Starcraft Night!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Hi again everyone!

Another night planned, Starcraft! Not sure, are we going to do the expansion or just the original?

It is set for Tuesday the 12th next week. I have 2 others confirmed besides myself. I'm not trying to make this a regular thing or anything, but it would eb fun to dust it off for a match or tow.

YEA!

http://www.visionfutur.com/img/linux/starcraft1.jpg

Ade

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Expansion. I'm really used to the new units and such, and find they blend in with the game seamlessly.

EDIT: BTW, we gonna do a regular game or a comp stomp? I don't mind either way, just that the latter would be less humiliating.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

I would rather do a comp stomp myself.. i think i am WAY too effing rusty to take on real players :P So, us vs. a bunch of comps.

[[TLB]FlameHaze]

Definately Broodwars.

Hopefully we get enough peeps to play amongst ourselves, comp stomp is lame, you can do that anytime on pubs.

4v4 BGH!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

hmm that would be alright too... as long as i am not all alone :Pi need at least a couple allies.

[[TLB]Festus]

I don't think I can find those discs anymore.

G. Strongbad and I, Xanthos too, have done the odd RTS night, playing primarily Company of Heroes, some DoW2, and even Supreme Commander.

Anyone else got those?

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

I've got Starcraft too! If you have the case from your disks with the key on it you can register it and download the game directly from Blizzard. It works nicely. I did the same for Diablo II.

[[TLB]FlameHaze]

Festus;193211']I don't think I can find those discs anymore.

G. Strongbad and I, Xanthos too, have done the odd RTS night, playing primarily Company of Heroes, some DoW2, and even Supreme Commander.

Anyone else got those?


From that list I only got supreme commander, but that'll take like 30 days to play. I do also enjoy C&C tiberium wars.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Festus;193211']I don't think I can find those discs anymore

If you have your CD key, you just need the discs or even the images, which can be acquired by either downloading them or borrowing the discs off of someone.

EDIT: Like what G says.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

aww Blizzard is so nice :)

[[TLB]Xanthos]

I have starcraft, bought it a couple of years ago for about $10 but never really got into it. Only because there are just too many damn games out there.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

hehe isnt that the case eh?

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Play with us on Tuesday if you can. It may change your opinion.

[[TLB]FrankDrebin]

i've never played this game, and have no idea what it's about. i dont think its a steam game, but i added that night to our upcoming events as well, just to get the word out.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

The game began development before Valve was even founded, so it's definitely not a Steam game.

[[TLB]FrankDrebin]

like i said, i know nothing about the game.

[Sparky]

I'm in if you have the room for another...

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Sweet, that puts us at 4 confirmed for the night (myself, Jiggs, Flame and Sparky). G., Festus and possibly Xanthos would hopefully make it seven. Could still use more, as some eventually drop out.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

wooooo!!! i gotta find my copy! I spent 30-40 mins searching and cant find it.. eef.. will get it together in time though!!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

FYI: For those of us that may have lost our copies, you can buy Starcraft+Broodwars (The expansion) for $14.99 at the Blizzard online store.

:) Order placed :D

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Alrighty, bought paid for, downloaded. Kind of neat, its like Steam. You buy it and can install it on as many of your own comps as you want. I had to rip Vista a new one to perform the install of course, but after booting in safe mode (hit F8 on startup for those that dont know) it installed in minutes.. got into Battle.net and all was well :)

Make sure you get in before we play on Tuesday guys.. gotta get all patched up etc.

W00t!

jig

[kramer]

will you guys be in a TS channel that night? I'll try to remember to check it out. my skills vs human players are non existent, but it could be fun to try.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Yeah, definitely TS. No one is expecting themselves to be leet, we're just going to have fun.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

exactly :) If this works out i would love to try and make this happen once every month or two :)

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

wow just played my first two matches in a few years and the comp wasted me the first match, and the second i held out for a LONG damn time, but it still wasted me when i attacked it... tuesday could be a loooong night :P

[Sparky]

This going to be hosted on East or West Coast on Battlenet?

