[G] GrandMaster SC2 Lecture: Aggressive Zerg Play - Page 13
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Thugtronik
New Zealand452 Posts
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Simonius
Germany98 Posts
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Flonomenalz
Nigeria3519 Posts
On November 06 2011 16:50 Inters wrote: Not sure why Tang is getting so much rap for teaching aggressive/cheesy play? First off, cheese is the best way to learn. I flogged around for a bit in bronze league when I first started playing, then I discoved that you could actually just build a spawning pool at 6 supply. Once that got accomplished, I used that as a stepping stone to gold league by learning how to multitask/macro by building only 6 lings at the start and trying to keep them alive as long as possible. I went from bronze scrub to diamond scrub in 100 games. Obviously not record breaking, but something to consider. Why would anyone below plat, or hell even diamond, even attempt to do complicated stuff when they can't do simple stuff like cheese? You have to start with the easy stuff or you're NEVER going to learn the hard stuff. Oh, and EVERY progamer knows some cheese of some sort. Even IdrA. Cheese is part of the game, deal with it. If you refuse to ever cheese, you're worse off than the people who do cheese every game. So unless you see July posting in the threads about how to do aggressive play, I'd suggest everyone stfu and give this guy a chance. Lol no, just no. You say you got to diamond by using cheese as a basis? I guarantee you a person that got to diamond (like myself) using macro and proper mechanics as a basis would beat you in a best of X every single time. Cheese is not an efficient way to learn at all. | ||
tuestresfat
2555 Posts
On November 06 2011 20:51 Flonomenalz wrote: Lol no, just no. You say you got to diamond by using cheese as a basis? I guarantee you a person that got to diamond (like myself) using macro and proper mechanics as a basis would beat you in a best of X every single time. Cheese is not an efficient way to learn at all. edit:+ Show Spoiler + does X = 1? kidding, kidding. K but this guide assumes you already have pretty decent mechanics. You'd think the title 'Grandmasters' infers this isn't a guide for bronzies to get to diamond. Just because IdrA only knows how to drone and max to 200/200 before doing anything doesn't mean it's the only viable way to play zerg. Aggressive zerg is definitely viable and we see so much of that from top korean players like Losira and DRG. Aggressive =/= all in | ||
TangSC
Canada1866 Posts
On November 06 2011 16:50 Inters wrote: First off, cheese is the best way to learn. I flogged around for a bit in bronze league when I first started playing, then I discoved that you could actually just build a spawning pool at 6 supply. Once that got accomplished, I used that as a stepping stone to gold league by learning how to multitask/macro by building only 6 lings at the start and trying to keep them alive as long as possible. I went from bronze scrub to diamond scrub in 100 games. Obviously not record breaking, but something to consider. Why would anyone below plat, or hell even diamond, even attempt to do complicated stuff when they can't do simple stuff like cheese? You have to start with the easy stuff or you're NEVER going to learn the hard stuff. While different people learn in different ways, I think you make a great point. Lower-level players do not have the mechanics and fundamentals to macro efficiently off 3-5 bases and control maxed out armies with a varied unit composition. Therefore, their play really shouldn't be designed to squeeze out small economic leads. In fact, I would argue that players should first learn to macro a 1-base style perfectly before moving on to 2 base, and then 2 base before three, etc. There's no reason a gold level player needs to have 80 drones, they should be focusing on 1-2base timing attacks that will help improve their multitasking and mechanics much faster than an enormous economy. For players looking to learn, focus on timing out your early game precisely and executing standard 1-2 base timing attacks. If you can't execute an effective 4gate, 10pool, 3racks stim rush, etc, how do you expect to grasp more advanced play? Besides, I can safely say that the vast majority of SC2 games end after a 1 to 2base timing attack, and it's a strong way to play and improve. | ||
zmansman17
United States2567 Posts
On November 07 2011 00:59 TangSC wrote: While different people learn in different ways, I think you make a great point. Lower-level players do not have the mechanics and fundamentals to macro efficiently off 3-5 bases and control maxed out armies with a varied unit composition. Therefore, their play really shouldn't be designed to squeeze out small economic leads. In fact, I would argue that players should first learn to macro a 1-base style perfectly before moving on to 2 base, and then 2 base before three, etc. There's no reason a gold level player needs to have 80 drones, they should be focusing on 1-2base timing attacks that will help improve their multitasking and mechanics much faster than an enormous economy. For players looking to learn, focus on timing out your early game precisely and executing standard 1-2 base timing attacks. If you can't execute an effective 4gate, 10pool, 3racks stim rush, etc, how do you expect to grasp more advanced play? Besides, I can safely say that the vast majority of SC2 games end after a 1 to 2base timing attack, and it's a strong way to play and improve. Yeah after thinking about this issue at length, you're right on the money. I had been writing in threads to "macro better", but then I reflected on how I learned the game and it was in mastering 1 base timings. Then I eventually learned when to drop the 2nd base and worked to master 2 base timings. Its' kind of a weird point to understand as someone who is already a good player, but if you think back to where you were at one time, it may shed some light on how you can advise others. | ||
michaelhasanalias
Korea (South)1231 Posts
