Posting Some of my Links

Alright, here are the resources I am currently using to learn about the hotkeys in StarCraft 2. They are mostly from a site Liquipedia. I have found a couple threads on the StarCraft 2 forums, but for the most part I am just using the resources on Liquipedia, because it gives me all the shortcuts, and has pages with a basic overview of what you actually want to be doing throughout each match.

Micro Skills
Macro Skills
Hotkeys
Hotkeys (race Specific)
Starting match Terran

Progress Report 1

During these First weeks of My project, I have started to get this blog how I would like it to be. I have started to play StarCraft 2 a little bit, just to get familiar with the controls and the feel of the game. In the near future, I will start to record my matches, because with the use a program (BW Chart) I am able to take the video of my Match and find out what my APM was, and on I can post the videos (or at least pieces of them) to give reference points as to what my APM actually is. I will not actually be playing to much after I get what my starting APM is, because the largest part of getting better is knowing all of the shortcuts.

I have started my research into hotkeys and started to memorize the very useful ones. I have seen that many people use one certain group of hotkeys very extensively. You have the ability to assign units, groups of units, and buildings to one of the number keys by clicking Ctrl + # you want. This is used so that you can quickly select a certain thing quickly, and use an ability of its, or attack your opponent. This is what I see as one of the biggest things that you have to do to keep organised when moving around and using a bunch of different things at one time. I knew a little about this function, but I didn't think to be continuously be reassigning them to different things. I learned that pro players are often switching these keys to what they will need for the time being. Another group of hotkeys that I am not yet sure if they are super useful are those on each of your units. I think these can increase a bit of your speed, but tapping "A" or right-clicking on what you want to attack don't seem much different. I will have to play and test whether or not this is actually going to be useful to me. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, and thank you for taking the time to do so. I would not normally make a web log, but for my bible class I am to learn about something I am passionate about, and then blog about the experience. For this project I have decided to learn about APM (actions per minute), which is an acronym referring to the amount of different things you do per minute in a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. I will specifically doing my study of APM in StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. APM is an acronym that is used to describe the amount actions you perform in a minute while playing an RTS game, but it is more specifically a record of your keystroke, which means using keyboard shortcuts are the way to achieving a high APM and increasing your skill at RTS games in general. To Begin I need to find out all of the hotkeys that are available in StarCraft 2 and after memorizing them all, I will have to start to put them into action. I will also need to discern which hotkeys are actually worth using, and which simply use too much of my time to use. To become a pro at StarCraft it is suggested to have at least 300 APM before you even try to compete at that level. I do not expect to get near that, but my goal is to increase my APM to at least 100, pending what my APM is before I get too immersed in the project. I do not foresee many problems in what I plan to accomplish, as I have a large amount of experience in many of the basic skills required to increase APM. These basic skills include things like the ability to spend large quantities of time in front of a computer screen, and knowing your way around a keyboard and RTS game. For the most part this whole project id simply comprised of things that I enjoy doing, so I do not think I will need much motivation to be able to work on the project. One thing that may become difficult is to make sure I am able to continue to learn things over the course of the semester. I have made sure that I should be able to do this, because there is a lot to know in the area of strategy of what to do with the hotkey's that you know. I decided to make my project about StarCraft and APM because I enjoy gaming, and not much else that I actually have room to learn about. Like most people who play RTS games, I haven't bothered ever learning all the hotkeys because I have always seen it as too much work. This project gives me a reason to learn these hotkeys and call it school work, while still allowing me to do what I love doing. This project is a great opportunity to increase my skills at gaming, and find value in the abundance of keyboard shortcuts StarCraft has to offer.