• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 17:04
CET 23:04
KST 07:04
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice2Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza1Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0258
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SEL Doubles (SC Evo Bimonthly) WardiTV Team League Season 10
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion It's March 3rd BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ CasterMuse Youtube Recent recommended BW games
Tourneys
BWCL Season 64 Announcement [Megathread] Daily Proleagues The Casual Games of the Week Thread [LIVE] [S:21] ASL Season Open Day 1
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Diablo 2 thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread NASA and the Private Sector
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Just Watchers: Why Some Only…
TrAiDoS
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1854 users

[D] Ways to Practice Macro/Micro at Work - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Inquisitor1323
Profile Joined March 2012
370 Posts
July 01 2012 04:18 GMT
#21
On 6-29-2012 TheZanthex wrote:

On June 29 2012 06:43 simian_sc wrote:
Show nested quote +


o.O You can play BW off a flash drive? Or are you saying just install it?


You can play it off a flash drive. I've done it before at my school. :D


Dude BW at school is the best thing ever. :D Same problem OP. You could try missionred.com for mouse accuracy that's what I usually do.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
July 01 2012 04:23 GMT
#22
I have the windows icon as my destop background. I generally like to practice boxing the entire logo as accurately as possible, the each one of the windows. I practice boxing from all directions and try to make as small of a box as possible as fast as I can.

Another thing I commonly do is spam between browser tabs by clicking on them. I use Chrome, so the tabs at the top are relatively free of other buttons. It's fun to click back and forth as fast as possible, making certain you don't accidentally X out of it.

Is the OP for real? Spamming macro cycle in Notepad/spam-clicking desktop background to increase apm/precision whilst at work? It never fails to astound me; how utterly, and pathetically desperate some people can be to get better at this game. Am I really the only person who laughed at this? There are far more efficacious, and far less pathetic methods of evoking the sort of improvement the OP so desperately desires. Stop taking the game so seriously, bro. And I would recommend a thorough re-evaluation of how (productively) you're spending your 'spare' time at work. When you're actually playing the game is the time for improvement.


Are you for real? There's no need for asinine responses on this forum. Some people actually ENJOY Starcraft and enjoy learning and playing...why would be ridiculous to practice Starcraft on a non-Starcraft medium? Pianists practice on tables to insure memory and accuracy, does that make them pathetically desperate to play piano better?
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12685 Posts
July 01 2012 13:00 GMT
#23
hmmmm.....I usually circle the middle part of the screen to check my mouse accuracy. I also tab my fingers every now and then to make my fingers able to move more freely. It really works because my one hand typing is now pretty fast and accurate
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
nichan
Profile Joined December 2010
United States158 Posts
July 01 2012 13:48 GMT
#24
is there a https or secure website with any games for mouse accuracy? and is there any way to get team liquid page on a browser that doesn't let you see sites that are consider gaming sites
luckyshit
Profile Joined July 2012
Singapore1 Post
Last Edited: 2012-07-01 21:15:15
July 01 2012 21:12 GMT
#25
just some of the ways i "practice" when im not physically playing.

mental/visualization practice!
i do lots of mental practice during my free time. just lean back n use your imagination! be VERY detailed when u visualize!
imagine yourself doing the actions. when u start your warm up games eventually, refer back to that mental blueprint of how u would like your actions to look like, and then adjust.
develop a mental checklist n know it like as though its your birthdate!

as quoted from (i think) day9, "macro is in your eyes! where u look at any point of time."
starting from the beginning the loading screen, i know that im gonna click hatch, build a drone, then select my drones n split to start mining. i imagine where my eyes look at(i do it with my eyes closed so i have a very clear image in my mind).. for example,
1) centre of screen. where the hatch is so i can click it and then "s d".
2) around centre the centre area of screen. where the mineral line is (top, left, right, bottom of hatch), select workers and send to mine, split if u want or however u like to do it.
after that, i know i will hotkey my hatch to 5. so what i do is i imagine myself selecting hatch, press left shift with pinky, index finger on number 5.
i try to be as detailed as i can when i "daydream". also, the more u think about the same thing, the faster u become at thinking it, and eventually, "doing" it, because it feels kind of second nature.

