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[T] Overly mobile units are a problem

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Plethora
Profile Joined July 2007
United States206 Posts
January 01 2009 02:56 GMT
#1
Hello all. Firstly I just want to say that I lurk here often, though I don't post a lot. I have read most of the relevant threads on the perceived problems of SC2 to this point, obviously including mbs and automine discussions. Here I am attempting to take a more big picture approach to thinking about SC2.

Ultimately, I think we can all agree that we care so passionately about mbs and the decline of macro because it is the major defining factor that makes the skill curve of SC:BW what it is. It is that skill curve which defines BW, and why it is still played as much as it is at this point in its life cycle. The real skill, though, is being able to both macro and micro efficiently. I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum that, if told to macro up a 200 supply army on an empty map, could do so in a reasonably close amount of time to the pros. But what makes the pros as good as they are is that they can also harass their opponent and fight battles without losing significant time on their macroing. Obviously we all know this already. The point is that I've come to believe that the real defining characteristic of starcraft is multitasking moreso than macro or micro itself... that macro and micro are aspects of multitasking.

With all that as a basic introduction, I'd like to propose, as others have done before, that mbs and automine are not inherently bad, provided that the time and attention players spend on those things in BW is replaced in some other manner. Blizzard, further, has stated that they both wish to decrease the amount of time people spend managing their base, AND have stated that maintaining a lengthy skill curve is also important to them. To me this can be accomplished, but Blizzard is not designing the game in a way that would accommodate it.

Why not design the game in such a way that multiple front fighting is the rule rather than the aberration. Design it around the idea that one army cannot effectively cover all of one sides important assets. A lot of this would come down to map design I admit, perhaps bigger maps with longer distances between expansions are the answer. But even with appropriate maps, it seems to me that there is just too damned much mobility to make this sort of playstyle work. I have not played the game, and perhaps those that have can touch on this, but it does not seem to me that there is any more, and perhaps less, punishment for finding your army out of position than there was in BW. To me, at this stage, this sort of play is what could revive my interest in SC2. If the game were designed in such a way that high level players were required to maintain 3 or more "armies" in different places both effectively and simultaneously, then perhaps we could restore the nice wide skill curve that we are all used to.

Thanks for reading... that is all
... Still like Brood War better... lol
DanceDance
Profile Joined November 2008
226 Posts
January 01 2009 03:54 GMT
#2
Is mobility mechanics such as warp in and the nydus worm a good thing for the game? Thats a good question.

The macro aspect of the game has completely changed. I think you need automining and mbs because macro has become so much harder with these new game mechanics.
wiseA
Profile Joined December 2008
Poland1 Post
January 01 2009 04:11 GMT
#3
imo sc2 should focus more on micro than macro so the new mechanics like mbs are needed and we want to see more action in the games
naonao
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States847 Posts
January 01 2009 04:42 GMT
#4
The problem with small and split armies is that if they are to engage with a unsplit army, even if the player with the split army has a larger total army, the small armies would be completely destroyed. With larger maps, the distance between the small armies would be greater and the small parts would not be able to effectively work together because of the large distances between them.
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-01 04:45:40
January 01 2009 04:45 GMT
#5
On January 01 2009 13:11 wiseA wrote:
imo sc2 should focus more on micro than macro so the new mechanics like mbs are needed and we want to see more action in the games


No. It's not that easy. The cool thing is that we could never do the things the progamers do (good macro and multitask + micro).

But if the nice micro whatever things are easy to do, it's not cool anymore.
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
SlickR12345
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Macedonia408 Posts
January 01 2009 04:56 GMT
#6
On January 01 2009 13:11 wiseA wrote:
imo sc2 should focus more on micro than macro so the new mechanics like mbs are needed and we want to see more action in the games


Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!
Archerofaiur
Profile Joined August 2008
United States4101 Posts
January 01 2009 05:04 GMT
#7
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.
http://sclegacy.com/news/28-scl/250-starcraftlegacy-macro-theorycrafting-contest-winners
SlickR12345
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Macedonia408 Posts
January 01 2009 05:06 GMT
#8
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.
lwstupidus
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States74 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-01 05:29:56
January 01 2009 05:29 GMT
#9
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.


