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[Q] Raising APM

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
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1 2 3 4 5 Next All
b0red111
Profile Joined August 2008
United States48 Posts
September 06 2008 03:32 GMT
#1
I've been playing since the end of July//start of August (zerg player) and my APM/winrate has been climbing since then. However, I've really plateaued recently and am stuck at around 120 APM.

What can I do to break past this plateau? I know my game starts to fall off a bit once I have to start controlling my 3rd and 4th expoes. What is the answer to my problem? Is it to mass game? Or is there some UMS map, much like the muta harass trainer that I can use to get better?

any advice would be much appreciated.
Just Drive down that road until you get blown up
DanceCommander
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States1808 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-09-06 03:35:57
September 06 2008 03:35 GMT
#2
Don't worry about your APM man... Just play games and get your timings down and work on mechanics in general. It will raise with your experience.

But yea, mass games, UMS maps, and just time in general.
alphafuzard
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States1610 Posts
September 06 2008 03:52 GMT
#3
On September 06 2008 12:35 DanceCommander wrote:
Don't worry about your APM man... Just play games and get your timings down and work on mechanics in general. It will raise with your experience.

But yea, mass games, UMS maps, and just time in general.

disagree with mass games
obviously you aren't going to improve *very quickly* by blindly mass gaming
you will make some improvement, but i find it is more helpful to first know everything you need to do in a game (learn timings^, learn build orders, learn how and when to adapt, work on scouting, etc etc), and then learn, one by one, how to execute each piece. you have to focus practice to improve quickly imo. Watching replays of top foreigners and looking at single aspect of a players game is a good way to pick up tips and get a general feel for the said aspect.

dont worry to much about the apm number. there is more than enough stuff for you to do in a game (not even those 350+ pros can do it all), so think of your apm as more of a %, meaning, if you compared your game to a hypothetically perfect game, what % of the tasks did you carry out correctly.


more weight
DanceCommander
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States1808 Posts
September 06 2008 04:03 GMT
#4
On September 06 2008 12:52 alphafuzard wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 06 2008 12:35 DanceCommander wrote:
Don't worry about your APM man... Just play games and get your timings down and work on mechanics in general. It will raise with your experience.

But yea, mass games, UMS maps, and just time in general.

disagree with mass games
obviously you aren't going to improve *very quickly* by blindly mass gaming

you will make some improvement, but i find it is more helpful to first know everything you need to do in a game (learn timings^, learn build orders, learn how and when to adapt, work on scouting, etc etc), and then learn, one by one, how to execute each piece. you have to focus practice to improve quickly imo. Watching replays of top foreigners and looking at single aspect of a players game is a good way to pick up tips and get a general feel for the said aspect.

dont worry to much about the apm number. there is more than enough stuff for you to do in a game (not even those 350+ pros can do it all), so think of your apm as more of a %, meaning, if you compared your game to a hypothetically perfect game, what % of the tasks did you carry out correctly.




who "blindly" masses games? Find something to improve on and work on it T_T
dream-_-
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
United States1857 Posts
September 06 2008 04:11 GMT
#5
spam?
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
September 06 2008 04:13 GMT
#6
Hmm I'm not exactly sure how I jump'ed the gap between 120 and my 180, it was quite a short time actually. At 120 I was playing BGH often and then I just switched to low money and found I was just faster playing that. Probably because most people I played were better than me, unlike the avg BGH player. Maybe playing better/faster opponents and trying to keep up on everything he does more/faster than you. I didn't really go through a mass gaming stage in my APM history.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Lurgee
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Australia252 Posts
September 06 2008 04:16 GMT
#7
If you start spamming your apm a lot, you will find that after a few games, much of that spam actually becomes productive apm. Massgaming, along with a focus on apm will help you to improve your apm quite fast.
IzzyCraft
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4487 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-09-06 04:18:05
September 06 2008 04:17 GMT
#8
Well most people can naturally go up to about 120-150 all on their own it's about there most people have problems with their habits that limit their apm to that.

Basically you should try out different mechanics and get a good feel and you'll eventually break that cap. Mostly hotkeying and then actually using them for what they are ment for helps. You know like only using 2 3 unit hotkeys and the rest for production helps alot.
I have ass for brains so,
even when I shit I'm droping knowledge.
eX-Corgh
Profile Joined October 2007
Russian Federation386 Posts
September 06 2008 04:45 GMT
#9
My first APM wall was 100 APM - I just couldn't break it for a while. Not ure how I did though, but I probably focused on different aspects of gameplay. My second APM wall was 220 and I stayed at this APM for a long time (like 6 months or more). I got past it by remembering things that need to be done in-game. Now my APM is 250-300, depending on match-up, opponent and my mood. I feel like I can have 400, but it takes a lot of practice and I can't practice on ICCUP anymore.

