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On September 15 2010 01:17 EriktheGuy wrote:
Which method are you using for queen injects? I think the backspace method requires less APM than others. alternatively, try some of the 'no queen' strategies floating around, which probably require less APM to execute. Queens are a major part of the reason zerg requires such high APM.
Good luck.
Queens are a vital part of Zerg macro, yes, I'll agree. But using Queens on time isn't the least bit taxing on your APM. It's once every 40 seconds. Hell lets say you have 3 Hatcheries. A good player will line them up so they all happen around the same time. So for me here's what that looks like.
4 twice (my Hatchery hot keys)
Click Queen
V (Spawn Larva)
Click Hatchery
(move the screen)
Click Queen #2
V (Spawn Larva)
Click Hatchery
(move the screen)
Click Queen #3
V (Spawn Larva)
Click Hatchery
That's 13 additional clicks or pushes every 40 seconds. Really not a problem. The real issue is getting that memory of what 40 seconds feels like in-game, and remembering to do this.
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That condition sucks and I'm sorry to hear it, that's a pretty big detriment to RTS ability.
I guess the best strategy would be to prioritize as much as you can to make every action as effective as possible.
- Hotkey everything
-Take slightly wider paths to do minor scouting while moving out
- Focus on macro over micro
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Hi Bumblebees,
would u mind explaining exactly what it is that u are having problems with. Reading ur posts u seem to have no problem with pressing keys fast. Or do u have problems with this? Because that can be solved easily with macros. Hatch injection for example (55v*click* 66v*click*) can be put on a single key or mouse button. This is considered cheating, but in your case its just evening the odds. Also rebinding <caps-locks> to <ctrl> and using it for ur binds helps to reduce finger/hand travel time.
If ur main problem is to get the mouse pointer where u want it to be there is another solution a friend of mine came up with. He suffers from a injury that makes it very hard for him to move his hands quickly, but his fingers aren't affected. He went for a mouse ball and his FPS gaming abilities improved a lot. If u haven't tried this maybe its worth a shot. I have to add, u need to get a very good one since u need high mouse sensitivity to make it work.
Other than that just pick a race with requires the least in fight APM. Since APM usually peaks during battles (macro is not really heavy on APM imho). So, basically an amove-grap-a coffee-and-watch-ur-enemies-get-blown-to-pieces army. Terran armies tend to be very good at that.
Well placed sieged tanks and turrets also make defense pretty comfortable ...
Hotkey preparations also help to be effective at low APM.
1. Grouping 3 drones in a group while u have nothing to do, so sending them to gas is more comfortable.
2. Use patrol path for scout so u don't have to worry about scout-micro
3. Group all of ur drones on 1 group (e.g. '0' ) so pulling them away is pretty easy.
4. Use shift queue for attack drops (Auto dropping)
etc.
I think u get the idea.
gl & hf
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Some other minor things I don't think were mentioned to try:
1. Try using patrol during battles. Patrol past the enemy as they come into view. One of the reasons APM spikes during certain battles are getting your guys to move around your other guys that are in the way, which normally requires right clicking some units over and over. Patrol could help a little if the constant rearranging of units is a hassle. Another related trick is to right click your group of units closer than necessary to the enemy and then pressing "s"top or "a"ttack or "p"atrol when they are in a decent position. Experiment with this because depending on the situation you may want to attack at max range.
2. Scout by shift+right clicking your worker or whatever on the minimap. No extreme need to constantly spam the little guy like you see in a lot of replays. Once your scout is in their base then yeah, you may need to watch him much more closely. Luckily you are going Zerg ATM, so overlord scouting is easier IMO. When appropriate send them to die but go in the direction most obvious per your first scouting worker. e.g. where the pylons were, etc. No need to babysit if you plan on them dying for maximum scouting potential.
3. The easy version of hit and run, hit and run dancing (useful for ranged mostly) is just pick a place semi-far away and right click it, don't move your mouse, hit "s"top at the right time, right click the same spot, rinse + repeat.
4. Search TL's forums for queen larva queueing. It could help.
5. With Zerg, I much prefer 1-3 for most units, 4 for all hatcheries, 5+6+7+8 for future queens. I find 55+v left click hatch the least troublesome way to spawn larva. 9 and 0 for overlords, overseers, or odd units/queens.
