• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:42
CEST 19:42
KST 02:42
  • 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 Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)10[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0
StarCraft 2
General
TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Updates to The Core/Core Lite for v5.0.16? RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 2026 Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) GSL Code S Season 2 (2026)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
Where is EffOrt? BW General Discussion vespene.gg — BW replays in browser BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals [BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread ZeroSpace Megathread Total War: Warhammer 40K Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
UK Politics Mega-thread US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks Trading/Investing Thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Does Workplace Frustration D…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8255 users

In Response to David Kim re: SC2 Economy - Page 11

Forum Index > Legacy of the Void
328 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 9 10 11 12 13 17 Next All
In response to: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/17085919227
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 20:44:00
April 22 2015 20:42 GMT
#201
On April 23 2015 05:33 fancyClown wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:25 SC2John wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:21 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:52 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:47 fancyClown wrote:
If you want Blizzard to abandon their current economy model for LotV, you need to clearly show what effect DH10 has on the available money vs. LotV.

The only meaningful way to do that is to plot minerals earned as a function of time for both DH10 and LotV.
This allows you to see when the first base gets mined out in both models.
Anything else is just baseless conjecture.

LotV and HotS have the same curves as in the OP. The difference is that half the patches run out sooner than the other half. That's not really something we can easily model since the timing on when those patches are depleted varies considerably depending on when the expansion was taken.

Our preference is for a DH model with reduced minerals per patch (say 1350) as opposed to non-uniform mineral distributions.

The curves of LotV and HotS are the same, but the big difference is the initial worker count.
This makes it really hard to compare the 3 models in terms of actual effect on money earned over time.

All you need to model is one base that produces workers until saturation.
When saturated, worker production stops and no further expansions are taken.

You are just modeling this one base and then ask:
At which point is this base mined out? How does income increase over time?
How does this compare between LotV and DH10?

This is the only thing you are really interested in to get the point across.


The difference is that you don't lose 50% of your income at 50% of HotS mineout time (~7:00) -_-
At 16 workers, DH10 and HotS have almost the same efficiency and income.

Literally the only difference in graphs would be that at 7:00, LotV economy would chunk off like a step function.

We are talking about plotting minerals earned as a function of time, not as a function of worker count.
Since DH10 and LotV start with different worker counts, the graphs would most certainly look different.


I realize I may have mistaken your question, but the idea still holds in a graph of overall minerals/time. If the numbers are correct, you should mine more minerals than HotS and less than LotV on approximately the same curve after 16 workers until the half patches start mining out. That's why we're advocating it as an in-between of the two economies.

EDIT: Plexa has a good point, though.
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
EatThePath
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States3943 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 20:52:07
April 22 2015 20:50 GMT
#202
You can actually just calculate the LotV mining rates by using intervals of +/- 4 patches. e.g. 48 workers in HotS is used for mineral mining on 3 bases. In LotV 48 workers would be used on 4 bases because your main and possibly nat have only 4 patches, for a total of 24 or 28 mineral patches, just like 24 patches on 3 bases in HotS. The income is unchanged per worker because the worker behavior is exactly the same and the number of patches is unchanged or there are surplus (unused and therefore irrelevant) patches. That's no mystery and it's not really of interest in terms of an income graph?

All of the interesting part of that or some other economic change comes from the effect on strategy and gameplay. In the case of DH graphs are of some use because you can begin to illustrate the shift in strategic incentives. The current LotV mining system just has mandates of taking new bases for your requisite # patches with no difference from HotS mining, and the only way to investigate that further is by playing the game to see what requiring extra base locations does (which is what they're going with for now).
Comprehensive strategic intention: DNE
FabledIntegral
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States9232 Posts
April 22 2015 20:54 GMT
#203
On April 23 2015 05:09 EatThePath wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 04:59 rigginssc2 wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:12 velvex wrote:
Yet, with your use of the word "optimal", you're suggesting that people choose their worker count in order to maximise (= optimise) worker efficiency, which is not very realistic.


I think is pretty realistic. When you are playing currently you always want to saturate your base before expanding to another. You always want to make sure your bases are saturated. This is not unrealistic at all, this is just common knowledge and how you play the game. You over-saturate (go over 16) as you are expanding and then move workers to the new base. (saturate meaning 16 mining workers per base)

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
You will still double the income on 4 bases with 32 workers, compared to 2 bases with 16 workers, regardless if Standard or DH 2x5. That is rather pointless comparison, since you simply have doubled everything (workers and bases).


