Terran Early Game build order test results - by Taerix 6-21-2010
I had some questions about early game build orders with Terran so I decided to do some testing with qxc's build order tester. I posted a long version on my blog, but I wanted to share my results here in the hopes that it will help someone in the community. This is simple stuff, and will mostly be applicable to beginner's.
Here's the three things I tested:
1. Difference between moving your SCV's first, then training one and training first, moving second (at the very beginning of games)
2. Does it matter if you rally your SCV's yourself, or should you just let the AI do the work?
3. Is it best (with Terran) to build a supply depot at 9 food or 10 food.
All pretty simple and straight-forward, but the results I got surprised me. I tested each of these scenarios quite a few times and found a pretty good 'average' result for each one.
First test - Which is more efficient: train then move or move then train.
I found that at about the :40 mark I was able to have 5-15 more minerals when I trained an SCV first, then told my guys to mine. Plus my SCV's were coming out a little earlier.
Second test - Manually rally my SCV's to the mineral patches, or just rally to the nearest and let the AI figure it out.
While the AI in Starcraft 2 is MUCH improved over the original, it still doesn't do as well as manually micro-managing your early game mining. I found that I was able to squeeze 10-20 more minerals out of my workers when I manually told them where to go versus letting the AI do it.
Third test - Supply depot on 9 or 10 food?
I had a good guess on this test, but I wanted to know for sure. And again this is only for Terran and doesn't apply if you're doing a 9 or 10 racks build obviously.
So I found out that again I was able to get 10-20 more minerals by building my depot at 10 food. A small difference but a decent result. Plus since I wasn't waiting on minerals my SCV's were coming out a few seconds earlier doing it this way. Building on 9 food just isn't that efficient.
Now these test results do seem small, but they add up! If you put these 3 little things together you're ahead by 25-55 minerals and a few seconds of SCV production, which can make a pretty big difference if you get rushed.
Hope this helped a bit!
Taerix
Here's the three things I tested:
1. Difference between moving your SCV's first, then training one and training first, moving second (at the very beginning of games)
2. Does it matter if you rally your SCV's yourself, or should you just let the AI do the work?
3. Is it best (with Terran) to build a supply depot at 9 food or 10 food.
All pretty simple and straight-forward, but the results I got surprised me. I tested each of these scenarios quite a few times and found a pretty good 'average' result for each one.
First test - Which is more efficient: train then move or move then train.
I found that at about the :40 mark I was able to have 5-15 more minerals when I trained an SCV first, then told my guys to mine. Plus my SCV's were coming out a little earlier.
Second test - Manually rally my SCV's to the mineral patches, or just rally to the nearest and let the AI figure it out.
While the AI in Starcraft 2 is MUCH improved over the original, it still doesn't do as well as manually micro-managing your early game mining. I found that I was able to squeeze 10-20 more minerals out of my workers when I manually told them where to go versus letting the AI do it.
Third test - Supply depot on 9 or 10 food?
I had a good guess on this test, but I wanted to know for sure. And again this is only for Terran and doesn't apply if you're doing a 9 or 10 racks build obviously.
So I found out that again I was able to get 10-20 more minerals by building my depot at 10 food. A small difference but a decent result. Plus since I wasn't waiting on minerals my SCV's were coming out a few seconds earlier doing it this way. Building on 9 food just isn't that efficient.
Now these test results do seem small, but they add up! If you put these 3 little things together you're ahead by 25-55 minerals and a few seconds of SCV production, which can make a pretty big difference if you get rushed.
Hope this helped a bit!
Taerix
