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//: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm |OT| Like Riding a Bike

Z

Zen

Banned
Blizzard might have reduced the default command execution latency
http://gfycat.com/PepperyFirmGreatargus

Use to be slightly over 200 ms

Im interested to know. I'm not 100% sure it's real (*edit: Perhaps only Arcade-related?). These changes, to my knowledge, are undocumented but would benefit competitive play.
Previously SC2 used to have a default command execution delay of 4/5 turns, which was closer to ~200 ms. For Starcraft II to run smoothly -- for a turn/tick to be executed at all -- players in a game need to have information about the opponent's commands in that turn. Setting the default delay too low when playing with an unreliable connection can cause stuttering and spikes, as the game is forced to delay and dynamically adjust the execution of a turn until information for that specific turn is received.

But SC2 has always been fairly effective in automatically detecting poor network conditions. The game will adjust the execution delay automatically if "Player A is slowing down the game" message is shown. It's doing what would be the equivalent setting "(extra) high latency" in BW. An increased default delay in return for a smoother gameplay experience.

The lowered default execution delay was noticed on a Ping Test map that the modder modder Ahli published on bnet in September 2013. Everybody who tested it prior to 2014 would experience a minimum of 4 skipped game frames. At some point in 2014 the minimum delay was (presumably) lowered to only 2 game frames (SC2 at faster speed setting runs at a turn/tickrate of 22.4 = how frequently the game state is updated with new commands).

Source map: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/430449-ping-test-a-map-to-measure-your-ingame-ping
Click to expand...

Also someone has a neat suggestion for the vikings, in that they should not have to decelerate to land.

As we all know, the Viking transformation isn't exactly the most relevant ability in the game. Whether you're harassing, or trying to supplement your ground force, the Terran player will rarely choose to land his Vikings, and when he does, it is almost never worth it. The transformation ability is far too clumsy and slow to work effectively.

Currently, Vikings must come to a complete halt before landing. This might not sound that bad, but Viking deceleration is relatively slow, their acceleration is equally poor, and their top speed isn't impressive. When you try to make a ball of Vikings land, some will comply, but others will be unable to do so, because their fellow Vikings have just created an obstruction beneath them. With their slow acceleration, they take some time to get moving, and then even once they're positioned, their slow deceleration takes even more time, before they are finally allowed to start the actual transformation.

So what happens is, a ball of Vikings flies in, either to harass a base or reinforce their allies. They must wait about a second, maybe a second and a half, to decelerate and start the animation, and the animation itself takes some time. Some of the Vikings then have to start that process over entirely, and accelerate to move to the edge of the grounded Viking ball, decelerate again, and land. Even then, you might have some more Vikings that were unable to land on the second attempt. By the time every Viking has landed, the other player's harassment defense will be well on its way to the Vikings' location, and in the case of a battle, the other units have already either died or re positioned themselves.

By removing their need to decelerate, Vikings land much faster, meaning they can get away with more damage during harassment, and they can reinforce the ground army in a more timely fashion, after enemy air has been dealt with. More importantly though, the ability is more responsive; the player has near perfect control over when and where the Viking ball will land, which cannot be said in its current state.

To summarize, Vikings transformation is clumsy and the unit responds poorly to an order to land. By allowing them to instantly stop and land while flying at max speed, they become nearly perfect, and don't feel reminiscent of Brood War pathing. All it would take to execute this change is to turn off a simple check box in the editor.

Shameful self-promotion: remember to +1 if you like the idea!
Click to expand...

Test map data:
One Viking At Full Speed
Average Time to Land After given the Order:
Without change: 3.0 seconds
With Change: 2.3 seconds

Five Vikings At Full Speed, Loosely Stacked
Average Time to Land After given the Order:*
Without Change: 3.1
With Change: 2.4

10 Vikings At Full Speed, Loosely Stacked
Average Time to Land After given the Order:*
Without Change: 3.6
With Change: 2.4

20 Vikings At Full Speed, Loosely Stacked
Average Time to Land After given the Order:*
Without Change: 4.4
With Change: 2.5

*The Vikings are considered to have landed after all Vikings in the group are able to move in their ground form.
Click to expand...

