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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 gamingyou 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Russian Federation386 Posts
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.
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is awesome32274 Posts
Hotkeys.
Do you use all your hotkeys?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Katowice25012 Posts
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
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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+
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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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This is a good way to raise apm:
Play vs computer and play as fucking fast as you can, spam everywhere. As many games as you want (I did like 5 or something). It teaches you how fast you really can be and you will get faster.
The rules: Keep minerals below 500 and be over 300 apm the whole time (get an apm meter for this).
I didn't think it would change very much but I actually raised my APM from 180 to 220-240 :D
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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?
I do that too when there's a hard match.
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apm comes with experience. it's really difficult to purposely have high apm.
something I do is try to have a short list of 2 or 3 maybe even 4 things you're going to do after you've done your current action so you won't ever find yourself going "hm... what to do now......."
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Its a good Idea to boost your APM first. That is why pros have so high redundancy, from minute one - if you start off with 400 apm when you actually need 60 at the beginning of the game, it is much easier to turn it into 190 eapm later in the game, as you don't have to change your pace. You just build up more useful actions as the game will require more of them.
So yeah, spam is a way to go at first. Just copy a hotkey scheme from a progamer (if you don't have one already) and try produce from hatches only with hotkeys until you have to replace them with units.
Than you just have to study the game, know what all you have to do in order to turn your spam into actually useful actions and get your brain used to it. This is when the massgaming comes into play (Clever massgaming though, the ~40% win ratio is a way to go - you can learn from your mistakes yet you don't get steamrolled hardcore every game) and replays and strategy articles when you are starting).
Think about these actions how to make more more of them, what your build orders, rally points and hatchery placement in specific situations are going be and what will be your unit hotkey structure, unit placement, battle micro and harrashment and when.
As you will play more often, you will have to think about less of these things as they will become automated, when you get to the stage progamers are at. Their subliminal thinking gives them the timing for perfect macro, they regroup their hotkey groups after every battle in a heartbeat, and they know exactly where their production buildings are, and when they have to get to them. This allows them almost completely to focus on strategy, as these basics are for them what movement in the goal is for hockey goalie.
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Well, when Idra moved to Korea apparently one of the first things he worked intensively on is APM. There's no point in even having the possibility of a banal thing as APM holding you back in games.
So my advice is actually to focus on it primarily. Keep it in your head to try to play as fast as you can, think of things that can be done, try to multi-task as much as you can.
You will have to play many games tho, because you can only play fast (if you don't count spamming) if you are familiar with what you are doing.
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+ Show Spoiler +
look at the things jaedong is doing all the time, it will give u an idea of how zerg apm plays
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Russian Federation386 Posts
On September 06 2008 17:50 dream-_- wrote: 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.
EAPM is way more important than APM, because it gives you a much better info on how fast a player is. Not sure about most pros having 160-180 eapm though... In the latest Flash vs Jaedong replay (on Fantasy, cross positions) Jaedong had 236 EAPM (354APM) and Flash, who has just average APM of 310 has 227 EAPM - WayyYyY higher than those 160-190 you're talking about.
Didn't check a lot of reps to find that "pro average", but in all I've opened in BWrepinfo, pros have 190+.
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I made the mistake of trying to raise my APM before even knowing the basics of Starcraft and now i have a habit of always spamming completely useless shit that ruins my macro/micro sometimes, it's pretty much impossible for me to lose that habit.
You shouldn't actively try to raise your APM, it's just something that comes along the more you play and the more experience you get. When you know what to do and when to do it you'll notice how everything starts to go faster.
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Have a nice read.
Speed is freedom. Freedom to pick any build. Freedom to focus on strategy. Freedom to play the game the way you want to. Speed is a Starcraft player's wings. His pathway to the skies. Without speed, you're a kiwi!
