Welcome to the first ever Diary of a Terran player. My name is Cadoink and this is the first episode in a series where we learn about Terran play and follow my progress on the ladder. This is meant to be a tool for players of all skills levels and of all races, but it will focus primarily on Terran play.
About Cadoink:
I have been playing the Starcraft franchise since 4th grade ( I am currently a freshman in college). It all started with a demo to Starcraft Broodwar and it soon developed into a true passion of mine. When Starcraft 2 was announced, I decided I wanted to learn how to play Starcraft properly and become a better player. I also wanted to get more involved in the community. Since then I have worked my way up to Platinum league and started a Youtube channel called Cadoink Studios.
Idea:
The idea behind the Diary of a Terran player is to focus on very specific aspects of SC2 and often specifically Terran play. Either weekly or biweekly (depending on schedule) I will issue myself a challenge that focuses on a specific problem I am having while playing. I will spent the week playing Starcraft with that challenge in mind, and at the end of the week I will create a thread and a video discussing what I have discovered and what I still am uncertain about. I will then issue the challenge to my viewers to spend their week focusing on what I did and then telling me what they discovered. This way each week I will have a new topic to discuss and learn about while still discovering information about the old topic.
Diary of a Terran Player Episode 1: Asking the Right Questions
Summary:
Improving in Starcraft 2 or any part of life requires acknowledgement of the problems we are having, but often it is difficult to see or understand what the problem is. One of the greatest skills in life is asking good questions. In this episode of the Diary of a Terran Player I look to improve this skill by watching my replays and trying to ask good questions. I have 5 big questions to ask each game, and then I come up with specific ones on the spot. The Challenge:
This week after every game or two, watch the replay and ask yourself questions! Say them out loud or write them down!
The Big 5:
There are five general questions that I will ask every game in order to stimulate thinking analytically.
1. What is my opponent’s opening?/What is my opening?
The reason we are asking this question is because it can cause many good questions to pop up. Will his opening kill mine right out or visa versa? Is my opening efficient? How can I make it more secure? How can I make it more aggressive?
2. What is my opponent’s mid-game plan?/What is my mid-game plan?
This once again will stimulate many wonderful questions. Each player should have an idea of what they would like in the mid-game. Number of bases, unit composition, and position and very important ideas to have while thinking about a mid-game. How many bases do I want? How many bases can I have? Is my unit composition strong or weak against their unit composition? Should I be aggressive? Should I sit back? How can I harass him?
3. When did I lose or win?
This seems like a very odd question, but often it is very difficult to see the correct answer. Sometimes a win or loss doesn’t occur when your army is dead and the opponent is inside of your main. It doesn’t have to be when a player types gg. There are many times where are player has pushed and forced a trade, but ended up damaging his opponent heavily. Destroy tech structures or kill off workers. Often at this time the damage is already done and it is only a matter of time before your push will do the final blow. So why is it important to realize where these moments are? By knowing when you won or lost the game, you can find nice little timings where your attacks are very strong, or even when your defenses are weak. This can help out in a game if you notice the clock and realize that you’ve lost many games in the next two minutes. Then you know not only where you need to focus your defences, but when!
4. What hurt me the most?
It is not always clear what went wrong in a battle while you are in the middle of the game. It is very important to look back at your replays and try to find the thing that was hurting you the most. Was I forgetting to build units? Did I tech to fast? Did I stop worker production? Did I push at bad times? Was I not able to get a 3rd up?
5. What helped me the most?
It is very important to recognize what you did right! You should feel good when you nail a fungal or splitting your marines against baneling. You should feel great when you go a game without getting supply blocked or getting away with having upgrades really early. Often our strengths are overlooked and we should recognize them. Outside for rewarding good behavior you can also stimulate good questions. How can I use my good micro better? What games allow me to have good positioning? Was the it map or the matchup? When DO I forget my supply depots?
The Two Tiers of Questions:
Once you have finished asking yourself the big 5, you should go on and ask yourself a variety of more specific questions. With any question you ask there are two categories or tiers that you should put them in. These groups are In-Game Questions and Replay Questions. They are related and each In-Game Question should have a Replay Question and visa versa.
