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 wrong lurkers are still good before vessels come out.. hold lurkers are great too.. opening 3hatch muta and directly researching lurkers before speed and range is very effective.

G3nXsiS

United States656 Posts

July 31 2009 12:32 GMT

#63

Definitely Mechanics. If you have the mechanics any strategy is possible for you. However in order to have good mechanics you need to know what you are doing first. In other words you need to go in with a gameplan.

Batibot

Philippines348 Posts

July 31 2009 14:53 GMT

#64

@Stimpacked: I said you learned that the GOOD counter to mech is lurker which means that you BELIEVE that your army should be composed mainly of lurkers which we know sucks against tanks/mech.

On July 31 2009 21:32 G3nXsiS wrote:
Definitely Mechanics. If you have the mechanics any strategy is possible for you. However in order to have good mechanics you need to know what you are doing first. In other words you need to go in with a gameplan.

See, you need to focus on strategy first.

qaswedfr25

United States212 Posts

July 31 2009 15:55 GMT

#65

If you're D, just memorize one good build order very well and improve your mechanics. Don't bother with fancy shit, you'll learn the ins and outs of your build with each successive game and learn to adapt better to cheeses and whatnot with that one build.

Liquipedia is helpful in this regard.

G3nXsiS

United States656 Posts

July 31 2009 16:40 GMT

#66

On July 31 2009 23:53 Batibot323 wrote:
@Stimpacked: I said you learned that the GOOD counter to mech is lurker which means that you BELIEVE that your army should be composed mainly of lurkers which we know sucks against tanks/mech.

Show nested quote +

See, you need to focus on strategy first.

Strategy and gameplan is different. Maybe I didn't phrase it right but when I talk about gameplan, Im talking about things like building placement and hotkeys.

Batibot

Philippines348 Posts

August 01 2009 02:30 GMT

#67

On August 01 2009 01:40 G3nXsiS wrote:

Show nested quote +

Strategy and gameplan is different. Maybe I didn't phrase it right but when I talk about gameplan, Im talking about things like building placement and hotkeys.

So, you need to know how to place your buildings and which units/buildings go to which hotkeys? But, you don't know what to make and what to build?

When I think of gameplan, I think of what would your late-game plan is and what things would you do in early-game to accomplish it. ZvT, you want to run on 4~5 bases and get good econ and nice macro to finish off your T opponent. Now, your "final" army will depend on what your opponent's army or opening is. If you see him, going bio, you want ultraling. If he went mech, you want hydralurk. Before, you get to having 4~5 bases. You need to learn timing windows and when you can get map control to expo.

P.S.: Let's say there's only strategy and mechanics, where would you classify gameplan based on your statement?

Strategy and gameplan is different. Maybe I didn't phrase it right but when I talk about gameplan, Im talking about things like building placement and hotkeys.

icystorage

Jollibee19347 Posts

August 01 2009 04:39 GMT

#68

mechanics or basics imo, without them, computers(AI) would own you

basics are the fundamentals, you need to master them first. knowing the basics would get you out of D level imo

Exteray

United States1094 Posts

August 01 2009 05:30 GMT

#69

It really depends on which one you're weaker on ;-)

for example i have pretty good control + micro/macro and i have higher apm than most D/D+..
yet i can't break D+ because i am very lacking in strategy

Probe.

United States877 Posts

August 01 2009 06:01 GMT

#70

Definately mechanics first unless your a brilliant strategist and you know how to play with peoples minds.

LxRogue

United States1415 Posts

August 01 2009 06:16 GMT

#71

Mechanics and strategy are pretty vague terms, but here's how i like to think about practicing.

You have to start somewhere, and i think some kind of strategy, game plan, or build order needs to come first. It can be specific or general, but you need some goal for the flow of the game, or else you'll never achieve it.

Say you are playing ZvT, and you really want to work on your micro. What micro? At what point in the game? Where on the map? Deciding things like this will help you improve so much. Say you want to work on lurker/ling micro, and you want to attack the terran in the mid-game before his push comes at his natural expansion.

So you try to do it, multiple times. It's going to fail sometimes, maybe all of the time at first, but keep trying it. Each time you do it, you recognize something to do differently. Maybe you need more zerglings. Maybe you need an extra hatchery, or maybe your upgrade timing is bad. Maybe you'll get a better feel for the simple macro.

This method of practicing is what got me started playing competitively. You can take builds that are deemed unconventional or weak, and make them twice as powerful just by practicing the timing and mechanics of each build.

ChaseR

Norway1004 Posts

August 01 2009 06:32 GMT

#72

Why not both? Why does it have to be one or the other? Should I focus on training harder or eating smarter? Both in conjunction will give better results, same for mechanics and strategy together they complement each other.

Batibot

Philippines348 Posts

August 01 2009 09:08 GMT

#73

The OP is asking on what he needs to focus on MORE.

pyrogenetix

China5094 Posts

August 01 2009 10:07 GMT

#74

imo both

no seriously because having only mechanics can get you only that far in sc. if you dont have the strats down in your mind then you still wont be playing your potential.

however, dont focus too much on mechanics, just good enough that you are able to play. obviously there are strats that require high apm like bisu build and sair reaver etc that require you to multitask a lot and keep units alive.

just work on both.