The Little Zergling

Closing Up Shop.

2010-10-27T04:13:00.001-04:00

Due to time considerations, I find myself with little to no time or inclination to continue posting for this blog. It didn't run for very long but I enjoyed my time spent here immensely.

I'm keeping this post short, but I wanted to thank everyone who read and those of whom I met through this endeavor. I plan to continue reading those blogs on my list and will be on Battle.net as often as I can, so feel free to look me up if you haven't already.

Cheers,

Apollo

GSL Season 2 - First Impressions

2010-10-20T00:16:00.000-04:00

Another season of the GSL Starcraft II Open is upon us and with it comes another $90,000 USD(approx) grand prize for the winner. Oh, did I mention the tournament was even better this time around? It is.

GOMtv has gone to great lengths to improve the production value of this tournament is quite a number of ways, paying special attention to areas that viewers had been ~~whining~~ concerned about during the first season. Did they smooth out all the wrinkles? I'll give my view beyond the break.

What GOMtv Did Right

Season 2 Discount - GOMtv decided to offer a 25% discount to those viewers who purchased the Season 1 season ticket. I was more than willing to pay $19.95, but $14.95 is even better. Plus, if you were one of those people who decided against watching the GSL, GOMtv has a package for you too! For $24.95 USD, you get Season 1 VODs(Video on Demand) and Season 2 Live+VOD. That's $15.00 off what they'd be seperately! Full details here.

Better Resolutions - The live stream in High Quality seems significantly smoother than it did in Season 1, at least for me while Standard Quality(free) looks about the same. The biggest change was to the VOD resolutions. You can now watch the full replays of the games in 720p! During Season 1, no one could really read any of the numbers in the production tabs or the game time. Now, everything is easily readable and it's almost like you're observing the game yourself. Bravo on this change!

New Chat Function - About midway through the first season, GOMtv disabled the chat feature on the website due both to stupid spammers and idiots as well as the cumbersome nature of the program. It was like chatting using Facebook status updates. Now we get a slick new chat feature with the ability to create public and private rooms and monitored by GOMtv personnel to keep the junk to a minimum.

What They Didn't Do

Learn From Their Mistakes - Day 1 of the first season saw most viewers unable to watch the opening ceremonies due to issues with the HQ feed. The SQ feed was working, but since it was free and user-capped, it was full a minute past start time. I myself couldn't start watching until almost two hours into it.

This season I expected to be better. I mean, they knew what was going to happen and they prepared for it, right? Right? No. The first game was over before most could access either the HQ or SQ feeds. Seems the servers couldn't handle the amount of people trying to connect at once. I wonder how hard it is to compare the number of paying customers to the number of open connections and make sure they match.

Lack of Forum Presence - What made the above issue even more irritating is the 4-5 pages of posts on the GOMtv tournament forums detailing this issue and all the people stating they couldn't connect. Where was GOMtv? Apparently not looking at the forums, the only means their customers can communicate with them in some semblance of a speedy fashion.

It wasn't until after the issue had been fixed that we heard anything from GOMtv. They issues a brief news post saying that they had fixed the problem and to try now. This was long after everyone had realized it was working and was happily watching the games. They could really use someone watching those forums and tasked with keeping their viewers in the loop. A simple "We're working on it" would have been fine.

Lack of iPhone/iPod Support - Promised in Season 1 but never delivered(despite many people purchasing the tickets just for this feature). Not even mentioned on the Season 2 website. Not that this is a bad thing; better to not say anything than to get people's hopes up. Just would be a nice thing to be able to access while I'm sitting around waiting for an appointment or something.

The Final Word

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons by an Ultralisk or two. The streams are steady now, they're even better quality than before, and the games are just as, if not more, competitive and exciting to watch. If you haven't even considered watching these games, I say go check out the site. Watch one of the VODs and see for yourself what all the fuss is about. For future reference, the fuss is about this.

Poll: Would You Continue Reading?

2010-10-15T18:27:00.001-04:00

I've been struggling with a question for a while now and after watching my buddy Rahlekk make the switch from Zerg to Terran, I decided maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. I've played 200+ games as Zerg and I think that's enough to get a decent grasp of what they're like and how they play. I'm no expert, but I think I can say that I have a basic grasp of the playstyle.

Now, during these 200+ games, I've watched Terrans and Protoss doing all sorts of things I could never do as a Zerg. I'm not saying this as some sort of QQ-- more like a contrast of options than an imbalance. The other races are simply different ways of getting to the same goal, in my mind. But one thing always creeps in with these thoughts and Fungal Growth's(Yeah, I made a Zerg analogy. I make no apologies.) my urge to change races: what would happen to the blog?

I enjoy writing this blog and I hope you all enjoy reading it, but would the enjoyment still be there on both sides if suddenly I was learning Terran strategies or practicing Protoss tactics? I figured I'd put it to a vote and see what sort of response I get. Please vote if you enjoy reading this blog.

Would you keep reading this blog if I didn't play Zerg?

GOMtv Starcraft II Team Invitational

2010-10-12T09:48:00.001-04:00

When you're having people over to your house for a fancy dinner, you want to make sure everything's in order before they get there. And if you happen to be having say.. thousands of people over to watch 64 of the best players in the world square off in Blizzard's Starcraft II, then that need for preparation is all the more urgent. This is exactly why GOMtv is holding a short(4 day) tournament for the biggest Starcraft II teams in Korea from October 13-16, 2010.

That's right, as a dry run to test the limits of their improved streaming service, GOMtv is hosting a full-blown tournament that anyone can watch... FOR FREE. Details follow the break.

There are a few caveats, however.

This is a live stream test. You have to watch the games live, which means at 18:00 KST(GMT +9). In other words, 5am EST is when the matches start, just like in the GSL.
This is a live stream test. There might be issues with stability as they're stress testing the service. It's free and it's a test, so there's not much to complain about.
There will be no English commentary. Honestly, you don't need commentary to watch these games anyways because the observers follow the action so well and listening to the Korean commentators get so into the game is part of the experience.

Still interested? Head over to GOMtv's page here and download the latest GOM Player. You're going to need it for Season 2 of the GSL anyways. You are going to watch the GSL, right?

