Too Many Minerals!?

[protoswarrior]

I agree with DemoS's initial POV that it should not be more important via limitation, hence, Blizz should try to implement higher Totals in their geysers rather than the current. They halved teh rate of harvesting and increased the number of geysers by 2 - however, they still need to increase the total gas in 1 geyser to make it even, given that we're trading 4-6 workers to harvest gas from minerals very early on; and those minerals if used correctly, fund more production buildings and tier1 units or more cannons (for Protoss) to defend early tech rushes.

The idea to have minerals exchanged for gas is pretty interesting since it creates an opportunity cost for every mineral you trade. The only thing is that the ability to trade should have a 4-5 min delay from the start of game. That should make it more "critical" to making tech choices, because you tech right about then after building your initial structures and tier1 units.

Also, for those disagreeing, what's wrong specifically in having a system to in-trade resources for the player?

[Josue]

I like this one



Depleted Gas Drilling
-Depleted Assimilator/Refinery/Extractor has a Drill ability costing X minerals
-Gas can be extracted half normal rate
-Effect ends after Y time

Then why didn't you support the idea when Noobonic posted it? You usually make a poll on Blizzforums and TeamLiquid. I don't think I've seen such things.
I know NoobonicPlague worded it somewhat complex (and with a reciprocal idea), but this is the main point. Do you think that if enough people like this idea, it could make into SC2?

[ArcherofAiur]

Then why didn't you support the idea when Noobonic posted it? You usually make a poll on Blizzforums and TeamLiquid. I don't think I've seen such things.
I know NoobonicPlague worded it somewhat complex (and with a reciprocal idea), but this is the main point. Do you think that if enough people like this idea, it will make into SC2?

I don't know when n00b posted his idea but this was in my thesis. I thought n00bs had a complicated scaleing factor that I dont totally agree with.

The only thing is that the ability to trade should have a 4-5 min delay from the start of game.

Depletion.

[Josue]

I don't know when n00b posted his idea but this was in my thesis. I thought n00bs was alittle more complicated than this.

Yeah, sort of. But the main point (Each Depleted Assimilator/Refinery/Extractor has a Drill ability costing X minerals ) was already there.
Besides, Noobonic's post was on the frist page of a thread you had seen and replied... I wonder why didn't you see it! I dreamed of that mechanic in the game, I really wished for it.

[ArcherofAiur]

Yeah, sort of. But the main point (Each Depleted Assimilator/Refinery/Extractor has a Drill ability costing X minerals ) was already there.
Besides, Noobonic's post was on the frist page of a thread you had seen and replied... I wonder why didn't you see it! I dreamed of that mechanic in the game, I really wished for it.

I read N00bs mechanics several times. In fact Ive ready probably close to every macro mechanic that has been proposed here and back on blizzforums going all the way back to 2008. I dont respond to everyone

[Josue]

I read N00bs mechanics several times. In fact Ive ready probably close to every macro mechanic that has been proposed here and back on blizzforums going all the way back to 2008. I dont respond to everyone

Well, we're human after all... *Sigh*
Do you think it could still make it into the game? as an Expansion feature maybe?

[PosImpos]

I agree that it's good for gas to be scarcer than minerals, but I also agree that vespene shouldn't be so limited. Late game is much more interesting when it's played with higher tech units (especially casters). Late game units cost gas, and it seems that by the time most players reach late game, they'll be getting most of the way through their vespene reserves.

Perhaps, as others suggested, there ought to be some way to exchange minerals for gas. Or at least a way to continue to get tiny amounts of vespene from (mostly) depleted geysers.

[milo]

I'd vote for a min->gas mechanic, so long as it's identical for all three races. Well, I guess it doesn't have to be identical, but do we want yet another thing to balance?

[electricmole]

i suggest minerals should be depleted and rise back slowly just like in red alert. the moment you have tons of minerals in sc, half of the excitement and strategy is lost, you just mass build anything you want.

[n00bonicPlague]

I've come up with all sorts of resource mechanics, some better than others. One of them took the original gas mechanic and had a limited number of times it could be done, each time increasing mineral cost and decreasing gas yield. At some point I tried to combine it with a mineral mechanic that allowed workers to get a +M per trip boost for a fixed number of trips at a fixed gas cost. That combination made resources extremely flexible, potentially allowing a player to turn a build order on a dime and do something completely different.

A few days ago I thought about blizzard's direction with the macro mechanics and decided it might be interesting to make the Terrans the only ones with mineral/gas resource mechanics, as it suits their theme better than the other two races. My most recent incarnation of the gas mechanic is the ability to increase not the total amount in each geyser but rather the per trip yield for workers gathering gas. Purely as an example, let's say a Refinery costs 100 minerals and SCVs gather gas at a rate of 4 per trip. This mechanic would allow the player to spend something like 50 minerals to increase that rate to, say, 6 per trip. You increase your gathering rate as if you had gained a partial geyser, but you don't get any more total gas than you would have had you just left the geyser alone. So, you still need to expand, but you can accelerate the advancement towards high-level units and tech if desired.

Anyway, just another one of my random ideas