1. In-Game Questions
In-Game Questions are the question that you should be asking yourself while you are playing a game. These are very good questions to have. For beginners, these questions should be very simple and macro oriented. Am I building workers? Am I building supply? Am I building units? Once you become more developed, these questions will get more specific. How many bases does he have? Can I safely tech to ghosts right now? Should I attack? What is he building? Can I afford +1 right now? It is a good idea to be able to identify what questions you really need to be asking yourself while in the middle of a game. So it might be a good idea to compile some questions you feel will help you the most in the middle of a game and post them on your computer, wall or desk.
2. Replay Questions
Replay Questions concern things that you discover and wonder outside of the game. These are generally questions regarding positions, strategy, build orders etc. They are questions you can’t really tackle within the course of the game. Should I go 2 rax factory or 1 rax factory? Is my third too late? Is my unit composition viable? How can I make it viable?
1. What is my opponent’s opening? 12 Gate 15 Gas 17 Core 19 2nd Gate 26 2nd Gas 26 3rd Gate 27 Robo
2. What is my opening? 12 Rax 16 Gas 21 CC 24 Rax 26 Rax
3. What is my opponent’s mid-game plan? He wanted a stalker/sentry heavy army with Colossi
4. What is my mid-game goal? I wanted to get Marine, Marauder, Medivac with Vikings and Ghosts when needed.
5. When did I win? I had a very successful 10 minute push. 15 minutes he caught back up and had a good engagement. How did he catch back up with me? 25 minutes I take his third.
6. What hurt me the most?
I had very poor positioning while he had very good forcefields.
7. What helped me the most?
I had a lot of vikings. This took out his colossi. I continued to macro strong too.
Additional Questions I Have: When should I get my ghosts up? Will ghosts lower my marauder or viking count? How do I force better positioned fights?
More games will be up soon and the video will be up soon! Please go ahead and post and start discussion.
I do appologize for the video quality in advance. I used XSplit and its not recording very well, but I think the information is there and is good.
Dear sir. I am a low platinum terran player in EU server. I have trouble against protoss and zerg players. I feel I can't do anything unless my opponent is in absolutely terrible shape and messes up totally.
For example, in the game, if I was the toss, I could have won the game easily on many occasions.
I won only cause he did not macro properly and did not scout properly. However, I would want to know where in the game could I have done better in order not to rely on my opponent's mistakes.
On April 09 2012 08:47 sieksdekciw wrote: Dear sir. I am a low platinum terran player in EU server. I have trouble against protoss and zerg players. I feel I can't do anything unless my opponent is in absolutely terrible shape and messes up totally.
For example, in the game, if I was the toss, I could have won the game easily on many occasions.
I won only cause he did not macro properly and did not scout properly. However, I would want to know where in the game could I have done better in order not to rely on my opponent's mistakes.
Come on guys! Let's generate discussion. We can talk about anything. :D
What questions do you guys have when you are watching your replays? I am currently dealing with issues of positioning. I don't really know how to get into better positions or get better at sieging tanks and moving around the map. That's currently one of my on going problems and questions.
What are your issues?
Also, we can talk about the video itself. I am going to be trying some different things to reduce the lag and increase the quality. I think my computer can handle it, I think the problem lies with either x-split or my settings. So if anyone has any advice on that, that would be great too!
What do you think about the fact that, no matter how far the other player is ahead, you can only finish a Terran player off in the lategame if he decides to stay anyways?
On April 09 2012 21:50 Mahtasooma wrote: What do you think about the fact that, no matter how far the other player is ahead, you can only finish a Terran player off in the lategame if he decides to stay anyways?
What do you think about the fact that, on big maps, no matter what the terran does, the protoss can turtle up to three bases, eventually get a lucky storm and then sweep the game cause of warp gates reinforcements mechanics?
Overall, what do you think about storm and fungal and reaction time that is given to terran in engagements?
Well, your point is about "balance" and game mechanics and how that is played out.
My point is about senselessly and deliberately wasting the time of others because you CANNOT engange a twobase (or even onebase, for that matter) turtleterran until broods are out.
Imagine you kill off the terran army twice and contain him to two base. He cannot possibly build up anything that threatens the other player, but he decides he still wants to hang around and "play the game", as they say.
