Upgrades
As far as upgrades are concerned, attack upgrades are almost always better than armor upgrades. This is because you can kill enemy units faster reducing the damage that you take from them. An example is a group of +1 Marines vs +0 Zerglings. The marines are able to get some of the zerglings out of the way faster than normal by reducing the damage taken by them. Protoss players can do a build order called Stork +1 to get a fast attack upgrade against a zerg player. They can then two hit kill zerglings.
Upgrade Relationships
An essential aspect of RTS games is upgrade relationships. Examples of these are the following. Zealots getting +1 Attack upgrade to be able to kill zerglings with two hits instead of three hits. Also, Zealots would be able to kill hydralisks in five hits instead of six. As a Terran in TvZ, you can choose between getting +1 Armour or +1 Attack Upgrades first. +1 Armour will allow you to survive an additional hit by a sunken colony. Also, it will help you to survive three hits instead of two hits from a lurker. +1 Attack is better at defending against mutalisks. If you are confident on your own strong micro, then +1 Attack is most of the time the better option.
Another example of an upgrade relationshiop is getting a +1 attack upgrade at an armory. Your siege tanks would then be able to kill enemy siege tanks in two hits instead of three hits in a TvT matchup.
If you are protoss and get air attack upgrades, the effect of the upgrade is multiplied +1 multiplied by each interceptor you have built. This makes the air attack upgrade far superior than the air armor upgrade.
In ZvZ, air armor is always a better upgrade to get than the attack upgrade for your units. ZvZ battles always result in both experienced players getting mutalisks. Having an armor upgrade allows scourges to survive bouncing mutalisk hits. The mutalisk attack functions by hitting three different targets with 9, 3, and 1 damage. If you choose the attack upgrade, this changes to 10, 3.33, 1.11. This adds up to be a differential of 1.44 more than the usual attack. If you choose the armor upgrade, the damage done changes to 9, 2.33, 0.11. This adds up to be a differential of 1.56. This proves that the armor upgrade, is infact, a better upgrade then the attack upgrade. The math is listed below.
14.44-13=1.44
13.00-11.44=1.56
Playing vs Zerg
Generally decent zergs have high winning ratios against weak terrans and protoss players. In order to win, terrans and protoss players have to play for the midgame to be able to leave there base and attack the zergs.
PvZ
In PvZ, you will see that protoss players tend to always get three attack upgrades before they get armor upgrades. This is because the majority of their units are ranged and the important ones do splash damage. Archons are an example of this.
Building Space
In maps with little building space, terran players have a significant disadvantage. This is because they have to make multiple barracks, factories, and starports with depots. Protoss require fewer buildings, and zerg require far fewer buildings than protoss.
Armor or Shields?
Armor is always better to get sooner than shields. This is because most ground units already come with one ground armor. By getting a second one you would be multiplying the effect of the first one. You may think you should get shield upgrades first because they are hit first and recharge, but this is wrong. Armor is half as cheap as shield upgrades. However, you would not get armor upgrades if your army consisted mostly of archons
. Range
An example of range balancing is that 2 zerglings add up to 70 hp which is significantly higher than 1 marine. The marines can shoot down the zerglings with a line of fire before they are able to attack and do damage.
Sight
Try to have units and buildings with similar sights. If a sunken colony had more sight and range than a photon cannon then the zerg player could steam roll them easily. Sight goes together with range. Experienced zerg players use the overlord's superior sight range to scout enemies without being seen. "In StarCraft II, there are more units that are able to give you sight in those situations (Reapers, Medivac Dropships, Colossi, Banshees, Sensor Towers (to let you know units are on cliffs), Overseers, as well as older units including Observers, Terran's Scan, and others)." IskatuMesk?
Speed & Mobility
Try to have air units with similar speeds. Starcraft 2 had to be tweaked for balance because SC1's mutalisks were a lot faster than a terran player's slower wraiths and marines.
Units like vultures can be used to kill enemy units with no range so have counters for them. Zerglings can run around zealots in the early game causing a Z>P early game advantage.