On November 06 2011 06:52 TangSC wrote: I've received an incredibly positive response from the majority of the SC2 community and I know my efforts to help people improve will not be appreciated by everyone, but that's perfectly fine. I love what I do and I thoroughly enjoy my play style so comments like yours truly don't phase me. If you took the time to constructively contribute and help improve the quality of my guides and posts, I'd happily consider your suggestions. Your criticism, however, is filled with spite and does not help anyone. I wish you'd put your time into helping out the community by doing a lecture or writing TL threads rather than spreading such negativity. you mean like one of these threads? http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=264988 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=214208 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=269126 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=250539 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=267313 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=265335 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=192260 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=219774 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=201678 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=201178 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=198237 | ||
sanddbox_sc2
United States173 Posts
On November 06 2011 13:56 Marokeas wrote: The post on a positive mindset has barely anything to do with starcraft but it's a great post for any one who wants to learn how to play the game nonetheless. That thread didn't even draw any research from the entire field of performance psychology, one of the most highly relevant fields to Starcraft 2. On November 06 2011 13:56 Marokeas wrote: The post on an effective opening build describes what I believe is a popular (used to be popular?) opening for zerg. In the end, the whole post has very little to do with the build itself and highlights the thinking required for learning any new build. A decent guide for the lower-level players among us, even if a bit obvious. Probably the only one of his guides that could help anybody, even if it does so in a very small way. On November 06 2011 13:56 Marokeas wrote: I'm only a gold player, so I can't comment on Tang's play, except by saying that he's better than I am. Skill is actually irrelevant to a strategy discussion; but if we want to go that route, I'm better than Tang is, and I say his play is awful. Also, you're perfectly allowed to comment on his play, just as even bronze leaguers can criticize Idra for losing mutalisks carelessly or attacking at a bad time. On November 06 2011 13:56 Marokeas wrote: He streams and he's just letting you know. He coaches and he's just letting you know. He's not just letting us know, he's trying to profit, and writing poor guides that appeal to bad players to promote these profitable endeavors of his. On November 06 2011 16:50 Inters wrote: Oh, and EVERY progamer knows some cheese of some sort. Even IdrA. Cheese is part of the game, deal with it. If you refuse to ever cheese, you're worse off than the people who do cheese every game. Knowing cheese is different than executing cheese every game; more importantly, this isn't advertised as a guide for cheese, but for "aggressive zerg play". Also, it's much better to never cheese than to always cheese. On November 06 2011 16:50 Inters wrote: So unless you see July posting in the threads about how to do aggressive play, I'd suggest everyone stfu and give this guy a chance. Once again, skill is irrelevant if you understand the game, which you obviously don't. If skill is so important to you, I'll gladly play you. @Michael: I love you. | ||
SpoR
United States1542 Posts
On November 06 2011 20:51 Flonomenalz wrote: Lol no, just no. You say you got to diamond by using cheese as a basis? I guarantee you a person that got to diamond (like myself) using macro and proper mechanics as a basis would beat you in a best of X every single time. Cheese is not an efficient way to learn at all. Yes it is, because you have to start at the bottom to understand every step of the game. You use a macro build and make a barracks on X timing because of what? Cheese defense. So a good way to learn is to cheese until someone beats it, then you see their build and you do the next build that defeats that build and use it until it too is defeated, until you just work yourself up into a macro based aggressive build or whatever. People who blindly just copy macro builds because pros do it are missing all the information up the the point of that build. All the pros have that knowledge from giving and receiving cheese in order to refine these builds to the usually good builds that they are. | ||
sanddbox_sc2
United States173 Posts
On November 07 2011 16:03 SpoR wrote: Yes it is, because you have to start at the bottom to understand every step of the game. You use a macro build and make a barracks on X timing because of what? Cheese defense. So a good way to learn is to cheese until someone beats it, then you see their build and you do the next build that defeats that build and use it until it too is defeated, until you just work yourself up into a macro based aggressive build or whatever. People who blindly just copy macro builds because pros do it are missing all the information up the the point of that build. All the pros have that knowledge from giving and receiving cheese in order to refine these builds to the usually good builds that they are. There's nothing wrong with executing a macro build poorly; as you work on your weaknesses, your macro will improve. Having poor macro is a very poor excuse for not trying to improve your macro. For example, when I started in Gold league, I was under the impression that the way to play zerg was to drone and then make army when the enemy pushed out. It turns out that if the enemy pushes out at 10 minutes, one or two rounds of units won't save you. Furthermore, the way that drone saturation works (diminishing returns past 16 and no returns past 24 on minerals) means that it's desirable to produce units instead of drones when you have enough, regardless of whether an attack is immediately coming. The more I played, the better my creep spread, injects, upgrade timings, micro, etc improved. The first 100 or so games I barely spread any creep at all; for a long time, I also never got upgrades (including roach speed, even when I went roach hydra against...Terran). The point is that even if you're bad, you can still play a macro style - you'll just be bad at it, which is okay, because your goal is to improve. | ||
SpoR
United States1542 Posts
