EPT[Q]Remaining calm during games
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Talos21
United States2 Posts
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RTudoRR
Romania216 Posts
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Cycle
United States300 Posts
 Just like, going into a game I don't care about winning or losing since it doesn't really matter in the long run, as long I have fun/improve over the course of several games.But like for example, if I'm getting mass dropped vs terran, in the next game I take precautions to be able to handle a similar situation in the future, like adding cannons/putting HT in the back of my bases. Mostly what made me become calmer was being able to recognize what my opponent was doing and knowing how (or generally how) to deal with it. In other words, just having more experience. Hope this helps :D | ||
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ArcticRaven
France1406 Posts
I can't stand playing toss because of the lack of map control/scouting without Olords, Lings and creep. it makes me nervous, and I expect 200/200 bioballs to emerge out of the fog of war any moment. For that I found that getting a few more observers, upgrading them and placing them everywhere, is very very useful - you know more, so you're calmer, and you play better. Plus knowing everything anytime it happens helps a lot :D. | ||
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ETisME
12621 Posts
I am plat zerg and whenever I starts facing diamonds (slightly flavored) I would start very pressured. Especially in maps like Shakuras Plateau where the terran just turtle and split the map into half with tanks and ghosts and PFs. At first it feels ok because I can defend their 2 bases timing attack, deny drops completely, even sniping the medivac. But then they just turtle up with marines and tanks and starts getting PF everywhere. and even with broodlords, just can't win because the ghost snipes them all and terran just drop you to death. I starts to lose my temper once I see him building PF to split the map, It is like a winning game is given to him slowly just because they have the PF there | ||
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Qxz
Canada189 Posts
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SnowSC2
United States678 Posts
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sleepingdog
Austria6145 Posts
Think about it that way: do you panic while executing your standard BO in your sleep? No? Why not? Because you have done it a million times already. Therefore by playing more you get exposed to the panicy situations over and over again until your brain will recalibrate itself to the "not-freak-out" mode. | ||
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Roynalf
Finland886 Posts
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Peazz
United Kingdom21 Posts
if you know someone with a level 85 wow account ask to borrow it, keybind everything and just do arenas learn to do lots of things under pressure and ' adreniline' u will relise that although there are times in sc2 that cause u to crumble and think ''WTF am i supposed to be doing', that really you have a relativlly big time frame to do what you need. in wow you need to watch ur focus, watch ur team mates, watch active spells, positioning, cc, timers, diminishing returms etc and react to all of them thing in a split second.. if i hadnt of played wow pre sc2 i would be a gibbering wreck, with no grasp on kiting, general play, hand positions, proper hotkeys and most of all i would not be able to macro in the slightest. it also helped me to learn how to stay calm under pressure. this is the biggest thing, when your confident in your play the tatics ur pulling, and everything ur doing then you wont get nervous..it all comes down to experiance and being exposed to a level of play you have not encountered before, and maybe just a bit to much for you atm. keep going and u will become more confident, reducing panic  just go ladder like a baws and be confident mate just my 2c im not exactlly high rated. | ||
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simansh
257 Posts
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SaLaYa
United States363 Posts
Play music when you ladder, something that you won't want to change over and over. There is a thread here (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=263697) with good two hour mixes that are awesome for laddering. Think of you game plan like a tree, try to get up that tree as quickly as you can. Takes some of the mindless thinking that is a fixed build order and makes it easier to understand in your head. Get use to losing, it's the best way to improve. Stats don't matter at all. (High Masters Protoss). | ||
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moofang
508 Posts
). Focus on things you want to practice and improve on and frame the game as a mechanism to let you work on them, instead of as you needing to face-off against someone else. Have fun | ||
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Xanatoss
Germany539 Posts
After a game identify one situation where you felt panic, think about what you would do if you get into the same situation again, do that the next time. Repeat. I used to panic when I saw 2 Rax pressure against my FE PvT. After several dozen runs against it I am confident and plant my Nexus anyways even if I identify it beforehand. | ||
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stokes17
United States1411 Posts
Once you've played enough games of SC things stop surprising you. I use to get freezing cold and shake whenever i started a ladder session... now its like whatever. Just keep playing dood it'll go away with time I promise | ||
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Vaporeon
Canada68 Posts
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NiNLicorice
Sweden84 Posts
