• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:59
CEST 19:59
KST 02:59
  • 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
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)52Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format16[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!5Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back12BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) [D] Wireframe Casting Removed Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard" Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format Is the larve respawn broken?
Tourneys
Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion NaDa’s Body Followup BW General Discussion Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map) Etiquete rules in Asl?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament - Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Beyond All Reason Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8920 users

Maps in the Balance - Page 2

Forum Index > Final Edits
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Guybrush
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
Spain4744 Posts
January 21 2008 16:09 GMT
#21
Great read. Thanks
Live2Win is awesome. Happy new year scarabi!
Xeln4g4
Profile Joined January 2005
Italy1209 Posts
January 21 2008 16:18 GMT
#22
With the premise that imho the number of games played on this maps it's absolutely not enough to state what mu is imba or not (u need more played matches for this kind of analysis ...) it's funny to see how the same number can lead to different opinions:

TvP: 8-16 favour P vs T
TvP: 5-14 favour P vs T
PvZ: 22-11 favour P vs Z
TvZ: 11-3 favour T vs Z
TvP: 4-0 favour T vs P
TvZ: 14-29 favour Z vs T
PvZ: 14-24 favour Z vs P
PvZ: 3-7 favour Z vs P

This tell me that P is quite favoured on T while Z is quite favoured on P. Nothing else.

Considering that the analysis was carried on 4 different maps, so different playground, i COULD state that:

Zerg have a balance mu (ZvT) and an easy mu (ZvP)
Protoss have an easy mu (PvT) and an imbalanced mu (PvZ)
Terran have a balaced mu (TvZ) and an imbalanced mu (TvP)

Map issue or race balance issue?

Beside this, great article as usual. Very good JOB.

Mindcrime
Profile Joined July 2004
United States6899 Posts
January 21 2008 17:11 GMT
#23
On January 22 2008 01:18 IH4t3z3rg wrote:
With the premise that imho the number of games played on this maps it's absolutely not enough to state what mu is imba or not (u need more played matches for this kind of analysis ...) it's funny to see how the same number can lead to different opinions:

TvP: 8-16 favour P vs T
TvP: 5-14 favour P vs T
PvZ: 22-11 favour P vs Z
TvZ: 11-3 favour T vs Z
TvP: 4-0 favour T vs P
TvZ: 14-29 favour Z vs T
PvZ: 14-24 favour Z vs P
PvZ: 3-7 favour Z vs P

This tell me that P is quite favoured on T while Z is quite favoured on P. Nothing else.

Considering that the analysis was carried on 4 different maps, so different playground, i COULD state that:

Zerg have a balance mu (ZvT) and an easy mu (ZvP)
Protoss have an easy mu (PvT) and an imbalanced mu (PvZ)
Terran have a balaced mu (TvZ) and an imbalanced mu (TvP)

Map issue or race balance issue?

Beside this, great article as usual. Very good JOB.



It's a map issue and that should be obvious.
That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.
3 Lions
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States3705 Posts
January 21 2008 17:12 GMT
#24
nice
axel
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
France385 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-01-21 18:55:13
January 21 2008 18:54 GMT
#25


Thanks man, i'm still very surprised that people spend time to make so good , intresting and detailed articles about broodwar.


Very nice.



Lemonwalrus
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
United States5465 Posts
January 21 2008 19:16 GMT
#26
Very nice writeup, I've always just accepted that some maps were imbalanced, never really took the extra step to learn what it was that made them that way.
GeneralStan
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States4789 Posts
January 21 2008 19:58 GMT
#27
Good analysis. I agree with I think all of the points, and have nothing to add
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24782 Posts
January 21 2008 20:40 GMT
#28
On January 21 2008 22:00 dybydx wrote:
i propose a standardized method to measure which map is more imba than the other.

let x = min(TvP, PvT)
y = min(TvZ , ZvT)
z = min(PvZ, ZvP)
q = min(x , y , z)

balance meter = x * y * z * 8
the lowest score is 0, and the highest score is 1. lower score = imba

we can also calculate the "hotness of a specific race"
hot meter for terran = [sum over all map of] chance of t win in a map^2 / number of maps x 2
lowest score is 0, highest score is 1. 1 being red hot.

hence, according to my imba meter, (using latest statistics right now on TLPD map info)
Baekmagoji = 0.189841968
Blue Storm = 0.48798288 Most balanced
Katrina = 0.328012272
Un'Goro Crater = 0 Most imba

This means Un'Goro Crater (it the TvP imba continues) has to be removed. It would make sense too i mean if the toss player has no chance of winning this map, it would be very unfair to play a T player in the finals. (assuming other maps are balanced)
I like this idea and I think it can be applied to other areas as well. Although, you might want to propose it in a more suitable place.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Tigron
Profile Joined November 2007
United States13 Posts
January 21 2008 20:40 GMT
#29
Did I help inspire this post in my comment (and your followup) to the Proleague week 13 report? If so, then I'm very honored.

