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The effect of larvae-mineral distance on Zerg. - Page 6

Forum Index > SC2 General
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ishyishy
Profile Joined February 2011
United States826 Posts
November 26 2011 19:49 GMT
#101
Seeing as I can look at the income tab in any given zerg macro-oriented game and see their numbers higher, I dont see this as a problem at all. The only time I see mineral income higher is when someone has a gold base, and the other guy doesnt. Or the terran just dropped a mule (lol).
Goldfish
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
2230 Posts
November 27 2011 04:14 GMT
#102
IMO they should make it balance by allowing you to control where the larva spawns/patrol. Protoss + Terran can already do this technically (rally their workers, then they'll spawn in the direction you rally).
https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsServerFeedback/feedback/details/741495/biggest-explorer-annoyance-automatic-sorting-windows-7-server-2008-r2-and-vista#details Allow Disable Auto Arrange in Windows 7+
DarkPlasmaBall
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States46341 Posts
November 27 2011 04:27 GMT
#103
Really interesting imbalance there. I wonder if Blizzard can make it so that larvae can be moved by the player around the hatchery.

Props for a solid OP with data and experimentation
"There is nothing more satisfying than looking at a crowd of people and helping them get what I love." ~Day[9] Daily #100
upperbound
Profile Joined September 2011
United States2300 Posts
November 27 2011 04:48 GMT
#104
Can blizzard just normalize the amount of time it takes a spawned drone to hit a mineral patch when it's rallied to one? Like, change the movement speed so a rallied drone always hits the patch in 2.5 game seconds or something similar. That seems like the easiest fix with least additional burden on the player.
BleaK_
Profile Joined November 2010
Norway593 Posts
November 27 2011 04:51 GMT
#105
Always wondered about that, thanks for putting it on the spotlight with good testing!
LtCalley
Profile Joined March 2011
United States244 Posts
November 27 2011 05:13 GMT
#106
this is very similar to a terran spawning with a ramp facing toward the right side of their base, as opposed to one facing left. on the ramp facing right, the terran's add-on on their barracks will be exposed if you are walling off with your barracks, as opposed to the left-facing ramps where the add-on will be tucked away "behind" the barracks, leaving it less exposed.

the only way they should fix this issue with larva taking longer to get to minerals is if they also fix terran add-ons and allow an add-on to be built on either the left OR right side of the structure building it.
"No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you" - Homer Simpson
GettinMyFill
Profile Joined December 2010
Australia37 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-27 05:26:50
November 27 2011 05:25 GMT
#107
Six in-game seconds is actually nothing. This can only be a problem in an early pool situation in ZvZ, and the time that it takes for the zerglings to spawn and walk to your base from the enemy base is more than enough to make up for the time lost from any larvae 'imbalance'.
canikizu
Profile Joined September 2010
4860 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-27 06:46:48
November 27 2011 06:46 GMT
#108
Look at the bright side, your zerglings can intercept 2 rax bunker faster, your overlord can fly faster, your new-spawned drones can be transferred faster to 2nd, 3rd base,.v..v.v.v
Duban
Profile Joined July 2009
United States548 Posts
December 01 2011 19:06 GMT
#109
On November 27 2011 15:46 canikizu wrote:
Look at the bright side, your zerglings can intercept 2 rax bunker faster, your overlord can fly faster, your new-spawned drones can be transferred faster to 2nd, 3rd base,.v..v.v.v

Someone already said exactly this. You're 2.5 seconds behind just by moving your initial drones into position. That advantage is instantly canceled and the disadvantage only grows from there. .
An ignorant person makes a mistake. A stupid person makes it again.
deafhobbit
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States828 Posts
December 01 2011 19:11 GMT
#110
On November 26 2011 16:44 TheAmazombie wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 16:34 Wafflelisk wrote:
But it's not really difference for the purpose of having a fresh and exciting game, it's (in a TvT or ZvZ) one side being objectively worse than the other, which is of course imbalanced. Not a huge deal, no, but I feel the game should be as balanced as it possibly can. I hope this is fixed for HotS.


But it was the same in Brood War. SCVs came out of certain points and larvae sat in certain areas and it did not really affect it. I think it is fuss over basically nothing. The more of this type of "balancing" that occurs, the less dynamic the game will be and the more similar races will feel. It is just the nature of the race.


Actually, that's not true, at least as far as zerg is concerned. You could force your larva to move to the left of your hatch.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Larva_Trick
I cheer for underdogs and Flash
rd
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States2586 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-01 20:02:49
December 01 2011 19:13 GMT
#111
I've only heard about and experimented with it a little, but you can position your pool/roach/evo in such a way to force larvae closer to the minerals while also making a nice simcity around your hatch. Still though, the damage has already been done. I wouldn't doubt this is why when watching two pro zergs perform the exact same build, one is INEVITABLY building slower by an average of 1-2 seconds.

edit: This would probably be a worthy search for the OP, IMO. Go through some pro ZvZ's who open mirror builds and see how much of an impact larvae position ultimately had.

