EPTOn November 30 2011 02:22 Imbaman wrote:
I have noticed that most pros produce more workers than their bases can support. While I understand that it is to transfer when another base is done, I have three questions.
1) Why is it better to produce workers before the CC/Nexus/Hatch instead of cutting workers, building the building, then restart making workers?
2) Why is it better to oversaturate rather than long distance mine? From what I understand, having more than 17-18 workers on minerals give less minerals than having those excess long distance mine.
3) Why is it better to split the workers evenly instead of just transferring the excess (above 16-18) and rallying new workers to the new base?
Any advise would be appreciated.
I have noticed that most pros produce more workers than their bases can support. While I understand that it is to transfer when another base is done, I have three questions.
1) Why is it better to produce workers before the CC/Nexus/Hatch instead of cutting workers, building the building, then restart making workers?
2) Why is it better to oversaturate rather than long distance mine? From what I understand, having more than 17-18 workers on minerals give less minerals than having those excess long distance mine.
3) Why is it better to split the workers evenly instead of just transferring the excess (above 16-18) and rallying new workers to the new base?
Any advise would be appreciated.
1. is a very hard question that involves a bunch of ideas. First, you have to take a huge opportunity cost to make a Nexus, so you need to make sure you are safe enough to do that because starting a Nex and cancelling it 30 seconds later, clearing an army and remaking, is way worse than waiting 30 seconds originally to make it. Also you want to make up the opportunity cost of the Nexus as fast as possible, so having enough workers to start getting a good income instantly is important. Zerg is really completely separate from Protoss and Terren because their Nexus is their entire production. So yea, most importantly its opportunity cost
2. It is beneficial to long distance mine if you are exceeding 24 probes on minerals for a base(over 24 workers you get 0 additional income so any LDM amount will be greater than 0). Reasons people don't this are 1: its apm/mental energy they don't have to spare. 2: it is not always safe to have workers long distance mining so losing theoretical income in the short term until you can secure a base to properly mine from may be the correct decision in a lot of situations.
3. It is not better it is preference/style. Doing a large maynard of probes when a new base comes online (large=enough so that the original base is no longer optimally saturated) puts all the lost income from travel time up front. Setting up optimal saturation in your main then simply re-rallying spreads out the lost income over a longer period of time. So, for example, if you were in a situation where you need every single mineral you can get NOW you would probably want to re-rally. But, conversely, if you want to saturate 2 bases as quickly as possible while teching then doing a large maynard will get you saturation faster. (after the initial bump in income that is)
Low Master P on NA if its anything.