I've often thought about the map maker's catch-22. The only real way to tell if a map is balanced or not is to put it through its paces in a tournament. Any kind of prior "beta testing" that could be done would be ineffective, as the best people to help with that are the players, who have a conflict of interest. But if the map turns out to be unbalanced, it defeats the purpose of having a tournament. Are we testing the maps here, or the players?
Daigomi
Profile Blog Joined May 2006
South Africa4316 Posts
January 21 2008 20:43 GMT
#30
You actually did Tigron. I was asked if I wanted to write a TLFE just after that comment, so I thought it would be an interesting project
Moderator
JensOfSweden
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Cameroon1767 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-01-21 22:56:22
January 21 2008 22:55 GMT
#31
Damn, that was a really excellent matchup.

Although I gotta say that people read too much into map imbalance sometimes.
If for example PvT is 10-5 on a map this is too small of a sample to mean anything at all. When people talk about maps, the players skill is unfortunately often ignored.

Anyhow, fucking impressive write-up
<3 Nada [On and off TL.net since 2002
pandas
Profile Joined June 2007
31 Posts
January 21 2008 23:57 GMT
#32
On January 21 2008 22:00 dybydx wrote:
i propose a standardized method to measure which map is more imba than the other.

let x = min(TvP, PvT)
y = min(TvZ , ZvT)
z = min(PvZ, ZvP)
q = min(x , y , z)

balance meter = x * y * z * 8
the lowest score is 0, and the highest score is 1. lower score = imba

we can also calculate the "hotness of a specific race"
hot meter for terran = [sum over all map of] chance of t win in a map^2 / number of maps x 2
lowest score is 0, highest score is 1. 1 being red hot.

hence, according to my imba meter, (using latest statistics right now on TLPD map info)
Baekmagoji = 0.189841968
Blue Storm = 0.48798288 Most balanced
Katrina = 0.328012272
Un'Goro Crater = 0 Most imba

This means Un'Goro Crater (it the TvP imba continues) has to be removed. It would make sense too i mean if the toss player has no chance of winning this map, it would be very unfair to play a T player in the finals. (assuming other maps are balanced)

lol? sample size?
Xeofreestyler
Profile Blog Joined June 2005
Belgium6777 Posts
January 22 2008 00:05 GMT
#33
really nice
thanks!
Graphics
Cascade
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
Australia5405 Posts
January 22 2008 00:27 GMT
#34
On January 21 2008 22:00 dybydx wrote:
i propose a standardized method to measure which map is more imba than the other.

let x = min(TvP, PvT)
y = min(TvZ , ZvT)
z = min(PvZ, ZvP)
q = min(x , y , z)

balance meter = x * y * z * 8
the lowest score is 0, and the highest score is 1. lower score = imba

we can also calculate the "hotness of a specific race"
hot meter for terran = [sum over all map of] chance of t win in a map^2 / number of maps x 2
lowest score is 0, highest score is 1. 1 being red hot.

hence, according to my imba meter, (using latest statistics right now on TLPD map info)
Baekmagoji = 0.189841968
Blue Storm = 0.48798288 Most balanced
Katrina = 0.328012272
Un'Goro Crater = 0 Most imba

This means Un'Goro Crater (it the TvP imba continues) has to be removed. It would make sense too i mean if the toss player has no chance of winning this map, it would be very unfair to play a T player in the finals. (assuming other maps are balanced)

Nice, I would suggest a different measure though. I think we both agree that a x = y = z = 0.1 map is more imbalanced than a x = 0, y = z = 0.5 map. Your measure can't tell the difference of a 0,0,0 map and a 0,50,50 map, which I think is a flaw.

maybe ( x + y + z)?
Or if you want to discourage heavy imbalances more you could take
sqrt( (.5-x)^2 + (.5-y)^2 + (.5-z)^2 )
or even higher powers for more weight to worst matchup on the map.
Also normalise them if you prefer from 0 to 1.
Well, that was just a few ideas...

