• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:23
CEST 22:23
KST 05:23
  • 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
Team TLMC #5 - Finalists & Open Tournaments0[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Turbulence7Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon9[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups4WardiTV TL Team Map Contest #5 Tournaments1SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia8Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues29LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments3
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy SpeCial on The Tasteless Podcast Team TLMC #5 - Finalists & Open Tournaments
Tourneys
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV TL Team Map Contest #5 Tournaments Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 491 Night Drive Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around
Brood War
General
[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Turbulence Diplomacy, Cosmonarchy Edition BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion ASL20 General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro16 Group D [ASL20] Ro16 Group C [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SC4ALL $1,500 Open Bracket LAN
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Borderlands 3
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Big Programming Thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1244 users

Ideal Mining thoughts. - Page 2

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
KurtistheTurtle
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States1966 Posts
March 23 2009 14:47 GMT
#21
This is just off memory. I read a post here some time last year or the year before that (back when I lurked and didn't even have an account) of a guy trying to figure out the same thing. What he came to was 5 scvs/3 min patches. I don't remember what they were, but I do remember his arguments were valid and sound. Of course, he said that you should always keep producing for when you get an expo, but for max efficiency it's 5/3.

This is the number I've gone by if I ever get into late game. Maps with 10 min patches get 17 scvs, and since my multitasking isn't too great I'd just set rally points from other cc's there and queue up 16/17 scvs.

Also, probes mine a teensy bit faster than scvs. Dunno if this would factor into your calculations or not.
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."
simfarm
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Ireland75 Posts
March 23 2009 15:13 GMT
#22
Put data into excel. Run regression and find variance!
Garnet
Profile Blog Joined February 2006
Vietnam9027 Posts
March 23 2009 15:37 GMT
#23
well you still have to build more to transfer to other bases, and who actually has time to check how many SCVs are in each base?
Hyperionnn
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Turkey4968 Posts
March 23 2009 16:58 GMT
#24
On March 24 2009 00:37 Garnet wrote:
well you still have to build more to transfer to other bases, and who actually has time to check how many SCVs are in each base?


Unless you are a pro, you dont count your workers. (I remember that they count their workers and not overmake them)
And i just pump workers no-stop until i think i have enough of them, you'll need extra workers to transfer them into new expos anyway
malathion
Profile Joined March 2009
United States361 Posts
March 23 2009 18:23 GMT
#25
On March 22 2009 14:09 inReacH wrote:
While this is good work(assuming it was tested well), the reason such scrupulous analysis is unnecessary is because it's fine to get too many SCVS because at any given moment, in any given game, you will be planning on expanding soon and then you can transfer scvs to your new expansion.

The exception I suppose is if you are developing an all in timing attack BO and you are sure you won't be expanding.

Still nice to see this stuff.


This isnot as useless as you might think, because this tells you how many SCVs you want to leave behind after a maynard transfer. In other words, if you are getting ready to expand, you should build SCVs to the optimal number and then add however many SCVs you want to have transferred to the expansion once it goes up. Then stop.
rrsszzcc
Profile Joined March 2009
China22 Posts
March 23 2009 23:04 GMT
#26
On March 23 2009 23:17 lMPERVlOUS wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 23 2009 20:23 rrsszzcc wrote:
Haven't figured out what ur formula is
May be follow the tactic idea is the most important thing, you can have that much scvs if you want to make a rush.


I don't have a formula. I tried to make one, but there really isn't one.

Basically, no matter how much you spend on your economy (until about 3.0 workers/patch), you get a similar return on investment.

The most efficient setup is to have 1.0 workers/patch, and you can have more units because you use less workers to keep up the same economy. As Terran, you gain the ability to use more Comsat or Nukes. As Zerg you gain the ability to produce units faster. Your economy is more stable against harassment, because it hurts a smaller portion of your economy than it would if you hit one of your opponants expansions. You can also outlast your opponant, because your opponant will mine out quicker.

However, you are more spread out, which means you are more vulnerable to harassment and counterattacks. Also, it takes longer to see a return on investment than simply adding SCVs at each current expansion.

