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Bumblebees' Guide to Playing with Low APM
Revision 2 - Corrected factual errors and included important directive in introduction.
Hotlinked Index
- Introduction
- APM
- The Races
- Awareness
- Equipment
- Micromanagement
- Macromanagement
- Strategy
- Tips and Tricks
- Conclusion
Introduction
Hello there! My name is bumblebees and I've spent the last few months making a very focused effort on improving my gameplay. You may or may not have already seen my thread where I asked for some advice from the community. I have battled my way up through the ladder ranks, and through the advice of the community along with my own study and determination I've made diamond with a ~1300 rating currently.
I am a player who is faced with the physical inability to increase my APM though 'normal' means, if at all. I also experience times of complete inability during games. I have a disorder, autonomic failure, which among other things causes hand tremors. This is made significantly worse as the disorder causes an overwhelming sensitivity to adrenaline and catecholamines. Things that would make a normal player get exited and move faster and think quicker make my symptoms worse. I also have a rare form of narcolepsy called nrem narcolepsy (if you don't start laughing right now, there's something wrong with you. I find this ironic twist of fate hilarious in my life). I suffer from cataplexy which means that if I don't outright faint, I frequently lose muscle control during intense situations. Look up the disorders and I'm sure you can fit together the pieces. Narcolepsy w/cataplexy, pure autonomic failure and the related vasovagal response.
I know there's a lot of people on the internet who have read about something and they self-diagnose themselves. I can assure you I've spent FAR too much of my life in hospitals and specialists offices being tested. I ran into frequent questioning with the first thread I wrote along the lines of "Have you seen a doctor?", "Are you sure that's what's wrong?". Yes I have, and yes I am. I've been tested by multiple independent specialists and facilities. Unless you're a medical professional or have direct experience with these conditions, please don't offer me medical advice. I appreciate the sentiment, but instead just offer me suggestions, criticism or praise on the guide instead 
Regardless of these things I'm still relatively happy. For everything that really matters there are many people in the world much worse off than me. As it relates to starcraft, I'm probably near the bottom of the barrel. It's from both my standing in life and my standing in starcraft that I feel I'm in a unique position to better myself within the confines of my circumstance and relate a method of improvement to those who may face similar circumstances, or to inspire those with no or few limitations that have hit a dead end in their progress.
I know that many of the methods I suggest here are not going to yield optimal play. If that's what you're here for then please read the last 3 paragraphs or mozy on over another thread.
This is very important. If you are a player who has few or no limitations on your APM, many of these suggestions will harm your play more than help. You should always try to increase and utilize all forms of micro and not limit your macro. Aspects of awareness and strategy are applicable to all players, and should be studied when not playing the game. Players who CAN increase their APM SHOULD, but the actions are only as effective as the premise that drives them. Do not use this guide as an excuse to limit yourself. Please only use it to expand your skill to, and perhaps beyond your limitations.
I know that I don't use the correct terms for many things, but I hope I am understandable regardless. I had to take frequent breaks during the writing of this guide, so I know sometimes change narrative-mode and tense. I'm OK with that. Feel free to correct any glaring errors and I will make the corrections.
APM
APM is a measure if the player's input into the game. Input is the player's method of exercising control over the game, or "playing" the game. One thing we can take from this that if the current APM of the player is 0, he is not exercising control of the game. What we can not concede from this however, is that a player with more APM is exercising more control over the game. This is due to the fact that the APM measurement is indifferent to effectiveness of the input. Not only is APM indifferent to effectiveness of the action, but it is indifferent to the premise behind the action.
The absolute distinction of 0 APM indicating zero control, and >0 APM not indicating anything relative to control is a very powerful concept. This means that for APM >2, the efficiency of an action is directly proportional to the APM used. If actions are thought about in a manner which labels them with a rating of efficiency or strength, this can be multiplied by the APM to gain a very accurate assessment of the player's skill. This of course only a theoretical concept since it is nearly impossible to accurately rate an action's efficiency or strength. The concept is still very applicable as a general rule. A player who makes 10 very strategically or mechanically strong inputs into the game will easily overcome a player who makes 100 inputs into the game that consist of faulty strategy, mechanics and a plethora of mistakes.
Mistakes are another consideration of APM measurement. APM does not account for actions that were unintentional. Each mistake, whether it be inaccuracy or faulty play, reduces the player's effective APM by 2x+ the actions required to make that mistake. A player with 5 APM who moves a marine to the incorrect place will need to use at least one more action to move the marine to the correct place. This means that he spent at least 2 actions, which makes his effective APM 4, not 5. Not only does the mistake 'cost' the player actions, but it may severely reduce the strength of further actions via unit damage, loss of positioning, loss of intel etc..
A player who makes few mistakes, and makes relatively effective actions can increase their skill directly by increasing their APM. There are very, very few players who are at this point in SC II. This guide should be helpful to the average player as it offers many ideas on how to increase the efficiency of actions used, and how to reduce mistakes of various sorts.
This guide is not written for the average player though. This guide is specifically intended for people who have some external limiting factor on their gameplay. This maybe a physical disability, bad equipment, emotional instability, or environmental influence. These players will always be limited in their actions in some manner. These limitations come in two specific forms: a ceiling and spurious pauses.
A player may be simply unable to perform actions in quick succession, which will lower their average as they can not go above a certain point. This can be caused by lack of type 2b muscle fibers in the hand, nervous system damage or deficiency, improper posture, faulty equipment, game factors, or inaccuracy. Most of these causes are fairly obvious how they affect the player's APM ceiling, except accuracy. A player who is unable to accurately input actions into the game will frequently spend extra time in order to perform the action accurately. Nearly every reason for an abnormal APM ceiling is exacerbated by inaccuracy. If inaccuracy is reduced then even the most limited player can increase their APM. Inaccuracy can also be present on its own, but in that instance I feel that it can be easily corrected by an intelligent player without need of a guide.
A player may experience spurious pauses inputting into the game. These can range from medically related, to simple as something taking your attention from the game for a time. This form of APM reduction requires the player to improve their awareness. Optimally, if possible, the player should spend as many resources available to reduce this limiting factor. This is something that can be improved when not playing the game, and is likely most effectively improved when not playing.
This guide will deal directly with both causes of low APM without distinction. Throughout this guide the player's deficiency will be referred to as "low apm" regardless of the cause.
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The Races
An excellent starting point is talking about the 3 races available in Starcraft II: Terran, Protoss and Zerg. Selection of your main race is a very important factor for the sake of this guide. I have played hundreds of games with each race, and the breakdown below is based on my personal experience. I will gladly update the guide, and do my own further study, if I receive corrections or good suggestions.
Terran
- Macromanagement
- Suppy - Terran must move the screen to locate an scv(s), move the screen to find a location to build a depot, then the worker(s) rallied back correctly. Management of multiple scvs, rallies and screen positions is required in the mid/lategame.
- Macro-Gimmick - Mules, supply drop and scans require few actions, as command centers can be selected via hotkey usage, and their use is usually at the current screen-state. Timing is unspecific as the abilities have no cooldown or restriction.
- Unit Production - Terran usually has to maintain 3 separate varied sections of unit production. Creation of unit production structures requires the same actions as building supply.
- Upgrades - Terran has 5 common upgrade structures. 3 of the structures would be considered 'essential'. The essential structures can be easily located as their are attached to the unit production structure for which they upgrade.
- Micromagement
- Essential - Nearly all of terran's units gain significant usefulness from specific micro.
- Specific - Marauder/Marine kiting, Medivac drop mic, Banshee kiting, Tank 'leap frog', Thor repair, Tank repair, Reaper, Helion harass.
- Casting/abilities - Terran effectively has the most casting/ability usage, which is also frequently combined with micro. All common terran armies have casting/ability usage as part of their basic play.
- 'Metagame' - Currently terran players tend to favor usage of marine/marauder/medivac along with support of other units. Generally terran players also tend to run fewer bases, or gain expansions later their protoss or zerg opponents. Currently terran players focus much more heavily on harassment techniques more so than the other races.
Protoss
- Macromanagement
- Supply - Protoss must select a probe by hotkey or move the screen to locate, move the screen to the build location, make the building and rally to the correct place.. Mid/late game supply can be managed with a single probe. Protoss frequently builds pylons outside of their base, and often is required to make more than the 'required' number of pylons to compensate for lost pylons.
- Macro-Gimmick - Chronoboost requires the nexus to be selected, and occasionally the screen moved to select the building to chronoboost. Chronoboost also decreases the amount of time before another action must be given to the target building in order to maintain constant production. Timing is unspecific as the ability has no cooldown or restriction.
- Unit Production - Protoss has 3 separate unit production structures. Creation of the structures requires the same actions as building supply. The common protoss unit production structure (warpgate) is automatically hotkeyed to W, but requires location of a pylon/warpprism and a mouse click at a different spot for each unit.
- Upgrades - Protoss has up to 7 upgrade structures, usually using ~3 per game. The structures are independent of the production buildings, and are frequently hidden or spread out since they explicitly denote a tech path.
- Micromagement
- Essential - The basic protoss army has various micro specific actions, but the number of actions and type of actions can vary greatly depending on the strategy used by both the protoss player and their opponent.
- Specific - Blink, Forcefield, Storm, Phoenix, Stalker kiting, DT movement, Void Ray charging.