Good article btw! I'll watch a few of the vods and think about what you wrote.
dybydx
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Canada1764 Posts
January 22 2008 00:30 GMT
#35
lol? sample size?

obviously when we take statistics we are assuming the sample is representative of the population. it may not be in this case but it is the most accurate information we have. this is why i stated "if the TvP imba continues"

it would help the analysis alot if we can get a hold of qualification round information as well, but hey, i tried.
...from the land of imba
dybydx
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
Canada1764 Posts
January 22 2008 00:40 GMT
#36
Nice, I would suggest a different measure though. I think we both agree that a x = y = z = 0.1 map is more imbalanced than a x = 0, y = z = 0.5 map. Your measure can't tell the difference of a 0,0,0 map and a 0,50,50 map, which I think is a flaw.

it was intended. i realized this problem when i formulated the equation. but then i realized 3 things

1. starleague do not offer TvZ only or ZvP only maps. all match ups are possible on any given map. balance must therefore imply across all 3 races, not 2 races.
2. in addition, suppose we are at superfight 5, T,Z,P race wars. on a 0,0,0 map, it is a deadlock, on a 0,5,5 map means 1 race immediately get taken out without contest. thus 0,0,0 is actually less imba than 0,5,5
3. finally, i feel that any map that has 0 in it should be taken out because there is no real contest.
...from the land of imba
pyrogenetix
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
China5098 Posts
January 22 2008 04:14 GMT
#37
awesome write up!

i just showed this to a friend who said that sc was no skill and it totally changed his mind. he said he had no idea the distances, layout, chokes etc played such a big role.
Yea that looks just like Kang Min... amazing game sense... and uses mind games well, but has the micro of a washed up progamer.
Fermata
Profile Joined January 2008
5 Posts
January 22 2008 06:35 GMT
#38
noooooo

I liked that map T.T it looked interesting and seemed like it could bring about some new and exciting plays...
vhallee
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
899 Posts
January 22 2008 09:59 GMT
#39
great analysis thanks alot. and yea maps are to blame for imbalances not the races.
Marijuana causes amnesia and other things I don't remember.
ineverwin
Profile Joined January 2008
United States93 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-01-22 12:33:52
January 22 2008 12:26 GMT
#40
Wait, why does the "chasm" on Blue Storm give zerg an advantage (you said it was easy to defend, and zergs can take the expos on their side of the map)? I would think helps terran because they can shoot across it, forcing zerg to run into it (and losing vision of the other side).

Zergs often expand to the expo behind their opponent's nat, anyways.

edit: Thanks for writing this up, but I do think that the sample size is wayyyyyy to small for us to gain any knowledge from it, and I don't think we can be accurate by trying to theorycraft imblances from so few games.

Look at temple: it's balanced, but the first 30 or so games would have never told us that (and you are using sets sometimes much smaller than that).
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Invitational
16:00
Replay Cast for D/A/CH
TaKeTV 520
IPSL
16:00
3rd Place
Dragon vs Hawk
Airneanach74
LiquipediaDiscussion
PSISTORM Gaming Misc
15:55
FSL TeamLeaguePlayoffs STvsASH
Freeedom30
Liquipedia
Epic.LAN
13:00
Epic.LAN 48 Playoff Stage
epiclan81
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Lowko650
CosmosSc2 80
RushiSC 44
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3744
Mini 437
ggaemo 171
BeSt 162
Sharp 148
Rock 22
Hm[arnc] 18
Yoon 13
ajuk12(nOOB) 11
HiyA 9
Dota 2
qojqva1783
Dendi100
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
fl0m1843
ScreaM1289
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox706
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu291
MindelVK26
Other Games
Grubby3429
Liquid`RaSZi1090
Beastyqt605
byalli517
C9.Mang0314
DeMusliM248
XaKoH 106
KnowMe77
Livibee75
Chillindude16
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2386
BasetradeTV207
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• printf 63
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• 80smullet 18
• blackmanpl 17
• Pr0nogo 5
• FirePhoenix2
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis2215
• TFBlade978
Other Games
• imaqtpie838
• Shiphtur367
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
15h 1m
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
16h 1m
OSC
19h 1m
IPSL
22h 1m
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
1d 17h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 22h
OSC
2 days
PiGosaur Cup
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
[ Show More ]
CrankTV Team League
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Korean StarCraft League
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Online Event
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S3: W3
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.