COMMUNITY
CHECK OUT THE THREADS FOR BOTH OF THESE TOOLS ON TEAMLIQUID. THE CORE
THE STAIRCASE
StarCraft is a real time strategy game. So it is made up of both strategy and mechanics. All approaches to learning StarCraft can be divided into 2 main categories. Those that teach Mechanics through Strategy and those that teach Strategy through Mechanics. The issue of the former is that you will be in a position where you know exactly what you are “supposed” to do, but cannot execute the command. This can create feelings of frustration and hopelessness, often times leaving the player without a clear direction as to how to improve. TheStaircase teaches Strategy through Mechanics, allowing the player to explore why and how things work, instead of being told what they are “supposed” to do. It accomplishes this task by starting each player with the essential building blocks for their race. It uses measureable benchmarks so that the player can both be encouraged by their progress, as well as know when they are ready to move on to the next step. In the first step (Macro) a new unit and buildings are unlocked; this step is aimed at learning the economic impact of these new elements. The next step (Micro/Multitasking) is aimed at exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the units and buildings unlocked in the previous step. This process is repeated until all units and buildings have been unlocked. Each new step adds decisions to make and strategies to explore. The player can see their skill growing whether they win or lose, and chose any strategy along the way.
On January 10th, 2011 blizzard enabled custom hotkeys in StarCraft 2. Despite almost 2 years of the possibility of a completely optimized hotkey layout, most pro players are using lightly modified versions of grid and standard. TheCore is a community project to create the most efficient hotkey layout for StarCraft 2. There are currently over 400 players using TheCore which span the skill range from practice league to pro gamer. Every action and combination is easier and faster to execute with TheCore. With professional players making hundreds of actions every minute it is only a matter of time before every professional player is using a completely optimized layout like TheCore. TheCore’s resting position is on the nonconventional side of the keyboard. This allows the thumb to press Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Next Subgroup. Not only does this allow for more potential combinations with the 3 modifiers, but it also makes those combinations faster. By utilizing data from over 2,000 premiere tournament games, TheCore minimizes reaching by placing the most frequently used commands closest, and the least frequently used commands furthest away. Every camera, control group, and ability is within 3 keys distance from the resting position, and almost all are within 1. It avoids the use of the same finger twice in a row almost completely by assigning all control groups to two fingers, and all abilities to the other two. TheCore also utilizes non-conventional modifier assignments for Control Groups and Cameras in order to compound actions like egg-hotkeying, injecting, setting cameras and setting control groups. TheCore accounts for left and right handed mouse users, 2 and 4 button mouse users, main race, and hand size by having 48 different versions for each permutation of these variables. In a game where every millisecond counts, TheCore is your weapon. To master it will take time, but the advantages you will gain against your opponents will be well worth it.
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TheStaircase: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_ id=374400 TheCore: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_ id=341878 ALSO, FIND JAKATAK ON: twitch.tv/thejakatak @thejakatak (twitter) facebook.com/thejakatak youtube.com/thejakatakshow
NEW YEAR ISSUE
2013
29