GSL Starcraft II Open: Season 2 is coming!

2010-10-09T02:11:00.002-04:00

If it wasn't apparent before, I am a huge fan of watching pro-level Starcraft II matches. I'm also a big supporter of what GOMtv and Blizzard are trying to do with the GSL and the TG-Intel Open. So it will come as no big surprise to you then that I'm stoked for Season 2 that will be coming to a live stream near you October 18th, 2010! You can see the GOMtv news post here.

This tournament is shaping up to be even bigger than the last, with 2500 players registered including a lot of Broodwar and Warcraft III pro gamers. Not only that, but 250 non-Koreans have registered, so we have an excellent chance on seeing a stronger North American and European showing.

The prize money should be about the same as Season 1, that is to say, huge(approx $87,500USD)! With that much money on the line and the success of Season 1, you know competition is going to be fierce and the games are going to be amazing.

Check back here for updates on when tickets are available, or bookmark GOMtv's page.

Sweet Zerg-chicklets I'm excited!

Straight From Team Liquid: Fruit Dealer GSL Highlights and Music Video

2010-10-09T00:00:00.003-04:00

In case you don't check the Blizzard page regularly.

If you saw the GSL or even if you didn't, check out this awesome video created by Teamliquid.net. Everyone loves a good montage!

Patch 1.2: Upcoming Zerg Changes

2010-10-07T13:43:00.005-04:00

So it seems Blizzard has not forgotten about the ravenous horde of Zerg players entirely. Dustin Browder(lead designer of Starcraft II) posted some changes he intends to make next patch, along with some interesting numbers that go a long way to show how deep Blizzard is looking into balance issues.

The balance changes in our next patch will primarily focus on improving the zerg.

I won't lie. As soon as I read this line, my heart skipped a beat and everything became dead quiet. I glanced to my Zerg of the Month calendar, praying I hadn't missed several months and this was some sort of April Fool's prank. Luckily, I'm not a bear and I don't hibernate.

• We're increasing roach range. This will allow roaches to be more effective in large groups, giving the zerg more options in the mid to end game.

This has always been a thorn in my side when playing with Roaches: You get a bunch(the technical term of a group of Roaches, like grapes) and off they go to wreak havoc amongst the squishy Terrans. However, there are so many of these little bug-tanks that not all of them can attack at once unless you're in a completely open field. Defeats the purpose of out-massing your opponent, I think.

I don't see Blizzard increasing the range of Roaches all that drastically, however. I'd wager they'll settle on a range of 4, since they don't want them to simply be armored Hydralisks(range of 5). Even so, a range of 4 would allow that many more Roaches to come to bear at once which is always a good thing.

• Fungal Growth will now prevent Blink, which will give zerg a way to stop endlessly Blinking stalkers which can be very challenging to deal with in large numbers.

This was also a problem that irked me. Not often, but whenever I have Broodlords out, I usually have a few infestors there to keep units from runnings right underneath them and shooting holes in my giant slime-kites. The one unit that was immune to this was a Stalker with blink. Actually, when is there ever just one Stalker? I meant a murder(another technical term) of Stalkers with blink.

Not only will this give my Broodlords a fighting chance, but it will make it more difficult for Protoss to blink-kite you into an early grave. Fungal growth coupled with blink's cooldown will mean a sizable amount of blinking stalkers will be stuck there on that cliff edge watching your forces close in and blinking their eyes really, really hard.

• The Barracks are going to require a Supply Depot, which will impact a lot of early terran reaper pushes.

• The reaper speed upgrade will require the Factory, which is meant to weaken a lot of the early terran reaper attacks that dominate so many matches, especially in team games.

When I saw these two changes together, I enjoyed a good, long chuckle. I could actually hear the screams from the Terran forums all the way from my house in the woods. In 1.1 Blizzard decided Reapers were too quickly built, so they increased their build time by 5 seconds. Awesome. Apparently we have some clandestine Zerg supporters in Blizzard, as it seems that change wasn't enough.

Not only are Reapers now slower to build, but they will be slower to upgrade and by requiring a Supply Depot to build a Barracks, Terrans can no longer get that ultra-fast Reaper that hits your base right around the time you're placing your first Pool.

• We're making a number of increases to the health of zerg buildings, which will make the very vulnerable zerg technology structures more resistant to raids. We don't expect these hit point changes to have a super significant impact on the game, but the current numbers felt way too low.

I can see what Blizzard is doing here, with the building health and with the above Reaper changes. If given a decent start, Zerg can quite easily get to a position where they're on equal footing with the other races. The problem, however, is ensuring that decent start. More than Terran or Protoss, Zerg are extremely vulnerable to early aggression, especially due to the Idra-inspired macro play that seems like the only viable way to play at the moment.

By increasing building health and stopping Terrans from being able to super-fast Reaper harass with almost no hit to their economy(even without MULES), Blizzard is giving us that decent start. Is it perfect? No. Is it a step in the right direction? Absolutely.

What do you all think of these changes? How do you Terran and Protoss readers think these changes will affect your own play style? Let me know in a comment below.

New Look

2010-10-05T16:38:00.001-04:00

I was finding the old black/purple design a bit.. much and it was starting to look cluttered. Hopefully, no one finds the new look objectionable(if you do, speak up and let me know). I'll be trying a few designs over the next little while, just to see how they look. If any catch your eye, let me know.

Experiment in Tier 1 Play: Zerglings, Roaches, & Banelings! Oh My!

2010-10-05T03:27:00.000-04:00

You might be wondering why I have a picture of an Ultralisk here at the top of a post about Tier 1 play as Zerg. I would agree that your question is a valid one and the reason I have chosen to taunt you with this image is because if you make the crazy decision to only play Tier 1 in Starcraft II, you will never see this unit. You will never hear the majestic flapping of a Mutalisk's bat-like wings or the musical "Screeeeeeeee" of a Nydus Worm bursting forth into an opponents undefended base. If you limit yourself to Tier 1, you will experience the game in a whole new way.

