New to SC? Newbie FAQ Reference Thread

[superbooga]

Following the lead of Vintoks at the guardimpact.com strategy forums, I've decided to make a "newbie silencer" post. It's best to start with conventions and acronymns (since there are A LOT). A lot of this information in this post is from the legend section at guardimpact.com.

Edited by Panther: This is now the full listing for the legend from GI.com, or as full as I can make it. I left out some obviously irrelevant stuff but most of it is still intact. Please take note some of it is definitely going to be missing from SC4 or may be worthless, while there may be new stuff added for SC4. The respective mod will then edit this post to reflect the new updated stuff. Special thanks to Superbooga for making this post for SC2 in the first place.


Numerical Conventions:

7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3

translates to:

u/b u u/f
b n f
d/b d d/f

Or written out fully:
up-back, up, up-forward
back, neutral, forward
down-back, down, down-forward

Hint: Look at your numberpad on your computer keyboard.
Regardless of what side you play on (1p or 2p), 6 is always forward, and 4 is always back. Some more examples:
236 = QCF (quarter circle forward)
214 = QCB (quarter circle back)
63214 = HCB (half circle back)


Buttons

A: A horizontal attack.
B: A vertical attack.
K: A kick attack.
G: A guard.
Any: Any button can be pressed.
[any]: Hold down the button/direction.
_: Or. (B_A, meaning you can press B or A)
+: And. (B+G, meaning you have to press B and G together)
~/aB/bK/kB/bA/kA/aK: Slide input or input button immediately after. Input the buttons faster and in smooth conjunction. There are different timings for different slide inputs.
: : Just Frame input. (A:B - means B is input at the next frame)
(any): Optional.
,: Followed by. (66K,B - means B will be pressed after 66K)
<: Optional delayed input.
*: Optional delayed input. (6*B, meaning after tapping 6, you can optionally input a B that is delayed)
=: Next in sequence.
{}: Grouping of options.
66K = forward, forward+K
66B+K = forward, foward+B+K


General Notations

h: High attack.
m: Mid attack.
l: Low attack.
H: Hits high and grounded opponents.
M: Hits mid and grounded opponents.
L: Hits low and grounded opponents.
UB-h: Unblockable high.
UB-m: Unblockable mid.
UB-M: Unblockable mid that hits grounded opponents.
UB-l: Unblockable low.
UB-L: Unblockable low that hits grounded opponents.
SM: Special Mid attack.
SL: Special Low attack.
FC: Fully crouched.
8WR: 8-Way Run.
SS: Sidestep.
GC/GB: Guard Crush/Guard Break.
RC: Recover Crouch.
iFC: Instant Full Crouch.
SP: Special Movement.
NC: Natural Combo.
NCC: Natural Combo on Counter.
BT: Back Turned.
iBT: Instant Back Turned.
lBT: Left Back Turn, opponent steps to the right.
rBT: Right Back Turn, opponent steps to the left.
WS: While Standing up
iWS: Instant While Standing.
JF: Just Frame.
SC: Soul Charge.
1FS: 1 Frame Shift.
GI: Guard Impact.
RCC: Recover Crouching Cancel.
DMG: Take damage.
FrC: Forced Crouch (opponent is forced into a crouch)
SCC: Soul Charge Cancel.
WL: While Landing from jump.
KND: Knockdown.
TC: Tech Crouch.
TJ: Tech Jump.
AC: Air Control.
AG: Advancing Guard.
RG: Retreating Guard.
GC-l#: Guard Crush on Soul Charge level number # (1-3).
Lever: Joystick movement possible.
FUFA: Face Up and Feet Away.
FUFT: Face Up and Feet Towards.
FDFA: Face Down and Feet Away.
FDFT: Face Down and Feet Towards


Hit Properties

BT: Your back is facing the opponent.
OB: Forces your opponent’s back to face you.
OS: Forces your opponent’s side to face you.
OSB: Forces your opponent’s side to face you when blocked.
JG: Juggle starter.
RO: The move rings the opponent out.
CH: Requires a counter hit.
AT: Attack throw (blockable throw).
FrC: Forced Crouch on block.
FrCh: Forced crouch on hit.
GI: Guard Impact is possible.
GI-h: Guard Impact - horizontal attacks.
GI-v: Guard Impact - vertical attacks.
re-GI: reverse GI, GI opponent’s post-GI attack.
c: Counter hit modifier (for example, BNc is a bounce juggler starter on counter hit).
co: Crouching opponent modifier (for example BNco).
cco: Counter hit on crouching opponent modifier (for example FScco).


Stuns

BN: Bounce Stun.
DOS: Double Over Stun. This can be broken with a 5-directional input. Nightmare’s NSS K is broken with 8.
FS: Fall back Stun.
LS: Lift Stun.
HS: Hunch Over Stun.
CS: Crumple Stun.
CFS: Crumple Fall Stun.
STS: Sitting Stun.
TS: Thrust Stun.
QS: Quake Stun.
SPS: Spin Stun.
THS: Toe Hop Stun.
BS: Block Stagger.
GC/GB: Guard Crush/Guard Break.


