In the interview with Omeleet and StrikerVX, I added a graphics that reflected Omeleet's best understanding of this acceleration back then. When I re-used that graphics in my latest post on the basic principles of deck building, Omeleet wrote me that he today has a better understanding of this concept.
TheCopyCatTV (follow him on Twitch) and Omeleet (follow him on Twitch) measured this increase more precisely and thankfully shared the data with me. Here it is:
- Base income starts at 2 Tiberium per Second (T/s) and accelerates by +0.2 T/s every 30 seconds up to a max of 3 T/s
- Income per harvester (that is actually harvesting) increases from 1.5 T/s at the start of the game to a max of 4 T/s at 150 seconds, an increase of 0.7 T/s every 30 seconds
Tiberium income over the course of the time
Observations:
- Base income accelerates only by +50% over the course of the game
- Harvester income accelerates by +166% over the course of the game
- This means that the income gap of 0 vs 1 vs 2 harvesters grows over the course of the game
- A harvester that you build at the start of the game amortizes after 37 seconds plus the time before it starts harvesting, so about 40 seconds
- A harvester that you build at 60 seconds amortizes after 21 seconds
- A harvester that you build at 120 seconds amortizes after just 14 seconds
What can we learn from this?
- A zero harvester player has no total Tiberium downside for the first nuke if he manages to continously charge the nuke. Combined with the increased pop cap, a zero harv deck has a strong early game advantage. But For the second nuke, it's at just half the income already!
- In a close game, and with a deck that can work on 1 or 2 harvesters, it can be an option to build a second harvester even after the second nuke. It amorizes quickly enough to have an impact. Of course, there's the trade-off between pop cap and Tiberium, so it depends on the deck and situaiton
- Generally, it might be an underused idea to fight for the first nuke on a single harvester and then, when the opportunity arises (e.g. after the first nuke), build a second harvester.
- Many tech decks do have some cheap units to contest the first nuke, and the additional pop cap of not building the 2nd harv early might come in handy.
- The Tiberium income lost from not having the 2nd harvester for the first 60 seconds is below 100 Tiberium (considering you can't build it immediately at 0 seconds). This compares against an income of this second harvester of 150 Tiberium during the second minute and nearly 240 Tiberium in the third minute.
- Even if you don't win the first nuke by delaying the 2nd harvester, it can still be worth it. If you manage to stall it for an additional 30 seconds, you will have 30 seconds more of the higher income tiers. The 30 seconds more after 120 seconds would mean +130 Tberium, which is more than the <100 Tiberium the 2nd harvester would net you in the first minute of the game.
I believe that the more this concept is understood, the more we will see decks that start with a single harvester and build the 2nd harvester opportunistically and situationally. This can already be seen if you watch strong players play Tech decks or Tech splash decks, they usually don't start with 2 harvester straight away.
Of course this only makes sense if you can realistically contest the first nuke. If you delay the 2nd harvester to about the 60 second mark, you need to delay the first nuke by at least 20-25 seconds on average to make it worthwhile. That's why it's probably still rational for players with limited micro skills to build the second harvester instantly, orimmediately after scouting for a hard rush.
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