Recognition

OK, so what does it mean for you when you're really into something, really good at it and nobody cares?
Most people need some attention and recognition. They need to know that what they're devoting their time to has at least some impact on other people. Heck, even stamp collectors gather at conventions and swap stamps, stories and get these "wow" moments from other people when they have this rare stamp. The same applies to gaming...
In Warcraft III, there is the battle.net ladder, but more importantly there are local, national and international tournaments and clanleagues at which each player can shine, stand out or be completely forgotten about. A wise man once said that people that are known to nobody might as well be dead. In the real world, you still have family and friends of course, so this ultimate course of events doesn't concern many. But in the gaming world, it still holds true to an extent. People keep on playing because they want to improve and ultimately through their skill get recognition from their peers. One of the overwhelming principles in the societies of today seems to be that fame is a goal that is very desirable. This pushes people along.
Everybody needs a bit of attention once in a while. Some people try to achieve this by flaming and getting whole communities on their back. They don't care whether they're liked or not, they just crave the attention that this flaming gets them. Others just try to get better at the game and be respected for their skill, their insights, their unusual strategies or other similar things. And another group of people try to help the community and get recognition from those people for the work they put into it and the resulting help that they gave.
Myself, I have realized that I'll never be a great Warcraft III player. I would probably have gone mad if I still believed in it. I play for fun, to try out strategies and to get off the beaten path. But I still long for some recognition. Why? I guess it's because I have devoted so much time to this game that I don't want to just stop and say "OK, I had a level 35 account, I won a few games against good players, now it's over". I used to play basketball when I was still in my teens and my national coach once took me to the sideline and told me that I'd never be a great basketball player and that I should go into coaching because I was much better at that than at playing and anyways was too small (1.85) for being successful. At the time I didn't listen to him, because I was still hungry for success and I wasn't afraid of anyone. But a few years afterwards, his words came to haunt me. People in my team were becoming better and better and signing on to other prestigious teams. In the meantime, I stopped playing because of University and lost the urge to play and to become better. They got recognition, while I just became an "also-ran".
In Warcraft, I'm not running up into the same mistake. I play for fun, out of interest and because I like to try stuff. But the wider loyalty goes to my team. The recognition the team gets also satisfies my need for it. So I chose the third route: Trying to help the community so that I can still contribute something even if it's not through personal excellence. I've put out a few Audio Commentaries, because I liked the once I heard and yet felt that I could contribute with a fresh perspective. This gives me some recognition, but yet it doesn't seem like it's enough. Am I just craving for more attention, or am I being ungrateful to the people who have stayed loyal to me? I honestly don't know, but I guess that it's just this "little bit more" that is missing. Plus, by putting out this blog into the world wild west, it seems to be further alond the second line of though.
Enough about the story of my involvement with Warcraft. Do people here want attention though flaming, gosu skills or involvement in the community? Or don't they care about any recognition at all?



Winning games

Whether losing or winning, you have to have your priorities straight.

So this blog is about what decisions you should take according to the current situation in the game. Most strategy guides tell you what army composition to get, what creepspots to take, how you should tech and so on. This is only part of the game. Many times you'll be in a position where you have the upper hand or actually be at a disadvantage and you'll want to win from both these situations.

First of all, you obviously have to have a way to find out whether you're in front or not. Sometimes it's easy, when you playing a mirror and you've killed 3 footmen to nothing, but sometimes it's not. For example, even if you've killed 3 footmen and you don't have a shop but all of your army is low on health and your opponent has just hired a panda and is coming for your base, you'll be at a temporary disadvantage until you can heal your units. It's something you learn with experience, but also something you can see from replays of experienced players. Just check the moments before the armies would meet. Who is the one going back? Why is he going back? These are often related to temporary disadvantages like when one of the players has just trained 3 units in 3 buildings and is waiting for them to join his army, when the militia is waiting to come, when the whisps are getting into position to detonate on the casters etc.

