*boot button lights up*Phantom032 wrote:QUOTE (Phantom032 @ Dec 7 2014, 10:04 PM) Good points all around.
xJammer and I used to play belters bombers as a tempo play - just two or three people making a 200mps bombrun means the enemy needed way more defenders than we had people on the bombrun, giving lots of time to mine with minimal harassment.
Sadly people on our team were mostly too stupid to follow orders and attack the enemy miners instead - they would grab figs and try to nan the bomber just to notice they couldn't even keep up with adv scouts ramming, which led to hvy ints for the enemy too quickly. Its something I've noticed in general, people tend to flock to and defend bombers no matter what you tell them.
Its why I've recently given up on commanding pugs, people think they know what to do better than I as the commander and it usually ends in total failure. Why attack miners next sector if you can spam the buy bomber button instead? Why probe the sector with an enemy tp on the aleph that is only 2k from our techbase when you could pick up retrobooster and EMP cannons in an unimportant empty sector halfway across the map, and then die to a random enemy voob that also wanted to pick that tech up? (both of these actually happened, and it wasnt noobs but people who fancy themselves vets that were around long enough to know better even without being told what to do, which they were)
P1's Notebook
QUOTE Drizzo: ha ha good old chap
Drizzo: i am a brit
Drizzo: tut tut
Drizzo: wankarrrrrr
Drizzo: i only have sex whilst in the missionary position[/quote] Fas est et ab hoste doceri - Ovid
Drizzo: i am a brit
Drizzo: tut tut
Drizzo: wankarrrrrr
Drizzo: i only have sex whilst in the missionary position[/quote] Fas est et ab hoste doceri - Ovid
"What? It was close"Phantom032 wrote:QUOTE (Phantom032 @ Dec 8 2014, 07:04 AM) Why probe the sector with an enemy tp on the aleph that is only 2k from our techbase when you could pick up retrobooster and EMP cannons in an unimportant empty sector halfway across the map, and then die to a random enemy voob that also wanted to pick that tech up? (both of these actually happened, and it wasnt noobs but people who fancy themselves vets that were around long enough to know better even without being told what to do, which they were)
Notebook 2 will be later today guys!
Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
-
MagisterXF94
- Posts: 1935
- Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:46 am
- Location: Trieste, Italy
Thanks P1phoenix1 wrote:QUOTE (phoenix1 @ Dec 14 2014, 02:25 PM) Notebook 2 will be later today guys!
QUOTE ^cashto@Elem (all): yeah, i imagine if you're rusty, you could build op short for no reason, build a naked ref, then go two techpaths even though your mining is by all objective standards $#@!ed[/quote]
Notebook #2:
Finding your Style.
Commanding is a time commitment. You're basically saying, "this is what I'm going to do for the next 20 minutes to an hour." Sometimes games last for hours before a resolution, but that's fairly rare. With that being said, it's vitally important that you pick a faction and techpath that you enjoy commanding. After a few dozen games commanding you'll start to get an idea of what it is you really like to do. Maybe you like bombing, or maybe you like taking as much map as possible. Maybe 15 minute hvy ints is your thing. Whatever it is you like to do, that's what you should do.
As a commander, my style tends to be in favor of getting map control as early as possible. The more sectors I control, the happier I feel. I also really don't enjoy the gameplay surrounding bombers so, when possible, I'll try to avoid making that dreaded purchase and set up the map and my econ so that bombing isn't an attractive option for my opponent. The result is that I really enjoy commanding Giga, Rix, and GT. I'll also command TF and IC fairly often, but I try to stay away from Dreg (their super expensive cons make it difficult to spam them around the map) and OH (OH's strength is getting four or so sectors and then dual teching their way to victory). I also don't command Belters or Bios that often, but the reason I don't command Belters or Bios isn't because I don't enjoy commanding Belters or Bios, but because the way I like to command those factions is against the PUG conventional wisdom.
How do each of these factions fit my personal style? With Rix I love splitting the opening constructors because you can usually, with good SR play, get both cons to plant in the most important chokes. HiHigher is a great example of this: if you send your cons midhigh and midlow, odds are one of them will plant for free and the other will (since it's enh and comes out in 90 seconds) plant with some contention, but with your SRs reacting properly you can set up a huge barrier to allowing your opponent to control that sector. If necessary, purchasing bbrs and controlling the biggest mining chain available on HiHigher is also very lovely. I also love GT on maps like Star or IO. By pushing the opening TP with the opening con and the fact that I must get, at the very least, a palisade and a (very tough) techbase I can very quickly grab a lot of map. GT's inherent resistance to galving is also a wonderful boon thanks to Researches and Palisades. With TF, I like to use my miner as a mini carrier. It's expensive if the miner dies, but because TF scouts are so strong, it's likely that I just pushed a miner forward with my op ensuring I have both good D for my op con no matter what people try to do and a homerip regardless of what I try to do with my teleport.