6. Check your chair/desk arrangement for ergonomics. I don't know (you probably do...), but it could help reduce shakiness. I recommend elbows resting (mostly) on chair arms, monitor fairly high so you aren't bent over though.
7. I'd check into foot pedals. It could be worth it to assign control or right click or something to a foot pedal. Worth testing anyway. I think this would be more "fair" then keyboard macros for instance.
8. Be glad of the day when video games are 100% mentally activated. Sounds like sci fi but
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/brain-controlled-video-gaming-headset-unveiled,4824.html
9. Take solace in the fact that even if your peripheral nervous system isn't cooperating 100% with your gaming, you likely have a solid gamer's brain. SC2 is a good game for you.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/bad-at-video-games-your-brain-structure-may-be-at-fault.ars
10. Use shift + number key to add units to already established control groups. It is actually better and takes less APM in many cases, so use it when it's better.
11. One more lazy worker scout option that actually works great is simply letting him scout their base a little, when you hear under attack click the hotkey for the unit ONCE then right click wherever your screen happens to be. Often he will escape unharmed. You can redirect him to scout again when convenient or if it's too dangerous let him come home or go to a tower.
12. Thinking about it, you should probably go for overlord speed often. That way you can scout and keep your OL's alive more often as the game progresses.
13. Use more overlord creep dropping instead of creep tumors. Combined with speed you should be fine making a highway that way. And efficiency-wise do something like this:
- select a group of 6 overlords. Press hotkey for dropping creep. Right click on minimap to nearest spot, shift click on the wireframe to deselect one OL, right click on minimap to a spot a bit further, shift click wireframe deselect one OL, repeat.
- use that technique to spew creep on open expansions too
- hotkey a few overlords in with your army to auto drop creep when your ground army is running around place to place.
14. Baneling w/ less micro. Always try to get your banelings on another control key from your regular army. Right click or "m"ove click them separately from your army in many cases so they tank damage and explode a bit later. Much easier than trying to select them during a battle on the battlefield. OR, if you do need to select certain units, press your one control group then control+click them on the wireframe. The wireframe isn't moving around crazily like the battlefield units so it's easier to click them.
14.5 Banelings w/ less micro. Burrow them in good spots and turn on the auto unburrow to pop vs marines.
15. Control the towers. Scouting is your friend even more when you aren't going for an early pressure/high APM agressive build.
16. I think it was mentioned, but holding down a key builds units very quickly from a ton of selected larva. More importantly, select your larva at all hatches (4, s) then build the less numerous units first ... say V, DD, HHH, then your filler/mass units Z (hold it down). Very efficient.
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On September 15 2010 02:37 iPoLL wrote:
Hotkey preparations also help to be effective at low APM.
1. Grouping 3 drones in a group while u have nothing to do, so sending them to gas is more comfortable.
2. Use patrol path for scout so u don't have to worry about scout-micro
3. Group all of ur drones on 1 group (e.g. '0' ) so pulling them away is pretty easy.
4. Use shift queue for attack drops (Auto dropping)
etc.
I think u get the idea.
gl & hf
In my quest to use the keyboard more, I've been doing the first 3 since I started this thread. They help IMMENSELY. The 3 drones thing I figured out a couple days ago when I realized why I couldn't do the standard 14gas/14pool with metabolic boost right as the pool finished was because it took me literally 20-30 seconds to get the damn drones to gas. Now I just make a group and add drones early. So I just click 9-gas-c, and they return minerals if needed to the hatchery and go straight to gas. HUGE difference.
I seem to do ok by hitting ctrl-drone to select all my drones. The shift-queue for drops is something I still need to learn. I wish there was a way to do it without having to click the moving overlord. I really wish you could click the unit icon in the group so I didn't have to deal with getting those damn moving units. Surely there's something clever here that I've yet to figure out.
If you have any other ideas like that, please feel free to write more :D
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I've been working on this for about a month now. I've been using suggestions from people as well as using a lot of my spare time to try various things. I feel that I've made a lot of progress and I will expand on the things I've tried and the various successes and failures I've had. Hopefully I can help someone else too :D
I think it's important to note here that I decided to stick with Zerg. I played a lot of games as protoss, but decided I'm just a Zerg guy. Low apm with zerg CAN BE DONE!
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Firstly let's go over the things that I've tried and my specific experience with them.
