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Now we all know that high apm does not equate to high skill. However, pros must have high apm to remain competitive. So what's the difference? Pros have a very high effective apm. The spamming they do in the beginning of games is often to warm up their hands for the rest of the match.
So how do we go abouts increasing our effective apm? I was watching the day 9 dailys, when a particular episode, 132-Back to the basics, reminded me of a very interesting guide i read from broodwar. Unforunately, i don't remember what its called, but i will attempt to recall as much as i can. Note even though this guide is meant for beginners, the fundamentals are practiced throughtout all skill levels.
Basically the entire game should be composed of repeating this cycle. The purpose of this cycle is that it serves as a checklist desgined to perfect your sense of map awareness and effectively macroing, leaving you brain power to focus on microing, strategy, and timings.
Note: This is a general cycle that can be applied throughout all the game, but can obviously be adjusted given the game state.
1. Look at your army. Are they under threat? How is their positioning (ie concave)? Are you aware of where your opponent's army is? Is it moving to attack?
2. Are you constantly producing workers? Are all of your bases saturated? Are you using all of your macro abilities?
3. Are you about to be supply blocked?
*The next five points are listed in order of priority as an effective method of keeping your money low.
4. Are you producing units out of all your unit structures?
5. Based on the game state, and your opponent's army, is it safe to expand?
6. Do i need to construct additional unit producing structures?
7. Can i safely put down a tech structure? Which one? Should i proxy it?
8. Am i currently upgrading? Do i need to build more upgrading structures? Do i need to make any tech structures to unlock additional upgrades?
Basically, its important to cycle through this guide continously all throughout the game. However, the more you practice, the faster youll be able to go through it flawlessly. Test yourself. Attempt to go through the cycle with the least number of wasted clicks (ie spamming) as you can. Lets say it takes you 2 minutes. Then later on test yourself again. Any decrease in your time is a direct result of your effective apm increasing. Continue to push yourself to decrease your time, stay current with metagame influences, and watch day9. Youll be on your way to the next gsl in no time 
Thanks for reading. If you have an questions or require any clarifaction feel free to pm me.
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There was a post a short time back that simplified this to 4 steps roughly:
1. Money and B.O.
2. Worker unit / Supply / Units
3. Scouting and Strategy
4. Engage or Expand
The OP of the listed thread did not link it to APM though.
I use the acronym M.U.S.E. to remember.
Thread here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=155155
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Hmm the other thread is interesting. Though he lists things in a manner that creates patterns so its easier to remember, while i attempt to break down the aspects of macroing to ensure its properly executed. i believe the point of guides like this is to help make sense of the thinking process that occurs during such a fast paced game. Whatever people prefer to use is up to personal prefernce, and im merely supplying another option.
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I think I like your way better anyway. There's more to memorize, but it's just clearer and more explicit in my mind. Thanks!
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On October 12 2010 02:58 Eeryck wrote:There was a post a short time back that simplified this to 4 steps roughly: 1. Money and B.O. 2. Worker unit / Supply / Units 3. Scouting and Strategy 4. Engage or Expand The OP of the listed thread did not link it to APM though. I use the acronym M.U.S.E. to remember. Thread here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=155155
I think step 4 shouldn't necessarily be "engage or expand" as much as...
4. Expand or engage and expand
I don't think you should consider the two as opposites or unrelated.
You should expand when it is safe to -- i.e., he can't stop you from doing it because he doesn't have map control, your army is too big for him to stop you, he doesn't know about it, or ideally all 3.
It is safest to expand while you're attacking because it reduces the chance of a counterattack, and in the case of sustained aggression, it might even be safest to expand toward your opponent (like Xel'Naga with the golds) because the counterattack would hit an area that would have a quick response time for your army (either as they spawn or near the rest of the army).
