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I will list here some ideas for alternative practice methods and reasonings behind them.
First i will list a method to practice playing so, that one only creates a single unit when playing the game.
I have selected two units for this practice, for Terran i have selected Widow Mine but allowing also use of ealry marines and dropships and for Protoss i have selected Stalker but allowing use of Warp Prism and Observer.
Reason why i have selected these units are that i think how one uses them will greatly enhance the performance on each race.
Reason why other units are not allowed is to force the player to be creative around the unit, to create strategies and solve problems with them that they would not do otherwise. When starting to play normally, the perspective might shift and the player might find new angles for said units. Who knows, maybe next time you might warp in Stalkers instead of Zealots on the opponents main, shoot stuff and blink them away to join the main army instead of sacrificing them. Maybe next time the opponent have 60+ Banelings you have similar supply of Widow Mines yourself.
The control on said units will also surely improve and if you actually manage to win some serious games using only Widow Mines, i call that a feat in itself.
The second method is for Zerg and is focused on scouting. The player should focus on having vision on all expansions at all times. Be it with Zergling, overlord or so. The purpose is to make this routine so that the player do not have to think about this and will always have vision on all mineral locations on the map at all times in each game that does not end at early stages.
If someone wants to check this being used by a player, Larva does this in every single game in ASL season 10 round of 24.
If someone wants to check player using a single unit, using only stalker can be seen on AlphaGo vs Mana series. This is the unit the AI have chosen to be mass produced against all threats as it have the most potential.
Hope these ideas will help someone improve their performance.
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I will give one additional challenge on this post. Upgrade mech and structures, create only mech units and only liberator from air. Always accompany an army with several SCV to build and repair. Build offensive wall ins to disable flanking of sieged positions by starting several depots at once. Do this immediately after taking a position even if the position would be temporary but still do this every time. Always try to repair each damaged unit and structure all the time, even in middle of the fight. Use liberators also versus air together with cyclone + turret.
Focus of this practice is to learn to support your mechanized army with SCV as an offensive support unit and to practice siege positions. Always leave some room (and preferably buildings) between siege tanks, mines and so. Overproduce SCV, try to have more than 80 as fast as possible, keep producing and sending them as they fall in front line.
Reason to produce only liberators is to notice their usefulness and learn to use them in all situations. Try to have range and at least 10 of them as fast as possible, use the first ones against economy and try not to lose them, but bring them to base for repair. If opponent lacks air units, use few of them constantly on economy. Avoid sending hellions, send liberators. Support your main army with hellions instead, avoid sacrificing them. Do not send mine drops or produce dropships, use only liberators as a separate force outside main army.
Reason to constantly focus on SCV is to notice their versatility over other similar units.
The real game alteration of this build will use at least raven and if depends then viking. Main focus should still be in liberators and producing 2 at the same time.
Spells that should be cast every single time in each fight, shield and anti armor missile. Spells that should be cast against protoss every time EMP. Unit which makes the biggest difference between amount of 0 versus 1 is Disruptor. These things do not depend on strategy but are mandatory.
The final practice is to learn to cast spells in each engagement.
If one thrives to be efficient, these things are not to be overlooked.
The above mentioned mech build fares better than the rest without anti armor missile or emp and does not necessarily need them, there is lot to do and practice already.
Before anyone asks, i do not myself play this game so i am not shifted on any current meta. I believe these things have always been so.
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This reads like most of Beastyqts series "Mass Unit X to GM"
He did it with only centries or only infestor or only ghost harss for example.
according to him he didn t get way better in using those units compared to when he plays normally.
So from that I don t think this would have any benefits, when you re allready on high/mid GM level. As a pleb, you will obviously get way better microing those, wich could also increase your overall performance.
Just picture a Gold league player, who actually is somewhat decent with spell casters. He ll never lose a late game again until he s gained 500MMR at least
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Northern Ireland23782 Posts
I have some theories myself as to alternate methods of practice, or at least ones that deviate from the general norm. I haven't really played the game in some 7 years so it should be quite interesting to compare approaches. May indeed turn it into a blog when I get going!