I'm on the East coast

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Whichever is fine with me.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

dont care :) either will work. I am on west, I am guessing we will end up on the east coast.. but either way we'll be on TS. We will need someone to create a channel for us as well.

[Sparky]

There are 500 channels that already exist... just grab one that no one is using

[residue]

wow. i used to play lots of starcraft before bf42 sucked me away. i wonder if i still have the discs somewhere.

[Sparky]

wow. i used to play lots of starcraft before bf42 sucked me away. i wonder if i still have the discs somewhere.


The Battlechest is still available retail.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

This is great with all the response this is getting.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

for sure!! And FYI to everyone again, for $15 USD you can buy this direct from Blizzard. You can then download it to as many of your own comps as you want! Cya on Tuesday night guys!

[[TLB]FlameHaze]

We got a time planned for this affair?

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

8:00pm Pacific, 11:00pm Eastern
Sorry my son goes to bed at 8:00 so thats the earliest i can do.

We wil use the "An RTS Channel" in TS. we may need some sub channels though for teams. Maybe we can use the L4D channels infected and survivor those never get used.

Jigg

[[TLB]FrankDrebin]

Am I gonna have to get this game?
Posted via mobile device

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

we'll see Drebin.. its cheap :) its fun, playing together is tons of fun. Lets see how this night goes. But for $15 if you end up playing it for 4 hours or so, its worth the money imo... a movie out costs $10 for 2 hours, so a game for $15, 4 hrs and you are laughing.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Well, it's worth it if we play it often. Maybe wait until Wednesday and we'll see if people would be willing to play it often.

EDIT: Thinking of maybe practicing a bit tonight. Anyone game?

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

i will if the Canucks game ends quickly Vaz. I played the other day, twice, and got worked :P

Looking forward to playing with humans against humans :)

jigg

[Sparky]

What Time Vaz? I'll be around later on

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Apologies, Sparky. Unless you're up late today (about 9PST), don't know if we could manage. I got home late so things were pushed back (I bet Jigger can't guess what it is). I did manage to play a bit earlier (1vs2 comp stomp, took half an hour but managed to win) and if only I'd seen your post, we probably could have arranged one about an hour ago (around 9EST). If not, I'll see you and the rest tomorrow on the interstellar battlefield!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

lol Vaz :)

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Hey guys, tonight is the night! my brother in law is going to join us as well. i sent him all the TS info. Talk tonight!!

next question is, what map are we going to play?

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Big Game Hunters is the most noob friendly, so we'll go with that. Oh, and whoever hosts the game, make sure to set game speed to fastest.

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

Vazkora;193876']Oh, and whoever hosts the game, make sure to set game speed to fastest.

What are you on crack or are you a leet Korean player super micro skillz!! Keep the game speed to normal, I can't click that fast.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Trust me, it's not as bad as you think. The game plays smoother, hence the suggestion.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

it does play a little faster, and if we are all humans, no cpus it will be ok. The cpu goes NUTS on fast.. builds way too fast for me. BGH sounds good. Remeber to get into TS! that way we can coordinate.

[[TLB]Festus]

I hope to be there, but I have a funeral to go to, so I might be late.

I have to bury the cold, dead corpse of the Canucks.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

awwwww :( thats sad Festus. i'll be there all sick n stuff.. i'll make sure i cough all over the battlefield so you all miss work tomorrow!!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Map we are doing tonight:
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Game_Hunters

[residue]

i'd love to play but i can only find the broodwar cd. no idea where the key is since i don't know where the case is. can't even remember if i need to install the original first.

not up to footing for a new copy given that i haven't seen a movie in over 9 months.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

hehe too funny residue :P cya tonight guys!

[[TLB]Festus]

Played a couple of games tonight.

