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Like lots of the folks who frequent TL, I have been playing RTS since I was a child, and those years are now far enough behind me that I now find myself faced with the delight of sharing the hobby with little ones of my own. I have three kids, and all three like to join me for the occasional round of StarCraft 2.
The problem, of course, is that I have been playing these games for thirty years at this point, so the skill differential between me and my kids is pretty steep. Obviously I can just play badly in a way that is meant to show my kids a good time - and I do lots of that - but we have also had a lot of fun coming up with special handicap rulesets. We all find that we have more fun if I am able to try my best under some restriction that gives both sides a fair shot at winning.
Are any other TLers in the same boat? I am curious to know what approaches have worked for you to make competetive StarCraft 2 matches a fun family experience.
Here are some of the things we have tried that work well:
- Worker restrictions: This is our go-to for playing a regular SC2 match. The rule is simple - I am not allowed to have more than X workers on the map at any given time. Against my 5-year-old, we are about 50/50 if I have 8 workers (so I kill 4 before I start mining), and against my 10 year old I am up to 16. This is a pretty fun way to play, because you really think intently about cost efficiency.
- Delayed start: The adult is required to send their workers off to do nothing at all for the first N seconds. I generally do a 1-minute delay like this against my 5yo - my 10yo is a bit of a bastard and will straight up proxy barracks rush me if I do this, so he doesn't get delays any more.
- Arcade games: There are a fair number of arcade games that are very fun and are simple enough to make matches with kids fun for both players. We are playing lots of Direct Strike and Succession Wars. DS is great because there is zero micro - with just some simple handicap rules you can get an even match with anyone. SW allows you to play straight up balls-to-the-wall and it's fine because the nature of the game is such that you all end up on the same team at the end anyhow.
Anyway, I thought this was a fun topic for discussion with other parents. If you have kids who like to play, what approaches have you taken to keep the game entertaining for everyone?
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On January 12 2023 22:14 AmericanUmlaut wrote:- Delayed start: The adult is required to send their workers off to do nothing at all for the first N seconds. I generally do a 1-minute delay like this against my 5yo - my 10yo is a bit of a bastard and will straight up proxy barrax rush me if I do this, so he doesn't get delays any more.
This made my day haha
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Play with your "wrong" hand (left, if you are right-handed). Bonus challenge: onehanded only, no keyboard.
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Don't play with mouse, only laptop trackpad.
Don't play with keyboard.
Put a block on your screen so you can't see the minimap, or can't see your resources/supply.
Cap your unit tier level.
Only build the town hall at an expo AFTER having completely fortified the base.
Ditz around and mind control their workers. Use shitty unit combinations (MASS hallucinate).
Block their vision by clouding out the sky with a whole fleet of floating barracks.
Simultaneously nuke all of your CCs at once, and try to still come back from that.
Play around with silly spells (BW: mass lockdown, dweb, broodling. SC2 emp, only fungal no army, only leave your base with tunneling claws, mass stasis ward).
And of course, there's always playing with swapped hands (southpaw), or feet.
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Bisutopia19219 Posts
On January 14 2023 08:14 bITt.mAN wrote:Don't play with mouse, only laptop trackpad. Don't play with keyboard. Put a block on your screen so you can't see the minimap, or can't see your resources/supply. Cap your unit tier level. Only build the town hall at an expo AFTER having completely fortified the base. Ditz around and mind control their workers. Use shitty unit combinations (MASS hallucinate). Block their vision by clouding out the sky with a whole fleet of floating barracks. Simultaneously nuke all of your CCs at once, and try to still come back from that. Play around with silly spells (BW: mass lockdown, dweb, broodling. SC2 emp, only fungal no army, only leave your base with tunneling claws, mass stasis ward). And of course, there's always playing with swapped hands (southpaw), or feet.
I’d cover the mini map too. Tape a paper square over it.
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I just crush them.
Proxy Rax, 12 pool, you name it.
Why would you do that ? Do you not remember washing poopy underwear and sleeping 2 hours a day for years ?
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your Country52797 Posts
When I was a kid, my dad and I would play 2v1 brood war against my older brother, which usually ended up being a pretty fair fight depending on the map (which was a blizzard map, so it ranged from some 8p 256x256 monstrosity to a 3 player map with 6 total bases).
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Russian Federation195 Posts
Look up for the Unfair StarCraft mod in the game, it has a lot of options for handicaps. When they get familar with it, you can let them draft handicaps.
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On January 12 2023 23:23 Ryzel wrote:Show nested quote +On January 12 2023 22:14 AmericanUmlaut wrote:- Delayed start: The adult is required to send their workers off to do nothing at all for the first N seconds. I generally do a 1-minute delay like this against my 5yo - my 10yo is a bit of a bastard and will straight up proxy barrax rush me if I do this, so he doesn't get delays any more. This made my day haha
Once he starts laughing in Flash as he does this his training will be complete.
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United States4126 Posts
SC2 lobbies also have a built-in handicap that can reduce your units' health by up to 50%. Might help to combine it with some other handicaps.
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EPT
