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here are just some things i'm thinking of that might help you play with your condition.
be smart about your apm. there are all sorts of things you can do to be effective with a low apm. obviously learn all the hotkeys. hotkey all of your hatcheries to one key. when you select your larva and want to build a lot of one unit, you can actually just hold the key down rather than tapping it a million times (for example, if you wanted to build a bunch of hydralisks, you would hold down H rather than tapping it like 20 times). you say your hotkeying is screwed up, but that will get better with practice. if you see your hotkeys messed up, just take a second to fix them. if you have a queen or larva in your hatchery hotkey, you can just shift+click them out at the bottom of the screen, once you have only what you want in that hotkey, just press control+that hotkey again. you'll get better at it over time.
don't spam click a lot. one click is usually enough. but here's something you could do for when you get into intense micro situations and need to click around a lot in many different directions (such as keeping a drone scout alive). if you have drivers for your mouse, you can bind mousewheelup and/or mousewheeldown to menu (which is right click). that way, instead of tapping the mouse button a lot, you just need to swipe the scroll wheel. just make sure to turn off mouse wheel scrolling in your options.
for your queens, bind them all to one key. when you want to inject larva, select the key. tap backspace to cycle through your hatcheries. then just v+click each one. as the game progresses and you get more bases, you could just build extra hatcheries that will autoproduce more larva instead of having to make more queens to babysit. it won't be as effective and it will be more expensive, but it will give you one less apm intensive thing to worry about.
then, with fights, just focus on positioning learn all the chokes and open spaces on each map. try to force the enemy army through a choke while you stand in an open area for a nice concave. micro isn't too important yet in starcraft 2.
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On September 13 2010 02:55 Jzerg 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. 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?
I do both of these. I also take a vasopressor before playing sc2 to help a bit.
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Thanks a lot so far everyone! I'm getting a lot of ideas to work on. Keep them coming :D This has made my day.
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On September 13 2010 03:15 Sentient wrote:Show nested quote +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.
... You are a genius.
I've honestly never thought about changing the sensitivity of my mouse.
Holy nutballs, I feel like a grade-a moron right now. This is the kinda of thing that I should have done years ago.
Man, this could make everything so much better... Also, did I mention I feel like a supreme moron?
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I think you've easily answered your own question. If most of your problem is with the mouse and you have trouble with hotkeys / control groups, I think you could improve greatly. With zerg, make multiple control groups for your army (2-4 groups should work depending on what you feel comfortable with.) This way, you can easily flank which doesn't require large apm. You may want to stay away from infestors since they can be pretty micro-intensive.
I'm not sure what your setup looks like for hotkeys, but I think having all your hatcheries on 4 or 5 (depends on which feels more comfortable, I use 5) and hotkey your queens to 6, 7, 8, 9. To inject with queens, hit 66v then click on the hatch. It would be easier to click the hatch then the minimap. Whenever you want to create more units, just hit 5s and it will select all your larva.
Another option would be to play Terran instead. I think you could get away with an MMM build with minimal micro. I'm a zerg player so I couldn't give advice on how to set up your hotkeys though.
Keep fighting ! It's nice that you're not letting your issue dictate your entire life. Hopefully some of this advice from everyone is able to help you out.
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Honestly I would say you need to switch races, Zerg's macro is the most APM intensive without a doubt. Normally I wouldn't suggest a race change just because you are having trouble, but if really low APM is your issue, I think it would help.
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Man, no offense there, but APM in high levels is required. I mean, you can't stick to 40APM at top tier, because simply if you have all the mental things straight (I mean remembering and repeating what all you should do, micro/macro/scouting/keeping resources low/expanding/etc) it will require certain APM to execute them. And it probably will be more than 40APM.
I know to a certain degree a person can play with low apm, but later it's more difficult. I hope it will work out for you though. If you have troubles with microing, then I guess you have to work more with bigger groups and not micro individual units. Like you probably won't be microing 4lings v 1 zealot with not losing a ling if you can't do it. Focus the energy on what you can do, don't micro individuals, make bigger groups and do tactics with groups (more smaller groups of units) and keep the stuff you can do up (aka macro, for example).
EDIT-
however, this 'handicap' you have will probably limit you to an extent. A guy without leg probably won't become the best worlds sprinter. He can try and have fun though  It's just a game. No offense dude. gl hf
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On September 13 2010 03:59 sensenmann wrote:
Honestly I would say you need to switch races, Zerg's macro is the most APM intensive without a doubt. Normally I wouldn't suggest a race change just because you are having trouble, but if really low APM is your issue, I think it would help.
