[breadfan]

My APM is around 40, sometimes up to 50. I don't really spam click at all, and so far it's not really a problem up to 2 bases, so I haven't really given it any thought. But it's at the stage where it hasn't really moved from about the time I was high bronze until now when I am perhaps on the verge of gold. It's really hurting me in macro games on multiple bases, especially when it comes to unit upgrades (it's pretty easy to keep unit production strong, but upgrades fall by the wayside) - I'll upload a replay when I get home from work this evening of a 200/200 army production as an example

I played some 2v2 with my friend yesterday, and I was shocked to see that he had the same APM as me.

He is terrible.

+ [How terrible?] +

One game I checked a replay to see why he only had 40 supply worth of army at 15 minutes when I was around 120-150, and realised he had been rallying SCVs to his gas. He had 18 SCVs queued at his refinery and only 7 or 8 mining.

We both had about 40APM

Just about every game these days, I see an opponent with higher APM - normally ranging between 60-80. Since it's a hurdle that many other low leaguers have crossed, I'm looking for some advice - how did you increase your APM?

[Satu]

Ok, so first, I need know that you understand why APM is important. It is accepted by some that the higher your APM, the more you can get done in a game than your opponents, therefore you're more likely to win. However, this is only true for efficient APM, if you have 200 APM but thats only because you scroll through F1 hotkeys and spam your control groups every couple of seconds, then you're not any more likely to win games.

Anyway, in answering your question, the easiest way I found to increase APM was to play a lot of games and concentrate on as many different things as possible. Of course, this is the easiest way of increasing your APM while still having it efficient, but some people argue that its better to spam heaps with APM, get your hands to the point where they have the ability to move at 200 APM, and then go on to make it more efficient. But, having done martial arts in the past, I see that its more important to focus on technique and slowly develop speed, due to the same concept of efficiency.

Oh, and on a side note, dont believe what the replays tell you. Blizzard has reduced the APM counter showing in replays drastically, to the point where I think its about half what your APM actually is... Basically my APM that shows in recent replays is the same as when I was in silver league lol

[PiG]

A common question that helps answer your question is: 'Why is do pros spam?'

Basically pros spam so that they can be faster. By spamming click and hotkeys all the time they train their fingers to be able to do these actions very very quickly and gain the muscle-memory to do so without conscious thought.

Imagine when you first learn to play tennis. You swing the racket awkwardly and have to consciously think about the movement you are trying to make. Once you have trained hitting balls many many times though it comes naturally and all you need to think about is where you want to hit the ball and perhaps how to get to it; the movement of your arm comes as second nature to you.

This is the same goal as with 'spamming' in sc2. Now don't just aim to smack the keys as hard and fast as you can, try to be decisive and organised, for instance early in a game I will swap between scouting drone, scouting overlords and my main hatchery to make sure I don't miss anything that's going on. Also whenever controlling a unit I will spam right click as I move my mouse around.

Once spamming right-click becomes second nature then what happens is your brain no longer even processes the clicking, you only think about where you want your unit to move and accordingly move your whole hand to guide the mouse cursor to this position; the finger clicks automatically and so doesn't slow you down or tire you out (as many players think spamming does). This way guiding your units in micro becomes a fluid guiding of them with your hand movements and so you can adjust and change direction very quickly.

Quick Comments

	Satu:	Never considered the whole muscle memory part! Maybe its because my keyboard is attached to my hands 90% of the time...
	QEDFridge:
	QEDJenkins:
	SLCN.NXZ:	Exactly, good comparison too

[QEDFridge]

Hi Breadfan,

It sounds to me like its a macro issue rather than an issue of APM.

As you know, APM stands for actions per minute, and while a higher amount of actions per minute would help somebodies macro, you have to use it for macro for it to be in any way effective.

I noticed you mentioned missed upgrades as a direct outcome of bad apm. Again, this is a macro and a mental checklist issue.

Now while I am no macro god, It sounds to me like you just need to work on your mechanics and your APM will follow naturally as your mechanics increase.

Have you watched all the day9 dailies on mechanics and thought process?

Cheers,
Fridge

Quick Comments

	PiG:	Listen to what this guy says!
	QEDJenkins:	wise man he must have a massive beard!

[breadfan]

@TheFridgeMaster
I have watched those dailies, and I definitely think that's a part of it. I really have no point at which I think "ok, units queued, SCVs queued, scouting going, time to upgrade" and I need to fix that - thanks, I'll put some work into that tonight

@PiG
Thanks, that's an excellent way to put it. The concept is a very familiar one having played sports all my life, I just hadn't applied it to SC2 (it's not something anyone is ever critical of in a player like Sjow, for example - they just say he is "efficient" which to me sounds "good"), thanks for that

@SatuSPR
Basically, I feel that until a certain point, my low APM is fine, as I am able to maintain production. When I get to 3 bases, I find that I do have a hard time spending all my money, and it's a limitation. It's not that I look at people doing more and think this means they are more successful (I'm winning lots against people with sometimes double my APM, so I don't think I'm misled). I actually only just started playing this season, since the nerf to APM so I'm not comparing it to how it was before, for example - only to my opponents and what the GM Manual suggests as the target of 60+ APM post-change.

My concern is more that I am playing lots and it's not going up. I'm getting better at everything else, but this number doesn't really go anywhere.

[ZergGirl]

sc2gears, use it.


https://sites.google.com/site/sc2gears/

[neon]

I think perhaps SC2 Gears replay analysis might help show your actual APM (not sure how correct it is).

I get around 50-55 in game sometimes 60-70 but SC2 Gears shows it around 140, this also shows 'effective apm' which i'm not 100% sure of but I'm around 100 for that.

and with upgrades and such just make sure to hotkey your engineering bays and ensure to check them along with scv/production building cycles (ensuring to have things building as much as possible).

