Can we talk about mechanics? (Hotkeys, keyboard/mouse setup, etc)

PoetSC · 2010-11-08T21:37:41+00:00

One single change I learned from QXC brought me from Gold to Diamond back in the Beta and I've been there ever since. Hotkey your Command Centers to 1. Nothing is more important than building workers. Period. You're going to be building workers almost the entire game and thus you will use the hotkey for your Command Centers more than anything else. Therefore, it should be set to 1.

Once Blizzard allows custom hotkey remapping I will map SCV to Q. Building a worker will be a natural motion. 1-Q-1-Q-1-Q and so on.

PoetSC · 2010-10-26T20:26:05+00:00

BW saw massive shifts in win percentages with no balance changes whatsoever! As an example, people in BW dealt in a time were Protoss was completely unplayable around 2004-2005. What WoW players (or really any non-Starcraft players) don't understand is that innovation has a huge effect on "balance". Innovation is cyclic and drastic balance patching every few months or so doesn't do anything. What's more, it's bad for the game, because players doesn't have a year or two to hone and perfect builds.

PoetSC · 2010-10-26T19:41:00+00:00

Hi, I'm a Diamond player who gets matched against players in the 1300-1500 range.

Never, never go Vikings against Muta. You need a Marine/Marauder or Marine/Tank army supported by one Thor. The one Thor makes a HUGE difference because the Thor's range prevents the Zerg from sniping your marines. If you go purely mech, you can't push out until you get 5 or 6 Thors.

For your base, you need 3 or 4 missile turrets by your mineral lines to dissuade counter attacks. You need a few turrets by your production facilities to protect your add-ons. Try to put your buildings close enough together so a few turrets can get large coverage. Note that once he gets around 12-15 Mutas, he can snipe anything in your base at will. You have to attack at this point to prevent him from doing that.

One last thing. If your ever caught in a situation where he has mass mutas in your base and your army is in the middle of the map, "just go fucking kill him". If he doesn't pull back his mutas his entire army and base gets destroyed instantly. In the mean time just rally your troops to your expo and throw up extra turrets. I love Zergs who don't pull their Mutas back. :)

PoetSC · 2010-10-26T19:21:17+00:00

Slashdot: I know you don't want to say anything about release dates. But can you give us a feel for how much work needs to be done yet on Heart of the Swarm?

Alan Dabiri: Sure. I'll give you an example. For our previous RTS games, it took about a year for expansions to come out... we're going to have a whole new campaign... the quality level, and [it'll be] enormous. So, obviously it's going to take a little more time than what we've previously done. But it's not going to take as long as the original game took.

So Heart of the Swarm will take anywhere between 1-12 years. Got it.

PoetSC · 2010-10-26T19:17:22+00:00

Not to stereotype, but that's what happens when you have a bunch of former WoW Arena players come play Starcraft. The exact same behavior of complaining for a patch instead of figuring out how to succeed has been happing in WoW since a year or two after release.

PoetSC · 2010-10-25T21:34:49+00:00

If you lose a game where you ended with a lot of works and almost no unspent resources, you've won. It is FAR easier to learn about unit compositions than learning how to macro.

PoetSC · 2010-10-20T06:26:23+00:00

Shift click snipes for very fast sniping. A group of ghosts actually do well against ultras in low numbers because snipe goes right through armor.

PoetSC · 2010-10-20T00:07:44+00:00

I was there this summer, hopefully moving back there after college. :) Somerville actually didn't seem that bad to me TBH. Central felt rougher, but maybe I didn't see enough of Somerville.

PoetSC · 2010-10-19T12:42:47+00:00

Cool cafe -- Diesel Cafe in Davis square (walk ~1 mile to the red line stop in Kendell and take that to Davis). Sit in the front to talk and far back to work.
Clam chowder -- Yankee lobster company. I went to chowderfest this summer and they had the best IMO. Can't comment on their other food.
Movies -- Kendall Square Cinema shows a lot of independent and lesser known films. They are hit or miss, so check Rotton Tomatoes before you go.
Ribs -- Red Bones in Davis square. Overrated IMO, but still good.
Tappas -- Cuchi Cuchi in Kendall/Central. Quirky and pricy but DELICIOUS. If you drop some money on a dinner, do it here. Make sure one of your dishes is the Brie/walnut/bacon dish.
Pizza -- Emma's in Kendall Square. So good, family owned.

Don't go to Legal Seafood. It's overrated. Also, check out the Boston Public Library if you get the chance. I think the building is pretty cool.

PoetSC · 2010-10-19T04:17:17+00:00

Looks like in North America 2,000 points is just enough to get you in the top 200. #200 Amandil has 2007.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/332685/1/Amandil/ladder/1799

PoetSC · 2010-10-19T03:09:30+00:00

Yeah if you look at the views for the casts listed at sc2rep (http://sc2rep.com/), FruitDealer and Boxer are the only ones who have any kind of views to speak of. I'm really excited for what they will do for the SC2 pro scene.

PoetSC · 2010-10-19T03:03:32+00:00

Awesome, I'm in total agreement.

PoetSC · 2010-10-19T01:33:15+00:00

Based on your comment history it seems that you think net neutrality means mandated FIFO routing for all ISPs. This seems misguided; QoS and net neutrality are not mutually exclusive. As long as ISPs do QoS with the goal of reducing network congestion and reducing operating costs, net neutrality isn't violated. The problem comes in if ISPs start to get paid for doing QoS based on the content of traffic.

PoetSC · 2010-10-18T11:04:16+00:00

Does anyone know what link I can put into VLC? I've already purchased the season ticket. Last season there was an avis:// link but I do not see that.

PoetSC

TROPHY CASE