Increasing your APM - Page 2

ChimpyNuts

United Kingdom50 Posts

April 28 2010 21:58 GMT

#21

And people please do not derail the thread about hon being crap for apm, I just raised it because I used it as an example for myself where I was able to keep myself focused and alert, wich is what I do not do in SC2

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

April 28 2010 21:59 GMT

#22

I make do in SC2 with about 50 APM. Played SC1 at about 200-225, but SC2 only requires about like 50.

I don't feel like there's much need to be honest.

pathy

Taiwan619 Posts

April 28 2010 22:00 GMT

#23

eh Nony did hit 200 in his hdh invitational series..

Kralic

Canada2628 Posts

April 28 2010 22:05 GMT

#24

Remember to multiply your SC2 apm by 1.3(roughly) to get the true apm.

Someone92

Sweden49 Posts

April 28 2010 22:07 GMT

#25

I'm sitting around 30-50 apm and still winning alot

( Gold league )

comis

United States333 Posts

April 28 2010 22:07 GMT

#26

Trying to "improve your APM" is flawed thinking. That's like trying to improve your bowling game by putting as much speed behind the ball as you can. Sure the extra speed helps, but if you focus on knocking down the pins first, your speed will increase as you become more comfortable with your form.

Just get better at the game ... speed will come with time.

RPGabe

United States192 Posts

April 28 2010 22:08 GMT

#27

One of the things I always notice watching a FPVOD of a pro player is that a high APM makes harassment + macro possible.

That's just simply something you can't do well with only 60 APM. It is a skill that needs improvement, but the only way you get there is with practice and constantly refining your technique. Pay close attention to the way you do things and look for holes and opportunities.

Piy

Scotland3152 Posts

April 28 2010 22:11 GMT

#28

You need to spam. If you want high actions you MUST spam. You MUST spam. It's not a bad thing. Don't feel bad about.

APM is not pointless, it does make you a better player if you're faster. Not directly, but trust me, it helps.

This is coming from someone that jumped from 200 to 370 apm in BW with 210 eapm. And my skill level skyrocketed in the month where I did that.

You should spam. It helps, so much. I only just got my key (yay btw) so I'll use BW as an example. Being able to macro 10 rax SK terran TvZ without needing to try to hard is awesome. Being able to follow 2 groups of vultures + dropships + macro and continue your build is so important. You just have to make fewer concessions if you're fast, since you're capable of doing so much more.

imo anyways.....

ChimpyNuts

United Kingdom50 Posts

April 28 2010 22:12 GMT

#29

Yup thats why I want to increase my APM , whenever I decide to say do something like Reaper harass or any form of harassment, I just know I am going to fall miserably far behind because I cannot keep up with macro and microing my units, its damn frustrating because I know most of the shortcuts and like I have a good knowledge on the game , its just things like this that hold me back , I dont feel confident doing any forms of harassment because even if itys off and that I should be ahead, I am not because I cannot multi task -_-

And I am glad that some people agree with me on APM being important because I know if I have higher APM I will just play generally better, instead of playing at grand dad speed

link0

United States1071 Posts

April 28 2010 22:12 GMT

#30

Don't worry about APM at all. Some people make a ton of redundant/unecessary clicks. Many people also spam actions in the beginning of the game. At least 90% of the people I beat have higher average APM than me.

G3nXsiS

United States656 Posts

April 28 2010 22:13 GMT

#31

Try being more active with your units like constantly moving them back and forth or cojstantly sending out units to scout expos and doing harassments whenever you can. Try to switch back and forth between your mains making sure you are constantly using your mules, queens or chrono boosts. And just like everyone has said having a high apm doesnt mean you are doing well. It depends alot on what you are doing.

jabberwokie

Canada142 Posts

April 28 2010 22:15 GMT

#32

I don't know why people are hating on apm, it is essential. I don't know how this can be argued. There is as mentioned good and bad apm but only with regards to the current game I would urge a different perspective, someone who has very high apm might need to see it differently but for you I would say spam. (this is a long term view with the premise that you prefer personal development over a win right now or next game) Spam away, get as much repetition in as you can. What you are going to be accomplishing by this is establishing muscle memory and make yourself more effective. Once you are effective you need to be efficient. I am only diametrically separating them for theory sake of 'corse you have to develop them somewhat together but the point is spamming helps noobs. It's only once you find you have excess apm that you need to work on redirecting it to efficiency. You have to be able to function at that speed before you can learn to control your function at that speed imho. Macro typically has an effective apm ceiling so a large percentage of apm over 100 is going to be unit movement and spell casting etc so work on automating or dumbing down your macro to remote processes as much as possible for optimal results. (ie use hotkeys or control groups and locations as much as possible.

