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On May 31 2014 03:56 TheZov wrote:
Isn't APM just like typing on a keyboard? You can go slow and with 100% accuracy, or you can blaze and make mistakes that cause you to stop and correct it. With time you begin to type faster but with less mistakes...
Maybe it's an oversimplification, but it sure seems like worrying about APM going up is not terribly useful. I played at an average of 150 in M, but a Plat friend of mine plays at 180. Does that illustrate it's not a very accurate representative of skill?
There's a correlation between skill and speed, sure, but I think learning to think 5 moves ahead is more important than being able to perform those 5 moves very quickly. Physical speed will follow mental speed.
Yes, train for accuracy. Speed will come with perfect accuracy.
I've spent several hours practicing typing for the last year after teaching myself. My highest scores are my most accurate ones.
Nice guide, very well written. I learned a thing or two.
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I broke up/reorganized the passage about gas because it was a bit jumpy. Let me know if this is easier to read; I may do more stuff like this.
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Take additional gas. Never take more gas than necessary; you'll cut into your mineral mining and slow down your build overall (see the true cost of a drone). If in doubt, look up recommended gas timings around TL, or ask higher-level players when they take theirs.
Make sure you know how much gas you need for your build. For example, we will say that you will be powering double-evo for melee and armor attacks against Terran. Therefore, your build may look something like this:
2 evo,
2 drones (replace drones from Evo),
start G2,
drone (G2 #1),
start G3, drone (G2 #2),
start G4,
drone (G2 #3),
three drones (G3),
three drones (G4).
In emergencies, you can take more gas.
More examples:
Defensive roaches: 2 gas.
Offensive roaches: 3 gas.
Defensive 1-base banelings: 2/3 gas (2 in the single geyser).
offensive 1-base banelings: 1 gas.
Mass hydra to defend vs phoenix or voidray: 4 gas.
Mass muta: 4 gas plus pre-gas third for immediate 6 gas.
Note: As Zerg, you have the unique ability to pre-rally three drones to gas as the geyser is building; this keeps your mineral saturation consistent. Obviously, this mechanic is debatable, so simply do what feels right.
Personally I've found that taking/saturating one gas at a time in rapid succession is the most natural way to grow my gas. Experiment to find what works best for you!
(written from the perspective of the OP)
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So where does make drones or units fall into the macro cycle? Obviously it's timed up with injects popping, so does it go at the start right before going through the cycle again? As a plat player I'm guessing it will take me 20 seconds to go through the cycle, what should I be doing with the remaining time (20ish seconds) until I'm ready to go through the cycle again?
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Russian Federation34 Posts
Nunnner, I think you're asking when you spawn your units in relation to the production cycle.
If that's the case, then you would be doing it at the end, after you've made your injects, overlords, creep tumors, etc. I'm not sure what you mean by "remaining 20ish seconds", but the entire production cycle, once mastered, can happen within the time the larvae is spawning (25 in-game seconds). Obviously, as the game goes on, you will have more actions you need to execute (engagements, scouting, upgrades, etc), your cycles will get further and further apart. That said, you will always return to this macro-based grouping of actions at any point in the game to set yourself up for the next wave of spawned units.
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Can you say more about why you suggest spawning units at the end of the cycle? It seems to me that it makes sense to spawn them right after the inject pops, so as to make the most out of the natural-spawning larva. The only things I can think of as reasons to wait are 1) you virtually guarantee no supply blocks, focusing on overlords first and 2) scouting information can allow you to decide whether to make units or drones. What's your thought process here?
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Russian Federation34 Posts
When the inject pops IS the end of the cycle.
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This is an excellent read. I enjoyed your analogies. It is time for me to get out of Diamond!
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good read.
this one made me proud, as I've been scouting for years with the exact same method:
Always use a dedicated hotkey for scouting. Mine was ~ (tilde). I bind this to early scouter drone, then to the first overlord closest to my opponent’s base to fly in around 40 supply or 7 minutes. Vs Toss, Look for pylon placement (this is where the future tech is going to be!). Whatever the hotkey, use that and ONLY that hotkey for scouting and ONLY for scouting. Why? Because in this way, scouting will become second nature and will never have to be remembered again.
Scouting constantly while keeping your macro up is definitely the key to success in the lower leagues. Before you start hitting decent players (~ diamond-ish level), macro and decision-making based on scouting win 99% of the games.
I've started playing again after a long hiatus, and tried to approach the game more methodically. (I used to get way to emotional during games...) And it worked. Thanks to scouting constantly and macroing my ass off.
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United States4883 Posts
On July 12 2014 04:21 nunnner wrote:
So where does make drones or units fall into the macro cycle? Obviously it's timed up with injects popping, so does it go at the start right before going through the cycle again? As a plat player I'm guessing it will take me 20 seconds to go through the cycle, what should I be doing with the remaining time (20ish seconds) until I'm ready to go through the cycle again?
