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Zerglings, tanks and assumptions

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Zato-1
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Chile4253 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-20 23:29:40
March 20 2010 23:22 GMT
#1
I have noticed several people here in TL.net seem to understand the new SC2 units (Roaches, Hellions, Stalkers, etc) better than some of the 'old' units- Zerglings and Tanks in particular, due to faulty assumptions that they are very similar to how they were in SC1, when in truth they suffered significant changes in the transition:

Zerglings-

You'd think they're almost identical to their SC1 version; same HP, same resource and psi cost, same armor, same damage. If you did, you'd be wrong.

First, let's compare the cooldown values for marines and zealots in SC1: 15 and 22, respectively. In SC2, they are .08608 and 1.2; you'll notice that in SC1, the zealot's attack cooldown is 46.6% slower than that of the marine, while in SC2, it is 39.4% slower; a bit of a buff for the zealot, but not a huge deal if you consider the Zealot's shield value went down while the marine's health value went up.

Now, let's compare the cooldown values for zerglings and zealots. In SC1, they are 8 and 22 respectively; in SC2, they are 0.696 and 1.2. In other words: In SC1, Zerglings delivered 2.75 attacks per every zealot attack; in SC2, this figure goes down to 1.72. This is a BIG DEAL.

Many people had noted how zealots seem harder to kill with zerglings in SC2. Well, there it is; they ARE harder to kill, because Zergling damage went down in SC2, in the form of a worse attack cooldown. Adrenal Glands also seem to be a weaker upgrade- the tooltip says it's a 20% attack speed upgrade, while it's a 33% attack speed upgrade in SC1. I guess the consolation prize for zerglings is that they are now the fastest-moving unit in the game, as well as the fact that the improved pathing when in SC2 is a huge buff to them when in large numbers. Bigger control groups is a plus, too.

Tanks-

Taken from a post I made recently:

Tanks in siege mode are a totally different unit from SC1:

- They deal lower damage against armored/large units (60, down from 70 in SC1)
- They deal much higher damage against light/small units (60, up from 70/2 = 35 in SC1)
- They have a greater AoE splash radius
- They're more expensive

Now, look at the consolidated effect of the changes:

Against armored/large targets, tanks are worse due to being more expensive, and worse still due to dealing less damage per attack.

Against light/small targets, tanks are slightly worse due to higher cost, hugely better due to dealing 70%+ more damage per shot, and better yet when shooting at tightly-packed groups of units thanks to their new and improved AoE splash radius (which is very significant because light/small targets clump up a lot more than armored/large units do, and more so in SC2).

Where tanks would melt dragoons in SC1, they seem much better suited to melting swarms of zerglings and banelings in SC2.

edit: cooldown values for SC2 taken from http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t8Z5bsJL0-2LyqHW1DWUAYA&output=html
Go here http://vina.biobiochile.cl/ and input the Konami Code (up up down down left right left right B A)
0mgVitaminE
Profile Joined February 2009
United States1278 Posts
March 20 2010 23:26 GMT
#2
Thanks for the info, I miss my BW zerglings ;;
Hi there. I'm in a cave, how bout you?
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
March 20 2010 23:28 GMT
#3
Now, let's compare the cooldown values for zerglings and zealots. In SC1, they are 8 and 22 respectively; in SC2, they are 0.696 and 1.2. In other words: In SC1, Zerglings delivered 2.75 attacks per every zealot attack; in SC2, this figure goes down to 1.72. This is a BIG DEAL.

I knew Zlings were much worse vs Zealots now but that was a huge nerf on the zlings. I guess it would be better just to skip lings and go for straight Roach/Hydra
Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
yomi
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States773 Posts
March 20 2010 23:29 GMT
#4
You're not really arguing that tanks are a counter to zerglings and banelings are you? Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem. Also Helions outclass tanks in dealing with melee units by a huge degree. Tanks are supposed to counter large groups of ranged units which they are currently not doing in a cost effective manner.
Zato-1
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Chile4253 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-20 23:40:41
March 20 2010 23:31 GMT
#5
On March 21 2010 08:29 yomi wrote:
You're not really arguing that tanks are a counter to zerglings and banelings are you? Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem. Also Helions outclass tanks in dealing with melee units by a huge degree. Tanks are supposed to counter large groups of ranged units which they are currently not doing in a cost effective manner.

