EPTI recently discovered Darglein's Multitask Trainer and I have been doing that a lot recently. I love it and it is very helpful! In general, it is a trainer that forces you to do many things simultaneously:
1) Move an army of marines, marauders, medivacs, vikings, and ghosts to various waypoints on the map.
2) Maintain XelNaga watchtower control.
3) Spot drops (A medivac appears somewhere on the map and I have to find it by watching the minimap)
4) Deal with High Templar (High templar will periodically spawn and try to fuck my shit up, I have to EMP or snipe them and prevent my army from taking storms)
5) Deal with invisible units (Observers, DTs, and Banshees will periodically spawn and attack my army. I have to EMP/scan and destroy them. I have had very little success spotting observers but DTs and Banshees are easy.)
6) Drop various places around the map.
7) Macro! Build scvs out of an OC, marines/marauders out of 3 rax (2 reactor, 1 tech lab), tanks out of a tech lab factory, and medivacs out of a reactored starport. Also, get upgrades out of an engineering bay and an armory.
8) Build supply depots and don't get supply blocked.
9) A random army spawns on the map and engages you. You have to engage efficiently and win (and don't lose ghosts, because losing ghosts is an auto-lose). The army is generally one of 4 possibilities: chargelot/archon/ht, colossus/zealot/stalker, roach/ling/infestor, or pure speed baneling. Each one requires its own sort of micro, and generally, if you take a storm/fungal without EMP then you are in trouble.
The trainer scores you on how well you did each of the 9 tasks. I've been trying to maximize my score and I've managed to get up to around 85-90% (rated Very Good). This is due mostly due to army control, though; my production and supply depot scores hover around 75%. I've been playing it a lot and I hope to beef up my production multitasking with this trainer.
I've also been laddering; here are a few games that I analyzed.
Game 1: TvP - Prokaryote vs CTangent
+ Show Spoiler +
Replay: http://drop.sc/125187
This is a match against a silver league friend. I tried to nail my build as best I could in this game.
Mistakes
1. I miss small pockets of SCV production periodically, but they are never more than 5 seconds long.
2. I get supply blocked badly at 38/38. I execute my build well up until this point, though. 7:04.
3. My factory is late. I could have gotten it 10-15 seconds earlier.
4. My raxes are idle too much! I have 425 minerals at 7:55 but my raxes are idle. I should be adding an engineering bay around the time my factory completes, which I do.
5. I take my third gas when my starport is complete (yay!) and start +1 weapons (yay!)
6. At 10 minutes I am at 78/94, which is not good enough. When I execute my build completely correctly, I should be at around 95 supply.
7. In conclusion, my build is getting sharper but I need to focus on keeping all of my production structures busy at all times.
In the later game (after 10 minutes),
8. My third CC is idle for a long time. I should lift it off and turn it into an OC as soon as it is done.
9. I begin to start floating minerals. When I take my third base, I need to add on 3 additional raxes and another starport if I scout colossus play.
I need to actively scout for colossus play so that I can transition into vikings accordingly.
This is a match against a silver league friend. I tried to nail my build as best I could in this game.
Mistakes
1. I miss small pockets of SCV production periodically, but they are never more than 5 seconds long.
2. I get supply blocked badly at 38/38. I execute my build well up until this point, though. 7:04.
3. My factory is late. I could have gotten it 10-15 seconds earlier.
4. My raxes are idle too much! I have 425 minerals at 7:55 but my raxes are idle. I should be adding an engineering bay around the time my factory completes, which I do.
5. I take my third gas when my starport is complete (yay!) and start +1 weapons (yay!)
6. At 10 minutes I am at 78/94, which is not good enough. When I execute my build completely correctly, I should be at around 95 supply.
7. In conclusion, my build is getting sharper but I need to focus on keeping all of my production structures busy at all times.
In the later game (after 10 minutes),
8. My third CC is idle for a long time. I should lift it off and turn it into an OC as soon as it is done.
9. I begin to start floating minerals. When I take my third base, I need to add on 3 additional raxes and another starport if I scout colossus play.
I need to actively scout for colossus play so that I can transition into vikings accordingly.