This is why I believe that there is no "ideal" number of workers - it depends on the map, you, your opponant, and other factors. Knowing that you get a similar return on investment, you make your own decision on what is better - 1.0 workers/patch, 3.0+ workers/patch, or something inbetween.




Sure there is no ideal number, but I always make it depend on the supply used or a certain time period such as start mechanics push.
cyx
rrsszzcc
Profile Joined March 2009
China22 Posts
March 23 2009 23:42 GMT
#27
In most of the maps, the formula may be Amount of scv = amount of minerals multiplied by something,then + or- something For the best invest-returning ratio.
Although it really depends.
cyx
DongTanks
Profile Joined January 2010
Singapore15 Posts
January 03 2010 14:57 GMT
#28
Hey! This is a very interesting thread on ideal mining. I am a College student and I am currently working on an economics assignment regarding mineral mining in Starcraft. I have decided to do some research on the internet first and have coincidentally found this great thread and this equally great community (P.S. I was really ignorant about the existence of teamliquid bcos I started SC like.... 4 weeks ago!? LOL!? Srry 'bout dat)

I have collected data through in-game experiments and they are VERY similar to yours posted here. However I was not quite convinced with your half-way-done explanation regarding the need for 2 to 2.5 workers / mineral patch. After the end of my assignment and having collected data from in-game experiments, i THINK i have found a explanation for having that amount of workers / mineral patch by using the Short-Run Average Cost (SRAC) idea, which has been accepted by my economics tutor. I am SO EAGER to post my findings bcos I feel this might be quite a contribution to this community (perhaps? :p)....

glhf!

(pssstt.... the notice on bumping this old thread made me feel like i'm not suppose to be here, especially with the 'you better have a good reason' warning.... LOL!)
One may not be gosu, but passion alone makes him a Starcraft player.
DongTanks
Profile Joined January 2010
Singapore15 Posts
January 03 2010 14:59 GMT
#29
Oh and yes.... I am not able to post a new thread due to the trail period of 3 days....
One may not be gosu, but passion alone makes him a Starcraft player.
emucxg
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Finland4559 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-01-03 15:06:02
January 03 2010 15:05 GMT
#30
some chinese did a research of ideal mining, i hope this helps u

[image loading]


credit playsc.com
DongTanks
Profile Joined January 2010
Singapore15 Posts
January 05 2010 12:30 GMT
#31
luckily i read chinese.... cool.... he investigated into the marginal increase of minerals gathered per worker. Thx. These data are useful in confirming my own experimental data. But the outcome of these data are not explained (in economics).
great job... he used the uncertainty of measurement.... O.O
One may not be gosu, but passion alone makes him a Starcraft player.
danl9rm
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States3111 Posts
January 05 2010 13:19 GMT
#32
good luck with your findings, i'm eager to hear what you come up with
"Science has so well established that the preborn baby in the womb is a living human being that most pro-choice activists have conceded the point. ..since the abortion proponents have lost the science argument, they are now advocating an existential one."
Nikon
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Bulgaria5710 Posts
January 05 2010 13:34 GMT
#33
On March 23 2009 03:31 lMPERVlOUS wrote:
workers = minerals patch * 3 - 1

I found that even when you went to 3.1 scvs per mineral patch, the rate of return of minerals still increases.

I compared the cost of the system to the rate of return, and I found that the ideal number of workers is actually at 1.0 per pach (but I do not know how it would work with less, my feeling is that it is actually equal to 1.0 per patch).


Well, the normal 2.5-3 SCVs per patch saturation simply approaches the problem from another angle - as the number of SCVs increases, the rate at which the patch is being mined approaches 100%, therefore giving you more resource. However, you're interested in the rate at which the individual worker mines. If you want to achieve optimal results for that, yes, the optimal number is exactly 1 per patch since the next worker added will lose mining time due to wander because all patches are already taken. Having a high amount of bases however, is mostly dictated by need for gas - which is why Zergs get so many bases with relatively low drone counts on minerals - they just need gas that much more. Incidentaly, this situation replicates itself in TvT in nearly the same manner once you go past 3 bases total - you need more gas for production as you already have tons of spare minerals.
DongTanks
Profile Joined January 2010
Singapore15 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-01-06 03:09:39
January 06 2010 03:08 GMT
#34
However, you're interested in the rate at which the individual worker mines. If you want to achieve optimal results for that, yes, the optimal number is exactly 1 per patch since the next worker added will lose mining time due to wander because all patches are already taken.