First, in Hots/Lotv you wouldn't need 4 bases if you had 32 workers. You would stop at 2. And that would not be double the income from 16-32 in standard it would be identical income. That is the whole point of the 2:1 argument in this article.

The point is, in DH10 you actually can get 4 bases saturated (4x8=32), but in Hots/Lotv you cannot (4x16=64). The premise here is that if you were trying to power out economy or tech. A player in the Hots/Lotv version would not get the economy advantage that a player in DH10 would IF he tried to fast expand to 4 bases over the 2 base player. He simply could not get an efficiency advantage until he got over 48 workers (3x16). That's a lot and in Hots that would take a terran nearly 10 minutes to accomplish.

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
Why 16 is considered a saturated base? Is it because worker efficiency drops?
Defining "saturation" as a point when workers start losing maximum efficiency is misleading.


I am not defining it to be anything. I am simply saying that the word "saturation" is already used to mean one thing -- 16 workers on a base -- so "defining it" to mean something else in this article/thread is confusing. I would imagine David simply used the word "saturation" in the normal SC2 way, which is understandable since his job/life is SC2, and it shouldn't be taken as his necessarily misunderstanding the original article.

Personally, I think a few of the terms are a bit loose in this thread (like "optimal" as I mentioned), but the most important thing is just everyone being on the same page.

Saturation is already a well-understood term meaning "adding workers to the patch achieves no income gain". AKA "The patch is saturated." Which you can extend to a base being saturated meaning all its patches are saturated.

Saturation itself has nothing to do with efficiency but they often get conflated in discussions about mining and economy.


I would disagree with this statement. I would say that "common usage," regardless of whether or not it's actually correct, is to use 16 workers on minerals to be saturated, not 24. I actually struggled with the articles notably as a result as well as a result - I understood the article established what the definition was going to be (and it's fairly accurate at that), but it's not how I have ever seen it used in the game itself.

Nearly any caster will also use "saturated" base as 16 workers in tournament games, which further reinforces it's colloquial usage being 16 instead of 24.
fancyClown
Profile Joined April 2015
65 Posts
April 22 2015 21:04 GMT
#204
On April 23 2015 05:40 Plexa wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:33 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:25 SC2John wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:21 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:52 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:47 fancyClown wrote:
If you want Blizzard to abandon their current economy model for LotV, you need to clearly show what effect DH10 has on the available money vs. LotV.

The only meaningful way to do that is to plot minerals earned as a function of time for both DH10 and LotV.
This allows you to see when the first base gets mined out in both models.
Anything else is just baseless conjecture.

LotV and HotS have the same curves as in the OP. The difference is that half the patches run out sooner than the other half. That's not really something we can easily model since the timing on when those patches are depleted varies considerably depending on when the expansion was taken.

Our preference is for a DH model with reduced minerals per patch (say 1350) as opposed to non-uniform mineral distributions.

The curves of LotV and HotS are the same, but the big difference is the initial worker count.
This makes it really hard to compare the 3 models in terms of actual effect on money earned over time.

All you need to model is one base that produces workers until saturation.
When saturated, worker production stops and no further expansions are taken.

You are just modeling this one base and then ask:
At which point is this base mined out? How does income increase over time?
How does this compare between LotV and DH10?

This is the only thing you are really interested in to get the point across.


The difference is that you don't lose 50% of your income at 50% of HotS mineout time (~7:00) -_-
At 16 workers, DH10 and HotS have almost the same efficiency and income.

Literally the only difference in graphs would be that at 7:00, LotV economy would chunk off like a step function.

We are talking about plotting minerals earned as a function of time, not as a function of worker count.
Since DH10 and LotV start with different worker counts, the graphs would most certainly look different.

DH10 =/= 12 worker start. The number of workers you start with is irrelevant, and in LotV we'd expect initial tests with DH10 to be done with 12 workers.

SC2john is right when he says income/time for a normal game in lotv would look identical to hots except when you mine out the 4 patches (~7:00) when the graph jumps down rapidly (step function behavior).