1. Increasing Hotkey Usage - This simply did not work for me. Every hotkey I added to my repertoire increase the number of mistakes that I made. I ended up having more difficulty with units/buildings in the wrong groups, and it meant having less actions available (see rant near end) to do things that were legitimately important.
I've finally settled with, and accepted that using fewer hotkeys is far superior for those who have limited APM. If you are a normal guy playing SC2, then USE MORE HOTKEYS!! Deal with it, practice, you can do it. If you're having difficulty due to some external factor such as disability or bad equipment then fewer hotkeys is much better once you accept that you don't have to play like everyone else.
My current hotkey setup with zerg is as follows:
1 - Ground Units - I ctrl-click (select all of same units on screen) the unit, then hit shift-1. DONE. 2 Actions.
2 - Air Units - I ctrl-click (select all of same units on screen) the unit, then hit shift-1. DONE. 2 Actions.
3 - Hatcheries - Shift-3. S->D to select [b]all]/b] drones and morph as desired. Backspace to move between hatcheries.
4 - Queens - Shift-4. Shift-V->Backspace to inject.
That's it. Really, that's all. It keeps my hotkeys near my 'normal' keys, so there is no inaccuracy from bouncing my hand all over the keyboard.
I'm sure a lot of people at this point are thinking "ROFL He's just 1a'ing his units like a newb!" Nope. I rarely use the 1 key for any attacking procedures. I use boxing, ctrl-click and the spacebar (more later) heavily. I've noticed that generally I have better micro than people I play.
2. "Know what you should be doing" - This is IMMENSELY helpful!! I can not emphasize how important this is. I used to constantly feel behind, and now I actually find myself with time to spare unless there's some sort of engagement happening. I've come up with a few things that have really helped me a lot to achieve this:
- Talk outloud. Yep, you're going to look and sound like some whacked out tea party whacko, but you are going to play a lot better. I just came up with a 'mantra' that I repeated for about 10 games that I just chanted to myself over and over and over and over and over and over. The 3 things every zerg player has difficulty with, "Overlords, Inject, Drones". Not just chanting them, but every time I said it, I CHECKED IT. Dare I say, but I've not been supply blocked and I'm _always_ ahead in workers now. My last 8 games I've not had a queen above 30 energy once, and I'm well past the mantra stage. It really works.
- Make a checklist. Write down everything you need to do, down to the most mind-numbing details. This means you have to pick a strategy and stick with it, but since nearly every good player is going to tell you to do that anyways, consider it a bonus. How many drones at X supply? Build overlords at 15, 21, 28, X, X supply. Expand at X minutes or X supply. Get X upgrade when X happens. WRITE ALL OF IT DOWN. I find that basing things off in game actions works better than supply or time for most things except overlords. When I have 10 lings, make roach warren. I don't feel like I played better once I started doing this, but I felt a lot better about my play. Every time I did something I constantly felt like I accomplished something in contrast to before always having felt like I was trying to catchup to myself.
- Know what you should be doing. Redundant and repetitive, I know. I mean knowing really basic strategy things to concern myself with when I wasn't macroing. Things I could do without touching my keyboard or mouse. Scout, control space, transition unit composition, upgrade paths, etc… I am in the habit now of at every :00 on the gametime clock, looking above my monitor at the wall for a second. There's nothing on my wall. I just take time to not be in the game. When I consciously thought about what I need to be doing before the game, the appropriate thing always popped into my head when I just took a second to not be playing the game. This made me feel like my apm doubled, because when I started doing stuff in game again I felt like what I was doing was effective.
3. Remain Calm - It really sounds so simple, but we all know it's not. This was perhaps specifically something I needed to focus on due to my condition. I'm still working on this  One thing that has helped me a lot is encountering a situation and thinking "Ok, what am I going to do about it NOW". I know a lot of people, including myself, tend to have the very bad mindset of encountering a situation and thinking "What could I have done about it?". Us humans only live in the present, and SC2 doesn't let you go back in time to fix stuff. Much easier to remain calm when you're focused on right now. Zen.
4. Switch races - Yeah, it was a good idea when I thought that Zerg needed a ton of APM. Unfortunately I think everyone who's decided this is completely dead wrong. I enjoyed working on protoss and terran, but very simply and mechanically they require more APM to play at the bare minimum level of competence.
