Starcraft 2

[buhwhyen]

EDIT:
I guess I forgot to really mention this, but going roaches first before expanding should be a reactionary build after seeing or predicting some sort of early zealot pressure (every game except the first I did a pretty standard 2 gate build). Otherwise its better to just expand right after you get your pool. Something like 15 pool, 16 hatch. Otherwise you come out behind, though you could always pressure the protoss if he didn't opt for 10 gate (1 gateway) push, or 2 gate.

Played 2 quick games against the computer, one I did the 1 base roach to stop early pressure. The other the more standard 15 pool 16 hatch (ish) build. I mostly neglected early upgrades, but you can always favor zergling speed to do more harass. And I realized when I was playing that you really only need 1 queen till your natural gets saturated with drones, I was hella broke all the time. But if your macro slips, I suppose the 2nd queen is alright to get so you can at least spend your money.

www.megaupload.com/?d=7AA2FI96
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After watching the replay of the last game we played, I think its really just an issue of remembering to do everything. After you stopped the initial zealots, you sat around with a lot of money not doing anything with it.

When you get 2 gate rushed, you have to play defensively until the roaches pop. After that you basically control the map for at least a minute or 2. There's a delay between the initial zealots and when the protoss can tech to stalkers/sentries. And roaches just flat out beat zealots (not that its impossible to kill a roach or 2 with the initial zealots, but if you control your roaches decently, there'll be no problem).

So what we didn't get to was using your roaches to push me back to my base. Like immediately after you get your roaches, you can push me back and get an expo right away, which is what didn't happen. You also don't need to build more zerglings after the initial 6-8, make drones instead. Your goal is really just to stop the zealot push and get your natural expansion up.

If you watch the replay, look how little vision of the middle of the map you have. You can always poke out with your first lings and more importantly use your 2nd and 3rd overlords to give vision of the middle of the map. There's conveniently cliffs in the middle of the map to sit over.

Also you should probably watch the replay to see when my zealots start to move out and whats happening in your base at the same time. This will give you a sense of when the zealots will reach your base even without scouting it.

Spreading creep...is something to think about, but I really wouldn't worry about it too much for a while. The basic idea is that you occasionally skip an inject larvae in favor of putting down a creep tumor (queen ability). Creep just increases the movement speed of all zerg ground units. Though this is the case if you have perfect macro and don't forget to inject larvae. Cause if you inject (NH) the moment 4 larvae pops, you never build up extra energy. So in the time it takes for inject larvae to run its course, queens regenerate 25 energy (and the spell costs 25 energy). If you don't have perfect macro, then you get extra energy, and you can run around dropping creep tumors in your base to spread the creep. Overlords can also vomit creep after you get lair tech? I think. Which is just that when they're stationary they generate creep underneath them.

Oh and I wouldn't bother with the extractor trick. The benefits are really marginal (there's actually a lot of debate as to whats better, extractor trick or not), but regardless, if it doesn't really net you any benefit, why bother?

I watched the 2nd to last game's replay, similar stuff to the last game we played. You really only need to build up to a few roaches then you have a period when you can build purely drones. And you dont need to wait so long to expand. 3 roaches can beat 5 zealots pretty easily.


I didn't really abuse it, but running back up your ramp can cause you to lose your expansion because 1 well placed force field blocks off most ramps completely.

[feedback]

www.pcauthority.com.au/News/223306,how-to-dust-away-starcraft-2-overheating-issues.aspx

Known graphics card overheating issue for SC2.

Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient. This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly. A temporary workaround is to go to your Documents\StarCraft II Beta\variables.txt file and add these lines:

frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60

You may replace these numbers if you want to.

edit: That should probably just be the Starcraft II folder. Not the beta folder.

[buhwhyen]

EDIT:
Yeah, I've seen posts about that on the TL.net forums. The general idea is that certain screens in the game don't have frame rate caps, so it shits out as many frames as your graphics card and computer can handle.

