Star Blog #27

The mental check list.

Because I'm an extremist I'm going to start watching my replays and seeing where I failed. I noticed last night that I played 6 games. The first 2 I lost (the next 4 I won) and I did not sufficiently scout the enemy base in either game (I was more concerned with finding the base and the putting a proxy pylon somewhere - I should have been gathering intel and put the proxy down later in the game) and I didn't harrass my opponents expansion(s). I'm sure I did a heck of a lot more wrong that just those things - but those two stuck out. Here is a list of things you should be going over as you play - followed by a link to a google docs spreadsheet where you can track this stuff if you are trying hunt down the holes in your game. You might even learn something just from reading this list - I know I did! I have some things in this list for sure that I need to be doing in my game.

Did I…

Scouting:

1. Scout around 9 or 10 including in and around my base so I could catch cheeses early? If you did catch cheese,

2. Test their front with a cheap unit around 20 and then keep checking it every now and then?

3. Use a scan/overlord/obs later on to scout their base if I couldn’t tell what was going on?

4. Check my base and the surrounding area for proxy starports/gates around 30+ food?

5. Keep scouting later in the game looking for tech switches and hidden stuff like dark templar and banshees?

6. Fight for vision on the map (i.e. at xel naga towers)?

7. Send a scout to all the other base locations looking for hidden expos?

8. Get complete vision of my base with depots/pylons/ovies/creep or other structures (so you can scout drops early) especially near destructible rocks and smoke.

9. Keep checking the minimap and react quickly to any developments?

Macro:

1. Use an opening build order that makes sense assuming no evidence of cheese discovered during scouting? You don’t want to build stuff until you can use it, but once you do build it, you want to keep using it constantly. At the bottom of this post are the basic openings for each race which are pretty optimal unless you’re doing a very specific rush to something.

2. Always build a worker as soon as one finished? Or as zerg, was I droning as hard as possible until I needed an army? If you are not doing this currently, this should be your priority. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be constantly producing workers.

3. Use my race’s macro mechanic as efficiently as possible and not let the energy of my nexus/CC/queen build up?

4. Spend my money and keep my minerals really low? If they go above a few hundred especially in the early game, your main problem is macro (yes I know this is an arbitrary number, but few players below diamond can actually keep the number below that). You have to keep building production structures or more hatcheries so you can spend your money.

5. Ever queue-up units? This is a horrible habit to get into and a complete waste of resources.

6. Get supply blocked at any point in the match? This is especially bad early on.

7. Constantly produce from my buildings/larva? If they are constantly producing, but your money is still kinda high, build more production structures.

8. Keep macroing even during battles? This is a biggie!

9. Ever expand? Try to expand earlier than you think is reasonable. You’d be surprised how often you’ll be able to hold a push and secure your expo.

10. Leave my workers idle? Remember to hold shift to queue actions.

11. Get gas only when I had plans to use it or could use it? A lot of folks will get their second gas before 18 supply and then never actually use their built up gas.

12. Fully saturate my geysers after building and then pull workers off of gas if I didn’t need more? If you only need 100 gas for stim/ling speed, then pull workers off once you have enough.

13. Get upgrades and keep upgrading my units? Dont’ let these slip.

Other Important Stuff:

1. Hotkey my units and structures?

2. Build stuff that countered my opponent’s army? You should know what they have because you scouted well, so produce the stuff that counters them.

3. Counterattack when I had an obvious military advantage?

4. Make an obvious micro error? Examples include not using your spell casters, engaging at a bad choke point, leaving part of your army idle, using a move command instead of an attack command, having the wrong units up front, or only having 1 control group for your army. Don’t worry so much about micro at this point; just focus on making workers and spending your money until you have it down pat.

5. Build my base (sim-city) in a way that made sense? Don’t leave only one or two pylons powering everything and make sure your units can navigate through your base to get to drops or get out efficiently.

6. Set rally points to the right place (to your army or ramp for example)?

7. As zerg, keep spreading creep throughout the game?

And here is the link to the google docs spreadsheet by the guy who wrote this list ===>google docs

and here it is as a downloadable .xlsx document ====>Excel Doc (I've scanned and downloaded this document - it is safe).

========================================================

In other news - I played about 3 - 4 hours of Dark Souls last night and early this morning and it is awesome. So good. I have the Cracked Red Eye Orb - which will allow me to invade somebody's game - that's about the coolest thing I have so far. Other than that I've just been leveling up and collecting "junk items". I have even met a merchant or anything yet so I'm still really early in the game. The new parry "finishing moves" are awesome and some of the new fighting mechanics (jumping attacks etc.) are amazing as well. I rolled a cleric and I'm glad I did because I am constantly healing my broke down ass.