Are you going to slit your wrists when the sequel to the game you've played for 10 years isn't exactly how you want it? What are you going to do the next 10 years?

Anyways, if the game is as easy for pros as everyone thinks, pros can just 2v2 each other with 1 player controlling each side, I think that would be amazing to watch.
a penne saved is a penne earned
Plethora
Profile Joined July 2007
United States206 Posts
January 01 2009 06:10 GMT
#10
On January 01 2009 13:42 naonao wrote:
The problem with small and split armies is that if they are to engage with a unsplit army, even if the player with the split army has a larger total army, the small armies would be completely destroyed. With larger maps, the distance between the small armies would be greater and the small parts would not be able to effectively work together because of the large distances between them.


I had thought of that, and ultimately you are probably right. I suppose when you think about it longer distances between expos would just result in smaller games because people wouldn't expand.

It may not be the end all solution for all this, but I do still think that increasing the importance of army positioning (in terms of where your army is at any given time, not in terms of your unit's positions vs the enemies, if that makes sense) would certainly not hurt things, and with all the mobility options it doesn't *seem* (again, I haven't played) as though its all that hard to get a large army from one place to another in a relatively short amount of time.
... Still like Brood War better... lol
inReacH
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Sweden1612 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-01 07:50:08
January 01 2009 07:48 GMT
#11
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.


Team can we try to get this guy excited enough to say something that would warrant a ban?

How's life in Macedonia fuckface? I read you guys have the second worst health care in Europe which is saying a lot.
SWPIGWANG
Profile Joined June 2008
Canada482 Posts
January 01 2009 07:51 GMT
#12
Mobility do not prevent split armies. The inability for smaller armies to fight bigger ones prevent split armies.

If a smaller army actually beats a bigger, concentrated one, than no one would ever NOT split their army. Imagine Templar wars where the only unit is templars, and it is unimaginable that people would move in a ball get get them destroyed with one storm by the opposition. Splitting is absolutely necessary.

The lazy method to get this into the game would to TvT-ize the game by giving a small number of defenders/units in right position (seige tanks + turrets) a huge advantage and make a larger army relatively useless in improving unit exchange ratio. (it doesn't matter if you outnumber a seige line by 1v3 or 1v10, you'd still lose around the same number of tanks breaking it) This is easiest with units that does not rely on their HP that much to do damage (banelings, scourge, tanks) or some kind of game altering spell. (darkswarm)

Other choices is include massive area attacks for everyone, map totally restrictive with a ton of impassibles so that big armies don't fit and so on. Air units will either have to be a niche or suffer from some serious air splash to prevent stack of doom. (since non-stacking air is considered unacceptable)
------------
Fundamentally, harass play is the inverse of timing push based plays. Timing push is about that one knock out punch, while harass is about a thousand small papercuts.

If blizzard would nerf ever timing push based strategy, harass may become the only choice. The question is: would players accept this?
DanceDance
Profile Joined November 2008
226 Posts
January 01 2009 08:00 GMT
#13
On January 01 2009 13:45 Zoler wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 13:11 wiseA wrote:
imo sc2 should focus more on micro than macro so the new mechanics like mbs are needed and we want to see more action in the games


No. It's not that easy. The cool thing is that we could never do the things the progamers do (good macro and multitask + micro).

But if the nice micro whatever things are easy to do, it's not cool anymore.


Blizzard have said that they want to appeal to both the casual and progamer. Have a bit of faith, I'm sure they will make it easy to learn but hard to master. I think we will see some War3 concepts (the micro aspects, the mothership/queen as a hero like unit) in the game because of the people who are the developers but it will still be Starcraft - hopefully.
freelander
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
Hungary4707 Posts
January 01 2009 08:50 GMT
#14
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.


what a faggot you are
And all is illuminated.
inReacH
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Sweden1612 Posts
January 01 2009 08:53 GMT
#15
On January 01 2009 17:50 freelander wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.


what a faggot you are



Go team go! Second squad move out!
inReacH
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Sweden1612 Posts
January 01 2009 08:53 GMT
#16
On January 01 2009 16:51 SWPIGWANG wrote:
Mobility do not prevent split armies. The inability for smaller armies to fight bigger ones prevent split armies.

