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Ein kleines interview mit v0ddy, über sein Comeback, Conquer Cups und die allgemeine lage in Tiberium Wars und Kanes Race.
Viel Spaß
Viel Spaß
Just as Technique's reign of destruction in the Kane's Wrath ConquerCup was starting to look well-nigh unstoppable, the Dutch juggernaut was stopped in his tracks twice in a row before getting to the grid. Who could have taken his place as the current champ of ConquerCup? None other than long-time player C&C vOddy, who has taken over as the man to beat in the ConquerCup tournaments.
After his two consecutive victories in ConquerCups 6 and 7, GameReplays.org had a chance to interview vOddy and ask him some questions about his recent return to Kane's Wrath and his success in the ConquerCup series. Check it out below:
GameReplays.org: Okay, first off, what brought you back to Kane's Wrath? For awhile after Ladder Season 3, you had switched to playing Starcraft almost exclusively. What brought you back to Command & Conquer?
vOddy: I'm not gonna lie. It was the ConquerCups that brought me back. I find tournaments to be a lot of fun to play in, especially when there are things at stake. It gets my adrenaline pumped, whereas in a normal game it doesn't even matter if I lose, which is why I screw around so much—but if I get motivated for a tournament, I have much more fun.
GR.org: This will upset about half of the readers either way, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Do you prefer Tiberium Wars or Kane's Wrath?
vOddy: If Tiberium Wars would just do a few key changes ( I wrote a topic on how to balance it) so that it fixed Scrin versus Nod and thus became balanced, I would prefer Tiberium Wars. But now, even though Tiberium Wars has better balance, I still have more fun playing Kane's Wrath.
However, for tournaments, I think I enjoy Tiberium Wars more, because it's more like a "real RTS" if you know what I mean, with lots of multitasking and units and stuff, and because I can just play Scrin and race-pick GDI or Nod versus Nod players.
So in conclusion, for ladder play, I enjoy Kane's Wrath more because it has more factions, which means there is more diversity to bashing the same noobs over and over and so it is less repetitive. ('cause that's what ladder is about these days sadly)
GR.org: What is your opinion of the new ConquerCups for Kane's Wrath thus far?
vOddy: I think they are awesome. If you are reading this interview, please go to their website (kw.conquercup.com) and click on the advertisements.
GR.org: Were there any opponents that were particularly difficult for you to defeat? Any recent games that you consider good examples of "pro" play?
vOddy: Technique. You can check out any of my Nod versus Nod or Nod versus Black Hand games from ConquerCup. The Nod mirror is my best matchup because it is the only match-up in Kane's Wrath where rush is still > eco-boom and where the pace of the game is fast, because of Nod's units that are fast and good at harassing economy.
I'm also good at Nod versus Black Hand because Nod versus Black Hand is pretty much the same as Nod versus Nod except you can't go pure bikes. You have to go Scorpions + buggies or Scorpions + bikes, which kind of sucks, because to me personally pure bikes is the best, and IMO it is the best generally if you can micro it, at least if you play aggressively like I do. If you want to play more defensively, then you can go Scorpions + buggies or Scorpions + bikes early game, since when you get Laser Capacitors you'll be glad you had some Scorpions.
Editor's note: Here's some of the Nod versus Nod and Nod versus Black Hand replays by vOddy from recent ConquerCups.
GR.org: If you could make a dream tournament, what would the rules be? The maps?
vOddy: Best of 5 until the finals, which would be best of 7. The first map could be any map — then the loser would pick from all ranked 1v1 maps plus Tiber River Valley, Heaven and Hell, Downtown Dustbowl, Oasis Onslaught, and Unsound Investment.
GR.org: Do you plan to keep playing Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath competitively?
vOddy: As long as there are tournaments, yes. I just think tournaments are fun to play in, because I make up a lot of strategies and build orders (I still make up strategies for Tiberium Wars 1.08 btw, lol), and the only way to truly see if they work is to use them in tournaments. In the end that's what I enjoy about RTS—seeing your plan materialize and come to life as you calculated it would, the wonder of math, weighing various variables versus each other, etc.
