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Counting drones (zerg)

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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1 2 Next All
Hetz
Profile Joined September 2010
196 Posts
October 24 2010 08:28 GMT
#1
Hi folks,

Newbie here, (again) asking a maybe silly question. I play zerg and one of the important things is to balance between drone and unit production and to fully saturate a base. My question here is simple: how do I know how many drones I currently have? Let's say I'm on 2 bases at around 8 minutes. How do I count my drones? I know that by double clicking a drone I can get all of them (in that screen) selected, but then this does not include the drones at my expansion.
Or should I be counting food supply taking into account the non-drone units by subtracting that from the total food supply?

Thx for any replies!!
crms
Profile Joined February 2010
United States11933 Posts
October 24 2010 08:30 GMT
#2
well you really only need to count drones per expo, if i double click at each expo and i have 21+ at each I know im saturated at all my bases. Of course you won't always be saturated at every expo given the climate of the current game but you have the general idea.
http://i.imgur.com/fAUOr2c.png | Fighting games are great
whisp91
Profile Joined April 2010
87 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-10-24 08:32:34
October 24 2010 08:30 GMT
#3
Youll learn to estimate it pretty accurately simply by looking eventually, but for now you'll just have to double click drones at both the expansions and do the math.
Google made me smart and Photoshop made me beautiful.
0mgVitaminE
Profile Joined February 2009
United States1278 Posts
October 24 2010 08:31 GMT
#4
If you want to have them all in one group to count, you can double click or ctrl-click the ones at your main, go to your natural, hold shift and then double click the drones there too.
Honestly, I don't think counting your drones will help much. Eventually you'll be able to see how saturated your bases are
Hi there. I'm in a cave, how bout you?
twalf
Profile Joined October 2010
United States12 Posts
October 24 2010 08:33 GMT
#5
best way is to keep track in your head of all the fighting units you have produced, then keep a running tally of all the units that die. Then you subtract the remainder from your current supply count, and this very quickly and easily tells you how many drones you have.
junemermaid
Profile Joined September 2006
United States981 Posts
October 24 2010 08:36 GMT
#6
^ very good advice
the UMP says YER OUT
HobbitGotGame
Profile Joined June 2009
Canada178 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-10-24 08:55:49
October 24 2010 08:54 GMT
#7
I feel saturation as Zerg isn't as important as it is with the other races, because just like BW, you're going to want to stay a base or two ahead of your opponent. You sacrifice full saturation for more bases and unit production from said hatcheries. So I wouldn't worry about getting exactly 24 drones per base or whatever. Just drag a selection box over your minerals and as long as it's around 16, don't worry too much. Zerg always has a mineral surplus anyways, and assuming by the nature of your post, it's not game breaking at lower leagues.

Edit: Not saying that you shouldn't go for full saturation, but in terms of prioritizing your attention span, it's definitely lower on the list, as opposed to say, scouting. You get the idea.
aNooburak
Profile Joined May 2010
Australia190 Posts
October 24 2010 08:54 GMT
#8
You can estimate the amount of drones from the amount of food supply. It is also useful to make a note on when to stop droning in the beggining to make units by counting your supply. For example, if you see the protoss going 4 warpgate push, you normally drone until 35-40 supply, then make units.
chinaski.chinaski
Profile Joined March 2010
Russian Federation81 Posts
October 24 2010 09:04 GMT
#9
no need to double click. no much need in memorizing food value of your units, especially if you're zerg. which is harder

you hsould simply try to select good "sqaure" with your mouse, which will cover full mineral line. if you see 2 "rows" of drones that means that base almost saturated (to full saturation you need 3 rows but 3rd row gives less income per drone). and just make a habit to order 3 drones per any gas you created, so you willnt need to accouunt these "gas" drones
itsthewoo
Profile Joined October 2010
United States260 Posts
October 24 2010 09:09 GMT
#10
On October 24 2010 18:04 chinaski.chinaski wrote:
no need to double click. no much need in memorizing food value of your units, especially if you're zerg. which is harder

you hsould simply try to select good "sqaure" with your mouse, which will cover full mineral line. if you see 2 "rows" of drones that means that base almost saturated (to full saturation you need 3 rows but 3rd row gives less income per drone). and just make a habit to order 3 drones per any gas you created, so you willnt need to accouunt these "gas" drones

This is my method.

There are 8 mineral patches, and an optimum of 3 per patch, so 3 lines in a selection box group will be full saturation.
AngryPanda
Profile Joined April 2010
21 Posts
October 24 2010 09:28 GMT
#11
IMO just glance and your field throughout the game. I look for 4 stages of saturation. When i glance at the field and i can count how many drones are there just by looking for a sec i assume stage one - 6-10 drones. Stage 2 i see drones both returning minerals but there is also a drone at each patch at the same time 12-18 drones. Stage 3 hardest to tell but the spot you should aim for lots of drones but not to many moving around erratically so i assume 18-24. Stage 4 this is when i see more drones appearing to be looking for a free patch then actually mining so 24-28+ drones. For Zerg however i will almost always split the count of my drones to another base if its possible right when stage 3 hits.

FYI this is not counting my gas drones as i can see how many of those i have on a geyser without trouble.
Never underestimate the power of wandering where you are most interested.
Slayer91
Profile Joined February 2006
Ireland23335 Posts
October 24 2010 09:33 GMT
#12
Click drag your mineral line, you can easily see if you have 3 per geyser. 2 full lines of drones is enough for efficient mining any more and you're looking to take another base as zerg.
tackklee
Profile Joined September 2010
United States270 Posts
October 24 2010 09:43 GMT
#13
If you absolutely wanted to know the exact number.. I suppose you could double click all the drones at 1 base then while holding shift double click all the other drones at your natural.. and then put them into a control group. Then you can look at the bottom tab area of the control group to see the exact number.
zz
Profile Joined October 2010
11 Posts
October 24 2010 18:06 GMT
#14
I add all my drones 2 a hotkey and do this periodically in game.... This way i have a drone count and an easy way too build w.e because the closest drone will build ...
FUCK TL
Afrocious
Profile Joined August 2010
United States81 Posts
October 24 2010 18:22 GMT
#15
If I box a base's mineral fields and gas and see a full page of drones, I'm good.
"ZvZ is like fighting a guy on the street and both of you have a knife." - TheMonkeyMon
drone036
Profile Joined June 2023
1 Post
June 05 2023 10:16 GMT
#16
--- Nuked ---
alpenrahm
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Germany628 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-14 00:24:59
June 14 2023 00:23 GMT
#17
nvm im stupid...
danjubondi4
Profile Joined June 2023
1 Post
June 15 2023 19:13 GMT
#18
--- Nuked ---
Sprog
Profile Joined April 2010
New Zealand83 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-15 21:29:27
June 15 2023 21:23 GMT
#19
You can check by hovering over the top right supply display. Tells you a breakdown of worker to army. Wow 2010, hope you're still playing.
puneeet
Profile Joined July 2023
1 Post
Last Edited: 2023-07-08 12:48:03
July 08 2023 12:47 GMT
#20
Bot edit.

User was banned for this post.
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