Terran and Protoss require making more structures than Zerg. This means more managing of the camera (ugh!), more time hotkeying buildings, more management of multiple hotkeys. Zerg can have all their unit producing structures on one hotkey and still work very effectively.
Terran and Protoss have more units. Not only do they have more units, but more specific micro-actions for different units. The basic Terran army, marines and marauders, require management of stim and marauder kiting. Lots of apm to be done effectively. The basic Protoss army, zealots and stalkers, have blink micro, charge micro and kiting. Zerg specific micro actions such as ling surround and magic box require two actions at most. Kiting is relatively rare for zerg compared to Terran/Protoss who have to be effective with it starting with their first produced units.
Terran and Protoss both have more spellcasting units and more units with manual actions. Terran has a independent differing manual action on every unit sans reaper/helion, and 2 units with important casting abilities. Protoss has manual action on every unit sans DT/immortal/colossus, one important caster and the very micro intensive void ray. Zerg has the rarely used burrow, rarely used overseers and infestors.
Zerg does have to spawn larva, but Terran has mule/supply drop/scan and Protoss has chrono boost. Zerg also does not have to manually place pylons/supply depots, which for me is a big deal. Zerg does have creep micro which is a pretty big deal when dealing with limited APM. I am currently working on ways to deal with this. It's my main focus right now.
I'm sure there are people who disagree with me, but I feel my opinion is fairly well founded. I certainly can be convinced otherwise.
5. Hardware changes - I tried changing mice, and that didn't work. Lower sensitivity did help a lot. Setting the OS to have 1:1 mouse tracking helped tremendously alongside lower mouse sensitivity. With windows that meant using CPL mouse fix, and in OS X you can use mouse prefpane set to -1 or USB Overdrive with Acceleration check ON and set to the lowest setting. I have tested both of these with a rig I made to constrain mouse movement. I'm 100% certainly of the 1:1 tracking,
I have been using an Apple Magic Trackpad for playing as well. I have the OS (OS X is where I usually play) setup for 1:1 tracking. 1" of movement on the trackpad is always 5.1" of movement on my screen. It's making a pretty major difference since any tremors do not transfer as easily to my pointing finger as they do to my hand holding a mouse on a slippery surface.
I do strongly urge people to experiment with trackpads, large trackpads if you can. Properly setup they can be used quite well for gaming, but you can't just sit down and expect everything to work the way you're used to. It's not what you're used to :D
6. Practice your BOs - A few people have suggested just practicing BO. That has helped me a good bit. I think it's pretty common sense and not particular to this discussion, but it is worth mentioning. It's an excellent suggestion for anyone no matter what their issue is.
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There are some things that I've discovered which help a lot that weren't spawned specifically by suggestions given.
1. You can select all your workers, or box a few workers and build. Only one worker will respond to the action! That means no more trying to click a worker to send him to do something. I can build 5 spine crawlers in 6 actions. Box->BCx5. #@%* amazing! That also means when I maynard I can select the workers to maynard, then hit B->E and make 2 extractors. They'll be there ready for me when I get back to it, and all the other drones will be mining.
2. Patrol is awesome. Anytime I have units that aren't doing something I put them on patrol. No more being kited by a scout because you're not paying attention. Units are more reactive to incoming pressure, which tends to mean you lose fewer units to the "one at a time"-syndrome that a ball of units has when approached unattended. Obviously paying attention is the best solution, but if we can reduce the severity of the consequences of our mistakes, then why not!?
3. SPACEBAR!!!!!!!!!!!! It's awesome. Lost your track of thought? Hit the spacebar. Units under attack? Hit the spacebar. Actions to spare? Hit the spacebar. It's amazing. Just hit the thing every chance you get. I can not even begin to explain how much more I am aware of in game just because I've gotten into the habit of hitting the spacebar all the time. It's also super awesome when you're being overlord harassed.
4. Upgrades are great when you're behind. There are still lots of times when I get behind simply because I can't move fast enough. What better way to spend a single action than to make a bunch of your units better? Awesome way to use extra gas too, and always a great way to make sure you're money is being used wisely if you get supply blocked.
5. It's totally OK to lose a game. You're going to spend 50% of your time playing SC2 losing. If you don't learn to get something out of losing then you spent $30 too much.