GR.org: Okay, ZOCOM versus GDI. You said shortly after 1.02 was released that this match-up was "well-balanced." Now it seems that you've acquired a different perspective on the matter. What changed that?
vOddy: ZOCOM versus GDI was pretty balanced before 1.02 (at least in that state of the metagame). After the Juggernaut buff it became imbalanced. I guess it took me a while to realize it. I actually used to have no idea about balance because all I did was play ZOCOM, and I based my balance opinion on the other match-ups on what a lot of other people said, which was wrong.
GR.org: How about Black Hand versus GDI? Or Reaper-17 versus GDI? Those three factions seem to be favorites in competitive play. How do those match-ups seem to you, balance-wise?
vOddy: Reaper versus GDI is okay. The better player will generally win. However, it seems to me as if on some maps especially, one of the factions can have a slight advantage. I'm not sure, though, because I haven't played a lot of GDI in Kane's Wrath so I'm not entirely sure. I would have to test it more to be sure.
GDI versus Black Hand isn't as broken as some other BH matchups. Either faction can win, but on Decision I think it favors GDI somewhat and on some maps it favors Black Hand. Basically, what is good for GDI is choke points and contested Tiberium fields. Decision has both choke points AND contested Tiberium fields.
Rift has no choke points but one contested field. Tournament Arena has no contested fields and no choke points.
Anyway, GDI can win, but there's a reason Dynamic picked Black Hand versus Dackel in Ladder Season 3 when they played on open maps, and there's a reason Technique switched from Nod to Black Hand to play versus GDI. Black Hand is one of the better factions in this game if you can play them right. Atm, though, it seems like Technique is the only active player capable of doing that. (The best faction is a matter of definition, btw).
GR.org: What do you think of EA's monthly ladder wars? Are there improvements that could be made to improve them?
vOddy: They could change the ladder back to the way it was, with the maximum points gained or lost from one game being twice as much as it is now. Back in 2007, when Tiberium Wars was very active and competitive, the system was kind of annoying, because you had to play a lot of games to climb the overpopulated ladder, and sooner or later you were bound to lose to some n00b's cheese or some smurf coming out of nowhere to snipe a win out of you (smurfing was allowed back then). However, as the game isn't as active now, the old ladder system would be better.
GR.org: What is your favorite ranked map? Favorite map period? Note: You are branded a heretic if you say Redzone.
vOddy: Heaven and Hell for 1vs1. Oasis Onslaught for 2vs2. Tiber River Valley gets an honorable mention. And to anyone who plays Redzone Rampage, go to www.YouFailOrg. You'll get the message.
GR.org: What advice do you have to C&C 3 and Kane's Wrath players looking to improve their gameplay?
vOddy: To begin with, play a lot of games as if they were the World Cyber Games finals—100% seriously. Tell yourself before the start of the game that you are going to do your absolute best to win. You probably can't do it every game as it can be quite exhausting, especially on a high level.
When you lose to something, analyze what you did wrong. If you, after a long time of thinking, come to the conclusion that there is nothing your playstyle can do versus what beat you, try to come up with something new. Do not go on the forums and whine at imbalance right away.
For example, I was losing a lot to all-in Laser Scorpions with anti-air support in ZOCOM versus Nod. It seemed hopeless. However, instead of whining at imbalance, (even though ZOCOM versus Nod is an imbalanced matchup in general, just not that strategy) I came up with a counter: Zone Raider Hammerheads and Pitbulls with a few tanks. The Zone Raider Hammerheads beat the Scorpions and the Pitbulls spot the Stealth Tanks so that the Hammerheads don't get killed.
If you really can't come up with something, it might be imbalance after all, since Kane's Wrath is an imbalanced game. Ask me or Technique for advice, and if we tell you it's imbalanced, then go ahead and whine.
Thank you vOddy for taking the time to answer our questions and congratulations to you for your two ConquerCup victories! Good luck to you and the rest of the competitors in this weekend's ConquerCup tournament.