I really like this idea, since he is right about the speed at which vikings land, and it is an ability that should look cool. which is does not. Hopefully they get an animation tweak in LotV.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
I would like them to look badass whilst doing it and look cool in their ground form. Blizzard should give them a redo model and animations for lotv. I want some transformer sound effect and a twirl a la the Hots CG trailer. Make it look dynamic and badass.
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Battle.net still sucks ass I see.

Good job blizz

What a truly shitty company. "Hey look, the game is dead. What do we do to fix it? Let's make people disconnect and unable to log in on the game that nobody besides Avilo, Destiny and Yoshichan plays!! YEAAAAH, GREAT JOB, TEAM!"

God, I wish this game was never made. What a disgrace to the RTS-genre.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Yoshichan said:
Battle.net still sucks ass I see.

Good job blizz

What a truly shitty company. "Hey look, the game is dead. What do we do to fix it? Let's make people disconnect and unable to log in on the game that nobody besides Avilo, Destiny and Yoshichan plays!! YEAAAAH, GREAT JOB, TEAM!"

God, I wish this game was never made. What a disgrace to the RTS-genre.
Click to expand...
r u ok
 
S

Stephen_drewz

Member
Played 3 of my 5 placements last night, probably should have played some A.I matches first. Barely even remember the hot keys after playing hundreds of hours of Dota, Diablo and Battlefield.

All 3 matches were against platinum players. Got absolutely smashed. Guessing it still has some kind of mmr rating for me from however long ago it was I last played.
 
S

Syf

Banned
Ah no problem, I'm up for any difficulty and usually drinking anyway lol. Sent. My battletag is Kherion#1360 btw.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
Fast facts #13: Some things you might not know about SCII

The right click to constantly harass an SCV that is constructing something will be something I will be using from now on and cursing when I see it used against me.

Numerology and Day[9]

Is it just me or did he describe Day[9] fairly well? So many things he said had my mind flashing back to his My life of Starcraft and the various AMA things he has done.

Also, I love ladder

Ravens.png
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
You guys should've read my rage yesterday. I'm glad nobody on GAF plays this or I might've gotten caught on a screenshot that's posted here.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
Yoshichan said:
You guys should've read my rage yesterday. I'm glad nobody on GAF plays this or I might've gotten caught on a screenshot that's posted here.
Click to expand...

Player base is up since last season (and season before that) and the game is getting more popular in Korea, so watch out!

Unfiltered #54 today 5pm EDT/11pm CEST w/ ChanManV, Destiny, Richard Lewis, and Cody Conners

Hosts: ChanManV and Destiny
Guests: Richard Lewis and Cody Conners
Show Date/Time: Today 17:00 EDT / 23:00 CEST

Topics:

Dreamhack Summer
NASL article
Dragon Invitational
Hearthstone 250K World Championship
Sub Call-ins (Depending how that goes there could be open call-ins too)
Viewer Q&A from Reddit questions
and more!
"Unfiltered" is a show where ChanManV, Destiny, and guests will discuss several topics in the eSport/gaming/anything industry each week. The goal is to get some interesting discussions/debates going with the viewers and communities while having a relaxed fun time. We may also have special community guests from time to time. We will be taking questions from this Reddit thread and stream chat towards the end of the episode.

Aaron said:
It's an essentially meaningless change that won't impact the matchup. Blizzard is happy that only a few terran advance to the round of sixteen in all three regions. Because if they weren't happy, they'd obviously do something about the muta problem, right?
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that Blizzard has given Terran more buffs (and the other races more Nerfs as relate to v t) than any other race in Hots, and what even are the stats recently for Ts being beaten by each race.
 
