Terran's Advantage on Island Maps

[don]

This reminds me of a game I played in a island map, the poor AI was Zerg, and couldn't beat my wall of missile turrets, the poor thing kept sending mutalisks and even guardians to die (I also had goliaths with charoon boosters)
If it was SC1 I'd vote "a great one" however, in SC2 it seems like Overlords creep drop and nydus worms is something I dreamed for zerg ( if only nydus worm could get at least a little of it's former glory), not even mentioning how much of a dream warp in for Protoss is!

And Zerg can scout islands earlier than any other races and can therefore react earlier than any race to an island expansion.

[Josue]

And Zerg can scout islands earlier than any other races and can therefore react earlier than any race to an island expansion.

Even though the AI had one more expansion than me, it still lost due to wasting the money trying to break through my defenses!

[Zahar]

I voted a slight advantage, but I really don't think they'll make high yeld patches on places one race can go faster because simply going there with the first command center and fast teching before the other player has flying units would be completely broken.

If maps are balanced with it in mind (and of course blizz will TRY to release balanced maps) it will be a slight advantage at most, if only because the possibility of this kind of "jump" make your enemy guess more and even spend a bit more resourses and time scouting those possible island expansions.

[flak4321]

I voted slight advantage. With the new mechanics, Zerg will retain its early scouting ability, yes. But, Terrans will have a minor advantage depending on the final placement in the tech tree of the Planetary Fortress upgrade. If Terran players can get this early enough, they can stake out an isolated/island expansion with a CC, upgrade to fortress, and pound the rocks without committing any resources beyond the upgrade cost.

Also worth noting is the magnitude of this slight advantage will depend on the skill of the Terran's opponents at the time this is attempted. I for instance am an average SC1 player and would have to commit some resources to defending this expansion against a good Zerg opponent. The upgrading of the protoss transportation mechanics also seems to be something that would require a more involved expansion strategy for me to survive a protoss attack. Of course, a very good Terran player who can out-tech his opponents would theoretically be able to maximize this advantage.

[Operatoring]

People make maps. If a map has a well known bias towards Terran because of there ability to lift off, than the map will be changed to accommodate. This is how it is done in EVERY map today. They don't start out fairly balanced. Some expos may be too easily Tankable, some 3rd expos are too far away for Zerg, some maps are too wide open for Protoss. These are balanced and the map is better for it.

In SC2, some maps may give an early expo to the Terran early on. This we become common knowledge and the Zerg and Protoss will adapt. Maybe the
Protoss techs to drops/Colossus. Maybe the Zerg takes 2 expos off the bat to compensate.

You ever see matches on Destination? They are fairly straight forward. Than watch games on Outsider. The conditions of the map completely change strategy. There are two back door Expos to every main, plus a Nat. This means players usually tech to drops/air to harass expos instead of attacking the one well defended main entrance. On a map like Destination, more conventional strategies thrive because with them you are more easily able to deny expansions, take map control, and flank enemies.

Maps = Unit Stats/Mechanics in Balance. I can make an SC1 map that would favor a certain race so much that between two equally matched players the one the map was made for would ALWAYS win.

[don]

People make maps. If a map has a well known bias towards Terran because of there ability to lift off, than the map will be changed to accommodate. This is how it is done in EVERY map today. They don't start out fairly balanced. Some expos may be too easily Tankable, some 3rd expos are too far away for Zerg, some maps are too wide open for Protoss. These are balanced and the map is better for it.

In SC2, some maps may give an early expo to the Terran early on. This we become common knowledge and the Zerg and Protoss will adapt. Maybe the
Protoss techs to drops/Colossus. Maybe the Zerg takes 2 expos off the bat to compensate.

You ever see matches on Destination? They are fairly straight forward. Than watch games on Outsider. The conditions of the map completely change strategy. There are two back door Expos to every main, plus a Nat. This means players usually tech to drops/air to harass expos instead of attacking the one well defended main entrance. On a map like Destination, more conventional strategies thrive because with them you are more easily able to deny expansions, take map control, and flank enemies.

Maps = Unit Stats/Mechanics in Balance. I can make an SC1 map that would favor a certain race so much that between two equally matched players the one the map was made for would ALWAYS win.

Agree. If island expos favor Terran, then expos that are too near the mains favor Zerg and expos that had that extra vesphane favor Protoss.