Reaching 1500 rating?

[Flynn]

Hi, I reached 1500 rating once at my "peak" at the end of 2013 (about 8 months after starting online play again) but since then and despite being vastly more experienced I can't seem to even maintain 1200.

Just Fyi including custom and ladder matches I have played about 3500 games. I often wonder how the pros do things, I have watched countless of pro replays but they don't make me any better.

In fact, when I follow pro recommendations it seems to make things harder for me, not easier. For instance transport use on maps like point of reach and Roanoke's Abyss.

My last two games on that I did far better because I did not use a transport to rush engineers to the expansion islands, instead I just sent engineers out on their own which negated the interceptor threat to the transport and bomb threat when the engineers have been landed on the islands.

Here are the three replays in question:

5517990-Flynn.fafreplay

(100.06 KiB) Downloaded 63 times

5517709-Flynn.fafreplay

(29.59 KiB) Downloaded 46 times

5522992-Flynn.fafreplay

(134.7 KiB) Downloaded 65 times

One win, two loses, but you will notice how strong my early and mid game was in the ones where I didn't use a transport. Building a transport so early in the game makes your economy take a big hit and if it is intercepted you lose big time. And yet, the pros would recommend that you use an air transport.

Note that the transport example is just one example. In general I find doing things my natural way works out better than trying to use pro tactics. And I don't find watching replays ever helps either!

I just want to achieve a 1500 rating, nothing too great, just 1500 to get respect when people see me, that's all.

[Turinturambar]

about the trans rush: you have to use o good BO for it (look for it in a replay). If you do that it will be pretty much impossible for your opponent to intercept it.
also considder that in the games where you didnt go for a trans your opponent didnt go for a fast trans. If they had they would have had a far stronger early economy than you.
If you watch a replay for a BO (for trans rush) look for following things: 1. how many power generators before building the airfac; 2nd how hard is the assist on the airfac
e.g. 5521095 (Mephis view)
if you compare his position at 8 min (still in the building up phase before any mayor fights) with yours in 5522992 you can see some very importend differences
1st you and Mephi both have 11k score ->trans rush indeed means a hard ecodrain
2nd Mephi got a 77 mass incom compared to your 55 (while he even was under preassure by some fobos) -> trans rush gives a huge eco advantage
3rd Mephi even got up a huge fobospam on the bottmright island while your walking engies just arrived on your island. Immagine they would have met some spam there...

Most importend point though: immagine your opponent dropping one of your islands. with a trans rush he will be much fast than your walking engies so you will end up with 2 islands vs 4 (since your acu may be able to secure one island)

[Voodoo]

At first, it is normal that you lost about 300 rating. That happend to nearly all players. I had 2350 global rating 2013 and now I have 1850. That has something to do with the ladder. 1 vs 1 Ladder games were included in the costum ladder 2013 e.g., ladder bugs and so on. To say your skill is on the same level.

About how to get better. It is good to look replays but you should copy only the build order in the first 2 - 5 mins. Back in 2010 - 2011 I refused it to build a hydro or to drop hills as I hated it. ^^
Some drops can be good but you need a high apm for it, so I said just no

So why we are winning more games then (btw I'm rank #11 now and only top 10 players are pros XD). I would say we can react better. I'm looking a lot of replays from my opponents to see what they are doing and I'm thinking about it. What can I do against it in the next game? When I'm playing against someone who has about 1600 rating or less then I'm using an other build order and strategy. I'm looking more for snipes e.g. as I know he could try it. On the other side I know that Zock won't snipe me as he can just kill me with tanks or eco.

Also I'm building more anti air if I'm playing against Aeon as against UEF and a lot of other stuff. You can always improve your micro. I'm looking at my tanks in combat. I try to change low hp tanks with high hp tanks at the front, to have always radar, to use the range of the arty, to have a better formation as my opponent and so on.

Maybe we can play a game this week or two. I need some training for the tournament anyway.

[JoonasTo]

Oh, hi there Flynn. Nice to see you around. Last time I saw you, you insta-quit on me on Roanoke.

Also, how in the actual **** are you not higher in rating? You're by far the toughest opponent I've ever had on ladder and I've faced 1600 rated people. If someone asked me who's the most underrated player on FAF I'd have picked you, even while thinking you were still around 1300 rating. You are also one big factor in thinking the current ladder average is, frankly, crap.
So you must be REALLY rusty.

