Should tech labs and reactors be able to be positioned on any side of the building? It seems like having the add-on always pop out on the right side of the building could give advantage/disadvantages based on where you spawn.

For example, if you are spawned at the 12 at lost temple, having the add-on to the rax pop on the right side will allow you block your choke with 1 less supply depot.

Or if you compare blocking a choke when you spawn at a 9 o clock, your add-on will be very vulnerable. If you spawn at the 3 o clock, your add-on will be in your base and less vulnerable.

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Does it seem like it can be more fair if you can choose where your tech-lab will be added on?

im a roc

United States745 Posts

July 01 2010 00:52 GMT

Yeah, this has been bugging me for a long time, back into BW actually. I'm not quite sure how they would implement it, since the graphics for the production facilities and the addons are clearly meant only to be used in the way they are now, but if they were to give you a choice as to which side you could place them, I'd be very happy.

funcmode

Australia720 Posts

July 01 2010 01:13 GMT

I just took a closer look at the models and the barracks, factory and starport are all practically symmetrical down the middle, with the exception of a couple of tiny details on the top of the factory and rax. If they made them 100% symmetrical (not much work) they could easily implement a 2nd possible location for tech labs and reactors by just mirroring the model and allowing you to place it either side.

I can't really think of any reason not to implement this either.

a176

Canada6688 Posts

July 01 2010 01:18 GMT

On July 01 2010 09:48 jkim54 wrote:
Should tech labs and reactors be able to be positioned on any side of the building? It seems like having the add-on always pop out on the right side of the building could give advantage/disadvantages based on where you spawn.

For example, if you are spawned at the 12 at lost temple, having the add-on to the rax pop on the right side will allow you block your choke with 1 less supply depot.

Or if you compare blocking a choke when you spawn at a 9 o clock, your add-on will be very vulnerable. If you spawn at the 3 o clock, your add-on will be in your base and less vulnerable.

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Does it seem like it can be more fair if you can choose where your tech-lab will be added on?

having one less depot to block with means your ramp remains open until you get that add-on? so its a trade off.

DM20

Canada544 Posts

July 01 2010 01:21 GMT

There will always be positional imbalances.

WarSame

Canada1950 Posts

July 01 2010 02:05 GMT

On July 01 2010 10:21 DM20 wrote:
There will always be positional imbalances.

You say it like it's a good thing.

urashimakt

United States1591 Posts

July 01 2010 02:12 GMT

Better for the players to adapt to how it is now than to invent a new minigame where you have buildings landing near multiple addons, trying to connect to the wrong ones, or having to choose from an array of buttons which say "Attach to THIS addon on the right/left", etc.

Zoltan

United States656 Posts

July 01 2010 02:12 GMT

Honestly I'm really surprised this didn't change already. Such a small change but it allows for such creativity in the expansions (2 addons anyone?). Sounds like something blizz would love to do. I don't think they are going to change it now, because in a way part of the skill of sc2 terran is managing addons, including their placement on the map. Walling in is a "bonus" feature in this game, As in you have to trade position to get it. Protoss can wall too, but then their units cant get from inside to out either. Addons on both sides just allows for too many shenanigans.

snowpaw360

United States3 Posts

July 01 2010 02:13 GMT

Well at least the units u make out of them spwan on the side u want

bokchoi

Korea (South)9498 Posts

July 01 2010 02:19 GMT

#10

On July 01 2010 11:12 Zoltan wrote:
Honestly I'm really surprised this didn't change already. Such a small change but it allows for such creativity in the expansions (2 addons anyone?). Sounds like something blizz would love to do. I don't think they are going to change it now, because in a way part of the skill of sc2 terran is managing addons, including their placement on the map. Walling in is a "bonus" feature in this game, As in you have to trade position to get it. Protoss can wall too, but then their units cant get from inside to out either. Addons on both sides just allows for too many shenanigans.

Being allowed 2 addons would be ridiculously imbalanced haha.

nimbim

Germany985 Posts

July 01 2010 02:24 GMT

#11

Since you can build addons without looking directly at the facilities, I think it would be better to build them automatically on the left side if the right is blocked and give an error if both are.

Ocedic

United States1808 Posts

July 01 2010 02:28 GMT

#12

Problem with having addon in more than one possible location is, logically why can't you have two+ addons at once? If you could put an addon at the left or right, why not put tech lab at left, reactor at right?

Ultimately I think that while it's technically an imbalance, a vast majority of the time it's not game breaking enough. If your build relies completely on spawning in a spot where you can do some tricky Sim City with addons, then you should adjust your build, for real.

iEchoic

United States1776 Posts

July 01 2010 02:33 GMT

#13

This does bother me. The people who say "it's not a big deal" or "there will always be small imbalances" aren't really contributing anything. Imbalances should be fixed.

Starcraft is a game of little things. How many games have you lost because your supply depot went up 4 seconds too late and a bunch of lings or a couple zealots ran in? How many games to other small things, like catching a scouting tip out of the corner of your vision? These little things can be a big deal.

There is currently a pretty big difference in some builds between spawning on bottom and top on Steppes. Bottom makes the choke faster to wall off, especially if going 9 or 10 rax, because you can wall with a SD and a tech lab. These kind of things change the outcome of games, and a randomly determined position should never be the deciding factor. There are definitely situations where the victor will be determined by who gets the top or bottom position, because as I said, Starcraft is a game of little things.

StupidFatHobbit

United States98 Posts

July 01 2010 02:56 GMT

#14

While you're eliminating positional imbalances, let zerg choose what direction larva/queen pop out of via the drone rally point.

monitor

United States2408 Posts

July 01 2010 03:04 GMT

#15

On July 01 2010 10:21 DM20 wrote:
There will always be positional imbalances.

This would make one less wouldn't it?

I do think Blizzard should allow you to choose left or right for the add-on, because spawn positions shouldn't kill a TvT wall off on Lost Temple or Metalopolis.

Terran players shouldn't cross their fingers hoping to spawn 1 o'clock position on Blistering Sands.

DM20

Canada544 Posts

July 01 2010 03:12 GMT

#16

On July 01 2010 12:04 monitor wrote:

Show nested quote +

Unless every building becomes a square there will be maps with spawns that are less than optimal.

Skee

Canada702 Posts

July 01 2010 03:30 GMT

#17

I just dont like the idea.

Also, WOOT IM A ZEALOT

ERGO

United States168 Posts

July 01 2010 03:34 GMT

#18

Better idea,

terran buildings should be able to rotate while lifted.

Logo

United States7542 Posts

July 01 2010 03:43 GMT

#19

The trade-off isn't worth it. You gain a small amount of positional balance, but you add to the dexterity requirements and make the process a lot more troublesome and annoying. If you land a building near two unused add-ons which one gets hooked up?

Also it's a balance change, you could now build a reactor and a tech lab for 1 building and switch per cycle based on what you want to build. Right now there's a time cost to switching so you can't just optimize it completely. You could even use 1 tech lab between 2 structures to keep stuff going smoothly without losing time moving buildings around.