[qwid]

I was a plat/diamond level player on sea/na respectively during season 1. I am overseas for the year with internet speeds on par with morse code so laddering is out of the question.

I have my laptop with me which runs sc2 and I was wondering what methods could be used to practice offline.

Playing vs ai would be useful for lower level players to get the basics down, and perhaps for others to test build viability? Also thanks to the small size of replay files watching pro games can help keep your head thinking and up to date with builds.

Can you suggest some other ideas on how you could keep your skill up offline? Do you know of some custom maps that help? (I can download maps online, it just takes 30minutes)

[Apth]

Download YABOT. You can learn build orders, and throw AI in there if you need to.

Mainly I use it to train mechanics - I start a new game, and the moment I screw up (miss a larva inject, miss spreading creep, supply block myself, etc) I reset the map and start again.

[crAzerk]

The short answer is no, you can't avoid becoming rusty if you don't play against human players for such a long time.

What you CAN do is to try to keep up your game mechanics and stuff so your transition back into the game won't be THAT bad.

The problem with just practicing mechanics and stuff is it is obviously missing the 'human' element. Sure, you can average an inject every 45 seconds. But can you do this while defending a harass, making a push, scouting?

And while watching pro replays VODs and commentaries are great to keep you current with the latest strategies, you'll still need to play against them to know how and when to react to these strategies.

I'm missing how SC1 used to be playable via LAN, so you could still play even without decent Internet ;(

[Next_rim]

I've been offline for a week, and already screwed up cannon placement in game 1 after that. Go figure (

[qwid]

Thanks for your replies. So far I've been playing and learning my off races to keep me interested but as time goes on I'll probably become a spectator I love that MLG provides replays as I can watch those reasonably easy.

LAN would have been a very nice solution. $10 says I won't even make silver when I finally play a placement match.

Question: Playing against multiple AI's might equal a single human player in terms of difficulty (not skill). Would playing in difficult situations help game mechanics, or would becoming accustomed to bad timings (for example insane AI cheating) be more detrimental in the long run?

[Monk]

Originally Posted by qwid

Thanks for your replies. So far I've been playing and learning my off races to keep me interested but as time goes on I'll probably become a spectator I love that MLG provides replays as I can watch those reasonably easy.

LAN would have been a very nice solution. $10 says I won't even make silver when I finally play a placement match.

Question: Playing against multiple AI's might equal a single human player in terms of difficulty (not skill). Would playing in difficult situations help game mechanics, or would becoming accustomed to bad timings (for example insane AI cheating) be more detrimental in the long run?

As mentioned YABOT is incredibly useful. I use it to practice my injects and supply. As well as practicing specific build orders like the 7RR or a 5RR etc. Playing with computers won't really help your skill be stable. Computers are dumb and predictable. I would just stick to practicing mechanics until you get internet.