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hey Nico,

I love the unit placement and dropping one those look good, it would be cool (if you can ofc) if there was one one on micro, how to do it and what micro against what, and maybe unit compisitions vs different unit compositions, but it all sounsd great : ), and if you need any help just ask me, i know im pretty bad tho xD

Hi Nico!

I'm a Terran player in the mid (well, lower mid) Silver level who would greatly appreciate your help! I can't say I have problems with any specific matchup, however I'm more than certain there are things here and there to work on. I've been starting to learn to actually interpret the enemy's build when I see what he's got, which is an improvement I'm pretty happy about.

I've also been starting to move away from the basic builds I set myself upon at the start for each race (3 rax stim pushes were a reoccuring fashion), and had some success with Hellion harassment with transition after 4-ish Hellions, bunker rushes or Banshee harassment. However I'm very sure my build orders and general play needs some work, so I'm psyched to get some high-level help!

I'd love it if we could play some TvT's, TvZ's or whatever you feel like to give you something to work with. I'll add you right away and hope you'll have time come tomorrow! :)

i definitely need help!i will add you tomorrow :)
thanks so much :)

@Asparagus:

Hi, man!
Just add me on BNET and we can look into it. I would highly suggest that you take a look at the video(s) I posted in the 1st post, as I will update it frequently with new videos. Also I want you to read all the stuff I wrote in this thread and really understand it.

On a general note to all you guys who want to contact me:
I love that you ask me for help, but please be so kind as to read the entire thread and take note of what I have written previously. I don't want to tell you how important hotkeys are when the information is right here for you to see! :)

Updated the first post with a link to my first tutorial video :)

Additional tips:
-Don't put your Medivacs in your main control group, keep them in a seperate control group or select all of them, press A and just click on a infantry unit. They will then follow your army around without you having to control them

this is the single best piece of advice I've read this entire month, I cant believe I hadnt thought about it yet :/

thnx

@Kepa:
Yeah, it is so helpful! Also the Medivacs stay behind your army and stay away from the battle...
Remember, if the unit the medivacs are following dies you need to set a new unit for them to follow =)

Hey Nico,

Dude! Awesome job your doing here. Only stumbled on your thread today, and couldn't stop reading (I should be working). I'll watch the videos when I get home (work place blocks youtube :D).

So just a quick question: Do you think playing against the AI (Insane) is a worthy strategy to skill up, or should you rather just keep playing ladder?

I've been taking the AI approach lately, cause I know I still need to learn a lot (mid silver) before I'm a real threat to plat/diamond players. And "practicing" via the ladder usually hurts your stats.
Whereas, playing the AI, does not hurt your stats, teaches you to macro/micro, etc, etc.

The major con here is that the AI does not use the sneaky tactics real-world players use, so you don't really learn how to defend them, until you run into them in ladder.

Your thoughts?

@NicoLoco : "These are the topics I have thought of so far, please give me tips to other topics that might be needed"
From the top of my head, I would say "Expanding" and "Transitions/Planning a game/Formulating a game plan".

@Orion : Do you think playing against the AI (Insane) is a worthy strategy to skill up, or should you rather just keep playing ladder?
I would say no. VHard-Insane AI can be good to play against if you want to learn to scout and defend against rushes, cause the AI is always very attacking focused and doesn't focus on economy at all. That being said, the AI can sometimes pull off SICK attack timings. :p

@vGiJamven
Really? I agree on the "Expansion" idea but transitions? Like. This is supposed to be for the noobs. I honestly think better players out there can teach better when it comes to the more advanced stuff. I know it, but just not as good as the basics which I am trying to teach. Also, one shouldn't focus on advanced stuff when trying to learn the race, if you know what I'm saying :)

@Orion:
Thanks, man! Hope you enjoy the vids.
I loved playing against AI, just because there is no pressure and it makes for fun timewasting. Don't expect AI to behave like players on ladder, as AI rarely does behave human, but if it keeps you playing because the pressure is off I suggest you go ahead and do it! It's all about learning the basics of the race and getting comfortable with the mechanics.

Hehe, okay. Maybe transitions are a bit overkill on this level :p But deciding on a game plan is sort of important, even if it is bronze-gold level. It doesn't have to be anything specific, it can be as easy as "I'm only going to make marines and marauders during the whole game."

