Best way to practice?

[TaxFreePwnage]

I work 3rd shift, so I rarely get to play with actual people, yet I love to play custom maps!

Are there any ways for me to play some of the more custom maps and have the AI not be braindead? I really want to get better at 4v4!

Any tips would be welcome! Thanks ya'll. Forts is awesome!

[Romerolagus]

Hey, glad you're enjoying the game. If you search on the Workshop with the "Skirmish" tag selected it will filter out maps that don't have an AI base included. You can also try some of the AI mods, such as the infamous Ultra-Hard AI from Endo.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1782044815

While it requires different strategies than playing against a human opponent, notably it's going to instantly doorsnipe you if you so much as think about touching a door, you can still practice base design and improve your woodspam techniques.

For 4v4's you'll want to have a basic build plan. By basic, I mean a build that gets economy up and running and weapons completed at a reasonable time, assuming nobody shoots at you. That's your starting point, and then you adjust from there based on what you see from your opponents and how the match is going. You can also watch your old replays to see what plans your opponents were following and how they compare to yours

I would also recommend some dedicated aiming practice. You'll get plenty of practice repairing and rebuilding. But in a lot of matches getting your first weapon out can be a big struggle and you'll want to be able to make the most out of every shot.

[TaxFreePwnage]

Originally posted by Romerolagus:

Hey, glad you're enjoying the game. If you search on the Workshop with the "Skirmish" tag selected it will filter out maps that don't have an AI base included. You can also try some of the AI mods, such as the infamous Ultra-Hard AI from Endo.

I'm such a noob, even the Hard AI still beats me, at least on the 4v4 mode. When I use this mode, is there an option to put the VHard AI on my team alone, and not for the other team? I'm pretty sure that seems like a "blanket AI" for all teams when it gets turned on. Too spicy of a meatball for my taste!

I love the game, but I don't want to get smushed!

[Romerolagus]

That mod does affect everyone so it's not an option to just have it affect your own team. 4v4 can be rather chaotic, so if your'e struggling it might help to try 2v2 or 3v3 for practice instead.

[TaxFreePwnage]

Originally posted by Romerolagus:

That mod does affect everyone so it's not an option to just have it affect your own team. 4v4 can be rather chaotic, so if your'e struggling it might help to try 2v2 or 3v3 for practice instead.

Thanks for the advice!

Are there any good steam workshop maps that support normal/hard AI that I can use or you would recommend? I love the regular maps, but as a hardcore Starcraft 2 player, custom maps are the absolute.

I'm not looking for balanced gameplay persay, more a chance for me to flex my creative muscles and learn mechanics better.

Story mode is great for that, but can be restrictive on builds and planning.

[Romerolagus]

I'd probably start with 1v1's on the built-in maps. If they're too easy, it's usually because humans build faster than the AI. If you give them a minute head start it will be closer to human timings for their weapons coming out.

All of the built-in maps have several different AI included depending on the starting base type. For example, the starting base on the map Vanilla shows up in a lot of different maps, and has an AI design for several different builds. One version opens with mortars, another with EMP, etc. Every time you load a Skirmish or multiplayer vs AI game it randomly selects one of those templates to use. In Skirmish, if you pause the game and restart, it will keep the same AI template. So you can keep practicing against the same one.

I'm fond of Outcrop for warming up, which is an asymmetrical 1v3 map when you play from the left hand side. It can feel impossible, but once you figure out how to defend efficiently you can fully tank all three opponents at their final build (sort of like SC unit cap, once the AI stops building) and still have excess resources to produce weapons.

Once you start looking at the Workshop, I'd filter by Skirmish and browse, looking for maps that look interesting to you.

[TaxFreePwnage]

Originally posted by Romerolagus:

I'd probably start with 1v1's on the built-in maps. If they're too easy, it's usually because humans build faster than the AI. If you give them a minute head start it will be closer to human timings for their weapons coming out.

All of the built-in maps have several different AI included depending on the starting base type. For example, the starting base on the map Vanilla shows up in a lot of different maps, and has an AI design for several different builds. One version opens with mortars, another with EMP, etc. Every time you load a Skirmish or multiplayer vs AI game it randomly selects one of those templates to use. In Skirmish, if you pause the game and restart, it will keep the same AI template. So you can keep practicing against the same one.

I'm fond of Outcrop for warming up, which is an asymmetrical 1v3 map when you play from the left hand side. It can feel impossible, but once you figure out how to defend efficiently you can fully tank all three opponents at their final build (sort of like SC unit cap, once the AI stops building) and still have excess resources to produce weapons.

Once you start looking at the Workshop, I'd filter by Skirmish and browse, looking for maps that look interesting to you.

Aside from my commander, do the AI's have different builds based upon their commander that is randomly assigned? Any way for me to control what AI commander I fight, so I can... for example... get used to defending against missiles better against an AI that specializes in it?

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions.

Also, I learned not to overbuild in co-op matches online with other players vs AI. I got called "Bob the Builder". I got the point. I won't go so ham next time.

[Romerolagus]

In general no, most AI's will build the same regardless of commander, and you can't pick different commanders for your AI opponents. However, there are maps in some of the custom campaigns and Training Missions where the AI was modded to emulate certain commanders and given a commander specific build. I think Heavy vs 42 was designed to emulate a Pinchfist firebeam-laser rush, but unfortunately that particular training mission can experience an intermittent scripting error resulting in logspam.

It's easy to get carried away with the building. Forts may not have the massive unit counts of some RTS's games, but resource management is still very important. And timing.