If you know you have a real disadvantage that you cannot overcome easily, there are a few limited options that you can take:
1) If you have a better economy than your opponent (e.g. you have an expo, he doesn't or you stay at 50 food and he's over it), then you may want to slow the game down.
This is most effectively done by efficient harassing. For example, you can harass using a zeppelin to drop units into the back of his base, you can use quick units or flying ones (raiders, wyverns, gryphons, destroyers) to harass his economy further, thereby increasing your economic advantage. It's best to avoid battles until you can gather a bigger army than his, so you'll want to avoid skirmishes.
2) If you have lost units and your opponent hasn't.
This means you don't want to wait until his army becomes bigger. There is of course no sure way to win this because if there were, losing early would mean winning the game. But there are a couple of things you can try to do to get back. You can harass the base, but it's more expensive for you if you have to use tps. You don't have an economic advantage in this scenario, so you'll be out as much gold as your opponent and your army will stay smaller. The things to do in this case are rather limited. the best option is to get a good creepjack on your opponent. This has to be prepared with scouting, so you'll want to increase your scouting when you have a disadvantage. The other main option is exactly the opposite. You creep a big, dangerous camp to get the advantage back through experience and items. To pull this off in many games, you'll also need to know whether your opponent is going to creepjack you or not, so scouting is again important.

3) Your tech is late, but you have more T1 units.
In this case, it depends on how late your T2 tech is. If it's only a few tens of seconds late (



Winning games

Whether losing or winning, you have to have your priorities straight.

So this blog is about what decisions you should take according to the current situation in the game. Most strategy guides tell you what army composition to get, what creepspots to take, how you should tech and so on. This is only part of the game. Many times you'll be in a position where you have the upper hand or actually be at a disadvantage and you'll want to win from both these situations.\r\n\r\nFirst of all, you obviously have to have a way to find out whether you're in front or not. Sometimes it's easy, when you playing a mirror and you've killed 3 footmen to nothing, but sometimes it's not. For example, even if you've killed 3 footmen and you don't have a shop but all of your army is low on health and your opponent has just hired a panda and is coming for your base, you'll be at a temporary disadvantage until you can heal your units. It's something you learn with experience, but also something you can see from replays of experienced players. Just check the moments before the armies would meet. Who is the one going back? Why is he going back? These are often related to temporary disadvantages like when one of the players has just trained 3 units in 3 buildings and is waiting for them to join his army, when the militia is waiting to come, when the whisps are getting into position to detonate on the casters etc.\r\n\r\nIf you know you have a real disadvantage that you cannot overcome easily, there are a few limited options that you can take:\r\n1) If you have a better economy than your opponent (e.g. you have an expo, he doesn't or you stay at 50 food and he's over it), then you may want to slow the game down. \r\nThis is most effectively done by efficient harassing. For example, you can harass using a zeppelin to drop units into the back of his base, you can use quick units or flying ones (raiders, wyverns, gryphons, destroyers) to harass his economy further, thereby increasing your economic advantage. It's best to avoid battles until you can gather a bigger army than his, so you'll want to avoid skirmishes.\r\n2) If you have lost units and your opponent hasn't. \r\nThis means you don't want to wait until his army becomes bigger. There is of course no sure way to win this because if there were, losing early would mean winning the game. But there are a couple of things you can try to do to get back. You can harass the base, but it's more expensive for you if you have to use tps. You don't have an economic advantage in this scenario, so you'll be out as much gold as your opponent and your army will stay smaller. The things to do in this case are rather limited. the best option is to get a good creepjack on your opponent. This has to be prepared with scouting, so you'll want to increase your scouting when you have a disadvantage. The other main option is exactly the opposite. You creep a big, dangerous camp to get the advantage back through experience and items. To pull this off in many games, you'll also need to know whether your opponent is going to creepjack you or not, so scouting is again important.\r\n3) Your tech is late, but you have more T1 units.\r\nIn this case, it depends on how late your T2 tech is. If it's only a few tens of seconds late (

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