You might ask why anyone would decide to only play using Tier 1 tech in any serious match? My first guess was that these insane players might have read Rahlekk's post on what he so aptly calls "Hatchery Tech" and wanted to give it a try. Hopefully that's the reason, because the others involve imbibing large quantities of household chemicals and listening to a talking rat that sits beside their computers.

For your approval, I submit the following two replays, here and here. The first replay shows a loss at the hands of a Terran and the second a win at the hands of a different, though equally dastardly Terran. If you give them a watch, I think you will notice a certain trend in these games.

Things I Liked About Tier 1 Tech

Big Numbers - You never have to worry about not being able to make enough units. When you can max out all your upgrades and build all your buildings for around 1000 minerals and some gas(I only roughly tallied it), you end up with a lot of surplus money with very little to spend it on.

I'm not sure if it's a testament to my skill or lack there of, but I rarely hit 200 supply in my games. I hit it in the first replay. The second, I kept my units a bit more conservative, but still 100 supply of Tier 1 units is a lot of units.

Less Macro Required - Since you finish building/upgrading relatively early, you really don't need to focus much on macro. You can and should still build static defenses(Spine/Spore Crawlers) and maybe an extra hatchery, but besides that your base building is done.

You Are The Swarm - With just Tier 1 units, you actually feel more Zerg-like than you normally do when mixing units. 200 supply of a mixture of Hydras, Roaches, Infestors, and Ultras is one thing. 200 supply of almost solely Speedlings is like watching a tidal wave of claws rushing towards your opponent, leaving nothing in its wake.

Things That I Didn't Like

Cloaking - You have one way to detect cloaked units in Tier 1-- The Spore Crawler. That's nice, but it means you have to be careful when your units are away from your base and you need to build a bunch of them inside your base to avoid blindness should they focus-fire one down.

Islands - Oh my god. It didn't occur to me when I began that this would be an issue. Both of my games resulted in my opponent lifting off and setting up shop on an island or two. My win probably would have stayed a win, since I could keep expanding and had an economy. My loss I think was because of the islands; if I could have pressed the attack after I destroyed his main, I think I would have won.

Easily Countered - This didn't happen in either of my games, but Ling/Bling/Roach is not exactly immune to hard counters. Hellions, Siege Tanks, or a large amount of any anti-ground flying unit would have ruined my day.

All in all, it was an interesting experiment and you really learn to appreciate Tier 2 and Tier 3 after something like this. By the second game, I was ACHING for Overlord Speed. I challenge all of you to give this experiment a try and see what you learn. If you do, please leave a comment here and tell me how it went!

GSL Final: Set 5

2010-10-02T08:03:00.001-04:00

Map: Scrap Station

Wow.

Just wow.

Even though Scrap Station is a Zerg-friendly map, there are still plenty of ways to plague Zerg with early problems. HopeTorture demonstrated that point with a proxy barracks and early Reapers that went unscouted while Fruit Dealer blindly expanded. Everyone thought it was all over for Zerg, but once again the Dealer of Fruit would not be denied!

Driving the Reapers out with a combination of zerglings and roaches, Fruit Dealer showed how awesome he was by using the smoke around the Xel'Naga tower to prevent the Reapers from kiting his lings and giving him time to build up a defense.

Fruit Dealer followed this up with a heavy Roach push, breaking HopeTorture's wall and doing some decent damage to his worker line. And to everyone's surprise, after HopeTorture rebuilding his wall, Fruit Dealer did it again with speedlings! HopeTorture figured Fruit Dealer would turn his lings around since the wall could be repaired faster than lings could damage it so didn't send anything to repair it until he realized Fruit Dealer was calling his bluff, but by then it was too late.

From there, Fruit Dealer transitioned to Spire for Mutalisk harassment and continued to expand at every opportunity while keeping HopeTorture contained. This gave him the economic edge he needed to fund his Bling/Ling/Roach army that decimated HopeTorture's by now predictable marine/tank/thor composition.

Even with his forces destroyed, HopeTorture made one final push with a handful of marines and a couple of medivacs, just to show that he would fight until his last breath. Unfortunately, that last breath came a few seconds later when a wall of banelings melted HopeTorture's remaining defenses and the last thing those marines saw were a flock of Mutalisks swooping down upon them.

The real star of this set(and really the entire match) was the Baneling. Whether dropped from Overlords or flanking in from the sides or behind, they racked up more kills and won more sets than any other of Fruit Dealer's units.

So there you have it-- Zerg may not be as powerful as the other races, or as simple to play, but there is no denying that what really matters in this game is the skill of the player and his drive to win despite the odds. Something we should all remember, especially when our first instinct is the cry "imba!".

Congratulations, Won-Ki Kim, otherwise known as Fruit Dealer! Enjoy your $100,000,000 KRW($87,000USD)!

GSL Final: Set 4

2010-10-02T07:32:00.001-04:00

Map: Desert Oasis

Well, I suppose a straight 4-0 win just wouldn't have been good TV. Despite a great start from Fruit Dealer who managed to counter HopeTorture's marine-only starting force with speed banelings and infestors, the game quickly became unstable with both players losing their main bases.

Fruit Dealer expanded to both islands while HopeTorture grabbed the gold, giving both time to recover some of their production ability. Unfortunately, Fruit Dealer just couldn't recover in time to defeat HopeTorture's mix of marines/thors/tanks.

The score is now 3-1 and the match continues.

GSL Final: Set 3

2010-10-02T06:59:00.002-04:00

Map: Kulas Ravine

Bahahahahaha. Bahahaha. Bahaha. Ha.

Sorry, had to finish laughing at the insanity of Set #3 before I could start writing this. Kulas Ravine is by far the worst map for Zerg, exposing them to so many attacks and being incredibly difficult to defend your expansions. At least, this is what is normally true. In the mystical world of Fruit Dealer, maps apparently don't matter.

The set begins with Fruit Dealer almost immediately expanding to the Gold expo above his main and sending some of his workers up early. HopeTorture, noting the low amount of workers at Fruit Dealer's main, immediately went looking for hidden expos and spotted the Gold. My heart sagged as soon as that happened, as I thought this was a huge mistake by Fruit Dealer.

