• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 06:47
CET 12:47
KST 20:47
  • 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 Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !8Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
When will we find out if there are more tournament ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump
Tourneys
Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle screp: Command line app to parse SC rep files [BSL21] RO8 Bracket & Prediction Contest
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum PC Games Sales Thread Path of Exile
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 Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
The (Hidden) Drug Problem in…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1681 users

[D] Killing an SCV vs killing a Mule - Page 3

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
Diks
Profile Joined January 2010
Belgium1880 Posts
April 25 2010 12:39 GMT
#41
I think there is no absolute answers for this because it only depends on the situation.
killing a fresh mule in the early game will delay the opponent build and timings, wich can give you room for breathing or pushing. Killing an early SCV will give you an advantage during the long game.
It only really depends on two factors :
- Do I need a economy advantage right now or later ?
- How old is the mule, (you'll better check that before sniping).
samuraibael
Profile Joined February 2008
Australia294 Posts
April 25 2010 12:41 GMT
#42
Interesting thread. Petered seems to have said everything that can be said on it though. That kind of mineral value/time value is going to vary game by game and so never be calculate-able I suspect? I also love some of the dogmatic proclamations (MULE IS BETTER etc) spat in the face of good reasoning.
Klockan3
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
Sweden2866 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-25 15:25:33
April 25 2010 15:24 GMT
#43
On April 25 2010 02:22 fdsdfg wrote:
Constants:

SCV Cost: 50
SCV Build time: 17s
SCV Collection rate: 1 min / s
SCV Saturation level: 22

Mule lifespan: 90s
Mule collection rate: 3 min / s

These are wrong, SCV's do not bring in 1min/s, they bring in 1min/1.4seconds since real seconds are not ingame seconds.

This throws off your calculations by a lot btw, and equates to it practically always being better to target mules.
morimacil
Profile Joined March 2010
France921 Posts
April 25 2010 18:42 GMT
#44
On April 26 2010 00:24 Klockan3 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 25 2010 02:22 fdsdfg wrote:
Constants:

SCV Cost: 50
SCV Build time: 17s
SCV Collection rate: 1 min / s
SCV Saturation level: 22

Mule lifespan: 90s
Mule collection rate: 3 min / s

These are wrong, SCV's do not bring in 1min/s, they bring in 1min/1.4seconds since real seconds are not ingame seconds.

This throws off your calculations by a lot btw, and equates to it practically always being better to target mules.


Irrelevant.
Whether you play the game on fast, very fast, or slower, does not affect the SCV to mule relation.
If SCVs take 1.4 x longer to build, bring back 1 min per 1.4 seconds, and mules last 1.4 seconds longer, and collect 3 mins per 1.4 seconds, the relation still doesnt change.
In fact, if you wanted to, you could replace the s (which stands for second) by "time units", and it would work just as well.
What matters, is not the actual time, but the relation to each other.
Xursian
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada94 Posts
April 26 2010 16:16 GMT
#45
mules > extra supply, only time that should be used is if you supply cap yourself, or of banelings bust your supplied up and you need to continue making units ASAP... its a good way to help out with that too... instead of waiting forever to build a freaking supply again when you know another atks coming..
WTFs with Barracks NERF?
josemb40
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Peru611 Posts
April 26 2010 16:18 GMT
#46
mule if its early game i think, else go for scvs
wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Ghostcom
Profile Joined March 2010
Denmark4782 Posts
April 26 2010 16:36 GMT
#47
On April 27 2010 01:16 Xursian wrote:
mules > extra supply, only time that should be used is if you supply cap yourself, or of banelings bust your supplied up and you need to continue making units ASAP... its a good way to help out with that too... instead of waiting forever to build a freaking supply again when you know another atks coming..


Read the OP - it's not that hard, and it's pretty darn clear that the issue is not to chose between mule and supply drop, but which to kill when vs T, the SVC or the mules...
Vikkekh
Profile Joined December 2009
Sweden47 Posts
April 26 2010 16:52 GMT
#48
On April 25 2010 10:44 xnub wrote:
Think it all depends on how much time the mule has left most times i just go for the SCVs on gas first really fucks the person up and if you are lucky he forgets to put some back on gas : )


