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My credential: 3300 Season 1 Master Protoss, 550 Season 2 Master Protoss concurrently http://sc2ranks.com/us/1024744/ceyr
I'm really surprised that nobody really covered this technique on Teamliquid when it's been covered extensively on the Korean forum, PlayXP.com. While worker splitting is not as important as it was in Starcraft 1 because Starcraft 2 comes with a pretty good AI that automatically splits the workers for you, it's not exactly the best and manually splitting them still results in optimal mining.
Also, there's one more way to make your mining even more optimized in the beginning stage of the game. I'd like to coin the term "stack mining", since I don't see any other term for it & it's the best I could come up with :/
This is only a minor advantage and not really going to be the decisive factor to your gameplay if your level is lower than Diamond, but in higher levels and in matchups such as PvP where getting the warpgate research asap is crucial, this method could prove to be quite advantageous to your gameplay.
For proof on effectiveness, watch the TSL games of oGsMC vs White-Ra
I. Worker Splitting
Your goal is to have all the workers mine in the closest spot, as fast as possible without having them bounce at all. Keep in mind that this will take some practice to get it as perfectly as possible. Here is the way I do it:
1. Locate "Key" minerals. This will be the mineral patches which you will make the right click on to optimally separate your workers into.
![[image loading]](http://i55.tinypic.com/20upl75.jpg)
2. Select all your workers, and right click them onto one of the key mineral patch. Then make a small box to select three workers which will go to the other remaining key mineral patch.
![[image loading]](http://i56.tinypic.com/15f6hxc.jpg)
3. Your workers then will automatically be split and be efficiently mining from the mineral patches asap
![[image loading]](http://i53.tinypic.com/b63711.jpg)
II. Stack Mining
The key thing to remember in mining minerals is that the closest mineral patch yields faster mining and if done right, you can stack two probes on a single mineral patch without having them bounce even if the other mineral patches are not being mined.
From this, it is without saying that if you can get the probes to mine from the closest mineral patches first, you will result in seeing maximum mining efficiency.
1. Your worker that is mining on the farther patch than the closer one is going to be desynchronized eventually, meaning that a situation of one worker is returning mineral to the base where the other worker is still mining will happen. Keep in mind that the mining pattern is non-linear and slightly random, so you have to locate the better de-synchronized worker. In this case, it's the worker that has been selected. This de-synchronization happens when your 8th worker is being produced.
I personally prefer to stack the mineral patch that's away from the gas, because it's easier to build with the outer-lying probe.
![[image loading]](http://i52.tinypic.com/qybpmf.jpg)
2. Force the worker to mine on the closer mineral patch by vigorously right clicking on it to prevent it from bouncing to another patch. Make sure to be right clicking as closely to the base (Nexus) as possible to make sure the two workers are perfectly synchronized to the same patch. You also don't want to be losing too much mining time from doing this, so make sure to do this when the worker you've selected is perfectly or near-perfectly de-synchronized.
![[image loading]](http://i52.tinypic.com/2njgf82.jpg)
3. Repeat the procedure for the other mineral patches. In this case, you can see that the probe selected is almost desynchronized.
![[image loading]](http://i56.tinypic.com/6ivgwz.jpg)
4. Eventually, your mineral patches should look something like this
![[image loading]](http://i54.tinypic.com/jjwp6p.jpg)
From the above youtube link, you can see that MC had a lead by a probe in all three of his games by doing this.
Comments, criticisms and questions are always welcome.
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Interesting.
Does splitting in SC2 actually affect the mining capability of the player? i.e would a player that doesn't split have the same amount of minerals at a certain point in time?
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A lead by a probe is pure exaggeration. He had a lead, yes, but not by an ENTIRE probe.
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oh wow, i was actually looking for something like this!!1
Thanks a bunch <3
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hmm pretty clever since ur not really doing anything in the first 2 mins anyway, might aswell do it and gain a little advantage.
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On April 13 2011 05:32 islandman wrote:
Interesting.
