Zerg Hex Forum

Hi, I've been playing Zerg Hex on and off a couple years. I'm not very good at the game but, I think I know enough to recommend a few good changes.

To start here are some charts covering some basic army and income data for the zerg.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DvjWcNxjS2h1C_yygtX0RettwyqPaDBkar9KMRs0sgg/edit?usp=sharing

Page 1 of the google doc covers the zerg spawners and their ability to put effective hp into the terran base.
Page 2 gives a few over simplified zerg builds and estimates the income and army hp/s as the game progresses.

Short Version:

Slowlings are the bread and butter for zerg; they offer the best income (depending on supply level) and dps of the early zerg units. Their spawner upgrade doubles the max capacity which roughly doubles the pressure on the terrans. The unique upgrade is  great at stalling a terran push and even helps a bit on offense.

Creepers cost slightly more and therefore, slow down the zergs progression but range is a pretty unique property for zerg. The spawner upgrade still goes from 2 to 4 capacity which is great. The unique upgrade is very situational and it is expensive. It offers nothing on defense and relies on a lack of terran dps to be useful on offense.

Tanklings are just bad slowlings. They are considerably worse on income with a higher cost in both minerals and supply. A significantly longer build time (7s vs 4s) greatly limits them on defense and any offensive gains in terms of hp are ruined by a terrible dps. Furthermore, Upgrading the spawner only increases the maximum amount from 2 to 3 and the unique upgrade will only partially offset the economic difference between them and slowlings. The only saving grace is gaining 1 armor with the first armor upgrade but, 1 armor is a small gain compared to all the losses.

Strikelings while weak offer the best income per supply and are the only source of burst damage and speed zerg has until significant upgrades come in.

Long version:

I’m going to skip the creepers and strikelings as they really don’t need any significant change. They are unique and are the right answer for some situations. No spreadsheet analysis will do either of these units justice.

Slowlings and tanklings on the other hand have significant overlap in their roles and are ripe for a mathematical comparison.

Let’s start off listing as many advantages for the tankling as possible.
1: At a travel range of 30 (about the distance from the first spines to the terran’s first gas) and zero speed upgrades. The basic tankling spawner is is ~69% (G48) efficient while the basic slowling spawner is ~42% (G43) this translates 0.98 Hp/(sec*supply) (N48) verse 0.66 Hp/(sec*supply).
2: Plus 1 armor after the first zerg armor upgrade which is a necessary upgrade and not extra spending.
3: Faster movement speed of 2.25 vs 2/1.2.
And that is all I can think of.

Slowling Advantage.
1: Income. On page 2 of the google sheet using charts 1 and 2. By 16 minutes a 30/15 mix of spawners to income for both the slowlings and tanklings. Will cause a 20% income advantage for the slowling build. Comparing a more optimal 22.5/22.5 slowling mix to the 30/15 tankling mix shows a 40% income advantage for the slowlings. This translates to a 2 minute lead in income enough to unlock brutas or upgrade every spawner, tier 3 speed, and still do 3 armor upgrades by the time the tanklings catch up.

2: A higher DPS 7.14 to 2.5, almost a 3x difference and against basic 2 armor walls this jumps to a 5x difference 4.29 to 0.83.

3: Upgrading the spawner increases capacity from 2 to 4. This can double the offensive potential from 0.65 Hp/(sec*supply) at range 30 to 1.31 Hp/(sec*supply) (See values N43 and N29). This is considerably better than the basic tankling spawner at 0.98 Hp/(sec*supply) (N48) while still costing 10 less minerals and 1 less supply per spawner.

4: Slowlings have a tactically useful upgrade. Double Hp, minus 40% speed. The maximum Hp/(sec*supply) is 3.125 (Page 1, M12) which is only matched by fast producing primal roaches at 3.33 Hp/(sec*supply) (M21). The Tankling only has a max of 1.42 Hp/(sec*supply) (M16) and even with plus one armor in a best case situation against 3 damage units this will only increase ehp to 2.14 eHp/(sec*supply) (N16).
Obviously, the upgrade has a more limited effect on offense but it can still net a solid 30% more hp/second at range.

5: Early offense from the zerg is punished by game design. Rushing the terrans can be too successful. Pushing the terran back into his base is great.  Killing him or making him rage quit early can turn into a disaster. A 1000+ mineral penalty when the zerg’s income is only at 1000 minerals per minute is a devastating loss and can put them far behind a skilled terran. Therefore, it is generally better to play defensive and push income to avoid this penalty which is what slowlings excel at.

Conclusion
1: Slowlings are better at income, better at defense, and with investment can be better at offense than tanklings.

2: Having a unit that is essentially best at everything for the first 10 minutes makes for stale gameplay that has too little strategic diversity.

Proposed Solution:
No early building should be the best at more than one thing. The title of best income, defense, and offense should be held by three different options.

1: Move the mineral container to T0 (no requirement) and adjust cost such that it is significantly better than slowlings at income.

2: Buff tankling damage by 1-3 points and change the unique upgrade from an economic bonus to an offensive boost that will solidify tanklings as the superior early game offensive option. Bonuses to speed, damage, + building damage, and so on.

3: Rework the economic penalty for early leavers to factor in zerg’s investment into spawners. Something like the penalty is reduced by 10 minerals for every supply invested into spawners. The goal here is to differentiate a terran leaving because of reasons unknown and a terran defeat or rage quitting from a zerg rush.

These changes are aimed at giving zerg a variety of early builds to keep the game more dynamic for both sides.