IMO you are asking an awful lot of the wrong questions or at least coming up with the wrong answers.
In the TvZ you really needed to focus on your Q6, clearly you got behind quite early on. Is it your build? Does that need to change? Was it your execution?
Try not to ask too many questions, concentrate on the big issues.
In game you just need to decide which of the three modes you are in, should you be playing greedy, safe or aggressive? This is your basic scissors, paper, stone stuff and is absolutely vital to winning games.
I think you really need to stop worrying so much about hypotheticals, don't worry about things that didn't actually happen. Lower league players get too hung up on stuff like, what if he 4 gates, what if he 6 pools, what if he goes DTs. Try to concentrate on what is actually happening in game. If you actually lose to one of those things then ask, why didn't I scout it, why didn't I micro against it correctly?
On April 09 2012 22:00 sieksdekciw wrote: What do you think about the fact that, on big maps, no matter what the terran does, the protoss can turtle up to three bases, eventually get a lucky storm and then sweep the game cause of warp gates reinforcements mechanics?
Overall, what do you think about storm and fungal and reaction time that is given to terran in engagements?
The important thing to realise is that terran has a lot more time to react if he is playing defensively. Most of the time people lose to storm is because they are trying to push the protoss. Make the protoss push you and it is MUCH easier to EMP his templar or snipe his colossi.
On April 09 2012 22:25 Willzzz wrote: IMO you are asking an awful lot of the wrong questions or at least coming up with the wrong answers.
In the TvZ you really needed to focus on your Q6, clearly you got behind quite early on. Is it your build? Does that need to change? Was it your execution?
Try not to ask too many questions, concentrate on the big issues.
In game you just need to decide which of the three modes you are in, should you be playing greedy, safe or aggressive? This is your basic scissors, paper, stone stuff and is absolutely vital to winning games.
I think you really need to stop worrying so much about hypotheticals, don't worry about things that didn't actually happen. Lower league players get too hung up on stuff like, what if he 4 gates, what if he 6 pools, what if he goes DTs. Try to concentrate on what is actually happening in game. If you actually lose to one of those things then ask, why didn't I scout it, why didn't I micro against it correctly?
Hey thank you for the post! I am wondering if this is a response to the post or to the video I posted. Part of the point of asking many questions is to try to eliminate others. Can this build knock out a host of issues rather than just preventing a 6 pool or DTs.
The point of this thread is to try to ask more efficient questions. Questions that allow us to improve more efficiently than just saying let's work on my stratedgy or my macro. These skills are too broad.
Thank you for posting. I will be trying to do one of these on being greedy and being aggressive and being safe etc.
On April 09 2012 22:03 Mahtasooma wrote: Well, your point is about "balance" and game mechanics and how that is played out.
My point is about senselessly and deliberately wasting the time of others because you CANNOT engange a twobase (or even onebase, for that matter) turtleterran until broods are out.
Imagine you kill off the terran army twice and contain him to two base. He cannot possibly build up anything that threatens the other player, but he decides he still wants to hang around and "play the game", as they say.
Believe me terrans feel the same when u are somehow alive on 2 bases and u have 10 + infestors that can stall and destroy any push and when toss can max out on 2 bases with chargelot + storm and with some good storms and 1 bad engagement he can a-move through the terran even if the terran is on 5 bases
All 3 races have great turtling and defending capabilities but usually staying in a game with 2 bases or even 1 when your opponent has the whole map is only bm and wont win u the game anyway
When to all-in? Only if you think it has a very good chance of success, or if you have no other choice.
Base trading is very complex, once you decide to base trade you must do a lot of things very quickly. Try to save your CCs and as many SCV as possible (often worth sending some medivacs for them). Try to get out a viking vs terran or a cloaked banshee, or at least save a starport.
Try to do the opposite to your opponent; kill their command structures and other vital buildings (robotics if going banshee). Be careful of high efficiency defence troops (HT, infestors, tanks) but kill their base as fast as you can. Try to reunite with your flying buildings and form a defensive position.
On April 10 2012 01:08 Willzzz wrote: When to all-in? Only if you think it has a very good chance of success, or if you have no other choice.