Does splitting in SC2 actually affect the mining capability of the player? i.e would a player that doesn't split have the same amount of minerals at a certain point in time?
Yes it does affect, but not to a ridiculous degree.
Watch the game I posted above for proof.
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I don't think that in our level of gaming (not pro) a 30/40 minerals lead will change the outcome of the match.
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sometimes when I stack mine, the probe decides to wander off regardless, a bit later. Anyone else has this or am i doing something wrong?
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On April 13 2011 05:35 MrArarat wrote:
I don't think that in our level of gaming (not pro) a 30/40 minerals lead will change the outcome of the match.
Regardless of what you think, having good habits is something you should strive to achieve if you want to improve. I actually do exactly what this guide shows every game I play.
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On April 13 2011 05:35 MrArarat wrote:
I don't think that in our level of gaming (not pro) a 30/40 minerals lead will change the outcome of the match.
In most pro matches it also doesn't decide the outcome, but if u do this u dont just mindless spam ur 1-2-3 buttons and actually do something + gaining a small advantage.
What is there to lose?
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On April 13 2011 05:37 CecilSunkure wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2011 05:35 MrArarat wrote:
I don't think that in our level of gaming (not pro) a 30/40 minerals lead will change the outcome of the match. Regardless of what you think, having good habits is something you should strive to achieve if you want to improve. I actually do exactly what this guide shows every game I play.
I do it also! Don't get me wrong.
I mean, that its not that HUGE advantage.
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It really only matters in PvP in my opinion, and even then, it factors in to about .01% of the whole game. It has been discussed to death, however. Here's an example of my split that I believe is the best way to do it, but isn't optimal on ST, TDAltar, or SPlateau because of the mineral patch locations:
http://www.justin.tv/tehemperorer/b/282593761 jump to 40 seconds, split is at 45
My opinion is that it is better to occupy all mineral patches before doubling up, since if you make a mistake you have drifting probes which equal no mining at all. I prefer in this case to play it safe and not lose mining time from the beginning of the game.
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It does have an affect, if you build your worker before splitting. In my expeirence if you do your split correctly you will be able to que, another worker before the first one even finishes. This is pretty good for zerg because they can have more then one worker building at a time
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I've heard it referred to as "worker pairing" or just "pairing" in general multiples times
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On April 13 2011 05:44 sgtjimmy wrote:
It does have an affect, if you build your worker before splitting. In my expeirence if you do your split correctly you will be able to que, another worker before the first one even finishes. This is pretty good for zerg because they can have more then one worker building at a time
I'm able to get 10 minerals leftover when I order my second probe.
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Are you splitting? and this is more from a zerg standpoint
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On April 13 2011 05:47 CecilSunkure wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2011 05:44 sgtjimmy wrote:
It does have an affect, if you build your worker before splitting. In my expeirence if you do your split correctly you will be able to que, another worker before the first one even finishes. This is pretty good for zerg because they can have more then one worker building at a time I'm able to get 10 minerals leftover when I order my second probe.
That's freakin good man I think I only ever get 5, probe, then 5 more... You must be fast :D
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On April 13 2011 05:49 sgtjimmy wrote:
Are you splitting? and this is more from a zerg standpoint
I split just like the OP details. And it's important in all matchups. If I get those 10 minerals sooner, and am prioritizing closer minerals early game, along with good building placement close to my nexus and on-time chronoboosts, I could perhaps get a free Assimilator (and I actually do this PvP to prevent gas steals with certain openings). Or perhaps I can just slightly delay a stalker in favor for a Zealot doing a double stalker opening in PvZ.
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On April 13 2011 05:37 CecilSunkure wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2011 05:35 MrArarat wrote:
I don't think that in our level of gaming (not pro) a 30/40 minerals lead will change the outcome of the match. Regardless of what you think, having good habits is something you should strive to achieve if you want to improve. I actually do exactly what this guide shows every game I play.
well if you screw up this micro you could end up 30-40 minerals behind, so its kinda a double edged butterknife
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EPT
