• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 03:06
CEST 09:06
KST 16:06
  • 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
[ASL20] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Holding On8Maestros of the Game: Live Finals Preview (RO4)5TL.net Map Contest #21 - Finalists4Team TLMC #5: Vote to Decide Ladder Maps!0[ASL20] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Mile High15
Community News
PartinG joins SteamerZone, returns to SC2 competition(?)25.0.15 Balance Patch Notes (Live version)65$2,500 WardiTV TL Map Contest Tournament 151Stellar Fest: StarCraft II returns to Canada11Weekly Cups (Sept 22-28): MaxPax double, Zerg wins, PTR12
StarCraft 2
General
PartinG joins SteamerZone, returns to SC2 competition(?) ZvT - Army Composition - Slow Lings + Fast Banes 5.0.15 Balance Patch Notes (Live version) Stellar Fest: StarCraft II returns to Canada Had to smile :)
Tourneys
$2,500 WardiTV TL Map Contest Tournament 15 Stellar Fest Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament LANified! 37: Groundswell, BYOC LAN, Nov 28-30 2025 Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 493 Quick Killers Mutation # 492 Get Out More Mutation # 491 Night Drive Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight
Brood War
General
RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site Thoughts on rarely used units [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions Recommended FPV games (post-KeSPA) [ASL20] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Holding On
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro8 Day 4 [ASL20] Ro8 Day 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0 3D!Community Brood War Super Cup №3
Strategy
Current Meta I am doing this better than progamers do. Simple Questions, Simple Answers Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy)
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Path of Exile Liquipedia App: Now Covering SC2 and Brood War!
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
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
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts The Automated Ban List BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final
Blogs
Mental Health In Esports: Wo…
TrAiDoS
[AI] Sorry, Chill, My Bad :…
Peanutsc
Try to reverse getting fired …
Garnet
[ASL20] Players bad at pi…
pullarius1
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1858 users

[D]Mining; Split or Build first? - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Shadrak
Profile Joined August 2010
United States490 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-29 20:04:42
April 29 2011 20:01 GMT
#21
Your initial estimation of 2s to build a worker seems a little high. Just because you build first doesn't mean you hotkey the building at that point. You can easily build, send, split, hotkey.

However, I'm curious how using ctrl+F1 to have your workers selected the exact second the game starts versus having to select them later factors in. I try to use:

Control+F1 as the game loads
Send workers
Build worker
Split workers
Hotkey main

But in reality that messes up my split. However I assume that's a lack of APM on my side, not something fundamentally wrong with the order.
Soulish
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1403 Posts
April 29 2011 20:03 GMT
#22
On April 30 2011 04:01 Monta wrote:
0.25 second reaction time? That's ridiculous. Please don't make a thread like this without actually looking into.

I build then split but I could see sending all, building, then splitting being the best

.25 is stunningly average
me all in, he drone drone drone, me win
askTeivospy
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
1525 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-29 20:13:17
April 29 2011 20:10 GMT
#23
bind idle probe alternate key to Caps Locks

press control while loading
press E while holding down control (MUST be in this order)

spam click around the middle of your screen where the nexus will be

as soon as you click, let go of E and hit caps lock while holding down control and moving your cursor to a mineral patch

right click patch then split the other 3 asap


---

if i do it right i have a probe building ASAP and my workers are all mining by 2 - 3 game seconds via 3 - 3 split, practically none of this makes a difference though unless you're pretentious and think it does IMO
hihihi
dave333
Profile Joined August 2010
United States915 Posts
April 29 2011 20:13 GMT
#24
I split as zerg first while hotkeying the hatch and going sd. just feels better to me to get the drones moving quicker. also you arent inhibited by queues anyway
SeraKuDA
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada343 Posts
April 29 2011 20:13 GMT
#25
This is so insignificant. Do whatever feels right to you.
ScrubS
Profile Joined September 2010
Netherlands436 Posts
April 29 2011 20:19 GMT
#26
If you're going a standard T opening (10 depot, 12 rax, 13 ref, 15 OC) u will be supply blocked for 1-2 seconds before you depot completes. This means that you actually only lose 4 * 1,43 minerals if you split, because its all about the depot timing. If you get that depot up earlier, u will get supply blocked for less seconds, resulting in a quicker SCV.

