The problem, again as I have already discussed at length earlier in this thread, is that it puts the single player in the controlling position in the game. If *any* of the members of the other 3-team stop saving money and instead build something, while the single player continues saving money, they're instantly behind and can't catch up. So here we have a matter of team discipline an agency: it's 3 players vs 1, if any of those 3 players play badly against that single player, they can doom their team and there's nothing the other two players can do about it. The single player can also perform a coup-de-grace and easily win: say it costs 3,000 to build your special and you get a refund of 2,000 every time you do, it means after you've saved the initial 3,000 you only ever have to save up an additional 1,000 after that. So if you save up 4-5k you can easily use several specials in a row, or you could dump the money into a lot of high-end units all at once, which will then spawn on 100% of all future spawnings (whereas in the 3 player team, high end units from any single player only spawn 33% of the time) and still have enough money left over for a special or two.
ok lets put this in perspective here, let's say when everyone starts saving for spec's each teams spawn are even. They all reach 3000 at the same time p1 goes first 3000 goes to 0 p5 counters 3000 goes to 2000 p2 counters this and 3000 goes to 0.
Just so we follow
p1 0
p2 0
p3 3000
p5 2000
Mass is at p5 temple
By the time p5 has 3000 again they will spec obv since they need to push, at this point p3 will have 4000 and will counter.
p1 1000
p2 1000
p3 0
p5 2000
Mass is still at p5 temple
And so on and so forth.
Now if p5 went first, you could imagine it would just be disastrous for p5 as p1 would just counter and p2/p3 would each have 4000 by the time p5 went again followed by 5000 for one of them on the next follow up.
In conclusion of the above noted, if everyone is "disciplined" as you stated, the team with 3 will more than likely win.
Now, as for a player stopping to build more, this would indicate that their spawn isn't pushing and this player is attempting to get a push back. In this case, why, if your already losing the game would you not deserve to lose from spec's anyways?
Another aspect is giving Terran's refunds for their buildings: if they only need to save up 1k to get their special (because they started at 2k and get 2k refunded) then any refunds from lifting off buildings and destroying add-ons is magnified. This is, I think, a nice mechanic that the terran have and helps set them radically apart from the other races when it comes to end-game specials, and I think going to the refund system (which is flawed) would necessitate dropping this mechanic would be a shame.
Yes, lift for refund to spam spec's is very lame. This was addressed by myself and GGmano on our latest version of DS Final. Here we use vespene for spec's to remedy lifting for spec's as theyre only refunded minerals when they lift. I know you're going to reply with "well i can't use this system because vespene is already being used as a delay timer". There are several other ways to incorporate timers (burning buildings, display text, etc.) Then now i know you're going to reply with "I don't have the time anymore to update this map" in this case why not release an unprotected copy so that people may address issues that are present in the game. I'm not referring to myself or GG, i'm rather referring to any map maker. If you're worried about people incorporating cheats and bugs into your maps, everyone already knows your work for what it is. Any piece of s**t that surfaces from others will not get played while the good maps you've made will continue to get play.
None.