When in a good defensive position (read: higher ground, melee has to take a detour to reach you), tanks are brutally effective against swarms of zerglings and banelings. They are obviously not a hard counter because they have trouble with units that get in melee range with them.

edit: Here's a game where this is demonstrated vividly http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=114397
Go here http://vina.biobiochile.cl/ and input the Konami Code (up up down down left right left right B A)
Zato-1
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Chile4253 Posts
March 20 2010 23:34 GMT
#6
On March 21 2010 08:28 Phoenix32 wrote:
Show nested quote +
Now, let's compare the cooldown values for zerglings and zealots. In SC1, they are 8 and 22 respectively; in SC2, they are 0.696 and 1.2. In other words: In SC1, Zerglings delivered 2.75 attacks per every zealot attack; in SC2, this figure goes down to 1.72. This is a BIG DEAL.

I knew Zlings were much worse vs Zealots now but that was a huge nerf on the zlings. I guess it would be better just to skip lings and go for straight Roach/Hydra

Zerglings still have their place. I'd wager most people would rather counter a Protoss going heavy on immortals with zerglings than with roaches, for instance.
Go here http://vina.biobiochile.cl/ and input the Konami Code (up up down down left right left right B A)
BlasiuS
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States2405 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-20 23:55:31
March 20 2010 23:55 GMT
#7
On March 21 2010 08:34 Zato-1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 21 2010 08:28 Phoenix32 wrote:
Now, let's compare the cooldown values for zerglings and zealots. In SC1, they are 8 and 22 respectively; in SC2, they are 0.696 and 1.2. In other words: In SC1, Zerglings delivered 2.75 attacks per every zealot attack; in SC2, this figure goes down to 1.72. This is a BIG DEAL.

I knew Zlings were much worse vs Zealots now but that was a huge nerf on the zlings. I guess it would be better just to skip lings and go for straight Roach/Hydra

Zerglings still have their place. I'd wager most people would rather counter a Protoss going heavy on immortals with zerglings than with roaches, for instance.


most people actually make 1-3 spine crawlers at their nat and go straight for muta if they see toss going for immortals.

But if you decide not to go muta, then yes speedlings would work well against an immortal-heavy army.
next week on Everybody Loves HypnoToad:
us.insurgency
Profile Joined March 2010
United States330 Posts
March 21 2010 00:00 GMT
#8
Zerglings still have their place. I'd wager most people would rather counter a Protoss going heavy on immortals with zerglings than with roaches, for instance.

Lings were a lot more well rounded in SC1 than in SC2. I think its funny how you say lings counter immortals better than roaches. When immortals are a hard counter for roaches,
Xanbatou
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States805 Posts
March 21 2010 00:16 GMT
#9
On March 21 2010 08:29 yomi wrote:
You're not really arguing that tanks are a counter to zerglings and banelings are you? Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem. Also Helions outclass tanks in dealing with melee units by a huge degree. Tanks are supposed to counter large groups of ranged units which they are currently not doing in a cost effective manner.


IIRC, tanks don't overkill anymore. I don't have it handy anymore, but there was a video of a clump of tanks attacking a building and a bunch of separated marines. As soon as the building was at around 50 health, rather than a bunch of tank shots being wasted on it, one tank shot hit the building and destroyed it. The other tanks fired on the marines, and instead of them absolutely demolishing one marine, they each fired on different marines.
TFlame
Profile Joined March 2010
United States25 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-21 00:29:50
March 21 2010 00:26 GMT
#10
tanks are horrible against melee because they will splash your own units and basically cancel out their damage a good percentage of the time. I played a TvT where the enemy went basically pure marauder and I went for a good amount of tanks to counter, and cost for cost (3 base vs 3 base) the marauders straight raped the shit out of the tanks. marauders cost way less and have almost the same hp, and each one actually has more dps than 1 tank with stim. Not to mention much more maneuverable. The current design of siege tanks is a very confused one.
You yarg and you blarg and you end up with shyarg.
L
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada4732 Posts
March 21 2010 00:32 GMT
#11
On March 21 2010 09:26 TFlame wrote:
tanks are horrible against melee because they will splash your own units and basically cancel out their damage a good percentage of the time. I played a TvT where the enemy went basically pure marauder and I went for a good amount of tanks to counter, and cost for cost (3 base vs 3 base) the marauders straight raped the shit out of the tanks. marauders cost way less and have almost the same hp, and each one actually has more dps than 1 tank with stim. Not to mention much more maneuverable. The current design of siege tanks is a very confused one.

Tank > Rine > Rauder > Tank in straight up fights.