I think there is certainly some value in familarising yourself with certain compositions, their ranges and manouvering them, or general singular tasks being done and quickly and as efficiently as possible. Ultimately though Starcraft is a game of quick transitions, prioritisation of actions and making the correct decisions in these domains.
In a sense I see the effectiveness of singular focus falling off quite quickly once you're of a certain level it's more a matter of knitting all sorts of things together. It depends on your level going in of course. For example for a player with no real RTS experience, doing the old classic 'just build marines' to learn the power of macro and spending your money will really showcase some of the fundamentals of the game. However for a player who already has semi-competent macro, or a player of a certain level they're not really going to get much better at basic macro from that kind of stripped-down, less complicated scenario.
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Could you put a link in this thread for your material when the time is appropriate ?
dbric maybe you could try that method yourself, then you would know does it suit you and what you got from it if anything.
I think approaching practice from different angles might give something even to more accomplished individuals. It also seems that many players just "play" for practice without any further thoughts. In that way people often tend to loop their own routines without actually getting any better. Taking some time to plan on how to practice and trying different practice methods might be worthwhile for anyone. If not for anything else to see what suits oneself. Sometimes even one game that is played differently from the routine might change perspective or insight. High changes all people who practice a lot have done such things and might seek new ways to improve themselves, or at least do they suit them at all.
Your material might be precious to some people who seek alternative ways to improve.
The one thing about basics is, that people who get "far ahead" in something sometimes forget how important the basics are. The most important.
In many practices there is nothing much that is going on outside the most basic things. I think this concludes all life. Probably starcraft too.
This is also when studying people who are on top of any practice, it is usually because of their strong basics. This is something i think at least many starcraft players could focus on, it is seen that very often some players who play on top have forgot the basics and does not have strong basics at all. The very top players usually do.
There might even be some players playing in top of the world who do not scout at all even it is one of the most basic things and all of the very top seem to emphasis strongly on scouting. The player might also be aware of this but not interested on improving and might not even practice at all. Just comes to play whatever becacuse is good at it.
Starcraft is also in a strange spot, that people can really compete on top doing just whatever as there are not that much people who are any good at it. Lets say something like football, you cannot do with talent alone because the player base is so high.
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Hitting the same opponent twice if you're doing basically a monobattle strat changes too many variables, particularly if you're at the level that they will respond correctly. I'm not sure if it's necessarily worthwhile to practice forcing a square peg into a round hole or fighting with one arm tied behind your back.
Wouldn't it be more beneficial to practice all of your basics all the time and either work on being proactive or reactive, depending on which you prefer?
I'm not saying you shouldn't practice outside of your "comfort zone". If your practice environment is the ladder, or even if you're scrimming against someone repeatedly, there definitely needs to be some flexibility or adjustment you can make other than "micro better".
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I really do not know, i think it depends on the person.
Starcarft at least is a game you can win doing same build over and over again if you are good at it. There are also builds that work against anything, it matters not what your opponent does. If its a game of rock paper scissors where you can choose what to bring just bring them all every single time.
Does not really matter what your opponent do if you are that much better on doing what you do.
This is true in any other thing also.
Lets take an example, that China would do a starcraft school that is similar to their infamous circus schools, and beat the basics to some talented kid, starting when they are something like 2-3 years old, doing nothing but the same basics all over again until it is perfect. I doubt many people would ever have a change even that kid would be doing the same thing all over agains when being something like 12 years old. Might even be that no one would. Might be the world champ who wins by doing a single build in each game. You know whats coming but you cannot fare against it. You also know there is not much you can do to gain advantage and because your mechanics are not nearly as good, you lose no matter what you do and because the execution is perfect every single time, you lose every single time. No mistakes and perfect or near perfect execution in a scale at least 9.8/10 every single time. Might be all the other in top10 are from the same or similar schools.