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Watch some korean pro fpvods to get a glimpse of what a gosu apm/fast hands/godly multitask means
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On September 06 2008 20:13 eX-Corgh wrote:Show nested quote +On September 06 2008 17:50 dream-_- wrote: 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. EAPM is way more important than APM, because it gives you a much better info on how fast a player is. Not sure about most pros having 160-180 eapm though... In the latest Flash vs Jaedong replay (on Fantasy, cross positions) Jaedong had 236 EAPM (354APM) and Flash, who has just average APM of 310 has 227 EAPM - WayyYyY higher than those 160-190 you're talking about. Didn't check a lot of reps to find that "pro average", but in all I've opened in BWrepinfo, pros have 190+. Well thats extreme example. I'd say the average would be those 190 for important games.
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Nah, it's higher. Every replay on GG.net that has a Korean Terran in it, the Terran averages at about 210 EAPM, normally.
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just get your mind game set, you need to understand how to multi-task and not focus on individual tasks so much, try and think while ur in a battle "I need to macro up" and do 4sh 5sh 6sh, ur hand to keyboard orientation will improve and improve until, when without looking at the keyboad you can do 1a 4sz5sz6sz 12. practice practice zerg require so many actions so naturally ur apm will high
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On September 06 2008 18:23 pyrogenetix wrote: apm comes with experience. it's really difficult to purposely have high apm.
something I do is try to have a short list of 2 or 3 maybe even 4 things you're going to do after you've done your current action so you won't ever find yourself going "hm... what to do now......."
This is true when i was raising my apm i did it though macro practice to get my mechanics down but most of the time i didn't spend to think about the build i did 1 build for all mu tri hatch into mass zerglings mass expo. Basically you also eventually have to know your builds and reactions by instinct to keep a higher apm without spamming mindlessly.
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You guys ever seen By.VeloCity's EAPM? He had like 273 in a game vs Suae[KaL]. That is rediculously fast hand speed and hes good at using his actions.
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if you want to train multitasking rather than pure APM, maybe my old UMS could be of use.
http://z15.invisionfree.com/Clan_Art_Forums/index.php?showtopic=26
Basically you need to macro from your 3 bases while you break through terran defences with swarm and lurk-ling in a limited time, and expand at the same time, and defend from harassment as well if you pick the hard version. In other words i did my best to simulate late game ZvT.
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well i have and can hover around 240 apm relatively easily but trust me my eapm right now is only 100-130 sure i dont blindly mass but it sure as hell doesnt help much without my hotkeying ablitys now almost 100 percent gone i have a cast on but dont worry about apm so much the only thing apm does is ur reaction timing towars things
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testie used to say he practiced his apm/macro by playing fastest.
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I have found that just by playing and deeply analyzing my gaming and seeing how much I have improved, has improved my apm probably by around 50-60 apm without paying attention to raising it (according to the statistics). I think your apm raises when you feel comfortable doing what you can, so you begin doing more while doing all the stuff you were already able to. An example being, you have gotten your build order down to a feeling instead of concentrating on time or numbers, so now you can micro your probe or units better because you aren't concentrating on the build order so much anymore.
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Don't worry about increasing your apm. Worry about playing better and your apm will increase steadily with it.
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On September 06 2008 19:32 Ki_Do wrote:+ Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YWMFXH53XU look at the things jaedong is doing all the time, it will give u an idea of how zerg apm plays
That was awesome, thanks a lot. Watching that makes me envious of Jaedong because he makes it look easy.