Explosive Attacks
Some units do explosive damage against smaller units. Goliaths do half damage against mutalisks. These type of attacks do half damage to light armor, 3/4 damage to medium armor and one hundred percent damage to hard armor.
Concussive Attacks
Some units do concussive attacks. These attacks deal full damage to light armor, one half damage to medium armor, and one fourth damage to hard armor.
Normal Attacks
These attacks do full damage to all other units.
Biological
Don't make a race entirely biological. This is because biological units tend to be easier to stop with spells.
Detectors
Balance your detectors so that they can't be killed too easily with scourges. One scourge can kill an observer . Two scourges can kill a science vessel. Two scourges can kill an overlord. This is called sniping.
Transports
Try to make race specific transports the same speed and strength. Transports can be used as valuable micro tools. You can put a siege tank into a dropship to limit goon hits, etc. A reaver is near valueless without a shuttle, etc. Zerg transports do not reguire any food which gives them an advantage. This is useful because zerg players can make more units instead of wasting food on transports on island maps and other maps.
Macro
Macro is an important part to balance. In 1v1's, zergs need to have more expos to fight a terran or protoss player. This is because terran and protoss are more melee fighting strong. Zergs' hatcheries are 100 minerals cheaper than the Nexus or Command Center. Also, zerg units can be morphed in when they spot their enemies moving out. Those can be viewed in terms of strengths vs. weaknesses. Obviously, you would not want one race to be able to produce a mass of units quicker than another race could. You should consider how much gas a race needs to be able to fight race x effectively. An SC example of this would be that zerg needs its 3rd gas geyser faster than the other two races to fight them effectively. You should consider it an advantage to a race if he can play better out of their main base better than different races. An example of this would be that terran can play out of one base better than a protoss or zerg can. This is because they can throw down half a dozen factories and pump out vultures with mine upgrades + speed upgrades while pumping some tanks. A protoss or zerg player would need more expos to fight this effectively. Protoss players benefit most from a mineral only expansion. Protoss is a mineral heavy race. Gateways, Zealots, Dragoons, and Nexuses are all expensive things.
Map Control
This is how well you can see things in the game. A zerg player can spread several overlords in critical spots across the map. Therefore, this would be considered a map control advantage for them. In small maps like Paranoid Android & Bloodbath a terran player can float a barracks or engineering bay over to see what a protoss or zergling player is doing. This would be considered a terran advantage for map control. Strong fast units can make good scouting units if they are available.
Near Useless Upgrades
Try not to pollute your mod with too many useless or near useless upgrades. Starcraft examples of these include faster shuttle speed, more scarab damage, optical flare, restoration, increased ghost sight, and scout upgrades. Upgrades like faster shuttle speed are typically only needed in island maps since drops are becoming less common in standard maps. A good argument that is often brought up is that scouts would be more commonly used if you did not have to upgrade scout speed. Having too many upgrades may cause certain units to become less used than others. Players tend to use them less because they are not capable of using them effectively until they are upgraded.
Zerg is Difficult
If you have played more than about 500 melee games you probably realized that zerg is a lot more difficult to play at a beginner level. This is because of the macro and unique micro that a zerg is required to use. Players who play zerg well have to know how to fast expand. Zerglings surrounding, Lurker Micro & Contains, and Devourer spread firing(Spreading the amount of damage to all units before concentrating fire) are all examples of difficult micro. Zerg has a non-linear tech tree with a lot of variety options. Zerg has unique production buildings as well. Additionally, they have fewer unit choices compared to the terran and protoss races. Zergs have to pick between economy and unit production more so than the other races in the early game.
Counters
Timing is a very important thing to balance because you would want counters to be existent. An example of this is having a good counter against a firebat rush such as cannons or sunkens.
Meat Shields
There needs to be powerful units that can take heavy hits. These include units such as ultralisks and archons. These can break artillery type units such as siege tanks.
