to become habits.

Additionally, it's far easier to find help on improving strategy than on improving mechanics, because other people can look directly at your strategy.

No, you're wrong. Like what others said, you practice, practice, practice to get your mechanics right. If you learned how to do the things the wrong way, you're gonna suck hard.

Let's say: You learned that Lurkers are a good counter to mech T. You always go Lurks on a mech T. You practiced it over and over again that you know the best way to micro them against mech. But, it's still wrong, you'd still lose to mech. If you KNOW (strategy) what you're doing and why you're doing it the right way. Battling mech with a hydramuta army, you get used to it. You always now use hydramuta against mech and therefore, you get adept at microing a hydra muta army while you can still macro. In SC, you can't just rely on only ONE bread-and-butter build. There's no such thing as that one solves-all build. Yes, you can master the 12 hatch opening. But, you have to deviate to get to your late-game depending on what your opponent is doing. You can't have ONE build order that still guides you to late-games because you have to ADAPT.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're missing the point. As I see it, first years of SC/progaming: They're developing strategies. Now, it seems like mechanics is so important because, that's what separates the korean pros vs foreigner pros. But, we're not foreigner pros. We haven't really gone in-depth on the strategic part of SC. An extreme situation would be something like this. You learned as a child to walk with your arms. Yeah, it's a nice feat but, our legs are much stronger than our arms and should be used for walking because it's better used for walking than arms. You don't want to learn walking with your feet when you're already about 6 years old. You have to walk with your feet the first time you learned to walk because it's the right way.
Jaedong has to be a Bonjwa. Tired of of rooting for July.
Bifur
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Russian Federation1208 Posts
July 31 2009 11:20 GMT
#60
Should you focus on your left hand or on your right hand?
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Kung Fu Cup
11:00
2026 Week 19
IntoTheiNu 1448
WardiTV456
RotterdaM413
SteadfastSC79
LiquipediaDiscussion
Replay Cast
09:00
KungFu Cup 2026 Week 18
CranKy Ducklings12
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 413
Lowko336
TKL 165
Rex 102
SteadfastSC 79
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 51896
Shuttle 3532
Bisu 858
Mini 812
firebathero 654
Soulkey 428
Soma 408
Rush 323
Light 249
Stork 234
[ Show more ]
Larva 187
Last 165
Free 157
Snow 155
Killer 143
Barracks 108
ZerO 99
Hyun 92
hero 90
sorry 71
PianO 68
Sharp 68
ToSsGirL 43
Sexy 37
Hm[arnc] 32
Terrorterran 29
JYJ 27
sSak 27
soO 27
Shine 26
yabsab 19
JulyZerg 17
zelot 8
Icarus 5
Dota 2
Dendi2334
Fuzer 146
Counter-Strike
fl0m4887
olofmeister1098
byalli438
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King130
Other Games
B2W.Neo576
crisheroes261
hiko244
DeMusliM212
ToD136
Sick129
Liquid`LucifroN104
QueenE59
ZerO(Twitch)6
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 1463
Other Games
BasetradeTV49
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 10
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP6
• Hinosc 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1232
• TFBlade347
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
11h 15m
The PondCast
21h 15m
PiG Sty Festival
23h 15m
Serral vs Lambo
SHIN vs Rogue
OSC
1d
Replay Cast
1d 11h
Escore
1d 21h
PiG Sty Festival
1d 23h
ByuN vs HeRoMaRinE
ShoWTimE vs Zoun
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
The PiG Daily
2 days
herO vs Krystianer
Solar vs Cure
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
PiG Sty Festival
3 days
Maru vs Shameless
Reynor vs TriGGeR
PiG Sty Festival
3 days
OSC
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Rush vs Hm
Bisu vs Shuttle
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
The Patches Monday
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Sharp vs Shinee
Action vs Shine
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
BeSt vs Paralyze
Jaedong vs Speed
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-08-11
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
Acropolis #5
RSL Revival: Season 6
Esports World Cup 2026
Esports World Cup 2026: LCQ
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W7
CSLAN 4
ASL Season 22
Escore Tournament S3: W8
Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Acropolis #5 - GSA
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1
META DYMY #4
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Thunderpick World Champ.
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.