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i didn't know jaedong was so macro intensive, it makes me wonder about all the micro plays i've seen from him--granted that much was against the ropes almost the entire game, which in case shows how jaedong is adaptive in his style but retains one of the fastest speeds in pro starcraft
i have always played with micro intentions foremost with an average of about 340APM in more recent games; this drops with a downwards slope if you analyze the graph on 'flat', and drops substantially as late game nears. in those cases the APM could drop to 270 or less. i have to agree that knowing your next step (to take) through raw experience or an intuition for timing could prevent a lot of these drops in APM, or performance in some regards--i wouldn't doubt it if my eapm turned out to be low 200 or mid 100's
it (watching fpvod) simply gives me the idea that macro comes first for many reasons. because atleast you have a new set of units to micro with at the end of a battle ^ ^;;
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On September 06 2008 18:10 Zoler wrote: This is a good way to raise apm:
Play vs computer and play as fucking fast as you can, spam everywhere. As many games as you want (I did like 5 or something). It teaches you how fast you really can be and you will get faster.
The rules: Keep minerals below 500 and be over 300 apm the whole time (get an apm meter for this).
Just keep one hotkey pressed down. Makes your APM go sky high. Then when it becomes a habit your APM while playing will also be off the charts.
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Use those expos your not managing and your apm will raise.
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On September 06 2008 18:10 Zoler wrote: This is a good way to raise apm:
Play vs computer and play as fucking fast as you can, spam everywhere. As many games as you want (I did like 5 or something). It teaches you how fast you really can be and you will get faster.
The rules: Keep minerals below 500 and be over 300 apm the whole time (get an apm meter for this).
I didn't think it would change very much but I actually raised my APM from 180 to 220-240 :D
here's where i disagree though
there are actions that are given more priority compared to some others that you'll be taking some obvious ones have to do with proper building arrangement and the timing of your tech
i've tried that method too, ha ha but it seemed to condition me to forget timings and overlook details. i'm sorry to use myself as an example all the time, and i'll try to look to other ways of expression, lollll . . . i'm sure most of you have your game plans refined and practiced enough to be able to spam for practice and still manage to do everything you want to do (but accomplishing more and more with each game >; ) )
my point is though, i don't recommend this style of practice for newer players, even if it feels fun
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wow that was so fucking sick i wonder whos faster jaedong or bisu.. i remember back in 2004 when there was a game where nada had an apm of 500+ wtf cant imagine that was way back on temple when he was dropping cliffs while harassing vults macroing etc 1 perfect game.
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i completely disagree with these idiots syaing play vs a comp and spam ur shitter off. This will ONLY improve your spam. 120apm is a plateau for pretty much everyone and it takes awhile to surpass it, the main reason why u cant surpase it yet is because you dont have all the hotkeys etched in your brain and are not use to regular hot keys and frequently using them. Just try and use hotkeys as much as possilbe, that should be your goal not just clicking as fast as u fucking can rofl
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there are maps that u can use to improve your apm like use lost temple, put a probe at the top left vs an enemy zealot and see how many probes die before u can make a base and kill a computer.
that will get your apm up very high, it takes at least 200 apm to maintain your base and produce units, while moving that one worker around constantly
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On September 07 2008 05:32 EleanorRIgby wrote: i completely disagree with these idiots syaing play vs a comp and spam ur shitter off. This will ONLY improve your spam. 120apm is a plateau for pretty much everyone and it takes awhile to surpass it, the main reason why u cant surpase it yet is because you dont have all the hotkeys etched in your brain and are not use to regular hot keys and frequently using them. Just try and use hotkeys as much as possilbe, that should be your goal not just clicking as fast as u fucking can rofl
I agree that mastering the hotkeys is important, but it seems like you don't really understand what I or anyone else was saying about spam. The point isn't to simply to spam all game so you can open up bwchart and jack off to your 300 apm performance - the point is to increase your natural gamespeed so that as you gain more experience you will start applying that additional apm to more useful actions.
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On September 07 2008 12:17 TeNken.1 wrote: I agree that mastering the hotkeys is important, but it seems like you don't really understand what I or anyone else was saying about spam. The point isn't to simply to spam all game so you can open up bwchart and jack off to your 300 apm performance - the point is to increase your natural gamespeed so that as you gain more experience you will start applying that additional apm to more useful actions.
Spamming doesn't increase your natural gaming speed.