I agree to this, if I knew he recently called the mules down I'd def go for them.
You're crazier than me, have a key!
Gnaix
Profile Joined February 2009
United States438 Posts
April 26 2010 16:58 GMT
#49
killing mules is better for short term while scvs is better for long term. If you harass early and kill a mule, you can delay him from teching and making more scvs, which is a lot better than killing an scv which although will mine more long term, doesn't have a huge impact on the current economy.
one thing that sc2 has over bw is the fact that I can actually manage my hotkeys
SleepSheep
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada344 Posts
April 26 2010 17:04 GMT
#50
nice OP, good reasoning and analysis
some contributing thoughts...
like you say, assuming your analysis is correct a good heuristic would be to kill scvs over mules, unless we think the mule was just called down, in which case it would be better to kill the mule.
let's think of a scenario where you can take advantage of this knowledge. assuming the terran has called down mules as soon as their OC gets 50 energy, then at some point theres gonna be 2 mules out, one of them is just about to break down, and the other is basically new. so in that case killing both would be like killing a 50% mule or something like that, with twice the hp of a normal mule so even then killing both would be useless since you don't know which one is new and which one is old and it's more damaging for the terran if you target the SCVS. fortunately, since one of the mules are going to break down soon (assuming t has used OC at 50 energy each time, one of them will die in a relatively short period of time, i feel its like 5-10 seconds, maybe someone can verify this, but i know its really short) so in the meantime we can kill SCVS while we wait until the old mule reveals itself by breaking down and then of course you can target the one that is still alive. anyone see a problem with this

we might also want to consider that mules cost terrans 0 supply, so while killing scvs might generally be better economically it also frees terran up of supply which might detract a bit from the effect. this seems like a minor point though, and probably isn't gonna be that useful.
SleepSheep
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada344 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-26 17:19:47
April 26 2010 17:13 GMT
#51
On April 25 2010 21:39 Diks wrote:
I think there is no absolute answers for this because it only depends on the situation.
killing a fresh mule in the early game will delay the opponent build and timings, wich can give you room for breathing or pushing. Killing an early SCV will give you an advantage during the long game.
It only really depends on two factors :
- Do I need a economy advantage right now or later ?
- How old is the mule, (you'll better check that before sniping).


OP addressed those factors already, did you not read it all?
anyways, ignoring that, you're incorrectly assuming that we're trying to find something that guarantees it being the best choice across all situations--but you're missing an important principle here. it's about finding a general rule (heuristic) that is more often than not going to be more useful following it than not following it, with exceptional cases. of course, the more we discuss and think about it the more likely we'll identify those exceptional cases (admittedly there doesn't seem to be many), in which case we can ignore following the heuristic to our advantage.
niteReloaded
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Croatia5282 Posts
April 26 2010 17:39 GMT
#52
Go for the mule.
It makes a bigger shock, as it disrupts the mineral/gas ratio and makes it harder to optimize the Build Order.

Your theory is good if computers play the game.
NiiPPLES
Profile Joined April 2010
United Kingdom201 Posts
April 26 2010 17:45 GMT
#53
Why the hell do people think 16 SCVs is saturated?

Diminishing returns do start around 16 SCVs but if you build 16 SCVs per base you're going to lose a lot of games very fast.

16 SCVs = ~900 minerals/min
22 SCVs = ~1100 minerals/min

tl:dr people who aren't in the beta stop giving advice
SleepSheep
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada344 Posts
April 26 2010 18:49 GMT
#54
On April 27 2010 02:39 niteReloaded wrote:
Go for the mule.
It makes a bigger shock, as it disrupts the mineral/gas ratio and makes it harder to optimize the Build Order.

Your theory is good if computers play the game.


yeah, but how exactly does it make "a bigger shock". OP brought a fairly convincing analysis to the contrary, so if you're making a claim against it, i think you should provide evidence to support it. it seems like the burden of proof is on you now.
Fallen
Profile Joined October 2005
Canada192 Posts
April 26 2010 19:00 GMT
#55
holy theorycrafting captain!

If you've seen mule being dropped, then kill mule. if you havent seen mule being dropped, then kill scvs.

Thread closed.
oh hay
Orpheus
Profile Joined April 2010
United States35 Posts
April 26 2010 19:06 GMT
#56
On April 25 2010 04:42 SuperJongMan wrote:
Just kill the mule.
Slowing him down 270 soon means his factory or whatever will be late etc etc.
Its a big chain event of slowdown and 270 short term is strong early game.
LOL!
Cmon ppl...
CMON!!!


Shh!!!!!! lol
It begins...
ilnp
Profile Joined December 2002
Iceland1330 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-26 19:18:57
April 26 2010 19:12 GMT
#57
On April 25 2010 14:20 zatic wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 25 2010 12:12 majesty.k)seRapH wrote:
killing mules is just so so much better.

starcraft is a game of cutting corners and building up small advantages, one on top of another, and eventually coming out so far ahead that theres no other option but to win

Show nested quote +
On April 25 2010 12:07 GreggSauce wrote:
uh... you should always kill mules, you should never try to kill an SCV, seriously

this isn't right at all

Either present an argument for why you think killing a MULE is better that refutes the OP or just don't post. You are wasting space.

