Asking the right questions to improve

[kwok]

I like teaching people BK and I use to teach fencing a lot in my personal life. One question that people ask me a lot in both games is "What did I do wrong?" Sometimes this is a fine question. But I think a better question to ask people is "What should I do to win?" This is one of the best tips I've learned from my teachers and teaching others.

People will always be around to tell you what you did wrong, sometimes when you don't even want them to (see replays section comments.... or in game when you're on the losing side...). But sometimes, especially in a game like BK, you can do everything RIGHT but still lose. This is because of the nature of the game where variation is a huge factor of success.

Imagine this extremely simplified example: I am learning to play the classic game rock-paper-scissors but with one extra rule of if I do not make the correct hand symbol I automatically lose. I have a problem making the scissors symbol with my hands so I practice over and over again asking people what am I doing wrong. Eventually, I can make a perfect V with my fingers that represented scissors. No matter how perfect my scissors is though, if I go against someone who plays rock I will lose. Did I do something wrong? No, I wouldn't have known the other player would do rock. If I play again and do the same thing and keep asking "what am I doing wrong? please help me fix my scissors" I will never win against rock.

After a certain point it isn't about YOU and fixing what's wrong, it's about analyzing your opponent and building counter plays and changing strategies. If you ask "how to beat the opponent" then you get new tips that aren't about you but about your opponent. Then you can build NEW strategies and skills. Your first time changing your strategies you might do something wrong with mistakes since you are new to the strategy... but don't worry someone will always tell you what you're doing wrong! But, you need to at least take the first steps into trying to find out what the other person is doing. After all, you don't need to be the best player to win; you don't need to even be a better player to win... you just need to counter your opponent.

[JimQwilleran]

I like this example of paper, rock scissors very much.

Recently I've played a game with 2 new players on my side. They were mates and would cooperate very nicely. They attacked together, helped each other defending, were discussing their actions, and listened to my tips nicely.
We had a big chance to win with quite good players on the axis side. But, there was one problem, they picked armor and RE at the very begining of the game. I had a bad feeling about this so I picked RA, just in case. And you know what? We played vs TH, def and terror. The amount of jagdpanzers on the battlefield was incredible. They eventually got pissed and claimed that the game is unbalanced. "No, it's not. You just picked 2 armor docs vs 2 AT docs".
That was pretty sad because they had a really nice skill and we had such a good start.

[idliketoplaybetter]

I like this example of paper, rock scissors very much.

They eventually got pissed and claimed that the game is unbalanced. "No, it's not. You just picked 2 armor docs vs 2 AT docs".
That was pretty sad because they had a really nice skill and we had such a good start.

Yeah, aint as that much people do understand this principe about a game.Sadly.
But this "understanding" may come only with time, and that's what game/mod lack the most.

[Walderschmidt]

I remember this discussion.

Perhaps you could post a thread of "Big Thread of BK Do Nots", with the idea being, once you have a handle on all the things you should not do, the rest of what one focuses on, should be doing things to win.

It's why, if I recall correctly, you advise noobs to first play skirmish in order to figure out units and their abilities and to focus on familiarization instead of winning.

Wald