I think you miss the point. I think this whole theory is based on accidentally increasing your playing speed by actually focusing on spamming.
You should practice what needs to be practiced and single out that and focus on that. Spamming isn't part of that.
On September 07 2008 10:35 kpcrew wrote: there are maps that u can use to improve your apm like use lost temple, put a probe at the top left vs an enemy zealot and see how many probes die before u can make a base and kill a computer.
I already posted a Python version. But you need to add a computer if you want that. Otherwise you can just 13cc/nexus and max out asap.
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On September 06 2008 21:46 ZerG~LegenD wrote:Have a nice read. Speed is freedom. Freedom to pick any build. Freedom to focus on strategy. Freedom to play the game the way you want to. Speed is a Starcraft player's wings. His pathway to the skies. Without speed, you're a kiwi!
beautiful.
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I'd just like to say this map is a great way to improve both your multitask ability and your apm ability, in a very NON-artificial way.
Play this map until you can kill the pylon with only 1 or 2 scv kills.
Is there a version of this map that adds actual CPU opponents to the game? As it is, it's a great way to multitask while practicing your opening BO, but I'd like something to force me to actually micro/macro while multitasking as well.
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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? I sweat a little when I play. And I have as long as I can remember so it's not apm related. Aleast not much. Not much handsweat tho.
As to the topic, I had a roof around 200 that I just could not pass. Then after a break for a few weeks I came back and had raised my average (as in trying to play good/serious) apm by around 40 and thus in some games having above 200 once in a while. I have no idea why/how this happend.
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Don't care so much about your apm. I raised my apm from 80 to your rate, but my skills didn't improve as my apm did, so i can still loose against 70apm dudes. Just play smart and learn more about the game. That's what i didn't do enough.
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On September 07 2008 05:32 EleanorRIgby wrote: i completely disagree with these idiots syaing play vs a comp and spam ur shitter off. This will ONLY improve your spam. 120apm is a plateau for pretty much everyone and it takes awhile to surpass it, the main reason why u cant surpase it yet is because you dont have all the hotkeys etched in your brain and are not use to regular hot keys and frequently using them. Just try and use hotkeys as much as possilbe, that should be your goal not just clicking as fast as u fucking can rofl
I got from 180 apm to 220 and my macro almost got flawless compared to my macro before? Often when I played before I would get to 1000 mineral middle game and now I cant even go over 300 
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apm means u good at controling ur units scaning ur base and so on, but... it can also be pointless if u spaming, try using more hotkeys and make rythme of checking ur base/units and seeing what u can do!
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Let me tell you something, even if it's probably what you don't want to be said: don't even look at your APM, just don't. You must focus on doing all things you need to do, nothing more nothing less, if you manage to control everything as you wish (i never felt like that actually ) with just 120 APM that will be good for you. I believe there's some kind of "economy" of the actions a player can make, trying to just rise your APM means that you end up doing the same things you did before but with more APM, what's the point in that? In this way APM don't represent anymore your multitasking ability, but they become useless.
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i agree with equinox
focus on all out macro create a cycle for yourself so once you do something you run back to your buildings and 4z5z6z7z or 1az2az3az for zerg them and when you see the pings on minimap, go back to the same cycle. Rally them to 1 point, hot key them and send them into a TT's front while you take the map and build more zeals. You'll eventually find yourself locked in a cycle of doing this with minor bumps and peaks along the way.
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practice micro and macro.. better yet, multitask.
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Anyone have other maps that focus on multitasking? Preferably for toss, but anything is fine.
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In my opinion you should try to raise your brain activity. This is by no means in insult, you need to think quick and your hands will move faster with the time. Its much more important to know how to react on all the things that can happen to you.
Strategical knowledge + experience > speed.
