i-never-smile is back.

[ATiBright]

Smile you probably recognize Ebony as "BadHeroesOnly" seeing as we were active on the ladder during the same Era that is the account Ebo used the most during said time period.
~LouisArmstrong

[ins]

Yeah, I remember that name too.

How's it going Louis?

[ATiBright]

It is going.  Smurfing some Euro/Aze ffa trying to get in shape for next FML season and waiting for D3, playing a bit of HoN, took a break from SC2.

[Q-veta]

That's pretty awesome, Q. You were always really fun to watch.

Do you play sc2 at all?

No, I pirated the single player campaign and I didn't like it. Plus I don't think FFA would work well at all.

[ins]

Yeah, the single player campaign is...well, it's just bad.  I was just asking if you played it because you can actually play full, developed macro games in 1v1 (which is a major aspect of War3 FFA that makes it great).

It is going.  Smurfing some Euro/Aze ffa trying to get in shape for next FML season and waiting for D3, playing a bit of HoN, took a break from SC2.

I'm looking at the same goal (getting back into shape), so hit me up and we can get some games in to better ourselves for the upcoming season.  I definitely need at least a dozen more games just to figure out how I want to use my control groups.  Part of why I came back to this game was that my hotkeys are just so sloppy in SC2.  I used to have all my different production buildings on 5-8, Altar(s) at 9, and upgrade building(s) at 0, and I used 3-4 control groups for my army.  Then I started playing Starcraft and suddenly I just went down to 1-3 for my army, 4 for my production buildings (all on one tab)/Queens, 5 for Nexus/Hatch/Orbital, and 0 for upgrades.  What a joke.  So I'm going to play armies and fighting styles that require 4 control groups, and I'm going to put production buildings back on different hotkeys...and if I can get back into what I used for this game, hopefully it will positively influence the hotkeys I use for the newer one.  Because, honestly, I don't think I can fix it by just playing Starcraft with the bad habits this well-practiced.

[ATiBright]

I use basically the same Hotkeys for both games.  1 primary production 2 2ndary production, 3 primary army group, 4 2ndary army group, 5 3rd army group if necessary, 5/6 Main buildings, 7 upgrade facilities. Never ran into problems with the ctrl groups, however in SC2 I have to redo my ctrl groups all the time so Im constantly hitting ctrl 3 ctrl 4 and when I started playing warcraft 3 again I stayed with that bad habbit and ended up losing control of my army multiple battles during this season of FML haha.

[ins]

Yeah I redo control groups a lot as well, since moving to SC2.  Because you can put as many units as you want onto a hotkey, theres all kinds of freedom to split your army up according to various needs.  Sometimes I like to do what we generally do in War3 and put melee in one group and range in another, but other times I'm splitting my army into 2 and I want the variety pack on each of 2 control groups...a couple immortals, 4-5 sentries, stalkers, zealots on both #1 and #2.  And then I want my Warp Prism/Phoenixes hotkeyed and another hotkey ready for either High Templar, Mothership, or Void Rays...and none of that works if I'm using 1-3 for army control and 4 for production.

I don't really think all of the changes I've made to my hotkeys have been negative since the shift to Starcraft, but I just want to remove a couple of them because they're holding me back.  I feel the same way about a number of things--I have way better micro nowadays in terms of kiting and a couple other specific skills, but I have become very weak in terms of forming surrounds and some other war3-centric uses.  Part of this is because you can only really do so much in SC2 due to the fragility of the units, but I'm losing to shitty rushes because I can't Probe surround Marauders or because I'm laying poor Forcefields.  That kind of stuff is a lot more emphasized in this game.

[FML|red7z7]

After seeing you apply for season 20 I thought I remembered your name from somewhere. Welcome back...again :)

[ins]

Thanks. :)

[Peregrine]

well well well

(dont think i forgot about your literary endeavors sir. my dusty kindle eagerly awaits your presence)

[ins]

Hello old friend.

Still writing.  Book #1 didn't pan out too well in terms of marketability, but I did finish it.  I'm 55 chapters deep into book #2, about 2/3 through it after 18 months of writing and almost a year of planning it/research before that.

When I register this one with the LOC, I'll be putting stuff online to start promoting it as I deal with publishers.  It should be written by the end of the year, and editing/re-writes should be done within January.

[Vyvanne]

What kind of book are you writing? 

[Pinballmap]

Yeah im also interested. Can you give us a little essay or a little sample of the book?

[ins]

I'm writing a hero's journey in a Science Fiction setting.  The working title is "Hard Mode."  It follows the idea that when someone is pushed to uphill challenges throughout his life, that shapes the man into strength and virtue.  In turn, he grows to enjoy challenges--to the point where he intentionally seeks out adversity.

It's all in verse, with different rhyme schemes for different major characters and groups of minor/generic characters.  The protagonist acts and speaks in 6-line stanzas of a certain pattern, his friend acts and speaks in haiku, a lot of minor characters speak in a 4-line pattern, and so on and so forth.  Being in verse gives it ties to the oral tradition narratives, and being set in different patterns gives it some identity with plays and screenplays (with different patterns showing different voices/mannerisms for characters).  I've (hopefully) done this is in such a way that someone can casually pick up the book and read it without noticing or caring too much about the nuances; maybe just thinking "a lot of things rhymed" and moving on.

I'll see what excerpt I want to show, probably put it up in a day or two when I make up my mind.  Today I edited the stuff that I've been writing while sick with the stomach flu, so I'm prettymuch done looking at it for the night, lol.

[Vyvanne]

That sounds REALLY flippin' cool.  I'd love to read a snippet, and eventually purchase a copy :)

Also- MVP last night with Warden/Tinker.  Tier 1 elf is hilariously effective with full upgrades.