If a smaller army actually beats a bigger, concentrated one, than no one would ever NOT split their army. Imagine Templar wars where the only unit is templars, and it is unimaginable that people would move in a ball get get them destroyed with one storm by the opposition. Splitting is absolutely necessary.

The lazy method to get this into the game would to TvT-ize the game by giving a small number of defenders/units in right position (seige tanks + turrets) a huge advantage and make a larger army relatively useless in improving unit exchange ratio. (it doesn't matter if you outnumber a seige line by 1v3 or 1v10, you'd still lose around the same number of tanks breaking it) This is easiest with units that does not rely on their HP that much to do damage (banelings, scourge, tanks) or some kind of game altering spell. (darkswarm)

Other choices is include massive area attacks for everyone, map totally restrictive with a ton of impassibles so that big armies don't fit and so on. Air units will either have to be a niche or suffer from some serious air splash to prevent stack of doom. (since non-stacking air is considered unacceptable)
------------
Fundamentally, harass play is the inverse of timing push based plays. Timing push is about that one knock out punch, while harass is about a thousand small papercuts.

If blizzard would nerf ever timing push based strategy, harass may become the only choice. The question is: would players accept this?


Great post
Liquid`Jinro
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
Sweden33719 Posts
January 01 2009 09:57 GMT
#17
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.

ORLY?
Well you can start it somewhere else then, see you in a week.
Moderatortell the guy that interplanatar interaction is pivotal to terrans variety of optionitudals in the pre-midgame preperatories as well as the protosstinal deterriggation of elite zergling strikes - Stimey n | Formerly FrozenArbiter
poor newb
Profile Joined April 2004
United States1879 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 02:45:45
January 02 2009 02:14 GMT
#18
too much mobility makes sc2 play like wc3, armies will just teleport all over the place refusing to fight each other

no point taking control of strategic locations on the map if you can just "warp in" an entire fresh army anywhere across the map in an instant, a single hidden pylon is all it takes

no point of positioning your units or flanking the enemy if you can just blink your entire army of stalkers out of battle in an instant every time you position looks slightly bad

yes in sc we have arbiters and nydus but that is ultra late game tech and they give limited mobility because of energy and creep requirements, however stuff like warp in are unlimited use once you put down a single pylon
How do you mine minerals?
ManWithCheese
Profile Joined July 2007
Canada246 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 03:24:57
January 02 2009 03:10 GMT
#19
On January 02 2009 11:14 poor newb wrote:
too much mobility makes sc2 play like wc3, armies will just teleport all over the place refusing to fight each other

no point taking control of strategic locations on the map if you can just "warp in" an entire fresh army anywhere across the map in an instant, a single hidden pylon is all it takes

no point of positioning your units or flanking the enemy if you can just blink your entire army of stalkers out of battle in an instant every time you position looks slightly bad

yes in sc we have arbiters and nydus but that is ultra late game tech and they give limited mobility because of energy and creep requirements, however stuff like warp in are unlimited use once you put down a single pylon


You can only warp in a very limited amount of units at a time of which this just makes scouting all the more important and hopefully create some very cool strategies.
xhuwin
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States476 Posts
January 02 2009 03:50 GMT
#20
A concern no one has mentioned is how multi-front combat will affect SC2 as a spectator game. It's possible it's just too hard to track two battles at once. Commentators today sometimes miss important things already.

But besides that, I really like the idea of multi-front combat. It pushes the need for multitasking to a much higher level.
xyn
naventus
Profile Blog Joined February 2004
United States1337 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 05:54:50
January 02 2009 05:52 GMT
#21
Multifront combat is really just a fantasy. When WC3 came out like 4 years ago, I really thought that the focus on micro would actually do something similar. After playing both SC and TFT for so long, I think this sort of thought really just comes out of a superficial understanding of the games. Here's why it's mostly not feasible:

1. There aren't necessarily that many expansions or units on the field.
2. Large army > small army.

SC2 won't somehow miraculously develop into a 6 expansion game. If you look at how almost any RTS is played, the fact is that any large tract of land is going to more or less reducible to a few major points. You aren't going to have 6 separate battles going on at any time.