On July 13 2014 01:57 TheZov wrote:
Nunnner, I think you're asking when you spawn your units in relation to the production cycle.
If that's the case, then you would be doing it at the end, after you've made your injects, overlords, creep tumors, etc. I'm not sure what you mean by "remaining 20ish seconds", but the entire production cycle, once mastered, can happen within the time the larvae is spawning (25 in-game seconds). Obviously, as the game goes on, you will have more actions you need to execute (engagements, scouting, upgrades, etc), your cycles will get further and further apart. That said, you will always return to this macro-based grouping of actions at any point in the game to set yourself up for the next wave of spawned units.
On July 14 2014 07:20 Ninjury_J wrote:
Can you say more about why you suggest spawning units at the end of the cycle? It seems to me that it makes sense to spawn them right after the inject pops, so as to make the most out of the natural-spawning larva. The only things I can think of as reasons to wait are 1) you virtually guarantee no supply blocks, focusing on overlords first and 2) scouting information can allow you to decide whether to make units or drones. What's your thought process here?
On July 15 2014 02:10 TheZov wrote:
When the inject pops IS the end of the cycle.
This is very unclear, imo. Although all Zerg's handle this a little bit differently, the order that I use is:
1. Inject hatcheries (~1-2 seconds)
2. Make units (~5 seconds)
3. Spread creep (~10-15 seconds)
4. Do army movement and scouting (remaining time ~20 seconds)
5. Use any additional larva (tend to use this for overlords)
Of course, army movement and scouting are interchangeable with creep spread, depending on how much time you have at any given moment. But the first two steps are vitally important (and also interchangeable). soO literally made it to 3 consecutive GSL finals simply by injecting and spending all of his larva.
It's really important to spend your larva as soon as possible when it pops because every 11? seconds or so that you have more than 3 larva per hatchery, you're "losing" a larva because it won't spawn. Over time over 4-6 hatcheries, this adds up to a lot of lost potential larva.
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Can't believe you wrote all this for your little sister. Nice post!
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The 20s came from assuming 20s to run the macro cycle, then there would be 20s left before the injects pop and you can start over.
Following this helps me max out my army much faster, definitely helpful. Once I have my army I have issues engaging properly or even just trading so that I can keep using up my larva.
SC2John I'm guessing #3 you mean Spread Creep.
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United States4883 Posts
On July 15 2014 22:08 nunnner wrote:
SC2John I'm guessing #3 you mean Spread Creep.
Yes lol. My bad.
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Russian Federation34 Posts
You guys are awesome! One thing I never mentioned in the article is that sometimes, particularly when learning to play, it helps to talk to yourself about what you're doing and what you're going to do next. It may sound funny but I discovered this one time when showing a friend some strategies first-person, IE while playing. Articulating the thought you're trying to achieve is helpful for bringing focus and getting you to speed up.
"Ok, production time... Inject--check--make and rally ovies--check--spread creep tumors--check--scout--check--listen for the overlords to pop--there they are--spawn units."
Try it!
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Still using these mechanics, still getting nothing but better. I hope this makes it back to the top for more people to see it!
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United States4883 Posts
Agreed, worthy of a bump. Looking back on this, it covers pretty much all of the fundamentals that I learned back in January when I was first picking Zerg up, and it helped reinforce a lot of those ideas. The inject cycle is sososososo big...if every Zerg player literally just learned how to get their inject cycles crisp, they would jump up to masters almost instantly.
And now that I'm staff, I can finally fix those formatting errors that have been bothering me since I first wrote up the code!
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I read this article again when I have to say (maybe again) that it is awesome !
Thanks, it is extremely helpful !
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Since this has already been bumped - can anyone elaborate on that idea of burrowing drones at future expos ahead of time? I mean, I understand the concept obviously, but is that something that you would always do? Or only if you expect to be attacked / contained? How long is "long before"? Given that you're already going to be at saturation (presumably) when you do this, the 50 minerals tied up in the drone really isn't a big deal, so the main reason I could see for not doing this is just if you feel the drone would likely be picked off (obviously most likely if you haven't researched burrow). Otherwise I don't immediately see a reason not to do this as soon as your third is saturated in most cases, but I'd be interested in other opinions.
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Hi, great guide! I found it super helpful :D
It might be useful to boldface keywords in the steps in the developmental trajectory, so that people can figure it out quickly by just eyeballing it. So you might have something like "next, at mineral saturation you should add your evolution chambers." It might help break up the wall of text.
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I want to emphasize that the main goal, despite how important and correct the individual points made by the author in the correct context may be, should be to win the game and nothing else.
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EPT
