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Macro has been a major discussion topic in the community for the last several months so here's a little contest we over at SC:L devised to see what people have come up with to solve the perceived problem. Check it out and submit your entries:
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Therefore, StarCraft: Legacy is proud to present the Macro Theorycrafting Contest. The challenge is to craft a creative mechanic, for any race, or all, that will surpass the current gas mechanic. Here is an example of such a mechanic. Multiple submissions are allowed.
The winner will receive an "I <3 SC" t-shirt. In addition, the top three winners will have their ideas sent directly to Dustin Browder's desk. The deadline is 3 weeks from now - January 6th. StarCraft: Legacy will select the cream of the crop from the submissions and the community will vote for the best mechanic. Email your submissions to macro@sclegacy.com.
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Be sure to read more here.
Check it out! :D We look forward to seeing all the ideas formed nicely!
~LoA
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
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Posts like:
Hey that's a great idea! But hmm after reading some posts on that thread you're talking about on blizzforums, it's starting to get confusing what really is micro and macro. Could you give us some ''official'' definitions for the contest so that no one start talking about something that's not completely the right thing?
And not to sound stupid but what exactly is MBS?
make me wonder if enough good ideas will arise :[
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On December 17 2008 14:16 BanZu wrote:Posts like: Show nested quote +Hey that's a great idea! But hmm after reading some posts on that thread you're talking about on blizzforums, it's starting to get confusing what really is micro and macro. Could you give us some ''official'' definitions for the contest so that no one start talking about something that's not completely the right thing?
And not to sound stupid but what exactly is MBS? make me wonder if enough good ideas will arise :[
Wowwwwwwwwwwwww
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On December 17 2008 14:16 BanZu wrote:Posts like: Show nested quote +Hey that's a great idea! But hmm after reading some posts on that thread you're talking about on blizzforums, it's starting to get confusing what really is micro and macro. Could you give us some ''official'' definitions for the contest so that no one start talking about something that's not completely the right thing?
And not to sound stupid but what exactly is MBS? make me wonder if enough good ideas will arise :[
o.o
I just hope all aren't like him..
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Sweden33719 Posts
Can we not get hung up on one god damned post, please? We get people here ALL the time asking what MBS is.
Why? Because if you've been busy not obsessing over SC2 for the past two years (unlike myself, ldo), you wont have a fucking clue what that obscure term means. It wasn't even an abbrevation before SC2 was announced.
Get back on topic.
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oh hell yes
im gonna win easy
how about this:
you make it so that whenever someone wants to make a unit, they have to click on one of their production buildings and tell it to produce that unit.
genius?
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ya I was about to say... just take away MBS... but then the contest is for a "creative" solution
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On December 17 2008 15:42 IdrA wrote:
oh hell yes
im gonna win easy
how about this:
you make it so that whenever someone wants to make a unit, they have to click on one of their production buildings and tell it to produce that unit.
genius?
Damn, I wish they had that in the original Starcraft, would have made the game so baller.
I can't think of any way to improve macro besides just keeping it the same as Starcraft. :\
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It says they only want solutions for the gas mechanic. Not for MBS or automine or any other gameplay feature.
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List of their suggested criteria:
* The ideal mechanic should be direct in its usage and provide beneficial gameplay.
* The ideal mechanic should have both advantages and disadvantages.
* The ideal mechanic should not have a drastically negative effect for any player, whether for you, your teammate or an opponent and his teammate.
* The ideal mechanic should not discourage micro.
* The ideal mechanic should not alter the MBS or auto-mining features. <----- BOO!
* The ideal mechanic should be flexible in its ability to be balanced.
* The ideal mechanic should not be forced upon a specific map or upon a certain type of player.
* The ideal mechanic's effect should not be random - its results must have definite results.
* Preferably, the ideal mechanic will be dependent upon a player’s choices.
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On December 17 2008 15:58 beefhamburger wrote:
It says they only want solutions for the gas mechanic. Not for MBS or automine or any other gameplay feature.
Ok, then no gas mechanic.
Done.
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Hmm that shouldn't be there - we're looking at ways to improve macro in the game. So I'll remove that only gas mechanic part. And the suggested criteria is just that - suggested so if you want to alter MBS or auto-mining be my guest. The issue isn't that we agree with the features but that its pretty much been decided that its going to be in the game so all the smart ass comments already accruing above help absolutely no one.
~LoA
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the perfect macro implementation would be more complicated than ordering your workers to work. it should involve tertiary resources, aoe spells, quaternary resources, fatigue, mana, mineral refineries, mineral refinery mechanics, arbitrary activation and deactivation of resources, stim packs, observers, speed upgrades, harvesting upgrades, harvesting speed upgrades, speed harvesting upgrades, speed packs, aoe harvesting, ranged mining, ranged mining upgrades, siege mode workers, and lasers.
works for micro. right?..
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Workers could recieve a small buff when they turn in minerals, the buff makes them return X amount extra gas on their next trip to the geiser. A similar buff could be given to increase mineral return after gas turn in.
There should be some visual representation of the buff, to make it easy to see.
You could play normally, and it wouldn't make any difference. But you can also micromanage your economy to ensure that you're collecting gas faster.
Circling workers from minerals to main building, to gas, to main building and so on wouldn't benefit from MBS or automine.
Also, it forces you to move your attention to your base and actually focus on your economy to get any benefit.
It would be a constant thing which could be implemented into the rythm of the game.
The effect could easily be balanced by altering the amount of extra gas the worker gets collects on its next trip. If micromanaging the every return would be too much, the buff could work for more than one trip.
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On December 17 2008 15:42 IdrA wrote:
oh hell yes
im gonna win easy
how about this:
you make it so that whenever someone wants to make a unit, they have to click on one of their production buildings and tell it to produce that unit.
genius?
It alters MBS. Fail. So sad but it's a fail.
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Why reinvent the wheel?
There is nothing that's going to please both sides.
There's nothing that gives rise to intense multitasking gameplay and is not 'tedious and boring'.
The problem isn't the macro mechanics of SC. The problem is that people want two opposite things, two very different games.
The reason SC2 has MBS and automining is not because they couldn't come up with some better macro mechanics. It's because they are moving the game in a different direction. Probably under pressure of the marketing department or out of sheer ignorance.
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To Blackstar and everyone else who says that its not possible to make fun macro mechanics:
What is your opinion of Warp-In?
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Who says its not possible to make fun macro mechanics?
Isn't SC so much fun because of macro?
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Here's an idea for terran: building upgrades.
How it works: instead of building new buildings, you can opt to upgrade the ones you already have for less cost in order to enhance their effectiveness / abilities. An SCV has to be called to the building to upgrade it, and if the building is a production building it would be inoperable during this time.
Example: you have a supply depot. you want another, but are cheap. So instead of spending 100 for a depot, you upgrade your existing depot for some lower amount, say 75 to get the additional 10 supply. For barracks, upgrades could increase the production rate, for example, or maybe even increase the hp of units built, I dunno.
Benefits of this feature: encourages user to come back to his base and manage it, as you must manually order an SCV over to the target building to upgrade it. Encourages choice-making: do I upgrade one depot a lot and risk that the enemy snipes it somehow, or do I build many? Do I want to upgrade that barracks now -- how will that affect my timing attack? Finally, it feels relatively natural, especially for terran, compared to the gas mechanic. It lends itself well to graphical representation as well. Also, it's easily balanced: you can adjust the power of the upgrades, upgrade time, nature of the upgrades, amount of upgrades, upgrade cost, etc.
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EPT
. Someone needs to go through this thread and sift the cream imo 
