Starcraft2 is the most popular real time strategy game now, and it’s growing every day. The spectator side of the game is huge, if not even bigger than the player side. Many enjoy just sit back and watch the best players in the world battle it out. If you are new to the game and finding that you are unfamiliar with many of the terms used around the game, this guide can surely help you out. Let´s start out with the two most used ones, which often confuse people. The two terms “micro” and “macro” are often used to describe a player’s control over different things in the game.
Micro
This term is used when talking about how a player controls his/her units. “Micro” is used when talk about small things, that’s why it is in this case used for the units. A player with good “micro” is a player who controls the units very good. What exactly good “micro” is, depends on what units are being controlled. Good “micro” with zerglings could mean that the player manage to surround an enemy unit with them and prevents it from any possible escape. How to “micro” with specific units is something that you have to learn and train. It’s an important skill in real time strategy games.
Macro
The term which means “large” is focusing on the players control overall. It is used when talking about player’s ability to handle their base and economy. Building new structures for unlocking new units or put up more supply deposits. The minerals (money) need to be constantly spent on producing more units. A player with good macro can do this, and the real good ones have no problem switching constantly between “micro” and “macro”. Both things are important, sometimes one more than the other. Knowing which one to prioritize can be the key to win in big games.
APM
The term “apm” stands for action per minutes and is used for measure how fast a player is. To control your army and base in a real time strategy game, you have to be very fast on your keyboard and mouse. The amount of clicks you do is all counted in, and is just a measure of how many things you can do per minute. Important is to know that the amount of actions doesn’t measure how good someone is; a higher “apm” doesn’t have to mean someone is better than a player with lower. There is also good and bad “apm”, clicking more than once to give an order will not make anything better.
Dancing
This term is not used as common as any of the above, but is good to know what it means. The term is used to describe a specific “micro” move, used by players to save a unit. When “dancing”, you pull a unit away from the battle to save it from taking any more damage. If one unit is targeted by a lot of enemy units, pulling that unit back will make all the enemy units have to chase it. This is a very powerful move in the “micro war”. It will buy your other units time to kill the other, while your pressured unit will retreat and survive. “Dancing” is often a direct counter to any kind of focus fire. Meaning the enemy player has set a lot of his/her units to kill one of your specific.