Guard Impacts

GI = Guard Impact (6G, 4G, 1G or 3G)
1G = Parry (mid/low)
4G = Parry (mid/high)
3G = Repel (mid/low)
6G = Repel (mid/high)
JI = Just Impact (otherwise known as perfect GI)


Throw Breaks

ETB = Early Throw Break
NTB = Normal Throw Break
LTB = Late Throw Break


Techniques & Explanations

Frame Rate

SC3 runs on 60 FPS. FPS means frames per second. This means that in one second, 60 frames are moving past your eyes to show you what is happening. Further advanced frame data will be based upon the execution time taken for a move (ie. how many frames it takes for a move to become active), advantages and disadvantages regarding frames, etc. This is the very basic knowledge regarding anything technical (since frames are used regularly in some areas).

1 Frame Shift (1FS)

1 frame shift is actually a 1-frame input of the next command. For example, agA (in this instance, the small letters a and g denote a slide input of 1FS technique) has its "g" button pressed on the next frame of input. This may sound pretty fast, and it is, but with practice you can do it consistently. The key is not to allow the 1-frame denotation to get into your way. The speed could also be different for different command inputs and different characters. So, all 1FS really requires to pull off is practice.

Just Frame (JF)

A JF is something that is input at the next frame. It is something like 1FS (1FS actually falls under this category I believe). To denote a JF input, for example, A JF B, the denotation is A:B. JFs are relatively like 1FS in the sense that not all of them have the same windows or timings.

Recover Crouching Cancel (RCC)

RCC is used as a technique to cancel your recovery into a neutral position. This merely means that certain moves that leave you in a crouch (Recover Crouch or RC) can therefore end in a neutral position using RCC. All you have to do is tap 6 (normal way) near the end of a move (buffer).

Soul Charge Cancel (SCC)

SCC is merely canceling your soul charge at the earliest opportunity, doing A+B+K~G (note that there is no need for 1FS to execute this). In SC3 you may not move while you are doing a Soul Charge (SC), so you must cancel the charge before you can move. SCC should do this just fine. The level 1 charge remains for a very small period of time.

While Standing (WS)

WS is done by going into a crouch (or from a move that RC's) and then releasing the joystick and hitting a button at the same time. Note that any WS move does not have a direction associated with it.

Full Crouch (FC)

A FC is merely a crouch. To go into FC, press 2G. To remain in that mode without blocking, merely release G and hold 2. To block in FC, 1_2_3[G] is the way to go (this is not the same as the GI 1_3G).

Buffering

Buffering is to input the first directions for a move into the end of another move. For example, you do a move that has a pretty long animation, and you want to do a move directly after it that requires an 8WR input (or a double input of direction, for example, 22B or B; both are the same thing). To buffer the second move is to input the directional commands into the end of the first move, thereby eliminating any wastage of time spent in actually having to input the move's directions after the first move. You can also buffer attack buttons in this way.

Note that certain moves do not allow buffers instantly after execution.

Tech Crouch (TC)

A move with TC properties indicates that it is in a crouching position by default (or if you like, automatically crouches during a part or all of the move). Different TC moves may have different TC timings and frames, so please take note of that. Also, certain moves may have what could be called super-TC (goes way below the normal TC).

A TC can be beaten by a special high (see below). A FC cannot be beaten by a special high. That is the main difference between these two crouch types.

Special Mid

A SM can be blocked either standing up or in FC. Most of them can also be jumped over.

Special High

Unlike true highs, special highs beat out TC's. A prime example is a throw. These do not connect on characters in FC, but they do (if they are faster) score a CH on TC moves (super-TC moves are not included).

Air Control (AC)

AC allows you to maneuver yourself in the air after getting hit by the first hit after any launcher. This simply means that you can control your character after they have been hit at least once in the air (following a launcher). Remember that the launcher itself does not allow AC, but that any hit after that does. To AC, use 2, 4, 6, or 8. The more hits you get hit by in the air, the more you can AC.

[HeartNana]

Recycling Superbooga's post.

When Sc3 comes out, i expect the mod for gen strat to edit the first post so all the new cool abbreviations will be in the first post for all the newbies to soak in.

In fact, this isn't very updated at all...it would be REALLY nice of the general strat people to take care of updating this as much as possible, hint hint wink wink.

There was a lot of good questions people asked in the other newbie silencer thread that we'll have to add here - I'll do the ones I can think of when I'm not chatting with my gf.


Also: We're gonna have to change the GI bit in the superbooga post.

