EPT
Don't just look at the title.First of all, I don't agree with the whole 400 mineral thing. The title does not reflect my view on the issue. I've been browsing various forums, and yes this actually is an overblown debate that exists.
The issue:
Many Zerg players seem to think that a Zerg player needs to spend 400 minerals in order to create a new Hatchery.
Others think that the Hatchery costs the Zerg player 350 minerals.
And some actually have explanations as to why a new Hatchery only costs 300 minerals.
Their explanations:
A Drone costs 50 minerals to create. You need to create a Drone to morph into a Hatchery. The Hatchery costs 300 minerals. You need to create a new Drone in order to replace the drone that you have just lost, since the other races do not sacrifice workers in the process of creating a new structure. This new Drone also costs 50 minerals. Thus, 50 + 300 + 50 = 400. The Zerg player just spent 400 minerals.
What the other side is saying:
A drone costs 50 minerals to create. A Hatchery costs 300. There are many explanations I've seen, but they all pretty much disregard the creation of a new Drone. They conclude that it costs a total of 350 minerals to create a new Hatchery due to the fact that the Drone morphs into the Hatchery, and this drone that morphed into the Hatchery cost 50 minerals. 50 + 300 = 350.
My explanation:
I would like to explain why the Zerg player is spending a total of 350 minerals for his new Hatchery. But I would also like to note that both of the above explanations are invalid.
It seems that we are not talking about the actual cost for a Hatchery, which is 300 minerals. We are talking about how much it costs to build a Hatchery while maintaining the same number of drones. It is important that we look at the result of things as well as the process.
You do not include the cost of the drone that morphs into the Hatchery. When I say this, people think I'm crazy, because they know that the 50 mineral Drone actually turns into the Hatchery. So they think that the cost of the drone must obviously be included with the cost of the Hatchery.
Many people seem to forget the fact that a Zerg player starts with the same number of drones as a Terran, or Protoss player. This fact does not apply to just the 6 starting workers. It applies to however many workers that you had to create, 20, 50.. the number doesn't matter. Instead of explaining this process with words, I'll use very simple examples.
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To make it simpler, let's say that a Drone actually explodes after building something instead of morphing into that building. If this was true, it would only affect supply for the duration of the build time. Everything else stays the same. You make one building, you lose a Drone.
It cost both players a total of 200 minerals to create 4 workers after their 6 starting workers. Yes, both players really spent the same amount of minerals for the same amount of workers. This may seem obvious, but a great majority of people seem to ignore this.
The Zerg player builds a Hatchery with a Drone, when he is at 10/10 supply. Immediately after the Hatchery finishes, the Drone has a heart attack from exhaustion and explodes.
The Terran player does the same, except, he doesn't lose an SCV.
We now have a Zerg player with two Hatcheries with 9 Drones.
We have a Terran player with Two Command Centers with 10 SCVs.
The Zerg player just spent a total of 500 minerals so far in the game. (200 for 4 workers, 300 for a Hatchery)
The Terran player just spent a total of 600 minerals so far in the game. (200 for 4 workers, 400 for a Command Center)
The Zerg player must spend another 50 minerals in order to get back to 10 Drones.
The Terran player does not need to spend any minerals on new workers, since he still has 10 SCVs.
The Zerg player so far has spent a total of 550 minerals.
The Terran player so far has spent a total of 600 minerals.
Subtract the cost of the 4 workers that were made prior to the creation of these Hatcheries/Command Centers. -200 minerals.
350 (Hatchery + New Drone)
400 (Command Center)
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So, if the Zerg player has the same number of workers that he started out with before creating the Hatchery:
A Hatchery costs 350 minerals with about 17 (Build time for a Drone) seconds of lost mining time for one worker. (Assuming that you start the new Drone the moment the Hatchery starts morphing)
Conclusion:
Creating a Hatchery while maintaining the same number of drones costs 350 minerals, because of the "Replacement Drone" not because of the drone you had to sacrifice.
The real issue is that people think it costs 400. Ignore the 350 thing. If people think It costs 350 minerals for different reasons, yeah, that's not really an issue. I know.
This shit doesn't even matter, I know. But it bothers me, so I wrote about it
lol'd
On August 26 2010 09:43 MalMal wrote:
I pay you $5 for a candy bar, then I need another $5 to replace the $5 I lost, therefore the candy bar costs $10.
I pay you $5 for a candy bar, then I need another $5 to replace the $5 I lost, therefore the candy bar costs $10.
Another way of looking at it.
On August 26 2010 10:05 iokke wrote:
Don't replace any drones. Make a drone for the hatchery, make the hatchery. That drone was 50, hatch was 300, hence: 350 is the cost. You have the same amount of drones left as before you started.
Don't replace any drones. Make a drone for the hatchery, make the hatchery. That drone was 50, hatch was 300, hence: 350 is the cost. You have the same amount of drones left as before you started.
