Hey guys. just writing this to show a theoretical APM required for each race to be at their most effective, ignoring a few basic commands.

In order to do this we need a baseline.
baseline macro minimum:
A worker is produced every 17 seconds(15 for Z)
a supply building/unit takes 25 seconds for P/Z and 30 for T to build, and is needed every 136(120 for Z)seconds for workers alone.

therefore a potential baseline APM for the bare minimum of macro is:
P: 9.8+9.8 APM per Nexus baseline APM
T: 9.9+9.9 APM per command baseline APM
Z: 13.9+9.3 APM per hatch baseline APM

solely required to constantly produce workers from one base.

From this we can infer that Zerg requires the most baseline APM in most situations.
NOTE: this is ignoring macro mechanics at the moment we will get to those next
Macro mechanics:
P(Chronoboost): 5.5 APM +4.1 APM per Nexus
T(Drop Mule): 2.0 APM +1.3 APM per Orbital
Z(Inject Larva): 4.1 APM + 4.1 APM per Queen/hatch

if we add the macro mechanics to the baseline required APM we get:
P:15.3 APM + 13.9 APM per Base
T: 11.9 APM + 11.2 APM per Base
Z: 18 APM + 13.4 APM per Base

Now a breakdown of constant unit production per production facility:
Protoss (note that chronoboosting any of facilities will add to the APM requirements generally by about 1.3+0.6 per additional chronoboosted warp gate, and more for robo units and stargate units)

-Warp Gate-
Zealot: 8.6 APM + 2.1 APM per additional warp gate
Stalker: 7.5 APM + 1.9 APM per additional warp gate
Sentry: 8.9 APM +2.2 APM per additional warp gate
Dark Templar: 5.3 APM + 1.3 APM per additional warp gate
High Templar: 5.3 APM + 1.3 APM per additional warp gate
Archon: 8.2 APM + 3.9 APM per additional 2 warpgates

-Robotics Facility-
Immortal: 2.2 APM + 1.2 APM per additional Robotics facility
Observer: 3.0 APM + 1.5 APM per additional Robotics facility
Collosus: 1.6 APM + .8 APM per additional Robotics facility
Warp Prism: 2.4 APM + 1.2 APM per additional Robotics facility

-Stargate-
Pheonix: 3.4 APM + 1.6 APM Per additional Stargate
Void Ray: 2.0 APM + 1.0 APM per additional Stargate
Carrier:1.0 APM + .5 APM per additional Stargate

Terran

-Barracks-
Marine: 4.8 APM + 2.4 APM per Reactor/ additional Barracks
Marauder: 4.0 APM + 2.0 APM per Additional Barracks
Ghost: 3 APM + 1.5 APM per Additional Barracks
Reaper: 2.7 APM + 1.3 APM per Additional Barracks

-Factory-
Siege Tank: 2.7 APM + 1.3 APM per additional Factory
Hellion: 4.0 APM + 2.0 APM per Reactor/additional Factory
Thor: 2.0 APM + 1.0 APM per additional Factory

-Starport-
Viking: 2.9 APM + 1.4 APM Per Reactor/additional starport
Medivac: 2.9 APM + 1.4 APM per reactor/Additional starport
Raven: 2.0 APM + 1.0 APM per additional starport
Banshee:2.0 APM + 1.0 APM per additional starport
Battlecruiser: 1.3 APM + 0.7 APM per additional starport

Zerg (note that zerg unit constant production is based on larva creation speed, and as such APM requirements increase with inject larva and decreases when droning, also note the APM requirement only SEEMS higher than other races, the increase in APM is per additional hatchery, zergs will have as many as 7 hatcheries in some games and as few as 2 in others unlike other races which can have dozens of production facilities)

-Hatch tech-
Zergling: 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Roach: 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Baneling: 16 APM + 8 APM per additional hatchery

-Lair Tech-
Hydralisk:12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Overseer 16 APM + 8 APM per additional Hatchery
Mutalisk 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Corruptor 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Infestor 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery

-Hive Tech-
Ultralisk: 12 APM + 4 APM per additional Hatchery
Brood Lord: 16 APM + 8 APM per additional Hatchery

Now knowing our Macro based APM requirements we can look at typical APM requirements for producing the armies that we are used to seeing in builds.

For instance, a two base Protoss with 7 gate 1 robo going for stalker colossus has to spend 51.6 APM solely producing his units, + APM for pylons

A typical ZvT build has a three base Zerg producing at with 68.8 APM + APM for overlords.