This will be something we will see in the future if there are going to be more money involved in esports. This is what we see in other sports already, like gymnastic and such. There are many athletes who do not smile, and they are usually asian by origin.
No player have ever been in this level of execution in history of starcraft ever. They all do human mistakes. In the circus school it is not acceptable and is purely inhuman.
To be clear on this, the same build do not necessarily mean the same units each time, but the same build as in, enabling a certain range of things.
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As for the Zerg technique of "having vision at all expansions", that is virtually never an economically viable thing to do, nor is it necessary. You can achieve the same result by putting vision on the fewer paths from the opponent's current base(s) to any new bases, and instead practice map awareness. Scouting is a basic, fundamental skill that already favours Zerg, particularly as a game goes longer.
You should always be practicing your fundamental basic skills.
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No i think that is still viable thing to do. Zerglings are way cheap, they are 25 minerals a piece and if you use 4 to 5 of them for that purpose in the mid/late game it virtually means nothing, it is almost a same cost than one overlord and yes takes up 2 supply.
No other race can manage it that cost efficiently. Lets say you use 4 zerglings in each map to scouting, it is of worth.
The one thing we see in top matches all the time is some kind of strange rushes, hidden bases or so because people think how you do, that naah i can manage by scouting only this and that and oops.
Getting the confirmation makes you to be sure and you can be confident that there aint anything, that itself is worth of 2 extra lings. You do not have to focus on that thing on the whole game. You also always see all drops, not just if they happen to be in "path" what you expect them to be. You can be sure there is no drops coming from anywhere if you do not see it, constant full map vision is real good in this game.
In tournaments also people study your play, they take notice where you put your "sure scout" lings or something and avoid them, you can be sure that there will be a drop you miss because they know your routines. If your routine is that your scout cannot be avoided no matter what they do, they know it too.
This mistake can cost you a game. When the stakes are high you really do not want to give your opponent that opportunity and you really do not want to play the game having to think that at all.
Im not sure but doesnt creep give you vision in Starcraft 2, that narrows down the area you must use units to have vision of.
In brood war this might mean you have 5 to 10 units for this purpose at all times, most of them overlords.
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The reason why we see rushes kill people is precisely because in the early game, it isn't economically viable to have vision everywhere. You literally can not have vision everywhere without having made some terrible sacrifice to your economy or tech.
If you're fundamentally good at scouting (finding things and understanding what they mean) and macro, one look at your opponent's base (early game) should tell you whether or not something is missing or could at least hint at options that the opponent has. Whether you achieve that scout by sacrificing a slow overlord, sending in a speed overlord later, or sacrificing a ling at the ramp, is irrelevant.
As a game goes longer and options open up more and more, your scouting burden grows accordingly. If you focus on grabbing burrow making 10 lings and sending them around the world, or grabbing a fast overlord speed and setting up some good spread by overmaking overlords (which you will have to do to achieve fantastic vision) as the foundational basis of how you scout, you will eventually find that even when you see the shit coming, you're in no position to stop it.
Also, creep does not specifically grant you vision. The structures or units generating the creep are what the vision is based on. For example, a creep tumour at the foot of a ramp will spread creep up the ramp, but will not grant you high-ground vision. Having a map free of blind spots is expensive and (almost) impossible to achieve, assuming your opponent is trying to kill you.
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I said mid/late game, that whole thing is purposed to happen mid/late.
There is many things happening like that also in mid/late. Drops and hidden bases. Army movement. All are really important.
"the one build" strategy would have an opening that can always defend a rush, so never a greedy one or not at least as greedy one that cannot defend against a rush or early all in. This would all be calculated that the loss does not outweight the risk and so. Pure mathematics.
The meta game against this build would not to rush ever, but the build must still stay stable and never falter from course, that is the strength of it. If no one ever tries early game all in against one player, that itself is a boon.
