How do you not autopilot?

[lxMetalSonicxl]

It's really a bad habit but it isn't easy for me to fix. My mind honestly turns off whenever I pressure and sometimes I jump as a habit. Its like I'm not thinking when I'm playing.

Any tips on fixing this? I feel like I'll give the opponent too much space through slow thinking if I don't go wild.

[qwerty]

force yourself to play correctly.

if you go high 3/4 times right now, start going high 2/4 times. condition your opponent and condition yourself to play respectfully.

[4r5]

If you ask me, doing things slowly, but deliberately, is better than mindlessly mashing.

Don't let yourself do anything on your controller without first thinking about it. Putting this limit on yourself, you force yourself to think faster.

[lxMetalSonicxl]

Thanks for the advice. I'll do my best to change this, so I'll limit myself in my actions from now on.

I honestly think It'll be a hard task playing BB online and all.

[qwerty]

online and respect don't mix, lol.

[Zekashis]

Play your full HP like you would with 5 pixels of health left.

[Blade]

Hmm...for me, it's like Zekashis said, but also I take the agressiveness/smartness of my opponent into account. If they're expecting me to jump in, I go low. If they're blocking low, I try crossups or overheads. If they jump after me, I try and react with a safe anti-air normal. If they charge in after me, I use defensive normals that I know will punish what they got. In essence I watch what they do. And if they do something that I know can be punished with safety (moves with slow startup/recovery frames/gaps between them and the actual hitbox), I go for it.

In a nutshell, watch what THEY do and what options THEY have, don't focus on what you wanna do because you may never win if you play expecting to do ABC combo.

[StarryShade]

I have serious issues with this.

The only time I can not auto-pilot is when I'm playing my friends(who are actually smart), when I do online if I leave any holes in my pressure strings like (Ragna) 5B 2B (pause+dash in) 5B 2B 6B etc stuff like that. People online just go OMG BLOCKSTRING MUST DP OUT. It's seriously annoying, I mean I do bait them after a while but...like sometimes I just start doing stuff into 5D 214A just because it's safer on block then pausing.

[Koopa_Klawz]

yea i seriously HATE it when it happens. i end up doing it and ends me getting raped cause i couldn't do shit right and it makes me think i reach my limit of getting better. >_>

[Crosell]

i think the best way to get off of auto pilot is to play some one consistently. Because with random opponents they will not catch on to your gimmicks, but after 3-4 matches they will and that will force you to start thinking about to get around there defense. At least thats what I have been trying to do. Also actively think, its hard, but always watch, I find myself saying block after to get my to verbalize what I see. So if they block I say it, and then I can start thinking about whats next.

[Zekashis]

Also if you can change your playstyle mid-game, even better!

[mAc Chaos]

i think the best way to get off of auto pilot is to play some one consistently. Because with random opponents they will not catch on to your gimmicks, but after 3-4 matches they will and that will force you to start thinking about to get around there defense. At least thats what I have been trying to do. Also actively think, its hard, but always watch, I find myself saying block after to get my to verbalize what I see. So if they block I say it, and then I can start thinking about whats next.

That's what I've been trying to get one of my beginner friends to realize. He hates playing someone more than once since they learn his "tricks," which is what you WANT THEM TO DO. He prefers fighting randoms on ranked so he can steal a win from the element of surprise and not have to worry about them figuring him out.

The problem is, if the only reason something you do is because your opponent didn't know about it, and it would fall apart as soon as they do, then it's a bad thing to do.

[4r5]

Tell your friend that once they learn his tricks, he can now run a whole new set of tricks that abuse the learned counters to the previous tricks. And that if he setups up his trick layers right, they will loop back on themselves.

[Dacidbro]

A great cure to accidental autopiloting is watching Japanese videos and seeing all the glorious things that they do to inspire you. If I didn't watch so much Japanese videos, or play against so many great players, I wouldn't even know some moves could gatling.