My ideas of Belters and Bios are a little odd, of course. I love Bios' 60s con times and love to push cons all over the map, forcing my opponent to deal with them. Many players; however, assume that since I am Bios I am content to turtle. Similarly, because I hate bombers, I try to stay away from bombing when I choose Belters. The higher level commanders that I have spoken to tend to agree that while Belters are certainly good at bombing, bombing is by no means necessary to success with the faction. I love pushing around tough carriers and cheap cons much like a hardier version of Giga.
Obviously though styles differ. Federalman almost always bombs. TenForward always plays TF and always gets hvy bbrs before pretty much anything else. Terran enjoys going pure tac or Rix hvy scouts. Drizzo is hyper-aggressive and you can expect him to try and put his constructors in your face. There's no "right way" to command Allegiance, but knowing your opponent is very important. Whenever I command against Fedman, for example, I always try to figure out when he is going to start his bombing campaign and plan accordingly. If I'm commanding against Sheff, I expect a pile of interceptors at my doorstep. As you proceed in your commanding journey you'll find that some commanders are fairly easy to predict but the actual tactics they use are very hard to stop, and that there are other commanders who will constantly surprise you.
This leads me to the two types of reads: "cold read" and "hot read." A cold read is when you guess what your opponent's decision is going to be before they make the decision. A hot read is when you read what they're doing by observing it and then react. The first time I commanded against Dome after returning from my sabbatical, he used a Bastard maneuver on me. To this day I don't think he's ever NOT tried to use the Bastard Maneuver against me on hihigher. It ended up getting to the point where I had completely shifted my strategy: I would *let* him bastard me by moving a single miner up to the outpost to mine that outpost while I developed my map position on the other side of the map mining with 3 miners. Another example of a cold read was when someone decided to go Belters against me on hihigher. I was giga. We scouted their cons going high and I knew they'd try to bomb from the top. Sure enough they entered and crashed straight into a caltrop and tower. I also knew that their second attempt would be to come from midhigh since they would expect that I would shore up the defense from high. Once again the full speed bomb run got immediately destroyed by the caltrop and tower right in their way. I tell these stories not to be all "look at me and how smart I am" but rather to show what a cold read is and how powerful it can be when you get it right.
On the other hand, in a recent game against Terran, I tried to cold read Terran. The end result was losing a forward sup and then getting my garr blown up by a bomb run from his techbase that I didn't expect. If you rely too much on the reads you can get yourself destroyed.
Still, as Drizzo once told me, when you command a pickup game you're not playing against the enemy team so much as the enemy commander. If you know what your opponent is going to do and you know how to counter it, you're heavily advantaged in every game. On the other hand, if you find yourself doing the same thing too often, you might find yoruself in the same situation I did during my recent GT tacspan binge: getting completely outmaneuvered.
See you next week!
Finding your Style.
Commanding is a time commitment. You're basically saying, "this is what I'm going to do for the next 20 minutes to an hour." Sometimes games last for hours before a resolution, but that's fairly rare. With that being said, it's vitally important that you pick a faction and techpath that you enjoy commanding. After a few dozen games commanding you'll start to get an idea of what it is you really like to do. Maybe you like bombing, or maybe you like taking as much map as possible. Maybe 15 minute hvy ints is your thing. Whatever it is you like to do, that's what you should do.
As a commander, my style tends to be in favor of getting map control as early as possible. The more sectors I control, the happier I feel. I also really don't enjoy the gameplay surrounding bombers so, when possible, I'll try to avoid making that dreaded purchase and set up the map and my econ so that bombing isn't an attractive option for my opponent. The result is that I really enjoy commanding Giga, Rix, and GT. I'll also command TF and IC fairly often, but I try to stay away from Dreg (their super expensive cons make it difficult to spam them around the map) and OH (OH's strength is getting four or so sectors and then dual teching their way to victory). I also don't command Belters or Bios that often, but the reason I don't command Belters or Bios isn't because I don't enjoy commanding Belters or Bios, but because the way I like to command those factions is against the PUG conventional wisdom.
