You Starcraft players out there... [Archive]

View Full Version : You Starcraft players out there...

macbwizard

Oct 10, 2005, 05:09 PM

Does anyone know of an APM (actions per minute) calculator for Starcraft on Mac OS X. Lots of programs like this exist for windows (bwchart for example) but I have yet to find one for mac. Thanks

-MacBWizard

jared_kipe

Oct 10, 2005, 06:11 PM

xparaparafreakx

Oct 10, 2005, 06:34 PM

I played SC since the beginning but never heard of APM

macbwizard

Oct 10, 2005, 06:43 PM

So what is APM, otherwise known as Actions Per Minute? Basically, it’s the game-wide collective number of all your clicks and button presses, averaged into a per minute number. Ever since the release of Brood War Chart by French programmer JCA, APM has been the golden standard for players to judge another players skill. Many times when I play I get asked questions such as “what’s your APM?” If I’m talking with someone about a certain player, the subject of their APM will almost certainly come up in the conversation. If you think about it, APM is a justifiable method for judging a players speed, but perhaps not necessarily skill.
-from here (http://www.sclegacy.com/strategy/mental/nibsley_apm.php)

joecool85

Oct 10, 2005, 08:15 PM

I played SC since the beginning but never heard of APM

Same here. I was actually just playing yesterday.

capsLOCK

Oct 10, 2005, 08:34 PM

jared_kipe

Oct 10, 2005, 09:23 PM

I beleive it measures how many actions (ex: move a guy, create a building, train a marine, ect.) you do per minute. The theory is, the more APM you do, you are generally a better player (obviously this depends). I think I saw somewhere that most really good players have around 110 APM, but I'm not sure.
110 clicks or actions per minute is pretty insane, you must just be clicking all around looking at crap all the time. If youre truly good, then you should know exactly what you're doing before you do it and not have to click more than once every 5 seconds or more in the beginning.

xelterran

Oct 11, 2005, 02:37 AM

woot an apm thread!

APM is a measurement of how many actions-per-minute you make in a replay. You need BWChart from http://www.bwchart.com unfortunatly no one has ported it to mac yet . .

110 is pretty average, many top Korean players have 240 - 450+apm (average).

Palad1

Oct 11, 2005, 03:20 AM

If you want to do any kind of micromanagement you have to click on each little guy (zerglings) like crazy. Wait for a zerg in a pack to get attacked by a group, send the pack in, move the zergling out, rinse, repeat...

RedTomato

Oct 11, 2005, 03:38 AM

Had a quick look at the website.

Says most 'actions' are actually hotkey presses / keyboard shortcuts, so yeah I guess you could do 400+ per minute.

tho it says any more than 150 -200 per minute are usually wasted effort, and unneccessary. I suppose thats the average number. I could see a peak being 400 at tense moments, but not right through a game!

Dude, its just a game! (oh...) why am I sarting to feel that some modern computer games need a PhD to play well??

For a MMORPG, to become an 'expert' the amount of information you need to absorb probably isn't far off a undergrad degree....

I know which skillset I'd rather aquire....

RedTomato

Dagless

Oct 11, 2005, 04:19 AM

I know which skillset I'd rather aquire....

RedTomato

i'd like a RedTomato skillset too :(

HiRez

Oct 11, 2005, 06:05 AM

450 per minute is 7.5 per second, how is that possible? If I were a carpal-tunnel surgeon I would scour the top competitive Starcraft player list and spam for patients!

Palad1

Oct 11, 2005, 07:15 AM

I think 450 apm is peak performance, it's hardly sustainable.

trailblazer

Oct 11, 2005, 08:54 AM

I've read about a couple paid pro's who make about 6 moves a second.

steelfist

Oct 11, 2005, 10:32 AM

making 400 aps by moving zerglings around the hachary is very productive :rolleyes: seriously. it really depends on what you do with your units too. there are such things as STRATEGIES that help, not by actions alone. APS just increases the poetential productivity of the gamer, but nobody can make use of it perfectly.

i think its a stupid competition and evaluation. Ladders are a lot more accurate. :rolleyes:

RedTomato

Oct 11, 2005, 12:01 PM

i'd like a RedTomato skillset too :(

Hmm, how about a RedTomato skillet?

Sorry, they're all sold out. How about a RedTomato Casserole (http://www.kitchenkapers.com/le-creuset-petite-red-tomato-casserole.html) ?

cheers

RedTomato

OLD ELPASO

Oct 11, 2005, 11:48 PM

Well these Starcraft guys must have some insane micro. I just played some Zero Hour online at my friends PC, holy crap those guys have insane micros.... They could take all starcraft players to school