[vyrus]

Hi guys, first off, I'm sure this has been asked countless times, but I don't think I saw a thread on this yet,so here goes.

I'm currently a gold zerg player, the problem I'm having here is that how in the world do I improve my macro skills ? I have read some threads and sure, there's the usual practice, practice, practice. But what do I practise ? Like, are there stuff I should be looking at ? I find myself looking at 2k plus minerals after the 12 minute mark and of course, I don't have a problem spending gas.lol. Do I, as a zerg player make an extra hatch for more units ? or something ? I'm not really sure.

I just need some tips on like what to look out for and stuff of course since this is a thread for macro skills maybe the terran or protoss players could also offer some tips for other terrans or protosses out there who have the same problem. I don't know man.

I'd really like to improve on this issue of mine before I go onto anything else. I feel that if I don't improve on this no amount of sick strategies or cool builds would really be executed correctly.

Thanks for reading through this man.

The replay below might give you guys a clearer picture of my macro abilities. Or rather, the lack of it. XD

http://www.sc2sea.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=159

Tango yankee out.

*Edit : I posted this recent replay of mine in the replay thread, but I figured I might as well post it here to try and get more opinions.

[HDPhoenix]

Basically, if you need a mineral dump, drones and overlords are the best way. But you don't want to touch your hatcheries that you have, cause you are saving your larve for army. Simple, throw down extra hatches (also a mineral dump).

If you are sitting on 2k minerals at the 12 minute mark, it is not an issue to throw down 2 more bases, simply for the gas mining. If you lose them, its not a big deal as losing an expansion with minerals and gas mining.

This of course is assuming you are scouting effectively and know you are safe enough to expand. Anytime you feel safe and in the lead, increase that lead by expanding and getting upgrades and/or tech up

[ZergGirl]

Post a couple of replays, preferably losses and games that went for longer than 15 minutes

MSSphoenix's advice is good too.

Edit*
Ok, I watched your replay on LT - game-play issues aside - You missed a lot of injects, so try and work on that. If you ever find yourself at 3k minerals with no larvae like in that game? just drop down 5 hatcheries. Don't worry about whatever anyone might say, you'll win ^_^.
So!
Synch injects so it's easier to keep track of.
Drop macro hatcheries if you are short on larvae but have minerals (anything over 2k minerals is severe macro hatch time).

[FrenzyPain]

how to improve? watch hdpheonix's vod ^^

[vyrus]

Okay, thanks for the feedback guys! I'll take note of those comments and work on these problems, so how do you guys keep track of larvae injects ? Cos i usually put it together with my creep tumours, the entire process.

I usually notice that I forget about larvae injects when I'm engaging or harassing, my multi-tasking is SO BAD. haha, any other tips on how to improve multi-tasking as well ? I don't know if there are any exercises to address this particular problem. I forget everything when I'm engaging. haha.

But really, thanks for the feedback guys. Hope I'm not asking for too much but keep them coming please ? Would like to get as many opinions as I possible so I can try all the methods and see which one works best for me. Thank you !

[HDPhoenix]

You should tune into my newbie Tuesday show. I figure alot of the questions you are asking is what many ask themselves as well.

http://www.sc2sea.com/showthread.php?t=533

[ZergGirl]

@Vyrus

Just be mindful of injects during a fight. If you don't think you can keep on-top of it, just inject before you go and attack At least you'll have some reinforcement larvae waiting.

[ZoomDog]

Originally Posted by ZergGirl

Just be mindful of injects during a fight. If you don't think you can keep on-top of it, just inject before you go and attack

I've heard that at lower levels, you can be better off just a-moving your army and not even watching the battle; making sure your larve injects, supply and unit production is maintained is much more important than the bits of micro you can do with your army.

Macro is 90% of the game until Diamond league, it's better to get that downpat before worrying about micro.
(Easier said than done of course; I still like to watch my battles, just because they look so damn cool. :P)

[tin]

just make a mental check list and i guess just spend that money on anything really.
mines something like im protoss but

probes, pylons, production, chrono boost, upgrades i know there should be more but thats what im focusing on atm, i guess zerg would be like more harder overlords lava inject am i spreading creep should i make drones or should i make units and upgrades zerg has a ton of upgrades. so what i guess im saying is just be mindful of what you need to do and then just repeat it to you self as you play.

[ZergGirl]

Originally Posted by ZoomDog

I've heard that at lower levels, you can be better off just a-moving your army and not even watching the battle; making sure your larve injects, supply and unit production is maintained is much more important than the bits of micro you can do with your army.

Macro is 90% of the game until Diamond league, it's better to get that downpat before worrying about micro.
(Easier said than done of course; I still like to watch my battles, just because they look so damn cool. :P)

Yah I'm a believer in that, except I watched his replay

Vyrus has good drone production, injects are good until he fights. I'd say he has the 'basing' down, except for re-creeeping after it's been destroyed :P
Just has too high of an income while spending it on cheap units, if lings are your main attack force (with blings sprinkled in) definitely more hatches.
Upgrade, tech etc etc.

More replays if you want more specific advice

[PiG]

Take every expo on the map, don't worry about missed injects too much, even the top koreans cant keep their queens energy at 0 if theres fighting going on.

If you're going a ling based army then definitely throw down a macro hatch at the same time as your 3rd goes up. Once you're on 5+ hatchs dont worry about your injects too much, just do it when u have spare time.

I disagree with the idea that u should look away from the fight and just macro! You need to learn which fights need your attention and which don't. If you A move your army at a terran army and he pulls back his marines. Your banelings are going to be completely useless on spread out tanks and marauders. However the moment those marines are dead and your mutas come in to clean up, that's the moment to A move and start macroing again.

This just takes time, but also understanding of the game. If you understand how all 3 races work you can tell from your scouting what build your opponent is going and usually guess what sort of attacks he will send that are intended to be deadly. You don't want to be overreacting to 1 helion harassing you by pumping out roaches and microing them when it's just a scout. In the meantime there could be 2 port banshee headed your way.

My key advice would be to play a bit of all races, study the most common builds in the meta-game and scout heavily so that you are in control, and not being distracted from macro at unnecessary moments. Oh and also what's with your apm at the start, if you can spam that fast whilst going over the possibilities of that match-up then keep doing it. However for most of us non-progamers its hard to think whilst maintaining 400 apm. Wait till you're at higher levels before spamming :P.

- one of kerrigans master league cerebrate-whores.

[PiG]

Oh i just watched the end of the replay... u so had this game but u just screwed a few magic box's (Please tell me you know what that is! If not you need to learn it asap to use muta vs terran!!). Also once the marines were dead u'd suicide a good chunk of banes onto thors each fight.

Also after u won each battle u coulda flown into his main and started messing up his production, once u get the control of magic box muta down you shouldnt be afraid to fly them right near your opponent and getting above his production right after winning a battle is often how you beat a terran with mutaling.