Got biatch slapped both times. Honestly can't say it was a lot of fun due to to huge discrepancy in skill levels and my own personal unfamiliarity with the game now.

As well the choice of map, Big Game Hunters (I believe), really takes the resourcing aspect out of the game and favors those with a good build order. I had very little in the way of units both times when I was crushed by large numbers of the top tier units from my opponents.

I definitely enjoy RTS games, but they almost always end up as "build order" strategy rushs, and I just don't like to play the same way every time.

Now give me a Comp Stomp/Coop game with my bros and that's fun. Even a MP game against players of my level is enjoyable, but when you are out-classed by your opponent (and boy was I ever) it's just not that much fun.

I'll still give it another go though. Especially if we try a few others;

Supreme Commander
Company of Heroes
DoW 2
etc.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

That wasn't BGH, that was some custom map.

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Festus. I didn't get a lot out of the games last night. For me,

A. Starcraft was great in its time, but it is looking very long in the tooth now.

B. When you have endless resources it takes all the decision making and tactics out of the game and turns it into who can build swarms of high level units the fastest.

C. I cannot hold a candle to Vaz or Flamehaze in terms of skill and speed, I just get steamrolled.

Festus and I have had good times playing Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2 coop against the computer. The AI opponents are tough, but not so much that it is unwinnable. Another thing that stood out to me is the refinement that has gone into RTS games since Starcraft in terms of taking the micromanagement out of the game.

One of the things I love about Supreme commander is the ability to queue up build orders to the commander, engineers, and factories. You can lay out your base and then for the most part let your minions take care of it for you. Almost everything is automatable so you can focus more on the game than to jumping from factory to factory or construction unit to construction unit to make sure nothing is sitting idle.

[[TLB]Bob Barker]

this sounds like ogame on crack

[[TLB]Festus]

I'm sure that Starcraft 2 will incorporate many of the new RTS features into it.

While I'm sure it will be a blast SP and even fun MP, I doubt I will play much against strangers.

Not many RTS games have been able to find a way to "stop the rush", even fewer have been able to nerf build orders.

I will say that DoW2 and CoH have done a good job in that respect.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Thanks for the comments guys. My two cents:

-FlameHaze is WAY too good at that game
-I like having limited resources as well
-I prefer to play a few players against a number of CPUs for a big challenge that only teamwork will get you out of
-I agree that playing with people of the same level work out well
-I notced by the scores that Zoltrix (my brother in law) Festus, myself were all about the same level, sorry i didnt see your score G

I really want to do this again. After you guys left Zoltrix and i played a couple matches and tried to comp stomp.. first one we got wasted, second we beat them, but just barely. I could see doing 4 of us vs. 4 comps it would be tough. but sorry to say that Flame you just tipped the scales. You build so fast and know all the little secrects.. it wasnt very fun.

I say we give it a try again but try sticking with similar skill levels, or try humans vs. computers or if we play human vs. human we put restrictions on certain players in terms of what they can build. it will be a challenge for them, and alot more fun for us newbs that just want to have a great time.

Like i said, Zoltrix and I played afterwards and it was challenging and it felt really good to win. And we had to chatter almost the entire time to make sure we won.

When do we want to try again?

jigg

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Honestly, I think you guys got a bad impression because of the map itself. Flame, no offense to you, but those maps are not what Starcraft is, or has ever been, about. I couldn't even get my head around that you said it was a "better" map than the classic Big Game Hunters. That map yesterday basically threw the games mechanics out the window. A map like that throws off the fine balancing the developers spent months doing to get resourcing correct.


I've played Starcraft since 1999 mostly against humans, especially during Junior High, and mostly on and off since. This game is great when played on the original maps, or at least maps with the same idea as the original maps. Guys, I think you need to retry the game on a map that does require you to expand, to manage resources, to seriously consider builder orders, where making the decision to research something would be worth the resources, etc.. A real game of Starcraft, massing carriers takes a lot longer than the 15 minutes it didn't even take, and you never (if you want to live) skip all the other units, research and buildings in a rush to get them. This game works much differently than that.