HopeTorture quickly assembled a tank, medivac, and some marines(to snipe the overlord and blind his opponent to the tank on the ledge) to drop onto the ledge overlooking the gold expo in order to take it out. Fruit Dealer put up a pair of Spine Crawlers to defend and snuck three Roaches in behind the ledge to take care of the marines(clever Fruit Dealer!). I was just about to label this expo secure when in comes a Viking to succeed where the marines failed, taking out the overlord and giving the siege tank free reign to begin destroying Fruit Dealer's expansion.

BUT! While we(including the casters, Tasteless and Artosis) were distracted with this action, we suddenly heard the heart-stopping cry of a Nydus Worm! The gold expansion had been an elaborate distraction to allow Fruit Dealer to build a Nydus Network in secret and surprise HopeTorture in his own main! Out comes a stream of slavering speedlings, running rampant within the barely defended base.

Caught completely out of position and with no hope of salvaging it, HopeTorture said good game and put the score at a resounding 3-0 for Fruit Dealer!

GSL Final: Set 2

2010-10-02T06:39:00.001-04:00

Map: Lost Temple

After the first set, my confidence in Fruit Dealer has gone even higher than it was before if that were possible. Hopefully, his domination continues all the way to the $90,000 prize.

The second set begins with the players spawning as close to each other as possible which is never good for a Zerg player. Fruit Dealer went for Zergling speed again, expanding and slapping down a spine crawler in anticipation of a tank drop which is a common Terran tactic on this map and HopeTorture did not disappoint.
Luckily, Fruit Dealer managed to counter this drop with a pair of Spine Crawlers and three queens, protecting his expansion from the Siege Tank Death Rain and transitioning into Mutalisks.

HopeTorture continued to attempt different drops as he tried to put a dent in Fruit Dealer's tempo, but Fruit Dealer's mutalisks seemed to be everywhere at once and knocked medivacs out of the sky all day long.

This combined with Overlord drops into HopeTorture's main and Baneling drops coupled with infestors/lings/roaches against the Terran army ended the game once again in Fruit Dealer's favour.

GSL Final: Set 1

2010-10-02T06:24:00.001-04:00

Map: Delta Quadrant

This set was an example of what a master Zerg player can do and how even the most experienced of Terrans can make mistakes that cost the game.

Fruit Dealer opened with Zergling speed, expanded at 21, and set about building to counter HopeTorture's typical build of tank/marine/thor. You might think that this would set up the map for those large, high food count battles that Terrans seem to do so well in, but you would be wrong.

From sniping medivac drops with his Mutalisks to killing harassing Hellions before they even manage a single kill, Fruit Dealer was on HopeTorture's every move with a counter and expanding at every opportunity. Even when his expos were scouted and HopeTorture pushed in to take one out, Fruit Dealer was there to respond.

With heavy use of Fungal Growth and flawless flanking of HopeTorture's forces with banelings, zerglings, or ultralisks, Fruit Dealer dominated this set from beginning to end. He even built a Greater Spire, simply to bait HopeTorture into making Vikings, without building a single Broodlord.

Masterful.

GSL Final: Intro

2010-10-02T06:03:00.004-04:00

I'm going to be trying to blog and watch the matches at the same time, so bear with me. I'll be providing details on each set as they finish and then I will go to sleep. It's 5:55am right now and I probably should have had a nap before this. Anyways, here we go!

GSL Opening Ceremonies
The finals were held in a different venue than the rest of the matches in response to the number of people anticipated to attend and it's a good thing they were, because the place is packed! Massive screens, huge stage, and great production value made the opening ceremonies a true event.

As each contestant rose up out of the stage floor amidst fog and flashes of light, it was hard to correlate the amount of pomp to the skinny fellows who emerged. Each looked nervous but happy to be there. They both seemed to harbour no ill will to their opponent, an outlook mirrored by their mothers who were also interviewed for the event.

Each mother was fully behind their son, wishing both him and his opponent luck and telling them to have fun playing. The moms were also both in agreement that it would be best if their children gave them the prize money to hold onto until their sons both found a wife. Mothers, it seems, are universal.

Shaking hands, both opponents wished each other luck and headed into their booths.

GSL Final: Zerg vs Terran for $90,000!

2010-10-01T16:12:00.001-04:00

I have no bias. Really.

When I first started watching the GSL over at GOMtv, I was excited to see what professional Zerg players had to offer as far as gameplay and things I could pick up from their games to help mine. I didn't really consider I'd get hooked on watching pro matches like I have. Watching these matches has been more exciting and more interesting than any regular sport, at least in my opinion.

But, now the grand moment has arrived-- 64 players have been whittled down to just two and they will be competing for almost $90,000 USD in the GSL Final match! The idea of being able to win that kind of money playing a video game is mind-blowing and gives me shivers just thinking about what could possibly come after this. Even more importantly, however, is who is going to be playing this match!

Fruit Dealer vs HopeTorture

Both of these players are pro gamers from the days of SC1 and funnily enough, both were known as different names. Fruit Dealer is better known as Cool and HopeTorture usually plays under the name of IntoTheRainbow. I'm definitely cheering for Fruit Dealer, both because he's Zerg(obviously) and because he's just so crazy good.

After watching both Semi-Final matches that led to this pairing, I don't think either player has much of an edge on the other. They're both amazing players and if you're not watching GSL with their Premium service, I'm sure you could find VODs wherever you might think to look for them. I definitely recommend watching these matches as the play is the best I've ever seen.

I know I continually push GOMtv's Premium service and I stand by my endorsement, but if you have been resisting paying $19.95 then I whole-heartedly suggest that if you're planning to be awake on Oct 02, 2010 at 18:00 KST(GMT +9) that you buy the 1 Day LIVE Ticket and watch the final match of this tournament. It's going to be awesome. I promise. Seriously.

Either way, I'll be up at 5am my time to watch this and I'll be sure to post the results as soon as they're over.

When The Universe Steps In: And slaps you with a fish.

2010-09-27T13:30:00.003-04:00

Sometimes we get distracted from our goals. My goal is to improve my ladder play while steadily rising up the rankings and I got distracted. I have actually been distracted by a myriad of things.