Seems to make sense to me.
The number you have dialed is out of porkchops.
Karas
Profile Joined March 2010
United States230 Posts
March 21 2010 02:31 GMT
#12
Has anyone checked to compare a zergling's speed compared to a a zealot, zerglings to me feel a little faster than they were in SCI compared to other tier 1 units.

One thing that has gotten more complicated in SC2 is that both the economic and production capabilities of each race has gotten more distinctive, which makes them harder to compare.

Its one thing to say the ling has been weakened compared to the zealot. But factor in spawn larva, which allows you to build many more zerlings early on then was possible in SCI. Of course, zealots can also be built faster too with chrono boost, etc.

I will say that I went from thinking zerglings got nerfed too much in SCII to thinking they are just fine. I have found the speed and pathing of zerglings to be a real benefit against zealots. For one, I can dance zerglings away from zealots so much easier now...and there ability to push through cracks makes surrounding much easier.
Zeke50100
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States2220 Posts
March 21 2010 02:47 GMT
#13
IIRC, unsieged Tanks deal more damage against Armored targets than sieged Tanks, albeit without splash and at a lower range.
Exquisito
Profile Joined February 2010
United States55 Posts
March 21 2010 03:00 GMT
#14
I agree with some of the skeptics who replied here. It's hard to precisely compare unit DPS between I and II. How much damage one zergling or one zealot in the old game vs now doesn't factor in the changes in unit speed, surround AI, expected damage from new unit combinations, changes to traditional target units, etc. Same with old tanks vs new: dps changes are affected by splash radius, target's collision radius, fire rate, unit speed, etc etc etc.

I doubt anyone would want SCII to be too similar to SCI. The only thing that matters now is balance among units in the new generation.
spawn more overlords
gaiabulbanix
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Thailand76 Posts
March 21 2010 03:16 GMT
#15
From the VODs that I've seen of SC2, it seems tanks don't have the "OMG I CAN'T WALK THAT WAY OR I'M BLUE GOO" feeling that SC1 tanks used to give to your opponents. And when I read the thread title as "Zerglings, tanks, and ass..." on the sidebar...

I rofled >.<.
brocoli
Profile Joined February 2010
Brazil264 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-21 03:44:14
March 21 2010 03:42 GMT
#16
You are forgetting a critical piece of info about Zerglings and Zealots.

Zealots now only attack targets directly in front of them. They have a fixed rotation speed.

Zerglings now attack while moving. Speedlings are fast enought to run behind zealots faster than they can turn around.


Sure, a-moving zerglings into zealots is now suicide, even with the improved AI.
However, with good micro you can kill zealots in a 2 to 1 speedlings-zealots ratio.

Just keep running around the zealots with 2 groups, one to bait and one to attack them from behind. This will more than negate the increased cooldown disadvantage.
Kinky
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States4126 Posts
March 21 2010 03:59 GMT
#17
On March 21 2010 08:29 yomi wrote:
Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem.

Tanks don't overkill anymore. They're smart about spreading their fire out now.
Bearigator
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States233 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-21 04:04:26
March 21 2010 04:04 GMT
#18
On March 21 2010 12:59 Kinky wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 21 2010 08:29 yomi wrote:
Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem.

Tanks don't overkill anymore. They're smart about spreading their fire out now.

I think what he meant was how much damage one tank shot does compared to how much health a zergling has.

A zergling has 35 health. A tank is doing 60 damage. That is 25 damage overkill on that zergling.
Just a guess though.
Bibbit
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada5377 Posts
March 21 2010 04:07 GMT
#19
Sorry but I gotta say: lol @ "zerglings, tanks, and ass" in the sidebar
yomi
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States773 Posts
March 21 2010 05:02 GMT
#20
On March 21 2010 13:04 Bearigator wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 21 2010 12:59 Kinky wrote:
On March 21 2010 08:29 yomi wrote:
Firstly tanks are obviously weak to melee units and secondly they overkill a lot meaning their effective DPS is not as high as it would seem.

Tanks don't overkill anymore. They're smart about spreading their fire out now.

I think what he meant was how much damage one tank shot does compared to how much health a zergling has.

A zergling has 35 health. A tank is doing 60 damage. That is 25 damage overkill on that zergling.
Just a guess though.

Yup, exactly what I meant. Also saying tanks are good if the melee units have to run around and then up a ramp to get to the tanks is not really a solid argument. It's not unique. All ranged units are good against melee units that have to take 10 seconds to get to them, no? It's like saying marines are overpowered, two of them can kill 4 zealots, while not accounting for the fact you are attacking a wall-in.
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