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This is not a normal "How do I increase my APM" thread, since that unfortunately is lofty thinking for me. I put this in the strategy section because I'm asking for a 'meta-strategy' of sorts in how to approach playing the game itself given a specific circumstance.
I have a disorder that makes it difficult for me to have 100+ apm (in fact, I hover around 30 when I'm really going at it). This becomes worse in times of stress as my autonomic nervous system does not respond correctly to the epinephrine response and I begin to tremor slightly (or not so slightly at times). I feel fortunate that I can play starcraft II as well as I do, especially since I'm unable to drive or work because of it, but I want to get better and better!
I've managed to work my way up to platinum level, and I realize that I still need to work on my macro and strategic thinking, but I'm beginning to notice that I'm losing games when I'm FAR ahead almost entirely due to outright micro disasters and the subsequent inability to recover from absent macro during that period.
I'd really like to get some suggestions on how to improve. What are some ideas I can use, things I can practice, strategies to focus on, etc...
FWIW I currently play zerg, which I'm sure is a mistake. I'm quite willing to switch races and put in the effort if there is going to be considerable gains.
Thanks for any help!
Update later in the thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=152320¤tpage=5#86
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Hotkey as much as you can. Hotkey your hatcheries together in one and your queens separately(or look up more techniques for injecting larva and see which one fits you best). At least this way you can make units from hatches while looking at your army and then quickly go back to it. Larva will be harder for you though...
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Dont know man. I guess making builds that don´t require apm spam. Cant say i dont know builds that aint. Protoss is pretty straightforward compared to zerg and terran.
Almost all units pretty much are a-movable except for HT, pheonix and sentries.
Look around for good hotkey tips for example; toggeling main buidings with backspace.
GL HF!
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As many others would say, APM is not everything. This holds especially true in SC2. Macro, economy, unit composition and strategic thinking will definitely trump micro or higher apm any day.
Rarely do you see a micro intensive games in SC2. You'll normally see the players macroing really hard and clashing at 150+ food supply battles where micro is almost non existent and unit composition and strategic engaging kicks in. Now there are some cases where people can pull off clutch force fields or stim kiting and things like that but again, not too hard there.
I guess what you're asking for is help on multi-tasking. It would seem you're having trouble keeping up production while fighting at the same time. My advice would be to make sure you have all the important stuff hotkeyed and comfortable hotkeys at that. Zerg of course is the hardest to multi task and may not be the best choice at the moment. It's really hard to multi-task with creep tumors, larvae inject, overlord placement and units that melt if you're not paying attention. I definitely do think if you switched races you'd be a lot more successful. Basically because I think zerg is just underpowered at the moment. APM aside, any zerg who switches races would probably be more successful.
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On September 13 2010 02:21 yesplz wrote:
Hotkey as much as you can. Hotkey your hatcheries together in one and your queens separately(or look up more techniques for injecting larva and see which one fits you best). At least this way you can make units from hatches while looking at your army and then quickly go back to it. Larva will be harder for you though...
That is what I currently try to do, but I really mess up hotkeys. I always end up with larva, queens, random buildings in my hotkeys. I'm really working on cleaning this up, but seem to be failing pretty hard. Is that normal for other people? I'm very curious about that.
edit: Actually, you have me thinking here. Most of my APM issue is that I have a lot of difficulty controlling the mouse. It takes me longer than the average person to put the mouse where I want it and click while it's there (clicking a zergling usually takes me 15 or so seconds  ). I can, however, type pretty well. I should use this to my advantage and try to make a very keyboard-centric playing style.
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Rather than try to focus on APM, just try to focus on what you should be doing at any given time. Try to stay proactive with your units, keep your money low, always scout. As you improve your play your apm will naturally improve. Zerg takes a A LOT of multitasking, but if you enjoy playing zerg there is no reason to switch just because you have low apm.
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On September 13 2010 02:25 tackklee wrote:
As many others would say, APM is not everything. This holds especially true in SC2. Macro, economy, unit composition and strategic thinking will definitely trump micro or higher apm any day.
I'd love to believe this, and would readily do so if there was a 1500+ diamond player who averaged 30-40apm. Hell, even 800+ would seriously convince me it's possible.
That doesn't mean I don't think I couldn't be the first (triple negative, hooray!). It'd be awesome if there was someone to learn from though 
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Could you perhaps post a replay or two? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by your epinephrine response doesn't work correctly.
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As long as you keep injecting larvae as much as possible, you can play diamond quality zerg with very low APM.
Handspeed is nothing in this game, compared to knowing what you should be doing. With experience, your APM can(and should) actually decrease a little because you're no longer fumbling around all over the place trying to get your macro right. Being streamlined might make it seem like you're playing slowly, but efficiency matters, a lot.
You're much less likely to drop the ball when you've got practiced motions and can devote more attention to non-APM tasks, like scouting, strategizing, and watching the minimap.
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On September 13 2010 02:30 Bumblebees wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 02:25 tackklee wrote:
As many others would say, APM is not everything. This holds especially true in SC2. Macro, economy, unit composition and strategic thinking will definitely trump micro or higher apm any day.