Technical Difficulties
My graphics card(an Nvidia 9800 GT 512mb) decided to die a slow, painful death. On Friday, it was some weird graphics glitches and distortion while playing SC2. By Saturday, I couldn't run SC2 without having my computer freeze and by Sunday, my monitors simply didn't display anything post-Windows loading screen.

I've rectified this. I bought a new card for half what I paid for my old one that's doubly as good(stupid technology price curve). Things are better than ever in the graphics department now as I can run SC2 on max settings with no slowness at all.

Starcraft II is a big game
I've been exploring the various Custom games that are available in the SC2 map list. These things just suck up your time like a star-powered Hoover. Especially now with the in-game clock, I've noticed that Overrun!, Uberena, and Phantom Mode are sucking up literally hours of my day.

These maps are fun and interesting, but I will be the first to admit that they are easy ways to fall back into bad habits or make new ones due to their skewing of unit value, game speed, and overall strategy. They're great fun, don't get me wrong, but in terms of pursuing my goal they're counter-productive.

So really what I'm trying to say is that I haven't been playing many ladder matches lately and I'm still hovering around Rank 10-12 Silver because of it. Hopefully over the next week or so, I'll get my focus back and get back on the ladder.. horse.. thing.

Forges: Could they be living among you?!

2010-09-23T12:55:00.001-04:00

So Patch 1.1 really isn't as terrible as I might have depicted. But what it is doing is forcing Protoss(not so much Terrans) to alter their game plan in order to continue their journey to universal domination. One theory floating around right now is that Cannon Rushes, VR Rushes, and Cannon Contains are going to be more popular than they were before. Yay.

Today I'm going to be reviewing one of my recent games where my opponent went Void Rays and how I dealt with it. Was it pretty? No. Did I do everything perfectly? Never. Do I see places where I can improve? Yes. And that's really the most important thing. So if you're interested, take a gander at my replay here.

What I Did Right

Scout the Forge
Since we all know Zerg are much better as a reactive race, scouting is always important and most of the time key to victory. Spotting a Forge-based opening is quite easy, considering you're simply looking for an early Forge. In this case, it was the first post-pylon building he built. Probably afraid of the big, bad Zergling Rush(tm).

As soon as you see that forge, several possibilities should pop into your head. They usually come in the following order:

Oh, he's got a Forge. Probably going to Cannon rush me or something.
Wait, a Forge?! Cannon Rush?!?! OMG OMG! *begins to sob uncontrollably*
*wipes his eyes* Oh.. I can beat that. I just need to go find his pylon.

Then, if you don't find any lonely-looking Pylons or Probes hanging around your ramp or the edges of your main, more thoughts should come slurping into your gelatinous brain organ.

Hrm.. no cannons here.. maybe he built the Forge by mistake. Protoss are always misclicking like that.
Wait.. didn't I read on The Little Zergling something about Void Rays..
OMG Void Rays!?! OMG OMG OMG! *passes out*
*wakes up* Oh.. I can beat that. I just need to haul ass to either Hydras or Mutas.

See? Scouting is easy! This should all only take a few seconds, unless you actually cry and pass out, then perhaps you should go find something a bit more your speed.. like knitting.

Fast Tech to Lair & Expand

One of the key things to note about someone who's building a Forge first is that he's not going to be attacking you. He'll be powering his way to Stargates and will usually be leaving you alone to do your thing, since Zerg aren't usually dangerous if you just leave them alone.. right? Muahahaha! Release the Overlords of Doom!

Seriously though, once you know your opponent is rushing to Void Rays, you are safe to expand. In my case, I chose my back expansion. The neat thing about this is that you're really just expanding for more gas, so you don't even need to destroy the rocks sitting in the way(really speeds up your hatch time). By 3:25, my hatch was started and by 6:00 my Lair was done and my Spire started.

Continue to Scout & Harass

Nothing irks people trying to do something fast than having other people distract or delay them. So, continue to scout his base to see where he's at in terms of buildings, progress on his Stargates, etc. Also be sure to check the rest of the map for sneaky expos that Protoss like to hide sometimes.

Because I started my Spire before his Stargates, we finished pretty much at the same time. The unfortunate thing is that building a Spire is like making love to a beautiful woman.. no, wait, no it's not. Building a Spire is like planting a maple seed because you want a tree fort by this afternoon. Spires take 100 seconds to build vs Stargates at 60s, so it needs to be started proactively.

On the bright side, Mutalisks are speedy to make(33s) compared to Phoenixes(45s) or Void Rays(60s) and we can make them all at the same time. They're also cheaper(100m/100g) vs Phoenixes(150m/100g) or Void Rays(250m/150g). What I'm saying is the lynch pin to holding back Protoss air is anticipating it and responding accordingly.

At this point, it's a race between you and the Protoss to see who gets more first. You do not want Void Rays to reach critical mass(something like 9 VRs is all but unstoppable without other units as backup, which you don't have) and to prevent this, I send in my Mutas at around 4-5 to savage their workers and pick off a VR or two to slow them down.

As soon as I hit 12 mutalisks, there's really nothing he can do to stop me from winning.

Now...

Things I Did Wrong

I'm Afraid of Giant Brain Balloons!
After making my first few Mutas, I supply blocked myself at 44. I got too caught up in what I was doing and didn't watch my numbers. Oh well, next time I'll keep a better eye on them and build more Overlords in advance.

Expand!
I definitely could have expanded once my Mutas were in the air, especially considering I was supply blocked and couldn't spend the money on units anyways. This would have given me a better foundation in case he ended up beating me back.

Chrono-what?
I noticed near the end, he had 90+ energy in his main building(like I know what it is). He could have been Chrono-boosting his Void Rays more, though I'm not sure it would have been enough, but maybe.

Anyone think this could have been dealt with differently? I suppose I could have Zergling/Roach rushed him, but those cannons are mean and would have given him time to switch plays or make enough other units/cannons to hold me off until his VRs were ready. Any of my Protoss readers want to point out things he did wrong, since I have absolutely no games played as Protoss and apparently can't even remember the name of their main building. Let me know what I missed!