Mobility cuts both ways. You can split your army up into 6 pieces, but if the opponent can warp in his entire army at any given point, then he can respond extremely effectively to all your attacks.

EDIT:
A focus on combat is really boring. The frantic pace of SC is at least for many of us why it's fun. I don't know if you've ever played WC3, but the late game is painfully boring. While you might have 200+ APM for a battle, most of the game, either out of battle or especially as money runs out, you will need less than 100.
hmm.
beyond.wudge
Profile Joined December 2007
Australia58 Posts
January 02 2009 06:58 GMT
#22
Well, as far as spectating goes currently macro is a more hidden side of the game unless you play Starcraft.

Sure, they try to show it with the first person views but lets face it, if you haven't _tried_ to macro a serious number of expansions before whilst doing good micro then you won't really get how impressive the players are.

Obviously, the same applies for combat micro but to a lesser extent. IMO, it is far more obvious when you see sAviOr's zerglings properly flank and surround or when Bisu micro's his zealots in and out, ganging up and coming out on top that the guy has made a good play.

Why? Because it just taps into a basic fighting concept like "surround the enemy" or "defeat in detail" which since his opponent can't do the same thing back to him that he must be a better player, regardless of how hard the interface is or even if you're not sure just how hard it is to do those things.

Furthermore, I think seeing four-six vultures get inside a base and totally demolish an eco-line in about 15 seconds also tends to get people going more than "oh wow, he lost all his dragoons and here comes another army!"

If you play the game or perhaps if the commentators play the macro up like "Iloveoov's cheater macro" then those macro aspects start to impress you far more.

I guess it's about finding the right balance and to be honest, I think SC2 is going in a good direction. In the battle report some of the mechanics did sound interesting like units that could slow down other units with their shots and other micro intensive dynamics which make the way you play a force affect its power on the field in a greater proportion to it's overall size comparative to Brood War.

Still, you're likely to see a Brood War/SC2 competitive split for some time as with CS 1.6 and Source. Even if they're fairly similar games at the core the specific differences in emphasis will be enough to drive a fairly significant wedge between the two communities.
SWPIGWANG
Profile Joined June 2008
Canada482 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 07:48:31
January 02 2009 07:46 GMT
#23
Here's why it's mostly not feasible:

1. There aren't necessarily that many expansions or units on the field.
2. Large army > small army.

Both are common, but not necessary, for a RTS.

If defenses are very strong, than a 6 expansion game wouldn't be hard. If small armies have some pivot factor that allow them to take on a big army (may it be storm or seige) and do serious damage anyways, than merged large armies is unnecessary.

The real problem is that people don't like strong defenses nor do they like endless skimishes over one climatic battle. That, and people do like 1a2a3a orgy of massed units all too often.


Why? Because it just taps into a basic fighting concept like "surround the enemy" or "defeat in detail" which since his opponent can't do the same thing back to him that he must be a better player, regardless of how hard the interface is or even if you're not sure just how hard it is to do those things.

If SC2 is to cater partly to the casuals, its core concepts should revolve ones that is intuitively understood and liked, over things not associated with a war game like speed in factory clicking.
maybenexttime
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
Poland5552 Posts
January 02 2009 12:42 GMT
#24
On January 02 2009 14:52 naventus wrote:
Multifront combat is really just a fantasy. When WC3 came out like 4 years ago, I really thought that the focus on micro would actually do something similar. After playing both SC and TFT for so long, I think this sort of thought really just comes out of a superficial understanding of the games. Here's why it's mostly not feasible:

1. There aren't necessarily that many expansions or units on the field.
2. Large army > small army.

SC2 won't somehow miraculously develop into a 6 expansion game. If you look at how almost any RTS is played, the fact is that any large tract of land is going to more or less reducible to a few major points. You aren't going to have 6 separate battles going on at any time.

Mobility cuts both ways. You can split your army up into 6 pieces, but if the opponent can warp in his entire army at any given point, then he can respond extremely effectively to all your attacks.


I don't see how you could possibly warp in your entire army...

Do you know how Warp-in works? It allows you to spawn NEW units within the matrix field. It means you can react to an attack with 5-15 units (your number of Warp Gates) at a time (cooldown!). You could maybe fend off one or two simultaneous attacks but not three or four, imo.

