EPTOn June 11 2012 02:44 ETisME wrote:
-The real question I am asking is: how can I eliminate this errors and get better? You could say "macro better" or "use hotkeys" or "scout more" but it us as useless as telling me to "play better"; you're going to have to tell me how I can squeeze all of these elements into my play. It's like telling a kid to "learn to read". They can't do it by themselves and a specific approach to learning is required-
to answer this, you will have to find out why you aren't macro-ing better, or why not using hotkeys or why not scouting more.
To fix macro, I tend to review my replay and see what I was doing at the time when my macro slipped.
Was it because I was focusing on an engagement?
If so, did my attention at the engagement actually benefit enough to prioritize over macro? Sometimes a lot of low league players always look at the battle and seemingly try to micro but the micro doesn't actually matter.
For example, my friend would use target fire to pick off some sentries but what he doesn't know is that the difference for that engagement wouldn't matter.
Or was it because I was busying looking at what I am scouting for?
Constant spamming hotkeys really help to solve this one for me. just because your obs is moving around doesn't mean you cannot do anything at the same time.
I have always used hotkeys and so can't help you on that one.
Scout more is a more complicated one. This one requires more experience and can come from game sense.
When I was using my smurf as toss in low leagues, i would always make sentries heavy unit and go for hallucination for scouting.
Some keys area you should always focus is:
Try to look at minimap as often as possible.
Spamming hotkeys. It will tell you which buildings are not making anything. And once you are used to spamming, you will have some sort of a beat to the game. That's one of the fun part of sc2 for me. I spam my hotkeys according to the music tempo.
Macro. Macro and Macro. it might sound harsh but many of the silver games can be won by simply making units like stalkers, upgrades and just a move to win.
Just as one of the day9 daily said, you shouldn't pay too much attention onto what's happening in the center of the screen, it should be resource that you have, the supply (supply limit) and minimap, checking the production facilities production.
-The real question I am asking is: how can I eliminate this errors and get better? You could say "macro better" or "use hotkeys" or "scout more" but it us as useless as telling me to "play better"; you're going to have to tell me how I can squeeze all of these elements into my play. It's like telling a kid to "learn to read". They can't do it by themselves and a specific approach to learning is required-
to answer this, you will have to find out why you aren't macro-ing better, or why not using hotkeys or why not scouting more.
To fix macro, I tend to review my replay and see what I was doing at the time when my macro slipped.
Was it because I was focusing on an engagement?
If so, did my attention at the engagement actually benefit enough to prioritize over macro? Sometimes a lot of low league players always look at the battle and seemingly try to micro but the micro doesn't actually matter.
For example, my friend would use target fire to pick off some sentries but what he doesn't know is that the difference for that engagement wouldn't matter.
Or was it because I was busying looking at what I am scouting for?
Constant spamming hotkeys really help to solve this one for me. just because your obs is moving around doesn't mean you cannot do anything at the same time.
I have always used hotkeys and so can't help you on that one.
Scout more is a more complicated one. This one requires more experience and can come from game sense.
When I was using my smurf as toss in low leagues, i would always make sentries heavy unit and go for hallucination for scouting.
Some keys area you should always focus is:
Try to look at minimap as often as possible.
Spamming hotkeys. It will tell you which buildings are not making anything. And once you are used to spamming, you will have some sort of a beat to the game. That's one of the fun part of sc2 for me. I spam my hotkeys according to the music tempo.
Macro. Macro and Macro. it might sound harsh but many of the silver games can be won by simply making units like stalkers, upgrades and just a move to win.
Just as one of the day9 daily said, you shouldn't pay too much attention onto what's happening in the center of the screen, it should be resource that you have, the supply (supply limit) and minimap, checking the production facilities production.
I agree with ETisMe. Hotkey spam/configuration is critical. I played brood war since 2000 and made the transition to sc2 when it came out. My hotkeys are exactly the same. When I start a game my fingures start moving without thinking about it - almost unconsciously. You will get the hang of it, it just takes time. The biggest part is changing the way you play (even if it makes you lose more in the beginning). I would recommend downloading a couple Pro replays and looking at their hotkeys and see if that configuration works for you. Some Pro's use all the hotkeys but don't necessary use them all during gameplay. I try to stay away from studying those players. Don't watch Vod's (I find those for more entertainment than learning), replays are better.
I have a reasonably low apm and I play mech. So it made sense that I follow a Pro player similar in style so I studied EscGoody. In the case of Toss, I think WhiteRa is the same - He has a reasonably low APM and not too many hotkeys. For Zerg, Stephano only uses 4 hotkeys. I would suggest finding a player style you like and mimic them.
Note: This post strictly addresses hotkey config. There are many other things to focus on to improve play. But I feel this is the most vital and fundamental parts in learning SC.