Opening Strategies: Winning Starts Here

2010-09-20T13:38:00.003-04:00

Don't 6pool.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, we can get on to playing like we expect the game to last longer than ten minutes. Wingweaver over at The Starcraft Noob recently wrote about practicing his early game over and over against the AI so he can get it down quick and effortlessly. There's a lot of sense in that idea, but what if you don't really have an opening strategy to practice? I know when I first started, I didn't.

I started each game differently. I built nothing but drones until 20 supply(that lost every time, by the way) or I built 10 drones, an Overlord, and then never built another drone for the rest of the game(which was also pretty short considering I also never expanded). The point is that without a consistent game plan, your chances of consistent wins go way, way down. Today, I thought I'd talk a little about a few opening plays that I personally use to good effect.

"I wanna 14pool now! I wanna do
it now!"

14 Gas/14 Pool: But Mom, everybody's doing it!
This build is as standard as they come. Unless your opponent cheeses, you'll be getting Zerglings out in plenty of time to hold off any harass and you have a good enough economy to defend while you expand. All the way through Bronze, I started every game with this build and it worked really well most of the time.

The only caveat I'd mention would be to avoid using this against Zerg. At least in the games I've played, Zerg are so paranoid of Zergling rushes that they never opt for a standard opening. The non-cheesers will go with a 10 pool or a 12 hatch while the cheesers will of course aim for a 6-8 pool rush with workers. So yeah, don't do this in ZvZ.

Sometimes you're Zen. Sometimes
you're just a guy sitting in the dark
getting 6pooled.

15 Hatch: There is no enemy. Is there?
This is an extremely macro-oriented build that I saw Idra use quite often in his matches. It sets you up for a super-strong economy and if your opponent lets you do it, allows for a really heavy mid-late game advantage. Unfortunately, in Bronze or Silver, I don't often get left alone long enough to really get the most out of this play.

Once your opponent sees an early expo, it is quite likely they'll rush their push in and try and take you out early. The key to this is surviving this early aggression. Spine crawlers, Zerglings, and Roaches once you get them are really what save your bacon here. If you can survive this, you'll be way ahead of your opponent.

This build is extremely vulnerable to early rushes, so you need to send a drone to scout early, probably around the 9th or 10th drone. If you see signs of a rush or a cheese, slap down a pool immediately and prepare to defend.

This fellow's game doesn't
seem to go past worker rushes.

12 Hatch: So... I don't 6pool?
This is my new weapon in the ZvZ madness that I constantly contend with in the ladder. By combining a double extractor trick and an early Hatchery at 12 supply, you put yourself in an early lead economically against an opponent who will 90% of the time be going for a much less economic build.

The great thing about this build is that even against an early ling rush(say a 10 pool), you'll have 10+ Zerglings out by the time they reach your base. From here, you can build into Roaches to completely negate his early pressure and because you've already expanded, can beat him with a stronger mid-game with Mutalisks or a Roach/Hydralisk combo.

This build just gets better that farther away you are from your opponent.

The most important thing is to find a build to use against each race(some aren't race specific, so more the better) and practice, practice, practice. This is where practice partners really come in handy. Better than AI and you don't need to lose ladder points just to get your strategy down solid.

Gimme a call, I'll fly with ya sound bite Top Gun sound bites

Or you can hit me up on Battle.net and I'll practice with you. :P

6 Things I Constantly Forget

2010-09-16T11:40:00.002-04:00

I've been spending some time watching replays, mostly because I'm frustrated with my inability to reliably win in Zerg vs Zerg. In this match up, for me at least, all good gameplay habits tend to go out the window and I start to panic as soon as I see the beady little eyes of the enemy zerglings coming to eat my face. Because that's what zerglings eat. My face. Moving on.

During the replay, between LiquidTLO(one of my favourite players) and KapeWyplac(no idea who he is), just as TLO was finishing off his opponent's last Hatchery, he hotkeyed back to his own main and injected some larvae with his queen. There was nothing left of his opponent and yet he was still playing like there were four more bases to destroy. That's when it hit me: part of the reason the good players are good is because they remember the small things.

In reality, I think it may be more likely that they have these small things so ingrained in them that they do them subconsciously. In either case, I realized that I don't even always do them consciously. In an effort to instill these small, but important, things into my brain and yours, here are the few main ones I managed to think of.

Spawn Larvae: There's nothing worse than a bored Queen.
Always be spawning larvae. Start as soon as your Queen clambers out of the Hatchery and do your best to keep doing it every 30 seconds after that. This sometimes comes into conflict with our next item, but that's what multiple Queens are for, amongst other things.

Spread Creep: It's like jam on toast; the more the better.. if you liked jam that comes from tumors..

Creep is the lifeblood of an effective Zerg defense and aids in scouting and map control as well. I am constantly forgetting to keep my creep tumors spawning disgusting copies of themselves, despite these advantages. Overlords are also an excellent method of creep spreading as you can put them out ahead of your tumors to avoid waiting for the creep to expand to the tumor's limit. Another interesting point is that if you spawn multiple creep tumors close together, they actually spread creep faster than if you were just using one tumor.

Upgrades: Don't let your Zerglings be the only ones without hats!
In the beginning, there was the Zergling and it was good. Then, a Marine came and put a bullet right between its beady little eyes. This was not good. The next day, that same Marine came. Pity its General didn't invest in upgrades like our little 3/3 Zergling's did. Our little Zergling now wears the Marine like a hat. Remember this story and always upgrade your units.

Scout: The first step to avoiding a trap is knowing it's there.. or watching it being built.
Zerg are a reactionary race. Anyone who says otherwise has been inhaling too many banelings. The most important facet of being reactionary is to know what you need to react to, so always be scouting. By the time you notice the Siege Tanks setting up shop on the cliffs above your mineral line, you're only reaction should be a firm face-palm and a stern promise to scout better next time. Overlords, Overseers, Drones, Zerglings, essentially any unit with a sight radius can act as a scout in one way or another.

I like to keep two Overlords by his main so I can send them in, one from each side, to give me the best chance of spotting tech before they eat gauss. Couple that with a zergling at each Xel'Naga tower, one at his natural to know when he moves out, and an Overlord at every expo and I have complete view of the map. It doesn't always pan out that way, but at least that's the plan.