- Casting/abilities - Protoss has many units with casting/abilities, but the specific usage and number is highly dependent on the strategy used.
- 'Metagame' - Protoss has the widest range of viable strategies to both utilize and minimize APM usage. I have not see a predominant requirement for any specific casting/ability or micro as a general rule of protoss play.
Zerg
- Macromanagement
- Supply - Zerg must select a hatchery, select a larvae, and press the unit button.
- Macro-Gimmick - The zerg queen requires the player to select the queen, locate a hatchery, and perform the spawn larvae action. Timing is very specific as a queen can not spawn larvae on a hatchery that is already spawning larva.
- Unit Production - Zerg has a single unit producing structure, but requires a building to be made to allow production of specific units. Zerg's unit production structures are frequently widely spread out and require more attention paid to rally points.
- Upgrades - Zerg has one structure per unit, except spire units, and evolution chambers for upgrades. Zerg will generally have 3-5 upgrade buildings, plus hatcheries. All zerg upgrade structures, except the evolution chamber and spire, can be considered essential as they are required for unit production and greatly increase the effectiveness of the units they provide access to.
- Creep - Zerg has the option to increase the speed of units and gain map vision by spreading creep. This is done by queen or overlord usage, and requires frequent screen movement and building selection to maintain.
- Micromagement
- Essential - Zerg has few common micro uses for attacking units. Zerg players do have the option to use specific micro actions, but they are relatively rarely used. Zerg players do have to exercise basic over control more units, including overlords, than terran or protoss.
- Specific - Baneling burrow, Roach burrow, Infestor Burrow, Baneling drops, Magic Box, Transfuse,
- Casting/abilities - Zerg has the Queen which is very frequently used, as it is nearly required for macro. Common zerg attacking units do not have abilities unless burrow is researched. Overlord/overseer have abilities to increase map vision, which is required for competent play. Zerg has one offensive caster, the infestor
- 'Metagame' - Zerg is currently viewed as a reactionary race. Zerg strategies tend to revolve around macromanagement more than micromanagement.
Conclusion
I feel that for a player reading this guide, terran is by far the least useful race to concentrate on. Compared to the other races, terran requires the most management of the screen, accurate mouse movement and unit usage. I did spend time researching and attempting to come up with strategies to reduce actions required to use terran at a competent level, but the basic requirements of macro and unit abilities alone made it more difficult to use than protoss or zerg.
Protoss is a race that I think is an acceptable solution. Currently it does not appear that protoss is ever forced to use units that require specific management. Things such as blink stalkers, templar, void rays, phoenix tend to be player-style specific and there are many players who do excellent with only basic unit usage. I feel that protoss macro is sufficiently simple since building production can be managed with a single hotkeyed probe, and unit production is slightly less complicated than terran due to the warpgate mechanic. An issue that I see with protoss is that use of chronoboost increases the number of actions necessary to macro at a competent level, by which I mean constant unit production.
Zerg seems to be the optimal race for the purposes of this guide. Zerg at it's base requires the fewest actions, but requires the most awareness, to optimize play. Queen usage requires the same number of actions as mules or chrono boost, and unit production is greatly simplified by managing and building fewer buildings. Zerg does have perhaps the most action intensive mechanic in the game, that being creep. While creep is essential to competent zerg play, there are a number of very manageable ways to reduce the drain that spreading creep has on actions you have available.
Please be aware that I am in no way trying to claim one race is better than the other! I am only giving my analysis of the benefits and detriments of each race to a specific subset of players. I consider the races to be quite well balanced in play and in the hands of an average person.
Accompanying Analysis: APM
Given a specific game-state there there are 2 considerations relative to user-input: all actions available, and actions that can create an advantage in approaching game-states. Assuming equivalent economy/army size zerg will always have the most available actions, terran the second most and protoss the fewest. I feel this is where people falter when discussing APM as it relates to races. The number of actions available is completely irrelevant! The number of actions that can create an advantage is the only measure that matters, and more so the ratio of actions:advantage gained.
The number of actions that will increase advantage in the current game-state in the vast majority of instances is much larger for terran. Terran requires the most actions for basic economy, and at most game-states has the most optional micro to increase the player's advantage. Not only that but for a randomly selected advantageous action, terran will generally gain a larger advantage than a randomly selected advantageous action for another race. This means that the terran player needs to constantly be executing a series of advantageous actions to maintain a basic level of competence. There is nearly always something a terran player can do to increase his advantage in the very next games-tate. This is very bad for someone who has low APM, as they will generally be unable to keep up with the sequential series of actions required for a basic level of competence.
Zerg has the most actions available at most any given time, but the advantage given by those actions is significantly less than advantageous actions by the other races. Many available actions by zerg are trivial, such as movement or actions by the many available overlords or movement of large clusters of units. Another large portion of advantageous available actions for zerg do not create an advantage in the very next game-state. Things such as overseer use, creep spreading, queen injection, unit production and non-stat unit upgrades. This gives the zerg player time to increase his advantage by executing trivial advantageous actions while the more significant actions propagate. This is very good for someone with low APM as they will be able to executing the occasional major actions without issue, and their deficiency will not as severely limit their advantage.
Protoss is such a weird race when it comes to this type of analysis. The players decision on build and strategy can make their common advantageous actions outrageously important, or sometimes not even having an advantageous action to make! This analysis could easily be broken down to specific protoss unit compositions and resemble analysis of different races.
I will give a visual aide here to make the concept more clear.
I'm going to use a line made of dashes. Each dash will represent a game-state of X seconds. Along the line I will assign a number to an action that occurs in the game-state as a rating of it's importance (NOT the number of actions required!). I'm going to assume for this that over a given amount of time, if played optimally, the races are equal. It's safe to assume that protoss can score on either extreme of the graphs.
Optimal play graphs:
Terran - Basic macro (depots, scvs, cc energy), has to use marines/marauders (kiting movement), then back to macro.
--4--6--4--5--5--5--4--3--7(10)7-5--5----------- = 70
Zerg - Queen injects/unit massing with occasional unit production, has to fend off small aggression, back to macro.
-10--1--1--10--1-2--2--10--777--2--10----------- = 70
Low APM graphs:
Terran - Basic macro (depots, scvs, cc energy), has to use marines/marauders (kiting movement), then back to macro.
--4--------6--------4-----7(10)-----5----------- = 35
Zerg - Queen injects/unit massing with occasional unit production, has to fend off small aggression, back to macro.
-10--------10-------10-----7-7-----10----------- = 54
This should make clear how if a player is stumbling, or acting slowly he can still keep up with the bursts of zerg advantageous actions. When a terran player is in the same situation the sequential nature of many moderately important tasks will put him behind. This also demonstrates how if a low APM zerg player gets behind he can relatively catch up by making effective use of the burst-like mechanic of zerg, where a terran player will be limited by the sequential nature unit production. Protoss also can make use of a burst-like mechanic, as well as using chronoboost to catch up relatively.
I know someone is going to mention how terran has mules, so terran has a burst-like mechanic too. Terran is still limited to sequential production out of all unit production structures. An excess of income will require an excess of unit production structures. That means that in order to use the recovery ability terran has, the player must spend actions on creating new structures, hotkeying them and then using them in a timely manner. Interruptions in the form of attacks, stumbling, bad mechanics etc.. will make this recovery ability almost useless for a limited APM player as they will not be able to meet the demands necessary to make use of the macro recovery mechanic.
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Awareness
Every input into the game is intentional or unintentional. Every intentional input has a premise that is executed without mistake. Unintentional actions may be derived from intention actions executed incorrectly, or by input without premise.
A player with low APM needs to increase the potency of intentional actions, and decrease the incidence of unintentional actions. There are two ways to increase the potency of intentional actions. The first way is strategy, which is the all-encompassing plan that determines the players play. The second way is awareness, which simultaneously increases the effective execution of the player's strategy and the development of the strategy as the game is played.
Awareness is both the information known, and the method the information is obtained. It could be simply stated that awareness is "what you know, and why you know it." I make this distinction beyond the static concept of awareness because in an RTS such as Starcraft II the accuracy of what you are aware of is always as important, and frequently more important, than the sum of your static awareness.
Here is an analogy to perhaps better express the concept as it's being used in this context. You are in your home and you hear a car pass by. The sound is clear and unmuffled. You realize you left the door open early, and due to this you are now aware that the door is open. This is sufficient awareness to make a decision in a static, open information environment. RTS games are constantly changing state as the game is played, so why you have the knowledge is as important, or more important, than the knowledge itself. This is similar to the analogy, except at any moment someone could have closed the door and opened a window. Your perception is still accurate, but your awareness is complete and faulty. This is especially important to the low APM player because they would have wasted actions on checking the door, and still had to use actions to close the window.
My experience has lead me to identify specific facets that both increase awareness and the accuracy of the method used to gain the awareness. I have condensed these down to specific things that the low APM player needs to be concerned with. Every following concept is strengthened by increasing skill in the one before it.
- Self-Awareness - Not "I think therefor I am," but an awareness of your nature. This is multi-tiered and essential to mastery or even increasing your skill in anything
- Emotional - What causes your emotions? What very specific reasons cause you to become angry? What causes elation? What is your non-influenced state of emotion? The ultimate goal is to maintain a clear mind with no undue-emotional influence on your decisions, and very specifically for low APM players your physical ability.