So give it another chance. I'll host the game next time, and I'll show you guys a real good time.

EDIT: I'll try again anytime. Tonight, sometime this week, next week, etc.. I'll do computers, humans, restrictions, etc..

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

I'm up for trying again with Vanilla settings and standard maps.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Cool Vaz! I may take you up on that tonight. We'll see how I am feeling this evening. Might be a nice destresser.

jigg

[[TLB]Festus]

I didn't say i wouldn't play again, just that I wouldn't play that way again.

That setup simply rewarded those who know certain specific build orders, you know "build 4 harvesters, then 1 pylon, then 2 harvesters and a barracks, 1 pylon , 3 harvesters" sort of thing. that maximize production and skip straight to a certain technology branch.

I prefer what G said, and others have repeated. Organic, free flowing games with resource collection being part of the mechanics of the game. Even then, it's tough to beat someone who follows a specific build order and gets enough time to get rolling, but at least it's interesting.

I'd be game to fart around again for a bit tonight, but I think I'm going to my sons lacrosse game down in Victoria tonight.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

I'd play other RTS games but the only new one I got is World in Conflict.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

i dont have any other than Starcraft right now.. maybe again in the future.. i think i have C&C 3 or 4 or something kicking around too.

[[TLB]Festus]

I left out Homeworld 2.

Jiggggggerr, if you want an RTS that is excellent I can't recommend Company of Heroes strongly enough.

Find a demo and try it out.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Sure :) I have it downloading on Steam right now. Vaz and I just played us vs. 2 comps and it was good fun :) I wouldnt mind trying out a map that has limited resources, that way you HAVE to move out and its not all about massing HUGE amounts of troops/tanks/flying things.

Thanks for the game Vaz!!

[Sparky]

I echo G and Festus

Who's idea was it to use that map anyway?? Oh yeah... HazeyFlame.

I say we take him out back and beat the snot out of him. ;)

I'd go for the regular map and play a co-op and perhaps bump it up to fast. My old man brain can't keep up with fastest.

Oh and BTW I also have COH but havent played it in a while because of other things like... NWN2, StarCraft, getting sucked back into 42...

[[TLB]Xanthos]

I've got a bunch of RTS games but don't spend enough time on one particular game to get really good at it. COH is a great game, the new Tales of Valor is OK but the units seem too uber. I like the slower more realistic games like the Combat Mission series. My current favorite is Men of War. It gives you a group of men/vehicles and tells you to take a hill or it may give you just one soldier and tell you to carry out a stealth mission. You can make the game as involved as you want or let the AI handle a lot. No base building, just raw strategy fighting. The neat thing is that there are endless ways to beat each scenario, and you can do it in slow motion if you want. Try the demo but realize it doesn't really do the game justice. My only complaint is that the new patch is a pain in the ass. There seems to be different versions of the game and you have to try to pick which patch is for you. Not good.


I really like World in Conflict also so maybe you could show me how to get good at that game, vaz. I haven't played mp yet because I know I'd get creamed and it is designed more for multiple players rather than one on one.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

We played another couple matches last night and i dont know about you Festus and Kramer, but it was a great time.. comp whooped us again first try, second try we did it! had to defend for over 35-40 mins before we even had a chance to start to take them on.

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

That sounds like a good time! I should be around tonight if you guys want to give it a go.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

i think i need to take a night off, depends on how the wife is with everything. I will let you guys know closer to the time tonight.

just spending some time drooling over Starcraft 2... omg.. looks soo goood!
http://www.starcraft2.com/screenshot.xml?s=108

[[TLB]Festus]

we got whipped 2-3x before we won one. They were over so fast you lost count.

