Learning more

I haven't had as much time to blog or play. I did learn some things, though. First of all, I started trying to use the camera controls in the game. I changed the hotkeys from using the Ctrl+Fn keys so that I can use the Ctrl+Fn or Shift+Fn keys. I also moved them over so that I could use F2-F8 as camera controls, instead of further to the right on the keyboard. This is the first time that I'm modifying the keyboard setup, but it seems to work. I set F2 to be my main base mineral line, F3 to be my expansion, and F5 to be my ramp. The idea is that I can build something with an SCV or probe, then hit F2/F3 and shift-click back to mining. It also lets me warp in units in a useful location. Hitting the 'w' key, F5, then warping in whatever units seems to be faster.
 
I also played more 2v2 games with Jason. He's been practicing the Korean 4-warpgate all-in. We played a game against each other, and I tried to play against him without knowing what's coming. His rush was slow, but it still beat me. He had four zealots into my base when I had three stalkers and a zealot. I should have been able to hold off the rush, but I tried to attack the zealots instead of taking out the pylons. By the time he had 12 zealots warped in, I fudged the micro and lost the game. I did give him some pointers to speed up his rush, though. I don't think the strategy works in 2v2, and I think that's why he's short on zealots in the early game. Now that I know he's doing that build, I realize that we can't wait around when he has units on the way. We need to time the attack with when he can warp in the units.
 
After looking at his build, too, I realized that I don't have a good build order. In a way, I think that's fine... it's been forcing me to get a lot better at macro. I also think this is why I was having problems with certain matchups. Protoss, with a generic build, seems to be the most versatile. I've lost to a cloaked banshee rush, though. My go-to Terran build is a medivac drop, and that seems to be versatile enough as well. Now that I'm getting better at micro when I time the drop, I don't lose the medivacs to something stupid. My Zerg build, however, is the one that needs work. I need to start thinking about the race match-ups and build accordingly. I was defaulting to a zergling with metabolic boost building an expansion, and then going to mutalisks. It seems to work okay against Terran opponents, but I think a roach/hydralisk build is stronger against Protoss. After tailoring my build as Zerg, I started winning more. I'm over 50% with Zerg in March.
 
Finally, I started playing on the new maps that were introduced with the latest patch. They are interesting maps, and they are a lot of fun. The problem I had as Zerg with Lost Temple seems to be "fixed" with the Shattered Temple map.
 
I think that the mutalisk build is strong against Terran on the Typhon Peaks build. I managed to snipe all my opponent's SCVs, but I didn't pressure right and I lost that game when he rebuilt. I think I should have traded units and won with my better economy.
 
Anyway, it's an interesting game. I'm still #1 in the Silver division, but I haven't fought back to .500. I'm 3 wins away from 50%. Maybe I can set my sights on gold when I pass .500.