- Physical - How quickly can you move? Do you struggle with precise movement? Is your eyesight good? Is your physical state affected more or less by your emotional state in which circumstances? Once you are aware of your limitations and deficiencies then you are able to correct them, and no earlier.
- Mannerisms and Habits - What things do you do by rote? What things do you do without cause? Eliminate ALL actions without cause and you will free up effort available to actions with a cause.
- Focus - Essentially the ability to avoid distraction and the ability to recover from distraction. Every advance that you make in examination of your self-awareness, the ability to maintain and recover from loss of focus will increase significantly. The greater your focus is, the more powerful increased skill in the following concepts will be.
- Basic game knowledge - Knowledge of unit stats, tech trees and build orders increase the accuracy of your general game-state awareness. Before you can be accurately aware of any aspect of the game, you must know the all the basics of gameplay.
- Game-state awareness - This is "what is happening right now." This can not ever be truly achieved unless you understand all basic aspects of gameplay. I feel that most people confuse this with strategy. Game-state awareness is a combination of what you can see at that moment in
time, and only what could have been done since you last had vision of an area. Strategy the thoughts of why the current game-state exists, and what the next game-state might be. Your game-state awareness never extends beyond a single frame of game time.
- Dynamic game knowledge - This comes from experience directly. Things such as "Will my army beat his?" or "Can he switch tech trees fast enough to cause me difficulty in use of this strategy?" Dynamic game knowledge is very skill-based. Unless you have experienced optimal play in the specific instance being questioned, this is always an incomplete form of awareness.
- Most advantageous action - As was discussed in race selection, depending on your race, it can be extremely important to know which specific action will yield the highest advantage. This can only be determined correctly through completely accurate awareness of all previous forms. You must know what you can emotionally handle, physically execute, are able to legally do in game, and if the action has show to be advantageous in previous conditions against optimal opposition.
I strongly encourage the reader to take these concepts and expand on them by themselves. I also would love to hear input on how they have applied these things to their gameplay. Here are some ways that I've improved these aspects for myself.
I frequently take a moment to simply look at what I have. This information is always available to me, since I can always see the units in my possession. I realized that quite often I wasn't making enough workers, because I didn't know how many workers I had. I often made too few unit producing structures, because I forgot I expanded. Knowing precisely what units and buildings are under my control gives me at least 50% of perfectly accurate game-state knowledge. Even the best players frequently forget this very simple thing.
An extension of basic game knowledge is knowing what specific actions need to take place for you to proceed further in the game. Increasing supply, use of main building/queen energy, worker production, unit producing/allowing structures, and always some sort of unit conflict. I found that I frequently was realizing what I needed to do next at the moment I was physically able to allot an action to the next process. This increases the time between actions as you must take a short time to determine what action needs to be made. The latency can be diminished entirely by having the process determined before the action is ready to be made. There are two ways to go about knowing the next necessary action that I've found to be effective.
The first is a 'mantra', where you out loud repeat the specific needs to yourself. "Workers, supply, units", or whatever you've determined to be applicable in your specific instance. I am very serious about saying it out loud. It makes a very big difference compared to trying to 'think' it. I find that this method allows you to skip necessary things for menial or extravagant things (such as micro), and you will be reminded of the necessity quickly. I find this to be my preferable method when playing Zerg.
The second is becoming adept at separating execution from premise. This means that you are thinking about the next thing while you are doing the current thing. When your sending an SCV to build a supply depot, you're realizing you need to refresh production on your barracks. The more you are aware of your current game-state, the more effectively this can be executed. The next action can only be decided if you are aware of what needs to be done, and what you have to do. I find this method effective for Terran and Protoss.
Something that I feel is quite helpful for Protoss and Zerg players is rehearsal of response. Since Zerg and Protoss are frequently put into reactive positions when playing against other races, action latency is greatly reduced by having mentally rehearsed the response to a stimuli. This is not a situation that can be solved by a mantra or planning ahead for the next action since the information necessary becomes available at the moment the action is required. A combination of all forms of awareness are required to make effective use of this concept. You must know what is possible, what you're capable of, what is happening and if your decision is going to put you in a situation where you can make a decision to make an advantageous action.
For rehearsal of response, we can make a fairly simple example for a protoss player. First he must know what units are strong against marines. Once he has that information, he must know which of those units he can effectively control with low APM. He then must know if or when marines are being made. He has to make sure to make enough of the decided units and put them in the correct position at the correct time. A real gameplay situation would be PvT where the Protoss player is low APM. He scouts and accurately sees that marines are being made heavily (game-state) because of make barracks with reactors (basic game knowledge). He decides to supplement his army with colossus (basic and dynamic game knowledge) instead of templar due to his low APM and difficulty correctly hitting casting keys (self-awareness - physical). He then must determine at what point his army is stronger and attack (dynamic game knowledge). After the battle he must correctly re-evaluate the position without prejudice, as if the last battle never occured (self-awareness - emotional).
A very common way of increasing dynamic game knowledge is watching replays of more skilled players. Watching does not mean blasting through the replay on 8x. It does not even mean watching on Faster. After every potential change in awareness by either player, pause and evaluate. Determine what you feel the best response is, and write it down. When the situation evaluated comes to fruition, compare your note to the out come and correct yourself. If you're not wrong a lot, then you're lying to yourself. At every engagement make note of army sizes, techniques used and outcome. I really mean take not of army size!! Low APM players will be limited on micro so their main advantage has to be knowing when a simple a-move will win the battle. I strongly suggest getting out a ruler and start comparing sizes of armies based solely on on-screen size! I think anyone who tries this will be surprised by how amazingly accurate the statement of, "A 2inch bio-ball on my screen beats a 3" gateway ball". No unit counting required and eyeballing size becomes surprisingly easy. Blizzard has done a very excellent job of making unit size very well related to general unit strength.
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Equipment
Players reading this guide will fall into 3 main categories in relation to equipment: those who need special equipment, those who have bad/faulty equipment, and those who don't need to read this section. This section will cover alternative options for players who can not use standard equipment, and how to make use of the equipment available. SC II as it relates to action input only has 2 components, the mouse and keyboard.
Mouse
The first major concern for every low apm player is the mouse. This is where the large majority of inaccuracies occur, and thusly where the most actions are wasted. There are 3 solutions for decreasing inaccuracies: changing the equipment, improving the equipment and practicing. I'll refer to the mouse as the cursor from now on, since we will be discussing alternatives to the mouse.
Replacing the mouse
The mouse is usually considered the optimal cursor device for most people. I realize there are many, many options and accompanying opinions about what mouse is best so I will only discuss alternatives to the mouse. I'm going to assume for this that you are not so disabled as to require some form of eye or head tracking to control the cursor. If you are, and are playing starcraft, please message me!
- Trackball - Trackballs are the common solution for people who have physical difficulties operating a mouse. The main advantages are that a trackball can be operated without arm movement, and the buttons are independent of the tracking device. For general use trackballs are probably the optimal solution for those with physical difficulties. I spent a good amount of time playing SC II and other games with a trackball and I found some problems with trackballs for video game usage.
The first problem is that to effectively use a trackball, you must use a large number of different muscle groups. Since the trackball is a sphere your fingers/hands must move side to side, diagonally and sometimes up and down. While the trackball can be operated with only a side to side motion, your cursor movement is limited to the area of the surface used to move the trackball. In a video game having to reposition your fingers/hands can increase inaccuracy and delay actions.
The other major issue with the trackball in video game usage is that it constricts vertical movement. Your fingers and hands are very mobile side to side when at rest at a desk. Vertical movement limits movement to the contraction and extension of the fingers, which is both inaccurate and very limited. This requires the arm, hand or fingers to be lifted frequently for frequent or large vertical movements.
Both of the problems can be reduced by increasing the DPI of the mouse, or the sensitivity. Unfortunately that is not viable for reasons that will be discussed below.
- Touchscreen - Ah the touchscreen! Every gamer thinks this will be the ultimate RTS tool since it allows direct interaction with the play field, and accuracy is only limited to your physical prowess. Yep, it does and that's precisely the problem.
I have had the privilege to play SC II on a touchscreen, and I've also played a number of games using an iPad on a very low-latency connection. The touchscreen's two major faults lie with it's two major advantages. Direct interaction with the play field means that while the game is performing an action, their view will be obstructed by their finger/hand/arm. This limits all forms of game awareness and causes spurious pauses in input while the player re-familiarizes themselves with the dynamic environment that was hidden from view. Direct interaction also means that all movement speed is determined by the physical distance between the two actions. A touchscreen large enough to allow easy interaction will also require the player to make large movements between items to be controlled. Distance reduces speed. APM will unnecessarily go down as distance required to move between is increased. This may come at the benefit of increasing accuracy, which would be more beneficial for the average player.
The other major problem with touchscreens is that usage is limited to the physical prowess of the user. Someone who has difficulty operating a mouse will certainly have more difficulty operating a touchscreen in video game. There are a subset of players that would benefit from a touchscreen style environment, but I feel that the first downside of the touchscreen removes it from consideration regardless.
- Tablet - Tablets are essentially touchscreens that allow you to interact with the environment without obstructing view of the screen. I do feel that tablets are a viable option for all gamers.
One of the main advantages of a tablet is that the size can be decided on purchase. If physical movement is an issue a smaller tablet can be purchased, if not then you can get a tablet as large as your screen. Larger sized tablets easily allow 1:1 screen mapping where a specific point on the tablet always corresponds to a specific location on the screen. 1:1 mapping is extremely important so the player can exercise muscle memory and also have a visual cue for movement and cursor placement. Tablets also have much software available for customizing use of the tablet.
