| 06 September 2011
Statisticians, I believe, are born out of curiosity. In trying to figure out what kind of stats I would be doing in Starcraft II, I was looking at what wasn't being done and what I was curious to know. After watching a few rounds of play, there were a couple things that came to mind, one which I'll share here.
Perhaps the first thing I wanted to know after seeing all of these matches was how successful players are when getting attacked on their base. I partially did this for the finals of MLG Raleigh, but I really put this to the test during the IGN Pro League Season 2 finals between White-Ra and Nerchio. Here's how it broke down:
- First-attacks: Nerchio 4, White-Ra 0
- Total attacks: Nerchio 12, White-Ra 9
| Round | Winner | White-Ra Attacks |
Nerchio Attacks |
| 1 | White-Ra | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | White-Ra | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Nerchio | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | White-Ra | 2 | 5 |
Nerchio seemed to turn it up in the final two games, especially the final one where he seemed to have sold the house in order to stay alive in the tournament. However, White-Ra was able to hold down the attacks, and the announcers believed White-Ra could have held back even more attacks by Nerchio in the final game if needed.
So is total attacks a great indicator of success? This is only the second match I've ever charted, so I'm not sure. It could be like combo rate in fighting games, where it is a great indicator of success (if you're out-comboed in a round, you have less than a 9 percent chance of winning). As I chart more matches, I'll be able to see how great of an indicator it is.
At MLG Raleigh, the player who had the most attacks won every round. Overall, Bomber posted 11 attacks, and Coca had 13, but for Coca, eight attacks came in the first game, which he won. Bomber also had the first attack in every game in that championship match.
As I try to figure out what will be in my database, I'm sure I'll be keeping total attacks as part of my stat tracking. I have a couple other numbers from the IPL Season 2 final, and hopefully I'll get a chance to share them soon.
In the meantime, feel free to tell me what kind of stats you'd like to see me track. I'm still learning the game, and I'll take into consideration all kinds of suggestions.
