Forged Alliance Forever

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-10-23T11:29:27+02:00

IT'S COMING TO AN END

So a mini celebration, have finally topped the 1k mark it make have taken 380 ish ladder games to get there but the barrier is breached!

This surge of rating rise ties in with 2 things - since my break of a couple of month's earlier this year, the focus away from over thinking and targeting myself blah blah blah and more focusing on doing the simple things better is really paying off

Playing some really nice games, I'm still playing games where I know a ton of stuff to do better - I take this as a positive..... if I thought I was playing to my maximum at 1k then that would mean no scope to improve more

I'm making better in game decisions due to greater intel and scouting and reclaiming more - eco and power management OK I would say and working hard to get this better. Just don't watch my replay on forgotten facilities last night where my ACU went walkies

So - I don't feel like a Noob now, in fact i think I can self diagnose most of my own errors when i watch my replays back as most are still obvious. At the point where I either stop improving or stop knowing how to improve I will speak to some experts

I'll close this diary off now, unless there is any interest in seeing how I progress from here.... saying that you can always just look me up and watch some replays

PARTY OUT

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 23 Oct 2017, 11:29

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-10-07T12:29:22+02:00

So..... long break, rust as expected at first, enjoying the game rather than stressing out about getting good is making me play better I'm sure of it!

Keeping initial BO's as simple as possible, had some nice wins and a couple of frustrating losses... losing from a winning position sucks! anyway just need to learn what to do when winning as in tech up and eco up more until the advantage wins over time and protect against a stranded com!

anyway ladder rating has gone up from 750 ish to 850 ish - game a couple of players 1000-1100 rated a good run for their money and so happy with it all!

I'm sandboxing more to try little things im watching on pro replays and this i hope to do more of

if anyone (higher same or lower) wants some ladder unranked practice either message me on aelous when i'm online or look out for my games!

my opinion on ladder pool has also changed since it was voted on a while ago - i felt i needed a small pool to learn the maps however its clear now just to learn the game and adapt to the maps accordingly

PARTY

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 07 Oct 2017, 12:29

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-08-07T15:36:56+02:00

Hey Hey!

So a big dose of IRL stuff and just busy RL stuff in general has forced me into a break, of which I'm going to end shortly!

Found I was not enjoying games as much as I should have been, such was my drive to improve and get good I was getting into a bit of a stress about it all

So I will see you all on the lobbies and ladder over the next few days - PARTY OUT

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 07 Aug 2017, 15:36

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-08-05T05:14:03+02:00

RMB = Right Mouse Button

There is no definitive "right way to reclaim" as it depends on the situation.

Heaven's video does a good job of explaining the various ways to reclaim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mi2j2z1dIc

Statistics: Posted by FtXCommando — 05 Aug 2017, 05:14

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-08-05T04:52:02+02:00

partymarty81 wrote:
RocketRooster wrote:
partymarty81 wrote:we seem to be pretty close rating rise

Not a chance, mate! Your gameplay is much more polished and holistic. I beat you by the skin of my teeth and only by being very good at one thing only on a map where it is feasible.

I would hardly say that..... we will see as we go! no doubt meet you and your hoard of spiders soon

on another note, learnt thanks to the amazing discord app (get it if you haven't already, the help and strategy thread is most useful) that I have been manual reclaiming wrong the whole time.... i have been holding shift and ctrl and using RMB - after setting the orders this then ofc cancels them straight after..... it's amazing how much easier it is to do the right way

I'll be online tonight for some ladder games - SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE

Gah, what's RMB and what is "the right way" to reclaim?

Statistics: Posted by Dragoon0123 — 05 Aug 2017, 04:52

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-07-17T01:47:55+02:00

Great diary. much of the first page was my introduction into this game.
I haven't laddered yet, still trying to get the game mechanics fluid, especially with build orders and key mapping.
You've shown Great progress!
This diary has helped me, so thanks for posting this.

Statistics: Posted by SilentWarrior — 17 Jul 2017, 01:47

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-06-01T13:45:20+02:00

PLAYING FOR RATING OR PLAYING A GAME?!

It's going alright, getting a few ladder games played on most days of the week so activity levels fine however have found recently that my natural urge improve/slightly addictive nature means that i have been obsessing more about my 3 digits rather than thinking about enjoying this great game.... It will be hard but I want to change my mindset - just focus on playing well, if i get beat watch the replay and work out why and if i win watch replay and see where I can improve - could be easier said than done!