There are a few disadvantages to tablets that may make it impossible to reap the benefits of their use. A tablet that is large enough to have advantages beyond a trackpad will take up a lot of deskspace, and will also require improper posture to use the keyboard and navigate the entire tablet. Tablets generally require use of a stylus, and if you have difficulty holding or operating a pen then these difficulties will be transferred to tablet use.
I think all gamers should investigate tablet use at some point. It is not a viable solution for everyone, but it is an excellent solution for certain types of gaming.
- Magic Trackpad - I'm specifically not going to talk about trackpads in general, because I'm pretty sure most agree that trackpads are horrible for gaming. The magic trackpad is a completely different beast and well worth of discussion. Apple-haters, just read what I have to say as if the product was completely generic. It will be worth your time and may give you ideas necessary to find similar or better products.
The concept of a trackpad initially seems ideal for someone who has a physical problem with cursor movement. It has no moving parts that can be mistakenly jostled, the clicking mechanism is separate from the tracking device and a correctly sized trackpad corresponds tactilely to the size of the screen. Sadly most trackpads manage to fail on a number of very important points for video games. They tend to have some or all of these issues: bad tracking, small size, ergonomically incorrect button placement, wrong size and ratio, and likely connected to a laptop. Any one of these issues completely removes a trackpad from the pool of acceptable gaming devices.
The magic trackpad does not suffer from any of these common defects. The tracking is excellent, the surface is large, the buttons are very ergonomic and it can be used with any desktop. Another large benefit is that its use can be extended with third-party applications that allow gesture support and modification of various cursor and surface behaviours. When your system is setup for 1:1 tracking, as discussed below, the magic trackpad has most of the benefits of a touchscreen or tablet without the detriments.
I strongly suggest people who have physical difficulties with cursor control to try a magic trackpad. When properly configured it is an excellent option for any gamer.
None of these suggestions are going to be useful if you do not approach them with a very open mind. Nearly everyone reading this guide has probably used a mouse for over 10-20+ years. Having any expectation of proficiency with a new device is foolish and will only stop you from possibly finding a device that allows you to improve. It's very easy to believe that something is better because of familiarity. Try to make an objective assessment on if mouse usage is a limiting factor in your play. Avoid the trap of thinking that the mouse is the best option because it's the most common and you're most familiar with it. Progress sometimes means leaving behind the things that we are most familiar with.
Configuring the cursor - Tracking
No matter which device you decide to use for gaming it is of little consequence if the cursor does not react in a predictable manner. I strongly advocate configuring low sensitivity and 1:1 tracking for low APM players. Tablet users need to refer to their device's user manual. For other mousing devices, I will cover Windows and OS X separately. If you're playing SC II on Linux let me know, and I'll add a section, as I do know how to use xset to configure optimal mouse settings on linux.
- OS X - Gaming in OS X is a very difficult subject, because OS X has default cursor acceleration. This means that the distance the cursor is moved is related to the speed the mouse is moved and not distance the mouse is moved. Since distance is always easier to acquire into muscle memory, the optimal configuration is to make it so that mouse distance moved corresponds to cursor distance moved at a linear ratio. This is called 1:1 tracking.
There are currently only 2 solutions that work well for this. The first is a program called USB Overdrive. I have done extensive testing and the only setting that gives 1:1 tracking is leaving the acceleration box checked, and reducing the slider to the lowest setting. Sensitivity can be set to taste. The main problem with USB Overdrive is that it does not work with the magic trackpad previously suggested. Not only does it not work to adjust it's tracking, but it does not let the trackpad work at all!
The other option is to use a program like "Kill Mouse Accel" or Mouse PrefPane. These apps will allow you to achieve 1:1 tracking with a single click, and they work with other devices. These programs do not allow setting of the sensitivity, which means your mouse speed will be determined by you mouse's DPI and your mousing surface.
- Windows - An excellent guide has already been written on this subject, so I will not try to rewrite it. http://www.overclock.net/mice/173255-cs-s-mouse-optimization-guide.html
It is quite simple to see if you are configured to have 1:1 tracking. Set an item on the left of your mouse pad and place the mouse's left side directly next to it. Put the cursor on the left side of the screen and from that point move your mouse slowly till the cursor reaches the right edge of the screen. Place an item on the right side of the mouse. Put the cursor back to the left of the screen and the mouse to the left item.
If you are configured for 1:1 tracking, the speed with which you move between these items will not change when the cursor reaches each edge of the screen. If some form of acceleration is enabled, a quick movement will make the cursor reach the right edge way before the mouse reaches the right item.
Configuring the cursor - Sensitivity
Previously it was explained how inaccurate actions reduce effective APM and place a great burden on the low APM player, or are a source of the player's low APM. As the cursor is concerned, the simplest and most effective way to alleviate this issue is to reduce sensitivity. This only applies if 1:1 tracking is configured. If you are playing with any form of acceleration then there is no way to fix your mousing inaccuracies.
Most players with inaccurate mouse movements will overshoot their target. This is manifested by the player always making the incorrect actions, or the player slowing down their play to avoid making incorrect actions. Reduction of sensitivity makes overshooting the target more difficult as the mouse will need to travel a greater distance to do so. A large reduction in sensitivity will cause the player to undershoot the target and make more mistakes initially, but undershooting is much more easily corrected than overshooting.
Think about any simple movement where speed and accuracy are intertwined, and accuracy is more valuable than speed. Something like placing a glass vase on the edge of a table. The quicker the movement used, the more likely the vase will overshoot the edge and have a disastrous result. A slow movement will take more time, but the likelihood of a disastrous result is greatly diminished. This is like comparing two players in SC II who both have the same advantageous action to perform. The player who overshoots the target may make a disadvantageous action and have to correct it before they can perform the advantageous action. Their net result is less than the intended action. The player who takes more time initially, but performs the action correctly will have a net result equivalent to the intended action.
I suggest setting the cursor sensitivity to an uncomfortably low setting assuming you have the room to manipulate the mouse. Trackpad users will need to adjust their settings to optimize the surface area of the trackpad to the screen size.
Keyboard
I have researched and tried some alternative keyboard solutions and they all pale in comparison to the keyboard. I will not be covering alternatives to the keyboard. There is already an excellent guide on keyboard selection and technology, so I will not rewrite that. Keyboard Guide
There is a topic in keyboard discussion that is very important for this discussion, and that is hand placement. Inaccuracy on the keyboard is probably less of a problem for the large majority of people, and with proper technique it can be eliminated. People with physical difficulties will likely find a lot of benefit from this section. It maybe worth reading the section on micro and macro first so that you can relate to the reasons behind these suggestions better, but most players should have no difficulty understanding this section based on their own experiences in game.
There are 4 basic elements to good keyboard mechanics as it relates to SC II: home row, hand position, striking mechanics and movement. These suggestions differ slightly from optimal typing mechanics, but this is due to the type and frequency of commands required by SC II.
- Home Row - Conventional typing teaches that ideally the hands should be placed so the left hand corresponds to asdf, and the right hand corresponds to jkl;. This allows a typist to easily reach the commonly pressed keys with minimal hand movement.
SC II generally only has one hand on the keyboard at a time and only uses a limited set of keys for interaction. SC II, due to the nature of the hotkey system, also disproportionately places important on the number keys since they are referenced more often than any other keys. To optimize action speed and accuracy, as well as reducing movement, it is very important to develop a habit of using a different home row when playing SC II.
SC II has a hotkey system which allows the player to refer to any of their units or buildings by using the number keys. This has the effect of making the number keys disproportionately used compared to any other set of keys on the keyboard. The best home row for SC II will be positioned on the number keys. Which 4 keys depends on the player's specific hoykey usage. The average player will gain the most effective results from a home row of 2345, which will allow quick and accurate usage of keys 1-7. Players who use my suggestions in the micro and macro sections will benefit from a home row of 1234.
It is important that this home row is strictly enforced. The vast majority of time playing should be spent with the hand in this position. Having the hand positioned here will reduce mouse movement required for many screen movements, which reduces mouse inaccuracy, and will give an absolute distance required to be moved for all standard hotkey usage. Think of this as having 1:1 keyboard tracking.
If you are having difficulty adapting to the new home row, I suggest creating some sort of physical marker to be placed on the keyboard similar to the home row markers that exist on most keyboards. A few ideas would be: using a piece of textured tape on the keys, replacing the 2 and 4 keys with your F and J keys, or supergluing a piece of rice to the 2 and/or 4 keys.
I will point out that this will be very beneficial to all players. This is the hand position used by all professional BW/SC II players, and it is optimal for all people regardless of ability. People who have difficulty with spurious pauses will find this to be a very beneficial decrease to the time it takes to "get back in the game" after a pause.
- Striking mechanics - Striking mechanics are how the keys are pressed. This may not seem like something that needs to be explicitly covered, but the angle and arch of the fingers when pressing keys also constricts their movement to varying degrees. Players who have physical difficulties with pressing keys quickly, or using key combinations will be helped by adjusting their striking mechanics.
