Starcraft....cartooned.....

[Zarniwoop]

Carbot is generally a stand-up guy who knows his Blizzard games and ridldes his videos with an insane amount of small little references to the games at hand, it's especially evident in his first Diablo spoof. I figure most Codexers would have a laugh at Brood War in a nutshell, too. Or this one about pathfinding.

Anyway, the reason this is made for SC1 is because sprite-based graphics of the original make it much easier to make a new set of 2D animations to it. There used to be a mod for SC2 that let you play with Carbot graphics, but it only worked on very select maps and took a shitload of time to make, whereas this is a complete graphical overhaul.

Starcraft has received balance patches until around 2002, the release of Remastered included a free-to-use ability to switch hotkeys to your liking and fixed a bug that made Valkyrie useless, particularly in large team games. Furthermore, StarCraft 2 isn't anywhere near the same game as the original, not any more than, say, Company of Heroes 2 is to its own original. There are different units, dynamics between races, overall flow of the gameplay, and even attitude towards patching as BW is largely updated solely by the community and SC2 receives cyclical balance patches released by Blizzard itself.

"Gookclick", if you're referring to that, is not reflective of what it takes to be the top contender in either Starcraft game. It's a meaningless, pejorative term.

Actions Per Minute
P
M

 

[Dzupakazul]

Actions Per Minute
P
M

High APM alone isn't what makes you good at Starcraft. There are plenty of players at semi-decent levels that play with low APM, e.g. retired Ukrainian player Aleksey Krupnik routinely hits S-rank on the ladder even though he's pushing 40 and his APM has always hovered around 200, which is not much (pretty standard RTS play with both hands; I play just about as fast as he does, and I'm not a high-level Protoss who scored wins against Korean progamers). There are numerous players that make it into the top Korean pro circuit but are known for their relatively low-spam, low-APM playstyle, such as Soulkey - he is one of the best Zerg in Brood War, yet his late-game APM, with Zerg, a race that has naturally inflated APM (you have to make a lot more "clicks" to make your actions as Zerg) doesn't even reach an average of 300. Fairly similar to Zero, another player with this style. Those are not outliers, either.

Many players are known for having a "smart" playstyle rather than brute-forcing enemies with straight-up superior mechanics, as those things matter. High APM helps, but does not define success. A slow player can enjoy the competitive side of either Starcraft game with no fuss - it's more about clicking precisely and knowing what to click rather than, as has been assured, bashing the keyboard as fast as possible.

 

[BING XI LAO]

Many players are known for having a "smart" playstyle rather than brute-forcing enemies with straight-up superior mechanics, as those things matter. High APM helps, but does not define success. A slow player can enjoy the competitive side of either Starcraft game with no fuss - it's more about clicking precisely and knowing what to click rather than, as has been assured, bashing the keyboard as fast as possible.

How many APM are clicks and how many are keyboard presses?

 

[Dzupakazul]

How many APM are clicks and how many are keyboard presses?

I don't know. I don't think anyone bothered to measure, especially since mechanics are nuanced and actually fairly individual; it might sound funny, but some people use the mouse more and some use the keyboard more. It depends on style (heavy all-in / micro playstyles likely have to use the mouse more) and on the race you play. I'd wager a guess most players use the keyboard more.

For instance, in Brood War, let's say you're a Zerg who wants to mass Hydralisks and you have a number of macro hatcheries in your base (macro hatcheries, as in hatcheries that are not used to create a new base, but are specifically built to increase your larva count), you can instantly queue up production from 4 hatches at once by doing this: press a keyboard hotkey that centers your screen on the hatcheries, hold Control + Left Mouse Button and click a Larva (which will select up to 12 Larvae that are visible on the screen), and press a corresponding hotkey ("H"ydralisk is default in this case). Some Zerg might instead opt to rely more on keyboard hotkeys and go like 5sh6sh7sh8sh9sh (note the additional keyboard press for "S"elect Larvae" in this rotation).

Pressing on stuff with your keyboard is also a matter of precision and organization, mostly figuring out efficient production hotkeys and adjusting them to your style.

That said, I'd like to emphasize that some of the most dominant players in Starcraft's history prevailed due to their importance as strategists and not merely fast clickers. Bisu caused a "PvZ revolution" in 2006 by figuring out strategies that brought balance to the matchup, and he was one of the first Protosses that truly crushed their Zerg opponents. Stork is one of the most gracefully aged pros in the current circuit and he's lauded for his insane ability to read the game. iloveoov's biggest footprint on the proscene might not even be his days as a pro (where he was one of the deadliest Terrans), but also the fact that he figured out a shitload of builds in his days as a coach.

A degree of mechanical know-how is a prerequisite to play Starcraft online (you should know your hotkeys, for instance; easier than ever because now you can rebind them), but it doesn't start or end at "just mashing as fast as you can" is my point. I know many good, intermediate players who are really slow. You can even play turtle / defensive if you want as long as you're efficient about it and maintain enough presence to not let your opponent take over the entire map while you figure out Factory Fengshui.

 

[Multidirectional]

multiplayer game that's all about how fast you bash buttons

Then why am I winning against players with twice my APM and losing against players with half my APM? Starcraft II is a very butthurt inducing game, and it clearly shows in its haters.

 

[thesecret1]

So, is this the long-awaited grand resurrection of the RTS genre?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]