I am having trouble thinking of solid strategies while playing this game. For instance if I am using Gouki, my main thought is to “push him into the corner” but then it seems I am not sure how I should be using my tools to create good, relatively safe pressure, and how I should adjust to different characters.
I am not sure if this is a vague question, but the problem it’s causing me is that I find that for the majority of the time I drift into “autopilot” and forget my place in a match. 
learn your opponents tendencies as the match progresses, don’t push buttons for the sake of pushing buttons (aside from building meter at a safe distance). Let him throw out a move/make a mistake and then punish it as strongly as possible. if he’s smart, when you punish something he does (whiffing a normal/etc) he shouldn’t do it again, for fear of getting punished by the same thing. this should help you get in easier once you’re in his head.
Don’t rely on such toughts, if your opponent is good he won’t have pattern’s, don’t think ahead this is 3rd strike think in the moment for the moment. The more technical advice use super then dash/demon flip mixup/super jump air hadou and push him further in the corner also u can use mk tatsu->hk tatsu. Getting the opponent into the corner isn’t that hard the hard part is how much damage can you get when hes there.
I totally agree.
As for strategy, I personally believe reactive play is much more logical. I don’t just mean hit confirms and such either.
You need to play a lot. Once you’re comfortable with every move things just happen. You create situations without thinking because you’re confident in your choices. Strategy isn’t something you think about. Its something that develops based on player and character. It will happen 100% naturally if you focus on understanding the fundamentals of fighting games, of 3s, and of your character. Don’t fret.
Then perhaps I am finding it difficult because I am also struggling to decide on a main character? I haven’t developed a firm base with someone yet. i tend to jump around. What are some of the fundamentals I should be looking to improve? My spacing is not bad, my defence is ok although I tend to hit buttons when I probably shouldn’t. What else? So I shouldn’t have a plan for the entire match, but make decisions only in the moment.
I disagree with not having a plan for the entire match, but only to a certain extent. Come in with your gameplan, but be ready to adapt to whatever may come your way.
I disagree too. There is such a thing as overall gameplan and when in place it can be very powerful. It’s just that you can’t really make an intricate plan because you mostly never exactly know what the opponent will do all the time. Playing with only reactions is a strategy in itself. Deciding a main first is really important, because even if you think you can play most characters, you won’t get a real feel on what to do with x character in any given situation.
The podcasts don’t exist anymore but Gootecks’s old Denjin podcasts had great interviews in them. I remember 5star’s one in particular. At the start of a round he hunts for a knockdown. After he does get that knockdown he pushes you with dashes into the corner (when possible) and does a throw.on the opponent’s wakeup. After that he does some more corner pushing into a low parry (because a good player should crouch tech) into another knockdown. After that he tries to milk that situation with more knockdowns until he wins or the opponent gets out. All the while the opponent has given plenty information on how they react in knockdown situations (and pre-knockdown foreplay) for round 2. So it’s just this simple tactic of mixing up throws and low parries on people’s wakeup but the fact that he has a plan around it is what makes it a strategy.
Having a purpose for your moves only comes with a plan. Doing whatever is bad in the long run.
Planning beforehand does help, just not in the same sense as “if I do this, I should be fine”. You should be aware of matchups and what your opponent’s character is capable of. Your character has several options to choose from, it’s up to your judgment to decide which would be good to use on that character. That’s probably what everyone means when they say “make decisions in the moment”.
All I’m saying is if you’re actively trying to have a gameplan while playing you’re going to lose against someone who doesn’t have to think about that. There’s no obvious answer. The overall strategy is the same for EVERY character. Find out what your opponent likes to do and how they handle different situation. Shit will happen when you know what you can do and what they can do.
Saying “I like to put people in the corner and do mixups” means absolutely nothing unless you’re past the point of being confident with your character and all his abilities. You simply need to play, a lot. There’s no way to ‘understand’ your way to being good.
Way over-thinking. No one does ‘whatever’. In the long run not having a plan aside from ‘win’ is what works. That or picking Chun-Li.
It sounds much more like you lack an objective when practicing or playing. If you want to seriously improve you need to play with a goal. Either to incorporate something, to deal with some situation in a way you’re not comfortable with, etc.
i just bop people, 0 strategy
My strategy has been (for the past few weeks): Taunt x3, Cr.MK xN, j.LP xN, Rush Punch Super Win.
*Edit: Also, block a shitload.
The way I think about it, you need to do your homework on whomever you’re playing against. Does your opponent like to hunt for low forwards a lot? Is your opponent good at baiting throws? Is he reckless? Does he favor doing things on wake-up? If you have an idea of your opponent’s tendencies before the match, it’s good to implement. However, the flipside is that if he learns to adapt, then you have to adapt to what he just adapted to, and so on. For instance, a lot of lesser players will try to parry every damn move in the game. Know this beforehand and you’ll have already earned yourself free damage. He has to adapt, since now you’ve taken away parries from him.
It’s like we’re all saying. Come in with an idea of what you’d like to do. Be confident in what you’ve got, but be prepared to change it up once you’re in match.
That makes sense. I think most confusion comes from different perspective and word use but ultimately everyone is saying almost the same thing.
Had a really wordy post for this thread but lost it. The jist of it was that your strategy will take shape as you learn more about the game. However that doesn’t mean you just sit back and wait for it to happen. You already took the first step by asking, and the answers are out there. Start with a matchup, and try to understand why a top player does what he does when he plays. Challenge yourself when you watch videos to figure out why a player might suddenly back off from a relentless attack, or how a clutch parry was set up, or why a player might maintain a specific range. Lots of top players will handle similar situations differently, so its important to try to understand the thought process. This will improve your ability to read players too.
I think there is a spectrum of styles, ranging from playing based on feel, and playing based on thinking, so you’ll have to decide where you are on there, but you can’t play any style successfully without knowledge!!
Don ot be think of stuff when do am play. Alone in time play will allow for you to be a strategy.
If post help please be am like it! YES?
Just to clarify my quote. What I had in mind when I said it was my situation. Not too long ago I realized that I was doing so much “whatever” instead of thinking through my options that it hurt my game. It’s like a bad auto-pilot. I stopped analyzing myself (never did it too much anyways) and just kept losing.
I’m actually pretty much on the same page as you, I just felt like emphasizing having a plan or something to work with when getting into a match instead of just “going by reactions” like so many suggested in the beginning of this thread.
Yeah I dig it. The whole topic is rather complex and works a bit different for everyone. Kind of hard to discuss. What everyone says makes sense I just personally feel when you put in the time to really understand and get a feel for your character’s moves and everything, you can make up strategy on the fly and see how it works. Basically like what Duralath said I think.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
So then I suppose from what everyone is saying that if a strategy for the entire match exists, it can only come after I’ve understood my character fully, and know what his or her options are (I’ve settled on Yang after much soul searching lol) in each situation against any respective character?
So the first step to solving my problem would be to play a whole shitload of Yang? =D
Indeed. It was the short answer to your question, but it’s good that you seem to have arrived at it yourself.