Make a probe, place down a pylon and place an observer over thier base to stay calmer. This will get you into the routine of the game and hopefully the rest comes naturally. Even though, I'm not scared of losing, as it just gives me more stuff to analyze and I then know, I can get better. | ||
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LXR
357 Posts
For example, I was once playing as zerg and i accidently let a ton of hellions kill my drones. I started to remake as many as I could but then I realized a cloaked ghost was nuking me. I didn't have detection and accidently lost all of my drones again. Even after this I thought to myself, ok, he doesn't have an expansion and he invested a ton into hellions and nukes (ghost academy, tech lab, cloak, factory) he's probably really far behind also. So I just macroed up an won. | ||
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Blazinghand
United States25557 Posts
The second time I also panicked and died, but not before i threw down a scanner sweep after losing all my army. The third time, I panicked, but I slapped down a turret. His DT killed my building scv and I panicked and died. Fast forward to now: DTS IN MY MAIN step 1) panic step 2) make turret, protect with bio and scan step 3) whew. done panicking step 4) make raven step 5) ^_^ Alternate Route: Step 3) OH GOD HES ALSO GOT A DT IN MY NAT QUICK, ENTIRE ARMY GO STOP HIM Step 4) Lose scv that is building turret in main Step 5) ._. The panic fades with experience. Just keep on trying and eventually you'll be more comfortable. | ||
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Sated
England4983 Posts
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Demonhunter04
1530 Posts
On September 13 2011 03:50 Peazz wrote: this is kinda unrelated to SC2 but i garentee it will help youir 'nerves' and adreniline. if you know someone with a level 85 wow account ask to borrow it, keybind everything and just do arenas learn to do lots of things under pressure and ' adreniline' u will relise that although there are times in sc2 that cause u to crumble and think ''WTF am i supposed to be doing', that really you have a relativlly big time frame to do what you need. in wow you need to watch ur focus, watch ur team mates, watch active spells, positioning, cc, timers, diminishing returms etc and react to all of them thing in a split second.. if i hadnt of played wow pre sc2 i would be a gibbering wreck, with no grasp on kiting, general play, hand positions, proper hotkeys and most of all i would not be able to macro in the slightest. it also helped me to learn how to stay calm under pressure. this is the biggest thing, when your confident in your play the tatics ur pulling, and everything ur doing then you wont get nervous..it all comes down to experiance and being exposed to a level of play you have not encountered before, and maybe just a bit to much for you atm. keep going and u will become more confident, reducing panic just go ladder like a baws and be confident mate just my 2c im not exactlly high rated. WoW isn't a very good game to use imo. If you know all of your class' spells, you should be fine coming from sc2 since the multitasking and reaction speed that is required will already be there. WoW is a pretty easy game and it mainly comes down to who has better gear unfortunately. Yes, even arena. | ||
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Tonttu
Finland606 Posts
I am pretty sure it'll go away when time passes. I guess everyone has had similar situation.. and got over it. Don't worry Key is just to get used to it by playing and playing more and more. | ||
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Talos21
United States2 Posts
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Sated
England4983 Posts
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Gestalt
United States39 Posts
For me, I think the issue isn't scouting (I love me some observers), but responding correctly to what I scout. I get so nervous that I focus on my opponent's army position and my macroing, rather than teching to something strong against his build. I can't count the number of losses where my large gateway army has melted to a smaller, higher-tech army (hello collosi / infestors / mmm). I probably just need to play more games to get used to it. And I'm definitely going to play with music from now on | ||
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Smancer
United States379 Posts
If you can get not not calm, then you should become calm. Have you tried that? | ||
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Monkeyballs25
531 Posts
Also lots of scouting, direct and indirect. I drove myself mad imagining all sorts of cheese or timing pushes the opponent could be planning. Now I'm able to use scouting info to narrow down the list to just a few things to worry about. Finally, good map control and cautious play. When you've got all the watchtowers, a zergling at every expo site, and creep spread connecting all your bases and out towards the opponent, there's not as much he can do to surprise you. I suppose that's not very applicable to Protoss though. | ||
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Monkeyballs25
531 Posts
On September 13 2011 05:21 OptimusMagnus87 wrote: I get so nervous that I focus on my opponent's army position and my macroing, rather than teching to something strong against his build. I can't count the number of losses where my large gateway army has melted to a smaller, higher-tech army (hello collosi / infestors / mmm). I probably just need to play more games to get used to it. I used to get this with Zerg, where'd I'd get stuck on Lair tech because I was too busy harassing with mutalisks and all the rest of it to bother getting Hive tech. I just played a few games against the AI and forced myself to push for Broodlords faster, even if I didn't need them to get the win. Now its just an automatic response. "Im at Lair tech, decent amount of mutas, not right about to die, get broodlords!" | ||
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Kolgrim
Lithuania31 Posts