if u dont mind looking like an idiot in front of your colleagues while picturing what u're doing, move! play "air keyboard/mouse"!!! XD because the keyboard/mouse at work/school is never gonna be the same as the one u use at home (especially with regards to mouse sensitivity, i play with a high sensitivity). as a side note, u dont have to move exactly/precisely at all! if u have used a keyboard and mouse before, u dont need to "search" for the spacebar/esc button right? u get the idea.
some times when i "daydream-sc2-practice", i even notice that my head twitches here n there because im imagining myself looking at minimap, top-right, minimap, bottom-centre, top right, minimap, etc etc.

just a rough idea of how i see it. u can learn faster and sometimes even more than what u expect, without actually doing it physically, but mentally.

u'd probably be questioned if u're sleeping at work though! GLGLHFHF~
VPCursed
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
1044 Posts
July 01 2012 21:14 GMT
#26
you should try playing the game in your head, imagine your self doing things.. it's actually a common practice among athletes.. imagine your self moving your hands/mouse/keyboard.. ; )
djdoodoo
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United Kingdom192 Posts
July 01 2012 21:26 GMT
#27
On July 01 2012 12:20 uLaLuLaLume wrote:
Is the OP for real? Spamming macro cycle in Notepad/spam-clicking desktop background to increase apm/precision whilst at work? It never fails to astound me; how utterly, and pathetically desperate some people can be to get better at this game. Am I really the only person who laughed at this? There are far more efficacious, and far less pathetic methods of evoking the sort of improvement the OP so desperately desires. Stop taking the game so seriously, bro. And I would recommend a thorough re-evaluation of how (productively) you're spending your 'spare' time at work. When you're actually playing the game is the time for improvement.

User was banned for this post.


TL is far too strict. This is good life advice. Why are you banning for this? OP needs to rethink how productively he spends his time.
monk
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States8476 Posts
July 01 2012 21:37 GMT
#28
On July 02 2012 06:26 djdoodoo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 01 2012 12:20 uLaLuLaLume wrote:
Is the OP for real? Spamming macro cycle in Notepad/spam-clicking desktop background to increase apm/precision whilst at work? It never fails to astound me; how utterly, and pathetically desperate some people can be to get better at this game. Am I really the only person who laughed at this? There are far more efficacious, and far less pathetic methods of evoking the sort of improvement the OP so desperately desires. Stop taking the game so seriously, bro. And I would recommend a thorough re-evaluation of how (productively) you're spending your 'spare' time at work. When you're actually playing the game is the time for improvement.

User was banned for this post.


TL is far too strict. This is good life advice. Why are you banning for this? OP needs to rethink how productively he spends his time.

He wasn't banned for just this post. He's a PBU who was let back in despite having 4 other banned account. He was also put on a very short leash, and he should have been banned a long time ago, around his first 2-4 offenses rather than letting him get to his 8th offense in 74 posts. TL was not strict enough, if anything, in his situation. I edited banned reason in this case, but usually if banned reasons are unclear or dubious, check the automated banned list in the closed threads forum.

Oh and it's quite a bad post, doesn't contribute at all, and is just flaming the OP.

If you have problems with moderation, take it up in website feedback, not here.
Moderator
djdoodoo
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United Kingdom192 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-01 21:46:54
July 01 2012 21:46 GMT
#29
Thankyou for clearing this up.
Snoodles
Profile Joined March 2012
401 Posts
July 02 2012 00:17 GMT
#30
I tap my fingers REALLY fast on my leg, as fast as I can, as if I were playing an invisible piano.
SilSol
Profile Joined April 2012
Sweden2744 Posts
July 02 2012 00:35 GMT
#31
Isn't there many games you can try online that helps u get better with multitasking, micro etc? If someone knows a few good games that can help a lot feel free to PM me if so ;]
http://fragbite.se/user/117868/silsol since 2006 http://www.reddit.com/u/silsol77
OriginalBeast
Profile Joined September 2010
United States709 Posts
July 02 2012 01:19 GMT
#32
wait until you come home and do nothing but ladder, you won't get better at work. You will improve though.
More gg, more skill.
doner0
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States233 Posts
July 02 2012 01:33 GMT
#33
I like minesweeper, making boxes on my desktop, using the painting program and trying to make accurate squares with boxes to represent force fields, and, lastly, I love to run sc2 in windows and do some meaningless micro challenge.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-02 04:16:28
July 02 2012 04:14 GMT
#34
On July 02 2012 09:17 Snoodles wrote:
I tap my fingers REALLY fast on my leg, as fast as I can, as if I were playing an invisible piano.


