With that in mind, I’m looking at a pretty straightforward goal for Starcraft: Maintain a bonus pool of zero.

Bonus pool accumulates for 1v1 at the rate of 90 per week. If memory serves, I was typically getting somewhere in the vicinity of 10 points for a win, which means that in order to keep my bonus pool low, I would have to win 9ish games a week. Assuming that the ladder system works as intended, I should average about a 50% win rate, which means that I would be looking at somewhere in the vicinity of 20 games a week in order to fully deplete my bonus pool.

Judging by a single solid session of Starcraft the other night, I can get in about half a dozen games after my girls are in bed before it gets too late to play. This means I would be looking at at least three solid nights of SC2 a week, which doesn’t seem all that unreasonable, considering that’s about the maximum amount of time I would consider raiding in WoW. SC2 has the benefit of being able to be done on my own schedule without having to coordinate 9 other people, so that’s awesome.

For reference’s sake… In season 1, I played a *total* of roughly 80 ladder games. In theory, by pursuing this zero-pool goal, I would be playing more in a month than I did in the past year. It’s no wonder that my bonus pool accumulated so much.

Game went about how I was expecting.  I wonder if I’m just in too negative of a mindframe going into these games?  Am I setting myself up for failure?  I wonder.  I’m running into the problem now that I’m focusing on drone production that my army isn’t powerful enough to stop a push head-on.  Once I switch over to army production, though, I lose track of my macro.

I’m somewhat tempted to give a different race a shot, but I really love Zerg, and I really don’t want to play another race.  I just need to get back into playing more, and get the ‘feel’ back for the game.  Well, get the ‘feel’ period, I guess.    I don’t think I ever really had it!

In any event, I recorded the one match I played tonight.  I’m not sure if recording live or recording from a replay is the ideal way to go, but I thought I’d give recording live a shot.

• Charizard (P) – Tal’darim Altar LE
• Coldsteel (Z) – Shakuras Plateau
• Despoiler (Z) – Delta Quadrant
• franksredhot (Z) – Scrap Station
• Imamedic (P) – The Shattered Temple
• KeyboardCat (Z) – Delta Quadrant
• specialk (T) – Xel’Naga Caverns

The last game, against specialk, actually didn’t feel too bad.  I kept up on my drone production by over-emphasizing getting drones.  I even skipped getting queens early on in favour of just getting more drones.  Not necessarily a winning strategy in the long run, but it felt good.  My two hatcheries were extremely oversaturated, anyway, and I did end up getting a third.  Without putting pressure on my opponent, though, it didn’t amount to much.

There’s such a big difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know you should do.  Honestly, I have no idea what I think about while I’m in a match — but I bet you it isn’t the things that I think about while I’m watching casts!  That’s probably one of the problems.  In any event, it looks as though I can get half a dozen or so games in between 9pm and 11pm after my girls are in bed.  I don’t reckon I’ll make a nightly habit out of it, but you never know.  Heck, I’m having fun playing even when I’m losing.  Worse-case, I get bumped down to Bronze and start winning again!  Wouldn’t be my first time down there. 

Oh, and now that I have Fraps, I might start casting my own games.  Not all of them, but maybe some if they are particularly enlightening.  We’ll see.

Random player!  Don’t see many of those!

That was a LOT of colossi!  Fortunately for me, I was emphasizing getting hydras!  I’m starting to think that my opponents must just be scouting and countering what I do.    Also, I’m just not very good at the game, in the end.  Oh well!

Lost to a 4-gate.  Lesson learned: don’t rush to mutas without:

1. A second base.
2. Units that can defend against a 4-gate in a pinch.

I think I ended up training drones as Yuncun was attacking…  Not the brightest move.  I do need to make sure I have an overlord closer to the entrance of my opponent’s base, instead of  off to the side.  That way, I can see my opponent’s units as early as possible, and respond quickly.

Actually, now that I think about it, I should probably just have a zergling or two out there, instead of overlords.  I already get supply blocked enough without sacrificing overlords…

Suffered some losses from some attacks, but kept a highly mobile force of mutas and lings to deal with it, while I tech’d to brood lords.

Did a decently good job at first with drone production, but didn’t really transfer them well into gas and into other expansions later in the game.

Held off early aggression and remembered to pump drones.  Fortunately, my opponent went immortals when he saw my roaches, and wasn’t prepared for my switch to mass mutas.  Added bonus — I actually remembered to upgrade to Hive and Greater Spire.

And yet, as I waatch the replay…  My drone level was always below my opponent’s.  I need to get a lot better at pumping drones when I can, even if it means losing games while I get used to it.

Really, I was just outplayed.  Went a two-hatch opening that I really liked, though, so I reckon I’ll give that another shot.  Just have to be able to make a proper army, and be better able to bust through a fortified position.  I guess ultimately, if I had gone for map control instead of a direct confrontation, I could have eventually starved the Protoss out…  Hm!

First game after another long-ish stretch.  I failed to be producing the drones I thought I was producing…  If it happens again, I’m going to have to take a closer look at what’s distracting me.

Well…  That actually ended up working out pretty well.  Nooblet was a Silver player, but that’s about the level I’m playing right now anyway. 

I messed up a few initial timing things…  Like, for example, not having my overlord producing, but it worked out in the long run.  My map control was pretty decent, and my focus on getting a bunch of drones really paid off in my ability to quickly make a crapload of units.

I neglected to consider the 30-food mark, but that’s okay.  What I did do was continue pumping drones even after I was attacked until I saw my opponent moving out again!  So proud of myself.