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I've always found that the 200 workers exercise (described below) was a great way to help NEW players understand the importance of fundamentals such as using hotkeys, ctrl groups, keeping your money low and your supply cap in check...macro in general.
But at what point should a new player feel comfortable with his performance in this exercise? Is 15 minutes a good score? Does it matter what race you play?
So I thought it would be a fun idea to discover some benchmarks for this exercise and I need the help of the great community we have.
All I'm asking is that those of you who are willing to give this fun exercise a try report your best times here. Please follow this format:
Race, League(bronze, gold, etc) and Best Time(use in game clock when you hit 200/200).
That way we can let new players know how fast someone in bronze typically does this, someone in silver, in gold, etc.
Notes: Please only try the exercise twice before reporting. I would like to minimize the practice effect. I'm also expecting a ceiling effect quite early. Don't worry, I'm not planning on telling someone "If you can make this time, you should be in Diamond!!!!!!!!!1111". 200 workers uncontested =/= being able to play a real game, obviously. But it will at least let the new player know when he can move on to a more complicated exercise.
200 worker challenge rules
-The goal is to get to 200/200 supply as fast as possible.
-You may only build workers (SCV, Probes or Drones), supply (supply depots, pylons or overlords) and town halls (Command Centers, Nexus or Hatch).
-Do not use macro abilities (mules, queens, chronoboost) **note that the use of these abilities can be added later on as the next step to the exercise.
-This exercise should be done on the map Metalopolis, as a custom game vs no AI.
-Do not use gold expansions.
That's it. It is that simple. I look forward to your contributions.
Results - average/std. dev/sample size :
+ Show Spoiler +
Bronze Terran -
Bronze Protoss -
Bronze Zerg -
Silver Terran -
Silver Protoss -
Silver Zerg -
Gold Terran -
Gold Protoss -
Gold Zerg -
Platinum Terran -
Platinum Protoss -
Platinum Zerg -
Diamond Terran -
Diamond Protoss -
Diamond Zerg -
Master Terran -
Master Protoss -
Master Zerg -
Best Possible Terran - 11:15*
Best Possible Protoss - 10:26*
Best Possible Zerg - 10:58*
*Best Possible Times calculated with SCBuildOrder and therefore utilize macro abilities.
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Wtf, why would you not use macro abilities? Those are an extremely important fundamental of macro in SC2.
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Why on earth would you tell them NOT to use macro abilities? The queen injections are what's so hard about it. (or muling on time, or using CB).
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Um, what they said. I'm not sure there's any point to this without using the macro abilities. I'm finding the hardest thing to work into my play is never forgetting to inject.
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you should put a rule for everyone on the same map like metalopolis and cannot use gold expansions
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I don't understand the point of this, anyone can build workers and pylons if it's all they have to concentrate on. It's doing this along with 20 other things which is hard.
And how on earth is this improving their control group usage?
Pointless thread.
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Not using macro abilities: Yes obviously these abilities are extremely important but like many other abilities in the game, I believe they need to be learned sequentially so as to not overload the brain of the new player in the initial muscle memory learning process. Definately, once the no macro ability version of this exercise is mastered, the next step is to do it with the macro abilities.
Osoup: That is a very valid point. Added.
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i think the idea behind this is decent, except for the no macro abilities part.. completely defeats the purpose doesn't it?
edit: okay so we posted at the same time. i still don't quite agree, why would you want to learn the macro mechanics separately when they're such an important part of macro? i mean, they're called macro mechanics for goodness' sake.
anyway it's past 5am here so i better get to bed.  maybe if i remember about this tomorrow i will give it a try!
