As a frequent visitor to TL.net, I want to give something back to the community, which has constantly provided me with information and was helpful in any way. Props to TL.net!
This guide is rather for beginners and focusses on the mechanics a Terran player must be proficient in, if he wants to keep up with the other races. Although I mainly aim for beginners, this might be interesting for more advanced players as well.
1. The problems with APM and mechanics
Terran players are a rather rare species outside of Korea. If I was to guess how many percent of all the foreign players are playing Terrans, I’d say it’s not more than 25 %. TL.net does have slighty more Terran users, but I consider TL.net a pretty skilled community anyways and I’m convinced, that in general, Terran is the least played race.
Now how come only a few people are playing Terran? I think it’s related to the mechanics and high APM required. Don’t get me wrong, the other races require skill as well, but I think they’re more challenging in a tactical way, than in a mechanical. The fact, that Terran requires quite a lot of APM is detering a lot of beginners and even intermediate players from using them.
1.1 TvZ as the modelcase
TvZ in particular, is commonly known as the most challenging matchup concerning Terran mechanics.
This, because Terrans have to play a very infantry-heavy style of play, which requires a lot of micro and troop control and further more requires a good macro, because of the rather short building time of Terran infantry. This is not all yet, since you have to multitask very well, because multiple attacks at several expos and using dropships is a absolute must to hold a competent Zerg down. Therefore, everything I write is in regards of this matchup, although it can as well be used for the other two matchups.
What I want to do is giving beginners and intermediate players a guide to help them get their mechanics straight and increase their speed, so they won’t give up the race simply because they’re overstrained.
2. How set the stage to increase your speed
How do I increase my speed? This is one of the most frequent classical questions and I think there’s a simple answer to it. I absoultely believe, that everyone is capable of reaching about 200 – 250 APM without much trying. How to achieve this is easy to say, but not quite as easy to achieve:
2.1 Awareness
I’m convinced that it’s all about awareness in the end. At any point of the game, you have to be absolutely aware of what you’re doing and what you’re supposed to do next. You have to keep those things in your mind literally every second. Also, you have to focus on improving your multitasking and execution, but don't mistake this with spamming, it's not the same. Don’t just play and see what comes, you have to know what you’re supposed to do! As an example, I try to list a couple of things you should be constantly keeping in your mind:
- Build Order
- Strategy and timing i.g. (i.e. defending vs Muta, pressuring, expo hunting with Dropships)
- Supply production (hitting the supply limit is going to mess your macro up severely)
- SCV production (keep the production upright until you have 2 SCVs per mineral patch)
- Troop production (for our level of play, I recommend to queue two units, if possible)
- Teching
- Unit hotkeying
This is the hard part of the game, the execution of the things you’re supposed to do is not hard to pull off at all. Don’t try to be fast for the sake of being fast. It won’t help you sh*t, if you’re capable of spamming hotkeys and mouseclicks. It’s important, that you spend your APM on completing the tasks you have to accomplish.
2.2 Hotkeys, shortkeys and F-Keys
The way to converse your awareness into the game are hotkeys, shortkeys and F-Keys. They are your instrument to get the things done quickly and comfortably. If you want to multitask effectively, there’s no way around using those keys. Your mouse should only be used to give commands and micro single units, not to select entire groups of troops.
Hotkeys:
Hotkeys help you to maneuver over the map, build troops from buildings and most important, they help you control your units. Hotkeys are a absolute must for a Terran user. If you look at replays of good players (semi-pro and pro), you’ll notice, that around 40% – 50% of their APM come from hotkeys.
To set a hotkey, simply select the building or units (remember, you can add new units to existing groups by holding SHIFT down), press CTRL + a number from 1-0 and from there on, you can select the unit by simply pressing the assigned hotkey.
Shortkeys:
Those are Brood War’s shortcuts for buildings and units. You have to learn those by heart, as your mouse should be used for other things than clicking around in the interface.
F2-F4:
By pressing SHIFT + an F-Key from F2 – F4, you set a centre point. You now can re-center your screen on the center-point by pressing the assigned F-Key. These keys are needed, since you don’t have enough hotkeys to bind your buildings and troops to.
Here, I present my method of using those keys:
Early game (until you push out with your MMF force to pressurise):
Hotkeys:
1 Command Center
2 Scouting SCV
3 Small Marine force at your choke
4 Barracks
5 Barracks
6 SCV to build the expo
9 Comsat
0 Comsat
Mid-Game / Late Game (vs Muta-Harrass, vs Lurker/Zergling/Defiler and to hunt expos)
Hotkeys:
1 Medics
2 Firebats
3 Marines
4 Marines
5 Marines
6 Tanks (if you use them)
7 Science Vessels
8 Dropship
9 Dropship
F-Keys:
F2 Centered above barracks
F3 Centered above factories
F4 Centered above starports
3. Practice
3.1 Awareness
There are several things that can help you keeping the important things in mind:
- Some players like to watch their supply count and build/train their stuff accordingly. I think this is
a good thing to do when you’re in the earlier stages of the game, but I don’t think it’s wise to stick
to the supply count further than 35-40 psi.
- Create some sticky notes with the most important tasks written on them and put them on the
monitor frame. This is a good idea, although you should make sure that after a while, you will be able
to keep track of your tasks without it. Don’t rely on it to heavily, your goal is to do it without the
stickies.
- Have somebody watching and reminding you, while you play (I heard some TL-users force their little brother/sister to remind them ).
3.2 Hotkeys, Shortkeys and F-Keys
Here too, there are several possibilites to get accustomed to hotkeys. These are just examples:
- Open a text-editor, close your eyes and try to accurately press the hotkeys. This way, you can see
whether you misspressed any hotkeys.
- Open up a game vs a computer and close his slot, when the countdown starts. Then proceed to play normally and focus on hotkeys especially. If you feel that you have learnt the keys properly, you can add a computer, later maybe even two of them.
Note: It is really important that you force yourself to use hotkeys, where it’s needed. You have to shake your old habit to become faster.
Hope this helps, thank you for reading.
EDIT: Forgot to mention the comsat binds for early game and included skyglow1's remark, that you have to actively focus on improving. Thx to infinity21 and skyglow1 for the complemental information.