Learning buildorder and execution

Notes from a Heromarine TvT game 

 

GM TvT on Simulacrum LE. Double gas opener.

Time	Sup.	Note
00:17	14	depot
00:29	15	1st gas
00:45	16	rax
00:57	17	2nd gas
01:32	19	orbital command
01:34	19	factory
01:39	20	reaper
01:45	20	depot
02:11	23	reaper
02:17	25	hellion
02:28	26	CC
02:35	27	hellion
02:44	29	reactor on rax
03:46	30	depot
02:54	30	starport
03:02	31	techlab on factory
03:14	32	3rd gas
03:20	34	2 marines (continously build marines from here)
03:20	34	lift factory to add another techlab
03:32	35	lift starport on to empty techlab
03:37	38	raven
03:43	39	orbital command
03:57	41	cyclone
04:01	43	saturate 3rd gas
04:13	45	depot
04:16	45	lift rax to switch on to startport techlab
04:20	46	lift starport and add reactor to it
04:23	47	rax on empty reactor, start stim
04:34	52	siegetank (continously produce tanks from here)
04:43	53	depot
04:49	56	ebay
05:09	63	2 vikings (continously build vikings until 6)
05:20	66	+1 weapons
05:28	69	depot
05:55	79	depot
06:02	82	combat shield
06:04	82	depot (continously build 2 depot at a time from here)
6:25	-	cc on location
6:53	-	4th gas
7:20	-	rax
7:29	-	+1 armor
7:39	-	rax
7:40	-	rax
7:58	-	armory
8:01	-	ebay

Continously produce SCVs.

SCV that built the 16 rax goes to build 19 factory. Once factory starts pull 1 scv off of gas to build 20 depot (rally back to gas) and pull 1 SCV off of the other geyser back to the mineral line. Once main CC is saturated rally SCV to saturate the gases again.

The rax produces 2 reapers before adding on the reactor. The factory produces 2 hellions before adding on techlab.

When 3rd CC is near complete and you got minerals for it put down addtional 3 rax and after that armory and 2nd ebay.

Note: This is not a perfect build order but written down as executed. There were some skirmish during the early game so supply count is off from a perfect build and I guess timings can be as well. I’m not good enough to tell.

VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/520994487?t=0h16m30s

Learn and improve

One very important part of playing StarCraft II is improving and learning. A couple of days ago I came across this technique called The Inchworm Concept.

Basically it's about how skill can be described as a bell curve and how by focusing on improving your worst game you will free up mental space to improve your best game.

I recommend reading the whole 3 part of this series:

1. How To Be Good At Anything: The Conscious Competence Model
2. How To Be Good At Anything: The Inchworm Concept
3. How To Be Good At Anything: The Process Model  

Update 2018-04-04

Check out Improving Mechanics on how to learn and improve by practicing using spaced repetition.

 

2018 WCS Schedule

2018 WCS Schedule

Score screen: Graphs: Army Value

 The army value graph is the sum of mineral and gas for the units that makes up your army. It's that simple and it's important to realize that it doesn't show the value of upgrades. This might be misleading since you could take a look at the graph below and wonder why I came out on top although my opponent had an army value advantage. The answer in this particular case is that I had superior upgrades and a decent position.

It's important to understand what the different graphs show to be able to reason about them.

Terran cost and build time chart

Sometimes I find it useful to have cost and build times in an easy to read chart. These numbers are for Legacy of the Void.

---

Terran cost and build time chart as Google Doc

The upgrade spending graph

I don't usually spend much attention to the Upgrade Spending graph on the Victory screen since it doesn't really tell me much. Sure it show if I was on par with my opponent or not and I'm sure there's a more specific information to be read from it.

What it basically is telling is when upgrades are finished. It doesn't tell when the were started. Here is an example from a game I recently played:

 The above shows how my opponent finished researching warp gate at ~5:00 and how I finished stim at ~6:08, +1 infantry weapons at ~6:40 and combat shield at ~8:00.

Now, imagine if the graph actually showed _what_ upgrade was finished _when_! Like if the above would look something like this:

 Now wouldn't that be something? :)

If I may keep on dreaming I would also want the graph to tell me when the upgrade was started since I don't know all the timings in my head and it would be useful to see if my starting timings was off.


How do you use the upgrading graph? What more can I learn from it? Please feel free to leave a comment!

Trying to improve - Motivation

I just watched the video "Too busy to learn Blender?" about how to find the time and get over the hurdles of learning Blender and I think the tips given in that video is applicable to learning in general.

So how might this be used when learning/improving in StarCraftII? Here are some quick notes.

1. Set a Pre-Determined Project Deadline

This could be as easy as a number of games to be played before a certain date: "This week I will play 10 ladder games."

The goal is to play those 10 games and nothing else. Not to win. Not to macro properly. Not to micro like a beast. It's simply to play 10 games.

2. Look for small time windows

You don't need to play a ladder game but when ever you have a small window of time just fire up the game and practice some macro in a custom game or do some micro training in a mod. Or play _one_ game on ladder.

3. Agree to do one small thing

Start the game and press "Play". Then you can quit. All you have to promise your self is to load the game and press that play button.

4. Recognize the net gain in Happiness

This one is easy. Just think about why you play the game in the first place. :-)


Related reading: Mindset, Work, and Results