The main purpose is to carry the player to mid/late game where the mechanics and mathematical calculation start to shine.
This also usually goes with an offensive potential, so against such build there can not be greedy openings too, they would automatically lose.
That build would never proxy if not terran. Terran proxy can be made within the limits as it is different. In the mech build for example, the proxy buildings can be used in offensive wall ins in the first power push if the rush have failed. So not sacrificing them for scouting, but to keep around and land as part of an offensive wall in.
All the positions of every single unit and building calculated for maximum coverage and mathematical gain individually for each map. The unit composition always as cost effective as possible, never sacrificing units but always calculating for value and so. These positions would not change from game to game but always stay to same, it does not matter if they are known as they are efficient. There will not be drops and the push comes always in seconds margin at same time. You know whats coming but be damn if can do something about it.
In brood war this can be seen in zvz match up. There will be early aggression.
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What I'm saying is that what you're proposing for Zerg isn't so much an "alternative practice method" as a scouting technique. I suppose we could call it a "singular focus practice method", but that in and of itself is not an alternative method; it's a method recommended to beginners to not overwhelm them.
Practicing the fundamentals of scouting (knowing when and where to send stuff) pays off when you're able to skimp on map coverage, allowing you to be bigger and stronger, but still manage to know what your opponent is up to. The first step is respecting the fact that your opponent is not an NPC, and as your opponents improve parallel to you (because ladder), they will be seeking to feed you false information or pull your attention away when they send shit in. Why? To strain your fundamental other skills.
I'll admit the benefit of practicing the skills you will be practicing by getting to the mid or late game every game will certainly make you a better early game player, but the victory condition isn't "see the whole map". You eventually have to find the moment where you pull the trigger or will need a foundation upon which to stand your ground so you can grind your opponent down with superior economy and army composition plus control.
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Yeah true, it is not a practice method, zerg as a race works differently and i believe zerg as a race is a practice method in itself. The race at least in starcraft 2 seem to work in a way that it teaches the players the fundamental things that every player needs. It forces the players to improve on these areas.
This might be the reason why we have so many excellent zerg players and why zerg as a race is seen as imbalanced.
The reason i can not say more because i have nothing to offer to zerg.
Zerg players are also the ones with often the better basics and usually a better understanding of the game as a whole.
The false information is also unnecessary against a player who does the same thing over and over again, it amounts to nothing.
Seeing the map is necessary. Moreso as a zerg who have fast responsive units and can change the production at will. Zerg have to depend on this or they will be at a disadvantage. I think zerg players know this already.
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On September 30 2020 06:28 Isto wrote:
No mistakes and perfect or near perfect execution in a scale at least 9.8/10 every single time. Might be all the other in top10 are from the same or similar schools.
No player have ever been in this level of execution in history of starcraft ever. They all do human mistakes. In the circus school it is not acceptable and is purely inhuman.
To be clear on this, the same build do not necessarily mean the same units each time, but the same build as in, enabling a certain range of things.
I just want to add that there will never be any anyone that can do near perfect execution in starcarft 2. The skill of starcraft 2, while it does encompass many things its primary one is knowing what to fail at. You have 0.2 seconds you can choose to either micro your units and get that little bit extra out of them or you can choose to start building more units or transfer your workers or start building supply, or scout his expansions or start an upgrade.
An extreme example but it is clear in starcraft 2 even the fastest players in the world cannot do everything they want to do, far from it, there is actually more things that you don't do because there are more important tasks than there are things you do.
As such starcraft 2 truly is an art, it might sound corny but different people learn to read the game and prioritize different things with their time in different moments. Small decisions like that players make every second of each game might not be the most flashiest but it is one of the most important skills in starcraft 2, it makes me think of Taeja how he seemed to play like normal but outplayed everyone. The way he saw the game, the many small decisions he made over and over again, often invisible to us but they cascade into a great advantage in game.
Making the right decisions is never something you can train the way you traind physical arts, there is no perfection since the right answer in one situation can be right there but wrong in the next situation even though the information available to you is identical.
