I know my APM is low and I am not surprised by that because I suck. But what puzzles me is this... I will give you an example from a game I played. My opponent averaged 30-50 apm while I averaged 20-40 apm. 1. I had 3 expansions when he finally started to get ONE (that I took down). 2. I harassed him more than he did, in his base (actually he never stepped in my base). 3. I scouted better than him. 4. My resources are more and my army is bigger (I produced units better than him). 5. My spendings are more than his (he beat me with technology spendings, I beat him with the rest). 6. I out microd him in the few encounters that happened in the game and won the battles. 7. I won the game. 8. It was Terran vs Terran game But I don't understand why he has more APM than I did when there's nothing I can see which indicate that he made more "useful" actions. I always have lower APM with my winning games, I don't understand it (I wouldn't be surprised if I was the lowest APM for my lost games).
The most APM does not alwys = the smartest APM. Lots of dumb actions really fast can = a high APM. But get you nowhere. Where as a few less APM but smarter actions can put you in a winning position.
Actions per minute is not an indication of skill. Period. It can be an indicator to yourself that you need improvement in certain areas.
Thanks the8thark and Joneagle for your comments. I have a question though, is it normal for a beginner to start with 30-40ish APM? (I'm still not used to the hotkeys and get confused with the buildings). What was your APM average in your first few games?
Just in case someone is curious, I solved the mystery. First, I hotkey my buildings (my three barracks are hotkeyed, my starports are hotkeyed) and I just need to press the hot key number then DDD to make my three barracks build a Marauder each. While what my opponent does is, clicking on the minimap where his barracks are then individually selecting each barracks then press D (so he uses 7 clicks to do what I do in 4 clicks). Also, I found out that most players spam right-mouse button at the beginning (explains why I have 20 apm and they have 60ish even though there's NOTHING to do in the beginning) that makes their average APM look better.