With that said, up to around the 850 ladder rank mark, finally beat a 1k plus player (over 1100 actually ) - not so much that i outplayed him, just that i identified a vulnerable com and took the kill. i've got a fair few wins recently like this; which has itself led to me getting overconfident with it - played a couple of horrendous ladder games last night where i spotted a chance and went for a kill - where it was not working or proving to be a questionable decision, rather than taking stock and changing plan, charged on all in regardless..... this needs to stop now

Had a rather surreal experience; one of these sh1te ladder games was against Medicraze which was streamed on twitch; watched this back after and it showed me i have a lot of work to do to compete properly with 1k+ players. the APM and keeping all the plates spinning in the heat of battle was much better than was going on my end

won the u1100 WWPC (out of 3 entrants, go me) - played well against HappyIdiot and pleased that since the last time we met in this competition my play has improved a lot..... against everywhere116 in the final, was outplayed really and faced land pushes with no expansions secured, put together a gunship snipe and was just enough to take the win... see how it goes next time!

of the new maps, played Desert Planes ?! a couple of times, not keen on it so far... maybe once I can get a BO/strategy sorted on it I will enjoy it a bit more! going to watch some replays on this and a few of the other new maps I've not played..... looking forward to getting some action on Open Waters (new to me) and TAG (played previously but was horribly poor then)

Focus for next 2 weeks:

- more radar, more reclaim, more scouting
- push up the tech levels.... i have developed an over reliance on T1 spam - I need to realise better when the shift into T2 land in particular takes place..... UEF pillars are stong and cheap yet i'm not utilising this
- my previous focus on making sure i build enough of everything (factories/power etc) - i'm going too far on maps where its not appropriate, need to better judge how many facs are ideal and how many is overkill - same with power spam - i'm wasting a load of mass building too much power, worrying about an e stall however the better players will build it as they need it
- stop trying to target myself for rating targets, i'm not at work now

WE LIKE TO PARTY

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 01 Jun 2017, 13:45

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-05-18T11:31:06+02:00

Since last update, played some ladder games, some going better than others. Played Vya a few times, did well first 2 times and 3rd time experimented with a transport rush, walked com too early without setting the spam and got punished accordingly. Played on White Fire a couple of times and Open Palms for the first time, most of my games came on Theta or Farce in the Forest. Had one last night on Bermuda Locket where my transport rush opening did work out nicely

Thanks to PhilipJFry (the oracle) for helping me out with a couple of things that are making my life a lot easier hotkey wise

Rating wise, now hovering around the 800 mark ladder rating. When I don't experiment too much I generally play well and get the better of most in my range right now, not yet beaten a 1k player just yet though

Realised trying to jump 250 ladder points by end of May was a bit ambitious, I want to aim high though. I will settle for taking down a 1000 ladder rated player and getting to perhaps 900 by month end

Experimented changing my standard unit compositions, removed anti air as standard with idea to add it in if needed - i got punished for this first game (however after think it would have been OK) - i think i will try this again when I'm a bit more confident and in control of what i'm building

Things I've done better: getting and using T2 air, making sure I upgrade eco enough to be ready for next tech levels, spam levels HIGH and using it aggressively, reclaiming as early as possible and throughout game

Things to work on:

- Re-mapped radar key so that I don't build anti air by mistake (which has happened a bit recently)
- re-setting rally points of facs, making sure once spam facs are built they are used
- getting better at not "double building" - causing stalls by building multiple projects at once - this still creeps in but will try to curb it
- SAVE THE PRACTICE FOR SANDBOX not in game

PARTY LIKE ITS 1999

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 18 May 2017, 11:31

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-05-05T14:39:01+02:00

RocketRooster wrote:
partymarty81 wrote:we seem to be pretty close rating rise

Not a chance, mate! Your gameplay is much more polished and holistic. I beat you by the skin of my teeth and only by being very good at one thing only on a map where it is feasible.

I would hardly say that..... we will see as we go! no doubt meet you and your hoard of spiders soon

on another note, learnt thanks to the amazing discord app (get it if you haven't already, the help and strategy thread is most useful) that I have been manual reclaiming wrong the whole time.... i have been holding shift and ctrl and using RMB - after setting the orders this then ofc cancels them straight after..... it's amazing how much easier it is to do the right way

I'll be online tonight for some ladder games - SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 05 May 2017, 14:39

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-05-03T18:54:24+02:00

partymarty81 wrote:
we seem to be pretty close rating rise

Not a chance, mate! Your gameplay is much more polished and holistic. I beat you by the skin of my teeth and only by being very good at one thing only on a map where it is feasible.