To see this in action, and actually I tend to leave this running all the time, is to hit control + alt + f? or something like that. It displays the frame refresh rate and this is a built in feature to sc2.

I tried to add in those lines into my variable txt but then sc2 popped an error saying to use an autofix tool because my install was corrupt, then it threw another error message saying to reinstall the game because the error couldn't be fixed. Removing the 2 lines I added fixed everything.

The only time I've actually noticed my frame rate spiking is during the campaign cinematics and some loading screens where my frame rate spikes as high as 500 fps.

Something definitely to watch out for though.

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Good zvt (mech) game on kulas ravine.
day9tv.blip.tv/file/3849937/

2gate stuff zvp
day9tv.blip.tv/file/3830055/

i h8 artosis, but this might be useful (though it honestly just looks dumb cause the protoss kept going into 100% passivity after early aggression)
day9tv.blip.tv/file/3782514/
blip.tv/file/3786710

[Pikachu]

The framerate issue horrified me when I saw it the other day. Inexcusable suit for those who have had their shit melted.

Having trouble in zvz when I try 15 pool. Do I just scout early and do an overpool build just like in bw?

Edit- To clarify, since I abruptly ended that post (my lunch had arrived) I am getting rushed early every game in zvz. Sometimes I drive it off, sometimes not. Trying to figure out a way to fend off 7/8/9 pools, in other words.

[buhwhyen]

the standard build, more or less, in zvz is something like 14 extractor, 13 pool, 15 overlord, then save for lings + queen + ling speed. You should play around with it and see how it works out. I think this should defend early ling rushes, it really is centered around getting ling speed early and being able to easily transition into baneling/mutas. I would either watch the replays of the games you were rushed in, and look at the time when the lings reach your base to see if your lings will hatch in time to defend or not with this build, if you do survive, it should be pretty easy to extend your advantage and get a win. Otherwise you should just do the build yourself against the ai and see how long it takes for the lings to pop with a 7/8/9 pool and run them to each base and see how long it takes to get there.

Most of the time people just go ling/baneling into mutas. Roach play has decreased in popularity cause it really limits your mobility and pure ling kills roaches if you can get a surround, which is not so difficult.

[Pikachu]

I find that hydras shred mutas up pretty well. Might try skipping roaches altogether to get to hydras early.

[buhwhyen]

That's true. but hydras are really immobile so you end up playing kinda all-in after a certain point cause your opponent can harass you anytime you move out and get back to defend his base before he dies if he positions correctly.

[buhwhyen]

www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=141980

ppl are r-tards. srsly, I can't have faith in the human race after reading about this kinda shit.

[buhwhyen]

www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=142288

[Pikachu]

Seriously going to learn how to spread creep better. The speed boost is minor and still goes a long way.

[buhwhyen]

Creep speed bonus != minor. See ultralisks/hydralisks/roaches/queen. Unbearably slow without creep, bearable with creep.

Random thoughts about the campaign. Choose planetary fortress upgrade, not perdition turrets, they're fucking terrible and planetary fortresses make the last mission unspeakably easier to finish. Also science vessels >>> ravens. Also makes a few missions a lot easier. Also, when given the choice, take out the nydus worms and not the flyer's nest (at the end of the game), makes the last stage much easier as well. Also have enough money to upgrade your missile turrets and vikings for the last stage (armory upgrades).

[Pikachu]

So I finally have a better grasp on when to expand and tech, rather than just randomly doing it (nh) without defending myself. I had to lose several games to see what I could and could not get away with. It's a bit formulaic right now since my opponents aren't exceptionally strong, but I've just been playing defensively while expanding and out-macroing opponents to death.

I then noticed my games dragging out a little longer, and started to go back to replays to see if there were good times to attack that I missed. They were everywhere.

In one very embarrassing game, while muta-harassing, I had supply blocked a guy while getting a third, disrupting further production of vikings. I caught the vikings out of position, and all he had left were marines. I actually had an equal (and later, superior) number of mutas to his marines, but during the game I kept running just because I was scared of losing mutas. It wasn't until I noticed his wall-in wasn't guarded, and used lings to see how many units he had.. and I saw very, very few. In the replay, you can clearly see me wasting several minutes almost toying with my opponent (again nh) just because I was too timid to attack and overestimated the number of units.