Normal typing mechanics indicate that the fingers be arched approximately the same as if holding a tennis ball. The palm should be relatively straight and relaxed. This allows the fingers to retract and extend equal distances. This makes sense when the asdfjkl; home row is used, because all common keys are equidistant up and down from the home row. Using this arch of the fingers causes difficulty in SC II because all hotkeys are below the home row of 2345.
The solution for SC II players is to develop a flatter finger arch. The more flat the fingers are, the more distance below the home row that can be achieve by curling the fingers without moving the arm. If the optimal hand position is used, the player can achieve a flat finger arch comfortably. Difficulty with using a flat finger arch is likely related to incorrect hand position.
- Hand Position - How the hand is positioned has a great effect on the efficacy of proper striking mechanics relative to SC II. The hand should be placed with the hypothenar muscles positioned over the ctrl key. The pinky should extend to the 1 or 2 key depending on the home row used. This diagonal hand position allows a flatter finger archer and positions the hand so that curling the fingers better matches the arch of the QAZ keys. It also gives better reach towards the open right side of the keyboard.
- Hand movement - The ideal amount of hand movement is zero. With a flat finger arch, correct home row and the correct hand position, nearly every key is easily available without any movement above the wrist. The exceptions are a few hotkeys that lie on the right hand side of the keyboard. People with physical limitations should use the right hand to access these keys, and the average player should have no difficulty using the their left hand.
Some players will read this and think that means that using the control key is 'off limits' since it requires moving the hand. Incorrect! Firstly I strongly suggest that the shift key be used if at all possible for initial creation of and modifying groups. The pinky can easily hit the shift key on most keyboards without hand movement. The ctrl key can be easily used on most keyboards since correct hand positioning will place the left side of your hand, or hypothenar muscles, directly on the ctrl key. With a flat finger arch it is exceedingly easy to press the ctrl key with your hand and press a number key. This has the effect of leaving the fingers on the home row, and reducing the likelihood of pressing the wrong key when reaching for control. The control key will always be touching the hypothenar muscles if you have proper hand position.
A side effect of this is that one of the most common tasks in SC II, managing hotkeys and unit groups, is achieved by a resting the hand. When the hand is rested, the ctrl key will be pressed and the fingers positioned on the home row of 2345. Players with physical limitations will find this much easier than any other action that requires engaging a large number of muscles to find and press the ctrl key and a number key.
I know there will be some suggestions to use the grid layout. I have spent some time using this, and a good amount of time thinking about it. Grid has the advantage of not requiring use of the right side of the keyboard. Grid unfortunately has a major disadvantage of putting the custom hotkeys 1234 as far as possible from the unit hotkeys zxcv. This requires the user to adjust their finger arch, home row and use both extension and retraction of the fingers. Despite making keyboard navigation simpler, grid layout makes mechanics and accuracy far worse. Most people reading this guide will likely benefit from better mechanics than navigation, so I suggest using the standard layout. This includes right and left hand players.
If there are left-handed players, please let me know and I will include the section written on left-hand positioning.
Everything else
There are a number of other pieces of equipment used when playing SC II. Audio devices like speakers and microphones, the display, the desk, the chair and the lighting of the room are all major concerns. The scope of these things is probably beyond this guide. I did write sections on the display and audio devices, but these did not seem to offer much benefit for the amount of time it would take to read them and the space occupied. If I have requests to address these things I will re-include them in the guide.
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Micromanagement
Micromanagement is using actions to make individual, or small groups of, units do tasks that would not be handled by the AI in a manner which the player intended. Micro requires very high degrees of accuracy, game-state awareness and actions. For someone who is limited in physical ability, accuracy and game-state awareness are within reach of mastery. The actions required to perform optimal micro are likely out of reach for a low APM player, and at the very least will greatly handicap other aspects of his play.
The low APM player really has no reason to consider conventional micro in his play. Simply due to the APM requirement of micro alone it will be impossible to execute at a level that is proportional to the effort put into it. Every play still needs to control their units regardless of their micro ability, so how does the low APM player control their units with some sort of efficiency or skill beyond using the built-in game mechanics?
The simplest and most effective solution is to replace common micro tactics with less action-intensive concepts that still utilize the player's increasing accuracy and game-state awareness. I have been developing an explicit list of substitutions which I will provide here. I strongly encourage suggestions to add to this!
- Hit and Run - This encompasses all forms of micro where a selected group of units is given an attack command, and withdrawn soon after attacking. A single iteration of hit and run is always reasonable for a low APM player. The issue arises when discussing forms of hit and run where the process is repeated, such as kiting. When a hit and run maneuver is repeated, the premise is that the retreating units are faster and/or longer range than the pursuing units.
By attacking and retreating repeatedly, an average competent player can minimize their losses and maximize damage done. A low APM player who performs this type of micro will either perform it badly, thereby reducing or eliminating the benefit, and will come at the severe expensive of other aspects of game play like macro and game-state awareness. The very simple solution to this is to only retreat a single time. Once you have decided to retreat, commit to the retreat and continue focusing on other aspects of the game.
- Multi-Pronged Aggression - Multi-pronged aggression is simultaneously executing two attacks in separate locations. This is difficult to manage for even competent players without greatly harming other aspects of their play to the point where it negates the benefit of the aggression.
A low APM player should not try to attack in two locations at once. Aggression should instead rely on deriving advantages from resources that do not rely on game input. Things such as unit positioning, attack timing, unit composition, attack vector, battle location, retreat paths, and much, much more will allow the low APM player to gain an advantage over his opponent.
- Drops - Drops are using a flying unit that can carry ground units to a specific location and unloading them. Drop micro is specific to race, so I will break it down as such.
- Terran - Terran drop micro involves both frequent loading and unloading of units. Not only are terran units loaded back into the medivac, but the drop usually serves as a distraction or harassment. Terran players with low APM should note the actions and types of actions required for the style of drop before they commit the specific strategy. Low APM terran players should favour drops that have a static result such as: tank drops on cliffs and small suicide aggression. Any form of drop that can be executed and work effectively unattended is preferred.
- Protoss - Protoss drops are very rare so there should be no issue for the low APM player to avoid adding this to their arsenal.
- Zerg - Currently the most effective zerg drop is the baneling drop. This can be automated and does a significant amount of damage relative to the actions used to perform it. To effectively baneling drop: Load banelings into overlords, hotkey overlords, move overlords behind the attack front, click behind the opponents army, hold shift, press D, click each overlord once. The overlords will proceed to their destination while dropping the banelings on the move. Once the overlords are shift-D-clicked, they can be left alone.
Other forms of zerg drops have not yet shown to be particularly effective in higher levels of play, so I suggest avoiding them. If or when a time comes where another type of drop is demonstrated to have high effectiveness for actions used, I will add it here.
- Focus Fire - Focus firing is using a group of units to target a single unit. This micro is not only requires excess actions to perform, but to effectively perform it it requires excellent game-state awareness. Focus fire is a micro that is invaluable to a player with low APM, because it's efficacy relies heavily on game-state awareness and it can be automated. I suggest heavy use of this micro for low APM players.
When in a battle, recognize the opponents units that are low health, box select a group of units in that area, hold shift, click all the low HP units. The selected units will automatically target and killed the units that can be eliminated the quickest. This lowers the DPS output of his army faster than attacking indiscriminately, which gives you an advantage. This also allows you to perform other actions outside the battles such as macro while you're army is performing slightly more optimally in battle that it would otherwise.
There are some caveats to this micro technique. It does not work for all battles depending on the unit composition of the armies. A perceptive opponent can use selective retreating to draw your focused attacking units deeper into the battle to be focused themselves. When units are commanded to attack a specific unit, they frequently will all fire at the same time thereby outputting more damage than is required to actually kill the unit. This is DPS that is wasted and reduces your army's strength. Overkill can be alleviated by only using small selections of units to focus fire.
- Selective Fire - Selective firing is a general form of focus fire. Rather than groups in proximity being selected to attack a specific target, selective firing is using specific types of units to attack a specific target. Selective firing as a micro technique is not recommended for low APM players, since it requires using many more actions than simple good unit positioning requires. Low APM players can achieve similar benefits to selective firing by using good strategic sense before engagements.
- Selective Retreating -Selective retreating is moving damaged units out of the line of fire. This is probably the most action-intensive micro, but also one of the most effective. Low APM players should avoid situations where this is the only method of gaining an advantage in battle. If the battle can not be won, simply retreat.
- Harassment - Harassment encompasses all forms of attack where the intention is to cause damage to the other player without fully engaging their army. The premise behind harassment is that the harassing player's micro is effective enough to cause their opponent a disadvantage without causing a disadvantage to the player themselve. For the low APM player this will never be the case. In a situation where harassment would yield a significant advantage, you should prefer simpler tactics like a single iteration of hit and run.
- Unit Transformations - Unit transformations are when a unit has multiple forms that change their usage in battle. This includes abilities like stim, siege, viking landing, burrow and archon warping. The use of unit transformations is highly situational, and I suggest that you favour static transformations that can be done and left alone. Any unit transformation that will need to be quickly reverted to fully utilize the advantage should be avoided.
- Unit Healing - Unit healing is any micro that causes your units to have more HP after the micro action. This differs for each race.
- Terran - Terran has the easiest healing abilities in the game. Medivacs and SCVs can have their healing ability right-clicked to auto-cast. This allows you to gain the advantage of unit healing without using any actions during battle. Highly recommended for low APM terran players to use unit healing frequently.