EDIT:
A focus on combat is really boring. The frantic pace of SC is at least for many of us why it's fun. I don't know if you've ever played WC3, but the late game is painfully boring. While you might have 200+ APM for a battle, most of the game, either out of battle or especially as money runs out, you will need less than 100.


That's what I hate about WC3, the reason why I switched to SC - the downtimes. ;/

I really hope it's not the case with SC2.
PunkSkeleton
Profile Joined January 2003
Poland226 Posts
January 02 2009 13:39 GMT
#25
SC2 has units specifically designed for harassment (Reaper is the most obvious example). Workers move as slow as in BW...
Warp in does not even allow defending. It takes 5 seconds and the unit is vulnerable at that time. I was punished a few times by trying to warp-in too close to the opponent. And of course as maybenexttime has already mentioned - it is just producing new units. For defending your main base it's even worse than units coming out of gateways because of this 5 second vulnerability.
While some units (Reapers, Stalkers) can move really fast the most still can't. Sure Medivacs help but they still suffer from the same problems as dropships (and blink on stalkers makes it REALLY risky to try to drop near protoss).
spitball
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Australia81 Posts
January 02 2009 16:06 GMT
#26
On January 01 2009 18:57 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.

ORLY?
Well you can start it somewhere else then, see you in a week.


Talk about overkill.
Liquid`Jinro
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
Sweden33719 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 17:29:17
January 02 2009 16:40 GMT
#27
On January 03 2009 01:06 spitball wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 18:57 FrozenArbiter wrote:
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.

ORLY?
Well you can start it somewhere else then, see you in a week.


Talk about overkill.

He has a previous ban, so no I don't think so. First he pulls the "Go back to WC3 you noob" card - which is annoying as fuck - then he's needlessly rude to someone for no reason what so ever.

Possibly the length, but there's no option between 2 days and a week so I went with a week because of the previous ban.

On January 02 2009 14:52 naventus wrote:
Multifront combat is really just a fantasy. When WC3 came out like 4 years ago, I really thought that the focus on micro would actually do something similar. After playing both SC and TFT for so long, I think this sort of thought really just comes out of a superficial understanding of the games. Here's why it's mostly not feasible:

1. There aren't necessarily that many expansions or units on the field.
2. Large army > small army.

SC2 won't somehow miraculously develop into a 6 expansion game. If you look at how almost any RTS is played, the fact is that any large tract of land is going to more or less reducible to a few major points. You aren't going to have 6 separate battles going on at any time.

Mobility cuts both ways. You can split your army up into 6 pieces, but if the opponent can warp in his entire army at any given point, then he can respond extremely effectively to all your attacks.

EDIT:
A focus on combat is really boring. The frantic pace of SC is at least for many of us why it's fun. I don't know if you've ever played WC3, but the late game is painfully boring. While you might have 200+ APM for a battle, most of the game, either out of battle or especially as money runs out, you will need less than 100.

I'm not gonna say "oh sc2 will have multifront combat fooooor sure!", but there are differences between SC and WC3.

In fact, you bring one up yourself -
1. There aren't necessarily that many expansions or units on the field.

Definitely true for WC3, and they take forever to kill AND you can just TP to save them, but in SC they die quickly and there are plenty of them.

2. Large army > small army.

Sure, but at least you won't have heroes in SC2, so it will be slightly alleviated.

A focus on combat is really boring. The frantic pace of SC is at least for many of us why it's fun. I don't know if you've ever played WC3, but the late game is painfully boring. While you might have 200+ APM for a battle, most of the game, either out of battle or especially as money runs out, you will need less than 100.

I agree, but once again SC2 will have more expansions, wont have things like upkeep to make macro less attractive and a supply cap twice as high.

