Good at tactics and macro, bad at hotkeys..

Hi All,

I'm a silver/gold player and I think I have a good understanding of the game and I've developed myself into a reasonable Tossplayer. I always play with my son (11y) and now he's ahead of me in speed using hotkeys. I notice this also when I play silver matches, I'm able to win mostly because I use a better tactic or spend my resouces better. But if I look at the other players I'm mostly just behind them in units. Early rushes for me is killing this way. I''m trying to improve by using and practicing BO's over and over, and also try a lot of stuff going on on Day9 etc.
I do everything right except to slow, and I'm not really improving as my apm sticks at around 40/50.
So it makes me a good captain but i want be better and faster, but my fingers won't do it. And if I'm hotkeying fast enough I'm too busy doing that instead of battling. What I tried to do is make sure I spend as much resources as I can and keep macroing while in a battle. But I allways end up with lots of resources, spending about 80 seconds in a battle gives me about 3000 mins and 2000 gas unspend. So I'm just not quick enough I think. In this case they will have units instead of resources.

Where do I need to improve more on if I wanted to get better at using hotkeys?
I will upload a replay tonight>

(maybe will do a oldskool typing course)

 

I hate following Build Orders... I'd rather do it my own way

 

I don't Hotkey either, I just use Macro and Strategy, does affect my Reinforcements though. Just couldn't be arsed getting used to them, doing fine without them, it's not like I'm looking to become diamond or pro, I'm happier playing away at the lower leagues, the higher leagues are too competitive, most people only play in that league to level up and practice with other higher league friends, I like playing and praticing on the ladder, more fun.

 

There is absolutely no harm is following someone elses build orders. Build orders are what help you set up into the mid and late game. Without a build order, you're doing things "blindly". Hotkeys are a definite must have as StarCraft2 is a real time strategy game and without speed you will pretty much lose out in terms of everything. Sure your tactics might be solid but if your up against a "turtle" player I bet he would reach 200/200 supply way faster than you and be able to win you outright in terms of army size.

Even if your into casual play hotkeys will certainly help you get better =)

Maybe you might want to find videos on the internet where they have full view of the player's keyboard while they are playing. From there you can mimic their hand/finger moves. Here is one video where I got my inspiration from.

[youtube]zmYhX8fjmo8[/youtube]

 

I like it like this also...I'm not a diamond, never will be prob....but can't stand losing to my son

Thanks for the heads up on staying in lower levels.

 

I also want to say something about the competiveness in higher leagues after new placement.

Actually nothing really changed for most players...better bronze players will play around in silver now, so you are playing against about the same as last season.
I found myself in top 3 of all leagues and now in silver in top 3. It's actually worse in silver as it was in bronze. Actually even gold was easy as you play higher ranked player if you in top 3. I bumped into a few silver, gold an d plat players which I found so easy to win from...

 

If your son uses hotkeys, you NEED to play with hotkeys.

A player who doesn't use hotkeys and control groups, cannot beat a player who does.

as for build orders, stick to what you do best, and try to do it better... mechanics is more important than build orders. Make sure you scout, this will dictate what build order you should do.

good luck.