EPTOn May 08 2010 20:34 Duelist wrote:
As a fomer top Age of Empires player and then Urban Terror i can tell you the best thing you can do to improve is to think for yourself. Watching replays is good if you're too dumb and can't figure out a good strategy by yourself, but i hope thats not the case because at least you seem smart enough to ask for help.
If you know math, you can easily calculate several perfect strategies for early game, with perfect economy based on resources/min, and the cost of units and buildings. Also think big, think of the overall strategy of the game, not just the build order. Adapting to different situations of the game should also become second nature to you, and that'll come with thinking and experience. If you lost a game, go watch your replay, and think what you could have done at the moment you lost. If you can't figure it out, maybe the error was made before that moment. So don't go watch how a pro would do it. Watch yourself, and THINK how you could have done it. Logic is the same everywhere, and being a progamer or a newbie won't change it. Use your brain. Don't be afraid to sit quietly for an hour and study what you can do aggainst x, different kinds of strategies and adaptations to what the oponent is doing/did.
Also use all the game has to offer, hotkeys, all the little tricks, etc. Every little thing helps. Finding some mates with equal mentality like you and with whom you can have fun in the game will help tons too. You'll help and motivate each other. Don't underestimate this
If you watch pros replays watch them faster than usual, so you get the global idea of the strategy. Because many times his specific actions are related to that global strategy, and by watching it slowly you might wrongly attribute certain action to something else. Don't get too much stopped on the details of what he is doing, at least untill you have a very good knowledge of the game. Most times something happens on purpose but some it's just random, others are mistakes, and until you don't have that game knowledge it'll be hard to be able to distinguish between those. I don't like when people start analyzing pros replays saying "why did he do x, why such angle, why at y time". Well go play yourself and study your replays getting a better game knowledge and you'll probably end up doing like him or better, have some confidence in yourself
Still watching other ppl's replays is useful for the reasons mentioned above and to help you think out of the box. And if there are games with commentary like it seems day 9 does a good job, that can definitely speed up the process of learning.
Anyway, if you're really comited to being best of the best you should know some math, at least for these begining moments, where strategies are still flourishing. Make yourself good strategies. Many pros just pratice over and over until repetition tells them what build order seems best. By doing some calculus you'll know the perfect build orders, even pros will have to copy it from you. I know because i've been copied and seen some of my strategies become mainstream. lol
And last but not least, practice. After all the thinking, go put your new strategies to the test, go lose more games so you can improve even more - even the ones you win, what you could've done to make that win a stronger one. Make micro intensive games, where you focus almost only on micro, then macro intensive games, this will push you to new limits on each of these, so you'll get to know things which weren't apparent at lower levels of skill. Same for practicing in just one map. Later when you change to other maps, many times you'll be able to use the indepth knowledge you gained from playing the other to exaustion and apply it to the new one. Also by playing just one map you'll have one less thing to worry about, and will be able to focus on fewer things at each time, which for learning is definitely helpful.
So in conclusion, know the game, which units counter what, the income of gatherers/min, how many you need for specific units, buildings, etc etc, so that these infos become second nature to you, get with (a) friend(s) to share, have fun, concentrate on few things at each time, and finally think for yourself. You can get better like this much faster than just mindlessly practicing and watching pros replays.
Good luck
As a fomer top Age of Empires player and then Urban Terror i can tell you the best thing you can do to improve is to think for yourself. Watching replays is good if you're too dumb and can't figure out a good strategy by yourself, but i hope thats not the case because at least you seem smart enough to ask for help.
If you know math, you can easily calculate several perfect strategies for early game, with perfect economy based on resources/min, and the cost of units and buildings. Also think big, think of the overall strategy of the game, not just the build order. Adapting to different situations of the game should also become second nature to you, and that'll come with thinking and experience. If you lost a game, go watch your replay, and think what you could have done at the moment you lost. If you can't figure it out, maybe the error was made before that moment. So don't go watch how a pro would do it. Watch yourself, and THINK how you could have done it. Logic is the same everywhere, and being a progamer or a newbie won't change it. Use your brain. Don't be afraid to sit quietly for an hour and study what you can do aggainst x, different kinds of strategies and adaptations to what the oponent is doing/did.
Also use all the game has to offer, hotkeys, all the little tricks, etc. Every little thing helps. Finding some mates with equal mentality like you and with whom you can have fun in the game will help tons too. You'll help and motivate each other. Don't underestimate this
If you watch pros replays watch them faster than usual, so you get the global idea of the strategy. Because many times his specific actions are related to that global strategy, and by watching it slowly you might wrongly attribute certain action to something else. Don't get too much stopped on the details of what he is doing, at least untill you have a very good knowledge of the game. Most times something happens on purpose but some it's just random, others are mistakes, and until you don't have that game knowledge it'll be hard to be able to distinguish between those. I don't like when people start analyzing pros replays saying "why did he do x, why such angle, why at y time". Well go play yourself and study your replays getting a better game knowledge and you'll probably end up doing like him or better, have some confidence in yourself
Still watching other ppl's replays is useful for the reasons mentioned above and to help you think out of the box. And if there are games with commentary like it seems day 9 does a good job, that can definitely speed up the process of learning.Anyway, if you're really comited to being best of the best you should know some math, at least for these begining moments, where strategies are still flourishing. Make yourself good strategies. Many pros just pratice over and over until repetition tells them what build order seems best. By doing some calculus you'll know the perfect build orders, even pros will have to copy it from you. I know because i've been copied and seen some of my strategies become mainstream. lol
And last but not least, practice. After all the thinking, go put your new strategies to the test, go lose more games so you can improve even more - even the ones you win, what you could've done to make that win a stronger one. Make micro intensive games, where you focus almost only on micro, then macro intensive games, this will push you to new limits on each of these, so you'll get to know things which weren't apparent at lower levels of skill. Same for practicing in just one map. Later when you change to other maps, many times you'll be able to use the indepth knowledge you gained from playing the other to exaustion and apply it to the new one. Also by playing just one map you'll have one less thing to worry about, and will be able to focus on fewer things at each time, which for learning is definitely helpful.
So in conclusion, know the game, which units counter what, the income of gatherers/min, how many you need for specific units, buildings, etc etc, so that these infos become second nature to you, get with (a) friend(s) to share, have fun, concentrate on few things at each time, and finally think for yourself. You can get better like this much faster than just mindlessly practicing and watching pros replays.
Good luck
Good post.
Its not just practice that makes you good... Not everybody who practices, gets good.
Most important thing is to have an understanding to the game, from there you know how you should improve your micro and macro. The player with better understanding might not win vs a player with better mechanics but he's in a better position to improve. This might not be as true for SCBW, since it's so mapped out game, but definitely for a new game like SC2.
I'll also link to a good overall RTS guide written by my friend... It's got little parts of specifics of another game, smaller parts of SC reference, but 99% it applies to any RTS. Really basic stuff that a good player understands already but for beginners it should be helpful.
http://www.smuggoat.com/blog/?page_id=148
![[image loading]](http://www.camptaichi.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/tai-chi-needs-an-easy-button.jpg)
