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Hey guys,
I´ve been playing RTS games competitively since 8 years now. I do not consider myself a very good player even though I´ve always kept in mind that I should focus on improving. I was a mid master player as a Protoss in WoL and HotS with an APM of around 120. I know this is not nearly enough to actually get really good at the game. I would love to do more double pronged attack or more constant harass, but I just know I can´t manage it while macroing decently. Hence my strategic options are being limited by this lack of reaction time / multitasking / APM.
Maybe it´s just me as a person, since I haven´t ever been very good at ball games for example, I practice fencing since I´m 6 but I always struggle to be as fast or accurate as my opponents, I play CS:GO but I´m terrible because I suck at shooting someone who is moving, etc.
I think the things I need to improve are : - mouse accuracy - ability to change locations and do actions quicker (ie building an expansion, warp ins..) - multitasking (not forgetting about this warp prism with 4 adepts idle over an undefended expansion).
Thanks for all the tips ! I thrive to improve and really allow myself to do every crazy demanding strategy my brain is capable of coming up with 
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From what I recall especially with protoss, they really didn't harass that much during gameplay and even when they did warp in a base for harass they just right clicked some shit and prayed or used oracles during the early game when you don't need to concentrate on that many things.
If you want that to be your style however, then you need to make a conscious effort on that particular aspect of your gameplay. ALWAYS harass for quite a few games, this might make you lose, but don't prioritize build or macro, just as much harassment as you can get. Then try to figure out how to fit in the macro/base management/build while harassing. You will notice free time where you cannot harass which allows you time to macro OR you will realize that you need to temporarily stop harassing to macro because your money is high.
You'll find the middle ground for it eventually and it will fluidly add APM/harass to your gameplay without having anything else suffer.
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Make sure you use all the tools at your disposal first. (camera hotkeys, ctrl group...)
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Play terran for a while. Multitasking is a major things to learn when you play terran. You have to drop everywhere to damage income vs Z or P., all the time. If you play a macro game ofc.
As for mouse accuracy theres a plenty of software that can help you improve that. Snute posted his software on TL but cant rememeber the name.
And to get better to a RTS, be healthy, sleep/eat correctly, and do some sports. I think its an obligation. To be among the bests you need a clear mind, and a healthy body.
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dont need apm to play protoss but better reaction time. bruh.
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How I improved my raw apm was simply trying to play at (or beyond) my limits every game and then getting used to the new speed.
Example: I found it hard to play PvZ phoenix because when I focused on harassing workers/queens my macro would suffer. If I focused on macro my harass would suffer. I forced myself to play phoenix and always move them around and use them and also do my macro at the same time. This resulted in some very sloppy play on both the harass and macro sides (because my fingers/brain could not really keep up) but eventually your brain gets used to it and you start to tighten up and become quicker and more precise.
Then its rinse and repeat. Phoenix + macro is ok? What about phoenix + main army pressure/micro and FF/creep clear + macro? Force yourself to do it... do it poorly.. over and over and then you'll get it.
Mindless spamming will increase your apm 'number' but really what you want is a quicker brain. One that can maintain that apm and use it. I found that pushing my brain to play at those speeds will build both the mental aspect and the physical aspect just comes naturally.
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If it's your multitasking and APM that are suffering, then force yourself to do it. You might lose the next 40 games because of it, but there will be a point where you tip over into getting better and better and you'll eventually just learn how to do it, without forcing yourself.
I had the exact same problems in Diamond. Force yourself to play high APM styles.
When I was having a hard time with it, I started doing the following in order to improve myself:
PvT - Oracle > Phoenix Mid-game.
PvP - Open Blink and stay active with them the whole game, late game force myself to make Warp Prisms.
PvZ - Warp Prisms OR Phoenix depending on how I felt. Usually Warp Prisms. Chargelot Timing with a Warp Prism is a lot of fun. Then there's Storm Drops and all that jazz.
Practice makes perfect, but you have to practice the right stuff. If you're having a hard time with something, then do more of it.
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Mouse Accuracy, play some Osu!
Also, lower your DPI. Snute plays with 400 (not something i could do as that's WAY too low for me. I play with 700). Try to keep it under 1000.
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There was a really good thread a while back which taught me that in order to play fast..... You have to learn to play fast even if it means losing some games initially. I'd encourage you to have a read through it
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-strategy/319876-a-focused-approach-to-perfecting-mechanics
I haven't actually played in a few years. I just picked up lotv and am going to get back into it casually but I was like a poor mid platinum player before reading the above linked thread and I always felt so slowwww. With a bit of practice I quickly got into rank 1 diamond and made it into masters which made my starcraft journey feel complete and I ended up quitting the game lol. Either way.. Good thread. You should read it if you want to play faster
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On December 02 2015 03:06 LNMK wrote:
Mouse Accuracy, play some Osu!
Also, lower your DPI. Snute plays with 400 (not something i could do as that's WAY too low for me. I play with 700). Try to keep it under 1000.
Lowering dpi is a good idea.
Playing osu is highly inefficient. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but by the time it has a substantial effect, you would've improved more by just playing sc2.
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Osu is really a cool precision training, if you like music atleast. Helped me increase my speed a little atleast. I have no idea if actually ingame training is better though ^^; .
