Yeah, that's why I pushed out when I did (right before the rays). I was expecting some proxy gateway action, since I hadn't seen the second gas.

For Protoss, if you'd rather avoid the 200/100 cost of the robotics facility and the 50/100 of the observer, research hallucination for 100/100. Hopefully you're using at least one sentry a few minutes in anyway, so you'll get free scouts (for 100 energy) whenever you want.

That he didn't attack you with a reaper. And if he does, that scout more than paid for itself. Ideally, you'd like to see if he makes a second barracks or goes for a factory. You don't party with zerglings though. You run. If you see just 2, then be suspicious. If you see 6, then be ready shortly for 10. Also, if you don't see an extractor once a spawning pool is finished, you should anticipate a heavy rush. More than that, there's also a chance that he'll mix the zerglings with banelings so make sure you get another peek at his base two minutes later (for zerg it's easier since they can't really wall off). Perhaps needless to say, for Protoss, the most valuable scouting information is what building he builds right after his cybernetics core.

If you're playing against terran who's walling off, consider hiding your scv in a far corner of his base for a minute or two. Then scout his base again to see what's going on.

Edit: Ah. I was able to attach a replay file with IE8.

Exactly. How the hell am I supposed to build my base while fending off basic units pouring into my base (just two Zealots in the original SC were able to take down my Terran base) all the while scouting my opponent. Not to mention targetting specific units during a battle (i.e. focusing fire), using special abilities and building my base and new units. This way I can play Diablo and have a same clickfest.

Maybe she crawled up to this forum and found out about your Starcraft addiction or maybe she found out Starcraft and Brood war boxes in your home?

They can.

It's scary to see how their hands move through the keyboard, and not doing random nonsense.

Actually, most of my problems with RTS' aren't my APM, but rather that I just can't keep like 5 alternate strategic logics working at the same time(gathering, expanding, teching, scouting, attacking) like OICW pointed out. If the RTS keeps simplifying stuff like Gathering(in SC2, you can just rally point the command center to the minerals), then maybe I can keep up better. Adding unit queues and tech queues helped me as well. But still, it ain't a good strategy to queue up a lot since you're eating lots of minerals earlier.

Queuing in general is a bad idea. If you have enough minerals to fill a queue you should build more production buildings instead. In low level games, I'd say keeping average unspent minerals low is more important than keeping APM high.

Pretty much. Some people want a hard game. APM doesn't really matter that much in our league; just learn to multitask.

EDIT: I would also like to point out that I am by no means good at this game. But when I lose, I know why, and it usually boils down to "I'm bad".

So concentrate on the things in life that you do well, and don't worry about the rest. Concentrate on that fact awhile.

I went and bought StarCraft 2 the other day after seeing a thing on the news about it. Later I realised that I probably only bought it because since there was so much enthusiasm for it I thought I'd be missing out if I didn't. Haven't taken the cellaphane off the box yet.

Heh, in 3v3 I'm in the bronze league still struggling to get out and win games, but in 4v4 i'm in the platinum league and seem to not be having a problem.

League is pretty meaningless outside of 1v1, particularly just after your placement games.

Yeah, it's really a flaw in the gameplay in my opinion. Warcraft 3 is infinitely more fun because you can focus on micro for prolonged periods of time. Any argument that this requires less skill is nonsense because there is still an unlimited depth of micro one can go into.

The other thing that really makes me what to delete the game altogether is watching replays of top players in the Diamond league who do little else other than camp in their base / expo in an unassailable position (usually due to the ludicrous bonus one gets from high ground) and then, when their army peeks, come out and wtf pwn. Or even worse, when both players do this!

I was really expecting the game to grow on my as I played it more. I'm now in Platinum League for both 1v1 and 2v2, and still struggling to see why anyone would want to play something so inferior to Wc3.

Noone said it wasn't easy, the point is that it spoils the continuity of battles, it is not particularly fun and just generally detracts from gameplay. What's worse is that is that there is often the other extreme where the most tactically favourable thing for you to be doing is sitting in your base doing bugger all other than scouting the opponent and massing units. In Wc3 this "downtime" is filled by creeping which is fun and cool.

Obviously this is the intended behavior. It's a way to (artificially) increase the high-end learning curve. It's not "broken", but I agree that it's annoying.