Keep your opponent scared, thinking about too many things simultaneous, and never ever ever maintain the same pace the whole fight, especially not in blockstrings (Unless your opponent is mashing like an idiot)

[Jin and Juice]

Like everybody else has said, find somebody to play with you knows you and your playstyle well. My brother The Noble Clap, and NovGanon know how I play (from them kicking the shit out of me regularly), so I've learned to adapt and try new options, and involve things I've seen or goofed around with in training mode. Don't just play serious ranked, play serious casuals, serious training mode, all of that, so you become a serious business guy.

Also, try to play people better than you, who know how to handle your shenanigans, who uses your main. I fight SHADOWREDzero all the time cuz I know he's going to beat me down pretty bad, but I learn from him tearing the little things I didn't think mattered much apart.

[Hellmonkey]

get to the level that your autopilot is good play, so you can actually concentrate on the things that matter. your goal shouldn't be eliminating autopilot.

[Jin and Juice]

get to the level that your autopilot is good play, so you can actually concentrate on the things that matter. your goal shouldn't be eliminating autopilot.

I think by autopilot, we're referring to mindless repition of a similar tactic, generally unsafe. Predictability is always bad, even if your autopilot is amazing. Perfect reasons to not autopilot are Tager and Bang.

[lxMetalSonicxl]

I don't even think Jin and Juice has the necessary qualifications to be giving advice, so imma ignore what he says.

I figure I'll wait until I start offline play, because I can't exactly adapt too quickly through prediction instead reaction because of lag.

Really, my autopilot is successful because people can't adapt to it.

In conclusion, I blame netplay.

[Angel]

Go to AI!

Fact: The best cure for autopiloting is people making you feel stupid for doing it.

[alvare]

Look at your opponent.

[RaveSage]

In conclusion, I blame netplay.

I feel like this was what was holding me back too. Back when I had CT, I autopiloted all day and lost all day. Then when I got into my local scene it all vanished after a while. I can't play CS at home, yet I somehow beat people who invest time into this game because I've played them a lot now and can adjust my strategies to combat theirs.

...Well, except Oso. I'll get him one day!

Also, local offline play is fun as hell, so get to it!

[unsanctifier]

Autopilot usually comes as a result of facing scrubs. Or people with very predictable tactics. Just change up who you are playing, or teach the guys you play with the concept of switching around. It was mentioned earlier that a good idea is to have several sets of tactics and just layer them on top of each other randomly. That keeps you and your opponent focused.

[PhoenonX]

Yeah, I've got a sort of Auto-Pilot problem too.

Like say, I play Hazama. Sometimes I'll be close to a very good opponent and instead of doing actual blockstrings I'll mind**** myself and start doing 5B,3C,214D-A/C like...90% of XBL Hazamas online do. Oh, and sometimes I'll block WAAAY too much and try to IB a lot, and sooner or later end up eating an overhead like Gauntlet Hades. I don't even think of trying to escape the pressure sometimes, I just think of IBing until I get enough meter for Jayoku, which tends to screw me over.

[MAdBater]

Play someone adaptable who will punish you for auto piloting. When you get tired of losing you will change. The guy that "trained" me punished me for everything from bad execution, auto piloting/ predicable, and bad strategy. Never get stuck in the "standard operation procedure" mind set.

[konpeito]

I have the exact same problem!

I know I should think more when I fight, learn how to counter properly and remember my combos. But unfortunately I play MUCH better on autopilot, even against an opponent who knows me well, than when I think. The moment I start thinking my gameplay collapses. I automatically mix things up, anticipate my opponent's moves, etc. when I "autopilot" so I don't use the term to mean mindless repetition. What I mean is I just can't get cerebral about my moves so I can't seem to memorize combos (I can pull them off intuitively, but intuition can only take you so far - I can't do very long combos).

The sad thing is it also works when I play against really pro people, I eventually get used to their playstyle and win even though I STILL haven't learned any decent combos. I know I'm not playing properly but when I autopilot I get positive reinforcement (after a period of losing to someone until I get used to them), when I don't, negative reinforcement. Though if I could get used to playing properly, I know I'd win a lot more.

Edited January 19, 2011 by konpeito