Quick Comments

ZergGirl:

[ZergGirl]

Neon stole my bit, I was getting around to adding more. What a thieving Cherg!

[breadfan]

Thanks heaps all,

Checking out sc2gears and it looks pretty impressive. can't wait to give it a whirl

[QEDFridge]

Its very handy for overall statistics on play.

[Cordance]

Firstly are you using two hands? Hotkeys ... use them if your not already. Secondly do you touch type. You dont need to be a master but you need to know where the keys are if your touch typing speed is around 30-40 apm you basically just need to practice using the keyboard more. If you have a typing speed of 140 then you have the speed just need to start applying it.

I do believe the best way to improve your APM is to know what your doing before you do it. A question to ask yourself. How often do you find yourself wondering what you should be looking at. As Pig was saying muscle memory cycling though your production via hot keys you will know naturally what you need to build. Try to practice thinking about what you need well doing stuff you already have to do. Work out what type of offensive units to build well you are building workers. So you know what key to hit when you cycle to your production facilities.

As far as macro do you increase your production as you expand are you increasing it enough or are you having down time on each production facility. Something a lot of people dont think about is when your one basing into an expand you actually have enough left over for an extra production building that would take the place of your expand. When you have two base you can use the extra money as a production building when you have 3+ base you simply might not have enough or enough of what you need. For example having 3 factories but you need 3 starports because of what you want to produce. Your money is building up not because your not using your bases but because your not using your economy enough. Also dont be scared to dump some extra money into production facilities from time to time, you might not need the extra units when you hit 200 but you might need it after your armies wipe each other out.

[mGGSouth]

One rather useless tip, when spamming early game do some control practise like making sure you can box perfectly from all directions and stuff.

Quick Comments

PiG:

acually a good point.

[breadfan]

I don't touchtype but I type around 90-100wpm with solid accuracy without looking so keyboard speed isn't a problem.

I do use hotkeys and I think I have a pretty good handle on two handed play. This includes control grouping, using hotkeys for everything (admittedly I haven't mastered all hotkeys - I don't know the upgrades on armoury by heart yet... I just know (think) that they are E&V, S&P - it's what I'm working on), shift-adding units to control groups, splitting my army across multiple hotkeys, making use of waypoints, etc

I don't actually use the Fkeys at all though - I should look into this

So I'm having a play with SC2 gears and I love the way I can visualise my game... But I don't really know what value I get out if it.

+ [Results] +

APM: 72
eAPM: 62
Redundancy: 12%
Micro APM: 30
Macro APM: 42

Can I look at this and say "this is reasonable for a gold player"? (I'm silver but obviously I'm trying to get into gold, so of course my goal is to play gold standard)

Watching the replay, I didn't get supply blocked (I actually hit the cap once for under 1 second - not counting it!)

There were 3 or 4 times my minerals breached 500, but I got them back down quick - up until I was maxed and then they started flying up. This is on 3 bases, one of them gold. It's not perfect, but I think spending money is not my *main* issue.

Of course, the difference is this was a single player very standard build - no enemy attacking to worry about, no map positioning, no harassments, and nothing to scout and change my composition, so slip ups will happen more in a real match

[ZergGirl]

Mafia, 26 minute game.

APM: 227
EAPM: 163
Redundancy: 28%
Micro apm: 135
Macro APM: 91

Me, 18 minute game.
APM: 199
EAPM: 124
Redundancy: 35%
Micro APM: 129
Macro APM: 62


ZvP, I just picked two recentish replays.
He is obviously GM and I am plat/diamond.

I hope it helps a bit. (I'd say you are on target)

[breadfan]

Thanks ZergGirl!

I'll keep monitoring my progress I guess

[Malik]

just my 2cents as well try not to focus on apm rather focus on wat you are doing and wat u are not doing by that i mean is ur money getting too high are u get ur upgrades at the right times, are u expanding at the right times and can you do this while being pressured (this is when it gets hard as you have to resist the urge to soley micro ur units to kill enemies but also to make more so u can continue too kill them enemies).

try by setting small goals but dont be disappointed if you dont get them dead on e.g. i wont let my money get too high or i will be constantly injecting, muleing or chronoing if it is not 100% dw about it focus rather on getting these smoother and you will find ur apm will improve as you train urself to do the actions and as a result you dont have to think what to do you just know what to do as well as ability to execute it without thinking (refer to what pig was sayng previously he is 100% correct rememeber humans cant walk or talk when their born it is a taught skill y should anything else be different).

[Statix]

if you want to feel really good get the multi task trainer out i do 150 and im bronze. In games im around 50-70

[entropyvx]

APM in my opinion doesn't really matter. Day9 did a good video on efficient clicks (can't remember which one) He was purposely playing slowly but just REMEMBERING to do everything he needed to do. APM will help you out a lot in your multitasking in say, Diamond and above. But you should be able to get from Bronze to Platinum with efficient clicks, never getting supply blocked, always building workers and A moving your whole army.

I probably only have an average of 50 apm in all my games and that has taken me from low Bronze to high Gold in just this season.

Probes and pylons!

[entropyvx]

Just thought of a neat program that someone should write, a really annoying alarm that goes off, if your minerals get above 500

Quick Comments

PiG:

haha that would be nice! Unfortunately there's alot of situations where you should be getting over 500 minerals cos you're focusing on more important stuff! After a big attack if you don't have over 500 minerals then why werent you microing!!

[TADivinity]

Honestly, just focus on learning the game.
I have personally found that when I realise I have a lot to do, I play a lot faster.

At your level learning what you need to do will benefit in both winning games even with a Low APM. Speed comes naturally