Team Games
In team games the effect of balance is multipled by each duo of new members. For example, if there are two zerg players against two protoss players, the two zerg players can use their speed to team up against one of the protoss players since they are slow.
1a2a3a
1a2a3a refers to a protoss players ability to micro his dark templars to their full extent. A dark templar drop on an enemy's base can quickly destroy many drones with their single shot ability and micro. This is one of the major complaints players use when debating protoss balance. It is used a lot in professional games. In SC2 there might be a similar problem with the ghost's one shot kill snipe ability.
Repaints
Repaints are races that have almost all the same units and buildings with only a few different things. The few units or buildings that are unique to each race are even more important to balance because there are fewer units to balance.
Pretty Races & Population Balance
Try to make races equally attractive. Humans, the terran race, are obviously the most commonly played race for new players. People will tend to not play races they grow a dislike for while playing random.
Combinations
The fast majority of melee matches consist of combinations of gas intensive and mineral intensive units. Therefore, you should make sure these combinations have similar balance when comparing them in combat.
Mineral Surplus
Players need similar defensive buildings for mineral surpluses. Here is an example. A protoss player builds a core and assimilator and accumulates money before he has the ability to pump dragoons out. Therefore, it is common that he throws up a cannon or two at his ramp in competitive games. The players can use the cannons to fend off any pushes with their additional resources while they wait for their teched units. The player would of course know when to exactly throw up his forge, which would be right after the core and assimilator are built.
Surprise Units
Scouts are rarely used, so if a protoss player builds some against a much better terran player he might catch him off guard. In protoss v protoss, when you skip or delay obs to gain an economy or army size advantage and your opponent doesn't get dts, you will have an advantage. However, if you skip or delay obs and you opponent gets dts, you get kapwnt. On Iccup you will see some 7-8 minute matches between B and A rank players.
Outdated Units
Professional players tend to not use valkyries these days in 1v1's. Try not to make a unit that might not be used in a game.
Low Economy Races and All-In Builds
An example of an all-in build is when a zerg player sacrifices economy for a lot of zerglings and tries to run in an enemy base. Try to make your new races not have a significant advantage if they sacrifice economy. In Starcraft 1, zerg players can play more flexibily with their economy than the other races because they have different tech routes and a different unit production method. The ability for zerg players to do an all-in build is one of the most feared zerg abilities by other races.
Casual Gamer Factor, Super Powers, & Super Units
Colosseus, Mothership, Thor, and Reaper are units that appeal to casual gamers. I believe units that appeal to casual gamers are simply something in the game that is not needed, like a near useless upgrade. A player who techs to mass colossi, motherships, or thors will be little different from a player who today techs carriers. Reapers will be annoying because they will be similar to zergling rushes when they fly around an enemies bottleneck defenses. Also, real time strategy games that use super spells require little tactical skill. Command & Conquer often has many of spells like Ion Storm that I believe appeal more to casual gamers. The only plus side to game features like super spells is that you have to strategically defend those structures and make sure your enemy does not acquire them.
Fun Factor
You would not want to have one race that is significantly more boring to play than the others. Try to have an even amount of cool units and cool micro strategies for each race.
P and T>Z on Island Maps
Try to make races balanced so they can play fairly equally on unique maps. In Starcraft, island maps have not made it to the professional scene and ladders because Starcraft is too imbalanced to play these. Zerg players get @#%!d on island maps because their unit/tech combos are too expensive. A lair costs 150/150, drop upgrade costs 200/200, speed upgrade costs 150/150, then you need fully upgraded hydralisks which is 100/100 and 150/150. Additionally, zerg cannot expand on island maps as fast as other races because they have to research the necessary upgrades. Finally, zerg cannot tech to more than one thing because they don't have enough gas too. Also, zerg players can very easily lose their overlords on island maps by corsairs and wraiths. After a certain period of time their map control is limited until overlord speed.