S

Syf

Banned
Zen said:
I am pretty sure that Blizzard has given Terran more buffs (and the other races more Nerfs as relate to v t) than any other race in Hots, and what even are the stats recently for Ts being beaten by each race.
Click to expand...
I don't know the overall stats but terran is still performing badly in the WCS with just two in the GSL Ro16 and only 1/7 advancing through the EU Ro32 so far - even worse if you consider that the only terran that has advanced in EU was part of a 3-terran group, so one of them had to advance by default. We'll probably see Taeja, Bomber and Polt advance through the AM Ro32 as usual but I won't be surprised if that's all. Out of the 34 players qualified for the WCS Ro16s so far, just 4 are terran (+1 coming up due to another 3-terran group in EU). That's less than 12% representation; a steep fall from the already low 24% terran representation in the WCS Ro32s. Hopefully Taeja, Neeb and the rest of the AM terrans can pull through so we might get some more balanced playoff rounds in this region, at least.

I do think the matchups are balancing out, but it's too late to save this season. Things should be better in season 3.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
We need to go back to WoL month 1 balance. Siege tanks are not powerful enough!

Maybe it will make Fruit dealer come back.
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
WoL was crazy good mid through it. Then it became shit. Then HotS came out and that was fucking amazing. For six months. Now it sucks even more than late-WoL.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
I feel like Hots is in a better place than WoL. Hots has more malleability than WoL at its best and nothing as bad as winfestor broodlord corruptor. Swarm hosts are not that bad, and force some BW like multi pronged aggression.
 
A

AdventureRacing

Member
Yoshichan said:
WoL was crazy good mid through it. Then it became shit. Then HotS came out and that was fucking amazing. For six months. Now it sucks even more than late-WoL.
Click to expand...

This is just so wrong. The game right now is in a great spot, probably better than it has ever been. The biggest issue is the under representation of terran but i think that will slowly turn around.

I want changes to the game and some pretty big ones but it's in a pretty good place right now. I feel like a lot fans don't actually know what they want.
 
H

Holden

Member
AdventureRacing said:
This is just so wrong. The game right now is in a great spot, probably better than it has ever been. The biggest issue is the under representation of terran but i think that will slowly turn around.

I want changes to the game and some pretty big ones but it's in a pretty good place right now. I feel like a lot fans don't actually know what they want.
Click to expand...

a good game

hehehhe
 
S

Stephen_drewz

Member
Somehow I didn't get Bronze. Ended up Silver, but rank 100 Silver lol. My placements were against 4 plat players and 1 silver.

Oh well, time to work my way to Gold.
 
A

AdventureRacing

Member
-Snooze- said:
Thinking of delving into the world of Star Craft pretty soon. Is the game hard to get into, and how competitive is it online?
Click to expand...

The SP is easy to get into so i'd consider starting there first. The online is about as competitive as you can get and it's a very steep learning curve. Of course there are players at every level and the matchmaking system is quite good so even though you'll most likely start from the bottom there are players of all skill levels.

You just have to go into it expecting to start off at the bottom. The fun part is learning the intricacies of the game and seeing yourself slowly improve. Eventually you start coming up with strats that you like and play styles that suit you and it's all kind of awesome to see your plans come to fruition. There are few if any games that provide as much reward as starcraft when you overcome your opponent.

Wish you luck if you do get started and feel free to ask for advice here, there are some pretty knowledgeable people on here.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
More evidence of the hellion - > hellbat upgrade doing work. I was honestly a little surprised that the change went through, and T now has some really strong 2 base all ins TvZ, but the patch change is doing exactly what Blizzard wanted.



[SC2 Arcade] Tessera - Reveal & Gameplay Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAHvSkCEHE

From the creator of Haunted Forest and Photon Discs comes the next step in action packed arcade games, Tessera.

Tessera is a first person shooter in which players compete among each other for ultimate accuracy and victory. Turn your opponents into dust with your Quantum Rifle, shield yourself against an incoming attack with a Blast Shield or gain a Speed Boost by splitting into numerous molecules.

The choices are yours. Are you skilled enough to be victorious?

MAP LINK
COMING MAY 28th
Contact me @Bounty.820 or Join the group "Bounty's Arcade Games" if interested in pre-release testing

Players - 2-8

FEATURES

3D ENVIRONMENT - Tessera features a fully 3D environment. You are free to shoot, jump or walk under or over anything you see in the world.