Expand: Be the fat kid at the ice cream parlor-- don't let anyone else have any!
To be effective, Zerg should always have one more expansion than their opponent. This gives you better economy, better unit production, and the best chance to actually act like the Zerg and descend upon them in a giant swarm of slime-spewing, acid-spitting, pincer-snapping death. Now don't expand blindly. A safe bet is to expand after repelling a large push, when you see your opponent is expanding, or if they're turtling. The main theme of these reasons is that your opponent will not have the money to field the units needed to kill off your expo before it's well defended. This ties in well to our final point.

Keep Spending: If I've learned anything from the Real Housewives of.. nevermind.
Nothing is worse than having a large amount of minerals and gas just sitting in your stores for no apparent reason. Why? Because minerals and gas don't stop bullets. Or crazy Protoss laser swords. Or Ultralisks. Unless you're saving up for a Hatchery, or your spire is almost done and you want enough resources to pump out five ferocious wing'a'ling dragons ASAP, you should be trying to keep your stores as low as possible. Any time you're finding it hard to do this, look around and see if you can expand or build hatchery in your main to pump out more units. I've become better at this, but it used to be that I'd be sitting at over 1000 minerals and wondering why I lost.

I'll be focusing on keeping this list in mind when I play, especially when things get hectic. If anyone has other things for our list, feel free to post a comment below!

Nydus Network: Surfing the World Wide Worm

2010-09-13T01:46:00.005-04:00

You can't get more Aliens than this.

Do you know what irks me? Protoss and their silly Warpgates. Do you know what else? Terrans and their Medivac drops of doom. These intermingled hatreds got me thinking about what Zerg has to compare to these particularly irksome tactics from our less slimy opponents and then it came to me. Nydus Worms.

Sure Warpgates and Medivacs are great, but nothing strikes panic in the hearts and confusion in the minds like the sound a Nydus Worm makes as it bursts forth through the crust of the ground and begins to belch out a horde of ravenous Zerg. Surprise attacks are so much fun and so effective, but once I started thinking about giant, upchucking slime subways I wondered if there were more uses to these gargantuan channels of the information super slimeway.

Worms in Every Expansion: Why walk when you can.. walk in slime?
Once you hit Lair tech, you should be at least on your second expansion during the course of a normal match. Simply plant a Nydus Network smack in the middle of your main and start sending out Worms as you expand. Yes, creep spreading allows for fast routing of base defenses already, but not all maps place expansions so conveniently. Once you've got your network set up, you can have a horde of hungry Hydras waiting as soon as you spot that pesky Medivac stuffed full of squishy M&M goodness.

Distractions: Hey, look over there! It's a two-headed Nydus worm!
Ok, so it's a slightly expensive distraction, but people tend to pay attention when giant slime-belching terror worms start popping up in front of their doorstep. You can even release a few Zerglings to really sell it, but while your opponent is rushing to defend against this supposed attack, try hitting an expansion or his front gate if it's left lightly defended. This tactic can also be used to force him to recall an army that was on it's way to your base to give you more time to prepare.

Island Expos = Worm Resorts

Islands: No vacation is complete without.. um.. worms.
Watching a recent match of CheckPrime in the GSL, I was intrigued by how he used Nydus worms to start expansions on the islands in Lost Temple. This is an excellent way to hide expansions from an unsuspecting opponent and get the economic advantage without them every being the wiser.

Proxy Worms: Don't let the Protoss have all the fun.
Rather than try to sneak a worm into an opponent's base(they always seem to be looking right when you do), use it like a proxy pylon and drop it out in some sneaky spot outside their natural. Not only does it provide near instant reinforcements, but if needed, it can act as a panic room for retreating units. Which brings us to our final use.

Panic Room: Full-on Jodie Foster those mothers.
One of the key features of the Nydus Network is that troops inside it are not destroyed unless ALL worms and network buildings are destroyed. This can work to protect retreating units or hide the exact number and composition of your army until you're ready. And get this: this method is completely immune to detectors and scans, so you can sleep safe(well, not during a match I suppose) knowing that Big Brother Terran(or Protoss) isn't looking over your shoulder.

If I've missed any crazy uses of Nydus Worms, feel free to let me know in a comment!

Burrow Play: Why Roaches Rule

2010-09-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

When I was first starting in Starcraft II, I had a very loose idea of what the Zerg were. Having barely played the first game, I of course knew that Zerg were bugs on steroids and that they overwhelmed their opponents by sheer speed and numbers. The archetypical Zerg is the zergling, usually. It's what almost everyong thinks of first. Then, of course, they think of Hydralisks, Mutalisks, Brood Lords, Queens, etc. But does anyone's mind first think of Roaches?

Watching the GSL Open, it appears that Korean Zerg players do. While North American players moved away from Roaches as a staple unit since they got nerfed(they used to cost 1 supply and came with 2 armor), the Koreans continue to refine and perfect their use of Roaches as main style of play that is largely ignored here. Frankly, I think we're the ones missing out.

To see CheckPrime, possibly the world's best Zerg player(or at least neck & neck with Idra), using Roaches to both defend and gain map control through use of burrow and overlord drops is spellbinding. Fully-upgraded Roaches are like little forces of nature, tearing through buildings and units a like in short order. While I'm not saying to build Roaches and only Roaches, they are a very valid core unit to build an army around to be sure.

What are the pros of using Roaches?

Burrow. No other unit makes more effective use of burrow than Roaches. They can hide their numbers, move around for sneak attacks and escape, and they even regenerate their health at an alarming rate while underground(with the right upgrades).
They are tanks. They are the only armored Tier 1.5 unit available to the Zerg except the Queen and start with 1 armor, making them excellent against light, fast-hitting units. They can be used to soak up damage while units like Hydralisks remain safe behind them.
Regeneration. With the Tunneling Claws upgrade, Roaches regenerate at an extremely fast rate while burrowed. This allows them to act as skirmishers and walls against harassing units as well as making them easier to survive multiple pushes by burrowing quickly to recover their health.
Force Fields. This relates to burrow, but needs its own bullet. Roaches can burrow under force fields! Sometimes difficult to remember in the heat of battle, but doing so can completely negate a Protoss's defense.

