We invited an Elite Commander to this interview. He is solo小冬瓜 (Solo WaxGourd in English). Up to now, WaxGourd has reached Captain lvl 24, with 1100 hours in game. He topped the leaderboard in Season Zero.
At first, I sent messages to him via QQ (an instant messaging app in China) and Steam, but received no reply. Then I logged in the game (luckily I had added him to friend list before), and found that he was in game. We talked about issues concerning the interview via in-game chat. During the interview, he answered the following questions while queuing. You could see how passionate he is about Art of War: Red Tides.
Q: Glad that you accepted our interview request. First, could you tell us more about yourself? What’s your job like?
A: Yeah, I work with sea and ship.
Q: What do you usually do when you’re not working?
A: Hang out with friends, play games, or read wuxia novels (martial arts and chivalry). My favorite novelist is Jin Yong.
Q: How did you get into Art of War: Red Tides?
A: In this June I guess, my friend who plays World of Warcraft with me recommended Art of War: Red Tides. Then we played it together.
Q: Seems you’re interested in online game. Any other games you like?
A: I love strategy games like Red Alert, StarCraft, and Age of Empires. I also play League of Legends, but I’m not good at it. I just got Gold rank.
Q: Why do you name yourself Solo WaxGourd? Does it have any special meaning?
A: Solo means one-on-one. WaxGourd means that I can easily beat opponents like beating a wax gourd haha.
Q: Ohh, you must be gifted in strategy games!
A: Not really. Actually I was very bad at it at first. During the first season, I’d been losing all the time. But I didn’t want to always be a loser. That’s why I took lots of efforts in studying strategies and practicing. Then I found myself start to win.
Q: No wonder it’s said that you spend 4 hours sleeping, but 20 hours gaming.
A：Ohh, that’s not true. I play around 12 hours a day. I used to stay up all night playing the game. I remember in one season, we often met players from Germany and now I often play against commanders from International Alliance. They are quite good. But I’ve only played a few recently as I’m quite busy with work these days.
Q: Why are you so addicted to Art of War: Red Tides?
A: It’s great fun to play the game. Remind me of StarCraft and World of Warcraft. And I love e-Sport games with teamwork and strategy. When I first started to play Red Tides, I was always defeated. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to play.
Q: How did you grow from a beginner to a top Supreme Commander?
A: At first I played with friends in Versus A.I. mode. It was cool to defeat robots. Then we turned to Quick Match, but we always lost the matches. At that point, I started to learn the stats of every unit, and study game strategies. I just wanted to win some matches. I know some new commanders who lost frequently finally gave up the game. I think if they insisted, they could play very well, even better than me.
Q: As you mentioned before, at first you were always defeated. So you must have helpful advices to beginners.
A: Yeah, I hope my advice can help beginners.
First you have to keep going, no matter how many matches you have lost. It’s like hitting the wall in running. You may feel exhausted and upset. But once getting over it, you will get stronger.
Second, mere curiosity adds wings to every step. You can start by using your favorite units. I used to like Infiltrators very much, so I sent lots of them in matches. Although I lost, I found myself start to love the game. When I became addicted, I started to think about how to win. So just send whatever you like. There’s no need to follow other players’ strategies. Play to learn, not to win.
Q: So what should beginners learn?
A: Primarily you should study every unit. If your opponent send troops, you should respond quickly and know how to counter them. Then you need to learn commander skills. It’s very important. Sometimes you could even turn the tables with commander skills. After you know quite well about units and skills, you could turn to runes. Apart from this, it’s better to play with friends, as teamwork matters a lot in the game.
Q: Your record shows that you’ve already played 3759 matches. Which battle impressed you most?
A: Em, I remember in one match we met players from International Alliance. One played Terran, the other two played Atlac. They used Lightning Tower and Petrify at the very first. The attack was so fast and violent that we lost the game in wave 15.
A: And there’s another match. It was a 3v3 Ranked with all 6 players being Supreme Commanders. I played with one of my friends. Another teammate was away from keyboard. So it was actually a 2v3 Ranked match. We had a very hard time. But in the final stage, my friend killed 2 waves of units by Sacrifice and Instant Reinforcements, and we finally defeated them!
Q: What do you think of each race?
A: I play Terran. I’ve been playing it since I started to play the game. I have also tried Yaoguai and Atlac. But my favorite race is Terran. Basically, Terran deals damage in early waves. Atlac plays the role in middle waves. Their commander skills are very important. Yaoguai provides support in last waves. So if we play a ranked match, Terran will be on the 1st position, Atlac the 2nd, and Yaoguai the 3rd.
Q: Concerning the game and its system, what would you like to see in the future?
A: I hope there will be more excellent players. I know some new commanders who lost frequently finally gave up the game. As I said before, if you keep playing, you could become Supreme. I hope more players can join the game, and insist playing it. And for those who have lv.7 runes, I’m very interested in having a battle with them. Besides, I want to learn more strategies. It’s very exciting to see a new strategy.
This is our interview with solo WaxGourd. He climbed from a nobody to the champion of Season Zero. It is his pure passion for Art of War: Red Tides that impresses us most. Hope you get inspired. Just play whatever you want!