- Protoss - Protoss units automatically regenerate their shields. This means that the protoss healing mechanic relies on hit and run or selective retreat. I do not recommend relying on either micro technique to be used solely for healing protoss units.
- Zerg - Zerg has three main healing mechanics: Queens, natural and roach burrow. Queen transfuse is an excellent ability, but the effectiveness per action is highly dependent on the proximity of the queen to the unit, and the strength of the unit. I suggest you only use this on broodlords and ultralisks since the benfit gained from the action is relatively low for other units. Zerg units naturally regenerate health. Like protoss, zerg gains benefit from retreat mechanics. Roach burrow is likely the most action intensive micro, and should be avoided.
- Building Placement - Building placement micro is the act of building structures. This differs for the 3 races.
- Terran - Terran building placement is the most difficult for low APM players. Terran buildings must be placed accurately to allow add-ons, and terran frequently uses buildings to create specific pathing in and around their base. SCVs also must be rallied after the building is placed. This is one of the major reasons I do not recommend terran for low APM players, especially since this applies to creating supply.
An idea for terran players is to hotkey all their units at the beginning of the game to a high number such as 7 or 8. This allows quick selection of an scv so the player only needs to move the screen a single time to place the building. When multiple SVCs are selected and given a build action, only a single scv will respond, and when multiple build orders are given multiple SCVs respond simultaneously. A single click can be given to rally after all buildings are simultaneously placed. This does have the disadvantage of requiring SCVs to be re-hotkeyed in the case of harassment.
A demonstration scenario of how to use this in a game. Game begins, select CC, press S, select SCVs, Click minerals, press shift-7.
When a building needs to be made, center screen on location to be built on, press 7, build hotkey, click building placement, backspace or CC hotkey, shift-click minerals. One SCV will respond to the build action and return to minerals when finished. The other SCVs will continue to mine.
When more than one building needs to be made, center screen on location to be built on, press 7, build hotkey, click building placement, build hotkey, click building placement, backspace or CC hotkey, shift-click minerals. Two SCVs will respond and simultaneously build, then return to minerals when finished. The other SCVs will continue to mine.
- Protoss - Protoss only requires a single unit to create buildings. I do suggest using the "hotkey all workers at beginning of the game" trick for protoss. It allows quick selection of a worker, and allows simultaneous building placement at 2 differing locations.
Since protoss has a unit production building that is indifferent to placement, and does not frequently rely on building placement, there is another method of easily handling building placement. At the beginning of the game, hotkey a single probe. When the first building is made, hit P and click the furthest point on the screen in the base. This makes the unit move back and forth between the initial building placement and location far from the last placement. When the 7 hotkey is pressed twice, the screen will center on the probe and the player can build at the location the screen has centered on. This has the effect of allowing the protoss player to quickly cover their base in power fields without having to rely heavily on screen movement. This also means the probe is always where the building is to be placed, which reduces the time required for a mining probe to goto the building location. This also eliminates the need to use an action to rally the worker back to minerals.
- Zerg - Zerg has the simplest building placement, and fewest buildings made. Nearly all buildings will be made within close proximity of a mining site, and no worker rallying is necessary.
- Building Hotkeying - Building hotkeying is the act of placing buildings into a custom hotkey for easier access. This differs slightly for the 3 races, but there is one commonality. Building hotkeying should always be done with the shift button, and should always be done after a single click on the target building. This does require more actions than other methods, but a large problem with many low APM players is that any mistakes made hotkeying buildings requires a long time to fix. The best solution is to use a method that reduces the chance of errors, even at the cost of increased actions. Redoing building hotkeys is possibly one of the most damaging things for a low APM player to be confronted with.
The best solution for low APM players to hotkey their buildings is the following procedure: click one building, shift-hotkey. It is extremely important that it's done in this order. Some players prefer to double-click, or ctrl-click then use ctrl-hotkey or shift-hotkey, but this will pose problems for the low-apm player. Another major problem that occurs is hitting shift before the building is clicked. It is very important this is done carefully until it is habit! Click, shift-hotkey.
There is one exception to this, described in the protoss section.
- Terran - Terran has the most building hotkeys to be made. It is recommended that barracks, factories, starports and command centers be on separate hotkeys.
- Protoss - Protoss has 4 production facilities, but only 3 need to be hotkeyed. Nexus, stargate and robotics facility should be placed on separate hotkeys. Protoss players should always have a single pylon hotkeyed, using the ctrl key. This allows easy warping in of warpgate units. It is important to use the ctrl-key for hotkeying the pylon so multiple pylons are not added to the group. Multiple pylons will make recall unpredictable. It may be advisable in instances of heavy aagression to begin using the shift-key to hotkey pylons so that destruction of a pylon does not disallow the player from easily moving their screen to the location of a pylon.
Having multiple pylons hotkeyed, always using the shift-key, is a possibility. I have not been able to make this work reliably. I will update the section accordingly if this changes, but for now favouring the ctrl-key for pylons is preferred.
- Zerg - Zerg only needs to hotkey hatcheries. This can be done in multiple ways and is discussed in the macromanagement section.
- Unit Hotkeying - Unit hotkeying is putting units into a hotkey for easier access. Low APM players should embrace "one hotkey syndrome", and rely on box and click control of unit groups. This may seem counterintuitive since box/click control requires more actions and more accuracy than simply having multiple unit groups, but like building hotkeys, having to redo or incorrectly making multiple unit groups is usually far more disadvantageous than relying on box/click control. As you advance, I do suggest slowly splitting up unit groups starting with ground and air units. This really should only occur at the point when you have advanced to the stage where basic harassment is possible without causing disproportionate disadvantages to self. Most low APM players will never honestly make it to this point.
A very major advantage to primarily controlling with a single hotkey and box/click selection is that the player can frequently and easily click their main building hotkey once to bring it into the center information window. Since the player is not using hotkeys for primary control, they can monitor energy and spawn larva constantly throughout the battle. This allows the low APM player to substitute their lack of micro with a hyper-awareness of their macro.
A similar method to building hotkeying is recommended for unit hotkeying with a minor difference. The procedure is: ctrl-click, shift-hotkey. This selects all of the unit type on-screen, then adds it to a group. Ctrl-click is more accurate than boxing, and significantly less action intensive than clicking each unit. Ctrl-clicking will require adding each type of unit to the hotkey.
- Hotkey repair - Hotkey repair is when a hotkey has gains or loses a unit/building incorrectly and the subsequent correction. This is a type of micro and it is common for all players. It is devastating for players who have low APM, since it disallows them from accurately controlling micro or macro actions effectively until it's repaired. Repairing hotkeys takes many actions and screen placements, which makes the time necessary to do it inversely proportionate to the player's APM.
The only solution to this is to not let it happen. A player who suffers from this will greatly advance their gameplay by spending time very carefully, and slowly using the hotkey method described above. Practicing it repeatedly without making mistakes is the only way to correct it, and should be done as slow as necessary to not make the mistake at all. If it is required to completely ignore other all aspects of the game in order to do it slow enough to not make mistakes, it will still be very beneficial to do so. More games will be won with clean hotkeys than will be lost learning to not make mistakes hotkeying.
Micromanagement may seem like something that low APM players should never concern themselves with, but this is only part true. Focusing on improving micro that can be realistically achieved, and not attempting unrealistic forms of micro will allow you to maximize advantageous actions and minimize disadvantageous actions. There are likely many tricks and solutions that I have missed, and I strongly encourage readers of this guide to give suggestions. While I feel that this is the least important section of the guide, it is the most fun section to practice and develop new ideas for.
Macromanagement
Macromanagement is all actions that pertain to creation and improvement of attacking units. Macro can be broken down into 3 main groups: economy, production and upgrades. These 3 facets of macro have many unique and interdependent concepts among them. Nearly all players will gain the largest improvements in skill from improving their macro. Low APM players need to place special focus on macro, since it is a major aspect of gameplay that can be managed very well with low APM. The low APM player will generally be at a great disadvantage when it comes to micro and recovery from various forms of mistakes. The best way to compensate for this is to, as Day[9] excellently puts it, "Just have more stuff." I suggest skipping to the strategy section here, and returning when finished.
It has been demonstrated, and is easily tested, that perfect macro in SC II can be performed with 15-25 APM on a single base with only a mouse. Basic game knowledge combined with hotkeys and various tricks will allow the low APM player to easily have excellent macro ability for 1-3 bases without much difficulty. Basic game knowledge and what specifically defines excellent macro is well beyond the scope of this guide. This section will instead focus on hotkeys and some tricks to increase the low APM players macro efficiency. The 3 races all have very different methods and requirements for macro, so they will be covered separately.
- Terran - As discussed in the race section, terran has the most APM intensive macro. Due to the purely sequential nature of unit production terran players also are more susceptible to suboptimal macro. Terran has mechanics to alleviate the burden of mistakes, but these mechanics all require excess APM. Regardless of this, there are things that can be done to make terran macro acceptable to a low APM player.
I suggest first reading the micro section and looking at building hotkeying and building placement. These methods reduce the actions required to macro by almost half. Not only do they reduce the actions required, but the likelihood of mistakes is reduced as well. Once you are able to maintain control and production of your buildings, almost all that's left is to know what to do with them.
