Comparing units against cost and supply

RickRumble-1434 · December 14, 2019, 7:45am

This is a test for a new style for the sheets, all combined in one mega post. I think it should make it better to navigate through the various sheets that have been posted. If you have any feedback, feel free to let me know!

In another topic I started making a couple spreadsheets breaking down units to compare them in a more base style. Specifically, comparing cost and supply versus HP and DPS.

They proved to rather interesting in my opinion, and I got requests for a number of other comparisons. Instead of running that topic further off rails, I figured I’d make a new one.

Before getting started, I'd like to add a disclaimer however.

These sheets are largely for entertainment and less so for information. While comparing how much one unit may do compared to another can be useful and hopefully can provide some deeper insight for the abilities they have; there are a myriad of things that can change this, between other units, CO abilities, even just basic CO setup can alter how units interact.

For example, Nova’s Elite Marine looks pretty bad compared to Raynor’s Marine looking at just the numbers, the power that you can get out of just 4 Elite Marines could be far and away more than you can get out of 12 Raynor!Marines. Even though you have both more overall HP and DPS. Though the opposite applies as well.

So just take these with a grain of salt, and apply your game knowledge to them as we go!

On the Wraith, you might want to moderate the DPS while moving. Fire up the Co-op Testmap in the Arcade tab and try to micro them with 100% focus against a target dummy. Keep at it and try to optimise your damage output. Unless I was missing something after 10 minutes, you won’t actually approach the theoretical +100% and +300%, but will average about half that. Let me know if you find a way to get the full bonus for every shot.

BartFitz-2928 · December 14, 2019, 9:30pm

Bio would be interesting but I am not sure if you can get it all up in one sheet. Won’t be easy to digest at least. You’d have to compare three types of Marines (Raynor, Infested, Elite), H&H Reapers, three Marauders (Raynor, Elite, Royal), four types of Troopers, Firebats, two types of Ghosts… what did I miss? Although if by main you really mean main, that’d be a whole lot easier.

RynerBr-1489 · December 14, 2019, 9:41pm

Hmm, how about Raynor’s stimmed marines vs Mengsk troopers with the rifle weapon?
Edit: looking at protoss, imortals from alarak, artanis, fenix, zeratul

RickRumble-1434 · December 14, 2019, 11:52pm

Yeah, by main I was thinking of just the core units for them, so Marine, Reaper, Trooper.

Cause yeah, too many if we look at all the infantry.

RickRumble-1434 · December 14, 2019, 11:53pm

Also neat! Take some time, but all three seem interesting to do.

RickRumble-1434 · December 15, 2019, 2:35am

Taaaaaanks

+3/+3 and all upgrades researched, where applicable.
For Nova, I included 3 supply weighting but I decided to directly compare it as is they cost double due to her supply cap.

This is your most recent reminder that tank mode Siege Tanks have considerably higher dps…

With the +30% mech attack, apparently Raynor tanks are really good.

Bear in mind that Swann tank’s siege+maelstrom dps is only against the main target.

Mengsk tanks don’t have much dps, but they have improved splash at higher ranks to be fair.

Stukov iTanks have fantastic combined dps, since both attacks can fire at once. It’ll take a lot of infested to keep up with the fire rate with mech +30% though, in my opinion.

edit: Blizz forums are weird… I set both R/S/M tanks and Stukov to the same pixel width, and yet here we are…

RickRumble-1434 · December 15, 2019, 3:08am

You definitely aren’t wrong there, the only reason why I put it like that is that I’ve been listing the best dps of each unit. Even missing the attack timing a fair bit though still keeps Wraiths as the better single target dps unit. It’s also a stupid amount of apm, so there’s that too.

Rhyme-1300 · December 15, 2019, 3:49am

Don’t forget the fact that drop pod speed boost is pretty disgusting. Might be worth including in raynor’s marine stats due to the fact they can be so easily spammed directly into battle.

Also, don’t forget Karax immortals. RynerBr forgot to mention them.

BartFitz-2928 · December 15, 2019, 7:12am

Now this is very interesting! I never make Siege Tanks as Raynor despite having my points in Mech attack speed, and I seldom see anyone else sporting said tanks.

I never thought of it, but they are very decent, just lack the flashy upgrades the other tanks have. Fine work, brother, thank you very much!

HoroAI-2764 · December 15, 2019, 7:41am

You forgot imperial witness buff for Mengsk. And you left out infested siege tank

The truth is, and this should be nothing new, Raynor has the highest dps and overall most spammable tanks.
Swann’s are good for hit and run and single target damage but for the generic “splash into a blob” role Raynor’s are far better.

Nova’s tanks, like almost all her units, are barely worth their added costs and supply (counting the 100pop cap) based on their naked stats alone. I haven’t checked in a while but was it like they get a +50% stat increase compared to the base version for a +100% cost increase?
It’s their special abilities from upgrade cashes and the extra micro put into using them properly that make them as strong as they are, which in this case would be their insane range + spider mine spam.

I can’t properly weight in Mengsk siege tank just yet but still, Stukov’s tanks are by far the strongest all things considered. They might have limited ammo and lack dps without their low range tentacle but their 18 range plus some 5 ish walking + leap distance of the infested volatile is crazy. More importantly, just by the act of firing their weapon they create an almost endless supply of broodlings which pin down any AI units at max range and provide vision for all your long range stuff to keep firing. It doesn’t matter how good or bad their dps is, an enemy ground comp will never reach them and all you have to do for it is deploy in siege mode.
Plus they got a map wide teleport just for the sake of it and a self heal…

So yeah. Count in the utility and effective combat scenario and you can’t beat infested siege tanks.

RickRumble-1434 · December 15, 2019, 7:50am

Crud, you’re right. I’ll add it tomorrow.

BartFitz-2928 · December 15, 2019, 8:16am

Dang, you missed Stukov’s Infested Siege Tank.

Kirena-1950 · December 15, 2019, 8:26am

Actually, you pay a little more than twice the cost in most cases, for roughly 2-3 times their usual HP, and 50% increase in raw attack damage barring a few exceptions. It’s a similar case for Horner’s Elites, too. Rather, the Terran Elite philosophy is to gain more durability rather than killing power, which is strange given that Terran units are all Ranger doctrine forces.

Since Nova’s inception, I have always disagreed with the stat spread the Elite units in Coop have. Too much of their power is invested in their health and spells/abilities rather than direct killing power, I always felt.

BartFitz-2928 · December 15, 2019, 8:29am

I agree. This is especially the case with the Hellbat Ranger (the only unit I use outside Nova) which is borderline useless.

OnyxSea-6358 · December 15, 2019, 9:15am

Could you compare Ultralisks between kerrigan, dehaka and stetmann? I’m interested in seejng the results!

Oh and also zerglings between the zerg commanders!

Weylin-11173 · December 15, 2019, 3:20pm

I think it is very important to consider that high HP units, despite having less efficiency, maintain their full strength until death, and stand a chance of retreating for repairs with their health pool.

Mengsks tanks aren’t great damage for their high cost, but can face situations and get away for repairs where the others would die.

Also I’m not sure how fair it is to look at vespene as having a 1:1 value with minerals since it comes in so much more slowly.

Comparing units against cost and supply

Table of Contents

Terran

Zerg

Protoss

Mixed