Put headphones on, put on some chill tunes ( I suggest some top40 radio stations, even tho I'm a metalhead) you will be more relaxed/calm and deal with situations better. GL HF on ladder hope it helps. | ||
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AnxiousHippo
Australia1451 Posts
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thegrapesoda
7 Posts
One: as many people are saying, calm comes with experience. Take a break from ladder and play a bunch ( >20) custom 1v1s. You might not play against people at your same skill level, but you can practice good habits without suffering ladder consequences. Then go back to ladder with the good habits you've cultivated and just treat the game the same way - a chance to practice good habits. Focus on doing things right, not the win/lose, and you should be able to avoid some anxiety. Two: Breathe. Breathe breathe breathe. When you feel yourself getting anxious, take 3 to 4 deep breaths. When you panic, your breathing is shallower, your heart is pumping faster, you're not getting optimum oxygen, etc. etc. etc. Breathe deep, calm down, and focus on good habits. | ||
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ImbaTerran
United States9 Posts
I'm not quite Plat yet, but i also get "jitters" in game. I've also gotten better since I stopped wasting time trying to calm down midgame. If your getting riled up just take a break. And remember, it's just a game, it's fine. It's all fine... | ||
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SeanBean
United States14 Posts
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Asday
United Kingdom388 Posts
Now it happens to me when 1v1'ing. From about 18 food to the lategame, I'm shaking at my core, fighting to keep my arms still. I'm assuming that, like with EVE, more experience, more games, will beat it out of me. Doesn't happen to me in 2v2s, though, when I'm with a teammate on Skype, so I assume that's taking my mind off it. | ||
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Sporadic44
United States533 Posts
Obviously you want to play quickly and efficiently, but dont let your fingers get ahead of your mind. | ||
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Fealthas
607 Posts
Also getting hallucination for sentries and hallucinating phoenix and sending them everywhere is nice. | ||
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Alejandrisha
United States6565 Posts
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E.H Eager
United States227 Posts
For the long term, what everybody else has been saying; just play, get comfortable with what you are doing, and always always have a plan. Especially if you are up against something new/you have no idea what he is doing. You need to keep in mind what your game plan is regardless of what he is doing. I'm not saying don't react to what he is doing, but keeping the game in an area where you are comfortable will always help. | ||
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Typho
36 Posts
If you haven't played for a while sometimes it's natural to panic. Even if you have been playing, it's still ok to panic (nobody's going to judge you). The only real way to get rid of the panic is practice, practice, practice! | ||
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mage36
415 Posts
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Temporarykid
Canada362 Posts
Hope it helps, that thread has/had really helped me improve on my ladder anxiety! : ) | ||
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Ayrleand
16 Posts
When it comes to seeing something you've never seen before in your initial scouting or something, that stress can come back because it's something different. Perhaps it's in micro when you know you have to do 3 things in the same second, while also macroing, while also prepping an expansion, and again that all just comes with time. Overall my advice: Play lots of games, you'll learn more from losses than wins really, so don't be afraid to lose to something you don't know. Don't just cave the game, however, try to counter it, but don't be afraid to lose. Also take a break every 3-5 games. | ||
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Syrupjuice
United States173 Posts
A lot of people have been honing in on situational anxiety, or basically freaking out at things that catch you off guard during a game, but from the Original Post I do not think that that is what you were really getting at. Instead of looking at situation, I want to look at stimulation. When you are playing a game of Starcraft, even though all of the action is on the screen, your entire environment plays a part in your performance. This is talked about a lot in terms of LAN conditions, but I strongly believe that you can make a correlation to your home practice/play. So, there are some things you can ask yourself: Is the room I am playing in loud, dirty, dimly lit, etc.? Do I play when I am tired, or well rested? Do I listen to music while I play, and if so what kind? There are many more questions you can ask yourself, personally, to try to figure out what stimulation effect your play. By this, I will give an example of myself: When I played FPS games a lot I realized that whenever there was a lot of gun fire and explosions I got really frazzled and couldn't aim well. So, to try and counter this I started to play with no sound at all. Normally people would say that having no sound creates an obvious disadvantage, but because I did not have the distraction of the loud noises I was able to react calmly to what I saw clearly on the screen. I quickly noticed a strong correlation between my accuracy and maintaining a calm state of mind. When I started to play Starcraft 2 I experienced a very similar thing. Whenever I was in big battles, and especially when battles were at my front door, they just threw me for a loop. It wasn't necessarily because I had never experienced the situation before (because I had several times xD), but because there was just so much being presented to me that I couldn't focus on what needed to be done in order to get through the conflict. I