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On January 14 2011 05:53 REM.ca wrote:I've always found that the 200 workers exercise (described below) was a great way to help NEW players understand the importance of fundamentals such as using hotkeys, ctrl groups, keeping your money low and your supply cap in check...macro in general. But at what point should a new player feel comfortable with his performance in this exercise? Is 15 minutes a good score? Does it matter what race you play? So I thought it would be a fun idea to discover some benchmarks for this exercise and I need the help of the great community we have. All I'm asking is that those of you who are willing to give this fun exercise a try report your best times here. Please follow this format: Race, League(bronze, gold, etc) and Best Time(use in game clock when you hit 200/200).That way we can let new players know how fast someone in bronze typically does this, someone in silver, in gold, etc. Notes: Please only try the exercise twice before reporting. I would like to minimize the practice effect. I'm also expecting a ceiling effect quite early. Don't worry, I'm not planning on telling someone "If you can make this time, you should be in Diamond!!!!!!!!!1111". 200 workers uncontested =/= being able to play a real game, obviously. But it will at least let the new player know when he can move on to a more complicated exercise.200 worker challenge rules-The goal is to get to 200/200 supply as fast as possible. -You may only build workers (SCV, Probes or Drones), supply (supply depots, pylons or overlords) and town halls (Command Centers, Nexus or Hatch). -Do not use macro abilities (mules, queens, chronoboost) **note that the use of these abilities can be added later on as the next step to the exercise. -This exercise should be done on the map Metalopolis, as a custom game vs no AI. -Do not use gold expansions. That's it. It is that simple. I look forward to your contributions. Results - average/std. dev/sample size : + Show Spoiler +
Bronze Terran -
Bronze Protoss -
Bronze Zerg -
Silver Terran -
Silver Protoss -
Silver Zerg -
Gold Terran -
Gold Protoss -
Gold Zerg -
Platinum Terran -
Platinum Protoss -
Platinum Zerg -
Diamond Terran -
Diamond Protoss -
Diamond Zerg -
Master Terran -
Master Protoss -
Master Zerg -
"yo dawg i put a silly restriction in your macro so you cant macro while you macro"
User was warned for this post
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On January 14 2011 06:08 FenneK wrote:
I don't understand the point of this, anyone can build workers and pylons if it's all they have to concentrate on. It's doing this along with 20 other things which is hard.
The points are enumerated at the start of the OP. This exercise helps develop muscle memory for such things as worker production timing, supply building timing as well as an understanding of the importance of these fundamentals because even though the rules of the exercise are simple, the nuances for the fastest way to achieve 200/200 can be quite subtle.
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Need to say a map, because the travel distance is going to be different.
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On January 14 2011 06:08 FenneK wrote:
I don't understand the point of this, anyone can build workers and pylons if it's all they have to concentrate on. It's doing this along with 20 other things which is hard.
And how on earth is this improving their control group usage?
Pointless thread.
Try doing it first go without going over 500 minerals and no queuing :D
Once you hit 140 food it gets tough 
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How do you start a custom game with no AI without it saying you've won immediately?
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diamond zerg, did it in 11:54. after which i took my drones/queens and rolled the very easy computer did it on metalopolis
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and snaz, just do it vs. very easy. they attacked once with one zealot which i guess could throw things off if you don't have queens to kill it
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On January 14 2011 06:09 pppppppppp wrote:
i still don't quite agree, why would you want to learn the macro mechanics separately when they're such an important part of macro?
Yes and no. Kinda depends on the race.
Terran: Mule timing is independant of scv build timing. Since one of the goals of this exercise is to get an intrinsic muscle memory feel for the timing of building SCVs, it is actually better to learn the SCV build timing seperately from the mule timing.
Protoss: Absolutely chronoboost changes probe timing. However, you're not always chronoboosting probes and so it's also important to develop instrinsic timing for normal probe building.
Zerg: Admitedly, Zerg works completely differently. Timing is much more a matter of game sense and overall strategy. They can't always be building drones and therefore there is no intrinsic timing to figure out. For this race, the 200 worker exercise is more a practice of keeping supply cap in check and minerals low.
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On January 14 2011 06:22 snazbaz wrote:
How do you start a custom game with no AI without it saying you've won immediately?
You can keep playing after the Victory message. Although I'll admit I'm not sure if the game clock keeps going. I got this idea and wrote it up from work while reading about stats/getting bored.
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Sweet idea. Although usually what stops me from making scvs throughout the whole game are times when I'm dealing with harass, attacking (sometimes), or scared by a containment in which case I need to force myself not to forget to macro. But hopefully something like this ingrains the process of worker making a fair bit more.
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This is a decent exercise for newcomers to the game. I think some of you are overestimating the newcomers ability to do this exercise. And it does certainly reinforce the usage of basic hotkeys, which is great for muscle memory and starting newcomers into the habit of relying on hotkeys.
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Diamond Protoss, 12:06. Had 6 Mining Bases, and 14 Nexus's. Nexii?
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EPT