On another note, it's nice to see some interest int he RTS gendre as it's a gaming style that can be a lot of fun amongst friends.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

yea I agree. FPS' are great fun, but with enough people RTS' can be just as fun. I love that we have been able to step away from the norm latley and try out other games. Starcraft, TF2 :) its a good thing:)

http://www.agency3.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/martha-stewart.jpg

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Xanthos;194126']I really like World in Conflict also so maybe you could show me how to get good at that game, vaz. I haven't played mp yet because I know I'd get creamed and it is designed more for multiple players rather than one on one.

Actually, when I say I got it, that's about it, lol. Only beat the campaign, never got any of the expansions, and never played online because I knew I'd get creamed. I was already getting steam rolled by the computers. Plus with all the FPS games I was playing around TLB, I couldn't really find the time.

But I'll still play the game with you, we can at least go against computers or each other. I'm bad against either one. Just want to make use of the game since I spent about $50 on it.

[[TLB]Festus]

I've got WIC too, but to be honest it wasn't my favorite RTS.

[[TLB-HC]JARHEAD]

you guys are ghey

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Naaah, we're just nerds :)
http://www.realclearsports.com/blog/CollegeNerds.gif

[[TLB-HC]JARHEAD]

really I am just jealous cause my home PC sucks ass and I can't play anything except minesweeper.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

aww fail.. time to upgrade!!

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

Starcraft came out in 1997. Are you telling me your computer won't run it!!???!!!!

NOOB!

[[TLB]Vazkora]

1998

http://pc.ign.com/objects/002/002159.html
http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/10-years-starcraft.html

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Minesweep on Windows 3.1?

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

I downloaded the Terran video of the gameplay in Starcraft 2, and W O W it looks amazing. The new units are very cool, and the overall gameplay is just impecable! I cant wait!

[kramer]

definitely excited for SC2.

good playing with you guys on wednesday night. i'd be up for another game any time. although getting started around 11 PM EST can be rough for me.

that BGH map we played was good, but the minerals were a bit high. they could be lower to make it more interesting, about half i think. i think there's a version that comes with the vanilla version or brood war that's just called Big Hunters. It has lower minerals and provides you with much less gas. it really makes you work. we should try it.

there is no reason that 4 of us shouldn't be able to take out 4 computers. when i play with a friend of mine, we can routinely take out 4 just the 2 of us. the comps win like maybe 25% of the time and only when they all attack one of us at the same time. i think we'll get there. we kicked ass in that last game cause we were two terran and two protoss vs only 3 comps. that was too easy. you have to set up some defense early at your choke and then just fill the middle with some more defense and your allied army. then pick off the comps one by one. and it's different every time if you play random races and roll out different units.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

I like the idea of a little less resources and fully random. I keep picking Terran becuase i dont know the others nearly as well, but that could help add to the fun :) Thanks again Kramer!

[residue]

i found my cds! let me know when the next starcraft game takes place.

[[TLB]Festus]

Anytime. Jiggggggerr and I just played one.

Nice to see some RTS interest starting.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

for sure! i am into others, money is super tight this month for us, wedding, stag, etc happening for my wife's sister, so everything is tied up.

You know how it goes :P

Jigg

[[TLB]Fënix]

Man I used to be a starcraft junkie, hence the name that I picked for myself online, I might have to dust off the cd's and give it another go through. The new starcraft games look amazing, between SC2 and Diablo III I am going to lose a lot of my life when they drop.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

you and most of the people in this post i would think :P

[[TLB]FrankDrebin]

damnit, i might have to get this game. i feel like i'm missing out. i used to play age of empires, is this game similar to that?

[residue]

FrankDrebin;194502']damnit, i might have to get this game. i feel like i'm missing out. i used to play age of empires, is this game similar to that?

i think starcraft and warcraft spawned most of the later rts games. very similar. starcraft's graphics do look dated but it's always been about the balance. alb#2 was empty so i was actually playing on battle.net last night.

"I'm locked in here tighter than a frog's butt in a watermelon seed fight."