How to hotkey terran buildings is something that I've been unable to come to a conclusion on. It is entirely feasible to 2. CC 3. Barracks 4. Factories 5. Starports. This fits within the 2345 home row, but grows into some difficulty for players who are able to use multiple unit groups. I have experimented with putting all production facilities on a single hotkey, but this method is very difficult in the event of spurious pauses. I think every player should experiment with both options, even in the same game. You can add all your buildings to a single hotkey if using the above layout by pressing 2, shift-6, 3, shift-6, 4, shift-6, 5 shift-6. This at the very least allows interesting options for waypointing.
Terran, like all races, must constantly make sure that supply cap does not occur. Using the terran building placement trick, creation of supply depots is simplified, and creation of simultaneous supply depots in case of emergency is greatly simplified. The primary concern becomes how to not become supply blocked. I would consider this part of what perfect macro is, thereby out of the scope of this guide, but I feel that low APM players may already have difficulty with smooth unit production. A simple way to avoid becoming supply blocked allows the player's macro skill to expand directly proportional to their personal development.
One of the main suggestions may sound like absolutely heresy to the average terran player. Save 50 energy on the command center at all times for supply drop. Based on the premise the low APM players suffer more from paused unit production, this allows the low APM player to avoid pausing unit production during the entire game. There is sound economic logic behind using supply drop rather than a mule as well. When supply cap occurs, unit production is ceased and resources begin to accumulate. Resources that have not been used are essentially units and upgrades that otherwise could be in play. To use these excess resources the player will be required to build more production buildings than can be constantly produced out of given the same income rate. Excess production buildings will also mean that in order to use excess resources that have build up during the supply cap will mean that more supply depots will need to be built in order to support a boost in production when supply is available.
Overall being supply capped has the effect of requiring: an extra SCV making a supply depot, at least one SCV making an excess unit production building and spending resources on at least one excess unit production facility. Assuming making one extra barracks and one extra supply depot, 120 seconds of mining time is lost. 120 seconds of mining time is equivalent to ~80 minerals. The extra supply depot would have been built in optimal macro, but the excess barracks would have not, so that is 150 minerals mispent. Being supply dropped essentially costs ~230 minerals. A mule will increase income by ~240 minerals over it's lifespan. These calculations don't even take into account that time supply blocked is time that new SCVs can't be made to harvest, so mining time lost is likely higher.
A general rule for supply depot timing as terran: if you have less than Command Centers*5 of supply available, make a supply depot. This means that on one base, you would begin making a supply depot 5 supply before you'd be capped, 2 bases you'd begin making a depot 10 supply before cap, and 3 bases would be made 15 supply before becoming capped. Managing this requires good game-state awareness.
- Protoss - Protoss is capable of using the building placement micro described in the micro section. Protoss does require mouse usage and screen movement for warpgates, which presents a problem for low APM players. A benefit of protoss for low APM players is that the chronoboost mechanic is an excellent tool to use excess minerals in case of supply block.
Protoss hotkeys can be easily setup as 2. Nexus 3. Pylon 4. Robotic Facility 5. Stargates. Warpgates are automatically assigned to the W key. A pylon should always be hotkeyed in the main row to allow quick screen placement over a pylon to use warpgates.
Warpgates are a unique aspect to protoss that challenges the low APM player's mouse abilities. Warping in units has 2 aspect that require accuracy and speed, units must be warped inside a power field, and units can not be warped onto each other. Warping can cause difficulty for low APM players, which means that they will often be forced to use excess actions to warp-in a unit. It's important to realize that units can be warped in anywhere inside a power field. They do not need to be warped in next to each other except in specific circumstances. Generally it is easier to specifically warp units around a pylon rather than near a pylon. Warping units at opposing positions reduces overlapping and increases awareness of the power field's location. Warping units in this manner does increase the distance between each warp-in, thereby increasing the time to complete a cycle, but it greatly reduces the chances of needing to repeat an action or missing a warp-in. This habit will also cause an overall increase in mouse accuracy and awareness of power field range.
Protoss has an excellent way to remember when to make pylons. The typical protoss strategy revolves around 4 warpgates, or 3 warpgates and robotics facility. Warpgate units are all 2 supply, and immortals are 4 supply. This means that if one pylon is made every warp-in, the player will generally avoid being supply blocked. If the player also builds a pylon every time they chronoboost, this entirely avoid becoming supply blocked. The player should use their own intelligence when using these zeitgebers to not make too many pylons. The side-effect of using this method is that the player will increasingly become more aware of their supply in order to avoid spending too much on pylons, which will in time help them remember to make enough pylons without the zeitgebers.
Protoss has a unique mechanic called chronoboost. Chronoboost speeds up the production occurring in a building by 50%. This seems like a mechanic that would create a disadvantage for low APM players, because it decreases the amount of time till another action must be made on that building. Low APM players can make use of chronoboost effectively by focusing on using it for upgrades. Upgrades increase the strength of your army with a single action, and generally require multiple chronoboosts to complete. This allows the low APM player to increase the effectiveness of their actions, and avoid using an otherwise advantageous mechanic, chronoboost, to create a disadvantage of idle production facilities.
- Zerg - Zerg is frequently claimed to have the most difficult macro. This maybe the case, but it is certainly not due to the actions required to macro as zerg. It's my opinion that many players decide that zerg requires the most APM since it is the most conceptually and strategically difficult. Players generally will have to compensate for this by using in-game resources to maintain or create advantages. Low APM players can exploit this dynamic of zerg by using their ever-increasing game-state awareness, dynamic game knowledge and focus to avoid making errors in macro that must be corrected or compensated by using actions in game.
Building creation and placement as zerg is a non-issue for low APM players. All units are generated from the hatchery, and only one build needs to be made to allow production of a specific unit. Drones can not be rallied after building production, so building requires no second screen movement or click.
Management of supply as zerg does not require building, but it can be more devastating than the other races to become supply blocked. Low APM players can make use of a unique mechanic of zerg, spawn larva, to make timing overlord creation simple. Larvae spawn every 15 seconds with a max of 3, along with 4 additional every 40 seconds from spawn larva. This comes to an average of about 9 larvae per in game minute. Spawn larvae can be used every 45 seconds assuming one queen per hatchery. Assuming the zerg player is mimicking worker production of a protoss or terran player, ~4 of those larvae per minute will need to be drones. The remaining 5 larvae will take from 5 to 10 supply until the lategame. One overlord gives 8 supply, and in order to meet the average demand of ~10 supply per minute, 1 overlord needs to be made every 45 seconds. When looking through this information it becomes apparent that there is a zeitgeber which corresponds directly to 45 seconds, spawn larva. This means that in general if the player makes one overlord every time that they spawn larva, they will avoid being supply blocked. Since the player will not always have the resources to use all the larva, timing overlords this way becomes significantly more effective. Players who find themselves having difficulty with this can add an additional zeitgeber of building an overlord every time they make a building.
There are a variety of options for hotkeying zerg structures. Zerg really only needs to hotkey a single structure, often multiple times. Zerg also requires quick access to queens. There are 2 main ways I've decided that are acceptable for low APM players.
- The first is 2. Hatcheries 3. Queen 4. Queen 5. Queen etc.. This allows the player to press 33v click hatchery, 44v click hatchery, 55v click hatchery, etc.. to inject larva. This has a major downside that when the player presses the 2 key, they will not see the spawn larvae timer. When selected hatcheries have a grey bar in the center information box that counts down as spawn larvae complete. Multiple hatcheries in the same hotkey obstruct this bar. Players can still observe their queen's energy easily, but this is not as obvious as the spawn larvae progress bar. This method has the advantage that all unit production can be accessed from a single hotkey. When a base has reached worker saturation this can cause issues since the player can not select which hatchery builds which unit, thereby making drone production more action intensive as the game continues.
- The other idea is to hotkey only hatcheries. 2. Hatchery 3. Hatchery 4. Hatchery etc… Queen injections are performed by pressing the hotkey twice, selecting anything near the queen, pressing V and clicking the hatchery. This allows the player to see the spawn larvae bar, and easily delegate unit and worker production on each hatchery. I find that this method also encourages more creative and explicit waypointing, as well as setting up the player to easily manage hidden bases without accidentally giving away it's location via unit production and waypointing. A disadvantage to this is that queens will not be placed in hotkeys. Queens often may end up wandering away after a wayward scouting unit, or accidentally be swept up into a battle near the hatchery.
Using the spawn larva/building overlord timings, most of the time the player will end up with more supply overhead than necessary. It is much easier to see the effects of having too much overhead supply, and not enough minerals than the effects of being supply blocked. You can always not make overlords for a production cycle, but production time lost to supply block is gone forever. This applies to all races!
Zerg has 2 important macro mechanics that are unique in the game, queens and creep. Queens are perhaps considered the most daunting mechanic in the game, and are commonly cited as a major reason for low APM players to stay aware from zerg. Objective study of this shows queens to be an advantageous mechanic for low APM players.
- Queens require the same actions and screen movement as mules, supply drop, and chronoboost. The fact that hatcheries can not have spawn larvae used multiple times means that late larvae injections are larvae that can not be used unless the excess queen energy is spent on an excess hatchery. This has zero effect on the actions required to use queens, and makes the problem purely an awareness issue.
Queens can spawn larva on a hatchery every 45 seconds. If the player is using the individual hatchery hotkeys, there is a bar in the center information window that denotes the time till spawn larva completes. When the player selects a hatchery to make units, this bar will be visible if spawn larva can not be used and not visible if it can. Simply getting into the habit of looking for the spawn larva bar at every opportunity makes timing it simple. It was suggested earlier in the guide that the player has their main building selected as often as possible, and this only reinforces that concept.
