• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 18:07
CET 00:07
KST 08:07
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10
Community News
[BSL21] Ro.16 Group Stage (C->B->A->D)1Weekly Cups (Nov 17-23): Solar, MaxPax, Clem win2RSL Season 3: RO16 results & RO8 bracket13Weekly Cups (Nov 10-16): Reynor, Solar lead Zerg surge2[TLMC] Fall/Winter 2025 Ladder Map Rotation14
StarCraft 2
General
When will we find out if there are more tournament Weekly Cups (Nov 17-23): Solar, MaxPax, Clem win SC: Evo Complete - Ranked Ladder OPEN ALPHA Weekly Cups (Nov 10-16): Reynor, Solar lead Zerg surge RSL Season 3: RO16 results & RO8 bracket
Tourneys
Tenacious Turtle Tussle RSL Revival: Season 3 $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest
Strategy
Ride the Waves in Surf City: Why Surfing Lessons H
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 501 Price of Progress Mutation # 500 Fright night Mutation # 499 Chilling Adaptation Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death
Brood War
General
FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle soO on: FanTaSy's Potential Return to StarCraft Data analysis on 70 million replays 2v2 maps which are SC2 style with teams together? [BSL21] Ro.16 Group Stage (C->B->A->D)
Tourneys
[BSL21] GosuLeague T1 Ro16 - Tue & Thu 22:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] RO16 Tie Breaker - Group B - Sun 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO16 Tie Breaker - Group A - Sat 21:00 CET
Strategy
Game Theory for Starcraft How to stay on top of macro? Current Meta PvZ map balance
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Clair Obscur - Expedition 33
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Health Impact of Joining…
TrAiDoS
Dyadica Evangelium — Chapt…
Hildegard
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1964 users

Starcraft Game Theory

Blogs > motbob
Post a Reply
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-15 21:42:17
January 15 2009 21:18 GMT
#1
I'm taking ECO 277 (game theory), and the end of semester project is a presentation of a real-world "game" of our choice that can be translated into a theoretical, simple strategy game. I was thinking about choosing professional Starcraft. One aspect of my presentation could be who to send out in proleague. Another could be the choosing of build orders. Do you guys have any thoughts of suggestions?

*
ModeratorGood content always wins.
Aesop
Profile Joined October 2007
Hungary11305 Posts
January 15 2009 21:39 GMT
#2
I do not quite get the meanings of "real-world "game"" and "strategy game" in this context.

If I see it correctly, you want to talk about strategy around starcraft, that isn't actually part of the game itself?

If so, you could go deep into psychology. Choose a "shocker" strategy in a first set of Bo5/Bo3, to set the mind for the rest of it, as July did to Best in the OSL finals, or as by.great did against Bisu with the aid of July (all-in first game to make him cautious in the macro game 2).
ModeratorNon veritas sed auctoritas facit legem. | Liquipedia: Don't ask me, I'm retired.
Abydos1
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States832 Posts
January 15 2009 21:45 GMT
#3
I think your best bet would be to go with choosing build orders/strategy for a bo5/bo3 series as Aesop said.
"...perhaps the greatest joy possible in Starcraft, being accused of being a maphacker" - Day[9]
d_so
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Korea (South)3262 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-15 21:53:26
January 15 2009 21:48 GMT
#4
well im not sure how build order would fall under game theory. you're talking about things like the prisoner's dilemma and such right.

perhaps one aspect of pro gaming that could work is who a coach picks for Ace matches or for the upcoming Winner's League. For example:

1.) The map is andromeda
2.) The following are winning percentages for the map and the top players for each team:

Winning percentages

Team A
B Zerg B Terran B Protoss
A Zerg 50 75 25 wants zvt, avoid zvp
A Terran 60 40 80 wants tvp and tvz, avoid tvt
A Protoss25 40 40 wants to avoid pvz, pvt, pvp

Team B
A Zerg A Terran A Protoss
B Zerg 50 40 75 wants zvp, avoid zvt
B Terran 25 60 60 wamts tvt amd tvp, avoid tvz
B Protoss 75 20 60 wants pvz, pvp, avoid pvt

based on these percentages, coach A picks ________ and coach b picks ____________

something like that

edit: actually, i could see it for BO now too. for example, regarding 14cc

player 1 believes if he goes 14 cc, he will have an advantage if the counterpart T goes siege expand or facport, and that they will be tied if the opponent goes 14 cc as well. However, if the opponent goes BBS or fast academy --> MnM + SCV all in, then player 1 believes he will lose.

player 2 believes he will lose with all build orders unless he uses BBS.

so the question is, will player 1 use 14cc?
manner
ondik
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Czech Republic2908 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-16 00:30:18
January 16 2009 00:29 GMT
#5
I've taken game theory lectures in my economics studies earlier and I'm not sure how is it attached to starcraft. Only thing I can think of is mind games. Rush vs fast exp, what could be ilustrated as prisoners dilema, but it really can't be.
Bisu. The one and only. // Save the cheerreaver, save the world (of SC2)
ondik
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Czech Republic2908 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-16 00:36:50
January 16 2009 00:36 GMT
#6
I mean.. in prisoners dilema if you finch you are better of in both other prisoner's reactions. Whereas in, as d_so mentinoed, PvT game it's not that clear. There is no pure strategy equilibrium, there may be mixed strategy equilibria, though i'm not sure how far did u go with GT, if further than bayesian games, imperfect information and so..
Bisu. The one and only. // Save the cheerreaver, save the world (of SC2)
d_so
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Korea (South)3262 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-16 00:58:21
January 16 2009 00:57 GMT
#7
ugh how do you post spreadsheets
manner
thunk
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States6233 Posts
January 16 2009 01:37 GMT
#8
Alternatively, you could talk about sending out players in Proleague. Players can be 1 match-up champions, making them assets in situations when certain players are going to be sent out on map X.

