[Trick] Early Game +7% Mineral Boost - Page 29

On September 13 2010 14:48 DevaB wrote:
It takes almost exactly 11/12 trips for 1 boosted worker to do 1 extra trip ( 5 minerals ) then a normal worker. A action queue can take up to 30 actions, depending on your spamming skills, you can fill that queue in 1/2 return trips for every worker.
Tested this by putting 2 workers mining at the same distance on a different patch then boosting 1 worker and just counting the trips. I tested on far patches so it took 12, and even patches that look to have the same distance still have a marginal distance different from the main. So you can slash maybe 1 trip.

This seems to be more viable during the first 8 workers, since after that if there is already a worker there he goes to a different patch anyways then on his queue back goes to that first patch...

So saying you queue all 6 + 2/4 extra workers during the start you will gain a whole 6/10 trips (30/50 minerals)

It is really obvious that the dude goes faster when boosted but the results do not seem to show a 7% gain at all.

This is is no way game breaking! Those you utilize this get a marginal advantage good for them, no reason to qq if you do not want to use it.

On September 13 2010 14:56 Sylvr wrote:


/twitch @ bolded part. Please don't even use that combination of words again.

On September 13 2010 14:58 Ketara wrote:
Trying this out on my SCVs from the start of a game until my 15 orbital command a bunch of times, I was unable to get the OC out any faster (2:42 every time), but depending on how well I executed this trick had 10-20 extra minerals at 2:42 when the OC started.

I think people are seeing the 7% figure and reading that in a way they shouldn't be. 7% is apparently a theoretical threshold gain on a small number of workers mine rate in the first couple minutes of the game. It is extremely hard or even impossible to get all the workers queued up within the first couple trips. I can only do 1, sometimes 2 workers per trip.

I would love to see some more indepth analysis though, figuring out at what worker point exactly this stops producing a benefit, exactly how much of a benefit you can get from it, etc.


One funny thing that I noticed was that in one attempt, I was focusing so hard on doing this that I forgot to change my rally point to a new node every time I built a worker, and ended up having 5 fewer extra minerals at 2:42 than normal.

On September 13 2010 14:35 smegged wrote:


Early game advantages snowball much more than later game ones do.

And this is truly an APM test, nothing more. Having divided attention is far more costly in such a race. The fact is that zerg have the toughest/most unforgiving timings on their early worker construction due to being unable to queue, even for a fraction of a second. In a laggy internet environment (thanks for the lack of LAN play Blizzard > ) it is even more important for a zerg player to be early with their "d" spam.

We're talking a 7% advantage here, it's not minute. All of the pros will be doing it. If they do it for two minutes it may mean saving ten seconds on a rush. That timing window is massive.

On September 13 2010 15:22 Apollys wrote:
I practiced this trick in a game with an insane AI as my opponent. Watching the replay, Mr. Insane AI still has a ridiculously faster income at the start of the game due to his perfect goddamn split. I guess my point is that although this is a very cool technique that has been discovered, there are about a million other aspects of your gameplay that are more important than mineral boosting. If you're korean, by all means perfect this technique, but for basically anyone besides the pro gamers, I don't think the difference would even be noticeable if you/your opponent "mineral boosts" or not.

On September 13 2010 15:24 Ketara wrote:


Insane AI workers also gather more minerals per trip, do it vs. a Very Hard.

This is only going to make a difference for the very best at the game so save your breath

On September 13 2010 09:25 Plutonium wrote:
I can guarantee you that Blizz knew about this ten minutes after the thread went up, and it will most likely be patched.

Their devs probably read TL more than their actual forums.