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Yes you can, i believe you can do that.
You, you can do that.
And those players, they can improve.
I myself have played brood war a lot and i know that its not that complicated you sell it for, it is quite simple and there really are more efficient things to do and things that really should do in a certain way in all circumstances. I have found this myself and by watching my betters play.
Starcraft 2 is more challenging and there i have not much experience if not at all. This is also why i like to think of it more. I also see more potential on that kind of thing i mentioned on Starcraft 2 as it is more fast paced so emphasis more on mechanics.
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Zerg is seen as imbalanced by other race players for different reasons.
The main reason is probably tournament win percentages since the LotV meta stabilized.
When played well, Zerg feels overwhelmingly strong; they have good spell-casters and the vision and speed provided by creep is a big bonus.
The ability to mass-produce the "perfect counter" in the late game is a power good Zerg players are able to abuse, too. It makes killing the Zerg before they get to a certain size very necessary.
This is why the late-game Zerg army is so feared, and why having a strong early and mid-game as a Zerg sets you up nicely for that stage of the game.
Broodwar is very much the same in this regard. Zerg truly is a terrifying race when played well, but on the flipside can be a truly shit race when played poorly or when you're just not ready for something.
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Raynor said that zerg vs protoss late game favours protoss. (In an interview in Masters Fall this year, do not remember the match, interviewers were at least RotterdaM and Carrol after a game, probably play offs of the qualifier games or might have been vs stats or something a korean protoss at least)
I think Raynors insight is right.
Brood War i know sure of, protoss is way more fearsome (reaver, storm, stasis) and terran have way better spells (EMP and Irritade). Reaver + Storm and Irritade seem rather punishing for zerg.
In my opinion and in my experience so far, i see most potential in protoss race in starcraft 2. I also feel that protoss players, none of them use the full potential as the zerg players use more of it.
Possibilities in Blink Stalker for example are endless, they will never die if used correctly. They are truly an imbalanced and broken unit. Same goes for disruptor. The first when i saw disruptor i though that no, this cannot be. I was in awe it is an actual unit in the game. But of course it is. Then i went to see its mineral and gas cost and was more so. I believe protoss players who build like 10 of them are doing it wrong, i believe it is a unit to have 1-3 in every army, every single time. If you have 0 you are not using your race potential. If you do not have at least one robotic facility in starcraft 2, you are doing it wrong no exceptions. "The one build" on protoss will always use at least 1 disruptor as it have the potential to control the enemy movement. This itself is a reason to have it even it would not do any damage.
Storm as it is, i think can be left away. Not a good spell in starcraft 2 and yes, zerg seem to have better spells. That might be balance or how blizzard thinks of it in starcraft 2 as they lack in other things. When thinking about storm in brood war, it is quite anti climatic in starcraft 2, watching games where multiple storms hit same hydras and they walk away. Disruptors are meant for that in starcraft 2 instead, and are in a way the "storm" from bw in sc2.
PartinG showed some brilliance in blink stalker use, but still not as good as it can be. (In this year GSL 1 or 2, might have been against Maru even. Won multiple games with identical builds and similar execution that was close to being his "one build" at that time. Did not matter if they knew it, he still came to blink for win. Should probably still do it.)
Alphago showed some too but is not human so does not count, but showed the direction people should thrive for.
This is the reason i believe protoss players should practice blink stalker use and i think that it is crucial.
I also think Widow Mine and Liberator have more potential than they are used for. Widow Mine might also be a crucial unit to "balance" the terran race against strengths of other units such as banelings. It is many times seen that terran just continues to produce bio mass against banelings and it usually does not end well.
I think you said it there yourself, that when zerg is not ready for something. Knowing whats happening on the map helps a tremendous amount and in my opinion, is crucial especially for zerg.
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In all regards, time is your most valuable resource in RTS.
Becoming a master of time is no small feat, and there may not be shortcuts.