Flash versus Hero on Proleague, watch a lot of SKT1 games. They get sniped like every time; Bisu usually gets a solid PvP'er or a PvT'er and almost never a PvZ; it seems that Best always gets put out PvZ these days. But I think you'd really want Best PvZ'ing instead of Bisu right now. OGN made a spectacular run at Proleague playoffs last year through solid Ace snipes and good match-up making.
Every time Jung Myung Hoon builds a vulture, two probes die. || My post count was a palindrome and I was never posting again.
Abydos1
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States832 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-16 03:42:22
January 16 2009 03:42 GMT
#9
On January 16 2009 09:36 ondik wrote:
I mean.. in prisoners dilema if you finch you are better of in both other prisoner's reactions. Whereas in, as d_so mentinoed, PvT game it's not that clear. There is no pure strategy equilibrium, there may be mixed strategy equilibria, though i'm not sure how far did u go with GT, if further than bayesian games, imperfect information and so..


Part of the problem is that your strategy is based on how current opponents would be playing it, this defines the current meta game. For example mech is seeing a lot of use lately TvZ, if zerg all the sudden come up with a good counter it is going to see a lot of use leading to the decline of mech. FE protoss is just better in the current macro heavy meta game so its used almost exclusively.

You could examine coach's strategies for the all-kill winners proleague this round. For example, is it better to start off with a solid mid level player or an S-Class programmer who might be vulnerable to a snipe because of a poor match-up.
"...perhaps the greatest joy possible in Starcraft, being accused of being a maphacker" - Day[9]
t_co
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States702 Posts
January 16 2009 08:21 GMT
#10
On January 16 2009 12:42 Abydos1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 16 2009 09:36 ondik wrote:
I mean.. in prisoners dilema if you finch you are better of in both other prisoner's reactions. Whereas in, as d_so mentinoed, PvT game it's not that clear. There is no pure strategy equilibrium, there may be mixed strategy equilibria, though i'm not sure how far did u go with GT, if further than bayesian games, imperfect information and so..


Part of the problem is that your strategy is based on how current opponents would be playing it, this defines the current meta game. For example mech is seeing a lot of use lately TvZ, if zerg all the sudden come up with a good counter it is going to see a lot of use leading to the decline of mech. FE protoss is just better in the current macro heavy meta game so its used almost exclusively.

You could examine coach's strategies for the all-kill winners proleague this round. For example, is it better to start off with a solid mid level player or an S-Class programmer who might be vulnerable to a snipe because of a poor match-up.


It seems that PvT and even mirror matchups with non-mirror BOs could be modeled by a decision tree which has set decision points at certain timings. E.g. in PvT terran faces a decision after FE, Protoss faces a decision after 2gates are up, etc etc

Each decision tree could have certain payoffs at certain timings (e.g. obviously expansion timings but also tech payoffs)

So you could actually make it quite complex, nonlinear (as decisions can loop) and also nondiscrete (because you could split the decisions down as far as you wanted to).
"Look, don't congratulate us when we buy a company, congratulate us when we sell it. Because any fool can overpay and buy a company, so long as there is money to buy it." --Henry Kravis
Savio
Profile Joined April 2008
United States1850 Posts
January 16 2009 17:06 GMT
#11
If you had a lot of time, you could really do a wicked project on this. If you did it with build orders, it would be awesome because you could include uncertainty. But it could easily become a very hard game to draw as there are so many builds and counters.

I'm interested to see where you go with this. Keep us up to date. Those of us who have taken game theory can answer any specific questions and give advice, but mostly I wanna see what you do with this.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 53m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 211
elazer 206
CosmosSc2 41
StarCraft: Brood War
Bisu 2307
BeSt 167
ZZZero.O 162
Artosis 136
Hyun 130
Killer 61
ggaemo 35
SilentControl 24
NaDa 8
Dota 2
syndereN289
Counter-Strike
Foxcn153
Fnx 79
Other Games
Grubby7280
Liquid`Hasu230
C9.Mang0143
ViBE111
Maynarde90
Trikslyr46
fpsfer 1
minikerr1
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream176
StarCraft 2
angryscii 27
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 24 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 79
• sitaska45
• musti20045 29
• davetesta20
• Adnapsc2 13
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 34
• Pr0nogo 5
• mYiSmile12
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• Ler71
League of Legends
• Doublelift3596
• TFBlade1480
Other Games
• Scarra1610
• imaqtpie1452
• Shiphtur590
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
1h 53m
Replay Cast
9h 53m
Wardi Open
12h 53m
OSC
13h 53m
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
1d
The PondCast
1d 10h
Replay Cast
1d 23h
OSC
2 days
LAN Event
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

SOOP Univ League 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
CSCL: Masked Kings S3
SLON Tour Season 2
META Madness #9
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2

Upcoming

BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.