me: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/1491610/1/Baumvieh/
(I know, I know, I still suck)

you?

---
stuff I found worth reading:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/How_to_Improve
http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/CecilSunkure/How_To_Improve_Efficiently_a.pdf (still reading this...)
---

Haven't played in forever. Been on a League of Legends kick, though ...

Here & I'm not satisfied with result either.

Played that for a while too until I was somewhere around level 20.

It stopped being fun though when the game became a lot more popular and suddenly the whole crowd of gamers seemed to fall back to flaming and blaming during the whole match instead of concentrating on playing a good game.

My favorite char was/is Heimer (that alien dude who can place turrets).

Diamond league... isn't that just one below grandmaster?

Today I'll grind. I want to advance from bronce to silver (don't know if that's even possible as I've read somewhere that transitions to higher leagues are rare).

append:
Season 6 just started today and the game says I'll have to play one more placement match to get put into another division. I better be awesome in that match.

No, it's possible & very common. Diamond is top about 2%-19.5% players. Then Masters are top 2%, and top 200 players are grandmasters.

Finished that season 6 placement match, lost TvT due to misreading the enemy, who went double rax in the beginning, so I was preparing for fighting off a bio all-in but was attacked by a mech army that I didn't expect.

I tried to survive as long as I could fighting off a few of the enemy armies but in the end I lost too much in the first two waves already so that rebuilding became impossible while they could happily mine and gather all across the left side of the map.

Replay: http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/605594

append:
Now that I watched the replay I see I made a lot of silly mistakes and bad decisions.
e.g. I didn't pull off workers when I should have, I didn't upgrade tech and I landed some vikings right next to a fully loaded bunker on a mineral patch that was completely harvested off already.
I really need better scouting, so I would have been aware of the enemy base to the right of his main which was totally unprotected at that time.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/2277269/1/cphoton/

It's been a while since the last time I played, used to be on Gold.

Just a slight digress. How does the DRM work (again) on starcraft 2. I'm about to order it from Amazon. I'd like to be able to run it from two different computers and hopefully have a couple of profiles.

You'll only have one profile per copy I think(never tried to register another one). You need a valid account and an internet connection to play. Or play as guest which would be comparable to a demo.

Cheers.

btw, I bought C&C4 a few weeks ago. It's nowhere near as bad as the reviews make out. I really quite liked it.

This is every online multiplayer game ever IMHO. Solution I find is to play with buddies exclusively.

I read somewhere else that if you register the same cd key to two different battle.net accounts, each time you try to login with both accounts at the same time, the last one to login will kick the other ones session.

Haven't tested that myself but it sounds like it makes sense.

Meanwhile I'm slowly working my rank up in the bronze ladder of season 6...

replays I'm particularly proud of:
TvZ 1 base vs 3 hatcheries surgical strikes win
TvT def then counter push win
TvP def against mass stalker, map awareness, then counter push win

Well, even some of them became whiny, blamey and flamey so it wasn't fun anymore.

I was in Platinum in all brackets apart from 2v2 where I was Diamond. However, I uninstalled it months ago because it's too much of a distraction and too draining.

I used to be Platinum back in the day but I only play the game casually now. Last time I ranked, I was Gold.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/718846/1/gamecreator/

gamecreator 625

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/1596790/1/Dustin/

I haven't placed this season. At my peak I was in Diamond but I lost so much it dropped me back to Plat. Upper Plat seems to be my zone, though I've been playing less and less so I keep going further down the ranks.

I don't mind though, it just means I get to win more.

Haha, that's not how it's supposed to work. The matching system pits you against players of your own skill level and you're meant to win and lose equally. At least, that's the idea.

just gave it a try. pace a bit slower the DOTA. I guess I have to get used to it.

Have SC2 but not bothered installing it yet.

Oh yeah, totally forgot to post my character code:
Baumvieh 221

I'll add any allegro-ites who post theirs in here to my friend list.

Still on bronce, still losing way too many games. At least that's giving me incentive to improve.

append: Could not add gamecreator as the game tells me it can't find that character with code 625.

