Low League Mechanics Challenge

On December 30 2011 14:43 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Platinum Zerg, 200/200 at 12:05, would have shaved a few seconds off, but I got distracted by my dog for a few seconds. Oh well.

On December 30 2011 15:20 Sero wrote:
11:49 Terran Master League.
http://i.imgur.com/sjAk2.jpg
http://sc2ranks.com/us/1110277/Sero
I noticed a few seconds late, was probably more like 11:46. Easy to improve that though - I'll try again.

On December 30 2011 16:05 sToFu wrote:
Stupid question but how do you make an empty map? :/

On December 30 2011 20:10 GizmoPT wrote:
11:40, EU gold zerg.

http://sc2ranks.com/eu/583308/GizmomcS
http://drop.sc/81451
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8783/screenshot2011123011070.jpg

this was my first try maybe ill try more later i really do much better xp

On December 31 2011 07:16 willz22912 wrote:
So I read through the thread to see if anyone asked this, so Terrans are not allowed to make OCs at all? Or are you just not counting any replays with them, I know in your OP you said it wasn't going to help but I think it would, any clarification on this?

On December 31 2011 16:59 Brandish wrote:
based on the results so far it doesnt seem like theere is a significant differeence between the higher leagues and the lower leagues in just building workers and supply depots

On December 31 2011 20:53 dani` wrote:

You are not allowed to mine from the gold -_-

On December 31 2011 04:14 Sero wrote:
I tried a couple more times and was able to get down to 11:26. (Master Terran.) I think 11:20 might be possible, but would take some effort lol
http://i.imgur.com/MWXD3.jpg

On January 01 2012 02:51 cereal7802 wrote:
out of curiosity are people stating they are maxed out when the top right bar says 200/200 or when they actually have 200 scvs as indicated by the units bar? the times could be very different. a few people have posted screenshots saying they are at 200/200 with over 20 workers still in the production queue.


13:29 (supply says 200/200)
13:46 (no active production)


nearly 20 seconds difference between the 2. i realize its the same time it takes for a single scv to be produced but still. might account for the very close numbers people are having.


a good example where this would effect the time, pwncakery(10:54). he left the game as soon as it hit 200/200. he still has 15 drones in production. his actual time would have been closer to 11:11.

another would be tjosan(10:59). he left the game with 15 workers in production at 11:05. if you wait for there to be 200 supply on the map his time is closer to 11:22.

it's not just the high end players either. the replay for qwixter is listed as 11:22. it ends at 11:29 with 18 in production(last one started at 11:27). time would be more like 11:44.

On December 30 2011 14:14 Pokebunny wrote:
The time is measured the second you hit 200 supply

On December 31 2011 22:21 dani` wrote:

True I don't really understand why Metalopolis was chosen for this if you cannot mine from the gold anyway but alas, that's how it is ^^

On January 01 2012 07:02 Fruscainte wrote:
I fail to see the purpose of this, tbh.

A trained monkey could do this challenge under 11-12 minutes like everyone else is. What makes macro "hard" is that you need to handle a LOT of different things at once. It's easy to put 20 command centers on 4 and just spam S all day. It's more difficult to handle SCV production, rax + factory + starport production, upgrades, army positioning, proper expansion timings, etc. Or perhaps managing larvae between drones and army, keeping a perfect dichotomy of army size and economy with the same larvae. Something like that can only come from practice.

On January 01 2012 07:25 Fruscainte wrote:


A great idea, in theory.

That's not what's happening at all, however. It's just make workers, make more expansions, spam your button more and to keep your money low, throw down 50 nexus' and keep spamming your button. I get what you're saying, I really do -- but in practice it's really just ineffective. It doesn't really teach anything unless you are absolutely that clueless about the game and its mechanics.

On January 02 2012 11:47 ZeroTalent wrote:


At the risk of theorycrafting, zealots get you 2 supply in 38 seconds for 100 resources. Probes get you supply in 34 seconds for 100 resources. Just make probes. These are the units that even have a chance of improving the total time:

Immortal -13 seconds +35 gathers
Colossus -27 seconds +50 gathers
Marauder -4 seconds +7 gathers
Hellion -4 seconds +0 gathers
Tank -6 seconds +31 gathers
Thor -42 seconds +50 gathers
BC -12 seconds +75 gathers
Roach -7 seconds +2 gathers
Hydralisk -1 second +13 gathers
Ultralisk -47 seconds +50 gathers
Mutalisk -1 second] +25 gathers

Note: does not consider larva for Z; does not consider resources required to build tech tree.

If the bottleneck is gathering resources, then making workers must be better. But if the bottleneck is production time, then it's possible that building some units produces a faster time. And based on the OP's observation that building OCs doesn't help, the bottleneck seems to be production time.

On January 12 2012 15:27 shizaep wrote:
Looked at the results, not at all what I expected. Bronze league zergs beat grandmaster zergs and overall, nearly all the scores across all the leagues were very similar.
I think that this is what concentration does to you. The bane of lower league players is that they have the capability to macro well, it's just whenever something happens and they either have to think or react or keep track of various things, they completely fall apart. At least that is the conclusion that I would draw from these results.