How do each of these factions fit my personal style? With Rix I love splitting the opening constructors because you can usually, with good SR play, get both cons to plant in the most important chokes. HiHigher is a great example of this: if you send your cons midhigh and midlow, odds are one of them will plant for free and the other will (since it's enh and comes out in 90 seconds) plant with some contention, but with your SRs reacting properly you can set up a huge barrier to allowing your opponent to control that sector. If necessary, purchasing bbrs and controlling the biggest mining chain available on HiHigher is also very lovely. I also love GT on maps like Star or IO. By pushing the opening TP with the opening con and the fact that I must get, at the very least, a palisade and a (very tough) techbase I can very quickly grab a lot of map. GT's inherent resistance to galving is also a wonderful boon thanks to Researches and Palisades. With TF, I like to use my miner as a mini carrier. It's expensive if the miner dies, but because TF scouts are so strong, it's likely that I just pushed a miner forward with my op ensuring I have both good D for my op con no matter what people try to do and a homerip regardless of what I try to do with my teleport.
My ideas of Belters and Bios are a little odd, of course. I love Bios' 60s con times and love to push cons all over the map, forcing my opponent to deal with them. Many players; however, assume that since I am Bios I am content to turtle. Similarly, because I hate bombers, I try to stay away from bombing when I choose Belters. The higher level commanders that I have spoken to tend to agree that while Belters are certainly good at bombing, bombing is by no means necessary to success with the faction. I love pushing around tough carriers and cheap cons much like a hardier version of Giga.
Obviously though styles differ. Federalman almost always bombs. TenForward always plays TF and always gets hvy bbrs before pretty much anything else. Terran enjoys going pure tac or Rix hvy scouts. Drizzo is hyper-aggressive and you can expect him to try and put his constructors in your face. There's no "right way" to command Allegiance, but knowing your opponent is very important. Whenever I command against Fedman, for example, I always try to figure out when he is going to start his bombing campaign and plan accordingly. If I'm commanding against Sheff, I expect a pile of interceptors at my doorstep. As you proceed in your commanding journey you'll find that some commanders are fairly easy to predict but the actual tactics they use are very hard to stop, and that there are other commanders who will constantly surprise you.
This leads me to the two types of reads: "cold read" and "hot read." A cold read is when you guess what your opponent's decision is going to be before they make the decision. A hot read is when you read what they're doing by observing it and then react. The first time I commanded against Dome after returning from my sabbatical, he used a Bastard maneuver on me. To this day I don't think he's ever NOT tried to use the Bastard Maneuver against me on hihigher. It ended up getting to the point where I had completely shifted my strategy: I would *let* him bastard me by moving a single miner up to the outpost to mine that outpost while I developed my map position on the other side of the map mining with 3 miners. Another example of a cold read was when someone decided to go Belters against me on hihigher. I was giga. We scouted their cons going high and I knew they'd try to bomb from the top. Sure enough they entered and crashed straight into a caltrop and tower. I also knew that their second attempt would be to come from midhigh since they would expect that I would shore up the defense from high. Once again the full speed bomb run got immediately destroyed by the caltrop and tower right in their way. I tell these stories not to be all "look at me and how smart I am" but rather to show what a cold read is and how powerful it can be when you get it right.
On the other hand, in a recent game against Terran, I tried to cold read Terran. The end result was losing a forward sup and then getting my garr blown up by a bomb run from his techbase that I didn't expect. If you rely too much on the reads you can get yourself destroyed.
Still, as Drizzo once told me, when you command a pickup game you're not playing against the enemy team so much as the enemy commander. If you know what your opponent is going to do and you know how to counter it, you're heavily advantaged in every game. On the other hand, if you find yourself doing the same thing too often, you might find yoruself in the same situation I did during my recent GT tacspan binge: getting completely outmaneuvered.
See you next week!
Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
Ain't that the truth. Commanders are rarely the reason why a team wins, but they're frequently the reason why they might lose.Djole88 wrote:QUOTE (Djole88 @ Dec 16 2014, 03:03 PM) p1 you should be a lawyer
P.S. Drizzo is wrong. In a PUG you are either playing with the stack,which makes irrelevant what you do, or against it, which still makes irrelevant what you do.
Globemaster_III wrote:QUOTE (Globemaster_III @ Jan 11 2018, 11:27 PM) as you know i think very little of cashto, cashto alway a flying low pilot, he alway flying a trainer airplane and he rented
You know I've got a long history of anti stacking and winning hopeless games, but I guess when some random dude with a sixth or a seventh of my time played says I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
< /s>
< /s>
cashto wrote:QUOTE (cashto @ Oct 16 2010, 02:48 AM) Interceptors are fun because without one, Drizzo would be physically incapable of entering a sector.