Statistics: Posted by RocketRooster — 03 May 2017, 18:54

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-05-03T12:52:36+02:00

Was a very enjoyable game; although my basics went out of the window..... I experimented with aeon again due to the hover being very handy on the current map pool however the stuff I have been working on went out of the window! Look forward to playing RR again as we seem to be pretty close rating rise and on the up

So since last update; had a bit of a change around in my home office.... It's taken a bit of time but all straight now and settled in to my new surroundings Also have invested in a new headset and mic - used this on the ladder game with RR however found the sound very different to my tiny speakers, will use this I think for when I finally get some lessons and get onto and work out Discord

For the first week, I went on a great run and my focus on basics were holding very well, plenty of wins and rating rising sharply. I then had a few days off, started messing around with stuff and had some bad games, big stalls and stupid BO.... heads gone! anyway took time to re-re-re-watch the replays, compared to the ones I had played previously with success, sandboxed to practice the starts again and seem to be back on track

Played last night, took some nice wins, a draw which was naive on my part leaving com out too exposed when I had earned the win, a new issue for me to deal with. The panic has gone, in that i don't feel like i have to zoom in on every area to babysit it.... this more casual mindset has led me to leave my com wondering in a couple of matches recently which has cost me a win to a draw and a 1v1 loss custom..... on the whole I'm pleased that I'm allowing myself to set reclaim orders, build radar, reset rally points, reset build queues etc but i just want to be aware that I need to watch the big fella

Played a couple of nice 1v1 against Metier9 who invited me into the UEF clan, so far have played a couple of games and a co op mission (which took forever) so will see how this goes, seem like a nice bunch so far

In terms of my targets, smashed the breaking top 1000 players by end of April target, jumped rating from 522 at start of month to 751 after last night; going well. I still think there's plenty of scope for this to improve as I am holding my own/beating 900 ish ladder rated players so hopefully my target to hit 1k by end of this month is achievable!

Focus: radar and reclaim going well.... at the cost of neglecting things such as upgrading mexes, considering transport drops etc.... focus going forward to remember it all so just more games needed really...

PARTY OUT

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 03 May 2017, 12:52

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-04-27T01:23:29+02:00

Marty and I had a great game on Forbidden Pass - our first encounter and a really memorable one. I barely escaped having my com whittled down by the thickness of a polony skin where after my cybran cancerspam overran the whole map, what followed was some hijinx in the water with Marty's leftover auroras and engies trying to trap my barely-alive com with torp launchers on his ACU's built in production only, and me reclaiming units from under the water in an attempt to escape to land.

A very close, and very fun game.

TurboVirgin(tm) Cybran spam. Love it to bits. On maps where I can't spam t1, I don't fare nearly as well though and almost always lose.

Marty seems to have the basics very well under his belt and plays with skill and confidence.

Statistics: Posted by RocketRooster — 27 Apr 2017, 01:23

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-04-20T22:36:01+02:00

Cheers RR won a couple of nice ones tonight too

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 20 Apr 2017, 22:36

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-04-20T11:57:21+02:00

I've had a browse through your ladder results in the replay vault. You're doing exceptionally well.

Statistics: Posted by RocketRooster — 20 Apr 2017, 11:57

Re: Diary of a Noob

2017-04-20T10:56:25+02:00

UP UP AND AWAY

A more detailed entry now I'm back at work and have time to think about this.....

So my ladder play with my new focus has seen me win a high percentage of the ladder games I've played this month; this also ties in with the reduced map pool however since start of April have seen rating rise from 520 to 680. After re-watching my replays back I think this is a combination of getting better build orders from the start and having a clearer strategy on each map, and making better decisions in game. I'm thinking more of making less mistakes and punishing my opponents errors and this is working nicely. I'm also using my APM to better use; in other games I've played I've been quick on commands and this is only now starting to come forward on supcom.... it's only taken 200 ladder games

Most of the ladder games are ending in T1 stage, I'm actually slowing down the tech transition and mex upgrading until more appropriate. This has led to way more units on field and giving an advantage I can use on the battlefield. As my rating stops rising as fast, I will be forced to better this part of my game however keeping on the theme of keeping things simple, I will focus on that when I need to.

New map pool, a new challenge in itself. It's nice that I've played Theta many times before however the others are totally new to me, played a spam fest on Vulcans Reach and also a couple on high noon, which seems to be a race to win air and get com to opponents side. The other advantage of the smaller pool is that I've been able to watch a few replays of the other maps so I'm a bit more prepared as to where the reclaim is, this would not be an option with the old system. My personal view is that this is a positive change for a competitive ladder and that although one could argue each build order might be the same on maps (or very similar), no too games go the same way.

An observation of the last rotation was that I was facing more and more Seraphim/Aeon players, no doubt taking advantage of the hover T1 (or random search ) - I also really enjoyed watching some Mephi VS ZLO ladder games, the micro and unit management is on another level, what with everything else going on aswell

Also now on a personal level, my youngest bab is now 7 months old and sleeping through so I am now getting a proper evening back, when the Mrs goes back to work in a few weeks I will get some extra daytime action too

TARGETS FOR NEXT 2 WEEKS
- Break into top 1000 ladder players (708 rating currently)
- 1000+ ladder rating by end of May

FOCUS GOING FORWARD
- Radar & Reclaim

PARTY OUT

Statistics: Posted by partymarty81 — 20 Apr 2017, 10:56