Or maybe you're just anti-joonas xD

[lextoc]

Just giving heads-up: some players do have problems beating opponents which others of the same rating find not that hard to beat due to playstyle.

[Flynn]

It does have to be said, there does seem to be a high variance in my skill level from game to game.

For instance,I could play as low as a 500 or as high as a 1500, there have been occasions where I have been beaten by ppl <500. Partly due to arrogance of thinking they couldn't beat me so I play lazily but also the odd occasion where I have been well and truly stomped.

And somethings happen that can really mess me up like losing all my engineers at the start, but if I avoid that, I play well. Certain things can really mess my game up if they happen if you know what I mean!

Edit: Thanks lextoc my old friend! I still remember our first game when you were still a n00b and GPG was down. It was over Steam on Craig Dunes! Now look at you!

[Voodoo]

So after a game #5526316 I saw the problems:

Unbenannt.JPG (30.92 KiB) Viewed 2654 times

- low APM (not rebuilding lost mexxies, idle units and so on), to slow at the start
- ignoring map control
- no strategy/plan how to win the game (ACU attacks alone)
- no scouting

[Flynn]

I often build 4 or 5 scouts at the beginning and send them out, but I forgot this time. But yeah with strategy I normally like to be "flexible" rather than committing to a certain strategy because it is so easy for the enemy to throw a wrench in the works of any plan.

[Sovietpride]

As mentioned before, playstyle can factor into it.
Lyuker for instance is my fking kryptonite on ladder as he always seems to utterly rek me.
In turn, Ti_Xi loathes me with a passion.


You should ask yourself what you're trying to achieve.
Is rating that important?
Are you trying to improve?
Are you trying to have fun?


The problem is in my experience fun comes after improvement - when you care less about every minute detail and more about what youre going to and when. I guess when you play it til certain details like economic management and knowing what you can get away with become second nature, you can simply focus your attention elsewhere. If youre still at the stage of "i need to do X after Y at XX:XX" then you wont have the brain power left to do other things.

I find replays are useful for three things:
1) Initial BO's and moves if youre unfamiliar with a map
2) Identifying fun quirks on a map that you might not otherwise know/think of
3) Identifying how someone won/lost a game. Were your units out of position? Did you lack radar? etc, etc etc.

[Morax]

The problem is in my experience fun comes after improvement - when you care less about every minute detail and more about what youre going to and when.

I find replays are useful for three things:
1) Initial BO's and moves if youre unfamiliar with a map
2) Identifying fun quirks on a map that you might not otherwise know/think of
3) Identifying how someone won/lost a game. Were your units out of position? Did you lack radar? etc, etc etc.

AMEN

In all honesty, some people may never reach the point where they can do this. Those on the "top" are usually people who have the speed & reaction combo to perform multiple tasks and analyze input quicker than others. It is like comparing a superior athlete to an inferior one, as natural-given ability and "genetics" play a role.

You can do a certain amount of things to reduce "reaction time" such as Soviet as suggested by learning the maps/quirks better so you can "free up apm."

Seeing as I just regurgitated what Soviet said I will try another angle as well:

1) Force yourself to try different gameplay styles: e.g. eco hard and use turtle techniques over early spam even if it is not your forte

2) Listen to input of "trainers" and realize you may have to lose several to dozens of games in a row to focus on one concept at a time until it is mastered.

3) Focus on ONE faction per map so in time you learn how to deal with each other faction (including the one you play) as the small, but certain faction differences will stand out (e.g., sera t1 transport can carry far more engies to islands on Roanoake).

4) Use "apm-freeing" mods such as Washy's "Notifications" and Anihilnine's "UI Party"

a) Notifications gave me the ability to use apm elsewhere rather checking if an upgrade finished such as t2 hq that doesn't make as loud a sound as the mex upgrade

b) UI Party allows you to organize units in many ways such as disabling the selection of scouts/shields in armies that are assisting a unit. This is extremely useful because previously I had to pick the scouts from an army once I gave a big move order and it took away time to be able to manage things elsewhere.


Good luck and welcome back