FINDINGS:
- -One Percival is mass equivalent to ~22 T1 UEF tanks.
-A mass equivalent group of un-microed Percivals will lose against advancing T1 tanks, no matter the number of Percivals grouped together. This makes T1 an effective and efficient block against Percival spam.
-Even when T1 tanks are not mass equivalent, T1 can still win if it's numbers are ~75% mass equivalent to the Percivals.
-Not only that, T1 can be built at the same speed of Percivals at mass equivalent numbers, and even faster at ~75% mass equivalence.
-Percivals in groups still lose out to T1 at mass equivalent numbers, and perhaps even worse as the numbers scale upwards.
-A well microed Percival group can have much greater success against a T1 attack, but at the cost of increased attention from the player.
***FOR THOSE WHO WANT THE FULL PROJECT, PLEASE READ THE REST!***
OVERVIEW
We all know the power of the Percival. It big, it's got tons of HP, and its shot packs a wallop. But how do you counter it? This has been the talk of many balance discussions and forum posts. It has been spread around the community that T1 units can be effective against Percivals in large numbers, as the Percival has a slow fire rate and overkills T1 units. But, how do we know T1 units will win out against Percivals? Why is it we don't see it happen more often? Even pro players don't seem to spam T1 at an early Percival attack. Perhaps because there is also a common belief that T1 is less effective against Percival spam if the Percivals are in groups. Is this true, or does a horde of T1 actually beat out an almighty blob of Percivals? I intend to find out.
SETUP
I wanted to include this section for replicability purposes and to cover any variables in the setting that might change the result:
- -Game mode set to Sandbox
-Map: Fields of Isis (I just picked one with open space).
-Infinite Timeouts
-Adjustable game speed
-No mods (besides GAZ UI) were active.
-Used Cheat menu to build units.
METHODOLOGY
There were three theories that I wanted to test in this project:
- -Do Percivals lose to a mass equivalent group of T1 Tanks? If so, by how much?
-What is the minimum number of tanks that can be used to counter a Percival? When does it become inefficient to do so?
-Is a group of 5 or more Percivals more effective against T1 Tanks mass for mass?
To test these I set off to the Fields of Isis to run a bunch of mock battles.
Doing these battles, I kept of couple of things constant to try and remove any extraneous variables:
- -Both the T1 land and the Percivals were always the same distance apart, with each group out of range of each other.
-Both the T1 land and the Percivals were set up in a "Line" formation.
-T1 units advanced towards the Percivals using an "Attack Move" (ALT+Right Click) right behind the Percivals. They did not remain in formation. There was no microing beyond this point.
-The Percivals remained static and un-microed.
At the end of every battle, I counted the remaining T1 tanks or health of the Percivals and input the data in a spreadsheet (see "Results"). Unit count and positions were reset after every trial using the cheat menu.
RESULTS
Here is the raw data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... Do/pubhtml
Look at this along with my comments below to understand my findings!
Do Percivals lose to a mass equivalent group of T1 Tanks? If so, by how much?
ANSWER: YES!
And by quite a bit. Sending 22 T1 Tanks at 1 Percival resulted in: 1 dead Percival, 8 dead T1 tanks, and 14 T1 tanks still alive and kicking! Even though they are mass equivalent, the T1 tanks absolutely smoke the Perci in a 1v1. In terms of micro, all I had to do was send an Attack Move next to the Perci's position. For one Perci, there is really no micro to be done in terms of attack power. Perhaps you could avoid a couple of T1 tank rounds using micro, but overall I am not sure it would resolve the end result.
In terms of build time, both the 22 T1 tanks and the Percival are built in the same amount of time, according to the U.I. build time estimate. (However, the T1 may actually take a little longer due to the delay in units leaving the factory ramp)
What is the minimum number of tanks that can be used to counter a Percival? When does it become inefficient to do so?
ANSWER: Approximately ~75% mass equivalence of the Percivals. Anything less than ~75% enters dangerous territory.
So, lets say the enemy has 3 Percivals. The mass equivalent T1 number would be 68 tanks. 75% of that is 51, meaning that 51 tanks will still almost always guarantee a win, unless the Perci's are fantastically microed.
This makes T1 way more mass efficient vs Percivals, as unit for unit, they can be built at a 25% discount! This also means that the T1 tank counter can be built faster, as you are building less units to counter the same amount of Perci's (this is assuming other variables are constant). If you try anything less than 75% mass equivalence, you will find that the results are iffy. Some battles you may win, other you may lose, depending on the target acquisition and micro of the Percivals. The 75% Mass equivalent is denoted by a yellow line in the data.
Included in the data are also points where T1 will lose against Perci's (orange line), and where it becomes completely inefficient to use T1 against Perci's mass for mass (red line). Even though T1 can lose against Perci's at low numbers, they can still dish at damage that is worth it, at least in terms of mass. Any numbers past the red line are no longer worth while, at least in terms of mass. This tends to be around the ~55% mass equivalent mark.
Is a group of 5 or more Percivals more effective against T1 Tanks mass for mass?
ANSWER: No, in fact larger groups tend to do worse vs more T1. With one caveat: the Percivals aren't being microed.
I did this same test with 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 20 Percivals with their appropriate mass equivalent T1 numbers (See sheet 1, "Equal Mass Value", in the data). The result was the same: every group of Percival's still lost to T1 tanks unmicroed. Larger groups of Percivals also killed a lower percentage of their mass equivalent in tanks, which may suggest that Perci's actually do worse in larger numbers compared to their mass equivalence. However, because of variability with each trial and the unpredictable nature of the target acquisition of the Percivals, I would so it is inconclusive.
I did notice an interesting phenomenon in my tests where the same group of Percivals would do extraordinarily well or horrible against their mass equivalent tanks. Sometimes, all the Perci's would target one unit at a time, leading to a terrible kill count, while other times they would all select different targets, greatly boosting their survivability. This damage output potential increases as more Perci's are added to the group. This means that a large, well microed Perci group could be very effective vs. T1. But, it comes with a cost. Microing, although with it's benefits, also has downsides, one of which is a players time. A person doing a T1 spam really doesn't have to micro thier units as much as the Perci player would, giving the T1 spammer time to focus on other things, such as a long-term solution to the Percival's.
FUTURE RESEARCH
So, there you have it: T1 can in fact beat a Percival spam. What do you guys think about this? Do you think this strategy will be adopted, or will we never see T1 countering Percivals? Although it makes sense mass for mass, would this ever work outside of a controlled environment? Let me know what you think.
BTW, I am on the lookout for other theories that I can put to the test. Put some ideas that you want tested in the comments below and it may be a project I do in the future!