If the player is using the single hatchery, multiple queen hotkeys, then as far as I've been able to figure out they have to rely on a sense of timing or frequently checking their queen's energy. I've spent much time trying to find or create a zeitgeber for this, but have been unsuccessful. Suggestions are welcome.
- Creep is really what people should point to when dissuading low APM players from using the race. Creep is spread is directly proportional to the number of actions that have been used, with a few minor exceptions. There are a number of ways to increase the effectiveness of each action used when spreading creep.
- Creep tumours generate creep faster when placed near an edge. If a creep tumor is placed near an edge, the creep that would normally be generated in that direction will instead be spread in the allowable directions. This is very useful when spreading creep to your opponents base. Creep tumors will propagate faster, which means fewer tumours are required for the given effort. An advantage of this is that units generally attempted to find the shortest path between 2 points when moved, which will place them against an edge anytime there is an obstacle or curve.
- Creep tumours ideally are where you units are. Zerg units get to battle optimally on creep, perform in battle optimally on creep, retreat optimally on creep and idle optimally on creep. A low APM player who has began spreading creep early, and is at the very least idle their units at optimal positions on creep, will always have a creep tumour near their units. Whenever the units are on screen, propagating a creep tumour is available.
- Overlords generate creep after the lair. There are lots of tricks to place overlords, or prepare overlords for easy placement to generate creep. I have tried many of these methods and I feel they do not yield sufficient benefits for the actions required. There is an overlord use that doubles the effectiveness of creep tumours though. When a creep tumour is placed on the edge of creep it generates in all directions, even back towards the creep it's on. When a creep tumour is placed on an unconnected piece of creep, it generates in all directions. This is even more apparent when placed near an edge. If the player has time, generating creep on an overlord and placing a creep tumour on it will double the amount of creep generated for that creep tumour. Doing this near an edge will increase the usable creep generated by ~130%.
- Multiple creep tumours in proximity propagate creep faster than a single tumour. This can be done by an initial placement of multiple creep tumours, which I find inefficient, or making extra queens dedicated to the task of spreading creep. Using multiple queens allows the player to have a specific 'creep hotkey' that is static. Queens generate new creep tumours rather than propagate them. This means that the player can focus on the queens easily to spread creep, and use previously unpropagated tumours to spread in different directions or reinforce the forward movement. I highly recommend low APM zerg players get at least 2 queens per hatchery, hotkey the excess queens and use them for only creep spreading. Overtime as the creep spreading instinct and mechanics are developed it can often make sense to include the excess queens into the main unit hotkey, since creep will be spread very graciously and quickly.
Something I feel is very overlooked about creep is that it gives vision, and destruction of it does not lose an in-game resources. A lot of players try to use overlords to get general map vision. Overlords cost resources, are easily harassed and killed, and their placement requires the same actions as propagating a creep tumor. If low APM players focus on using creep to gain general map vision, they will lessen the time lost dealing with overlord harassment, overlord placement and gain the speed and regeneration benefits of creep along with it's vision.
Creep also serves as a very good strategic mechanic. Creep visually denotes territory. Territory and space are very major aspects in every strategic theory that exists. Zerg benefits from this by always knowing what their territory is and explicitly knowing what space they control, along with the other benefits of creep. Protoss and terran do not have this explicit and visual territory marker. Zerg can abuse this by using creep spread as an intimidation factor, or to place doubts into the opponents ideas of what territory they control.
It has been suggested before, but it should be reiterated. The low APM player should always try to have their main building selected. This is most important thing to allow a player to fully realize their current understanding of macro.
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Strategy
The strategy section could be many hundreds of pages. I have a very strong penchant for strategy discussion, and I study in in many forms. I always am looking to improve how I think and discover new ideas while improving the undeniable basics. I suggest everyone who reads this guide embark on this journey for themselves. I will be giving a generalized view of strategy as it applies to the premise of this guide.
If you are not familiar with Day[9], he espouses the idea that having more units is generally better than having the best units. I spent hundreds of games with this idea engrained deeply in my head, and it caused me many problems. I eventually realized that there is an implicit requirement to the concept. It's not only "Just have more stuff", but "Have more stuff, and use it well." This implicit requirement makes this concept nearly impossible to be fully utilized for the low APM player. Using units well will invariably require use of micro techniques that are beyond the scope of the low APM player.
I spent a lot of time thinking, watching replays and reading classic strategy texts. I even turned to watching Day[9] dailies in detail to find a solution to this problem. I eventually realized that the optimal way to deal with the problem was to rely on out-of-game resources instead of in-game resources. This means that instead of focusing on using the units better through various micro techniques, the low APM player should use game-state awareness and dynamic game knowledge to make better unit choices and strategic decisions. Simply making the correct type of units and engaging at an advantageous time in an advantageous position is significantly stronger than the advantage given by most micro.
When I made this realization it dawned on me that the concept of "stuff" doesn't just mean units. It is the combination of all resources available inside and outside of the game, along with many abstract things that can not be measured. The low APM player has very few limitations on resources that exist out of the game, or their ability to recognize and create abstractions. By utilizing the resources with no explicit limitation, the low APM player can have more "stuff" than their opponent despite having less input into the game.
What resources are available in-game can be researched through various resources available online. There is no need to cover them in this guide. Resources that are available out-of-game can be gained by reading generic strategy texts, playing other strategy games, objective review of replays and this guide. This guide has covered what I believe to be the 3 major out of game resources for low APM players that can be easily and greatly improved: awareness, equipment and choices. There exists many more out-of-game resources and it would benefit all players to identify these things and improve or utilize them as much as they can possibly do. Not only are out-of-game resources not limited by the rules of the game, but they can be improved when they player is unable to access the game.
Strategy is about setting yourself apart from the competition. It’s not a matter of being better at what you do – it’s a matter of being different at what you do.
-Michael Porter
Tips and Tricks
This section will include general tips and tricks that may not be applicable to other sections. This will be filled through community suggestions and my own daily experiences.
Conclusion
Hopefully I've shown people that regardless of their ability, it is possible to play Starcraft II at a competent level. It is even possible to play at a high level given enough thought and practice.
This guide took a lot of time to write and research. Not only that, but I am medically unable to work, and I do not receive any federal disability or medical benefits. I do appreciate any donations if this guide has shown to be helpful to you. Please PM me and I will give you the relevant information.
I greatly encourage reader feedback and suggestions. This guide will be revised directly through the contribution of the community.
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Very well written guide! Definitely will send this link to a few of my low-apm friends!
Props to the well done guide!
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You should use[spoilers] [/spoilers] to shorten the entire page while keeping the depth you want.
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Wow thats a really long and good read :D ty for helping out noobs like me :D
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holy shit i think this is the longest post(s) I've ever seen on TL. Congrats, and good job on the guide.
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On October 24 2010 09:02 zomgtossrush wrote:
You should use[spoilers] [/spoilers] to shorten the entire page while keeping the depth you want.
I thought about this most of the morning. The only advantage I could think it would provide is allowing people to easily skip sections. The guide is quite ineffective if sections are skipped since the various concepts are interdependent.
Sections that are read independently also can easily be taken out of context to mean something completely different. Imagine if someone read the "Race" section without reading the introduction!
The guide is quite long as well, so it seems like simply hitting the "end" key on the keyboard quickly bypasses the guide without requiring much scrolling to see the latest posts, or move to the next page.
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Well written. I'm still reading through, but wanted to mention
> "Creep is the simplest healing mechanic. Put your units on creep and they heal. "
All zerg units have regen, its not the creep thats healing them. Exception would be buildings, they lose health if not on creep.
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IMO, you should just make all this into a PDF so it can be downloaded. Seems a bit too long for a forum post.
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I'm a 1500+ toss player and I average in the 50s in intense longer games and in less intense games usually between 35-45 and I still maintain a 58% win percentage so playing with lower (than average) apm is quite doable. I have a lower APM than all of my gold league friends >_<
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On October 24 2010 10:04 febreze wrote:
Well written. I'm still reading through, but wanted to mention
> "Creep is the simplest healing mechanic. Put your units on creep and they heal. "
All zerg units have regen, its not the creep thats healing them. Exception would be buildings, they lose health if not on creep.
Actually I thought you heal faster ON creep than off it?
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Fantastic guide, I agree with your premise that Z takes the least actual APM but the most brains and timing fundamentally.
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Awesome guide:D
On October 24 2010 11:33 ckw wrote:Show nested quote +On October 24 2010 10:04 febreze wrote:
Well written. I'm still reading through, but wanted to mention
> "Creep is the simplest healing mechanic. Put your units on creep and they heal. "
All zerg units have regen, its not the creep thats healing them. Exception would be buildings, they lose health if not on creep.
Actually I thought you heal faster ON creep than off it?
That's WoW 3 Undead, afaik zerg units heal at the same rate no matter what.
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I have only made it half way through, but for what it's worth, it's worth it. Some good little points for people who needed coaxing in what to do in certain situations.
I only average 65-85 APM in games, and im 1670 diamond atm. I spike a LOT higher, but I just can't cross 100 apm average lol. In battles I'm around 200 but then it's back to 60-80.
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Wow, great piece of work you have made here!
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EPT
