On October 27 2016 08:36 JaKaTaKSc2 wrote: Hey hey Jealous,
This system is 100% not about getting into masters/gm. It's about helping with the steep learning curve in the Bronze-Plat area, teaching fundamental macro mechanics through exploration instead of dictation.
I see, thanks ^^ Thought I read that in the OP somewhere (Masters/GM being mentioned).
It can be easy to confuse. Masters and GM can be goals. The metrics are compared to players in other leagues, so you can choose to have the spending skill of a GM player by the end of the program, but would then of course need to start learning the other skills involved (macro is important, but only part of a player's skill).
It seems that roaches and stalkers have been added to the given units in the official TheStaircase googlesheet. Could we have more comments about that please ?
@bobo The idea is, everyone gets a ranged unit. Having a ranged unit early will lead to more early wins without sacrificing a significant amount of learning efficiency. So, the player should be more motivated. That's the idea in any case. Agree/disagree?
@neo I'd add it to the OP, but I don't agree with all of the decisions made. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go over everything at one point so we can reconcile disagreements and create a better method.
On another hand, Protoss + stalker and Zerg + Roach could be seen as TheStaircase step number 4. When I applied the approach, step 3 was valuable to learn: – how much gaz is needed for basic tech + upgrades – what is the benefit of teching, even with basic units – micro changes due to additional ability, better speed – what is missing with the (reduced) set given units => which helps to choose an additional unit at step 4, for gaz dump, now that you're used to mineral dump
Terran step 3 is complete and natural: marine + hellbats is a strong tank+ranged composition. Protoss mass zealot is limited, but with TheStaircase one is forced to experiment warp prism and get better mothershipcore control (I even learnt to warp-in with TheStaircase :D )
Zerg is really hard, due to zerg mechanics, hatching so many zergling is insane. It's not even a good training for inject, you need too many hatcheries (backspace method would be a must, when TheCore inject with 5-6 hatcheries won't be enough). Making queens for offensive purpose could be an option. Maybe Nydus Worms, but the number of zerglings to transport is too high. Or creep spread with moving lines of static defences. None of those options being realistic in ladder conditions.
– how much gaz is needed for basic tech + upgrades – what is the benefit of teching, even with basic units – micro changes due to additional ability, better speed
Totally agree with Bobo. I train TheStaircase from Bronze to Diamond for some years now. If I could change one thing:
Give them one Gas in #2. "Given units only" (Marines, Lings, Zealots).
Benefit: WarpGate for Protoss, Stim/ComS for Terran, LingSpeed for Zerg ... and Upgrades up to 3/3.
It also would allow Observers and Overseer.
I would strongly recommend NOT to use WarpPrism and OverDroppers, because the Micro for RunBys and "Scout the front" is IMHO hard enough.
@NeoBlade: thanks for your videos, I found them one year back searching for TheStaircase step 3 training ressources :D
Of course it could make sense to allow those aspects from step 2, to get to micro in real conditions for those units. It's definitely helpful in the context of your coaching approach.
On the other hand the current "you may not mine gaz" rule sounds clear and allows some contrast between steps 2 and 3. I'm remembering defeating Elite AI with Terran/Protoss step 2 mineral only cheese; it was so exciting ! Those steps for the lonely TheStaircaser is really important.
I think that a checklist of things to learn could help, kind of steps in the steps… maybe it's not suitable as TheStaircaise spirit is to reduce the possibilities to force exploration/experimentation (and fun)
Idea A: Choose GM-Spending-Skill (SQin Step #1 and #2. Without gas reaching SQ 90+ is not that hard. Though it might take 10 to 30 games, training Basic Mechanics (Video) is really, really IMPORTANT. In Step #3 you choose a new League Goal. E.g. Gold and SQ = 45. For Gold you could choose 40 or 50 SQ as well. If you don't like this approach, just play 4 out of 5 games.
Idea B: If you start with Step #3 just build one Gas for 5 games (or 10). Reason: Your SQ will drop, when you take Gas for the first time. Players, who take 4 Gas or more will often times accumulate more than 1.000 Gas, and their SQ will drop 10 or 20 points. E.g. in Step #3 you choose 80 SQ. If you have 90 SQ or more in #1 & #2, you can drop 10 points in #3.
Idea C: One of the major advantages about TheStaircase: You can play as you like. You do not have to grind a specific BO (Build Order) vs AI and then you can start 1on1 ladder. You can jump into the ladder right away and choose whichever BO you like. BUT ... but playing a solid BO is really important in SC2, so try to play a ProGamer-BO for the first 30 supply and hit the Timings and Benchmarks.
Idea D: Use a Cheese-BO (12Pool, Proxy-Rax/Gates) in 25% of the games. If you dislike Cheese, play it only 10% of the games. Goal: Cheese will train your Multitasking. IMHO TheStaircase is about training Macro & Mechanics, but it is not about Macro every game. IMHO a solid Macro-BO is very important, but Multitasking is important as well.
Could you please explain again why the spending skill in the neoai mod is inflated and if there is a way to convert it towards the SQ that is used in ggtracker.
Just a heads up, spending skill and spending quotient (or SQ) are 2 different metrics. Spending Skill is the badge you see on ggtracker.com. It shows you your SQ in context of the game length and relates that to the performance of players at all leagues to show a league badge.
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