EDIT: our comparison to HotS is for two reasons
1) People generally have greater access to HotS and we can put extension mods online there
2) The efficiency curves for HotS and LotV are identical assuming equal number of nodes available


If you would start HotS with 12 workers and compare it to HotS started with 6 workers you are saying that both mine out their base at the same time?
Intuitively that doesn't make a lot of sense.

After 1 min, your money earned from 12-worker-start HotS would be higher than from 6-worker-start HotS.
As a result, the 12-worker-start HotS base would be mined out faster.

And that is what I mean by saying that plotting only the worker count doesn't reflect the differences between the models.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13407 Posts
April 22 2015 21:25 GMT
#205
On April 23 2015 05:54 FabledIntegral wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:09 EatThePath wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:59 rigginssc2 wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:12 velvex wrote:
Yet, with your use of the word "optimal", you're suggesting that people choose their worker count in order to maximise (= optimise) worker efficiency, which is not very realistic.


I think is pretty realistic. When you are playing currently you always want to saturate your base before expanding to another. You always want to make sure your bases are saturated. This is not unrealistic at all, this is just common knowledge and how you play the game. You over-saturate (go over 16) as you are expanding and then move workers to the new base. (saturate meaning 16 mining workers per base)

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
You will still double the income on 4 bases with 32 workers, compared to 2 bases with 16 workers, regardless if Standard or DH 2x5. That is rather pointless comparison, since you simply have doubled everything (workers and bases).


First, in Hots/Lotv you wouldn't need 4 bases if you had 32 workers. You would stop at 2. And that would not be double the income from 16-32 in standard it would be identical income. That is the whole point of the 2:1 argument in this article.

The point is, in DH10 you actually can get 4 bases saturated (4x8=32), but in Hots/Lotv you cannot (4x16=64). The premise here is that if you were trying to power out economy or tech. A player in the Hots/Lotv version would not get the economy advantage that a player in DH10 would IF he tried to fast expand to 4 bases over the 2 base player. He simply could not get an efficiency advantage until he got over 48 workers (3x16). That's a lot and in Hots that would take a terran nearly 10 minutes to accomplish.

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
Why 16 is considered a saturated base? Is it because worker efficiency drops?
Defining "saturation" as a point when workers start losing maximum efficiency is misleading.


I am not defining it to be anything. I am simply saying that the word "saturation" is already used to mean one thing -- 16 workers on a base -- so "defining it" to mean something else in this article/thread is confusing. I would imagine David simply used the word "saturation" in the normal SC2 way, which is understandable since his job/life is SC2, and it shouldn't be taken as his necessarily misunderstanding the original article.

Personally, I think a few of the terms are a bit loose in this thread (like "optimal" as I mentioned), but the most important thing is just everyone being on the same page.

Saturation is already a well-understood term meaning "adding workers to the patch achieves no income gain". AKA "The patch is saturated." Which you can extend to a base being saturated meaning all its patches are saturated.

Saturation itself has nothing to do with efficiency but they often get conflated in discussions about mining and economy.


I would disagree with this statement. I would say that "common usage," regardless of whether or not it's actually correct, is to use 16 workers on minerals to be saturated, not 24. I actually struggled with the articles notably as a result as well as a result - I understood the article established what the definition was going to be (and it's fairly accurate at that), but it's not how I have ever seen it used in the game itself.

Nearly any caster will also use "saturated" base as 16 workers in tournament games, which further reinforces it's colloquial usage being 16 instead of 24.


Unfortunately, there needs to be some redefining of terms when we write our articles. Really wish colloquially we could put it all out there better but we do need to be more specific than the colloquial words
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 21:36:11
April 22 2015 21:35 GMT
#206
On April 23 2015 06:04 fancyClown wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:40 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:33 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:25 SC2John wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:21 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:52 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:47 fancyClown wrote:
If you want Blizzard to abandon their current economy model for LotV, you need to clearly show what effect DH10 has on the available money vs. LotV.

The only meaningful way to do that is to plot minerals earned as a function of time for both DH10 and LotV.
This allows you to see when the first base gets mined out in both models.
Anything else is just baseless conjecture.

LotV and HotS have the same curves as in the OP. The difference is that half the patches run out sooner than the other half. That's not really something we can easily model since the timing on when those patches are depleted varies considerably depending on when the expansion was taken.