What are the cons?

They are armored. Therefore, they take additional damage from units specifically designed to battle armored units like Marauders, Siege Tanks, Stalkers, and Immortals.
They cost 2 supply. For every Roach you bring out, you could instead bring out 4 Zerglings, 2 Drones, or a Queen.
They need their upgrades. Without Burrow, Glial Reconsitution, Tunneling Claws, or the standard Armor & Ranged Attack upgrades, Roaches are expensive and relatively useless except for very early in the game.
They are micro-intensive. You can't just send them off and forget about them. You need to burrow, unburrow, kite, sneak, surprise, and retreat your way to effective Roach use.

All in all, I was very impressed with how effectively I saw Roaches being used even in the high level of play found at the GSL Open and I'll be putting to use a lot of the plays I saw in those games.

Once again, if you haven't at least visited GOMtv.net's GSL Open site, I would suggest you do it. You can watch the first Set of each Match for free, along with the live stream of all matches while they're being played in Seoul, South Korea. I'm doing it and picking up so many interesting lessons and playstyle ideas, I say it is completely worth the $19.95 for the Season ticket.

TG Intel Starcraft II Open: Part 2

2010-09-08T04:20:00.003-04:00

We are now entering Day 4 of the TG Intel Starcraft II Open(what a mouthful) and I have to say GOMtv has improved their offering every step of the way.

From the rough start they had on opening night(5am my time. ugh.) with choppy feeds, buggy chat, and all kinds of account errors, they've come to a point where the streams are working great for the majority of the viewers and while the chat is still a bit cumbersome, we've had some really good discussions and cheering fests when the action gets heavy on screen.

I would encourage everyone to either make the effort to see the stream live since Standard Quality stream is free, or jump on board with a Season Ticket. This ticket is $19.95 and allows you to watch all the live events of the tournament happening now until October 2nd, all the events on Video on Demand(VOD), plus extra videos such as interviews with the players and other cool things. (Note: I'm not trying to sell you tickets or anything. I receive nothing from this other than sharing my enthusiasm for this event. Just figured I'd mention that.)

This was right after surviving a mad attack on his own base.
Torch comes back and smacks sanZenith with his BCs for the win!

Each game I watch, I get more and more into the action. Yesterday, I couldn't help myself from yelling at the screen as I watched a US player named Torch turn a funky game around and charge head first into his opponent's base with a pair of Battlecruisers and some vikings. This is so much better than any sports season, trust me.

It's 4:18am EST, so there's 42 minutes to go until today's matches start. My sleep schedule is so messed up, but I can't get enough of this live action. Check out the schedule and plan your month! Hopefully you all catch the fever too-- it's going around.

Everyone Loses

2010-09-07T03:57:00.002-04:00

It's true. Everyone loses. Some more than others but eventually, they all do.

Anyone who's been around video games for any amount of time knows the highs and lows that come with playing. When you have a lot invested into the game in terms of practice time and the feeling of competition, emotions can run high both during the match and after it's over. At least, I know mine do.

I am never in favor of trash talking other players. For the most part, they're playing the game just like you and trying to both enjoy and excel at it. Of course, there are the occasional fun suckers in the mix that act poorly and are sore winners/losers, but that's not an excuse to sink to their level. In these cases, I try to just ignore anything they say and play as best as I can. Usually, that works.

My reason for writing this post is that like everything, losing sometimes comes in streaks. It's also easy for the streaks to gain momentum and you can't seem to catch a break. Right now, I find myself in this very situation. I believe out of the last 10-15 games, I've won three. It could be that I wasn't prepared for the change to Silver division or it could be that there has been a strategy switch amongst my opponents that my normal play doesn't manage to repel.

It could be any number of things, but after each loss, I find myself trying really hard not to crush the mouse into little bits of rage-shattered plastic. There are different things you can do when this starts happening to you. In my case, I tried simply walking away and letting it sit for awhile. You know, come back to it with fresh eyes. That hasn't worked. I've tried simply trying to push through the streak; it has to end sometime, right? All I got was more losses. Finally, I think I realized the answer.

I've grown lazy. Looking back over some of my replays, I've noticed that my play has become sloppy. At least, sloppier than usual. I'll sometimes miss my 9 overlord and get it at 10. I'll misclick my hatch rally point and my workers spend a good 15-20 seconds sitting there looking at the mineral line like I just told them there were reapers hiding behind them. The problems just multiply from there.

I'm going to be spending the next few days working on the basics again and trying to get them down cold. Little mistakes add up and I think it's costing me games and sanity. If this ever happens to you, keep cool, take a breath, and see where you're going wrong. All the answers are in the replays. And keep a spare mouse handy. Sometimes they fall into a door knob. Repeatedly.

TG-Intel Starcraft Open

2010-09-04T07:04:00.004-04:00

So I gave in and forked over the $19.99 USD for a season pass to the TG-Intel Starcraft Open. I'm sure that this will be an educational experience for me as much as an entertaining one. In fact, I've already learned one thing: I don't speak Korean. As I type this, I'm watching the HQ stream of the pre-game show and everything is in Korean.

And then as I type this, the English kicks in. Awesome. So here's the details.

64 Players from all over the world squaring off for a crazy amount of money and this is, to my knowledge, the first official league and tournament held in Korea. Matches are going to be cast by Nick "Tasteless" Plott and Artosis, so you know they'll be entertaining and informative.

My plan for the most part is to watch the matches after they've been played, but I wanted to at least check out the first one live. It's just about to start so I'll let you know how it goes later on.

UPDATE: Well, GOMtv is off to a somewhat rocky start. Streaming and bandwidth problems are making the High Quality video choppy and the Standard Quality stream is currently overloaded. I'm hanging in there, confident that they'll get things together, but I might not be able to watch any matches today.

UPDATE #2: Things finally got stable enough to watch the SQ stream for the last match. Apparently problems with the connection from Korea to the States was causing all the issues, which I hope they manage to rectify before the next stream. A lot of people are upset, as often happens on the internet, but I think these rough roads will only get smoother. Plus, there's always the VoDs to review once they come out.