Game 2: TvP - Asdf vs CTangent
+ Show Spoiler +
Replay: http://drop.sc/125188
The general theme of this game is that I get too carried away harassing with my push and forget to macro appropriately at home (and forget to add ghosts). I end up doing a ton of damage to my protoss opponent but they simply go attack my base and crush me.
Mistakes
1. My rax is idle wayyyyyy too long at 4:30. I was saving up to add 2 more rax but I should never cut marine production in the case of early game pressure.
2. My factory is more or less on time but I am not keeping my production busy!
3. I get supply blocked badly at 46/46 (all the time my opponent has been chronoing out probes! this is terrible for me and I shouldn't let this happen! I am down 8 workers at 8 minutes and there hasn't been a single engagement)
4. I get supply blocked again at 54/54.
5. My engineering bay is late. I should add it when my factory finishes.
6. At 10 minutes I am at 78/102. I can do better if I don't get supply blocked and constantly make units.
7. At 11:30, I try to tax my opponents multitasking, but in doing so I tax my own. SCV production falters, I am floating 1100 minerals, and my production is sub par.
8. I add a ghost academy but I don't make any ghosts! wtf was i thinking…
9. 13:25 shows that I can't stutter step like demuslim. I should have never engaged.
10. At 14 minutes my opponent took my bait and I lifted everything into his main. Had I been macroing correctly (my 3rd CC is idle, I'm still on 5 rax when I should be on 8, I should have ghosts) I would have been able to crush this guy's counter push. Instead, I got mauled by storms and lost everything fairly easily. My opponent was also 2/2 against my 0/1. I was behind on upgrades, behind on ghosts (lol) and in general macroing poorly, so I really didn't stand a change in the final engagement. Had I held on, I would have been in an ok position (sniped Templar Archives, double forge and third base) but I really didn't even have a chance of holding on.
Key ideas: Against Twilight/Templar tech, get a ghost academy when +1 weapons finishes (which should happen around 12:00 if I get my engineering bay timing correctly) and begin ghost production.
While harassing, it is more important to continue to macro then do crippling damage.
The general theme of this game is that I get too carried away harassing with my push and forget to macro appropriately at home (and forget to add ghosts). I end up doing a ton of damage to my protoss opponent but they simply go attack my base and crush me.
Mistakes
1. My rax is idle wayyyyyy too long at 4:30. I was saving up to add 2 more rax but I should never cut marine production in the case of early game pressure.
2. My factory is more or less on time but I am not keeping my production busy!
3. I get supply blocked badly at 46/46 (all the time my opponent has been chronoing out probes! this is terrible for me and I shouldn't let this happen! I am down 8 workers at 8 minutes and there hasn't been a single engagement)
4. I get supply blocked again at 54/54.
5. My engineering bay is late. I should add it when my factory finishes.
6. At 10 minutes I am at 78/102. I can do better if I don't get supply blocked and constantly make units.
7. At 11:30, I try to tax my opponents multitasking, but in doing so I tax my own. SCV production falters, I am floating 1100 minerals, and my production is sub par.
8. I add a ghost academy but I don't make any ghosts! wtf was i thinking…
9. 13:25 shows that I can't stutter step like demuslim. I should have never engaged.
10. At 14 minutes my opponent took my bait and I lifted everything into his main. Had I been macroing correctly (my 3rd CC is idle, I'm still on 5 rax when I should be on 8, I should have ghosts) I would have been able to crush this guy's counter push. Instead, I got mauled by storms and lost everything fairly easily. My opponent was also 2/2 against my 0/1. I was behind on upgrades, behind on ghosts (lol) and in general macroing poorly, so I really didn't stand a change in the final engagement. Had I held on, I would have been in an ok position (sniped Templar Archives, double forge and third base) but I really didn't even have a chance of holding on.
Key ideas: Against Twilight/Templar tech, get a ghost academy when +1 weapons finishes (which should happen around 12:00 if I get my engineering bay timing correctly) and begin ghost production.
While harassing, it is more important to continue to macro then do crippling damage.
