VFDC StarCraft II Thread

I know people here other than me have to be playing this game. I'm running Zergs, Send me a friend request!

LuckyGT7@gmail.com

 

Not I, my good sir.

 

I got one of the trial codes from a friend of mine to check if I can actually run the thing on my computer.

I'm going to be on the European servers though, so I don't believe we'd be able to face each other online.

 

Doesn't matter what your history is with gaming, SCII is a game that should be played or at least looked upon. The time and effort put into this title is fantastic and for the best part of a decade I have waited for this day, I have no doubt I'll be replaying this campaign and it's multiplayer for another decade to come, there are no words to describe my love for SC and Blizzard as a development company.

When I can pry myself away from the campaign I will be back into training mode with fighters, but I doubt that will be any time soon

 

Profound sadness that I'm not playing yet.

No money or a PC that could run it for that matter.

 

Same here, no money for the game only though.

When I do get the money I'm buying it ASAP and I'll post my account info. I'm a Terran player.

 

OMFG I love this fucking game just like the first. SC2 is the only game that can compete with VF for me in maximum attention time. In ways SC and SC2 are the VF of RTS games. I love zerg and all of the changes made

 

Zerg Queens are amazing this sequel also

 

Im gonna go play some SC2 now^^ peace

 

Zerg Queens are definitely strong on this version making extra larvae is very good. Hard to remember to do it every time they pop though.

I can only keep up with the early - earlymid game for now. Anything past that and I'm racking up 1000's of minerals not knowing what to build yet.

 

Yeah, same here, basic macro is hard enough. And now I need to actually attack someone in the meantime?

Ah well, only played one online game so far.

 

im hoping there is gonna be customer maps.. like DOTA/DOOMSDAY style type of games like warcraft3. I cant macro well either.

 

man, i have a quad core processor, 6 gigs of ram and a decent vid card and starcraft 2 still only runs smoothly on minimum settings. this is some bs!!!!

 

If you are having issues with SC's heavily macro-oriented game play, I highly suggest you to check out Dawn of War 2, or its predecessor, Company of Heroes. Heck, even Blizzard's own Warcraft 3.

I have played SC2 over the weekend and I have built some win streaks in the non-ranked games. Yet, it's painfully obvious the gameplay is dated.

I know the gameplay's intentionally dated. But for ten years many got used to the modern RTS (or RTT-real time tactical) games based on hero units, customizable units, streamlined resource models, micro controls, and sensibly animated characters (ie. infantries don't stand around in circle like statues while melee units chip their faces away as in SC).

I will probably keep playing until the next update for Dawn of War 2. But it's clear that Emperor has old clothes.

 

Right, so I'm going to pick up this game tomorrow and am going to make some sort of effort to learn the game properly.

Been doing a lot of prep work, reading stuff and watching videos.

I have a PDF file called "how to improve" and it has a lot of interesting stuff.

There's a great section near the start that applies to learning not just Starcraft but any game.

I know a few folk this applies to (Hazzerone)and I think it's well worth the read.