Excellent thread btw OP, we need more of these contributions towards figuring the game out.

Question: If you have unit bars turned on, do you see the energy on enemy mules?



this is an understatement. refuting someone coming here with statistics and math with "god, you're an idiot, just kill the mule" is so mindboggling. maybe you should take a step back, realize that you're not the best player in the world, and then wonder why.

the soul of this post is: what is the true value of an scv/drone/probe? and what is the true value of a mule? how can we figure this out?

the worth of a single worker is always worth more than 50 minerals, but for each race it's different. the value of a single worker also varies over the course of the game -- as the number of CCs and active mineral patches change...
8===D~~
mOnion
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States5657 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-26 19:14:34
April 26 2010 19:13 GMT
#58
assuming the terran does not oversaturate to prepare for expansion


most glaring error in your calculation. You ALWAYS oversaturate to prepare for a maynard.

sigh. this just seems so based on random timing...
☆★☆ 7486!!! Join the Ban mOnion Anti-Trolling Initiative! - Caller | "on a scale of machine to 10, how bad is that Zerg?" - LZgamer | you are the new tl.net bonjwa monion, congrats - Rekrul | "Cheeseburgers dynamite lilacs" - Chill
FabledIntegral
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States9232 Posts
April 26 2010 19:22 GMT
#59
On April 25 2010 02:35 Sky101 wrote:
I thought SCV saturation level is about 16? I mean, 2 SCV's on a patch is a LITTLE BIT over-saturated, assuming one SCV starts mining immediately after the other is done, you'll soon see that after 2-3 trips, 1 SCV will have to wait for the other to finish mining.

Say you kill 1 SCV, he'd stand to lose 17(minerals per a new SCV build time) + 50 = 67 minerals.
But if you kill a Mule, he'd lose 3 x 45(half of the Mule's lifespan) = 135 minerals.
I thought the math is clear??


Very incorrect. 16 is definitely not saturated yet, not sure how it would even be considered OVER saturated. 3 SCVs per crystal will show benefits on the further away crystals, while having a small (almost negligible, yet still apparent) effect on mineral return rates.
Sejong
Profile Joined March 2010
Korea (South)153 Posts
April 26 2010 19:26 GMT
#60
I was just about to post what xnub posted..

Many are granting the MULE his full lifespan in the equation, but we know that the MULE has even less than 90 seconds left. You could be killing the mule 5 seconds before he goes back to whatever satellite he came from. For this reason, I spit my gas at the MULE.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV 2025
11:00
Playoffs
Spirit vs CureLIVE!
Reynor vs MaxPax
SHIN vs TBD
Solar vs herO
Classic vs TBD
TBD vs Clem
WardiTV690
ComeBackTV 639
TaKeTV 264
IndyStarCraft 149
Rex88
CosmosSc2 32
LiquipediaDiscussion
CranKy Ducklings
10:00
Master Swan Open #99
CranKy Ducklings61
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
IndyStarCraft 149
Rex 88
BRAT_OK 55
CosmosSc2 32
DivinesiaTV 13
MindelVK 12
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 7750
Horang2 854
firebathero 693
Larva 459
Leta 375
Stork 343
EffOrt 214
Last 170
Zeus 113
Pusan 96
[ Show more ]
Mong 88
ggaemo 81
ZerO 75
yabsab 44
Shinee 24
Movie 18
NotJumperer 17
zelot 15
SilentControl 9
Noble 8
Dota 2
Gorgc2773
singsing2696
XcaliburYe345
League of Legends
JimRising 349
Counter-Strike
zeus1071
edward182
oskar161
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor208
Other Games
summit1g5750
B2W.Neo1022
Pyrionflax235
crisheroes219
XaKoH 124
Livibee115
Trikslyr21
ZerO(Twitch)9
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick960
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 8
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 15
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota274
League of Legends
• Jankos1819
• HappyZerGling148
Upcoming Events
SC Evo League
43m
Ladder Legends
7h 13m
BSL 21
8h 13m
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
22h 13m
Ladder Legends
1d 5h
BSL 21
1d 8h
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
1d 21h
Wardi Open
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
ByuN vs Solar
Clem vs Classic
Cure vs herO
Reynor vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.