Our preference is for a DH model with reduced minerals per patch (say 1350) as opposed to non-uniform mineral distributions.

The curves of LotV and HotS are the same, but the big difference is the initial worker count.
This makes it really hard to compare the 3 models in terms of actual effect on money earned over time.

All you need to model is one base that produces workers until saturation.
When saturated, worker production stops and no further expansions are taken.

You are just modeling this one base and then ask:
At which point is this base mined out? How does income increase over time?
How does this compare between LotV and DH10?

This is the only thing you are really interested in to get the point across.


The difference is that you don't lose 50% of your income at 50% of HotS mineout time (~7:00) -_-
At 16 workers, DH10 and HotS have almost the same efficiency and income.

Literally the only difference in graphs would be that at 7:00, LotV economy would chunk off like a step function.

We are talking about plotting minerals earned as a function of time, not as a function of worker count.
Since DH10 and LotV start with different worker counts, the graphs would most certainly look different.

DH10 =/= 12 worker start. The number of workers you start with is irrelevant, and in LotV we'd expect initial tests with DH10 to be done with 12 workers.

SC2john is right when he says income/time for a normal game in lotv would look identical to hots except when you mine out the 4 patches (~7:00) when the graph jumps down rapidly (step function behavior).

EDIT: our comparison to HotS is for two reasons
1) People generally have greater access to HotS and we can put extension mods online there
2) The efficiency curves for HotS and LotV are identical assuming equal number of nodes available


If you would start HotS with 12 workers and compare it to HotS started with 6 workers you are saying that both mine out their base at the same time?
Intuitively that doesn't make a lot of sense.

After 1 min, your money earned from 12-worker-start HotS would be higher than from 6-worker-start HotS.
As a result, the 12-worker-start HotS base would be mined out faster.

And that is what I mean by saying that plotting only the worker count doesn't reflect the differences between the models.


Of course starting 12 workers will mine out the base faster than starting with 6 workers (though honestly not by much).

What Plexa is trying to say is that worker numbers are adjustable and have little to do with the actual economy. LotV could be dropped down to 10 workers, but it wouldn't change the model all that significantly. What we are doing here is, like Blizzard, creating an alternative to the HotS economy, but our approach is based around breaking worker pairing; worker numbers can be adjusted however later, but have no significant relevance to the actual core design issue at hand.
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 21:39:25
April 22 2015 21:37 GMT
#207
On April 23 2015 06:04 fancyClown wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:40 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:33 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:25 SC2John wrote:
On April 23 2015 05:21 fancyClown wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:52 Plexa wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:47 fancyClown wrote:
If you want Blizzard to abandon their current economy model for LotV, you need to clearly show what effect DH10 has on the available money vs. LotV.

The only meaningful way to do that is to plot minerals earned as a function of time for both DH10 and LotV.
This allows you to see when the first base gets mined out in both models.
Anything else is just baseless conjecture.

LotV and HotS have the same curves as in the OP. The difference is that half the patches run out sooner than the other half. That's not really something we can easily model since the timing on when those patches are depleted varies considerably depending on when the expansion was taken.

Our preference is for a DH model with reduced minerals per patch (say 1350) as opposed to non-uniform mineral distributions.

The curves of LotV and HotS are the same, but the big difference is the initial worker count.
This makes it really hard to compare the 3 models in terms of actual effect on money earned over time.

All you need to model is one base that produces workers until saturation.
When saturated, worker production stops and no further expansions are taken.

You are just modeling this one base and then ask:
At which point is this base mined out? How does income increase over time?
How does this compare between LotV and DH10?

This is the only thing you are really interested in to get the point across.


The difference is that you don't lose 50% of your income at 50% of HotS mineout time (~7:00) -_-
At 16 workers, DH10 and HotS have almost the same efficiency and income.

Literally the only difference in graphs would be that at 7:00, LotV economy would chunk off like a step function.

We are talking about plotting minerals earned as a function of time, not as a function of worker count.
Since DH10 and LotV start with different worker counts, the graphs would most certainly look different.

DH10 =/= 12 worker start. The number of workers you start with is irrelevant, and in LotV we'd expect initial tests with DH10 to be done with 12 workers.

