EPTHow do you not forget? Or do you know how progamers do it?
How to stay on top of macro?
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TonDan04
12 Posts
How do you not forget? Or do you know how progamers do it? | ||
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WolFix
Poland41 Posts
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perfectspheres
105 Posts
On October 29 2025 04:06 TonDan04 wrote: I seem to have a short term memory problem. I'll make a star port and forget about it until a minute after it is done. A minute in Starcraft time is a long time. I'll do a drop and pull dropship back only to forget where I sent it. How do you not forget? Or do you know how progamers do it? Just be dilligent about it (have heard some people set timers to remind themself). Macro is probably one of the most important aspects of Brood War. Don't miss macro cycles 💯💯 | ||
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iopq
United States1036 Posts
On October 29 2025 04:06 TonDan04 wrote: I seem to have a short term memory problem. I'll make a star port and forget about it until a minute after it is done. A minute in Starcraft time is a long time. I'll do a drop and pull dropship back only to forget where I sent it. How do you not forget? Or do you know how progamers do it? Hotkey a location inside your base (let's say F2) that has most of what you need and go back there every 15.12 seconds to make a marine. You should be able to see at least one starport and check if it's blinking then hotkey a rally point to something like F4 and do the F2 click on production building F4 right click on the rally point combination so every building rallies to a useful place hotkey all your units so you can easily F2, macro a cycle and then double tap 1 or whatever hotkey to go back to what you were doing | ||
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Highgamer
1445 Posts
It gets better though the more you play, because you build more and more habits and that frees up brain-capacity to actually think while playing. How fast and how much it improves varies a lot though from person to person. The best you can do is focussed practice, working on individual problems, like forgetting your starport: You play some (custom) games where you keep telling yourself that this is your only concern: not delay/forget the starport. It should click after a while and become a habit. I'm pretty sure progamers do (or: did when they were younger) a lot of this kind of focussed practice. They probably had people pointing out such mistakes and developed personal benchmarks to avoid them - and they did this for 10 hours a day... | ||
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Ze'ev
146 Posts
When I was first taking bw seriously I would play sp a lot, turn on power overwhelming and then try to nail a build with a certain minimum apm while using my camera keys. in your case maybe find a tvp build -- like fd into a starport drop -- that forces you to utilize multitasking micro/macro. | ||
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WGT-Baal
France3427 Posts
On October 30 2025 07:01 Ze'ev wrote: yeah its basically an organizational issue; shift hotkeys and or rationalizing your hotkey usage in general. like maybe your starport should be bound to 4 because, your factory on 3 and your army on 2-- so you cycle between them very naturally while camera shifting back to your base for depots/scv production and such. Some of this is creating a system which is fluid and some of this is practice at actually maintaining that system. tbh 60% of starcraft probably just comes down to organizational aspects like that. When I was first taking bw seriously I would play sp a lot, turn on power overwhelming and then try to nail a build with a certain minimum apm while using my camera keys. in your case maybe find a tvp build -- like fd into a starport drop -- that forces you to utilize multitasking micro/macro. Exactly. Also if y all want a glimpse at korean practice you should check this (use google auto translate) : https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?blogId=kcw4908&logNo=10156387470&proxyReferer=https://www.google.com/&trackingCode=external | ||
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Jealous
10260 Posts
ETA: To expand, a large proportion of hotkey usage for pro gamers is always the "select" action as opposed to "select + interaction" with the target hotkey. This is obviously more true for production facilities than it is for armies which often benefit from constant movement/shaping of the concave. When Flash is hitting 350+ APM in the midgame, it's not because he is interacting with every hotkey every time (a la 1a2a3a4s5s6t7t8vv 88 move screen click macro vv vv 9s 0s) it's more like 1a2a3a456781a2a3a4s5s6781a2a3a4s5s6s7t8t 88 click vv click vv etc. So basically, Flash's ~350 APM "rhythm" is constantly "checking" the progress of certain buildings and units and only acting upon them when necessary. TLDR: Practice and repetition, not conscious effort or time-sensitivity. | ||
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XenOsky
Chile2303 Posts
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Jealous
10260 Posts
On October 30 2025 12:13 XenOsky wrote: 45645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645645646 Yea this is my TLDR instead of everything I posted. | ||
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Nirli
Bulgaria378 Posts
Seems like you might need to practice vs the computer, maybe using the immortality cheat. Just set a goal, practice that for 10 mins, e.g. if it's getting a dropship out and doing a drop, quit and do it again. Move on when you feel comfortable and that's it. Might take like 500 tries. Maybe more, maybe less. | ||
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`Myst
25 Posts
As others have said, you hotkey everything and then you play enough to where you dont have to think about hotkeys. Until late game, if you have to look away from your army to macro you're doing it wrong. Finger placement (pros use two fingers) is as important as the hotkeys themselves. | ||
FlaShFTW
United States10269 Posts
