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some information before the discussion
An orbital command costs 550 minerals and provides 11 supply and energy for scan/mule/calldown/ and has 1500 health with liftoff option and it takes a lot of space in your base to land and be functional
A supply depot costs 100 minerals and provides 8 supply, this comes out to roughly 12.5 minerals per supply.
A mule provides the income of 6 scv's on minerals and a command center can permanently have a mule if using all its energy on mules. I think multiple mules can actually mine from the same mineral patch they just prefer not to. Mules do not suffer from normal SCV saturation diminishing returns.
6 SCV's cost 300 minerals and takes 102 seconds to build
An orbital command takes 135 seconds to build
A orbital provides 11 supply and by depot standards 1 supply is worth 12.5 minerals, So if you subtract from the cost of an orbital its supply minerals you get a true cost of the orbital command at 550 - 137.5 (11x12.5) = 412.15
Because mules do not suffer from saturation diminishing returns, that means for 412 minerals you essentially get 6 scv's from an orbital but these SCV's are just as good as fresh ones without diminishing returns. These scv's cost 112 more and takes 33 more seconds to make than normal however because of diminishing returns those 6 orbital SCV's are more powerful than the 6 you add from 17 to 23 on your mainbase minerals. And if you are already saturated they allow you to keep adding fresh SCV's to your first base without diminishing return problems.
Another benefit of orbital SCV's is that they can mine without diminishing returns on 6 or 7 mineral patch bases where normal SCV's will suffer in those circumstances greatly.
It comes out to 68.75 (or 69) minerals per orbital SCV when you consider an orbital SCV is 1/6 of a mule and the mule has a cost of 412.5 so 412.5/6 = 68.75 when you do the math and normal SCV's cost 50 minerals.
Also orbitals can be used to calldown supplies on your depots which essentially for energy gives you a free 100 minerals (a free depot) this can be used in anticipation when you think your bases are about to be mined out faster.
So the thought process going into your mind when making orbitals to improve your income should be this:
normal SCV's cost 50 minerals and suffer from diminishing returns when there are less mineral patches available or when a base is fully saturated, Orbital SCV's cost 69 minerals or essentially 70 meaning they are more expensive by 20 minerals but can also be used in your bases past saturation for full effect.
With these statistics in mind i think a terran making a few extra orbitals by lategame and having less SCV's on minerals (using them for gas example) is a good idea. The orbitals would allow the terran to have a larger 200food army while still having good income
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I think multiple mules can actually mine from the same mineral patch they just prefer not to.
is true, read
MULEs can mine over other SCVs/MULEs thus providing extra income on expansions that are already saturated
from http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/MULE which is why you can oversaturate a mineral line.
The same article says this about stacking:
MULEs can mine a mineral patch even if an SCV is mining from it at the same time. They will spread out to un-MULE'd nodes, until all nearby patches are occupied, and only then will they stack with other MULEs.
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On January 04 2011 05:33 TomWij wrote:Show nested quote +MULEs can mine a mineral patch even if an SCV is mining from it at the same time. They will spread out to un-MULE'd nodes, until all nearby patches are occupied, and only then will they stack with other MULEs.
I fixed that since it isn't true, MULEs can't mine at a mineral patch where another MULE is mining.
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On January 04 2011 09:17 Jaime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 04 2011 05:33 TomWij wrote:MULEs can mine a mineral patch even if an SCV is mining from it at the same time. They will spread out to un-MULE'd nodes, until all nearby patches are occupied, and only then will they stack with other MULEs. I fixed that since it isn't true, MULEs can't mine at a mineral patch where another MULE is mining.
Yes they can, the AI just will refuse to do it the first time. If there is a mule on a patch already it will go to the next closest patch with the least # of mules on it already.
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They will not mine at the Same time on the Same patch but in the end it works just like a scv that takes longer to gather...
iv seen in the late game a terrran call down 24 mules to a mineral patch.. it doesnt mean only 8 will mine .. Just only 8 at the same time like scv!
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On January 04 2011 09:26 BritishBeef wrote:
They will not mine at the Same time on the Same patch but in the end it works just like a scv that takes longer to gather...
iv seen in the late game a terrran call down 24 mules to a mineral patch.. it doesnt mean only 8 will mine .. Just only 8 at the same time like scv!
You are wrong. Test it out yourself. They will stack on top of each other and mine at the same time.
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On January 04 2011 09:40 darmousseh wrote:Show nested quote +On January 04 2011 09:26 BritishBeef wrote:
They will not mine at the Same time on the Same patch but in the end it works just like a scv that takes longer to gather...
iv seen in the late game a terrran call down 24 mules to a mineral patch.. it doesnt mean only 8 will mine .. Just only 8 at the same time like scv! You are wrong. Test it out yourself. They will stack on top of each other and mine at the same time.
I did and they don't, even tried forcing them to mine from the same patch at the same time.
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I dont know if you are crazy or just in silver leage but lets be realistic.. When do you feel you have this much money to spend without actually losing the game?
Sure if im 5 basing v 3 base i can do these things as a fun thing but in any other way i dont see it neccesary at all 
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On January 04 2011 09:45 Veasel wrote:I dont know if you are crazy or just in silver leage but lets be realistic.. When do you feel you have this much money to spend without actually losing the game? Sure if im 5 basing v 3 base i can do these things as a fun thing but in any other way i dont see it neccesary at all
Not true at all. Any mass OC build starts with a 2rax expand which to the zerg will look like an allin or pressure expand. 4OC build is sick and can shut down the zerg with proper micro.
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EPT
