I have been playing RoR competitively now on the Zone for over 18 months. I have had a lot of fun and have won most of my games.
For the first year or so my game play improved at a steady pace. I became a good boomer and specialized on Medit maps. I had some great teammates back then and I was a great team player. Also I could continually see what beat me, add that to my bag of tricks, and keep growing as a player.
Well for the past four or five months my game has become stagnant. I have played a lot more Hills, Conti, and Narrows games. I have worked on different playing styles and tried to become a lot more consistant. However overall progress has been slower than before.
I find myself in games not doing things I know that will lead to victory. I seem to rely on the fact that I can grow an economy faster than anbody I have ever played against, and that seems to be good enough for me. Whenever I get into trouble, I just rely on that skill to get me back into the game and not improve any other area.
This weekend I have had some conversations with some players that have known me for a while and they agree. Tonight I talked with KGB on the phone for a while and he can't see a difference in my game today and six months ago. Saturday Leper watched me lose two games against players I usually dominate. He didn't have to say much other than "You have really lost your rythym." He has watched me play enough to know that.
So here is the point of this thread.... I am going to make a list of what I need to do to improve my game. I want your suggestions as to what you see my weaknesses are when you play me. Also list some areas that you want to improve your game in.
1) Overall Military mindset needs to change. My kills to losses ratio is always negative. I bet 95% of the games I'm in I have the most losses. It is very common for me to have 200 kills and 300 losses. Over a year ago I loved seeing numbers like this. I would play "Rope-a-Dope" (Ali-Foreman) having my opponent "punch themselves out" by not growing their economy while attacking me. I was content to grow to double thier size then squish them like a bug.
I want to turn my ratios into 200 kills and 100 losses. To do this I will spend more time during the game focusing on my military formations and attack timing. No more being content just throwing lots of units into the middle of the battle and not watching or caring about the result. I will continue to grow my economy at the same rate while focusing on the battles.
2) Better commitment to forward building. I find myself content to keep villagers at home when my forwards die. Once again, I tell myself that I will just grow faster and therefore make raids on opponents villagers less of a priority than it should. I used to always have huge forward bases that would force opponents to flee their base by 20 minutes always. I will get back to this.
3) Show respect for Civs. I still find myself every once in a while not Tool attacking when I am Greek or Carth. I remember two specific games where I found myself in trouble to a Yam and Assy in Bronze when I got Greek and Carth. Wtf was I thinking? Like I can really compete with them in Bronze...lol.
4) Better team player. Currently communication is at a low point for me. I used to chat and always keep my partners informed of things that were happening. I used to get Writing ASAP upon building a Gov Center. Well over the months I play less and less as a team, and more as an individual. To correct this I am going to chat more to partners, research Writing earlier, and make it a priority to help partners build a defense and offense together. Games are always funner when you play as a team anyways. I don't need to be a glory hog dominating the map as two partners are chopping wood in corners of the map.
5) Become more versatile. Whenever I Tool or Bronze rush, I always get frustrated when I don't have the resources I am used to when I boom. I need to change my mind frame and learn to micromanage a smaller economy and a smaller military relying on my speed to dominate every once in a while. I find myself saying "I can beat this guy without having to Tool attack". I need to start telling myself "I can beat this guy easy with a Tool attack".
Well I will end this very long post with an invitation for you all to step forward and list some ways you want to improve your game. Also any suggestions about my game would be great.