SC2john is right when he says income/time for a normal game in lotv would look identical to hots except when you mine out the 4 patches (~7:00) when the graph jumps down rapidly (step function behavior).

EDIT: our comparison to HotS is for two reasons
1) People generally have greater access to HotS and we can put extension mods online there
2) The efficiency curves for HotS and LotV are identical assuming equal number of nodes available


If you would start HotS with 12 workers and compare it to HotS started with 6 workers you are saying that both mine out their base at the same time?
Intuitively that doesn't make a lot of sense.

After 1 min, your money earned from 12-worker-start HotS would be higher than from 6-worker-start HotS.
As a result, the 12-worker-start HotS base would be mined out faster.

And that is what I mean by saying that plotting only the worker count doesn't reflect the differences between the models.
The graphs in the OP assume you have a fixed worker count and then calculate the income/minute you receive from having that fixed worker counter. We're not making any claims about bases running out faster.
On April 23 2015 05:54 FabledIntegral wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 05:09 EatThePath wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:59 rigginssc2 wrote:
On April 23 2015 04:12 velvex wrote:
Yet, with your use of the word "optimal", you're suggesting that people choose their worker count in order to maximise (= optimise) worker efficiency, which is not very realistic.


I think is pretty realistic. When you are playing currently you always want to saturate your base before expanding to another. You always want to make sure your bases are saturated. This is not unrealistic at all, this is just common knowledge and how you play the game. You over-saturate (go over 16) as you are expanding and then move workers to the new base. (saturate meaning 16 mining workers per base)

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
You will still double the income on 4 bases with 32 workers, compared to 2 bases with 16 workers, regardless if Standard or DH 2x5. That is rather pointless comparison, since you simply have doubled everything (workers and bases).


First, in Hots/Lotv you wouldn't need 4 bases if you had 32 workers. You would stop at 2. And that would not be double the income from 16-32 in standard it would be identical income. That is the whole point of the 2:1 argument in this article.

The point is, in DH10 you actually can get 4 bases saturated (4x8=32), but in Hots/Lotv you cannot (4x16=64). The premise here is that if you were trying to power out economy or tech. A player in the Hots/Lotv version would not get the economy advantage that a player in DH10 would IF he tried to fast expand to 4 bases over the 2 base player. He simply could not get an efficiency advantage until he got over 48 workers (3x16). That's a lot and in Hots that would take a terran nearly 10 minutes to accomplish.

On April 23 2015 04:13 BlackLilium wrote:
Why 16 is considered a saturated base? Is it because worker efficiency drops?
Defining "saturation" as a point when workers start losing maximum efficiency is misleading.


I am not defining it to be anything. I am simply saying that the word "saturation" is already used to mean one thing -- 16 workers on a base -- so "defining it" to mean something else in this article/thread is confusing. I would imagine David simply used the word "saturation" in the normal SC2 way, which is understandable since his job/life is SC2, and it shouldn't be taken as his necessarily misunderstanding the original article.

Personally, I think a few of the terms are a bit loose in this thread (like "optimal" as I mentioned), but the most important thing is just everyone being on the same page.

Saturation is already a well-understood term meaning "adding workers to the patch achieves no income gain". AKA "The patch is saturated." Which you can extend to a base being saturated meaning all its patches are saturated.

Saturation itself has nothing to do with efficiency but they often get conflated in discussions about mining and economy.


I would disagree with this statement. I would say that "common usage," regardless of whether or not it's actually correct, is to use 16 workers on minerals to be saturated, not 24. I actually struggled with the articles notably as a result as well as a result - I understood the article established what the definition was going to be (and it's fairly accurate at that), but it's not how I have ever seen it used in the game itself.

Nearly any caster will also use "saturated" base as 16 workers in tournament games, which further reinforces it's colloquial usage being 16 instead of 24.

Yeah, hence why I made is exceptionally clear in the OP by what I meant by "saturation point". We need words to describe the concepts we mean, and saturation literally means "cannot hold anymore" (eg. saturated sponge) so it seems very appropriate to use that term to describe a mineral line which cannot hold anymore workers. That said, being careful with language in these articles is paramount.
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
Plasmid
Profile Joined December 2010
57 Posts
April 22 2015 21:41 GMT
#208
On April 23 2015 03:53 EatThePath wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 22 2015 15:05 Plasmid wrote:
Using the classic sc2 harvest model of 5 per trip, could the standard patch of 8 minerals be reshaped so that the closer ones are mined perfectly with 2 harvesters, then some at 2.5 then some at 3 and then some at 3.5 for example?


