Gas Issue

The "Gas Issue" is a term most commonly used by mapmakers to identify the problem of different mining rates created by apparently symmetrical positions of the Vespene Geyser with the player's Starting Location.

Defined Terms

• Vespene Geyser - The gas node where vespene gas can be mined. A nondepleted gas node provides Workers (Drones/SCVs/Probes) with a vespene sac/tank/orb with a maximum value of 8. A depleted gas node provides workers with a vespene sac/tank/orb with a set value of 2. This is why even though one's gas nodes may be depleted, it is generally not bad to maintain the 3 workers mining the gas node unless these workers are more crucial to the players' economy someplace else.

• Starting Location - In-game, this is an invisible unit, but it can be set in maps with a map editor. Starting Locations do two things:

1. In all game modes except UMS, the Starting Location spawns a Main Building (Hatchery/Command Center/Nexus) and 4 workers for the player that it belongs to.
2. In all game modes (no exceptions, unless triggers are used in UMS), the Starting Location centers the player's screen on the Starting Location position.

• Tiles - The various worlds of starcraft run on these tiles. Popular maps such as Fighting Spirit, Othello, and Python are all made of 128x128 tiles, with stable vertical and horizontal map sizes at 64, 96, 128, 192, and 256 tiles. An important characteristic of resources is that the game does not normally allow Resources (minerals and vespene gas) to be placed within 3 tiles of a Starting Location unless a more powerful map editor is used, such as SCMDraft 2.

Commonly referred to as "hexes", "hexadecimal tiles", "isometrical tiles", "game tiles", "terrain tiles" or "grid tiles".

Explanation

The harvest building models cause the mining rate imbalance: they can only be entered from the "front" (lower) side. This causes workers at a "lower" base to travel a longer distance to the entrance. For maximum efficiency, an additional worker must be committed to the harvest. Blizzard's patches have not addressed this issue. It is actually frequently overlooked, and most players and mapmakers know little concerning it.

Common Misconceptions

Most players and mapmakers might think that perfectly placed gas nodes 3 tiles above and 3 tiles below a Starting Location have an equal mining rate. This is actually not true. The most effective mining position for a node is 3 tiles above a Starting Location, while 3 tiles below is among the worst.

Significance

In-Game

The most obvious effects of the Gas Issue can be seen in mirror match-ups. Examples:

• In the early stages of a ZvZ matchup, one player might accumulate an extra 100 gas because of the gas nodes' different mining rates. This will mean that the player with the better gas placement might have an extra Mutalisk in the first air fight, a significant advantage in a typically tight matchup. Even slight air superiority can have a big influence on the victor of the game.

• During the early stages of a PvP, both players might have 3 gateways, but the player with the gas node on the bottom of the Starting Location might have to make one less Dragoon and opt for a Zealot every two production cycles. The reduced intake of gas does not allow for nonstop production of Dragoons. However, the other player can maintain constant Dragoon production throughout the duration of the early game, providing a better army composition and a better chance to win confrontations.

• During early confrontations of a TvT, one player might produce an extra Siege Tank or two for the first battle. Since Siege Tanks have such a strong attack when in Siege Mode, the player with the additional Siege Tank(s) could win the first confrontation, allowing them to Siege outside the other player's Natural Expansion and setting up a Contain, drastically influencing the rest of the game.

Mapmaking

One of the pronounced effects of the Gas Issue in mapmaking is that one player will have an advantage over the other based one where they spawn. This is called a positional imbalance, where one position is inherently better than the other one. Completely fair gameplay cannot be claimed in such circumstances since these imbalances are not negligible.

Important Facts

• The Gas Issue is almost always used