I think SC1 will probably be ultimately harder, but I think SC2 could potentially make up for at least some of it with the proper gameplay..
Moderatortell the guy that interplanatar interaction is pivotal to terrans variety of optionitudals in the pre-midgame preperatories as well as the protosstinal deterriggation of elite zergling strikes - Stimey n | Formerly FrozenArbiter
Manit0u
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
Poland17254 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 17:43:44
January 02 2009 17:43 GMT
#28
And once again FA said everything I wanted to say on the subject a bit earlier than I got a chance to

So, to sum it up (SC2 vs WC3):

- No heroes - which are a 'one man army' themselves
- No upkeep
- No TP
- High unit cap
- Cheap units
- No experience - losing units costs you military and economic power only, it doesn't give any additional advantage to the enemy (making his units stronger)

Which will all lead to:

- Producing more units - bigger armies
- Expanding more often - to sustain/increase the above
- More attention - more difficult to defend said expansions, have to keep your guard up at all times

There's really nothing to worry about in this matter in my opinion.

P. S.
To clarify one thing: unit cap in SC2 will be 3-4 times higher than in WC3 since even the most basic units (except workers) there consume at least 1 more supply than in SC2 (eg. marine/ling/zealot being 1/1/2 as opposed to footman/ghoul/grunt being 2/2/3).
Time is precious. Waste it wisely.
Liquid`Jinro
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
Sweden33719 Posts
January 02 2009 18:31 GMT
#29
Ah also one more thing, which RotterdaM brought up in his Dreamhack interview:
SC2 doesn't have as many slowing/stunning/ensnaring units as WC3, so small groups wont get trapped as easily.
Moderatortell the guy that interplanatar interaction is pivotal to terrans variety of optionitudals in the pre-midgame preperatories as well as the protosstinal deterriggation of elite zergling strikes - Stimey n | Formerly FrozenArbiter
naventus
Profile Blog Joined February 2004
United States1337 Posts
January 02 2009 18:41 GMT
#30
On January 03 2009 03:31 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Ah also one more thing, which RotterdaM brought up in his Dreamhack interview:
SC2 doesn't have as many slowing/stunning/ensnaring units as WC3, so small groups wont get trapped as easily.


I was just thinking about this - the thing is that since units die faster, the effect might be similar.
hmm.
Incognito
Profile Joined November 2008
United States2071 Posts
January 02 2009 18:57 GMT
#31

On January 01 2009 13:42 naonao wrote:
The problem with small and split armies is that if they are to engage with a unsplit army, even if the player with the split army has a larger total army, the small armies would be completely destroyed. With larger maps, the distance between the small armies would be greater and the small parts would not be able to effectively work together because of the large distances between them.


Actually this isn't a big problem. This encourages attack versus defense. Where you can choose WHERE to attack your opponent, giving you an edge if your opponent has split his army. Basically this is how BW is right now. You split your army to defend your three expos, then the enemy scouts you and decides to attack the least defended one with his WHOLE army. But then again you can counterattack . SC2 right now looks like too much instant move armies and such. We need to make army positioning a key element of the game.
The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy
Loser777
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
1931 Posts
January 02 2009 21:31 GMT
#32
Split Screens, though awkward, would work for spectating multi-front...
6581
Unentschieden
Profile Joined August 2007
Germany1471 Posts
January 02 2009 21:46 GMT
#33
On January 03 2009 03:41 naventus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 03 2009 03:31 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Ah also one more thing, which RotterdaM brought up in his Dreamhack interview:
SC2 doesn't have as many slowing/stunning/ensnaring units as WC3, so small groups wont get trapped as easily.


I was just thinking about this - the thing is that since units die faster, the effect might be similar.


Not really, it simply means that unit conversion is less of a factor.
Liquid`Jinro
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
Sweden33719 Posts
January 02 2009 22:00 GMT
#34
Conversion = Conservation?
Moderatortell the guy that interplanatar interaction is pivotal to terrans variety of optionitudals in the pre-midgame preperatories as well as the protosstinal deterriggation of elite zergling strikes - Stimey n | Formerly FrozenArbiter
snorlax
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States755 Posts
January 02 2009 22:06 GMT
#35
I think that this just adds more problems because then you have to have some way to balance the large vs. small armies
Klockan3
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
Sweden2866 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-02 22:48:26
January 02 2009 22:47 GMT
#36
On January 03 2009 03:41 naventus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 03 2009 03:31 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Ah also one more thing, which RotterdaM brought up in his Dreamhack interview:
SC2 doesn't have as many slowing/stunning/ensnaring units as WC3, so small groups wont get trapped as easily.