tried several different things to try and take out some ingame stimulants so I could hone in on my thinking and what I saw. I first tried taking off unit response sounds. This proved to be amazing! There is no need to hear the same corny phrases start and stop as you cycle through units, issuing commands repeatedly. And not having the unit response sounds helped me to pay more attention to my mini-map and pop up notifications than on the sound ques. Since then I have stepped up from taking out unit response sounds to playing with no music or sounds, period. This isn't for everyone by any means, but I have found that if all I have is the picture on the screen and my own thoughts I am able to easily read the situation and react accordingly, without my mind be cluttered with excess stimulation. At LANS, I use a pair of closed-ear headphones and play a sound sample of a thunderstorm on repeat to create some background/white noise. tl;dr Try seeing if you can take away some stimulants, both in and out of game. Try to play in a quiet room, or try taking away the unit response sounds and ambient sounds, and see if that can help you direct your focus on the ingame situations. Playing without sound isn't for everyone, but it can help you maintain a focused and calm mind even when there are explosions on screen. edited formatting | ||
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phiinix
United States1169 Posts
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TheSambassador
United States186 Posts
Knowing how hard it is for your opponent to do things is very helpful. It also helps you feel out timings and understand that things that seemed "imba" or "easy" are actually pretty hard. This will help you feel calmer when you're playing your main race, as you'll have a much better feel for what your opponent can have. | ||
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Greth
Belgium318 Posts
I think a key factor in getting rid of the angst is to get to the point where you don't see a win or a loss but a series of events. That after a game you can tell yourself 'hey I did well in the early game but I screwed up mid game'. SC2 is a very rock / paper / scissors so you will always lose games even if you might have thought you were ahead. That's how things are right now. Another thing is realising that your opponent is just another player. That he won't have a magical army suddenly appear out of nowhere, or that he'll be way ahead of you no matter what before the 3-4 minute mark. And that will only come with experience. | ||
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CrazyDragon
United States5 Posts
also move around the map with your stalkers, get vision with towers, observers, probes so you know what hes doing and you'll feel better | ||
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archangel967
Canada111 Posts
Pick whatever builds you're going to do before you start the game. You will have to adapt on the fly but if you put some of your attention into your plan it will help to calm down a bit. And as others have said, practice, practice, practice. Specifically practice calming down. Think about the feelings you are having. Once you start thinking about them you may realize that your fears aren't as bad as you think. Thinking about very specifically and focusing on them will help you to understand them and once you understand them you can work on ways to resolve them. | ||
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Mordanis
United States893 Posts
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Tuplex
80 Posts
You feel the stress you do because you care perhaps too much about the result. Since I am not a professional SC2 player, I view every game as "practice" and a chance to learn or get better. When I think about it that way, I am much more relaxed during the game. | ||
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Veclada
742 Posts
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NTTemplar
609 Posts
But something like yirumaesque (did I use that right...), at least something in the style of yiruma can work wonders, but there are also songs like many of those james blunt have, or with the same "atmosphere" so to speak, or some calm orchestral pieces with some charming violins a smooth single flute or so. again, you get the idea. When you do have music on, I also recommend turning all SC2 sounds off. True this might make you find out in a game a dropship killed your main, or that hellions have engulfed every drone in your 4th and 3rd in flames, but on a positive note it will make you better at using the minimap since sound is no longer a viable source to spot these things. Though DT's are still quite the "bitches" to put it in a vulgar way. You will in the beginning most likely lose a few silly games due to completely failing to stop some sort of harrash, but you should stay very calm thus hopefully play better than usual and overall win more games. And after a short period of practice only, you should start to notice you are much better at using the minimap. Using the minimap a lot is great for much more than just stopping harrash so it could turn out to be a huge boost (personally I find the minimap a great way to remember I need to spread creep since I see creep on the map and get reminded). | ||
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garlicface
Canada4196 Posts
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Thezzy
Netherlands2117 Posts
Whatever happens to you, be it DT harass or a 6pool, stick with the plan and try to execute to the best of your abilities and focus on that. Aside from that, just hit that Find Game button and play games. The more you play, the more relaxed games become. | ||
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-Cyrus-
United States318 Posts
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eugalp
United States203 Posts
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Perfect
United States322 Posts
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