When I play as zerg I like to be super aggressive with expanding if my opponent is being passive, and it lead me to wonder how many bases one can hope to effectively saturate without cutting into one's supply for army too much.

For example in TLO vs Brat_ok in a recent day9, TLO was on 5 bases or so, and other than using 6 workers for gas per base, it seems absurd that one would make 150 to saturate fully leaving only 50 supply for an army.

So my question is, when should one stop pumping drones or workers in general and just under saturate a base?

Martinni

Canada169 Posts

August 12 2010 17:58 GMT

Anything more than 3 fully saturated expo should be used mainly for the extra gas.

Waltchelg

United States66 Posts

August 12 2010 17:58 GMT

More than 1 base is too many.

andeh

United States904 Posts

August 12 2010 17:59 GMT

By the time you get your 4th, your main should start to be mined out, so transfer them.

Rinse repeat

xnub

Canada610 Posts

August 12 2010 18:00 GMT

3-4 minning rest just use for gas if you mean minning bases and are not zerg. If you are zerg to many is 357 : P. Cause more bases is more larva weeee

kuresuti

1393 Posts

August 12 2010 18:00 GMT

On August 13 2010 02:58 Waltchelg wrote:
More than 1 base is too many.

You must be a Terran player.

Rhyme

United States1069 Posts

August 12 2010 18:01 GMT

well if you're on "5 bases" that almost certianly means you're mined out of your main, and getting close with your natural. gold expo's also mine out quite quickly. so in reality you'd have closer to 70-90 drones.

luckySe7en

148 Posts

August 12 2010 18:01 GMT

On August 13 2010 02:58 Martinni wrote:
Anything more than 3 fully saturated expo should be used mainly for the extra gas.

how could i be playing for 4 years and just find this out now.

i've always been on 3-4 bases on average, but it's always been this way by accident more than knowing it's the ideal. it totally makes sense though. you can't have too many probes because you wont have enough for the army that hte probes are meant to make, and you can only have enough probes to fill up 2.5 mineral nodes or so.

xnub

Canada610 Posts

August 12 2010 18:02 GMT

On August 13 2010 03:00 kuresuti wrote:

Show nested quote +

You must be a Terran player.

lol it was clearly a joke.

Melt

Switzerland281 Posts

August 12 2010 18:02 GMT

#10

In ZvT, you need invinite numbers of expos.

Mech is slow and he will steamroll every expo. the more you have, the more you abuse his immobility. Rebuild the ones he killed also.

This is of course very late in the game. dont go 5 hatch into pool

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

August 12 2010 18:06 GMT

#11

2 is standard for P and T. 3 is standard for Z. In tournaments, it's half the map.

Alou

United States3748 Posts

August 12 2010 18:08 GMT

#12

I've never gone over 3 at a single time being fully saturated. But I'm Protoss. Basically get what you need when you need it. There is never a clean rule for bases and such. It's just take what you can when you can and use it when you need to use it. At least that is the rule I tend to follow.

Powster

United States650 Posts

August 12 2010 18:14 GMT

#13

Well.. I am a protoss and I used to just start making another base when I am mined out.. but I have come to realize that.. having like 4 bases > 2 bases.. If your in like non stop action you might forget to build a base and have lots of probes not mining for a long time then no base for them to go to.. (I do that often lol) but having 4 bases with just like 15-20 probes at each will make it last a long time and the extra gas is good for HT / and junk.. Usually I have 2 more bases than the people I play now.. Although it doesnt give me such a big economic advantage since I cant saturate them all it helps if I lose one of the bases I still have others.. and all those extra bases + pylons all over the map = extra vision..

IaniAniaN

Canada555 Posts

August 12 2010 18:18 GMT

#14

You don't need to fully saturate, sometimes you just need the gas. Plus for each race the main production building gives you some perk. So it means: more scan/mule, more chrono boost, more larvae.

3clipse

Canada2555 Posts

August 12 2010 18:18 GMT

#15

I think my style is pretty drone-light. I don't feel it's worth it to saturate beyond 2 workers per patch for 3 bases (even less with more). If I get to 6 bases I often have more drones on gas than on minerals in my new expos. I guess I might not be able to instantly reinforce my army if I lose soon after making 200/200, but I feel the larger army is usually worth it. I have no idea what is optimal, but I'm sure it lies somewhere in moderation between my style and Artosis'.

XsebT

Denmark2980 Posts

August 12 2010 18:24 GMT

#16

Nothing is "too many". If you can, take every expo on the map.

kuresuti

1393 Posts

August 12 2010 18:28 GMT

#17

On August 13 2010 03:02 xnub wrote:

Show nested quote +

lol it was clearly a joke.

Mine wasn't clear enough?

Keap

United States214 Posts

August 12 2010 18:30 GMT

#18

As many as you can comfortably saturate while producing units at the same time?

MangoTango

United States3670 Posts

August 12 2010 18:32 GMT

#19

Terran players usually only need 2 saturated minerals, though any extra gas is always appreciated. If you're ever short on minerals, MULES solves it.

Telcontar

United Kingdom16710 Posts

August 12 2010 18:34 GMT

#20

different for each race. with zerg, i like to try and fully saturate 3 bases and expand when one is near mined out. with protoss and terran, i can get by with 2. of course this is assuming the opponent is around your skill level.