You're making too big a deal out of zerg macro. To be honest, Terran and Protoss macro need more APM. Zerg need to do two things. Inject larvae, and select all hatch, build any unit you want.
I assume nobody has a real problem with the act of building units, so then the main Zerg macro mechanic to be concerned about is injecting larvae, which isn't so much about APM as it is about repetition. As long as you keep it constant, you do not need the fastest hands on the planet to inject larvae.
Thus, the question becomes "what is the easiest way for me to inject larvae?"
1. 55v click, 66v click - This actually is a huge waste of APM. you're performing four actions just to inject once. It's easy for normal players because each queen is separate, and it's the most intuitive, but if you're trying to keep things concise, it's not the way to go.
2. Autocast on the minimap - If you're having trouble selecting a zergling, you might have trouble casting an inject on the smaller hatch block on the minimap.
3. V-Shift-backspace-click - This is so, so good in this case. The hatch is a huge target, you'd be hard pressed to misclick it. You don't need to adjust your mouse position after centering it, and you keep actions to a bare minimum. Taking advantage of keyboard commands to cut down on wasted actions is a huge boon, from what the OP has described about his condition.
The downside is that the screen flashes by incredibly fast, but the complaint was low handspeed, not "Starcraft induces seizures."
The hardest parts of Zerg macro have NOTHING to do with APM. Learning when to power drones. Expanding often. Zerg is the hardest macro race, but it's hard because it requires experience and patience to learn, NOT because you need lightning hands. Hell, it's the easiest race to not supply block yourself, which happens to be the key macro problem most low and mid level T and P have.
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Biggest thing I would suggest is to remain calm and always be thinking what you need to do next instead of getting yourself worked up. Without being a doctor, I am not trying to be rude or offensive, but do your best to use what you can outside of the game as best you can to improve how you perform in game. Just remain calm and when you feel yourself getting worked up, just remember...reeeelaaaaxxxxxx
After some time, your fingers will respond without you thinking and thus, apm will skyrocket. Above all, since APM is difficult for you, make sure each keystroke is worth pushing
Work smart, not hard
Effective APM > Higher APM
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My Suggestion is that you play Terran instead of zerg as they are the easiest to macro with, therefore requiring the lowest apm to do this section.
1. You can hot key all your production on one key and tab through them to macro. As well since you will be looking at all production at once you can see if all of your buildings are producing instead of spamming select larva.
2. You can also miss dropping mules and catch up rather than just losing unit production when missing with a queen. So in your large battles you never have to move your screen off the battle. Just check your production hot key and spam mules after that battle.
3. Although it is not reccomended you can que up units if you have extra money giving you marginally more freedom.
4. Another racial thing is that if you play mostly mech stratagies its more about positioning than micro. Position your tanks and vikings and bunkers well and make your slow push.
I hope this has helped you out a little.
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On September 13 2010 02:26 Bumblebees wrote:Show nested quote +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.
Get a good mouse, and a really nice, big mousepad. Best investment you can make. Also practice practice practice, but good gear and a low sensitivity is around half of the work.
Turn off mouse acceleration, too.
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On September 13 2010 04:59 BetaFoil wrote:
My Suggestion is that you play Terran instead of zerg as they are the easiest to macro with, therefore requiring the lowest apm to do this section.
This is a bit of a mistake. You assume that because Terran macroing is intuitive, that it costs less effort to do. All wrong.
1. MMM Bio macro - Building out of three types of buildings + all CCs. Reactor barracks, tech lab barracks, and starports. The timing for marauders against marines is slightly off, so you'll either need to queue, which is bad, or you'll be slightly off. Your SCV production speed is way different from marauder production speed, so you'll wind up queueing that too. Starport medivac timing is again different from MM timing, so you'll be spamming or queueing that, too.
The alternative to queueing is spamming hotkeys, which is fine for normal players who don't have a limit on their APM. Keep in mind that at all times, you're going back to your base to drag an SCV around to build a depot. APM will skyrocket, unless you have a medical condition that forces you not to play fast, then you're just boned.
2. Mech - Hotkey spam incoming. Hellions have different timings than thors which have different timings than siege tanks which have different timing than vikings which have different timings than SCVs. You literally cannot play solid mech without keeping an eye on your production buildings at all times. Queueing is obviously not playing well.