As for multipronged attacks, prepare them by using shift commands. And learn to keep an eye out on the minimap to retreat in time if you see your drops and other things in danger. You can't control multiple locations at the same time so its important to have your units do what you want for as long as possible, just want to help them if they are in trouble.
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On December 03 2015 01:03 Yorbon wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2015 03:06 LNMK wrote:
Mouse Accuracy, play some Osu!
Also, lower your DPI. Snute plays with 400 (not something i could do as that's WAY too low for me. I play with 700). Try to keep it under 1000. Lowering dpi is a good idea. Playing osu is highly inefficient. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but by the time it has a substantial effect, you would've improved more by just playing sc2.
For what it's worth, I saw Snute warming up with Osu a few minutes before playing in a tournament.
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On December 03 2015 01:07 ZAiNs wrote:Show nested quote +On December 03 2015 01:03 Yorbon wrote:On December 02 2015 03:06 LNMK wrote:
Mouse Accuracy, play some Osu!
Also, lower your DPI. Snute plays with 400 (not something i could do as that's WAY too low for me. I play with 700). Try to keep it under 1000. Lowering dpi is a good idea. Playing osu is highly inefficient. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but by the time it has a substantial effect, you would've improved more by just playing sc2. For what it's worth, I saw Snute warming up with Osu a few minutes before playing in a tournament. Oh yeah, sure. But to actually use it to practice is something completely different. (maybe my comment wasn't very clear, sorry)
My main issue would be that it's not close enough to a real game situation, both in terms of graphical representation and focus. I could see it work if you want to be sure your settings are all right (consistent movement), if you want to warm up your mouse hand (as mentioned) or if you're already pretty good and practice cs>6.5, as i would estimate that to be the margin of error during sc2 micro. I played osu for about 1.5 years before I got to consistently being able to play at that level. I'm a slow learner though.
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ah Sc2 enforces multitasking though and our brain is not build for that. So you don't gain to much while doing it. Unless you do it alot and train your body to get used to that situation. And even then if you just lack in one particular scenario concentrating on just that will show results way faster.
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On December 01 2015 22:54 Barthy wrote:Hey guys, I´ve been playing RTS games competitively since 8 years now. I do not consider myself a very good player even though I´ve always kept in mind that I should focus on improving. I was a mid master player as a Protoss in WoL and HotS with an APM of around 120. I know this is not nearly enough to actually get really good at the game. I would love to do more double pronged attack or more constant harass, but I just know I can´t manage it while macroing decently. Hence my strategic options are being limited by this lack of reaction time / multitasking / APM. Maybe it´s just me as a person, since I haven´t ever been very good at ball games for example, I practice fencing since I´m 6 but I always struggle to be as fast or accurate as my opponents, I play CS:GO but I´m terrible because I suck at shooting someone who is moving, etc. I think the things I need to improve are : - mouse accuracy - ability to change locations and do actions quicker (ie building an expansion, warp ins..) - multitasking (not forgetting about this warp prism with 4 adepts idle over an undefended expansion). Thanks for all the tips ! I thrive to improve and really allow myself to do every crazy demanding strategy my brain is capable of coming up with
Sometimes you need to get worse to get better by breaking old habits to way for new ones.
I'm a Diamond/Masters Protoss (bouncing around between the two depending on how much I play) and I'd say my strengths include harass/multitasking and micro. Here's what I did to get better.
1) Multitasking trainer. I cannot recommend this thing enough. Basically you're given a bunch of tasks to do while keeping a probe alive on a small island (he's being chased by a Zergling). You can't queue commands for the probe so you're forced to continuously bounce back and forth between the probe and your base/objectives. It's difficult at first but you quickly realize how much dead time there is when you're only macroing.
When you warp in a bunch of zealots and probes and start an upgrade or whatever, you've got about 20 seconds before you need to macro again. Unless you're fighting, that time can all be used to harass. I think the most important part of this trainer is that it shows you exactly how much "free time" you have between core clicks to do things like scout, harass, etc.
Multitasking is very mental IMO. If you often don't realize what you could be doing and end up just staring at your units during fights or something. Think to yourself - what commands can I be issuing right now that will improve my game? This might mean looking away from your army if there is nothing that you can do to influence the fight (say your army is 30 chargelots.. 1A that shit and then go do something else....). If you constantly think of what you could be doing that you're not, odds are you'll think of something to do.
2) Get your hotkeys in order. The better you are at hotkeys, the less time it takes you to do things, and the more time you have to harass and multiprong.
3) Practice! Do harass oriented builds that RELY on doing damage (this != proxy oracle... this means take a fast Nexus then rush Warp Prism + 4 adepts). You can't get better at multi pronged harass if you turtle to 3 base Carriers.... You will lose a lot until you get better!
4) Mouse accuracy.... most people have their sensitivity WAAAAYYY too high. You need your mouse to be as accurate as possible in order to get good results in SC2. There are numerous threads about this but this is what I do and I get really good results with it (recommended from Snute):
-Go to windows control panel and set mouse sensitivity to the 6th notch
-Disable enhanced precision
-Set your DPI on your mouse to something like 750
-Make sure mouse acceleration is off in your drivers
-Turn off mouse sensitivity in SC2 or set it to 50% (I think they're around the same)
This might feel extremely awkward at first but you NEED to get used to it. Playing at 1800 dpi with "enchance mouse accuracy" you just can't get the same precision.
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EPT