ChimpyNuts

United Kingdom50 Posts

April 28 2010 22:16 GMT

#33

Btw I really appreciate how fast people have answered on this thread, its really helpful,

and to make it clear I do not wish to artificially raise my APM , I want to raise it through playing and making me faster, not just spamming it pointlessly, if I spammed pointlessly I know I would have higher apm :p

Kralic

Canada2628 Posts

April 28 2010 22:16 GMT

#34

My APM is around mid 70's and I find I can either macro very well and not really harass or I can harass really well but my macro is gone. I say the optimal APM for the current game would be in the 130's - 180's. I can get 3000 apm if I spam the whole game and be like yeah, but I'd rather keep it simple and see my real apm.

Shiladie

Canada1631 Posts

April 28 2010 22:19 GMT

#35

it's said over and over and over, and people hate to hear it, but faster APM comes from just straight up practice. One of the sessions that did the most for my overall multi-tasking/gameplay was when I was just focusing on one simple build order in BW (3 hatch spire 5 hatch hydra vs P) and doing it vs no opponenents (create a game, close the computer slot in the count-down, and hit continue playing once it says you've won.

What this did was ensured I didn't have to think about everything when I did it, it trained me to make things automatic. The point wasn't that I would be able to do this one BO without altering it, it was that dong that BO was so second nature, that I could concentrate my actual attention on other things.

Since then, I've been able to hop between bases/macro with a lot more automation, no matter what BO I use, this then transfered into SC2 very effectively.

People will say just straight up playing the game is the best at increasing your skill, and this probably works for a number of people, but I found for myself, being able to focus on one aspect of my play at a time allowed me to really refine that, and then incorporate it into my overall game, which helped me a lot more then trying to do it all better in each game.

ChimpyNuts

United Kingdom50 Posts

April 28 2010 22:19 GMT

#36

Yeah Kralic, I am in the exact same boat as you basically. and jabberwokie thats a really insightful post, I think I might just try some games against the comp just to raise my speed and transition it over into playing the game.

CowGoMoo

United States428 Posts

April 28 2010 22:20 GMT

#37

Take a FRAPS of yourself playing a normal game. View the FRAPS and identify points where your play is the slowest. Figure out why your being slow at these points and resolve the issues. (Watching a battle? Misclick small units? Panic? Busy thinking not executing? Lack of muscle memory when doing a specific set of actions you do almost every game?)

e.g. When you jump into a fight, it should be ingrained in your soul to do something like "1A2E3T5SS6AAAAAtabDDDBSBS11" which would have your army attack moving with Stim + EMP, and then doing a ton of basic macro. You shouldn't really need to think much or at all about this sort of thing. If you have to think about mechanics, your going to have a much lower APM than you could have. I bet if u memorize a string of characters and actions like the one above, you could prob do it with a 300+ APM burst.

You can literally practice most of this stuff with an air-keyboard.

Also, at some point you will have trouble parsing the information quickly enough, so get used to quickly moving the camera a ton using ctrl groups so your brain gets used to only seeing images for a fraction of a second. (If you play with very low APM, watch an FPVOD of Bisu or Nada and you probably won't be able to follow the game at all because of this)

Sfydjklm

United States9218 Posts

April 28 2010 22:21 GMT

#38

Spam. Spam. Spam.
Trust this C- PGT player with 90-120 APM turned top platinum player with 100-150 SC2 APM.

CagedMind

United States506 Posts

April 28 2010 22:22 GMT

#39

With 70 apm it's good enough that you can beat anyone in sc2 right now. I don't see someone needing more then 90 apm down the line. This is going by replays screwed up apm and not real.

Treliant

Canada4 Posts

April 28 2010 22:23 GMT

#40

It sounds to me like your problem is not really Apm so much as your ability to divide attention between 10 different things

ie. the multitasking. That will just come with practice and familiarity I don't think there is any way to quickly learn effective multitasking, you just have to work at it. Whenever i have a couple of spare moment I also play this webbrowser based game:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/IcyLime/multitask

It's incredibly simple but I've found it has worked wonders for teaching me to split my attention and keep track of at least 4 things running simultaneously. I'm only a copper lvl player but noticed a significant jump in my win rates after i started playing it in my spare time.

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