[HeartNana]

well, im gonna leave it all to the poor soul who wants to become a mod so bad they'll take care of getting everything together and organized so i dont have to do it <3<3<3

I sure as hell ain't volunteering for that. I've never delved as deeply into SC as Tie or Tharon or a few others. Let them do it.

[Panther]

Ok I edited Super's post, and nearly in its entirety. Thanks to him for starting this, hope I am not taking anything away from you dude.

Please give your comments as to the stuff I put in, it is a nearly complete listing from GI.com (took it out of a FAQ I did) and might not be very updated in itself. New stuff might be added in for SC3 and old stuff taken out, but till then this should remain if there are no problems.

I left out pGI since we have no conclusive data on it for the moment. So do not ask where it is. Character stances may have changed or something so I also left those out.

Panther, awesome job. Few suggestions, if I may (don't kill me):

Might want to EXPLAIN how to do certain things. For example, 1FS or soul charging or RCCing.

[Panther]

Ok I will get around to that. Give me a complete list in a new post regarding what I have to write out for full details please. Thanks.

Edit: Updated the first post. I think I might have explained some stuff wrongly or not-so-clearly. Give more comments and suggestions, thanks.

[Kafziel]

isnt it a bit too early for this? like when the game actually comes out would of been better probably. dont see any use for this yet and we still about 2 months away from the US release.

[Panther]

Yes I know that, but I think that what XCTU had in mind was that if the game was going to be similar to SC2 in many aspects, then most of the stuff ought to be still useful. In which case we do not have to make an entirely new thread for it and we can just recycle what Superbooga did and then update from there.

There's a lot of new people coming on board. If they've played a lot of SC2 but haven't been to these forums before, they need to understand the lingo and also pick up on some stuff they might not have known about before. And hell, everybody needs a refresher. Plus, there's the complete newbies that aren gonna come in by the boatloads, and I'm sure they'd appreciate being able to hit the ground running.

Panther: One last thing before I take off: TC explanation (Full Crouch,, tech crouch difference), special high (really, very much related to what I just said), special mids... More later.

Awesome so far, keep up the great work.

[Panther]

Done for what you mentioned.

I need more feedback regarding how I should explain things. If any of you feel that the explanation is poor, or unclear in any way at all, please, please say it out and give some constructive criticism. I would want to ensure anyone new to the scene can understand what is written in the first post alone and get by with that. Many thanks.

[tl_crow]

Before we add special highs and such.. we need to make sure thier still in the game.

Unless you kids already beat me to finding out.

Don't forget pGI.

And I think we need some terms for the new throw break system. How about Early Throw Break(ETB), Normal Throw Break (NTB), and Late Throw Break (LTB)?

As for making it easier... in terms of explination, that is, I think there should be examples for the more, ah, archaic terms. Perhaps in paranthesis around them.

For example:
_: Or. (66B,A_B)
+: And. (B+G)

Does that make any sense? Just trying to help. Some of these more weird conventions are overwhemling when you first see them. I remember it was that way for me in SC2.

[Panther]

No conclusive data yet Crow, but not to worry, I am not forgetting about it. Plus, regarding the different throw breaks, I will put them up when we conclude they are in the game (or if Reno says so, since he is the most established in the game at the moment, and because he is amazing).

I will take up on the idea of having examples shown in parentheses. Thanks for that.

[Pifactor]

Doesn't Air Control also have a place here? I think there might have been a blurb about it in other newbie silencers.

[Panther]

AC description added.

[clouds_lee]

Don t you guys thinks Step-G also have a place too? Even it maybe broke, but if Namco doesnt consider it was a Glitch, then it might be a part of game system

[Panther]

I am leaving certain stuff like AC or Step-G for other threads perhaps. Depends. The Newbie Silencer only deals with basics. We will know when the game comes out.

[clouds_lee]

Oh i see Panther, im so surprise that you answer me at 2 mins Keep up the good work Mod

[Panther]

Dude, as someone once put it, I stalk.

And thanks for the compliment, just trying hard as I can. But seems some people do not appreciate it.

Panther: Although it might have changed for the SC3, perhaps you should put down that the more hits you take in the air, the more you can AC.

[peanutbuttercape]

I haven't seen the notation for Canceling. I usually use "~" to note a cancel.

Ex. A_B_K~g

[Panther]

AA: Added.

Peanut: I do not see the point. And ~ is JF notation already. And we have no idea what moves can be canceled, and some moves use a different kind of cancel (like Nightmare's 6B ~ 4B+K in SC2). Also, that meant 1FS or JF, not canceling.

[evil_ken00]

I do not see the point. And ~ is JF notation already.

uhhh.... ":" is JF....
And I didn't see it on the list...

[Panther]

Doh. I forgot about that notation, because I was thinking slide input the whole time. Oops. Edited to include the JF explanation as well as the notation. It would seem a little weird though since everything was used explaining ":". Thanks Ken.