I'd love to believe this, and would readily do so if there was a 1500+ diamond player who averaged 30-40apm. Hell, even 800+ would seriously convince me it's possible. That doesn't mean I don't think I couldn't be the first (triple negative, hooray!). It'd be awesome if there was someone to learn from though
Well, a 1500+ diamond player will definitely not be at 30-40 apm. But there are quite a few out there that are 800+ diamond with that low apm. I know this first hand because when I watch my replays and check out the opponents apm I see it all the time.
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On September 13 2010 02:31 Zerksys wrote:
Could you perhaps post a replay or two? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by your epinephrine response doesn't work correctly.
I have severe 'pure autonomic failure' (and I'm way too young for it). An effect of this is when there is a 'fight or flight' response, or simple stress response my body greatly overreacts. The main effect of this is that it causes tremors and a subsequent rapid loss of blood pressure. Outside of this I have minor tremors and coordination difficulties due to low BP and abnormal autonomic response (along with other non-sc2 related symptoms that are fun fun fun).
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On September 13 2010 02:25 sourbiscuits wrote:Almost all units pretty much are a-movable except for HT, pheonix and sentries.
Unfortunatly you won't be able to beat a a-moving Terran, unless you've got a far supperior army.
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On September 13 2010 02:42 Bumblebees wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 02:31 Zerksys wrote:
Could you perhaps post a replay or two? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by your epinephrine response doesn't work correctly. I'll post some shortly I have severe 'pure autonomic failure' (and I'm way too young for it). An effect of this is when there is a 'fight or flight' response, or simple stress response my body greatly overreacts. The main effect of this is that it causes tremors and a subsequent rapid loss of blood pressure. Outside of this I have minor tremors and coordination difficulties due to low BP and abnormal autonomic response (along with other non-sc2 related symptoms that are fun fun fun).
...Not to bug you about your life, but are you sure playing Starcraft is entirely safe for you?
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On September 13 2010 02:47 Darthturtle wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 02:42 Bumblebees wrote:On September 13 2010 02:31 Zerksys wrote:
Could you perhaps post a replay or two? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by your epinephrine response doesn't work correctly. I'll post some shortly I have severe 'pure autonomic failure' (and I'm way too young for it). An effect of this is when there is a 'fight or flight' response, or simple stress response my body greatly overreacts. The main effect of this is that it causes tremors and a subsequent rapid loss of blood pressure. Outside of this I have minor tremors and coordination difficulties due to low BP and abnormal autonomic response (along with other non-sc2 related symptoms that are fun fun fun). ...Not to bug you about your life, but are you sure playing Starcraft is entirely safe for you?
Yeah, I'm ok I have plenty of medications to keep the severe symptoms at bay. I certainly can't ladder for hours like most people. 4-5 games spread out across the day is more than enough to wreck me.
Not much else I can do, and SC2 is really fun! I'd be pretty depressed if I didn't at least have a game like this to keep my mind busy.
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cycle through all of your hot keys and slowly youll get faster.
if i were to type the keys out it would look like this
3434343434343453435343534353435333433443344334433443534353435343534324322323232343454646454645464546454674454645464333334343435343232322233443536
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On September 13 2010 02:42 Bumblebees wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 02:31 Zerksys wrote:
Could you perhaps post a replay or two? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what you mean by your epinephrine response doesn't work correctly. The main effect of this is that it causes tremors and a subsequent rapid loss of blood pressure.
One recommendation - you're sitting down for a long time while playing SC, so blood pooling in your legs probably lowers your blood pressure even further. Have you tried compression stockings / sitting on your legs while playing?
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On September 13 2010 02:26 Bumblebees wrote:edit: Actually, you have me thinking here. Most of my APM issue is that I have a lot of difficulty controlling the mouse. It takes me longer than the average person to put the mouse where I want it and click while it's there (clicking a zergling usually takes me 15 or so seconds ). I can, however, type pretty well. I should use this to my advantage and try to make a very keyboard-centric playing style.
If you can't click on individual zerglings, you can try just selecting a lot of units with the mouse (point and drag). There's a button then to cycle through the different types of units in your group, so it'll then select only those.
Also, if you play zerg - use SC2tools to remap hotkeys as you want. I remapped backspace to capslock so hitting it cycles through all your hatcheries. That should help with larva inject instead of trying to use the minimap.
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I'm sure you already do this, but you should probably just try to really focus at what you want to get done, and at not getting stressed out when it takes longer than expected. Just finish one task after the other as cleanly as possible and, just like someone without your disorder, you should improve as your body gets used to the motions albeit maybe at a slower pace.
Suggesting this since it sounds like it's the stress response you'd need to combat to get over the tremors and improve your accuracy and hopefully speed.
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On September 13 2010 02:26 Bumblebees wrote:edit: Actually, you have me thinking here. Most of my APM issue is that I have a lot of difficulty controlling the mouse. It takes me longer than the average person to put the mouse where I want it and click while it's there (clicking a zergling usually takes me 15 or so seconds ). I can, however, type pretty well. I should use this to my advantage and try to make a very keyboard-centric playing style.
You could try lowering your mouse speed dramatically. If it takes much larger hand movements to move the mouse, your tremors won't affect the position as much. You can use more of an arm swing motion to position the cursor, which might be a lot more effective for you.
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EPT