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On September 06 2008 16:20 heyoka wrote:Show nested quote +On September 06 2008 13:55 DanceCommander wrote: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 thats why he chose the name july. (i read an interview that said so)
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On September 06 2008 13:56 Equinox_kr wrote: 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. weird thats excatly what i do/did
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Mexico1178 Posts
APM means nothing really.. i would suggest you to improve your gamesense first, know what the opponent would be doing, and adapt to it beforehand, know and apply some basics, like flanking, macroing, hard counters, and the list goes on.. i have beaten korean dudes with the double APM with my barely 160 APM, sometimes its better to play smart compared to play fast, what im trying to say is, awesome speed with poor knowledge just makes you a fast opponent, good speed with awesome knowledge just makes you a hard opponent, you make your call =D
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On September 08 2008 16:59 zXk3 wrote: APM means nothing really.. i would suggest you to improve your gamesense first, know what the opponent would be doing, and adapt to it beforehand, know and apply some basics, like flanking, macroing, hard counters, and the list goes on.. i have beaten korean dudes with the double APM with my barely 160 APM, sometimes its better to play smart compared to play fast, what im trying to say is, awesome speed with poor knowledge just makes you a fast opponent, good speed with awesome knowledge just makes you a hard opponent, you make your call =D
awesome speed and awesome knowledge? but i get your point sometimes if you're too fast you forget some things you're supposed to do or forget your game plan or think any good strategies or whatever... But being fast is also important multitasking requires you to be fast, pushing while expanding while macroing setting new rally points hotkeying etc... But since we're not progamers just focus on winning and APM will slowly follow.
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Russian Federation386 Posts
On September 08 2008 15:51 G.s)NarutO wrote: In my opinion you should try to raise your brain activity. This is by no means in insult, you need to think quick and your hands will move faster with the time. Its much more important to know how to react on all the things that can happen to you.
Strategical knowledge + experience > speed.
Aren't you that 400 APM Terran?
hehe
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I never really thought about "raising APM" as a goal. I jsut played alot learning BOs, getting better gamesense etc, and now I get around 250-300ish constantly. My APM went up, but not my general knowlegde I play Zerg too.
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On September 07 2008 03:34 a p p ! e wrote:Show nested quote +On September 06 2008 18:10 Zoler wrote: This is a good way to raise apm:
Play vs computer and play as fucking fast as you can, spam everywhere. As many games as you want (I did like 5 or something). It teaches you how fast you really can be and you will get faster.
The rules: Keep minerals below 500 and be over 300 apm the whole time (get an apm meter for this).
I didn't think it would change very much but I actually raised my APM from 180 to 220-240 :D here's where i disagree though there are actions that are given more priority compared to some others that you'll be taking some obvious ones have to do with proper building arrangement and the timing of your tech i've tried that method too, ha ha but it seemed to condition me to forget timings and overlook details. i'm sorry to use myself as an example all the time, and i'll try to look to other ways of expression, lollll . . . i'm sure most of you have your game plans refined and practiced enough to be able to spam for practice and still manage to do everything you want to do (but accomplishing more and more with each game >; ) ) my point is though, i don't recommend this style of practice for newer players, even if it feels fun
I forgot saying this only works when you are at least D+.
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What has being D+ have to do with your APM?
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Massgames alone definately doesn't raise apm, by much at least. I've played like 1000 games in last year and apm hasn't really raised at all, been at 130-150 the whole time. I don't really care enough about improving myself but I'm not really retarded enough either to not be able to raise it if I knew how exactly and really had interest and time to put into becoming better. Then again, it's a fact you can get to B/B+ at least with 150apm so raising it isn't currently most relevant leak in playing if I can only reach C now.
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On September 08 2008 00:39 SirGlinG wrote: Don't care so much about your apm. I raised my apm from 80 to your rate, but my skills didn't improve as my apm did, so i can still loose against 70apm dudes. Just play smart and learn more about the game. That's what i didn't do enough.
Well, perhaps that was me. I regularely win against people with way higher APM due to tactics and smart thinking.
