EPTI am not a good Starcraft player, My current rank is platinum and it should be as my macro is atrocious. I find myself fumbling keys and missing macro steps, especially when under pressure. I am however, a good martial artist, I've been practicing martial arts for about fifteen years now and I can say with all honesty that I have become quite proficient at it. In a recent lesson I was reviewing the basics of Kata and something struck me. To improve at SC2 I need to have a key kata.
The concept of a kata is to string different techniques in pre-determined sequence in order to practice them repeatedly, eliminating thought from the process and thus allowing an ever growing speed and reflex to develop, To the degree where the techniques become automatic. This principle should apply to keyboard presses in the exact same way as it does to punches and kicks. So I wrote down a few Katas ( I'm using the core hotkey set ), I've been practicing in game and out of game for only a few days and I'm seeing a massive improvement in my play. After two days I felt more improvement in my macro then I have in the last few months.
ZERG MACRO KATA:
+ Show Spoiler +
Action ( My actual key - yours could be diffrent )
Select Hatches ( Back Mouse Button )
Select Larvae ( 'O' )
Make Overlord ( 'K' )
Make Overlord ( 'K' )
Select Hatches ( Back Mouse Button )
Select Larvae ( 'O' )
Mass Drones ( 'Hold O' )
Select Queens ( Fwd Mouse Button )
Inject Larave ( 'O' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
Go To Base 1 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + P )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 2 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + O )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 3 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + I )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 4 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + J )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Creep Camera ( 'H' )
Select ALL Tumors ( Ctrl + Left Mouse Click )
creep duplicate ( 'I' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Reset Creep Camera ( 'Shitf+H' )
Select Hatches ( Back Mouse Button )
Select Larvae ( 'O' )
Make Overlord ( 'K' )
Make Overlord ( 'K' )
Select Hatches ( Back Mouse Button )
Select Larvae ( 'O' )
Mass Drones ( 'Hold O' )
Select Queens ( Fwd Mouse Button )
Inject Larave ( 'O' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
Go To Base 1 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + P )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 2 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + O )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 3 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + I )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Base 4 ( 'Ctrl + Shift + J )
Inject ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Go To Creep Camera ( 'H' )
Select ALL Tumors ( Ctrl + Left Mouse Click )
creep duplicate ( 'I' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
tumor place ( 'Left Mouse Click )
Reset Creep Camera ( 'Shitf+H' )
ZERG ARMY KATA:
+ Show Spoiler +
Action ( My actual key - yours could be diffrent )
Select Main Army ( 'P' )
Attack Command ( 'J' )
Attack ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Select Banes ( '[' )
Move ( 'Right Mouse Click' )
Select Infestors ( 'L' )
Fungal Command ( 'I' )
Fungal ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Fungal Command ( 'I' )
Fungal ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
Infested Terran Command ( 'O' )
Spam IT ( Many left mouse clicks )
Select Main Army ( 'P' )
Attack Command ( 'J' )
Attack ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Select Banes ( '[' )
Move ( 'Right Mouse Click' )
Select Infestors ( 'L' )
Fungal Command ( 'I' )
Fungal ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Fungal Command ( 'I' )
Fungal ( 'Left Mouse Click' )
Queue Commands ( 'Hold Shift' )
Infested Terran Command ( 'O' )
Spam IT ( Many left mouse clicks )
P.S.
To be clear, What I'm doing is mechincally repeating these commands - either in a practice game against the AI or in a notepad at work when I got some spare time. Just repeating the sequance over and over. I haven't timed myself when I began but after just a couple of days the diffrence in speed for the enitre sequance is major.
