Umpteen Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United Kingdom 1566 Posts #1



Recently, however, I came up with a mnemonic to help me keep on top of things: CLOUDS.



C is for Creep. Are my creep tumours ripe? Can I put down a new one? Should I send out a queen? Do I need more queens?



L is for Larvae. Are my queens spawning them? What can I make with them?



O is for Overlords. Do I need supply? Do I need an overseer? Are my overlords spread to catch incoming drops? Are they dropping creep?



U is for Upgrades. Do I have evolution chambers? Are they doing anything? Is it time for Lair? Should I be making a spire, or an infestation pit? Do I need burrow? Overlord speed? An expansion?



D is for Drones. Am I saturated? Can I safely drone up? Are my geysers covered after his harrassment?



S is for Scouting. Do I know where his army is? What it's comprised of? Has he expanded? Have I covered the towers? Is there a ling at each expo?



Literally the first time I tried this, I was amazed. I had creep everywhere, my money was lower, I could see his drops, I knew he hadn't sneaked an expansion anywhere, I had my tech in time - every time I had one of those "uh...." moments I thought 'clouds' and I was off doing things again.



Maybe this can help others - I certainly hope so.



Thanks for reading.



Are you struggling to remember all those little housekeeping tasks you need to juggle playing Zerg? I certainly am.Recently, however, I came up with a mnemonic to help me keep on top of things: CLOUDS.C is for Creep. Are my creep tumours ripe? Can I put down a new one? Should I send out a queen? Do I need more queens?L is for Larvae. Are my queens spawning them? What can I make with them?O is for Overlords. Do I need supply? Do I need an overseer? Are my overlords spread to catch incoming drops? Are they dropping creep?U is for Upgrades. Do I have evolution chambers? Are they doing anything? Is it time for Lair? Should I be making a spire, or an infestation pit? Do I need burrow? Overlord speed? An expansion?D is for Drones. Am I saturated? Can I safely drone up? Are my geysers covered after his harrassment?S is for Scouting. Do I know where his army is? What it's comprised of? Has he expanded? Have I covered the towers? Is there a ling at each expo?Literally the first time I tried this, I was amazed. I had creep everywhere, my money was lower, I could see his drops, I knew he hadn't sneaked an expansion anywhere, I had my tech in time - every time I had one of those "uh...." moments I thought 'clouds' and I was off doing things again.Maybe this can help others - I certainly hope so.Thanks for reading. The existence of a food chain is inescapable﻿ if we evolved unsupervised, and inexcusable otherwise.

ShaperofDreams Profile Blog Joined December 2008 Canada 2492 Posts #2 thanks il try it out :D Bitches don't know about my overlord. FUCK OFF ALDARIS I HAVE ENOUGH PYLONS. My Balls are as smooth as Eggs.

quirinus Profile Blog Joined May 2007 Croatia 2484 Posts Last Edited: 2010-11-20 12:55:15 #3 Haha interesting stuff. I always wanted to do something like this, but never got to it. I guess it's easier than keeping an unassociated mental checklist (or no mental list at all). All candles lit within him, and there was purity. | First auto-promoted BW LP editor.

Risen Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United States 7850 Posts #4 This is fantastic, I love acronyms! :D Pufftrees Everyday>its like a rifter that just used X-Factor﻿/Liquid'Nony: I hope no one lip read XD/Holyflare>it's like policy lynching but better/Resident Los Angeles bachelor

swanized Profile Blog Joined September 2009 Canada 2480 Posts #5 and LOUDS even works for BW



nice trick lol Writer

eLiE Profile Blog Joined April 2010 Canada 1039 Posts #6 lol, congrats, this is a pretty darn pro mnemonic. gonna write it down and use it! How's the weather down there?

rarin Profile Joined August 2010 Australia 23 Posts #7 Nice! I'm a sucker for these things.

DamageInq Profile Joined April 2010 United States 281 Posts #8 Neato neato. Oddly enough things like this will boost your play way more than learning build orders or cute tactics. "Scissors are OP. Rock is fine." -Paper

Elegy Profile Blog Joined September 2009 United States 1629 Posts Last Edited: 2010-11-20 19:46:26 #9 thought this would be a story about iG.Cloud T_T



nice trick, although I've never found acronyms to be personally very useful. If it works for other people, then full steam ahead

Lawliver Profile Joined October 2010 Canada 2 Posts #10 should d be before L? because if you had used your larva, you can't really drone up, or do you think we should drone up the next CLOUD?