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So the time how you use it in practice is too.
It is the time used to prepare for the time on the game that matters.
This is why some random people who give random ideas might amount to someone.
See a topic for alternative practice methods, start reading and naah bullshit and click the "x" button or something and move on, or hmm this might have something lets try and naah or hey this is a good idea thanks.
Something like that i hope.
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Just got an idea that for teaching kids "the one build" there might be a perfect run that is shadowed on the map in the way that you can compete against a ghost car in driving games where is your current first time.
The players would have to place the buildings, units and so in perfect cohesion and timing against the shadowed game in the map. The game would gather data about the performance and give points based on that. They would have to repeat this until they have repeatedly scored on certain limits or made amount of perfect 10/10 runs in a row.
From that onwards after the macro is perfect, they would fight against coordinated attacks that follow the basic patterns of usual attacks and so. This would be the method to automatically coach them the basics.
In the harsh environment they would also be abused physically of course, that if they fail they will be beaten or can not have food.
They would learn to execute them perfectly. Inhuman but effective and this is similar to methods in those kind of places they do use in other sports. The players would also probably need to have perfect form when they are sitting on front of the computer, perfect position for hands in the keyboard and so. The physical form should also be perfect or they will be beaten. It would produce machine like players who sit in perfect form around the computer, have no visible emotions like faces of stone with perfect execution on the game, fear in their eyes if they lose but no joy for the win.
But that ghost program could be used with more human approach too to teach people the basics of macro and the basic responses for attacks.
To go even deeper, the players can also be installed with artificial enhancements that will give them instant pain or pleasure automatically depending on their performance and of course there would be use of mind altering substances which are not illegal or though as so as they are unheard of, or differ somehow on known substances. This, when there are a lot of money involved as in other sports in the present. It would be like the altered player is playing in "bullet time" when the other is not, giving an edge on real time performance. So in the future, you really might compete against a cyborg.
This is going to gray area and i am unsure is it allowed to tell these kind of things, but this is what is really happening in the world and always have been when there is money involved. More money, the more that kind of stuff.
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There are a few things I disagree with.
- Stalkers are not a do all catch all unit, they have their weakness, especially if they get into bigger numbers. The one time stalkers are always effective is in smaller hit squads around the map, but as discussed it is very micro intensive. Being micro intensive means big investment for little reward, you miss macro and other things for doing these moves that might not lead to much.
- Yes the perfect AI could control an advanced army of raven, ghost, tanks, bio (colossus, disruptor, templar, sentries, oracle, blink stalker) and hit the perfect spells and split units perfectly but no human can do it. It is not possible, you should look into making an AI instead, an AI could do what you want to do.
- You write in one of your earlier post that a human can do a "perfect build", a build that starts the same but can diverge. But at the same time you write later that scouting doesn't matter because the "perfect build" everytime anyway. So You are saying two different things, first you say the build doesn't do the same thing every time, it diverges into different things reactionary depending on what your opponent does. Then you say the build never diverges always does the same thing so no point to scout.
If you do the one catch all build, what you want to scout as the opponent is when it diverges and into what. If I know the perfect build always get reactored viking at timing X to counter BCs I can throw the opponent off by making him believe I will go into BCs and then blind counter his reaction. If I know exactly how an opponent reacts to different things I can just mindgame him and counter. What if I completely block off my main early like som terrans do nowadays, the "the perfect build" cant get any information until they scout with an air unit. If the dont get any scout information how do they react? I learn, adapt and counter. Because of these things there will never be a catch all build in starcraft, a player might use one build for a short while but that players knows that he is on a clock and need to change it up before he is figured out.
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Northern Ireland23782 Posts
On September 30 2020 06:10 Isto wrote:
Could you put a link in this thread for your material when the time is appropriate ?
dbric maybe you could try that method yourself, then you would know does it suit you and what you got from it if anything.
