Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Wallapuctus · 2010-09-01T09:46:05.000Z

I have had success vs MMM with high templar and colossi, but both require 2 buildings, research tech, and heavy gas investment. It’s hard to keep producing stalkers and also tech up to one of those units.

I just need to suck less I suppose.

jellyfish · 2010-09-01T09:49:24.000Z

So apparently Starcraft II sold 3 million units in the first month.

liminal · 2010-09-01T10:23:45.000Z

I wonder if that includes sales in Asian territories? Presumably it doesn’t since, AFAIK, Starcraft 2’s business model is different over there. Subscriptions rather than boxed copies, I think.

That’s a really impressive number for any RTS, especially one as hardcore as SC2. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to sell so many copies in a month. Never underestimate Blizzard. Sales like this don’t put SC2 at the same level of popularity as the biggest-selling FPSs, but it’s right below them. I couldn’t be happier that one of my favorite genres is getting this much attention. I hope the current owner(s) of the “Rise of…” IPs is taking note!

copet · 2010-09-01T10:48:44.000Z

Thorn and I just did 5 2v2 placement matches. We won 4/5 and we got… silver… :P

McKnight · 2010-09-01T11:21:26.000Z

copet:

Thorn and I just did 5 2v2 placement matches. We won 4/5 and we got… silver… :P

Did you lose the one in the middle?

Staff_Sergeant · 2010-09-01T11:23:30.000Z

I went 4-1 with my cousin and placed silver. It all depends on the people you are playing in those placements.

McKnight · 2010-09-01T11:25:11.000Z

Yup, hence why I asked did you guys lose the middle one which would have been where your opposition had been upped again.

ThornFalconeye · 2010-09-01T11:46:28.000Z

nah we lost the last one- think we fought against some silvers, coppers, and golds: but we lost the last one to two guys who were apparently gold in 2v2 but plat/diamond 1v1.

So it slowly trys to move you up when doing those 5 placements? What happenes when you are attempting to move up from a rank: like you are number 1 copper?

Reldan · 2010-09-01T13:41:15.000Z

ThornFalconeye:

nah we lost the last one- think we fought against some silvers, coppers, and golds: but we lost the last one to two guys who were apparently gold in 2v2 but plat/diamond 1v1.

So it slowly trys to move you up when doing those 5 placements? What happenes when you are attempting to move up from a rank: like you are number 1 copper?

Your rank within your division is not really that important - there is effectively a hidden skill score behind the scenes that determines your actual league.

The rank in your division is simply a comparison of your score vs the other 99 random people in that particular division, and may not be indicative of where that division falls within the score range for the league as a whole.

Reed · 2010-09-01T14:05:51.000Z

Luke M:

I couldn’t be happier that one of my favorite genres is getting this much attention. I hope the current owner(s) of the “Rise of…” IPs is taking note!

Yeah, would be great if it meant that Company of Heroes 2 or such would happen.

Unfortunately it seems like a red herring though. In that there really isn’t anymore of a market for RTS than there has been in recent years, it’s just that this is the combination of Blizzard and Starcraft…

PeterGinsberg · 2010-09-01T18:21:30.000Z

Angrycoder:

This post by sirlin should explain what the points are and the reasoning behind them:

http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2010/7/24/analyzing-starcraft-2s-ranking-system.html

Basically, the points don’t matter, they are just a way to reward you after each match. They determine your position within your bracket. The brackets are just an arbitrary grouping that also doesn’t matter.

Just to follow up on this link, TeamLiquid does a pretty good job explaining the ins-and-outs of points:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Battle.net_Leagues#Points

Which makes this interesting point:

TL:

our number of points is what decides your place in your division. After having completed your placement matches, you start out with 0 points. These points only decide your place within your division, and there is a hidden “Matchmaking Rating” (MMR) as well, which decides which opponents you will face. While there is no global or regional rankings, the displayed score is an accurate measure of skill when compared to anyone else.

They use this site as supporting evidence.

Makes it seem like the points aren’t quite as useless as they seemed to me before. But then again, why do I have 600 points in bronze? So maybe they are useless after all. Such a mystery!

Equis · 2010-09-01T18:38:21.000Z

Luke M:

I couldn’t be happier that one of my favorite genres is getting this much attention. I hope the current owner(s) of the “Rise of…” IPs is taking note!

Starcraft II is to RTS what WoW is to MMOs. It’s an outlier in sales, a game that works more on hype and community then it does the actual game.

Gordon_Cameron · 2010-09-01T19:01:38.000Z

That said, other MMOs still survive on smaller-but-respectable subscriber numbers – it’s a thriving genre, so the analogy with RTSs would still be encouraging.

jeffb · 2010-09-01T21:47:38.000Z

Wallapuctus:

I have had success vs MMM with high templar and colossi, but both require 2 buildings, research tech, and heavy gas investment. It’s hard to keep producing stalkers and also tech up to one of those units.

I just need to suck less I suppose.

Yeah I always get alittle behind trying to get the HTs out as fast as possible, Sentries (the unit) can help alot letting you block off a ramp to use height advantage to thin them out abit before they can fire on you.

Reldan · 2010-09-02T04:48:39.000Z

jeffb:

Yeah I always get alittle behind trying to get the HTs out as fast as possible, Sentries (the unit) can help alot letting you block off a ramp to use height advantage to thin them out abit before they can fire on you.

http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4065228/

In which Day9 compares the mid-game strength of Protoss “tech-to-Colossi” one-base builds to Protoss macro-expansion-builds.

Interestingly, after 11:30 the one-base player was at:

11 Zealots
8 Stalkers
2 Colossi
1 Observer
96 food
3 Warpgates and a Robo

The macro player was at:

22 Zealots
11 Stalkers
1 Observer
134 food
8 Warpgates and a Robo off of 3 bases

Day9 calls this the Power Overwhelming approach to dealing with Terran MMM - the sheer art of having way more shit. He was pulling in resources so fast at this point that the army was growing by 16 food every 30 seconds or so. It also opens up Warp Prism harrass off 8 Warpgates.

Quitch · 2010-09-02T08:22:28.000Z

So the login servers are down at the moment and that’s when I find that single-player versus AI isn’t included in offline mode. WTF?

Angrycoder · 2010-09-02T10:31:31.000Z

Wallapuctus:

I have had success vs MMM with high templar and colossi, but both require 2 buildings, research tech, and heavy gas investment. It’s hard to keep producing stalkers and also tech up to one of those units.

I just need to suck less I suppose.

Going for both Colossi and high templar is redundant against MMM. You’d be better off picking one and supporting them with more stalkers, sentries, and zelots.

Wallapuctus · 2010-09-02T12:25:39.000Z

Yeah I meant or but typed and.

It’s really tough to get both of those guys rolling quickly.

Shieldwolf · 2010-09-03T15:20:56.000Z

I’ve been watching some of the pros playing and they keep using phrases like, " I use a lot of 2 2 or 4 4"

I’m assuming they’re talking about short keys but I have no idea what the hell that means. Can one of you SC2 gods please decipher?

Angrycoder · 2010-09-03T19:55:24.000Z

Shieldwolf:

I’ve been watching some of the pros playing and they keep using phrases like, " I use a lot of 2 2 or 4 4"

I’m assuming they’re talking about short keys but I have no idea what the hell that means. Can one of you SC2 gods please decipher?

If they are talking about terran, it probably refers to the number of barracks and factories.

2 barracks 2 factories, 4 barracks 4 factories.

Doesn’t really make sense for zerg. Protoss would be 4 gate or 2 gate.