4 * 1,43 minerals < 8,6 minerals, which reverses your conclusion for Terran. I think protoss got a similair situation, but then at 9/10 pylon. Not sure about this tho
bwally
Profile Joined December 2010
United States670 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-29 20:29:41
April 29 2011 20:28 GMT
#27
I make drone first between 0sec and 1sec real time. SC2gears doesn't show milliseconds so I don't know exactly how long it takes.
Gao Xi
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Hong Kong5178 Posts
April 29 2011 20:32 GMT
#28
Coming from BW, i make the drone first and then split. It literally takes less than half a second to do all that. in SC2 i 3/3 split.
龔智禮 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ CJ NATION
1st_Panzer_Div.
Profile Joined November 2010
United States621 Posts
April 29 2011 20:34 GMT
#29
I think that trying to put concrete math behind this is a little silly, as the deviation even between one player's games is going to be very high; it's a very, very small time period.

As long as you split & build your worker as fast as you can, then it's all good.
Manager, Team RIP ZeeZ
Chahta
Profile Joined February 2011
United States148 Posts
April 29 2011 20:41 GMT
#30
I feel this mostly applies to pros who can actually utilize minor advantages like this and mineral stacking...I am curious since I'm here, has the math been done for zerg on 10OL+extractor vs 9OL? I've only managed to find that it is more of a larvae management issue than anything, but I find with 9OL I only get 2 larvae up at any one time if I'm doing it right...though if I'm at all slow there will be a third larvae by the time i make my OL.

Apologies if this is too off topic, it is mining centric still and larvae count is impacted slightly by split technique :/
I accidentally whole f*cking base
L3gendary
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada1470 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-29 20:43:51
April 29 2011 20:43 GMT
#31
Yeah, making the worker doesn't even take a second. You can see in the build order menu after the game when it says something like drone @ 59: 99. So i always make the worker first. It also helps my split because it gives me slightly more time to decide how to split/what mineral patches to pick.

At the beginning of the game you don't know what direction the minerals are going to be but you can keep your mouse right in the center to quickly click on the town center to build a worker and then ctrl+f1 to select workers so your mouse can go directly towards minerals after building the worker (instead of boxing).
Watching Jaedong play purifies my eyes. -Coach Ju Hoon
Mazer
Profile Joined April 2008
Canada1086 Posts
April 29 2011 20:44 GMT
#32
My reasoning is that getting 6 workers mining a split second faster will yield more minerals than that 7th worker that would come out a split second faster.

Spam ctrl+f1 and send to patch
Build worker
Try to split off last two workers

is that I do...
Divine-Sneaker
Profile Joined August 2010
Denmark1225 Posts
April 29 2011 20:49 GMT
#33
I usually just do a mine command for all workers, then build and then split them.
No need to do hotkeys or anything else until after you're done with the initial commands. Not like there's much else to do at that point.
ClysmiC
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2192 Posts
April 29 2011 20:55 GMT
#34
I'm sorry, but this discussion is pointless. If anything, the only difference is going to be 5 minerals, which won't change the game. Even in a mirror match-up.
AKspartan
Profile Joined January 2011
United States126 Posts
April 29 2011 20:55 GMT
#35
If you want to make a substantative mathematical analysis, don't make bad assumptions. Do the necessary testing to figure out exactly what realistic times are.
Beef Noodles
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States937 Posts
April 29 2011 20:59 GMT
#36
Maybe its different in SC2, but in BW you ALWAYS built the worker first. Even if you sent them, built the worker, and then split, you got less minerals then if you built the worker first
Xapti
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada2473 Posts
April 29 2011 21:08 GMT
#37
On April 30 2011 04:15 Flammable wrote:
I always start the game with the cursor over the hatchery, so it takes practically no time to build a worker. Basically I am moving the cursor to split whilst I click and press "S - D". Then I split, so basically I think this is the best method =)
yeah that's what I do, it just seems pretty efficient. definitely it's very fast to build a worker.... far under 2 seconds, lol.

