What would YOUR macro be?

[Xyvik]

Yes, there are tons of macro threads out there. I'd like this one to be slightly different...in other words I don't want to wade through 130+ pages of arguments and flame posts. I don't want peeps shredding each other's ideas in here.

What I would like to see is what each individual person would like as the macro mechanics in SC2. Your ideas, and again, please do not attack another person's macro idea, even if you fully disagree with it.

Think you guys can handle that without chewing each other's heads off?

I'll be back with my own ideas on Macro Mechanics. Oh, and to put things in perspective, this does include non-resource mechanics, like Warp-In, but I am mostly concerned about the resource-specific ones.

So sound off and give us your ideas!

[0neder]

BEHOLD MY MACRO:

Each race can build a resource collection building at unoccupied resource locations.

[PsiWarp]

I've got one for the Zerg

Zerg Harvester

Using 50 energy, the Queen creates a growth that occupies a mineral node, which automatically gather at the rate of 10 minerals per Worker cycle (6 seconds?). This effectively puts the ideal occupation of 2 workers per mineral into effect, while at the gathering of double the amount of minerals and the time of gathering of 1 worker.

However, the Harvester physically occupies the mineral node as an Extractor would for a Vespene Geyser. The Harvester can be removed by end of duration or by destruction. No worker may access said mineral node until the Harvester has been removed.

So you see, you may skip spending money for permanent workers, but you risk worker saturation on existing Drones that are gathering in the same area as your Harvester, since they cannot gather from the Harvester's mineral.

But, the Queen can use the Harvester to steal minerals in remote areas, such as an unoccupied expansion.


-Psi

[Xyvik]

BEHOLD MY MACRO:

Each race can build a resource collection building at unoccupied resource locations.

That one actually made me laugh, I love it

here's mine, just finished up the small touches.

Slight Modifications

All
Increased cooldown time between abilities. Increased potency dependant on beta balancing.

Terran
Idea:MULE moved to Planetary Fortress
Why: MULE in its current form gives the player the choice between Comsat or MULE. With most cloaked units now later tier than they used to be (minus against Zerg) there is little reason to choose Comsat when you can instead spend the energy to make a boatload of minerals that can then be used to purchase a Raven, which adds needed backup to your army anyway. NOTE: this is based on the last information I had of the Raven being Terrans mobile detector. If it is not, then the following is my reason: cloaked units do not seem to be used nearly as often in SC2 as they were in SC1, which gives Comsat even less of a reason to be used. Scouting an enemy's base can be done in ways that do not prevent you from using energy to get a boatload of resources. In fact, some of the resources gathered by MULES could possibly be used to create scouting units other than the Raven.

However, with the MULE at the Planetary Fortress the player has some serious thinking to do. Upgrading a CC to a PF gives it added combat abilities but, last I checked, also costs more than the alternative. It also locks down that CC for the rest of the game, completely eliminating its mobility if/when it would be needed. Also, PFs are more likely to be used to shore up frontline expansions, which are more likely to be attacked and destroyed. Even then there seems to be little reason to upgrade to a PF when you could go the alternate route and make even more money. By forcing a player to choose, literally between a mobile and sensor-capable CC or a locked-down resource gatherer…things become more heated.

Zerg
Idea:Queen given two spells: 'Metabolic Evolver' and 'Mnemonic Organism' as (upgrade) spells.
Why:It is my opinion that the Zerg need the Spawn Larva ability to stay interesting and alive in the heightened combat of SC2. It is, however, my opinion that the Queen should also be given, either standard or upgrade, the two spells listed above. The 'Metabolic Evolver' spell will increase building morph(or create) speeds By speeding up the creation of an expansion hatchery the "spawn larva" spell would seem to be irrelevant, but the cost of such a spell (and the cost of the hatchery itself) would, I feel, make it more interesting to also think of speeding up Hydralisk dens, roach warrens, base defenses, etc. to react to changing battle field conditions and give the Zerg some of their vaunted adaptability.

Mnemonic Organism on the other hand could be used to increase research speeds. This would also do much to give the Zerg better adaptability. Need burrow quicker? How about ground attack? By being forced to choose between more larva, faster buildings, or faster research the player now suddenly has more things to think about, but also more things to do.

Protoss
Idea:Warp Strengthening spell given to Obelisk
Why: It is currently pretty much common knowledge that the Proton Charge macro mechanic has very little competition at the Obelisk. My spell alternative, again giving players something to think about, is something I call Warp Strengthening. This would tie in well with the non-resource-focused Macro ability Warp-In, making the Protoss very much reliant on their warp mechanisms. What Warp Strengthening does is decrease build times of units. I don't know about you, but with the already established fact that Protoss units take longer to build, especially against Zerg, there are tons of times when I would rather have my units come in faster than to get extra money.