On November 26 2011 04:36 Klondikebar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 04:34 Duban wrote:
On November 26 2011 04:32 Klondikebar wrote:
Are you just testing this for academic purposes or do you advocate some change be made?

It seems like you're just doing this for academic purposes which I like because I was kinda curious about this myself.

I did this mostly because I could. It also supports my postion of "Tiny changes can make or break a game for a good macro Zerg"


I would tend to agree that interfering with timings for something as trivial as larva positioning is kinda silly. But I would hold off on actually calling for tweaks until Nestea says "I lost that game because my larva were too far from the minerals."


It's really easy to shrug off miniscule timings when it ultimately boils down to the difference in seconds on ultra precise timings, that end up winning or losing games. Splitting/worker management is where it all starts. This is probably most apparent to me in PvP (even though it doesn't have larvae) if your core is delayed enough you can just straight up die to a 4 gate. It only takes a couple of seconds and suddenly his units are warping in before your warpgate is even done.

On November 27 2011 13:48 upperbound wrote:
Can blizzard just normalize the amount of time it takes a spawned drone to hit a mineral patch when it's rallied to one? Like, change the movement speed so a rallied drone always hits the patch in 2.5 game seconds or something similar. That seems like the easiest fix with least additional burden on the player.


Or they could just make larvae always gravitate towards minerals.

On November 27 2011 15:46 canikizu wrote:
Look at the bright side, your zerglings can intercept 2 rax bunker faster, your overlord can fly faster, your new-spawned drones can be transferred faster to 2nd, 3rd base,.v..v.v.v


The hatch is also surrounded by creep though. Larvae affect how fast units get out of your base but not as much as drones.
DystopiaX
Profile Joined October 2010
United States16236 Posts
December 01 2011 19:16 GMT
#112
On November 26 2011 04:36 Klondikebar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 04:34 Duban wrote:
On November 26 2011 04:32 Klondikebar wrote:
Are you just testing this for academic purposes or do you advocate some change be made?

It seems like you're just doing this for academic purposes which I like because I was kinda curious about this myself.

I did this mostly because I could. It also supports my postion of "Tiny changes can make or break a game for a good macro Zerg"


I would tend to agree that interfering with timings for something as trivial as larva positioning is kinda silly. But I would hold off on actually calling for tweaks until Nestea says "I lost that game because my larva were too far from the minerals."

He'd never say that though, because the change is so minute that many other things could be blamed, no player being perfect and all, but I would argue that the snowball effect small changes has on macro, especially in the early game, is probably one of those hidden effects most players, including pros, don't think about even if it does cause a loss (which would probably be rare). This seems like something relatively easy to fix so I don't see why you wouldn't do it, especially since there is a documented difference.
Apaquin
Profile Joined June 2011
United States27 Posts
December 01 2011 19:31 GMT
#113
Why does everyone keep bringing up Terran add-ons in this thread? This has a pretty negligible effect in ZvT. This is a zerg topic and it effects (zergs obviously, not that you would notice due to the massive terran add-on whining in this thread) ZvZ to the greatest degree.

In short, go talk in the thread about terran add-ons if you want to talk about terran add-ons for the 5 millionth time.
ha
JDub
Profile Joined December 2010
United States976 Posts
December 01 2011 20:00 GMT
#114
It still does not seem like a very big deal to me. How many maps even have a spawn with minerals directly above and a spawn with minerals directly below? Many maps have diagonally oriented minerals. Regardless, 6 game seconds is almost nothing. Sure, there are some specific situations in ZvZ where those 6 seconds could be game breaking, I guess. But there is just too much stuff going on in an SC2 match for this to be a noticeable factor in who wins a game.

Also, I have a question about the calculations. How does larva production affect the theory here. Since both players start with 50 minerals they will begin their first drone at the same time. Will a player who has minerals above their hatchery be able to use their larva fast enough to prevent a period of time with 3 idle larva? If so, then it seems like every drone created after the point where both players are just waiting for their next larva to spawn will be created at the same time (not affected by that initial 2.5 gs difference). Then it would come down to the timing of the first queen spawning, which would be affected by the mineral difference. Anyways, does this make the predicted "lost time" for the disadvantaged player lower than expected?
FlamingTurd
Profile Joined April 2010
United States1059 Posts
December 01 2011 20:08 GMT
#115
I've also always thought about this before. I was hoping Blizzard would fix it, but there just really has never been any mention of the problem previously that I've seen.
Nerf MMMT!!! Liquid`Ret Hwaiting!!!
Reborn8u
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States1761 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-01 20:30:23
December 01 2011 20:29 GMT
#116
Although it is impractical to test, because of normal variation in your opponent and strategy in each game. I wonder what the gross difference is in the course of a 30 minute (or longer) game. Given the almost exponential growth potential of the zerg economy throughout the early and mid game. 1 less drone in the early game can mean 5 less drones later on, (in some cases) Zergs have always been aware of how crucial their early drones are to their growth potential, which is why we see things like drones getting pulled off gas after 100 has been mined for ling speed, and the fewest possible lings being made during the opening stages.

