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How many bases is too many?

Forum Index > SC2 General
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shawty
Profile Joined June 2010
United Kingdom294 Posts
August 12 2010 17:56 GMT
#1
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
Profile Joined October 2007
Canada169 Posts
August 12 2010 17:58 GMT
#2
Anything more than 3 fully saturated expo should be used mainly for the extra gas.
this is kinda like the guy that started milking and cows... what the hell was he doing?
Waltchelg
Profile Joined April 2010
United States66 Posts
August 12 2010 17:58 GMT
#3
More than 1 base is too many.
Elite Muffin Crew / No Talent member
andeh
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States904 Posts
August 12 2010 17:59 GMT
#4
By the time you get your 4th, your main should start to be mined out, so transfer them.

Rinse repeat
xnub
Profile Joined August 2009
Canada610 Posts
August 12 2010 18:00 GMT
#5
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
Loving the beta !! Weeeeeeee
kuresuti
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
1393 Posts
August 12 2010 18:00 GMT
#6
On August 13 2010 02:58 Waltchelg wrote:
More than 1 base is too many.


You must be a Terran player.
Rhyme
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1069 Posts
August 12 2010 18:01 GMT
#7
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.
dont ever say that
luckySe7en
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
148 Posts
August 12 2010 18:01 GMT
#8
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
Profile Joined August 2009
Canada610 Posts
August 12 2010 18:02 GMT
#9
On August 13 2010 03:00 kuresuti wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2010 02:58 Waltchelg wrote:
More than 1 base is too many.


You must be a Terran player.



lol it was clearly a joke.
Loving the beta !! Weeeeeeee
Melt
Profile Joined May 2010
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
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
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
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States3748 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-12 18:09:29
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.
Life is Good.
Powster
Profile Joined April 2010
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
Profile Joined September 2007
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
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
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
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Denmark2980 Posts
August 12 2010 18:24 GMT
#16
Nothing is "too many". If you can, take every expo on the map.
화이팅
kuresuti
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
1393 Posts
August 12 2010 18:28 GMT
#17
On August 13 2010 03:02 xnub wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2010 03:00 kuresuti wrote:
On August 13 2010 02:58 Waltchelg wrote:
More than 1 base is too many.


You must be a Terran player.



lol it was clearly a joke.


Mine wasn't clear enough?
Keap
Profile Joined July 2010
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
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
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.
"One fish, two fish, red fish, BLUE TANK!" - Artosis
Telcontar
Profile Joined May 2010
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.
Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta.
Neshapotamus
Profile Blog Joined May 2006
United States163 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-12 18:39:52
August 12 2010 18:39 GMT
#21
Anything more than 75 workers will start to hurt you, try to stay around 65-75 workers. Take as many bases as you can. Once you have too many workers, your army will be too small. Start putting up static defense as a way of getting rid of workers and fortifying your base. Its better to let your opponent work for a base than giving it to them for free. spread out your workers, you don't always have to fully saturate every base.
Craton
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States17242 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-12 18:47:25
August 12 2010 18:46 GMT
#22
If you are in the position to safely expand, do it. Don't be afraid of having too many bases, just don't go overboard trying to saturate everything. It gives you vision and deprives the other player of that potential expo.

If you lose it later, it should let you get your army in a solid position to flank him or to counter-attack and should ultimately be of minimal economic loss, given the low drone count and likely excess of resources.
twitch.tv/cratonz
shawty
Profile Joined June 2010
United Kingdom294 Posts
August 12 2010 18:48 GMT
#23
I find that as zerg I sometimes just spam drones when my opponent is clearly in a bad position and is turtling, so I end up seeing after the game that I have made 120 drones :S
nam nam
Profile Joined June 2010
Sweden4672 Posts
August 12 2010 18:59 GMT
#24
Since your opponent usually are trying to destroy your expos you can certainly have more than 3-4 bases. As other have suggested though you should have a cap for how many drones you have on the map at the same time.
FindingPride
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States1001 Posts
August 12 2010 19:08 GMT
#25
no more then 60 scv
monkh
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United Kingdom568 Posts
August 12 2010 19:08 GMT
#26
On August 13 2010 03:39 Neshapotamus wrote:
Anything more than 75 workers will start to hurt you, try to stay around 65-75 workers. Take as many bases as you can. Once you have too many workers, your army will be too small. Start putting up static defense as a way of getting rid of workers and fortifying your base. Its better to let your opponent work for a base than giving it to them for free. spread out your workers, you don't always have to fully saturate every base.



Yes this is what I usually aim for 65-75 works but always look back at replays and only have about 50 workers less even sometimes, how do you gauge how many works you have?
Daeden.620
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