I usually won when I played, but I played so rarely I don't think I've ever even "placed". What's the rank below Bronze? Lead? Dung?

There is none below that, it's already the lowest scum on earth when it comes to SC2.

I had a random idea about a MMO RTS. You'd have an overview map of all the playable maps and who is controlling what. People would be playing matches to control those maps. If you lose your map, you "escape" with your hero character and can now go to another area controlled by your team (where another scrimmage is likely happening). Whoever is overseeing this map on your team can give you commands but you don't have to follow them. If your hero character dies, you go back to the "waiting" area.

Every hour, all players are forced to take a 10 minute break. This is the block where you get on/off from playing the game. So, people in the waiting area jump in and control an area that is currently under their team's control. They will have a few minutes to prepare before the break concludes and play resumes.

Furthermore, if you are losing a scrimmage, you can ping your team and someone who is winning their current scrimmage can send units to the losing player (which takes x amount of time) and control of the units immediately transfers to the other player. It's less about the individual map wins and more about winning the war.

Obviously would need to evaluate how to control game balance, but like I said, random on-the-fly idea.

Sorry. I copied that from the thread I linked to. I think the code changed after the beta. Will fix when I get home but I'll add you regardless.

OH, just realized: if you're in Germany, as your profile says, it's not gonna happen. I'm in the formerly New World (U.S.).

Does that mean I can only play with/versus allegators in Europe?

Unfortunately, yes.

I need to install mine, but I suck at multiplayer so I seldom play it.. Have both SC games and can't remember if I have SC installed but I may install them tonight (give me something to do).

Happy to play against/with you or anyone here tonight or this weekend. Feel free to add me: gamecreator 625 I'm probably silver at this point but I play for fun, not to compete.

cphoton 306 here.

I was going to say that I can't play with you but then remembered that Blizzard joined North and South America.

Being unable to play world-wide is somewhat disappointing but then again I'm still in bronze and just lost three games in a row and got called a "fucking noob" several times. This is fun.

I bought SC2 on NA server anyways.

Dennis, what is your character code? (if you want to be added, that is ).

It is Baumvieh 221 but I already tried adding you which did not work because I'm in Europe.

Maybe it works if we add by e-mail? Mine is: Dennis[minus]Busch[at]gmx[dot]net

Argh, I meant Dustin, sorry.

After some on-line research I've come to realize that the only way to play different regions and to have multiple accounts is to buy a valid license-key(bound to the region) and to download/install a separate game client for each region.

US-Client still costs 60.00 $ Maybe I will eventually invest into that when I've become a little bit better and meanwhile I'll wait and hope that there will be a patch at some point which would allow having one profile per region without buying another copy of the game.

IIRC, in BW, Diablo, Diablo II, Warcraft III and FT, it was possible to change the region/realm in-game with any version prior to log-in or do I recall that wrong?

Dennis, I sent you a friend request using your email. It didn't give me a message either way after I sent the request.

I didn't get any message or email either. I wrote a support question to blizzard asking if there was any possibility at all short of buying multiple licenses.

append: Received a reply now which clearly states that buying additional licenses for each region is the only possibility to connect to them.

Played through the first two missions before bed last night. Like it so far, but I suck at playing so I doubt I'll ever play multiplayer.

Dustin 406 here.

I was up all night, started to work on a 1V1 melee map. Haven't uploaded it to the battle.net yet.
{"name":"605631","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/0\/80392e814740f067fddab5f4e73a8d86.png","w":1076,"h":824,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/0\/80392e814740f067fddab5f4e73a8d86"}

Sweet. Run it through the Map Analyzer (I've never used it but it's relied upon) and see what you get.

That looks like a great tool. Unfortunately the last release is from 2010 and it seems to be abandoned. It failed to load my map file (could be due to the SC2 1.4.3 patch which was rolled out last night).

Meanwhile I've continued to work on the map and published it on battle.net as Oceanic Mountain (search for oceanic in custom games to easily find it (I hope maps are not region locked as well)).

Description:
Starting locations are on very high ground with possible early expansions on middle ground. Two paths to the enemy lead through low ground, one of them is blocked by rocks. A third curvy path on middle ground leads past Xel'Naga towers and rich mineral fields in the center of the map.

{"name":"605635","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/e\/ae4bb44c0db068ecf6faf275490fc93a.png","w":511,"h":512,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/e\/ae4bb44c0db068ecf6faf275490fc93a"} {"name":"605636","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/3\/a38b55b13be5e1d1b4ab2881ca8e540b.png","w":794,"h":601,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/3\/a38b55b13be5e1d1b4ab2881ca8e540b"}

I need to finish playing the single player mode. I only got to beating the mission where you save the colonists to get the scientist doctor then quit two nights ago.

Dennis: Nice map.

They discuss that near the end of the thread and there's a link to a new version which people claimed worked. But this was before yesterday's patch so, as always, YMMV. (The source is provided too but I wouldn't go so far.)

Thanks, if you ever play it, I'd like to read your thoughts about it.

That worked. Though it did not seem to respect impassable doodads(trees, rocks, etc) when calculating those paths. I may need to adjust the map to specifically disallow paths under doodads even though units are already incapable of moving through them by default.

{"name":"605637","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/2\/920a8abda001e94a89e352624fa6a24b.png","w":1104,"h":1218,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/2\/920a8abda001e94a89e352624fa6a24b"} {"name":"605638","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/6\/a6c497b6f50231aab9f44537c0f03601.png","w":1104,"h":1218,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/6\/a6c497b6f50231aab9f44537c0f03601"} {"name":"605640","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/8\/68580c179c84251a25e21a5452955d7d.png","w":1104,"h":1218,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/8\/68580c179c84251a25e21a5452955d7d"}

I watched two matches on that map (let two insane AI players battle it out between each other), one TvZ and one TvP. The Terran AI won both matches with mass bio all-in. Both the Z and the P could have easily defended that though but their own armies were out in the field on their way to the T base both times and they could not come back in time to prevent disaster.

The two paths and lack of defendable natural would make it easy to be caught with your pants down. Which would force you to be much more defensive.

I'd probably always open with dt's and then some blink stalkers (w/ obs) for their maneuverability.

The gold bases might as well not be there, they look pretty unusable.

Have you thought about cutting this land bridge?

That would lead to some fun longer type games I think and remove the annoying excessive need to defend.

If you leave that bridge up, I would consider swapping the gold bases with the two at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. They'd still be highly exposed but at least defendable, making them more strategically usable instead of just going to whoever has already won the game (which makes them moot expansions).

I would cut the choke in the main base:

It's only really going to reward noobs that are crazy enough to invest in protecting there.

As a total aside, I think Terran has a ridiculous advantage with gold bases. They just settle in with a Planetary Fortress use the SCVs to heal. At no unit cost they can wipe out nearly any incoming army. A map with lots of gold bases really just favors Terran.

Some good points in there Dustin.

The choke in the main is nice for mid to late game in the case your losing the battle at the (initially blocked big ramp) you can retreat to and defend there to try and save a big chunk of your main. At least that's my experience from the test games I played on that map.

I've made some adjustments and published 0.4 earlier today.

Placed a few more ramps and widened some to allow more flexible use of armies around the center.

Armies can now travel much more quickly taking many different paths to switch between attacking and defending. This way the gold in the center becomes more feasible to take/defend/attack while still keeping it a high risk investment.

Added mountains and chokes near the naturals so they become more easy to defend while still keeping the curved land bridges which work in favor of both the attacker and the defender:
For the attacker to switch flanks in early game to try a different base entrance. For the defender in mid to late game to quickly move his forces around the main to defend far expansions.

annotated map image:
{"name":"605644","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/6\/8696089f333d9acab02a2487b61f881a.png","w":1400,"h":1024,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/6\/8696089f333d9acab02a2487b61f881a"}

The AI vs AI battles I watched on the map seemed quit balanced though in AI vs AI they make many stupid mistakes like not scouting enough, attacking protected points instead of taking out expansions, not defending despite having plenty of units near the attack point.

I meant the second choke that only leads to the rocks.

Good news! The new patch helps address the Terran gold base issue I described last post. Now mules harvest 40 minerals regardless of the type of patch their working on. That'll prevent the people that drop a command center on a gold patch and can instantly have 15 workers on it.

Me too. We are talking about the same choke.

Something else:
I read that maps are region specific too only published to the region used by the battle.net user publishing it via the official map editor. That information however was not from an official source.

Can anyone with a US account please check? (if you can't find the map by searching for 'oceanic' in the custom games then it would seem that maps are indeed region specific as well)

Nope, I don't see it in the US region. Too bad, it looks like a pretty awesome map.

As long as we are sharing details: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/512680/1/willpower/

I main Protoss and Zerg is my alt. I am absolutely abysmal with Terran, but I attribute it to lack of practice. I still think they're OP.
Lately I play a lot of 2v2 and I like to cannon rush for fun! One time I had a great rush and stole my opponent's main using cannons in 1v1.

I played SC2 for the first time last night.

The screen is quite zoomed in, can you zoom out further to see more stuff?

Yeah, in my case it is controlled by the wheel on my mouse. Though I don't understand why they let you zoom in so close that the camera pans down as it does.

Thanks for both checking and for calling it awesome looking.
One more reason to get a US account eventually now is so I could publish my map(s) to multiple regions.

Nope. Zooming out unfortunately does not go very far. The only way to see a little bit more(left and right) is to use a widescreen.

A friend of mine used three monitors once to spread out SC2 over a huge area. It's only marginally useful though, unless you have really good peripheral vision. Get used to the minimap.

This is the problem with 3D in almost every game nowadays. Higher resolution just gives you more detail. In the olden days (e.g. C&C 1) bigger resolution gave you more stuff to see.

I understand that is purposefully done to avoid giving an advantage to people who can afford to buy bigger monitors.

EDIT: on ladder play, that is.

I used to use a smaller monitor when playing SC2 seriously precisely because a bigger monitor just means you have to move your head. Just sitting further back from a large monitor doesn't really work for me because then I need to wear my glasses, which I normally never take out of my car.

I'm moving the further development and discussion of my map to a Starcraft II centric board: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=315216

Of course, I'll still read any comments made here as well, although I realize the chances of most of you playing are rather slim considering you all seem to be in the US region and not in the EU (maybe someday I will get me an extra license...).

In other news, our cat was diagnosed to have FIP ( http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/fip.html )
edit/append: She had to be put down today. We buried her under a tree in the garden and planted a flower.

The map looks nice but it's not even for competitive play due to lack of open space for the zergs to engage.

PERHAPS some non-standard strategies may prove me wrong, but "the way this is played" is unplayable here.

The famous "tank marine" will be unstoppable by the swarm.

I think the lack of open spaces for Zerg to engage effectively in is counterbalanced by the amount of avenues that the Zerg has to attack through. There are quite a few ways to counter while your opponent's deathball is camped in the middle.
Plus the close proximity of the natural and third make it easy for Zerg to get on three bases, so I think it's a good tradeoff.

edit/updated whole post:
Good point Schyfis, unfortunately I have already made some radical changes to the map (and also most SC2 players seem to disagree and think that the overall chokey-ness is/was a bad thing).

v.0.6 is published on EU, SEA and NA now:
Oceanic Mountain Dev-Log

So, now that more allegators can play the map, I'd enjoy reading your thoughts about it. Seeing some replays would also be fun.

You might find this interesting and motivating:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4519245/Season_7_GSL_Map_Poll-2_28_2012#blog

Hell yeah, saw that this morning and already voted for Dual Sight and Metropolis.

I've still got a long way to go to reach that quality level but damn right it's motivational. How awesome would it be to create a map which ends up being played by thousands of Starcrafteers all across the globe... I better keep my hopes low but as long as I'm enjoying it, I'll keep mapping.