@Kepa:
Yeah, it is so helpful! Also the Medivacs stay behind your army and stay away from the battle...
Remember, if the unit the medivacs are following dies you need to set a new unit for them to follow =)

yea I know, I sometimes assigned them to a unit, but I never thought about attacking-move-assigning them, which is way better because they'll heal while moving.

oh and usually training against AI is not a good idea, because you'll start relying on tricks and strats that work less online. Also you tend to be more focused online, so you'll learn faster.
If you wanna go up from silver to gold just play in the silver league 'till you get better. Only thing I use AI for is to quickly practise a new build order

Hey there , I need help in late game. If I don't win the game with the first push I'm dead. I do make tanks / medivacs and expand but I can't control them. Either I don't have enough units , and my minerals go 1000+ , or I got units but I just send them in the enemy base , siege tanks too late and I lose everything...

I can give you replays if you want.

Hey guys,

I played with a few of you whom Nico was helping when he was helping me!

If any of you wanna add me we can practice together.

Name: Loften
Code: 589

Mina-san Konnichi wa.

Alright, enough of the Japanese. Essentially I found this thread extremely useful. But I feel that I am, infact still a noob as you could probably see from my portrait.

Any chance of assistance with this? If so it would be very appreciated.

-Omega.

As Loften said although i never played against anyone else that Nico was helping.

Add me for a few practice games aswell it's always nice have people on the friends list i can play evenly against.

Code: 985

@Xswordy:
Yeah. We can look at a couple of replays, no problem. I will advise you to read my posts in this thread before we talk, so you are at least aware of what you should be looking for as errors in your own game. This will help so you don't send me replays of you making basic mistakes that I have explained in the forums deeply.

@Omega:
Very nice to hear that you liked the thread. Just let me know what you need and I will see what I can do to help!

Hey Nico,

Watched the videos last night! Loved the match you played against grams. Good commentary as well. Just something I'm curious about: When sending a small army out early with a couple of SCV's in front, is that something you do regardless, or only against protoss?

I'm also thinking that this might be a potential game-ender in the lower league games. I think grams handled it well, but it might not be met as well in bronze/silver leagues, and if someone executes it well, and the enemy does not expect it, could be gg? I haven't tried, but am damn curios to try it out!!

I also decided to take a shot at ladder again, after a lot of practice vs AI, and am happy to report I played one silver and one gold opponent (both Terran and both had waaayyy more games under the belt than me) and I beat them quite easily! So for those considering practicing vs AI (insane, or at the very least, very-hard), I recommend it. Just to get comfortable with your builds, macro and micro up-skilling and learning to hot-key well. It's working for me in any case. Again, the major con here is that you won't be learning to play or defend any 'sneaky' tactics that real-world players throw at you.

My major weakness is also zerg, and I'm busy practicing this guy's tactics. He is VERY good at micro'ing, (and all round play), but check out this thread. Has a lot of replays to study, and is a solid build against zerg:

http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/708342118?page=1

@Orion:
First: Thanks! More videos are coming, so just follow this thread. Now on to your questions.

I usually fast-expand off 1 barracks. Then I definately don't do this, but for this game I wanted to try some early pressure with marauders. I realized after doint it that I should probably have 2 rax with marauders pumping so I can send 3 marauders with 4 SCVs to make it more deadly. The funny thing is that he is going for early pressure aswell, but he wasn't looking to expand, so I'm happy I did it this game.

You will never win a game this way, but you can get an advantage. Basically, if you can do ANY damage while securing an expansion that early you are in really good shape. This is an early timing push, timed with the completion of concussive shells if I remember correctly, and you should always try to capitalize on an early tech-advantage. As I said, I usually 1rax FE against Protoss and the build I use doesn't allow for early pressure as Stimpack is very delayed.

If you want to get comfortable with builds I suggest the "build order tester" map that you load through the map editor. I can make a tutorial on how it works if people want me to, but it's pretty easy. In the tester you can restart from scratch by the click of a button and really try builds out without any pressure.

About the thread you are referring to, I do like what I see but don't want to build my gameplay up around just 1 or 2 units that aren't good until you get a good number of them, so before I start with any "fancy" builds against any opponent I want to ensure that I can beat them with a "regular" build. The problem isn't Zerg, or that people are so much better than me, it's just my playstyle. Now I need to overcome the fear I have to leave my base :)

Build order tester??? Never heard of it....Cool! I'll check it out when I get home. Thanks for the (yet another) tip!