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As a player you just need to become more self aware of all the things you need to be doing; such as larvae injections, creep tumors, macro, building new hatcheries, scouting with overlords/lings, all while controlling your army and maintaining your economy/base.
Your apm will naturally increase as you become more proficient at multitasking. But the physical aspect doesn't improve unless the mental aspect does. Starcraft is a mental game, your hands are just along for the ride.
As far as mechanics go, you need to become fluid with using hotkeys for all your units/buildings/upgrades, and using hotkey groups. Through mass gaming these things become habits, that you don't need to think about. You should never be using your mouse, when you can be using your keyboard instead.
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On September 13 2010 05:12 Helmet EU wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 02:26 Bumblebees wrote: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. Get a good mouse, and a really nice, big mousepad. Best investment you can make. Also practice practice practice, but good gear and a low sensitivity is around half of the work. Turn off mouse acceleration, too.
I have a decent mouse and good big pad. I need acceleration on, otherwise playing is almost impossible. The "mouse becomes less sensitive when you slow down" helps the shakiness from the tremors not get in the way as much as when accel is off. I've recently been experimenting without acceleration and it's just not going to work for me
Low sensitivity is definitely something I never considered, and I think that obviously is going to help me a ton.
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On September 13 2010 04:23 Darthturtle wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 03:59 sensenmann wrote:
Honestly I would say you need to switch races, Zerg's macro is the most APM intensive without a doubt. Normally I wouldn't suggest a race change just because you are having trouble, but if really low APM is your issue, I think it would help. 3. V-Shift-backspace-click - This is so, so good in this case. The hatch is a huge target, you'd be hard pressed to misclick it. You don't need to adjust your mouse position after centering it, and you keep actions to a bare minimum. Taking advantage of keyboard commands to cut down on wasted actions is a huge boon, from what the OP has described about his condition.
He'll do it easier if he remaps backspace to capslock
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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
I'm just below 1200 Diamond right now, and just played against a 1.1k toss who averaged 43 apm.
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heh, i'm around 700-800 diamond as zerg, with a APM that only barely hits 50. It can be done, it just means your army confrontations will be a bit less precise. Other than spawn larva, the zerg's macro is actually the most forgiving one: you don't need to be producing non-stop, since larva pile up. You lose a bit of spawn time when the queen's larva pop, but that's a relatively little portion compared to only having your barracks running half the time. Personally, i'm usually doing ok on larva spawning even though i don't hotkey my queens (i really should, i just haven't worked it into my play yet).
One problem remains though: zerg's armies are the least effective ones to just a-move with. It's doable with ling/Bling/roach/hydra/ultra, but against good terrans or protoss you'll die before you've got a good enough force to engage head-on (especially against tanks or colossus+sentry). Both muta's and infestors cost quite a bit of precise movement though and need almost constant attention to really be used effective, which could pose difficulties for someone with your issue.
Still, the matchmaking system works in such a way that you'll be pitted against players that your strategy will work on about 50% of the time, so the main advise i can give you is:
Just keep having fun playing!
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On September 13 2010 07:00 Demus wrote:Other than spawn larva, the zerg's macro is actually the most forgiving one.
Noooo...
Larvae will only pile up to 3 at a non-injected hatch. To get any more than that, you have to use your queens, and to be effective with your queens, you have to stay on top of their energy.
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On September 13 2010 07:10 MrBitter wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2010 07:00 Demus wrote:Other than spawn larva, the zerg's macro is actually the most forgiving one. Noooo... Larvae will only pile up to 3 at a non-injected hatch. To get any more than that, you have to use your queens, and to be effective with your queens, you have to stay on top of their energy.
That's exactly what "Other than spawn larva" means.
Zergs can stockpile up to 19 larvae at each hatch. That means, as long as you remember to spawn larvae every 40 seconds, you can technically get away with not building shit while stockpiling money. Not optimal at all, but imagine any other race not building units for three whole minutes. They would be down like 30-40 food with no way to catch back up, sort of building more production structures than they could ordinarily afford.
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stockpiling is handy when you're capped. Otherwise you probably want to use your resources as much as possible. With other races you can at least see how much is left until you can build new unit and queue next unit just before it finishes. With zerg you have to check constantly if there're new larvae. Or with toss you can see how many warpgates are ready..
That brings me to my old idea... I wish there was an icon similar to what warpgates have, just telling you how many larvae in total you have.
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EPT