A common 1/1/1 build for Terran will have them using 24.7 APM + APM for supply depots off one base in order to produce the army required.

Now these are not comparable numbers, only examples, no one should take out of this that Zerg requires the most APM because a three base Zerg needs more APM than a one base Terran with only 3 production facilities.

There are a few things we can learn from these numbers, knowing they are low enough that we are all capable of the speed, if not the accuracy required for macro of most strategies, but can marvel at professionals skill at doing all of this AND micro, which can include perfect blink stalker micro (which is 18 APM per stalker) is truly amazing. Also good to know is that all of these APMs are in Starcraft 2 time, so it's even faster for real time.

caradoc

Canada3022 Posts

November 07 2011 06:05 GMT

Reminds me of a kinda toned down version of this http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=88869

SpoR

United States1542 Posts

November 07 2011 06:55 GMT

How are you getting these numbers?

Cyro

United Kingdom20326 Posts

November 07 2011 06:56 GMT

The multiplier to convert from sc2 time to real time is 1.38 if you were wondering

mucker

United States1120 Posts

November 07 2011 07:07 GMT

Though not an absolute requirement, I feel that spreading one tumor should be included in the zerg baseline.

PrinceXizor

United States17713 Posts

November 07 2011 07:07 GMT

On November 07 2011 15:55 SpoR wrote:
How are you getting these numbers?

number of actions required to complete a task multiplied by number of times task can be done in 1 minute.

Creating a pylon takes 4 actions while a probe takes 2, but a probe is made roughly 4 times a minute while a pylon is made roughly every 2 minutes, it works out to 8.8 APM for constant pylon + pylon production, and chronoboost to be used every time it is up takes 4 actions (selecting nexus using chrono, moving camera to chrono target, targeting chrono) and is used about every 44 seconds due to energy regen of a nexus works out to 5.5 APM for constant chronoboost.

On November 07 2011 16:07 mucker wrote:
Though not an absolute requirement, I feel that spreading one tumor should be included in the zerg baseline.

I was only working on Production of units. if we were including all actions that every race does to further themselves, than i would have to include forcefielding on reaction for protoss, raising/lowering depots and add on swapping for terran and creep spread for zerg, all of which are very situational and hard to account for in strict mathematical terms.

mizU

United States12125 Posts

November 07 2011 07:49 GMT

You need to factor in shift queuing.
That drastically changed many of the numbers, doesn't it?

PrinceXizor

United States17713 Posts

November 07 2011 08:35 GMT

On November 07 2011 16:49 mizU wrote:
You need to factor in shift queuing.
That drastically changed many of the numbers, doesn't it?

You'll note how each unit production is noted as X APM + Y per additional structure. this is because of shift queuing and MBS.

Danglars

United States12133 Posts

November 07 2011 09:57 GMT

Only thing I see out of this is comfort for players with low-ish APM. Hey-The ultimate of all the basics really isn't all that far out of your reach! So, encouraging.

which can include perfect blink stalker micro (which is 18 APM per stalker) is truly amazing.

Can't state this conclusively, because it involves too many factors. How many stalkers are being attacked by how much stuff how quickly with how much health. Equal size force of marauders, and he's stimmed splitting the attacks? Way over 18. Stalkers taking steady low damage (e.g. marines) and they keep dying? Apm only needs a small burst at start, can manage perfectly later. This is all not mentioning killing efficiency (blinked units not blinked too far away to stop firing for a millisecond) which involves decision making that limits some APM applications.

caradoc

Canada3022 Posts

November 07 2011 15:12 GMT

#10

I guess one potential difficult issue with this is that when people talk about APM as a resource, I think what they really mean is that attention is a resource.

It takes a comparable amount of attention to focus on a pylon, and shift-warp in 10 units as it does to shift-warp in 1 unit, however the first requires 11 actions, the second 2.

and the new Blizzard Standard APM (BS-APM) doesn't take into consideration cycling of control groups in order to check queues/upgrades/construction in calculation of BS-APM, but this obviously increases as the size of your economy increases, and this would be ridiculously difficult to quantify-- there is variation in how much cycling is required by player/game etc. However the cost of obtaining this information translates into attention and keystrokes...

But as some people above have said, its good news for newbies since it shows that decent mechanics can be had with relatively low apm.