I really don't think there should be built in imbalances due to spawn positions. It's one of the main reasons I don't like shakurus and metalopolis. The differences in air space to fly behind the natural bases on those maps, can give you an advantage or disadvantage depending on where you spawn.
:)
1st_Panzer_Div.
Profile Joined November 2010
United States621 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-01 21:30:26
December 01 2011 21:22 GMT
#117
Nice OP; but you have a serious flaw. Part A you just took self-admitted 'rough' numbers; despite making calculations based on a quarter of an in-game second, hopefully you can see the flaws in that; especially with what is below:

Part B Standard Deviation!

Below are my calculations based on your numbers, broken down in a uniform measurement of seconds. Again these are your numbers!
Top Deviation Calculation:
X1 = 386
X2 = 389
X3 = 392
Mean = 389 (heh, easy one)
Deviation = Root ( ((Mean – X1)^2 + (Mean – X2)^2 + (Mean – X3)^2)/ Number in Sample)
= Root( ( (389-386)^2 + (389-389)^2 + (389-392)^2 ) / 3 )
= 6

Bottom Deviation
Deviation = 6.2

So your claim is that there is a 6 second difference between mining times at the top and bottom. But the standard deviation for your top and bottom tests are at least as big.

This means that if you ran only the top 66% of your data would be 389 seconds, give or take 6 seconds. And 33% of the time it would be MORE than 6 seconds difference. Or phrased this way, running only the top experiment, your data would be 380-392 seconds most of the time; with a large chunk of it outside of even those time ranges. And this is just what the data that you provided says will happen if you alone try experimenting only the top part.

The idea behind your experiment is awesome, but you need either a much larger sample size, and likely more practice at it to keep your deviation to a minimum. Because right now I can claim with over 91% confidence (look up confidence intervals if you're curious) that based on your data the mining time between the top and the bottom are EXACTLY the same time. Which we know by observation isn't true.

A plea to everyone reading this thread; if you have GM or above mechanics, please help the OP out, try the top/bottom mining experiment. Do it 10 times to warm up. Do it 20 times to record the time top. Then do the same thing for the bottom. Give the OP your 20 Top and 20 bottoms (and please be honest) and then he can come back with meaningful numbers. He's got a great idea and even a good start, it's just the numbers he has don't prove anything. (Seriously if like... Sheth did this, you could have pretty fantastic data with maybe even an 80% CI.)
Manager, Team RIP ZeeZ
AnachronisticAnarchy
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States2957 Posts
December 01 2011 21:36 GMT
#118
On November 26 2011 04:57 ChineseWife wrote:
now lets compare the effects of larva inject on creating workers to that of the other races...


Yeah...no. If your opponent is decent, he will be able to match you on wokers and even pull ahead almost throughout the entire game with most openings.
We can create many workers at a time, but we cannot defend ourselves while doing it.
"How are you?" "I am fine, because it is not normal to scream in pain."
selaas
Profile Joined June 2011
Norway40 Posts
December 01 2011 21:38 GMT
#119
I might be wrong about this, but does that mean that from a map makers point of view, one should always make base entries and such that the add-ons for terrans are always close to (or always away from) the entry point and the minerals always point to the east or west (larva still in the bottom, then equally close to the minerals on either side).

That would probably solve it, if that is possible with the map editor.

Or am I way off here?

The other and obvious solution is changing the dynamics of SC2 (which won't happen), by making larvae spawn close to minerals and add-ons placeable where one wishes, which was mentioned before.
FreeTossCZComentary
Profile Joined September 2011
Czech Republic143 Posts
December 01 2011 21:52 GMT
#120
On November 26 2011 05:29 TERRANLOL wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 05:00 Klondikebar wrote:
I feel like spawn locations is more comparable to white vs black in chess. Doesn't white have an extra 4% win rate or something? Based entirely upon "spawn color."



White has the higher winrate because white moves first.
Spawn color is how we identify who has the advantage, but it is not the advantage itself


You really think that first move is OP? Having first move can be even problem actually! Imagine 2 guys runing into minefield... one who runs in sooner is in worse position than one who runs in faster...
www.youtube.com/OnlyFreeToss, FreeCraft ForFun SC2 MOD Rulez: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=292319 Dont even dare waiting, join FreeCraft now!
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