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I'd like to have a small rant here too. WAY too many gamers focus on increasing their APM rather than increasing their efficiency. We all have an APM that we hover around at 90% of the time. It's far more effective to increase the efficiency of your current abilities than to try and increase your abilities. It's been demonstrated many times (almost every 10th day[9] daily) that you can macro effectively on one base just using your mouse. That's about 20-25 APM. That's assuming you ONLY do actions that are completely necessary. If you can sustain a sentient 200apm, wouldn't you be elated to have 175 apm to do nothing but micro? You could control a maxed 2 base army one unit at a time with a legitimate (not-spamming) 175 APM.
I think every gamer would be greatly benefited by focusing on decreasing their APM as much as possible without harming their gameplay. Only by knowing your bare minimum requirement do you know what excess you have to utilize. Not only that, but achieving the bare minimum APM means that you will have to be extremely conscientious of the actions you make which will invariably lead to better mechanics, smoother BO execution and a more complete knowledge of the game state.
Any culture that prides itself on excess will be trailing a culture that prides itself on efficiency. We should all be trying to be better, not "more".
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I thank everyone who's participated in this thread. I will likely update again in the future with any advancements I've made. I'd love to discuss anything I've written in this post as well. I'm very open to learning and experimenting. If anyone is particularly helped by anything here, please let me know :D
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Yes this thread definitely made me re-evaluate how I am using my apm. Bumblebees it sound like you are pretty talented (not sarcastic);
what's your online name/code? I don't play too often ( I am pretty decent) but I would be down to practice some 1 on 1s with you when we are online (I play terran)
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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.
Try to get a large mousepad and set your sensitivity to extremely low. If you have problems with precise movements, having the sensitivity so low that the slight inaccuracies don't really matter should be a good step forward. Of course this isn't good if you want to become a top top player, but I guess that that's not really your goal in the first place. IMO this should really help, since you can make more sweeping motions that should be easier.
Another thing is yeah, use hotkeys for everything you can. Also try to only make a-move style units that can perform well with minimal micro and try to use caster-less unit compositions. Good luck !
EDIT: I think that Zerg would be a really poor choice for you. mostly because of the Queen mechanics. I really would suggest you to try another race, but if you really like Zerg, well... it's going to be rough.
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On October 08 2010 16:31 Shikyo wrote:
EDIT: I think that Zerg would be a really poor choice for you. mostly because of the Queen mechanics. I really would suggest you to try another race, but if you really like Zerg, well... it's going to be rough.
He explains why he thinks zerg is actually easier for him in his update post.
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I don't know why but playing badly and a-moving most of the game I still hit 100+apm in replays when I swear I hover around 30apm away from battle, 60 in battle.
It's like they just multiply your APM by 3 or something.
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I'm glad to see that bumblebee is enjoying himself, and I wouldn't count you out. From the description of your condition, I wouldn't be surprised to see you improve greatly as you calm down. When I first started playing my hands would shake, but now I can play a dozen games in a row and my heart rate never increases. I would bet you are still in that beginning stage where things are hard.
Beyond that, question whether you should commit to zerg. Terran seems like it would be the best race for you. It doesn't have many targetting requirements like psi storm and fungal growth. Also the ability to do well on fewer bases will give you some breathing space, and mule is just easier than dealing with microing around to find queens to inject with on a regular basis.
Regardless I think you'll improve gradually if you play a few hundred more games. If you can get to 60 apm, that is all you really need to do fairly well.
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Just practise solely on your apm, Play a couple of games where you try to only focus on apm.
Find a couple of habbits that you find work faster with hotkeys and thats pretty much how I practise mine (not that i do it so often)
But APM is not that important as it was in SC:BW or WC3 so just play the way you feel like.
Best of luck
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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
If you check out the VODs from the GSL, you'll notice Artosis talk about this in reference to the zerg player CheckPrime. His APM is only in the low 100s for most of the game (which for a pro player in Korea is almost blashpemy), but he uses outstanding strategy to win. In some games (like his match vs HopeTorture) he was dominated by players who could both play great macro and micro at the high levels, as having the ability to control both at that high APM is crucial (assuming your apm is actually ACTIONS PER MINUTE and not spam per minute). That is the top level of starcraft2. Since 95% of StarCraft 2 players aren't that good, you will not be required to play at that level either, so keep your mantra going and stay on top of the important stuff!