"say what you want, i'm GOLD."

a176 Profile Blog Joined August 2009 Canada 6685 Posts #11 what are you talking about,



v is for overlord starleague forever

Servius_Fulvius Profile Joined August 2009 United States 947 Posts #12 ).



Spitting larva and continuously building units took me from struggling in low Plat to moving up with a fantastic win ratio. And then I got demoted . Still, the cycling keeps me at an almost 100% win rate against players who don't cheese or all-in (about half). Once I get a handle on that I'll be moving back up!



For some practical advice, if you have a mnemonic or list for a gaming cycle it's helpful to write it down and tape it close to your monitor. This will help until the cycle becomes second nature. Stuff like this works amazingly. I was in low Platinum and started cycling my play. The mnemonic is pretty nice! Mine is queen, scout, check minerals/supply, build, upgrade, and tech (but there's no catchy scheme to that).Spitting larva and continuously building units took me from struggling in low Plat to moving up with a fantastic win ratio. And then I got demoted. Still, the cycling keeps me at an almost 100% win rate against players who don't cheese or all-in (about half). Once I get a handle on that I'll be moving back up!For some practical advice, if you have a mnemonic or list for a gaming cycle it's helpful to write it down and tape it close to your monitor. This will help until the cycle becomes second nature.

tarpman Profile Joined February 2009 Canada 710 Posts #13 that's great. acronyms like that are a really useful way to remember things like that! I'm going to try this next time I play. Saving the world, one kilobyte at a time.

Umpteen Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United Kingdom 1566 Posts Last Edited: 2010-11-21 00:13:27 #14 On November 21 2010 05:00 Lawliver wrote:

should d be before L? because if you had used your larva, you can't really drone up, or do you think we should drone up the next CLOUD?





It's more of a checklist; the order is less important than the fact everything's on there. For instance, you might get to 'c' and think 'no, I can't spread creep because it's time to inject and I need larvae.' Or you might decide against making a queen because considering doing so will remind you that you need to upgrade to lair. The important thing is that, all of a sudden, I'm actually making those decisions instead of being distracted by units trundling around. I really couldn't believe how much busier I seemed to be, constantly; I'd need to go and check but I'm sure my average APM must have doubled in that first game.



Ironically I still managed to lose, but I didn't actually mind so much. Failed infestor micro cost me the game (see my previous blog post for details) but not because I lost the battle. I had so much stuff I still stopped his two-base thor/tank/banshee push (on creep in the middle of Jungle Basin), which I've never before managed, but lost far more than I needed to in the process and couldn't sustain the momentum. It's more of a checklist; the order is less important than the fact everything's on there. For instance, you might get to 'c' and think 'no, I can't spread creep because it's time to inject and I need larvae.' Or you might decide against making a queen because considering doing so will remind you that you need to upgrade to lair. The important thing is that, all of a sudden, I'minstead of being distracted by units trundling around. I really couldn't believe how muchI seemed to be, constantly; I'd need to go and check but I'm sure my average APM must have doubled in that first game.Ironically I still managed to lose, but I didn't actually mind so much. Failed infestor micro cost me the game (see my previous blog post for details) but not because I lost the battle. I had so much stuff I still stopped his two-base thor/tank/banshee push (on creep in the middle of Jungle Basin), which I've never before managed, but lost far more than I needed to in the process and couldn't sustain the momentum. The existence of a food chain is inescapable﻿ if we evolved unsupervised, and inexcusable otherwise.

Pliskin Profile Joined August 2010 United States 106 Posts #15 That is pretty clever, I like it.

GrapeD Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 677 Posts #16 thats actually really awesome, we need more fun acronyms! Some people hurt people. I defenestrate those people.

Carefoot Profile Blog Joined June 2010 Canada 407 Posts #17 I used this today. Pretty awesome, The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars http://youtube.ca/NickCarefoot

ScruffyIsAPerson Profile Joined November 2010 United States 4 Posts #19 awesome super helpful Hell, it's about time.

PlaGuE_R Profile Blog Joined February 2010 France 1150 Posts #20



S is for scout

C is for Creep

O is Overlord

U is units

T is tech



u can use that in combo with CLOUDS imo SCOUT also worksS is for scoutC is for CreepO is OverlordU is unitsT is techu can use that in combo with CLOUDS imo TLO FIGHTING | me all in, he drone drone drone, me win - SK.MC | JINROLLED! | KraToss for the win

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