Base trading is very complex, once you decide to base trade you must do a lot of things very quickly. Try to save your CCs and as many SCV as possible (often worth sending some medivacs for them). Try to get out a viking vs terran or a cloaked banshee, or at least save a starport.
Try to do the opposite to your opponent; kill their command structures and other vital buildings (robotics if going banshee). Be careful of high efficiency defence troops (HT, infestors, tanks) but kill their base as fast as you can. Try to reunite with your flying buildings and form a defensive position.
Or do something far more tactical, like destroying their main source of detection, then sneaking a cloak banshee...
Day9 has about 450 episodes on you Cadoink. Best of luck though. I like your intent. Make sure you get good grades in college and go to class.
When Day9 did this episdoe he only asked 3 questions after each game:
a) What bad thing happened? (Expose any slight or minor detail. It could be a 1 second inefficiency in your build.)
example: I'm not constantly making SCV's
b) Why did it happen? (Could be multiple reasons.)
example: I'm forgeting or I'm not fast enough
c) How will I fix it? (Saying that you will "remember next time" does not count.)
example: I will spam the hotkey for my command center the entire game until I establish the habit of constantly making SCV's
If you are a "try hard" starcraft 2 player, then I suggest you keep a log too. This way you can see if you are making the same mistake twice. You can also see your progress and chart what tendencies exist in the multiplayer realm.
On April 10 2012 02:09 Lionbacker wrote: Day9 has about 450 episodes on you Cadoink. Best of luck though. I like your intent. Make sure you get good grades in college and go to class.
When Day9 did this episdoe he only asked 3 questions after each game:
a) What bad thing happened? (Expose any slight or minor detail. It could be a 1 second inefficiency in your build.)
example: I'm not constantly making SCV's
b) Why did it happen? (Could be multiple reasons.)
example: I'm forgeting or I'm not fast enough
c) How will I fix it? (Saying that you will "remember next time" does not count.)
example: I will spam the hotkey for my command center the entire game until I establish the habit of constantly making SCV's
If you are a "try hard" starcraft 2 player, then I suggest you keep a log too. This way you can see if you are making the same mistake twice. You can also see your progress and chart what tendencies exist in the multiplayer realm.
Thank you for the response. You don't have to worry about me. All A's and I haven't missed a class. I'm not trying to make this a career or anything. I am not trying to be Day9 or be better than Day9. I am just trying to do what I love. Which is Starcraft!
The point of this series is more to track the progress of a player from a player's point of view. I am trying to bring a new spring. That being said I know Day9 covers a lot of the topics I am going to cover. That doesn't mean I won't have a different perspective or have something new to say. Or sometimes its good to see things twice.
The 5 questions I came up with are different from his three. His three are great, but they aren't the only questions.
Thank you so much for the response! I need more of these. I want to make this a fun experience for everyone!
I think the issue may be you're trying to do high-level analysis when it's not necessary. There are simpler solutions to improve in the lower leagues.
I believe this is mainly because in bronze -> plat, rarely do you have someone who pressures. I don't mean "4 gate pressure" or "7 pool pressure", but like "attacking with the first zlot and stalker when doing a 1gate expand pressure". Because no such things happen, all you need to do in lower leagues is:
A.) Deal with allins like 4gate, 2rax scv, 6rax, 7rr, etc. B.) In the event the other player isn't allining or doing a pre-set build like 14/14 sling expand into mass lings, outmacro him. I've realized against players up to gold, if they try something like a FFE or 1rax expand, as Z i can get like 4 bases and not build more than 4 lings without scouting.
Things like build orders, expansion timings, gas timings, unit composition and stuff are all really, really important. But those things are the easiest to learn.
The hardest thing to learn is good mechanics and good macro. The reason why players want "strategy tips" and not "macro better" is because they want a quick way to move up the leagues. You can improve at tennis by learning where to position yourself or something, or you can improve at tennis by doing drills and exercises and becoming more athletic.
Oh, and build orders, expansion timings, etc. are all useless without good mechanics. Similarly, knowing how to do a sick spin is useless if you can't move yourself around the court fast enough to get to the ball.
EPT