But... APM means nothing if you don't know what to do with all those actions.
Never give cheese to the Gorilla ^^
IntoTheWow
Profile Blog Joined May 2004
is awesome32282 Posts
September 06 2008 04:51 GMT
#10
Hotkeys.

Do you use all your hotkeys?
Moderator<:3-/-<
Stimpacked
Profile Joined June 2008
Philippines368 Posts
September 06 2008 04:52 GMT
#11
yeah APM can get stagnant in a certain range like me for example my APM when I start playing was 120-150 and then i started playing iccup so it became like 200-220 for a T player its good enough but im only C-/C level and i really sweat during those hard fought games.
live and let live...
DanceCommander
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States1808 Posts
September 06 2008 04:55 GMT
#12
On September 06 2008 13:52 Stimpacked wrote:
yeah APM can get stagnant in a certain range like me for example my APM when I start playing was 120-150 and then i started playing iccup so it became like 200-220 for a T player its good enough but im only C-/C level and i really sweat during those hard fought games.


LOL you sweat? Seriously?
Equinox_kr
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States7395 Posts
September 06 2008 04:56 GMT
#13
OK this is literally what I did for like a month to make my APM go up. Do NOTHING but macro. Forget about fighting, or even winning for that matter. Just make sure that you are constantly making units, make that the main reason you're playing. And eventually, you can do it faster so you have time for micro + everything else.
^-^
BlackStar
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
Netherlands3029 Posts
September 06 2008 05:00 GMT
#14
http://77.251.196.241:200/Python_Multitask_Free.scx
TeNken.1
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States226 Posts
September 06 2008 05:06 GMT
#15
On September 06 2008 13:16 Lurgee wrote:
If you start spamming your apm a lot, you will find that after a few games, much of that spam actually becomes productive apm. Massgaming, along with a focus on apm will help you to improve your apm quite fast.


I agree with this. I found that even by just hotkeying my first depot/barrracks and scouting scv, spamming 124124124124, and continually resetting my rally points at the beginning of every game, it would encourage me to try to keep up that pace throughout the game. I found that where before I would just kind of get lost in the game (and pretty much space out), by spamming I eventually started to apply that additional speed towards more useful actions. Basically it forced me to think about what I was going to do next (and form sort of a "mental queue"). I was able to go from 120 apm to 200+ apm in about three months by doing this.
"The G-Don is the official family hitman."
b0red111
Profile Joined August 2008
United States48 Posts
September 06 2008 05:19 GMT
#16
For those who have asked, I generally hotkey every hatchery that I have 1 through whatever and cycle through them going 1sd 2sz 3sh 4sz or whatever. I really struggle with hotkeying unit groups (it takes me forever) and with multitasking in general.

Thanks for all the input though, hopefully I can put the advice to good use.
Just Drive down that road until you get blown up
CharlieMurphy
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
United States22895 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-09-06 06:57:10
September 06 2008 06:56 GMT
#17
I ususally hotkey units to 1 and 2 and start on 3-7 for hatches.
when i'm moving around the map or watching things that need my focus without needing my mouse instantly I can take both hands and go 3sX4sX5sX6sX7sX etc. I try and do this as much as I can throughout the game as well as normally just doing the the left handed 33sX44sX55sX macro and mouse to collect recent morphs.
..and then I would, ya know, check em'. (Aka SpoR)
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
September 06 2008 07:20 GMT
#18
On September 06 2008 13:55 DanceCommander wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 06 2008 13:52 Stimpacked wrote:
yeah APM can get stagnant in a certain range like me for example my APM when I start playing was 120-150 and then i started playing iccup so it became like 200-220 for a T player its good enough but im only C-/C level and i really sweat during those hard fought games.


LOL you sweat? Seriously?


July said he plays best when his hands are sweating
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
EtherealDeath
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States8366 Posts
September 06 2008 07:38 GMT
#19
it will go up by itself as actions became natural to you. At least I know that is true for me: When I am sucking and not knowing what exactly I am doing, my apm is around 140, whereas when I know what I am doing, in those games i get 200+
dream-_-
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
United States1857 Posts
September 06 2008 08:50 GMT
#20
to be completely honest if you set a meter to beep when you go under 200 apm you will learn fairly quickly how to keep it up. if you think multitasking is a big issue for you do that, and set it high. even if your just spamming it will practice your control, mouse speed, hand speed, and get you used to a high speed environment. There is something to EAPM, much more than APM. But you need a high APM for a good EAPM. So work on that first. Most pro gamers hover around 160-190 EAPM, regardless of their actual APM.
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