On October 30 2025 16:05 Nirli wrote: There's no reason to know how progamers do it. Nobody else is humanly capable of replicating what they do. Seems like you might need to practice vs the computer, maybe using the immortality cheat. Just set a goal, practice that for 10 mins, e.g. if it's getting a dropship out and doing a drop, quit and do it again. Move on when you feel comfortable and that's it. Might take like 500 tries. Maybe more, maybe less. huh? Progamers arent some special human variant, they're human beings just like you or I. The difference is that they have thousands of hours of practice. We can all practice to be as close to a progamer as we want. | ||
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Highgamer
1445 Posts
On November 01 2025 01:34 FlaShFTW wrote: huh? Progamers arent some special human variant, they're human beings just like you or I. The difference is that they have thousands of hours of practice. We can all practice to be as close to a progamer as we want. ![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/pveWPCx.jpeg) | ||
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tankgirl
Canada433 Posts
On October 29 2025 04:06 TonDan04 wrote:Or do you know how progamers do it? TonDan04! Hello. I sense a soul in search of answers... Others in this thread have graciously explained "how" progamers do it. Three cheers for our brothers in combat! Now that your mind is ready, I am going to SHOW you. So I am sharing this hidden gem of a video, previously lost to the indifferent passages of time, especially for YOU. Yes, TonDan04, YOU! So that as a new player you will comprehend the level of mechanical execution that we're actually talking about at the pro level. Here it is: So, I hope this has partly answered your question of "how do they do it?" Good! But please also consider that the KeSPA era-pros (2003-2011ish) grew up as children/teenagers in highly competitive team-houses with coaches and they have practiced for tens of thousands of hours. Yet even the fastest, most efficient players cannot do everything, and deciding where to use APM is important. It might look like they are "doing everything at once." But it is not so! TonDan04, having reached some level of comprehension of pro play (the mechanics), you now have a framework upon which to consider the compounding factors at high-levels: build orders, map variance, engagement tactics, "RNG", mental aspects, mindgames, what is it like playing on stage (??), preparing for a 3/5/7 game series, etc. (this list should be much longer! and these concepts are not orthogonal ! ) TonDan, if you have read this far, congratulations! I hope you will feel the spark and the excitement that is broodwar. TonDan! Do you understand now? That there was a reason they called him "God"... One last thing, TonDan04! You can learn to play at a high level, too. It is great fun. I spent around a year of my life dissecting a pro-gamer's videos and replays, and practicing the mechanical technique. I improved. But it also taught me this: that we as players ought approach the game as one ought approach a great work of art or literature: with humility, and respect. Onwards, TonDan! Oblivion Awaits... | ||
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Nirli
Bulgaria378 Posts
On November 01 2025 01:34 FlaShFTW wrote: huh? Progamers arent some special human variant, they're human beings just like you or I. The difference is that they have thousands of hours of practice. We can all practice to be as close to a progamer as we want. Sounds to me like OP is maybe doing something just for the sake of it, i.e. has seen someone doing it or someone has told him to do it. Which is basically what "see the pros" is. Doing something should have a puprose, that's why I recommended what I did. If you do something with a purpose and understanding, then you won't be forgetting your units (most of the time). I get a sense that he's not playing at a very high level, the information is rather limited. For example, why play for drops when you can go more tanks and push earlier for a win. Are you playing to win, to have fun, to learn? What he's shared is more about game planning rather than macro anyway. | ||
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iFU.pauline
France1660 Posts
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[sc1f]eonzerg
Belgium6802 Posts
https://i.imgur.com/sWNu3HZ.mp4 | ||
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prosatan
Romania8514 Posts
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iopq
United States1036 Posts
For Zerg, making a bunch of hatcheries in one base and ctrl-clicking the larva can be a huge help in the late game. Before I neglected it and got thousands of minerals in the bank instead of units it's good to do it in in the 4th base in ZvP and then you'll be able to do like 10+ hatcheries of production late if you need to, you can increase the number of army hotkeys as well (which will make your macro slower, but control better) | ||
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ajfirecracker
United States62 Posts
On October 29 2025 04:06 TonDan04 wrote: I'll do a drop and pull dropship back only to forget where I sent it. Partly pros are looking at the minimap more than beginners. Partly a lot of the things beginners still think about the pros understand well enough they just know without thinking. One thing you might try is to return your dropship to your rally. Even if it's a little slower it beats floating it uselessly somewhere | ||
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XenOsky
Chile2303 Posts
On October 29 2025 04:06 TonDan04 wrote: I seem to have a short term memory problem. I'll make a star port and forget about it until a minute after it is done. A minute in Starcraft time is a long time. I'll do a drop and pull dropship back only to forget where I sent it. How do you not forget? Or do you know how progamers do it? verious forms, pick one: turn the volume and pay attention hotkey to a number you don't use and force urself to check constantly hotkey to a number you use often put it in a place you often see memorize the timing caltulate with in game timer | ||
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