These are just my minor ideas that I think would give added variety to the current macro mechanics, something to think about rather than "return every thirty seconds, press a button."

I'm currently working on some major overhaul ideas, but those'll have to wait.

Another point of this thread is to get the various ideas of the members all in one easily accessible spot, instead of trying to find these ideas buried in the 130+ page Giant Macro Discussion thread. If you want to bash my Slight Modifications ideas set out above, feel free to do so in the Giant thread

[SaharaDrac]

I would make a macro mechanic that requires you to make a thread about macro mechanics in order to get an economy boost. That way this forum would have the best clan on the ladder.

[Xyvik]

I would make a macro mechanic that requires you to make a thread about macro mechanics in order to get an economy boost. That way this forum would have the best clan on the ladder.

Can't follow simple requests, can you Sahara? If you have a problem with the thread, don't read it and don't post in it. Last I checked it's not a crime to post a thread trying to consolidate information in one, easy-to-read location. Or are you masochist enough to wade through the 136+ page Giant thread trying to find each member's personal ideas on the subject? Be my guest if so, it'll keep you quiet for awhile.

Otherwise, yeah, that's a great macro mechanic. Would definitely give SC:L the best ladder ever.

[n00bonicPlague]

I would make a macro mechanic that requires you to make a thread about macro mechanics in order to get an economy boost. That way this forum would have the best clan on the ladder.

I'm not sure Archer would like this, as most players would just put a macro thread as their homepage, thus taking away the target decision making of scrolling to find a good thread to post in. But I digress, as I am not supposed to ridicule people's ideas......

__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________


Anyway, I've had quite a few ideas in the past. The most recent one is a newer version of the Queen. It basically makes it a literal moblie hatchery — same overall costs with a few tweaks. In some ways you could look at it as a heavily modified version of warp-in.

Now specifically for resource macro, I think we should try non-unique mechanics again.

Gas —> Minerals

One idea is to use vespene gas to boost worker mineral gathering on a per-trip basis (as opposed to a time interval). It should either decrease the time it takes for a worker to gather a chunk of minerals, increase the amount of minerals brought back per trip, or a mix of both. Also, the effects wouldn't stack; instead, the more you boost, the more trips the effect would last. Either way, you would select the number of workers you wish to boost and then boost them for a fixed amount of gas per worker (probably 10 points per worker).

In some ways this could include Archer's targeting decision, as it would be unwise to always select all of your workers and boost them for several hundred points of gas. Gas is a sensitive resource, and most of the time you only need a slight boost in minerals. So, the targeting decision would come in the form of having to either deselect workers from a hotkey group or manually select workers at a specific resource node.

Minerals —> Gas

Another resource mechanic is a modified version of the original gas mechanic. Instead of getting a flat refill of gas for a flat rate of minerals, the effect would degrade each time you use it. This degradation would come in one of three forms: either less and less gas for the same amount of minerals, the same amount of gas for more and more minerals, or a mix of both. In between these "phases" the player can obtain fumes.

The big question is, should there be a fixed maximum number of phases? Obviously, if it is set to return less and less gas, there would have to be and end at some point; however, this wouldn't necessarily be so if you can get the same amount of gas for an ever increasing amount of minerals. In theory there would come a point where additional gas would just not be worth the minerals anymore, and it would be cheaper to expand instead, but this would be a natural limit as each player would have a subjective value on gas.

The big advantage of these two resource mechanics would be allowing players to explore different strategies and build orders. Players who are gas heavy (high tech and casters) or mineral heavy (low tech and warriors) could use these mechanics to really make their own gameplay, and thus make it more fun and interesting.

Of course a very important balance issue would be to ensure that, even with a perfect back-and-forth between these mechanics, there is a net loss of resources. One should not be able to rapidly switch between mechanics in order to gain more resources than someone who never uses the mechanics at all. If you pitted a person who never used them against a person who used them at every chance possible, the latter person should only end up with about 85-90% of the resources that the former person does after the same amount of time. The mechanics are for a quick boost, not continuous abuse.

[Triceron]

A big button on the UI that you press once every 45 seconds to gain 150 minerals.

Oh, and the icon is different for each race.

[n00bonicPlague]

A big button on the UI that you press once every 45 seconds to gain 150 minerals.

Oh, and the icon is different for each race.

WHERE IS THE
TARGETING
DECISION?!?!?!
x

[SaharaDrac]

WHERE IS THE
TARGETING
DECISION?!?!?!
x

I lol'd! Man, beta should hurry up..