Starcraft info is interchangable.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are two major obstacles with the 'pros-above all else' approach. The rst is that it eliminates a large
portion of gameplay that lower level players will be more exposed to. This occurs due to the very simple fact
that pros will not use anything that doesn't work for long, thus removing many if not all available examples
of how to play against it. An example would be one base bio ZvT, a poor strategy but something a beginning
Zerg might have grave diculties dealing with as they don't have anything to model for beating it. Unless
they somehow stumble upon Leta vs Jaedong on Chupung Ryeong1 or another hairpin in the haystack,
they're essentially out of luck as many of the games which would show how to decisively win simply aren't
available (practice games or are too old and not online). The second problem is that it can be very dicult
for a newer player to relate what goes on in a pro game, where boundaries are pushed to their limits, for
their own games are the exact opposite.
The rst problem unfortunately doesn't have any optimal solution and is the chief
aw with this ap-
proach. Losing to stupid things will happen and there might be a point where you can beat a decent player
who plays correctly yet lose to a poor one who uses inferior strategies. This bizarre situation occurs because
you are jumping over a large period of growth by rigorously learning from the correct ideas (those by the
pros) instead of learning much slower, but more incrementally, by personal trial and error. Thus there will
come a point when you have a gap in your knowledge: you understand what is right, but not why it is
right, and thus do not have the know how without a direct example of how to defeat inferior ideas. Seeking
explanations certainly does help here as the accuracy on solved problems is usually better than for unsolved
ones, but on its own it might not be enough. If you have the skill to play as other races, playing from the
other side of the eld is a great x. Try playing that 1 base bio against a bunch of Zergs and see what
happens. It really helps to feel, not just read about, the problems from the other POV. Regardless, this is
a problem that will vanish after your understanding grows, but it may make a painful bump in the road.
The worst part about the second problem is that due to the inherent nature of learning, the initial period
of growth is always slow and will show little results. A beginning student cannot eectively comprehend the
nature of what they are seeing because they have not built the mental framework to place it in: to them an
SC game, especially a pro one, is just a series of actions happening for seemingly incomprehensible reasons.
They can't understand their own games, so how could they even begin to relate to one played many levels
higher? The slow growth during this period can easily lead to discouragement and is a stumbling block for
many people; the inability to establish a mental framework is likely the reason why only a small fraction of
SC players can ever get above the level of a d/d+ iccup player.
The mental framework is a structural glue of sorts that stores and relates every known idea about the
subject. It cannot be fully realized until one can, at least at a basic level, incorporate together the patterns
that govern the activity. For example, show a typical starleague TvP to a pro and they will be able to
eortlessly evaluate the position at almost any given time, accurately predict at what future point a player
might have a timing window, and see what options each side has, among many other things. Their mind has
already constructed an accurate model that can t inside the game they are evaluating and, even though the
evaluation game is a unique occurence, their overall understanding of patterns will allow them to analyze it
as if they had seen the exact simulation many times. On the other hand, show that same player an otherwise
impossible scenario of say, a TvT where each player starts o with 30 scvs and a battlecruiser, and their ability to evaluate the game sharply drops.
One the most important steps I took when going through this period was to nd every single example
possible of a very good player crushing someone much worse. Games between equal strength pros were all
well and good, but what really helped was seeing the dierence between skill levels. WCG progamer replays,
invite tournaments that a handful of pros attend, any and all ladder replays, and even proleague/qualifying
games where a top pro massacres a weak one, are all superb sources of learning material.
When deeply analyzing games it is crucial that you be actively pausing and thinking, asking questions
such as: "What would I do here? Why does he make this move or idea instead? What's the purpose of this
action?" Actively compare your thought processes and decisions with what the pro actually makes. Along
with putting quality eort into studying pro games, merely watching very large quantities of pro games will
help in establishing subconscious patterns. Quality of players selected matters as well: studying 1 Flash
game is a lot more valuable than watching 10 Leta games.
Study of these games should be paired with seeking out as many solid explanations of game scenarios
you can. As previously mentioned, it's important to take every explanation from a less reputable (non-pro)
source, at least ones of more complex problems, with a grain of salt. Seek them out, learn what you can,
but don't make them the cornerstone of your understanding. Instead, use them to ll the gaps, to give you
ideas of what to look for. Actively think about them and don't just take them for granted. Instead, relate
them to the pro games and come to your own conclusions.
The type of explanation you ask for is also very important. A player with a solid foundation already
can sometimes just ask a specic 'what' question. For example, what are the only valid openings against 12
Nexus TvP. But a player who doesn't have that foundation won't be able to make use of that information
except for just choosing an opening. They instead need to seek out why certain things do or don't work.
They need to know that the reason why 2 factory
ounders against 12 Nexus is because 2 Factory is designed
to hit in a window where the Protoss has temporarily stopped tech/goon production to start their expansion.
But in the case of 12 Nexus, the Protoss started their Nexus before making a gateway. Thus their economy,
instead of suering a slight dip when the 2 factory would hit, has more goons, more gateways, and better
tech because they already paid the sacrice to start the expansion far earlier. Of course it is up to the player
themselves to ask the right questions instead of simply asking 'help' or 'what did I do wrong;' it scarcely
needs to be said that the right questions are almost never asked or answered.</div></div>


If any EU players are interested in playing a few, let me know.

 

Awesome, Marly. Give me a shout if you get set up.

On a completely unrelated note, is the shoutbox dead for anyone else?

 

It's dead...

 

""Losing to stupid things will happen and there might be a point where you can beat a decent player
who plays correctly yet lose to a poor one who uses inferior strategies. This bizarre situation occurs because
you are jumping over a large period of growth by rigorously learning from the correct ideas (those by the
pros) instead of learning much slower, but more incrementally, by personal trial and error. Thus there will
come a point when you have a gap in your knowledge: you understand what is right, but not why it is
right, and thus do not have the know how without a direct example of how to defeat inferior ideas. Seeking
explanations certainly does help here as the accuracy on solved problems is usually better than for unsolved
ones, but on its own it might not be enough. If you have the skill to play as other races, playing from the
other side of the eld is a great x. Try playing that 1 base bio against a bunch of Zergs and see what
happens. It really helps to feel, not just read about, the problems from the other POV.""

Yeh pretty insightful. Doesn't really make me want to change anything I do except play VF more often I suppose...I mean I would play VF more anyway, it's just not a convenient game to play; therefore I don't play VF as much as I otherwise would.

 

Any EU folk have this?

My Battle.net identifier is "Seidon.334"

I'm playing Terran at the moment. Finished my initial placement matches and got put in Gold League. My division is "Warfield Alpha"

Currently 86th in my division but I'm looking to advance a bit during the weekend.