Doesn't work very well for me because I DO play the piano hahaha. But yes, I think it's definitely viable to just train your fingers constantly to be more agile. If you're ever watching netflix or GSL or something at your comp, you can also just unplug your keyboard and practice tapping the hotkeys. I generally like to practice these sets: 123, 124, 125, 678, 890, shifting my hand as quickly as possible in between. It makes you a TON faster, and a lot more accurate moving around the keyboard. You can practice this in notepad at work as well.
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
simian_sc
Profile Joined August 2010
United States91 Posts
July 02 2012 13:22 GMT
#35
On July 01 2012 11:56 Mavvie wrote:
Hey! This topic intrigues me, so I plan on spending this weekend and week developing a (simple) 2D mockup of SC2, where you can practice macro mechanics (injects, constant production, supply blocks, etc) in various minigames. I may add some simple micro games, but adding the AI, models, and information for every unit would be a lot of work (herp derp that's why there's development teams). Either way, it will be a fun project, and I will post here when done/looking for feedback! Basically it's going to be SC2 with SC1 graphics, hopefully will be believable enough ^^


Woot! Go Mawie! I look forward to checking out your results.

Great contributions, guys! I love the brainstorming we have going on. All great suggestions! I especially love the piano style air typing or leg tapping. Great way to excercise your fingers.

@trolls: I apologize if you took my OP as a bash on work ethics. Because it was not meant that way at all. In fact, the reason I have spare time at work to practice these things, is because I have my days work finished long before my co-workers. While it is against company policy to play video games in the office, it is not against any policy to browse the web and such. Hence my reason for posting.

Secondarily, I truly believe that to play SC2 at a GM + level, you have to be this determined to practice as much as possible. You need to constatnly be thinking of ways to improve your play. Constatnly thinking of new and exciting ways to practice so it doesn't get stale. When you look at brilliant minds such as Beethoven, that man practiced relentlessly. Some times being drug out of bed by his father in the middle of the night and forced to practice! While I don't condone his father's methods, you get the principle. If you want to be the best, you have to practice harder than the best.

And yes, while this is "just a game" for most people that play it, it will become a career for those who dream it and desire to put in the work.
"I only speak two languages, english and bad english."
Mavvie
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
Canada923 Posts
July 03 2012 01:54 GMT
#36
Ok so the good news is I wrote a 3D graphics engine with lots of vectormath to boot, and I've got item selection down, hotkeys shouldn't take long either. Camera centring on buildings is done (f.ex. double tap 4 and it will centre on whatever building you have hotkeyed). The really fucking hard part will be MBS (multiple building selection). Adding a UI is hard enough, but selecting multiple buildings?? Man, the amount of AI used when you hit 5dddaaaaaa (2TL 3Reactor rax) is actually ridiculous. Not to mention little white dots to show a production queue lmao. I'm thinking that I will start with zerg stuff, as MBS where S selects all your larvae is easy. Again, since this will be a /macro/ trainer, I doubt that it's necessary to put up with specifics like unit pathing AI and even maps. There's a reason that gaming companies have full teams

Anyways, I'll keep you posted. May even start a thread (probably in SC2 general forums) once this gets ready to release. I'll probably make it open source to 1) Possibly get extra hands, and 2) avoid any and all legal issues with Blizzard.

Disclaimer: Graphics will look like a shitty version of minecraft, but worse.
Getting back into sc2 O_o
Cheshyr
Profile Joined November 2010
United States78 Posts
July 03 2012 02:04 GMT
#37
On July 03 2012 10:54 Mavvie wrote:
Ok so the good news is I wrote a 3D graphics engine with lots of vectormath to boot, and I've got item selection down, hotkeys shouldn't take long either. Camera centring on buildings is done (f.ex. double tap 4 and it will centre on whatever building you have hotkeyed). The really fucking hard part will be MBS (multiple building selection). Adding a UI is hard enough, but selecting multiple buildings?? Man, the amount of AI used when you hit 5dddaaaaaa (2TL 3Reactor rax) is actually ridiculous. Not to mention little white dots to show a production queue lmao. I'm thinking that I will start with zerg stuff, as MBS where S selects all your larvae is easy. Again, since this will be a /macro/ trainer, I doubt that it's necessary to put up with specifics like unit pathing AI and even maps. There's a reason that gaming companies have full teams

Anyways, I'll keep you posted. May even start a thread (probably in SC2 general forums) once this gets ready to release. I'll probably make it open source to 1) Possibly get extra hands, and 2) avoid any and all legal issues with Blizzard.