You are right that 1 worker / patch gives the most mineral gathered for each worker, but that is not our aim. The aim is to find the way to gather the most amount of minerals in the shortest time with the least cost. That IS the idea of ideal mining. The stats of how much each worker mines according to how many workers / patch are just data that are used to derive the answer for our main question.

However, do not be confused. 1 worker / min patch may give you the most minerals gathered by each worker but it does not let you gather the most minerals in the shortest time with the least cost!

good luck with your findings, i'm eager to hear what you come up with


Thanks! That will be 12 hours more...
One may not be gosu, but passion alone makes him a Starcraft player.
Impervious
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Canada4206 Posts
January 06 2010 22:05 GMT
#35
[image loading]


Yes, I am also interested in hearing followup from this.

One thing though - it's complicated..... There really may be no "ultimate" or "right" answer, because of all kinds of factors:

Benefit/Cost ratio
Effect on supply cap
Ability to defend
Linear production of vespene
Point in time of the game
Number of available expansions
etc.....

I'm just glad that someone is finding some use from this. I've learned a lot about the economies in Starcraft, and I like Zerg best because of their flexible economy. This information helped lead me to switching to Zerg.
~ \(ˌ)im-ˈpər-vē-əs\ : not capable of being damaged or harmed.
DongTanks
Profile Joined January 2010
Singapore15 Posts
January 07 2010 08:42 GMT
#36
btw i've posted a new thread so do check it out... http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=109458

One thing though - it's complicated..... There really may be no "ultimate" or "right" answer, because of all kinds of factors:


Yes.... you are so right..... the most efficient number of workers in theory does not reflect the best way to do things in a real game bcos of many different circumstances. But we can take the ceteris paribus assumption in THEORY

Sadly I did not include zergs in my research but, again, IN THEORY, using the Short-Run Average Cost (SRAC) curve, the zergs need less workers to be efficient as the hatchery is less costly. More in the thread linked above.
One may not be gosu, but passion alone makes him a Starcraft player.
Kimaker
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States2131 Posts
January 07 2010 09:04 GMT
#37
Very informative, I'll keep the workers=mineral patches x 3-1 in mind.
Entusman #54 (-_-) ||"Gold is for the Mistress-Silver for the Maid-Copper for the craftsman cunning in his trade. "Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall, But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of them all|| "Optimism is Cowardice."- Oswald Spengler
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 37m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 136
JuggernautJason97
ProTech89
ForJumy 32
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 570
Mini 320
Dewaltoss 160
Backho 63
Dota 2
Fuzer 230
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps1034
Stewie2K430
Super Smash Bros
PPMD33
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu467
Other Games
summit1g5173
Grubby4049
FrodaN1141
Beastyqt527
Hui .228
ToD188
C9.Mang0118
NeuroSwarm75
Trikslyr71
Nathanias8
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 12
• Dystopia_ 1
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Migwel
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 33
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 3776
• masondota21443
League of Legends
• TFBlade761
Other Games
• imaqtpie1002
• WagamamaTV342
• Shiphtur231
Upcoming Events
OSC
2h 37m
PiGosaur Monday
3h 37m
LiuLi Cup
14h 37m
OSC
22h 37m
RSL Revival
1d 13h
Maru vs Reynor
Cure vs TriGGeR
The PondCast
1d 16h
RSL Revival
2 days
Zoun vs Classic
Korean StarCraft League
3 days
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
[ Show More ]
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Online Event
4 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-09-10
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL World Championship of Poland 2025
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL 21 Team A
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
EC S1
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
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.