That would reward base expanding strats in the short run by putting workers on the closer patches across bases earlier, being a short term incentive to expansion.


Then the closer patches could have less minerals to start with (like the current LotV), which would provide the long term incentive to expand because the low minerals patches would vanish relatively ast.

(I am not remotely a good player or a balance specialist, so maybe this is terrible.)

This was investigated at some length during WoL beta and early WoL. It's a great solution except for one fault, which is that the workers don't automatically pair up on closer patches, they still go to open patches even if they are extremely inefficient due to extra distance. This necessitates a significant amount of player attention to properly pair up workers on the close patches at a new base. And imagine if you pull workers due to harass -- you have to set up the pairing when you go back to mine each time.

FYI tidbit: a patch 5 squares away is almost perfectly at 3 worker saturation with linear buildup, i.e. 2 workers' mine rate is 67% of 3 workers'. And consequently with a standard "close" patch (3 squares) being >90% saturated with 2 workers, a 5squares-away patch with 2 workers gives ~70% the income.

One of the reasons why "worker bouncing" is better is because it delivers the desired economy dynamics using just the default worker behavior once the player has distributed them roughly evenly between bases (a relatively simple task).


I quite appreciate this answer, specially considering the handle of harass requiring even more work.

At least it is clear such a simple change would not work, at least not on its own.
rigginssc2
Profile Joined April 2015
18 Posts
April 22 2015 21:45 GMT
#209
On April 23 2015 05:25 BlackLilium wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 04:59 rigginssc2 wrote:
First, in Hots/Lotv you wouldn't need 4 bases if you had 32 workers. You would stop at 2. And that would not be double the income from 16-32 in standard it would be identical income. That is the whole point of the 2:1 argument in this article.

In standard you don't need 4 bases with 32 workers, but you can have them. You don't need 4 bases with DH 2x5 either, unless you absolutely want to maximalize worker efficiency. But maximizing worker efficiency is not always the best strategy, you know...

You argumentation contains a sentence that "4 bases with 32 workers mine twice as fast as 2 bases with 16 workers" - which is true for both Standard and DH 2x5. It would double the income in any other sane resource system too, because you simply have twice as many things! As such it brings nothing to the discussion and I don't really see why David Kim would come up with something like this to justify his "double income".


I said that part in italics in reference to DH10. It is true in that case. 32 workers on four bases is 8 workers per base. 16 workers on two bases is 8 workers per base. Perfect saturation and maximum efficiency. It is also completely believable that you could achieve that number of workers. Since the 4 base person has the exact same number of workers on every base, and has double the base count, he has double the income. Obvious, yes.

What you aren't seeing, and I am no doubt failing to relate, is two things:

1. If we had the 16/32 worker example above in DH10, yes, the income doubles with the increase in workers. But it ONLY doubles in DH10 if you have 4 bases. If you have 3 or 2 bases your income suffers. ("reward for expanding" they say, or you could say "penalized for not expanding"). With Hots/Lotv your income also doubles, but it does that on 2 bases. There is no reward for expanding to 3 or 4 with that worker count.

2. I was trying to say that for Hots/Lotv you don't use 16/32 as the numbers because those aren't saturation numbers. You instead would use 32/64. It takes 32 workers to saturate two bases and 64 to saturate four. You can saturate two pretty easy, and yes, your income doubles when you go from one base to two. You can probably get to the third base (most games do) and that is 48 workers. But a fourth base? No, not realistic usually, at least not saturated, and not in a timely fashion.

That's all. Hopefully that is more clear.
Spyridon
Profile Joined April 2010
United States997 Posts
April 22 2015 21:59 GMT
#210
On April 23 2015 04:47 fancyClown wrote:
If you want Blizzard to abandon their current economy model for LotV, you need to clearly show what effect DH10 has on the available money vs. LotV.

The only meaningful way to do that is to plot minerals earned as a function of time for both DH10 and LotV.
This allows you to see when the first base gets mined out in both models.
Anything else is just baseless conjecture.