Disclaimer: Graphics will look like a shitty version of minecraft, but worse.

I'm a bit of developer as well; let me know if I can help, or you want alpha tester. I'm suprised you didn't just use Unity and the GUI layers... likely would have saved you some time on the engine stuff, and you could export it to mobile/flash eventually as well. Anyway, I had been tossing around the same idea since mid 2011, but never got off my ass to do it. Looking forward to your progress. :-)
U_G_L_Y
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States516 Posts
July 03 2012 04:22 GMT
#38
Sc2planner.com and lurking TL is what I do. I am terrible though, because this is about as close as I get to actually playing some weeks. I feel like the multitask games don't really translate into SC2 very well. Also, my mouse sensitivity at work is limited by my piece of shit WYSE terminal so I have to have low sensitivity at home to match =(
y0su
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Finland7871 Posts
July 03 2012 05:02 GMT
#39
On June 29 2012 00:23 ErrantMind wrote:
minesweeper.
seriously.

try to beat easy as fast as you can, great for mouse accuracy and decision making. my best score is 14sec.


great.. now i found out (to my surprise) that even on beginner you can end up with a 50/50 scenario... wtf.
simian_sc
Profile Joined August 2010
United States91 Posts
July 03 2012 13:06 GMT
#40
On July 03 2012 10:54 Mavvie wrote:
Ok so the good news is I wrote a 3D graphics engine with lots of vectormath to boot, and I've got item selection down, hotkeys shouldn't take long either. Camera centring on buildings is done (f.ex. double tap 4 and it will centre on whatever building you have hotkeyed). The really fucking hard part will be MBS (multiple building selection). Adding a UI is hard enough, but selecting multiple buildings?? Man, the amount of AI used when you hit 5dddaaaaaa (2TL 3Reactor rax) is actually ridiculous. Not to mention little white dots to show a production queue lmao. I'm thinking that I will start with zerg stuff, as MBS where S selects all your larvae is easy. Again, since this will be a /macro/ trainer, I doubt that it's necessary to put up with specifics like unit pathing AI and even maps. There's a reason that gaming companies have full teams

Anyways, I'll keep you posted. May even start a thread (probably in SC2 general forums) once this gets ready to release. I'll probably make it open source to 1) Possibly get extra hands, and 2) avoid any and all legal issues with Blizzard.

Disclaimer: Graphics will look like a shitty version of minecraft, but worse.


Awesome man! I'm super stoked to see what you come up with! Let me know if I can help in any way. I'm not much of a programmer but I can do some web design and I'm great with PR if you decide you wanna market it.
"I only speak two languages, english and bad english."
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 56m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
elazer 211
UpATreeSC 123
JuggernautJason62
CosmosSc2 32
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 7875
nyoken 72
NaDa 14
Dota 2
monkeys_forever74
Counter-Strike
fl0m3609
Fnx 1604
Other Games
summit1g7850
Grubby3909
shahzam1446
FrodaN1031
Beastyqt568
Liquid`Hasu434
C9.Mang0162
ToD139
KnowMe137
Trikslyr60
Mew2King33
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV170
Counter-Strike
PGL64
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 20 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 414
• davetesta14
• musti20045 6
• Reevou 2
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 4
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis4981
• Scarra1427
• TFBlade1267
Other Games
• imaqtpie1048
• Shiphtur182
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
2h 56m
Replay Cast
10h 56m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
The PondCast
1d 11h
KCM Race Survival
1d 11h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 13h
Replay Cast
2 days
Ultimate Battle
2 days
Light vs ZerO
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
Classic vs Nicoract
herO vs YoungYakov
ByuN vs Gerald
Clem vs Krystianer
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
3 days
MaxPax vs Spirit
Bunny vs Rogue
Cure vs SHIN
Solar vs Zoun
Replay Cast
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-02
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.