Any tips on overcoming this? I guess I can scout better, but sometimes I just get deprived of information and am too busy concentrating on remember to build units and start doubting myself.

[buhwhyen]

Well noticing your games dragging on is a good sign overall. It just means that you aren't trying to force games to end, favoring playing the game out, which is really what you should be doing. Until you really hit diamond league, the games you play should really almost all be formulaic. Even in diamond league, most of the time you don't have to deviate much from the norm to win games.

For the other question, it really depends why you thought you shouldn't attack. Losing mutas is definitely not good, but at the same time you can't be too scared to do anything with them.

Mutas are pretty weak overall and you'd have a pretty large excess of minerals if you went mass muta. So I assume you had a bunch of zerglings?

If you're lacking scouting information, there are a few ways to deal with that. But the more important question is what are you really looking for? Are you trying to figure out what tech he has or what kind/how many units he has (nh), where his army is, etc.

This might be a little too much to do right now, but if you're lacking information about his build, you should figure out how to position your overlords around his base so you can, if need be, suicide 1-2 slow overlords to get a good look at his base. It's expensive, but a lot of times it can be worth it to see if he's doing some sort of all-in build. An alternative, if you get a quick lair is to upgrade an overseer to check out his base.

The important part about scouting (and trying to figure out what build he's doing) is to look for key structures and or unit compositions. So if you're worried about some sort of marine/marauder push, you can suicide 1-2 lings at his ramp and check if he has marauders or not, which can help tell you what kind of build he's doing. Or you can check the perimeter of his base with an overlord to look for a starport that is placed closest to your base and still safe within his base. Scouting tech labs early almost always means cloaked banshees, quick reactored starports typically means a viking build for killing overlords, 3 rax means early marine/marauder push, etc.

And frankly if your army is mostly mutas, use those to scout. Attack different parts of his base (ie you attack more than 1 area of his base => you see more than 1 area of his base => you know what he has/doesn't have in his base). Hell, when his army comes to drive off your mutas, you can try to run around in his base to pick off random scvs and get a good idea of what he has, though this can end pretty horribly (if your mutas get trapped), it can also tell you exactly what he has tech and unit composition wise.


Random note, it kinda sounds like you're thinking too much in terms of fighting game when you're talking about being at an advantage. Your advantage in rts games in general is a lot easier to maintain than in a fighting game. There isn't anything that terrible about playing a little too passively. If you're not too sure whether or not to attack, or whether or not you can win then don't. If you're at an advantage there's no reason to try to force something and potentially give your opponent a way to get back into the game.

In fighting games being at 90% health when your opponent is at 5% means not a lot, frankly. There are plenty of games where this happens and the person with 5% health has a pretty damn good chance of still winning the round. Relatively speaking (though this analogy is pretty flawed - Lol ANALogy), if you're on 3-4 bases and your opponent is on 1-2, there ain't no real way he's easily gonna win the game because there is an economic factor, army size/composition factor, upgrades, etc.

[Pikachu]

K. I will practice more on scouting while harassing. I don't know why I divorce those two ideas as if I have to do one at a time.

I do tend to have mineral overflow and am making lings. Guess I can afford to sack an ol or two in those situations as well.

[buhwhyen]

Absolutely ridiculous how every "lan" tournament that's being held now has multiple disconnect/drop issues. Seriously...what the fuck is up with shitty networking/sc2 coding. It's appalling how the game so consistently drops players for no reason at sponsored lan tournaments. I don't see how people can put up with this shit, I would be really pissed playing a 30 minute game (at match point for one player) that was completely lagless up until one player just all of a sudden drops with thousand(s) of dollars in prize money on the line.

Seriously, how can you expect to build a real competitive gaming community with/without company sponsors when your fucking gaming platform consistently drops players for no apparent reason.