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Nice little walkthrough in the mind....thanks
trying to improve on my awareness and apm correctly
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I have a solid 100 apm without spamming, but my problem is, when i start engaging and stuff, i find it really difficult to macro. I try to do stop micro and all that stuff, and i know i need to make units expand and stuff, but i am so busy with my army i kind of neglect it. Anyone have any tips for me to try and increase my apm so i can expand, make more production facilities and stuff, instead of doing it after my attack finishes.
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Great post - I look forward to practicing with that in mind. Thanks. 
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1) memorize all the hotkeys
2) Practice a single build if your a newbie. Practice other builds too. Practice Practice Practice.
Keep pushing yourself to think faster and click faster.
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On October 12 2010 06:58 DoubleRainbow wrote:
I have a solid 100 apm without spamming, but my problem is, when i start engaging and stuff, i find it really difficult to macro. I try to do stop micro and all that stuff, and i know i need to make units expand and stuff, but i am so busy with my army i kind of neglect it. Anyone have any tips for me to try and increase my apm so i can expand, make more production facilities and stuff, instead of doing it after my attack finishes.
Not sure how useful this will be since it's kinda vague, but... One thing I've been trying to do lately is concentrate on thinking about what is happening wherever I'm NOT looking. For example, if I'm in a battle or even just moving my army around, I'm trying to keep my mind on what's in my base. If I'm in my base, I'm thinking about where my army is and what it's doing.
I find this almost makes it feel natural to flip quickly back and forth between the two (using control groups/hotkeys of course) because if I'm focusing on thinking about my army, but I'm looking at my base, I want to know how far it has moved, if it's revealed any enemy scouts, if it's near a xel'naga tower it can use, how good its formation is (are my roaches in front of my hydras as they should be after they moved, or do I have to fix that?).
This also naturally promotes watching the minimap more, since I'm checking it for enemy units that my army sees, and that in turn allows me to see enemy movement earlier than I might otherwise (ie incoming drops). Watching the minimap in turn acts as a reminder for me to spit larvae, since I hotkey all my queens to '4' and just click the minimap to use their ability, so watching it and seeing my base on there triggers the action.
Don't know if that's helpful, or even good, but it's what I've been doing lately and my apm increased from the 90 range to about 150 in a couple weeks once I started thinking like this.
Still working on a trigger to remind myself not to get supply locked like a n00b lol. It's embarassing how often I do that for a mid-diamond player.
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The best way to raise APM....
Don't even think about it, APM is a side effect, it comes naturally so don't waste time forcing it.
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I've searched and searched and really the answer is:
Just play, it will increase naturally.
I went from 35 APM a few months ago to now 80 and am still continuing to improve. Clicks actually start landing exactly where you want them to and you just get muscle memory for repeating tasks (building workers, depots and units).
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On October 12 2010 07:43 DarkOmen wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2010 06:58 DoubleRainbow wrote:
I have a solid 100 apm without spamming, but my problem is, when i start engaging and stuff, i find it really difficult to macro. I try to do stop micro and all that stuff, and i know i need to make units expand and stuff, but i am so busy with my army i kind of neglect it. Anyone have any tips for me to try and increase my apm so i can expand, make more production facilities and stuff, instead of doing it after my attack finishes. Not sure how useful this will be since it's kinda vague, but... One thing I've been trying to do lately is concentrate on thinking about what is happening wherever I'm NOT looking. For example, if I'm in a battle or even just moving my army around, I'm trying to keep my mind on what's in my base. If I'm in my base, I'm thinking about where my army is and what it's doing. I find this almost makes it feel natural to flip quickly back and forth between the two (using control groups/hotkeys of course) because if I'm focusing on thinking about my army, but I'm looking at my base, I want to know how far it has moved, if it's revealed any enemy scouts, if it's near a xel'naga tower it can use, how good its formation is (are my roaches in front of my hydras as they should be after they moved, or do I have to fix that?). This also naturally promotes watching the minimap more, since I'm checking it for enemy units that my army sees, and that in turn allows me to see enemy movement earlier than I might otherwise (ie incoming drops). Watching the minimap in turn acts as a reminder for me to spit larvae, since I hotkey all my queens to '4' and just click the minimap to use their ability, so watching it and seeing my base on there triggers the action. Don't know if that's helpful, or even good, but it's what I've been doing lately and my apm increased from the 90 range to about 150 in a couple weeks once I started thinking like this. Still working on a trigger to remind myself not to get supply locked like a n00b lol. It's embarassing how often I do that for a mid-diamond player.