But, for all out there saying do not care about APM, learn the game instead, this is plain wrong.
My APM sucks, I play around a 100 (I do not spam).
This bad speed sverely limits my play - e.g., I cannot do lurk/ling/scourge/defiler the way it is meant to be (and I'd want it to be), because my hands are simply to slow. Even good flanking is nearly impossible with a 120 supply Z army with my speed. Believe me I know what I would have to do, I just can't.
I.e., . IMO, in any RTS game, a base speed is paramount to mastering it. Hence, training playing speed, handspeed, more or less well represented by APM, is by all means important.
Those of you telling to ignore APM either don't know enough about Starcraft, or are lucky enough to have been fast enough from the start :-)
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On September 09 2008 19:34 Metaspace wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2008 00:39 SirGlinG wrote: Don't care so much about your apm. I raised my apm from 80 to your rate, but my skills didn't improve as my apm did, so i can still loose against 70apm dudes. Just play smart and learn more about the game. That's what i didn't do enough. Well, perhaps that was me. I regularely win against people with way higher APM due to tactics and smart thinking. My APM sucks, I stay between 80 and 100 (I do not spam). On the other hand, my bad speed sverely limits my play - e.g., I cannot do lurk/ling/scourge/defiler the way it is meant to be (and I'd want it to be), because my hands are simply to slow. Even good flanking is nearly impossible with a 120 supply Z army with my speed. Believe me I know what I would have to do, I just can't. I.e., for all out there saying do not care about APM, learn the game instead, this is plain wrong. IMO, in any RTS game, a base speed is paramount to mastering it. Hence, training playing speed, handspeed, more or less well represented by APM, is by all means important.
Your hand speed isnt the problem,seems to me youre just lazy.
APM really doesnt mean alot, Hell i can do SK with only 170~~~~Anyway what are most of the actions? 60% hotkeys?? really you could cut that down to 20% and be just fine.
Best way to "improve" APM : Get Better.
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On September 09 2008 19:46 arb wrote:
Your hand speed isnt the problem,seems to me youre just lazy.
APM really doesnt mean alot, Hell i can do SK with only 170~~~~Anyway what are most of the actions? 60% hotkeys?? really you could cut that down to 20% and be just fine.
Best way to "improve" APM : Get Better.
Well, I think I have to object here. I do not think I am lazy. I'd desperately want to be better :-)
My hotkey percentage is typically around 23%. I play Z, I use 1-4 for units, 5-0 for hatcheries. I use F4 for rally point. I use all these hotkeys in every game.
Still, I peak at 100, on good days (enough sleep etc.) 120.
Edit: P.S.: it is frustrating when you got the superior army, and waste it due to not being able to cast swarm fast enough, select scourges to kill a vessel, or burrow lurks fast enough :-/
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maybe that's a problem of mouse accuracy
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I do some training exercises (for terran) on some ums micro map to not be annoyed by comp : i just do F2 1a2a3a4a5a F3 5C6C7V8V9V 0S F2 ( c = tank in french version , V is vulture) F2 is my "atack zone " with virtual groups of units F3 is my factories zone 0 is my scan I do it repetitively I do aswell for tvt , tvz it s thesame but instead of 5c6c7v8v9v i got 5m6m7m8C9v ( C tank , V vessel) and in tvt : 5c6c7G8g9g ( g goliath). Im not sure that it is that useful but it gives some automatisms to switch from making units to attack , only with hotkeys and f2f3f4
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I recently got into playing starcraft heavily (within the last month), and I raised my APM from 110 to 180 average within the month simply by focusing on APMS. Spam actions, spam extra things, focus solely on apms, try to keep everything you need to multitask in your mind.
Your gameplay will actually worsen over the short term, but eventually moving fast will become second nature and you will be able to stop focusing on APMS and refocus on smart gameplay while the APMs will just stay high in the background.
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