5 ms·

A friend of mine started getting involved in the competitive Starcraft scene, and I noticed this tendency while watching him play. I think that any given playe

by mcantor 16y ago

A friend of mine started getting involved in the competitive Starcraft scene, and I noticed this tendency while watching him play. I think that any given player's APM is non-trivially influenced by the numerical "pissing contest" effect; every time I see a video like this it makes me want to see someone get really skilled while maintaining a reasonable APM and mop the floor with everyone else, just to show that it's a silly measurement. EDIT: Full disclosure; I have played Starcraft since it came out in 1996, I possess a so-called "reasonable APM," and my spamming friend with an APM in the triple-digits could wreck me probably without even looking at the screen. I will never forget watching my entire fully-upgraded army somehow crumble impotently against a small, carefully-controlled contingent of foot soldiers at the perimeter of his base. "ur micro is terrible dude, lol" When did I hit the button that turned my guys into papier-mâché?!

hubb 16y ago
a player's APM isn't directly related to their skill, but all the Korean professionals are quite fast (300 and above). there are so many things going on in the game, you really do need that much speed to play professionally and compete
mquander 16y ago
I felt this way until I tried it. The rationalization, which I agree with as well, is that spamming in the early game and keeping up a steady rhythm "warms you up" in a way that makes it easier to maintain that speed when you really need it for micro-intensive portions of the game. So I don't believe it's really a pissing contest for very many players. (Although it's a poor metric.) Also worth considering is that high APM is an unnatural requirement imposed by some limitations particular to SC:BW -- no automining, huge armies but a control group size limit, queued units consume minerals immediately (thus queueing is suboptimal.) In other RTSes without limitations like this, it's much more practical to have a lower APM. For example, in WC3, which has less units on the field at once and less base management, some players have been successful at a near-pro level with only around 60 APM. In SC2, with automining and large control groups, it seems like the best current players are frequently only between 100-150.
- mcantor 16y ago
  Fascinating! I never thought about using spamming as a "warm up" for late-game encounters which actually require triple-digit APMs to play at full effectiveness. Thanks for this post.
- lawn 16y ago
  Note that it's 100-150 apm on SC2's fast setting even though you're actually playing at faster, so the apm is actually higher.
  - mquander 16y ago
    I forgot about that, thank you.
borisk 16y ago
Starcraft came out in 1998 ;)
- mcknz 16y ago
  alpha tester.

by mcantor 16y ago

hubb 16y ago

a player's APM isn't directly related to their skill, but all the Korean professionals are quite fast (300 and above). there are so many things going on in the game, you really do need that much speed to play professionally and compete

mquander 16y ago

I felt this way until I tried it. The rationalization, which I agree with as well, is that spamming in the early game and keeping up a steady rhythm "warms you up" in a way that makes it easier to maintain that speed when you really need it for micro-intensive portions of the game. So I don't believe it's really a pissing contest for very many players. (Although it's a poor metric.) Also worth considering is that high APM is an unnatural requirement imposed by some limitations particular to SC:BW -- no automining, huge armies but a control group size limit, queued units consume minerals immediately (thus queueing is suboptimal.) In other RTSes without limitations like this, it's much more practical to have a lower APM. For example, in WC3, which has less units on the field at once and less base management, some players have been successful at a near-pro level with only around 60 APM. In SC2, with automining and large control groups, it seems like the best current players are frequently only between 100-150.

mcantor 16y ago
Fascinating! I never thought about using spamming as a "warm up" for late-game encounters which actually require triple-digit APMs to play at full effectiveness. Thanks for this post.
lawn 16y ago
Note that it's 100-150 apm on SC2's fast setting even though you're actually playing at faster, so the apm is actually higher.
- mquander 16y ago
  I forgot about that, thank you.

borisk 16y ago

Starcraft came out in 1998 ;)

mcknz 16y ago
alpha tester.