[Mezza]

ActiVillian on the SEA Bnet forums posted this on the bnet forums and as far as I know, its entirely his work, so I'll post the link here instead of plagiarizing it. Well there could be tons of sources for this but as far as I know, he's the dude who took the effort to compile it all in one thread, so here it is.

http://sea.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/48665273

So if you're wondering which upgrade gets you more bang for the buck, this thread is here to answer your question.

Like for example: TvZ
marine vs zergling, upgrading +1 armor keeps your marine army alive longer than with +combat shields

Was looking around for this to refresh my own memory and thought it might benefit some of you guys as well.

[Benji]

I like the theory, but its pure theorycraft, for example

marine vs zergling, upgrading +1 armor keeps your marine army alive longer than with +combat shields

By the time you get +1 Armour out, the Zerg player will have banelings or Roaches (lol) in which situation the Combat Shields are far superior.

Good to see raw numbers however, just as long as people are aware that this is pure theorycraft.

[Mezza]

I'd still urge people to still read the post in entirety, despite Benji sweepingly stating it as "just theorycraft" (because I honestly think it isn't)

Granted, my example with marine vs zergling in this context was less than ideal but still, the rest of the stuff in there would be highly useful for lots of players out there.

[Sixth]

Holy crap activillian, you are a boss.

[AcTiVillain]

@Mezza, you are a boss. Glad you find my information useful.

Originally Posted by Benji

I like the theory, but its pure theorycraft, for example

[/I]

By the time you get +1 Armour out, the Zerg player will have banelings or Roaches (lol) in which situation the Combat Shields are far superior.

Good to see raw numbers however, just as long as people are aware that this is pure theorycraft.

Take it easy Benji, I'm pretty sure Zerg players still use Zerglings in combination with Banelings/Roaches.

In no way did I say combat shields is completely inferior to +1 infantry armor or anything like that - I only pointed out armor upgrades improves Marine vs Zergling effectiveness more so than combat shields.

Also I would like to point out that +1 Infantry armor and combatshields is equally effective vs pure banelings

If you have a marine with 45 hp (and +1 armor) or a marine with 55hp +combat shields
Baneling hits marine for 35 damage
No matter how you look at it, it takes 2 banelings to blow up a marine

Say you activate stimpacks
Marine with 45 hp (and +1 armor) goes down to 35 - Marine with 55 hp goes down to 45
Baneling hits and
Marine with +1 armor stays alive on 1hp and Marine with combat shields stays alive on 10hp
Either way it still takes 2 banelings to kill a marine that activated stimpack (whether it has +1 armor or combatshields)
Of course this is raw data, there are lots of factors in the game such as mutalisks chewing on the marines, there is no way to account for all of that. I'm just simply pointing out interesting numbers.

Too many players are overlooking armor upgrades, I'd also like to point out armor upgrades is not just for Banelings/roaches/zerglings, but +1 infantry armor also neutralizes the 3rd bounce damage from the mutalisk glaive wurm (while it sounds insignificant, it makes a difference)

I hope you are not confusing the purpose of my thread, I am just putting out some interesting raw numbers, how players interpret it is up to them. I am not theorycrafting a game situation where a certain upgrade over another can change an entire situation.

[Starcraftmazter]

Originally Posted by AcTiVillain

Too many players are overlooking armor upgrades.

Perhaps those in the wood league.

That thread linked to is very old though, I'm sure most have read it many times. And it is quite good, I think mostly to figure out the timing. Like for instance say "I have CS and +1s, while the zerg has no attack upgrades, time to move out ROAR".

[cure]

Activillain's posts should have TL;DR attached to it.

But post on bnet forums anyways (: