starcraft 2

this is going to be a long and rambly post all about starcraft2, so if you don't play or have no idea what it is about, it may not be for you. Just for me to rant rawrr.

So you should know (if you know me) that I'm quite crazy about Starcraft2. It's just about the only game I play now (barring games on the iPod Touch) . It's a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game in which you build a base, train troops, and kill your opponents.

It's rightly called 'RTS' because it really is strategizing in real time, every second of the way. And that's what this post is ranting about. Even though I played Starcraft 1, I never really had a favourite race. When i played back then I didn't ladder or anything, mostly played against the computer and if I can't win I'll use cheat codes LOL. poweroverwhelming. operationcwal (cwal stands for 'cannot wait any longer' in case you didn't know)



When Starcraft2 came out, I knew my aim was to ladder, because before that I was playing Warcraft3 and was laddering alot and really enjoyed it. 1v1 is my favourite, because it is all about your own personal skills and your personal decisions that influence the outcome of the game.


I don't know what made me decide on Zerg, but I started playing zerg in SC2 and really liked it. Maybe it's the convenience of having everything train from just one building. Maybe because zerg seems the coolest. i don't know.


-SC2 jargon begins here-
So now, a few months down, the problem I find with Zerg is that it's the most reactionary race. What this means is that rarely can you start the game with a particular build in mind - you have to just macro up quickly and scout your opponent to know what to go for next. I say 'rarely' because there are of course some short strats such as baneling busts or 6pool that you can decide off the bat to do, but they are often countered and defended easily by better players.
 zergs don't have a 4gate or a 3rax or a 1buildfitsall strategy, and gets even more complicated in ZvZ. Let me go through each matchup.

Zerg vs Terran
This used to be my worst matchup as I could not figure out how to beat the 'imba' Terran. But after the recent nerfs (i.e. Reapers) and reaching where I am on the ladder, the builds they throw out are all the same - infantry+tanks or thors or both, and the occasional hellions thrown in. But most of the time it's a mass infantry build. Which makes them now become my easiest matchup - I think i win easily 66% of the time against them.

What happened to the mass Thors? MMM? Everyone now seems to like using mass marines + a couple of tanks which is really easy to beat with banelings/speedlings/roach/mutas. Heck, i can even reduce it to baneling/muta sometimes I don't know why I don't really use Infestors, maybe because they are so flimsy and cost SO much gas. I should use them more though.

I think what separates a good Terran from an average one is the use of drops. I know I'm facing a strong opponent when I fight a small frontal assault force and see a group of infantry drop off in my mineral line. Annoying as hell, but that is what pro Terrans do. The average ones just use Medivacs as medics, totally neglecting to abuse the power of drops.


Zerg vs Protoss
This used to be my easiest matchup but now in the later diamond league stages I seem to have alot of problems with Protoss.
Almost all the time I'll go fast expand (14 hatch) into roaches (and once in a mutaling for fun) and while I have no problems holding off a 2gate zealot early push, the problem comes with an all-in 4 gate timing push. (4 gate is considered 'all-in' because if I can hold it off, he will be mineral strapped and waaay behind in economy - you can't produce off 4 gates for long on 1 base)

Apparently the correct defence is to throw up 3-4 spinecrawlers and fight in their range.. Have still yet to practise that.

If it's not a 4gate, then it's a phoenix rush. Good Protoss will hide their stargates and just pop into my base suddenly with 4-6 phoenixes - by that time it's too late to really do anything (e.g. pump up hydras). I guess the only way to really defend this is to throw up preemptive spore crawlers if I don't see a 4 gate.
PLUS, the upcoming patch is going to buff Phoenix(es?) by reducing their build time.. so I'll probably be seeing this alot more. bleahz.



Zerg vs Zerg
While I regard this as the most fun matchup, it is also the most complicated and challenging matchup. There are about a dozen different openings you can do in ZvZ.. let me see if i can list them
1) 6 (or 7 or 8) pool
2) 10 pool econ build
3) 10 pool all-in baneling rush
4) 13 gas 13 pool
5) 14 gas 13 pool
6) 14 hatch 14 pool (or even 15 hatch)
7) in-base hatch all in zergling rush
8) +1 melee upgrade all in zergling rush

Note that these are only OPENINGS, not the full strat that includes the transitions. 4 and 5 normally transits into roaches, but speedling/baneling is becoming very common as well, and that leads to the transitions
1) roaches +1 ranged attack timing pus
2) roach-fake (just a few roaches to block ramp)
3) zergling baneling rush
4) zergling spam into mutalisks

SO MANY VARIATIONS. And the thing is if you go the wrong build relative to what your opponent gets, it's an instant loss. No way of defending, you just lose straight out because you chose the wrong build. For instance, a 6 pool rapes a 14 hatch obviously. And a zerglingbaneling rapes a mass zergling. muta tech rapes a pure roach army.

And what makes it harder is that with a Queen in base, it's virtually impossible to scout with an Overlord like you do against T and P, you have to run some lings into their base to see their tech structures.

Nowadays I'm losing alot to some sort of all-in speedling push. My favourite opener is 14 hatch as I like econ games as it's good to train macro, but on small maps, especially with early lings pressure, it is not very viable. Then when I get roaches, my opponents do some fast tech to mutas with speedlings to pressure me and I lose again. highly frustrating!

And the hardest matchup of all is lingbanelings vs lingbanelings. It becomes a pure micro fight and given my lack of practice I don't dare rely on that. One wrong click and you lose your entire ling army to a baneling (or your banelings to a baneling) which really just makes you pound your keyboard.

~~
grawl. I hope by the end of this holidays, I would have hit top 20 in diamond at least (hmm, master league even?) and know how to beat the common strategies that beat me. grr.

engrish

Everytime I visit Daiso, my favourite activity is to spot all the hilarious english translations on the products. I have blogged about this before here.

So this week while out with sh we visited Daiso, and it's Engrish hunting again! I will caption the words in case you cant read the pictures

 

I want to go to the nature for relaxation. Be absorbed in the sweet memories then you will be a part of the nature

 Yupyup, making alot of sense as usual.

A well-functioned sophisticated amd best in quality created exclusively for you

Be absorbed in sweet memories then you will be a part of the nature. You can feel comfortable from the natural materials

hahaha quite similar to the one above. And yes I feel very comfortable from the natural materials.

A steering wheel. In what is round, I fit a finger

 HAHAHA ok this is totally lost in translation. I wonder why they suddenly talk about steering wheels.. And the second line is just highly suggestive LOL.

It is a family of me who is always nearby

It is a shoes stand that can be stored shoes double!

lolol I guess they mean you can store 2 shoes? haha.

Anyway, me and sh actually wanted to go to the Sentosa Busker's Festival

There were performances such as jugglers (the world record holder for soccer balls juggling), magicians, singers, and all sorts of performers. It sounded quite interesting, hence I decided to go with SH.

HOWEVER. When we reach Sentosa, it began to rain -_- And because all the performances were outdoors for some stupid reason, they were cancelled! FOL! (OL = our lives.. leave you to figure it out) 

We were so sad  :(

wa she looks pissed.

not bad right I'm like about to cry

crazy girl starts smilingggg

Ok bye~

speedy taxi drivers

There are a number of things in the world I don't and will probably never understand - how to calculate the current in a complex series + parallel circuit, rubik's cubes above 3x3, girls, and taxi drivers who speed.
(No i'm not talking about the first 3 in this post, just the last one)



I've been taking cabs quite abit since army, because I have adopted a personal and popular philosophy that 'Time is money'. Thus, since army, I've begun taking cabs when I feel like I want to save that extra 20 mins or more in travelling time.

On paper, it seems ridiculous - to spend money just to save such a small amount of time?! But come on, once time is gone, it never comes back. There are only 24 hours a day (which I feel is too little) and every second has to be treasured (remember my Snowball Time Effect theory?)

Plus, it seems that cabbing is more economical than driving (I may be wrong, but it seems to be? It'll take a couple of years to break even for the cost of your car + COE, not including fuel, car maintenance, etc.)

ANYWAY, that totally wasn't the point of this entry. My question is:
Why do taxi drivers bother speeding?

Recently when I take my cabs at night, and the traffic is more favourable, my taxi drivers have been speeding. I will define speeding as going above 90 (that's the speed limit on an expressway btw, it's 80 on normal roads and 70 on some. don't know if it goes lower)
And the cabs I've been in have frequently stayed at 100km/h-ish as long as they can - the one I just took went up to 110, and was trying to push 120! (but traffic prevented him from doing so)

 Now, this is NOT a complain, I LOVE it when they speed because this gets me home quicker and hence makes my taxi ride more worth it. Yes I know that it's dangerous and all but.. HECK LA. haha. If you're meant to die you're meant to die. Just don't take unnecessary risk like try to dangle yourself out of the building. But if my cabby wants to set a new speed record I'm not going to stop him with 'Uncle please slow down!!' and watch him drop to 50 for the rest of the journey.

I'm not a very stingy person but if I was working as taxi driver, I would just drive at a NORMAL pace? I mean, I do get paid less if i drove quicker, so why would I want to reduce my earnings? Eh, taxi driver not easy leh, working hours are long and hard and you don't exactly get alot of money. Of course I'm not saying I will go one big round to scam people... I just won't bother to drive FASTER to LOWER my earnings!

There is no incentive to drive quicker besides maybe having the adrenaline of speeding?

Heck, my drivers even OVERTAKE other cars when they are speeding. That's just ridiculously awesome!? I mean, maybe a nice cabby would just accelerate more when the road is clear and maybe push 90, 100km/h. However, if traffic prevents him from reaching those speeds, I'll be totally fine if he stays at 70-80 and stays behind them. Ok fine, I may tsk abit in annoyance at the cars blocking us but unless they're crawling at 40-50 or something, I wouldn't really fault my cabby for not overtaking.
But mine, when he sees cars in front, he will actually weave around them and maintain his high speed. For what??

AND, don't forget that not only do they NOT gain from speeding, they may even LOSE something in terms of a fine!! Speeding can get fined one!

So to sum up, when cabbies speed they
1) Lower their own earnings
2) Risk a hefty fine

Why do they still do it? I'm befuddled. Is there such a word? Befuddled. CONFUSED. CLUELESS.

Anyway, I always ask these speedy drivers to keep the change when I pay them (about 50 cents la I'm not that rich or crazy enough to like give them 50 dollar note for a $10+ journey) in recognition of their effort and risk and awesomeness. You should too! (if you are not some anti-speeding advocate, that is)