Further than that, if you want to see if this economy and idea really catch on, why not make some high quality custom games that emulate this economy structure? Then you can easily analyse the replays and have real numbers to share.

Of course this is much lower scale than blizz's beta, but bringing any number of play testers would at least improve this idea beyond forum warriors.
Teoita
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Italy12247 Posts
April 22 2015 22:06 GMT
#211
That is exactly what we are doing. The mod is freely available, and we are organizing showmatches as well as a tlopen featuring this.
ModeratorProtoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
Big J
Profile Joined March 2011
Austria16289 Posts
April 22 2015 22:10 GMT
#212
Just to add to the discussion, I think that DH10 at the moment provides too much income already in the early game. I ran two tests with HotS vs DH10 with Zerg, featuring (very economic) hatch/pool/hatch builds and summed the minerals mined at each minute in the game for the first 7mins.
These are the results:
[image loading]


And in numbers
[image loading]


This test was run on the premise of similar build orders, which with the changed economy sytem is probably suboptimal in the DH10 model.
Since in HotS I was more or less spending all of my money, it goes without saying that in DH10 it became quickly apparent that I was building a bank. Enough money that I could have expanded a 4th and possibly even 5th time within the first 7mins to even further boost my economy through extra production and extra worker spreading.

This happens, because DH10 is modelled to behave similar to the HotS model in full saturation, but before that, the income is quite a bit higher. Rapid expansion - like a hatch first build, but just in general the acquisation of a fast 3rd, or even 4th and 5th base - allows you to spread your workers very thinly. Therefore, each of your bases rides on the more effective bottom of the saturation curve.
+ Show Spoiler +
[image loading]

Obviously, this is the intended expansion effect, but it needs to be noted that this effect starts to kick in within the first few minutes of a game. Trying to model the same fully-saturated 1base income might be too much of an economy boost, given that the common openings usually evolve around a very quick second if not even third base.
KrazyTrumpet
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2520 Posts
April 22 2015 22:23 GMT
#213
In my opinion, it's a good thing that the income is noticeably higher in DH10, though. That's because it lines up with one of Blizzard's LotV design goals: Speeding up the early game, and getting to the action fast. DH10 just does this in a way that doesn't feel as frantic, and still allows for crazy early cheeses that the current LotV model does not.
www.twitch.tv/krazy Best Stream Quality NA @KClarkSC2
HewTheTitan
Profile Joined February 2015
Canada331 Posts
April 22 2015 22:37 GMT
#214
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.
Penev
Profile Joined October 2012
28530 Posts
April 22 2015 22:42 GMT
#215
On April 23 2015 07:37 HewTheTitan wrote:
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.

I suspect only JaKaTaK and Lycan actually read it.. :/
I Protoss winner, could it be?
Musicus
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany23579 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 22:48:54
April 22 2015 22:47 GMT
#216
On April 23 2015 07:42 Penev wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 07:37 HewTheTitan wrote:
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.

I suspect only JaKaTaK and Lycan actually read it.. :/


That's not true, I would bet money Nathanias read it and he even already hosted a show match on the mod with money. He knows how double Harvesting works and what it changes. He is critical but completely open to the discussion and supports testing the idea
Maru and Serral are probably top 5.
Penev
Profile Joined October 2012
28530 Posts
April 22 2015 22:50 GMT
#217
On April 23 2015 07:47 Musicus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 07:42 Penev wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:37 HewTheTitan wrote:
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.

I suspect only JaKaTaK and Lycan actually read it.. :/


That's not true, I would bet money Nathanias read it and he even already hosted a show match on the mod with money. He knows how double Harvesting works and what it changes. He is critical but completely open to the discussion and supports testing the idea

I find his reaction even stranger in that case tbh
I Protoss winner, could it be?
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13407 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-04-22 23:10:25
April 22 2015 23:09 GMT
#218
I think I got too caught up in the destiny trap of emotional circle roundabouts.

also we've been bothering nathanias a lot and I think he's just tired of hearing about it XD And its fair for someone to be critical nothing wrong with that. I'm glad I had jakatak to help me out and once I went back to the core concerns of worker pairing and overall income I felt like it went a lot better.

Also we want to be in the middle of the LotV road and the HotS road.