T>P on Island Maps
Terrans can make turrets on their small islands which can make protoss drops really difficult to accomplish. Terrans have faster and more effective drops. Terrans can fly buildings for map control. Terran can fast expand after 14 scvs while protoss has to wait for a shuttle. This gives terrans a huge advantage in the early game which protoss players may not be able to catch up to. Terran build orders are normally barracks, factory+/-addon, starport+/- addon, +/- armory. However, protoss will have to go out of a linear tech tree to get counters. Protoss have to make the two buildings for reavers, a templars archive for hts or dts, and observers for mines or wraiths. Terrans benefit from having less room, while protoss needs open room for attacks. Turrets, wraiths, and goliaths make it extremely easy for them to defend against drops especially with goliath range. Shuttles cost more than dropships by 200 compared to 100. Also, protoss players would need their 200/200 speed upgrade for shuttles a lot of times. Dropships are faster than shuttles which are a big advantage. Dropships can fit better units than shuttles. An example is 4 goliaths vs. 2 dragoons. Another example is 4 goliaths > 4 zealots. Another example is 4 vultures > 4 zealots. Siege tanks can make protoss player’s life even more miserable when they have to counter them. Goliaths have better range than dragoons have against air. Their rate of fire and attack makes them better. Protoss players have to waste alot of much needed gas in the early game stages of an island map. Terran players can prevent drops by using their turrets which are half the cost of cannons. Any good drop spots could quickly be exploited by a terran player by a protoss player's base. The first ten minutes are a killer for a protoss player. If there are good positions for it, a terran player can nuke without risking much in the late game. Protoss players map control from observers is limited by turrets and terran players scanning to kill the spotted cloaked units. In comparison, terran players can use scans and buildings to scout much easier. A terran player can make one wraith as fast as they can to stop any protoss shuttle drops with attack and move micro.
P>T on Semi-Island Maps and Big Islands
Protoss players benefit the most from large spaces on the islands. Protoss players normally have to play for the late game on island maps because it takes them longer to tech. If protoss can tech arbiters they will own with recalls and statis. Also, statis will have a large effect on the late game. Protoss players can send their scouts before their shuttles before dropping. Late game mind control can prevent drops from occurring. This is so the scouts act as meat shields and tank the damage. Testie had a 104-0 winning streak on Neo Forbidden Zone in WCG. Protoss players can send their observers around the map for better map control. Protoss gateways cost significantly less than factories when you combine the costs of minerals and gas. This contributes to a protoss advantage in PvT on semi-islands.
T< P on Semi-Island Maps
On semi-island maps, like Neo Forbidden Zone, Terran has difficulty holding a second expansion. In most Semi-Island Maps, where the only islands are mains, third expansions are generally far away from the first expansion. Terran has trouble defending three bases from carriers, especially when they are far away from each other. Also, Terran is at a disadvantage because he has to defend so many locations from drops. Terrans do not have a mobile anti air unit. On maps where the fighting is done on the ground, Terrans are forced to get tanks and goliaths incase protoss gets carrier or drops, instead of tanks and vultures. Tanks and Vultures is a far better combo than Tanks and Goliaths when battling ground troops.
Hotkey Balancing
Don't make a certain race's hotkeys much easier than another race's hotkeys. Protoss professional players start off with their left hands on the right half of the keyboard of the keyboard. Terran and zerg professional players start with their left hands on the left half of the keyboard.
Zerg players use the left side because they use the S and D keys a lot for selecting larva and building drones. Terran players use the left side because of the S hotkey for SCVs. Protoss players use the right side because the P hotkey for probes is on that side.
An in-depth example of this is that professional protoss players place their left hand fingers in the following spots: thumb on "control" key, index finger on the "p" key, middle finger on "0" key, ring finger on "9" key, and pinky on "B" key.
Race Specific Upgrades
Melee units need more strength in battles, while ranged units need the attack upgrades. If zergs had melee and range attacks upgraded at the same time, they would have an advantage over a race that requires metal and biological unit specific upgrades like the terrans. Having different upgrades like starcraft does contributes to diversity. Each player has to choose what type of strategy and units they want the most.
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