I think approaching practice from different angles might give something even to more accomplished individuals. It also seems that many players just "play" for practice without any further thoughts. In that way people often tend to loop their own routines without actually getting any better. Taking some time to plan on how to practice and trying different practice methods might be worthwhile for anyone. If not for anything else to see what suits oneself. Sometimes even one game that is played differently from the routine might change perspective or insight. High changes all people who practice a lot have done such things and might seek new ways to improve themselves, or at least do they suit them at all.
Your material might be precious to some people who seek alternative ways to improve.
The one thing about basics is, that people who get "far ahead" in something sometimes forget how important the basics are. The most important.
In many practices there is nothing much that is going on outside the most basic things. I think this concludes all life. Probably starcraft too.
This is also when studying people who are on top of any practice, it is usually because of their strong basics. This is something i think at least many starcraft players could focus on, it is seen that very often some players who play on top have forgot the basics and does not have strong basics at all. The very top players usually do.
There might even be some players playing in top of the world who do not scout at all even it is one of the most basic things and all of the very top seem to emphasis strongly on scouting. The player might also be aware of this but not interested on improving and might not even practice at all. Just comes to play whatever becacuse is good at it.
Starcraft is also in a strange spot, that people can really compete on top doing just whatever as there are not that much people who are any good at it. Lets say something like football, you cannot do with talent alone because the player base is so high.
I shall try my man, just started degree number two so my time is rather limited lately!
Think I’ll probably catalogue my approaches, in blog form on here and probably stream a lot but only if I have time to properly commit, I’m kind of a guy who gets frustrated if I don’t have the time to give it my best.
Might be of interest to others, I haven’t really played outside of the campaign since Wings and I’m 30 now, nearly 31 so if I hit my goals I’m sure some will be interested in that.
I’m kinda of adapting what worked for me on guitar/music that others advised me against. For example I’d just noodle mindlessly a lot and if I did try to learn a song I’d practice the basic fingerings slowly and then just play it 100% speed and clean it up, rather than say building it up from 25% to 50% thru 75% which is standard practice. Or I’d improvise over backing tracks a lot just exploring patterns, plus writing my own stuff, sometimes with certain constraints.
My rationale was/is that at a mechanical level, especially if it’s a very technical piece, you’re doing different things playing 50% speed vs 100% so you’re actually practicing the muscle memory for two different tasks.
It wasn’t a very results-orientated approach in terms of say, learning songs but eventually I could play everything my peers could, but had a higher mechanical level so could play things they couldn’t.
If I were to think of Starcraft in layers I’d split it into
Pure mechanics (keyboard and mouse input)
Game actions (what you do with that in-game)
Prioritisation (the sequence of game actions you choose)
Builds
Strategy and tactics
Optimisations (more ergonomic hotkey for example)
They all link together in one way or another, but you don’t need all of them to win ladder games. I think you need them all to be a truly good player though. For example a player who’s quite mechanically strong and can execute a build they’ve copied will hit a ceiling because they don’t have the strategic/tactical understanding of what they’re doing and how to diverge.
I think ideally you want to link all those together simultaneously and just grind like a lunatic and constantly be trying to improve little aspects piece by piece.
As per my musical experience it’s a slower process in terms of results by far, and indeed far slower than more targeted but non-results oriented methods of practice.
What my hopefully soon return to SC2 will probably look like in terms of practice is a combo of really looking at all these aspects and trying to execute all the things I observe the top pros doing and have a ton of mental notes on. I think forcing myself into styles which require a lot of mechanics and cutting of corners will see me getting wrecked frequently but eventually hit a higher ceiling if I persevere than playing less optimised styles, or for ladder points.
I felt intrigued to comment as my general approach to most things is kind of grinding the totality of an activity and smoothing out and fixing things, which is quite distinct from your approach.
I guess it works for me because I actually enjoy repetitively grinding and tweaking things and can’t switch my brain off ever, so even watching tournaments and streams I’m always making mental notes about what they’re doing/potential alternatives etc.
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EPT