Yeah, my reaction time is really bad, and i really catch myself using the mini map except for if i might see something in the corner of my eye. But i need to work on my hotkey set up, the problem probably is i can't get back to my base fast enough to make supply depots or stuff like that.
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On October 12 2010 07:43 DarkOmen wrote:
Not sure how useful this will be since it's kinda vague, but... One thing I've been trying to do lately is concentrate on thinking about what is happening wherever I'm NOT looking. For example, if I'm in a battle or even just moving my army around, I'm trying to keep my mind on what's in my base. If I'm in my base, I'm thinking about where my army is and what it's doing.
That's interesting, because if you're always trying to think about something else, then you always have something else to do. My APM/awareness drops off when I'm stopping to think "What next..." and if I keep flipping between my army and my base, then the answer should be obvious.
As far as supply blocking? Just make checking your supply and mineral/gas count part of the rotation. "Ok, when I'm looking at my base, check my food. If it's within 10, then I'll need a new pylon soon" or w/e.
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Totally reposted information that was already in here. Whoops, GG Reading comprehension.
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I'm curious on how people get APMs in the 200.
How much APM spam in the start increase your average APM by the end of the game? I usually average around 0-20 APM whilst building up probes at the start but my average APM overall is usually around 60-70.
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On October 12 2010 08:04 ChickenLips wrote:
I've searched and searched and really the answer is:
Just play, it will increase naturally.
I went from 35 APM a few months ago to now 80 and am still continuing to improve. Clicks actually start landing exactly where you want them to and you just get muscle memory for repeating tasks (building workers, depots and units).
Truth mine went from 25-30 to 60-70 from playing a few months i learned the faster I hot key my production buildings the easier it is to keep up production, i use to forget and have 2-3 builds making nothing at all the whole match XD
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On October 12 2010 08:04 ChickenLips wrote:
I've searched and searched and really the answer is:
Just play, it will increase naturally.
I went from 35 APM a few months ago to now 80 and am still continuing to improve. Clicks actually start landing exactly where you want them to and you just get muscle memory for repeating tasks (building workers, depots and units).
Of course playing more will enable you to play faster, but are you learning properly? Playing to learn and improve is quite different from playing to win *cough* 4 gate
Every ladder game i play, i strive to perfect my current builds and experiment with new ones. I have never cheesed (unless im just fuckin around)
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i really get thrown off by misclicks.
sometimes my rally points are reset, or i accidentally group a command centre or other building with army and don't notice untill i catch scv's going in the wrong direction.
during the confusion i fall behind with macro and never really catch up.
(normal apm of 140, but average 70 due to very low apm in the quiet moments and lazy army control).
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I average 140-150 APM in most games but I notice that during large battles or during harrass or moments of intense action my APM jumps up to 220-300 for the 10-20 seconds that the situation lasts. I think that that's a pretty good spot to be in, although I definitely have some work to do with my mouse control and my decisiveness especially. I sometimes take way too long to think about what to do and it reduces my APM overall.
This advice is a good starting points for the 20-40 apm players who often find themselves just staring at the screen, believing that there is nothing to do.
On October 12 2010 08:12 MeLo wrote:
I'm curious on how people get APMs in the 200.
How much APM spam in the start increase your average APM by the end of the game? I usually average around 0-20 APM whilst building up probes at the start but my average APM overall is usually around 60-70.
Here's an FP-view of a 200+ APM player, so this is what it looks like when you play at 200+ APM:
http://gretorp.blip.tv/file/4220778/
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EPT