On November 07 2011 16:25 sanddbox_sc2 wrote: There's nothing wrong with executing a macro build poorly; as you work on your weaknesses, your macro will improve. Having poor macro is a very poor excuse for not trying to improve your macro. For example, when I started in Gold league, I was under the impression that the way to play zerg was to drone and then make army when the enemy pushed out. It turns out that if the enemy pushes out at 10 minutes, one or two rounds of units won't save you. Furthermore, the way that drone saturation works (diminishing returns past 16 and no returns past 24 on minerals) means that it's desirable to produce units instead of drones when you have enough, regardless of whether an attack is immediately coming. The more I played, the better my creep spread, injects, upgrade timings, micro, etc improved. The first 100 or so games I barely spread any creep at all; for a long time, I also never got upgrades (including roach speed, even when I went roach hydra against...Terran). The point is that even if you're bad, you can still play a macro style - you'll just be bad at it, which is okay, because your goal is to improve. If you don't practice the game from the ground up, then you will have bad unit decisions and poorer unit control. | ||
Tekakan
Sweden78 Posts
On November 07 2011 18:42 SpoR wrote:If you don't practice the game from the ground up, then you will have bad unit decisions and poorer unit control. At the same time if you focus on macroing yourself to Masters then you'll have a much broader understanding of the mid- and lategame. But I agree that if I was able to redo the journey from Bronze to Masters I would've gone for a 1 base all in from Bronze to Gold. 2 base all in from Gold to Diamond and then started working on more longterm builds. The problem is hardly anyone is able to have such a long term plan of how to reach Masters. People tend to find a play style they like and stick to it through the entire ranking system. | ||
holydevil
United States145 Posts
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Monasou
United States218 Posts
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TangSC
Canada1866 Posts
On November 07 2011 13:02 michaelhasanalias wrote: you mean like one of these threads? http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=264988 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=214208 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=269126 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=250539 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=267313 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=265335 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=192260 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=219774 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=201678 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=201178 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=198237 Yes, go back to doing that It's a much more effective use of your talents than what you've been saying here. | ||
TangSC
Canada1866 Posts
On November 07 2011 16:25 sanddbox_sc2 wrote: There's nothing wrong with executing a macro build poorly; as you work on your weaknesses, your macro will improve. Having poor macro is a very poor excuse for not trying to improve your macro. The point is that even if you're bad, you can still play a macro style - you'll just be bad at it, which is okay, because your goal is to improve. You make some good points Sandbox, and I agree to an extent. Obviously those who want to play a macro style will benefit from practicing macro and so it makes sense to play macro. However, I think a lot of players misunderstand and think macro zerg is the ONLY way to play zerg and that's the misconception I'm looking to abolish. I think players watch idra and ret drone up to 80, and get really frustrated when they play very greedy and get killed by cheese, all-in timing attacks, harassment, etc. Then, once they finally get to a maxed out army, their opponent rolls them over with a 150food colossus/stalker/sentry army. Macro zerg has its benefits, but for the bronze-platinum level players, playing aggressive is the way to improve and have fun along the way. AND my point in saying that I'm a grand master zerg is that even though aggression is a way to improve, it is also a style that can take you to the top. I'm not Nestea and there are numerous flaws and gaps in my play, but to say I blind-cheesed my way to GM is inaccurate because I've played most of the top NA players multiple times. | ||
SpoR
United States1542 Posts
On November 07 2011 23:37 TangSC wrote: You make some good points Sandbox, and I agree to an extent. Obviously those who want to play a macro style will benefit from practicing macro and so it makes sense to play macro. However, I think a lot of players misunderstand and think macro zerg is the ONLY way to play zerg and that's the misconception I'm looking to abolish. I think players watch idra and ret drone up to 80, and get really frustrated when they play very greedy and get killed by cheese, all-in timing attacks, harassment, etc. Then, once they finally get to a maxed out army, their opponent rolls them over with a 150food colossus/stalker/sentry army. Macro zerg has its benefits, but for the bronze-platinum level players, playing aggressive is the way to improve and have fun along the way. AND my point in saying that I'm a grand master zerg is that even though aggression is a way to improve, it is also a style that can take you to the top. I'm not Nestea and there are numerous flaws and gaps in my play, but to say I blind-cheesed my way to GM is inaccurate because I've played most of the top NA players multiple times. You actually just summed up the reason why there are fewer zergs in lower leagues, as well as why there are more bad zergs in lower leagues. | ||
Shado.
United States187 Posts
On November 07 2011 15:06 sanddbox_sc2 wrote: Skill is actually irrelevant to a strategy discussion; but if we want to go that route, I'm better than Tang is, and I say his play is awful. Also, you're perfectly allowed to comment on his play, just as even bronze leaguers can criticize Idra for losing mutalisks carelessly or attacking at a bad time. Am I the only one who wants to see this go to a best of 7? | ||
TangSC
Canada1866 Posts
On November 08 2011 19:48 Shado. wrote: Am I the only one who wants to see this go to a best of 7? Not saying I'm better than sandbox or anything but we're at least comparable, my points are higher! Once I get my stream operational, I'd probably play a respectful show match with someone of equal or greater skill than me. | ||
TangSC
Canada1866 Posts
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