I'm still fairly new to SC2 (about to break into silver), and I'm wondering how many factories or robotics facilities players usually shoot for in mid- to late-game. I'll start off with one and hold it there for a while, then once I get to mid game I'll usually add two more right away (this is true for both factories and robotics facilities). Unless the game goes long and I've got a third or fourth expansion to harvest mass gas, it doesn't seem that adding a fourth factory/rc does any good. But late in the game, does it ever make sense to add a fourth or even a fifth?

Of course, I'm assuming during all of this that your playing someone with an army composition that factory/rc units make sense to use against. I realize that sometimes you'll want to stick with other types of units.

SgtSquiglz

United States668 Posts

January 20 2011 16:42 GMT

I'm not entirely sure about the factories, but I think that 3 robotics facilities for Protoss is a little too many. Generally double robo is the way to go in the mid to late game if you are really looking for robo-heavy play. However, I would generally not advise this until the you have a 3rd base up and running, as it is impossible to get have enough money to produce enough gateway units and use both robotics off of two base. The other thing to be cautious of is you need gateway units to cover your robo units (especially colossi), so you don't want too many robotics because that will limit your number of gateway units.

Even in the late game, I feel like a 3rd robo isn't that helpful. The money is much better spent investing in another tech route to complement the robo units (phoenix to fight vikings, or templar because storm is always useful).

Just my feelings at least.

loxosceles

United States18 Posts

January 20 2011 17:08 GMT

The general rule of thumb for Terran production facilities is 3 with addons per saturated base. This may vary depending on game specific circumstances.

CounterOrder

Canada457 Posts

January 20 2011 17:27 GMT

Thats right, the amount of unit producing structures is dependent on your income. If you are using 3+ gates(which im pretty sure you should be) then use one robo if on one base. No point having buildings you cant use right? Once you get you natural 2 robos is all you should need until late game.
I guess 1 robo per mining base is a decent starting point. Robo units cost alot.

Factories; its more like 1.5 per base or 2 per base if your focusing on mech play a little more. Hell, maybe even 3 on one base if your going heavy on the Thor.

Very general guidelines play around,hf.

xza

Singapore1600 Posts

January 20 2011 17:33 GMT

For factories I tend to get 1 per saturated base because i dont think it can support 2 unless you are going heavy into mech or sacrificing some bio units.

If i go for a fast expand, i will get my 2nd factory while the 2nd CC is building cause I normally feel that my eco is safe enough for 2 factories once my 2nd orbital is up and the extra mule kicks in

thurst0n

United States611 Posts

January 20 2011 19:39 GMT

I was going to say the same thing about robos. I will almost never end a game with more than 2. Infact I don't think I ever have, it's just impossible to constantly produce of those as well as upgrade and get other units..

As for factories usually 2 per base is the MOST you should/'would need as others have said you can get away with an extra factory but an extra robo especially "mid" game is a waste, perhaps 3 late game, if you just want to spend your money but this isn't good practice, you shouldn't have stockpiles of money in the end game anyway.. of course you will if your'e low league like me..however I would recommend first focus on spending the money you have with the buildings you have, and THEN decide if you need more buildings..

The limiting factor here is really your gas. With just one base you can only produce so many gas heavy units, I believe with 2 geysers your gas income is about 225/minute, which is enough for 1 collosus/warpgates, but clearly not 2 especially if you're getting the range upgrade and or other upgrades/tech. It's funny usually you don't want gas, but in sc2 you want to have the most gas :-)

confusedcrib

United States1307 Posts

January 20 2011 19:42 GMT

Your guesses are pretty solid, as long as you're on more than two base, on two base you can really only support 2 of each, limiting your other units as well, unless your 3rd factory is only getting Hellions.

emythrel

United Kingdom2599 Posts

January 20 2011 19:50 GMT

if you make only marines and tanks you can just about support 2 factories per base, if you are going thors its more like 1.5 factories per base. Either way to support more than 1 factory per base comfortably you can not spend your gas on anything else.

Marine/Tank/Viking can only support 2 factories per base comfortably once you are on three bases, before that you can support 2-3 factories total off 2 bases with 1 reactored starport and some barracks. You might be able to support more with really good macro, but thats alot to shoot for

FrostedMiniWeet

United States636 Posts

January 20 2011 20:04 GMT

The optimal answer is not always the best answer for lower league players. The best answer is as many as it takes to spend all your money. It is way better to have too many buildings and keep your money low than to have the optimal number of buildings, but float thousands upon thousands of minerals because you are not using your buildings optimally (never letting them be idle). When you see you have a lot of money, throw down more production facilities, and spend it. When you get better at the game, you will see that by playing optimally, you can only support X amount of production facilities on Y bases, but until you can play optimally, just build as many as it takes to keep your money low (less than 400 at all times). Most of the above answers assume you are playing optimally, which is almost never the case for lower league players.

Aoi_10

United States155 Posts

January 20 2011 20:44 GMT

#10

See FMW's post, above, for a more nuanced answer, but if you're interested in knowing with a level of mathematical precision what production facilities can be supported while playing "optimally," you may want to check out this calculator:

http://sc2calc.org/unit_production/terran.php

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