Glad to see you're enjoying yourself and finding the game easier! You may want to try working one more hotkey into your repertoire, as it will drastically help you the more comfortable you get. (for example, 1 ss ground units, 2 is air, 3 is hard counter) There's nothing worse than losing half your army needlessly when all you really wanted to have at the engagement were hydras/roach/speedlings/etc- but you sent your uber expensive infestors to their death by accident.
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Just wanted to say first of all that I doubt I have anything to tell you about mechanics, I think you're way ahead of me. In fact I'm going to try to work on some of the things you mentioned in your summary thread. The only things I would suggest you look into are:
1) Standing desks. Not sure if this is better or worse with your condition, but if you have problems with low BP, maybe getting a standing desk (or better yet, an electronically adjustable desk that moves up or down, allowing you to easily switch between sitting and standing) may help.
2) Meditation. Sounds like taking control of your fight or flight response is going to be extremely important to you in life and in SC2. Nothing helps with this like meditation, as it trains you to just notice what is going on around you without reacting to it. It decouples automatic reactions (like fight or flight) from stimuli (like oh shit he's killing my workers with mutas, or oh shit that asshole cut me off in traffic and I almost hit him). It takes a LONG TIME for this to happen but I think it's very worthwhile. PM me if you want suggestions on where to start.
-DW
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On October 08 2010 23:15 Durp wrote:
Glad to see you're enjoying yourself and finding the game easier! You may want to try working one more hotkey into your repertoire, as it will drastically help you the more comfortable you get. (for example, 1 ss ground units, 2 is air, 3 is hard counter) There's nothing worse than losing half your army needlessly when all you really wanted to have at the engagement were hydras/roach/speedlings/etc- but you sent your uber expensive infestors to their death by accident.
I am going to work in another hotkey soon. My issues is that ctrl-5 or shift-5 are difficult for my to hit accurately. It's really a drastic difference between 4 and 5 on the keyboard for me. I'm stilling trying to figure this out while just practicing regardless.
I think if I used infestors more there'd be no way to get by with just 4 hotkeys unless/until there's a way to manage hatcherys and queens on a single hotkey.
Hmmm, queens and hatches on a single hotkey. Time to experiment!
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On September 13 2010 02:37 Darthturtle wrote:
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.
This
The quality of your decisions as well as finding the best and most appropriate hotkeys will reduce the amount of apm you need to perform tasks. It will also make you a better player.
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On October 09 2010 03:18 darkwing.Huzow wrote:
Just wanted to say first of all that I doubt I have anything to tell you about mechanics, I think you're way ahead of me. In fact I'm going to try to work on some of the things you mentioned in your summary thread. The only things I would suggest you look into are:
1) Standing desks. Not sure if this is better or worse with your condition, but if you have problems with low BP, maybe getting a standing desk (or better yet, an electronically adjustable desk that moves up or down, allowing you to easily switch between sitting and standing) may help.
Standing is the enemy, and even more so changing postures. The disorder causes chronic orthostatic intolerance.
I think it's a good idea for other people to try though. Good posture is much easier when standing, as is dealing with the various emotions that occur during a game. Sitting is just a very difficult place to be when you're trying to cope with a very dynamic and emotional environment.
2) Meditation. Sounds like taking control of your fight or flight response is going to be extremely important to you in life and in SC2. Nothing helps with this like meditation, as it trains you to just notice what is going on around you without reacting to it. It decouples automatic reactions (like fight or flight) from stimuli (like oh shit he's killing my workers with mutas, or oh shit that asshole cut me off in traffic and I almost hit him). It takes a LONG TIME for this to happen but I think it's very worthwhile. PM me if you want suggestions on where to start.
-DW
I've been working on this (see #3 in http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=152320¤tpage=5#86). I've been studying various forms of meditation on and off for years, but recently I've began studying specific forms of zen philosophy.
I'll probably be adding some info on my experiences in another update. I'll probably PM you to see what your view is on the subject
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select the queens, press v, target a hatch via minimap
dont bother looking there
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I'm glad that everything is turning out ok for you, since it was obvious how much you liked playing SC2. I'm especially pleased to see you sticking it out with Zerg 
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Didnt read all this, so it may already have been mentioned. Honestly though, based on your disorder, i would say just work on trying to calm yourself down during stressful situations.. so when those moments do come, you can react in a calm and orderly fashion and your AMP's wont be much of an issue.
Hell, im like 750 points into diamond league and my average apm's are like 40.
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EPT