Hit Detection - Whether it be a 56k modem or a modern internet connect. In Tessera, all hits register regardless of latency.

Customization - In Tessera you are free to customize your avatars appearance and you can even combine 3 beams into your own unique death stream.

Modes - There are 4 currently planned modes for Tessera which include "FFA", "Team Deathmatch", "Capture the Flag" and "Freeze Tag".

VIDEOS
Tessera - Reveal and Gameplay Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAHvSkCEHE
Click to expand...
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/12945164723

Man the Arcade going free to play has really been bearing fruit lately. I am also curious about how many people who are semi frequently popping in this thread saying that they are trying out SCII are doing so because of the Arcade etc?

Also another shout out to JetCraft while I am at it

yNup6eP.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
I don't get why I try and play this game anymore.

Takes 10 minutes to find a game that works (and doesn't stop after counting to zero). Then when finally in-game, it's a fucking two second delay from click-to-action.

Fuck Blizzard so hard. I wouldn't work for this shit company if they so payed me 2 billion dollars an hour.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
Do you live in fiji or something. What region are you living in and what region are you trying to play in. Are you using a mac? Have you checked that your ports are actually open?

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/7708411977
http://blues.wowraider.net/blue/us2/8197652070/Countdown-Timer-Hangs,-Unable-to-Join-Match
https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/firewall-proxy-router-and-port-configuration

Have you tried taking your computer to a different house that ~works fine~ for them and seen how yours works to better isolate the cause? Have you tried installing it on another computer at your house and had the same issue? Wireless versus wired?
 
Z

Zen

Banned
Shame he could not do it again. If he had built a bunker in game 2, so many things were going well for him.

Also Blizzard is now taking out the trash, though I do wonder if they can win their lawsuit

New banwave from blizzard. VCMH users getting banned

wquhBoF.png


We recently issued a new round of account suspensions and bans to StarCraft II players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing.

Ensuring a fair and competitive environment within the Battle.net service is a cornerstone of the StarCraft II experience, and cheating and hacking can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. Any action taken to harass or obtain an unfair advantage over other players, whether accomplished by in-game exploitation or via manipulation of the Battle.net service, may be considered a violation of our Terms of Use. Such actions are subject to penalties up to, and including, permanent suspension of a Battle.net account.

If you suspect another player of exploitation, harassment, or otherwise violating our policies, please simply report the player in question to afford our support staff the opportunity to investigate accordingly.

As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us. We'll continue to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.
Click to expand...

Also if you are playing and suspect someone of hacking, you can e-mail blizzard directly (and send them the replay) @ hacks@blizzard.com

A fun Tastosis cast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inG13TwdRJA
 
H

HolyCheck

I want a tag give me a tag
njL73oW.jpg


To celebrate Jin Air Green Wings' Proleague Round 2 victory and (P)JinAir sOs's triumph at the IEM World Championship, sponsoring company Jin Air have decided to feature the progaming team on one of their airliners. Jin Air marketing director and avid progaming fan Cho Min Hyeon had previously hinted at this promotion on Twitter after sOs won the IEM World Championship.

sOs's image has been painted onto the tail fin of the plane, while the rest of the players have been painted onto the body. It is the first plane in Jin Air's history that has been custom painted in such a manner.
Click to expand...
Fecking Awesome.
 
S

Syf

Banned
Finally decided to go back and finish both campaigns on brutal. It's awesome how op Kerrigan is. Felt like I was playing Diablo lol. She's all I used for the last several missions.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
Man, I wish I had a Gom subscription so I could save all of the cheeses Maru did the other night. o the vods eventually show up on youtube or does anyone have a list of them? Anyone know the timing on the proxy (in base) rax and bunker in tvp?

Also, you have to have watched the group to really appreciate this but it is still hilarious. Tasteless has been on fire recently, maybe Starbow has helped him regain his passion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5OC-bXqLFg

So guess what I think no one realizes?

If you right click the portrait of an arcade game you can select ~copy link~ and it will give you this

JetCraft starcraft://map/1/189654

Click it to automatically book up Starcraft II into that game.

Pretty nifty.
 
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