In response to the overall higher income of DH we agree that looking at more info and replays it might be too high.

Thats okay, we admit this. I am looking into how to implement DH9 which should be closer to what we want
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
Musicus
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany23579 Posts
April 22 2015 23:11 GMT
#219
On April 23 2015 07:50 Penev wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 07:47 Musicus wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:42 Penev wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:37 HewTheTitan wrote:
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.

I suspect only JaKaTaK and Lycan actually read it.. :/


That's not true, I would bet money Nathanias read it and he even already hosted a show match on the mod with money. He knows how double Harvesting works and what it changes. He is critical but completely open to the discussion and supports testing the idea

I find his reaction even stranger in that case tbh



I think he is just tired of discussing it on every show, this is his third time talking about it. What he is saying is, let's just test it and play lots of games and stop the eternal theory crafting. Also the current economy has not been tested enough and there are a lot of assumptions. I would agree with that and I think the Lycan league and TL open with DH will be invaluable. Let's talk more after those happened and until then be careful that it's not a biased circlejerk.

So yeah I am all for the DH approach, but the current model has not been tested enough and it's too much theorycrafting. let's let the game talk.
Maru and Serral are probably top 5.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13407 Posts
April 22 2015 23:12 GMT
#220
On April 23 2015 08:11 Musicus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2015 07:50 Penev wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:47 Musicus wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:42 Penev wrote:
On April 23 2015 07:37 HewTheTitan wrote:
I'm a little unsure which thread to continue the discussion in atm.

I just wanted to say that it seems you're saying is very simple, and you're getting better and better at saying it. I'm disappointed that the Lycan talk show guests misunderstood you so much.

I think clarity of communication is the most important factor from here on out.

I suspect only JaKaTaK and Lycan actually read it.. :/


That's not true, I would bet money Nathanias read it and he even already hosted a show match on the mod with money. He knows how double Harvesting works and what it changes. He is critical but completely open to the discussion and supports testing the idea

I find his reaction even stranger in that case tbh



I think he is just tired of discussing it on every show, this is his third time talking about it. What he is saying is, let's just test it and play lots of games and stop the eternal theory crafting. Also the current economy has not been tested enough and there are a lot of assumptions. I would agree with that and I think the Lycan league and TL open with DH will be invaluable. Let's talk more after those happened and until then be careful that it's not a biased circlejerk.

So yeah I am all for the DH approach, but the current model has not been tested enough and it's too much theorycrafting. let's let the game talk.


Agreed, even I'm getting tired of it hahaha
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
Prev 1 9 10 11 12 13 17 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 6h 19m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 325
ProTech151
Livibee 119
SHIN 41
MindelVK 26
RushiSC 20
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3890
Sea 1037
Shuttle 822
EffOrt 583
Mini 396
Soulkey 300
firebathero 163
ggaemo 161
Mong 72
Free 50
[ Show more ]
scan(afreeca) 41
Pusan 41
Hyun 31
Sacsri 23
sorry 22
Rock 17
IntoTheRainbow 15
Shine 14
Bale 14
GoRush 13
Dota 2
qojqva4133
Dendi1457
420jenkins453
monkeys_forever147
Counter-Strike
edward114
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King73
Other Games
gofns24757
pashabiceps1945
Grubby1328
FrodaN1183
B2W.Neo708
Beastyqt530
ceh9381
Hui .176
C9.Mang0171
ArmadaUGS152
XaKoH 107
BRAT_OK 91
Trikslyr71
Dewaltoss36
OptimusSC21
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream2789
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Migwel
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 37
• FirePhoenix12
• blackmanpl 8
• Michael_bg 4
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota267
League of Legends
• TFBlade838
Other Games
• imaqtpie536
• Shiphtur219
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
6h 19m
Replay Cast
15h 19m
The PondCast
1d 16h
OSC
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
GSL
3 days
Maru vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs Reynor
herO vs Lambo
Solar vs Clem
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
4 days
XuanXuan vs Jaystar
Mihu vs Messiah
eOnzErG vs Dewalt
Bonyth vs Jaystar
TerrOr vs Messiah
XuanXuan vs Mihu
eOnzErG vs Jaystar
Replay Cast
4 days
GSL
4 days
Patches Events
4 days
[ Show More ]
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
5 days
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-15
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
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.