What's terribly annoying though is when the mouse, or especially the camera, is off-center. They should add a patch where the mouse and camera won't move in this small period of time between when the game is loaded and when the playing screen appears.

Also I find top positions, 12 o'clock, to be so damn annoying and terrible for zerg. The overlord like blocks sight, and the drones are in a line instead of a right-angle V at the corner of a base.
Bottom (9 o'clock) is also annoying, but it's not as bad because the overlord isn't as obtrusive I don't think.
"Then he told me to tell you that he wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire" — "Well, you tell him that I said that I wouldn't piss on him if he was on Jeopardy!"
Jermstuddog
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2231 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-29 21:17:44
April 29 2011 21:11 GMT
#38
On April 30 2011 05:01 Shadrak wrote:
Control+F1 as the game loads
Send workers
Build worker
Split workers
Hotkey main


This can be used to a good effect but I believe you have things in the wrong order.

Hold S or E at loading screen
Click Base
(Press D if you're zerg to actually spawn the drone)
Control+F1
Right-Click on Minerals
Split Desired Workers
(Send Overlord if you're Zerg)
Hotkey Base

At least for me, that seems to be the most efficient way to go through things and I have everything done within the first 5 or so seconds of game time unless I mess up badly. Still, I haven't made it second nature and constantly mix things up.
As it turns out, marines don't actually cost any money -Jinro
thebigdonkey
Profile Joined September 2010
United States354 Posts
April 29 2011 21:19 GMT
#39
I always wondered why people built first. For the longest time, I sent to mine first because it seemed logical to me that it would be better to get 6 workers mining faster than to get 1 worker mining faster. Now that I know it is a brood war thing, it makes more sense.
CaptPanda
Profile Joined August 2010
48 Posts
April 29 2011 21:27 GMT
#40
It should take less time to build than to send workers over.

Think about the actions required to do either. To build a unit, you click (since cursor should be centered to begin with) and then press S, D, or SD (which can be held from the beginning.)

On the other hand, splitting workers requires you to select all workers (Ctrl + F1 is probably fastest) and then click on a mineral patch (requires mouse movement since you don't know which spawn you start at.)

If you were to split first, it's actually probably faster to send probes to mine, build a probe, and then split if you can manage to do that.
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 54m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft559
Nina 196
StarCraft: Brood War
actioN 2002
Shuttle 884
Leta 131
sorry 79
Bale 50
GoRush 28
Nal_rA 21
Aegong 14
SilentControl 4
League of Legends
JimRising 611
Other Games
summit1g12471
C9.Mang0405
singsing368
Tasteless124
NeuroSwarm77
ArmadaUGS22
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 9
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1597
• Stunt466
Upcoming Events
Wardi Open
3h 54m
Online Event
9h 54m
Online Event
1d 3h
[BSL 2025] Weekly
1d 10h
Safe House 2
1d 10h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Team Bonyth vs Team Dewalt
Dewalt vs kogeT
JDConan vs Tarson
RaNgeD vs DragOn
StRyKeR vs Bonyth
Aeternum vs Hejek
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
Maestros of the Game
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
Acropolis #4 - TS2
EC S1
ESL Pro League S22
Frag Blocktober 2025
Urban Riga Open #1
FERJEE Rush 2025
Birch Cup 2025
DraculaN #2
LanDaLan #3
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025

Upcoming

IPSL Winter 2025-26
SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
RSL Revival: Season 3
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
WardiTV TLMC #15
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
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.