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

Its a great game Drebin. About 4 or 5 of us have been playing it a bunch. Festus G.Strongbad and I had a great game yesterday but we needed to quit cuz we all have real lives to deal with :P Well all of us but Festus!! HA!

For $15 from Blizzard.com I think its worth it. Like residue said, it looks dated, so be warned. I love it though, been fun times playing it!

[[TLB]Festus]

I'll be honest Drebin.

Don't get it. It is a nostalgia trip.

Get one of the new ones. Company of Heroes is WW2 based, like '42 with a Gods eye view. It's worth it simply as a Single Player game. Based on that alone you would get your moneys worth.

If we get into some MP it's a bonus.

[[TLB]AnnieGYG]

I'll admit I've never heard of Starcraft but I used to love RTS.

Hmm, I've got Company of Heros again still in the wrapper from when it came free with my motherboard, I thought it was another 1942 but is it actually an RTS?

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

that it is Annie :)

[[TLB]Festus]

If we could get 4 to 6 TLB with CoH we could play MP against each other!

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

yea for sure Festus.. I have the demo downloaded, i will try it out soon. Is this another one I shouldnt be buying from Steam?

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Reinstalled it. I need to download nearly 2GB worth of patches in order to play it online...

BTW, I don't have the expansions.

[[TLB]G. Strongbad]

Yeah, I will have to agree with Festus. Starcraft was fun in day, but its hard for me to go back. I would rather spend my time playing one of the more modern RTS's. COH is really an awesome game! I also really enjoy Dawn of War 2, but I have not played that one as much as COH.

Anyways, my 2 cents.

[[TLB]Festus]

IF you get it from Steam, and later you want the add-ons be sure to buy them from Steam as well.

I had the original disks, and then d/l an add-on from Steam and had NOTHING but trouble getting the two games to register and recognize each other.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

cool.. sounds good thanks Festus
wow, its only $20 from Steam. not bad!
so is the first game without the expansions worth getting or should i buy the Gold Package? Amazon.com: Company of Heroes: Gold Edition: PC: Video Games

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

oooo just played the demo.. i like this! graphics are so much better than Starcraft :P i forgot how good RTS' could look! so.. now i need to know what to buy guys :P

[[TLB]Xanthos]

If you're strapped for cash just buy the original game. Opposing Fronts has some significant differences, however, so I personally would buy the package. I wouldn't buy Tales of Valor unless you can get it at no extra charge. I found it disappointing.

[[TLB]Festus]

What he said.

[[TLB]Vazkora]

It'll be a while before I can get the expansions. But I think according to what I've read, the huge patch I downloaded yesterday lets me play with the opposing front units and such during online games. So I can at least play that with you guys.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

cool! yea i am going to buy this. I went through the tutorial this afternoon and wow did the time fly. Thats a great sign its a good game, if it can suck you in that easily. Just checked the paypal acount and money is there! go steam!

[[TLB]Vazkora]

Setup a new thread, Festus, and we'll get a night rolling for CoH.

EDIT: It's downloading another patch as I speak, lol...

EDIT: Another patch...

EDIT: Fifth or sixth patch now.

EDIT: 7th...

EDIT: Now it wants me to download three more effing patches, this time with Relics own P2P downloader instead of a direct download, one of them being 1.4 effing gigs. It's going to be two days now that I can't even play this god damn game, because I can't even opt out of downloading the patches to play singleplayer. I get 160KB/s TOPS with my connection speed (with no other option in my zip code), so it takes 3 hours for the 1.4GB alone, but since there's three patches to download...

[[TLB]Xanthos]

I know your pain, vaz, that last time I re-installed the game I had to go through all those patches. Everytime you think you're gonna play, another patch.

[[TLB]Festus]

I spent over a week trading messages with "technical support" to get my CD version of CoH working with my Steam d/l version of Opposing Fronts.

[[TLB]jiggggggerr]

wow sounds like the game is worth it though, with all the people having at er :) Sounds like i am joining the battle field soon!!