I was just thinking about this - the thing is that since units die faster, the effect might be similar.

But units dying faster means that a small army can kill its equal worth of units against a larger army before they have time to place themselves in their proper formation.

Snares/roots means that you got a micro disadvantage with a small army vs a large one instead of a micro advantage while low lethality means that micro makes less of an impact except in terms of unit preservation which is impossible vs slowing armies.

A single reaver in starcraft can still kill a lot of a much bigger army, a single anything in wc3 is just free exp for your enemy. If all units had 4x the health this would not be the case though, then the single reaver would not kill anything at all if the opponent microed a bit.
Augury
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States758 Posts
January 02 2009 23:21 GMT
#37
Wc3 seems like the game to play if you're interested in mostly micro, SC should stick with appealing to players that like to focus on micro and macro.
Xeris
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
Iran17695 Posts
January 02 2009 23:30 GMT
#38
I think this topic is a problem.
twitter.com/xerislight -- follow me~~
SWPIGWANG
Profile Joined June 2008
Canada482 Posts
January 03 2009 00:16 GMT
#39
Time is a "dimension of the battle field" that restricts big armies just like a choke point. If units have, say 1hp and same range for example, units would kill each other instantly and there is no way for a larger army to use its advantage in numbers to push throw out more firepower, there is simply no time to move into position. The ratio of movement speed to firepower/hp ratio is what determines how much firepower the bigger army can apply.

As for slowing abilities, it depends on whether it works better on small or large armies. If a slow ability only effect a part of the army (eg. ensnare) than it benefits the larger army more as it gets free kills. However, if an slow ability effects the whole army and more so for large armies, (eg. forcefield), it benefits the smaller army more.
----------
As for teleporting units, it does not necessarily mean less positional importance if one can still get an advantage holding a piece of ground first. Teleporting is no good if your opponent has mined the entire area...for example.

A game with strong small unit defenses and lousy mobility might end up in a rush to the center/critical point and lockdown game. Just imagine a TvT without dropships....

A game without strong small unit based defenses could end up in linear force on force pushes, and mobility only matter tactically...
-----------
If you ask me, none of the the new mobility options is more mobile than mutalisks.
Mannequin
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada131 Posts
January 03 2009 00:46 GMT
#40
On January 01 2009 18:57 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 01 2009 14:06 SlickR12345 wrote:
On January 01 2009 14:04 Archerofaiur wrote:
On January 01 2009 13:56 SlickR12345 wrote:

Go play WC3 you noob.
SC is about both micro and macro, 50-50%, half-half, do you understand or do you need me to draw you a picture?

Being more micro oriented just limits the styles of play, as well as strategy and tactics!



Easy there. Your right about starcraft being about both micro and macro but there is no need to be a jerk about it. Try and start the new year on a good foot.


suck it, i'd start the new year how ever i want and the least i could care is what i'm going to write to a stupid forum noob.

ORLY?
Well you can start it somewhere else then, see you in a week.

Woo I love Idiot Ban Ty! ")
Oh and I think that they need to keep it 50/50, micro and macro are equally important so just reducing one is stupid cause its cutting of some of the skill needed.
To be honest if SC2 was exactly like BW but with 3D graphics and physics and all that, who on TL wouldn't buy it...
The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
Archerofaiur
Profile Joined August 2008
United States4101 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-03 03:33:57
January 03 2009 03:07 GMT
#41
On January 03 2009 09:46 Mannequin wrote:

To be honest if SC2 was exactly like BW but with 3D graphics and physics and all that, who on TL wouldn't buy it...


Um if SC2 was BW + extra critters who in TL wouldn't buy it.
http://sclegacy.com/news/28-scl/250-starcraftlegacy-macro-theorycrafting-contest-winners
Skyze
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada2324 Posts
January 03 2009 04:48 GMT
#42
I think we should wait til beta comes out before making any decisions on how mobile units will affect the gameplay.

I mean, like someone mentioned, warp-in takes 5 seconds, and makes units vunerable during that time.. Its not like a instant teleport around the map with no pylons anywhere.

Canada Gaming ~~ The-Feared
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