Game 3: TvP - Davinci vs CTangent
+ Show Spoiler +
Replay: http://drop.sc/125189
This game gets pretty weird pretty fast, and I chose it to analyze my poise under pressure.
Mistakes
1. My CC is a little late, but I wanted to prevent the probe from scouting it.
2. My tech lab on my factory is WAY late which delays my stim.
3. I suspect some sort of warp prism all in, so I split my forces between my main and my natural to prevent FFs on my ramp from killing me. Sure enough, it hits my natural and kills most of my SCVs there (not a huge loss because my opponent is all-in)
4. My starport is very delayed and my engineering bay is absent due to this heavy pressure. I am floating 600 minerals and 600 gas.
5. I am able to reclaim my natural at 11:30. I am supply blocked at 62/62 and my starport is still under construction. My engineering bay is still MIA and my opponent is expanding.
6. At 14 minutes I see a probe that I suspect will be building a ninja base. I know this in the game but choose not to act on it because I am aiming to kill my opponent.
7. This was a terrible engagement for me and I should have backed off immediately.
8. For some reason my opponent thinks that this is a good time to push. If he had stayed at home and build up more colossus then I would have been in trouble. He realized this and went home after I revealed my vikings.
9. It is 15:39 and I am still on 2 bases for some reason. I am floating minerals and my supply is low. I should have taken my third base and added on more rax.
10. As soon as I saw a colossus I should have thrown down a second starport.
11. I only won this game because I was miles ahead at the start. My poor macro in the midgame almost cost me the game entirely, and if my opponent wasn't so far behind then he could have possibly killed me. At 20 minutes I max out and 1 t a-click to victory.
Key ideas:
1. I need to continue on with my build as best as I can in the face of pressure. This taxes my multitasking but it is something that I absolutely need to do.
2. Adding on extra production is crucial. I need to do this earlier and more often.
3. Take a 4th base quicker.
4. I don't need to micro like a god to defend early pressure. The most important thing to do in these situations is to continue to macro and stay calm. I should divert some of my attention away from micro and more to macro.
This game gets pretty weird pretty fast, and I chose it to analyze my poise under pressure.
Mistakes
1. My CC is a little late, but I wanted to prevent the probe from scouting it.
2. My tech lab on my factory is WAY late which delays my stim.
3. I suspect some sort of warp prism all in, so I split my forces between my main and my natural to prevent FFs on my ramp from killing me. Sure enough, it hits my natural and kills most of my SCVs there (not a huge loss because my opponent is all-in)
4. My starport is very delayed and my engineering bay is absent due to this heavy pressure. I am floating 600 minerals and 600 gas.
5. I am able to reclaim my natural at 11:30. I am supply blocked at 62/62 and my starport is still under construction. My engineering bay is still MIA and my opponent is expanding.
6. At 14 minutes I see a probe that I suspect will be building a ninja base. I know this in the game but choose not to act on it because I am aiming to kill my opponent.
7. This was a terrible engagement for me and I should have backed off immediately.
8. For some reason my opponent thinks that this is a good time to push. If he had stayed at home and build up more colossus then I would have been in trouble. He realized this and went home after I revealed my vikings.
9. It is 15:39 and I am still on 2 bases for some reason. I am floating minerals and my supply is low. I should have taken my third base and added on more rax.
10. As soon as I saw a colossus I should have thrown down a second starport.
11. I only won this game because I was miles ahead at the start. My poor macro in the midgame almost cost me the game entirely, and if my opponent wasn't so far behind then he could have possibly killed me. At 20 minutes I max out and 1 t a-click to victory.
Key ideas:
1. I need to continue on with my build as best as I can in the face of pressure. This taxes my multitasking but it is something that I absolutely need to do.
2. Adding on extra production is crucial. I need to do this earlier and more often.
3. Take a 4th base quicker.
4. I don't need to micro like a god to defend early pressure. The most important thing to do in these situations is to continue to macro and stay calm. I should divert some of my attention away from micro and more to macro.
I've managed to lift my MMR out of Plat territory! This is a good feeling and reinforces my thought that I'm headed in the right direction. I'm going to keep working and keep fighting and keep going onward and upward!
