Sense and Purpose of outlying Hydros

[Lionhardt]

II would like to hear your opinion about outlying hydros. Outlying hydros are a thing found mainly on custom maps. In most cases these hydros get few to no attention, because hydros appear to be only relevant if you can reach them in a few second from your spawn, as their economic benefits from low cost/ power production get irrelevant quickly as the game progresses and you are better of building t1 p-gens. Mappers (including myself) though are apparently often tempted to put hdydros at strategic key positions (or to artificially make random positions strategically valuable with them), because they have that important feel to them. You get a large singular icon on the map. If you know how they are treated ingame later, they look rather misplaced though, as nobody cares about outlying hydros, as they are just not worth the effort.

I'd still like to hear other's opinion on outlying hydros though, and if the non-existence of such maybe even gives the map a better feel to it, because having assets on the map that imply being worth to be fought over, but effectively are not, give kind of a bad feel to the map in this respect.

[Hawkei]

It is a low priority capture target. It is more effective than T1 pgens, on a cost basis. So caupturing them, even at 20 minutes game time, gives a nice power boost for getting ACU upgrades or spamming air. If it is present at a mex cluster I will cap it after I have captured the mexes. I will not be too concerned if I loose it. If there are no mexes at that location, I will not go out of my way to cap it.

From an installation of 4 mexes and 1 hydro, I could operate 2 land factories and 1 radar. Which has a total power cost of 100 units. The hydro means I don't need any additional T1 pgens to operate that outpost. I don't like to spam power. I try to play a lean power game until the T2 phase, according to the following ratios:
- Lfac = 2 pgen;
- Afac = 5 pgen;
- Radar = 1 pgen.

Whenever I build these structures, I always build the required pgens adjacent to them. That way, I ensure that I have the right number of pgens. If there is a hydro, then I don't build the pgens.

Outlying hydro is more important in pro level play. It becomes redundant at the T2 pgen phase (but I still build them by habit more than necessity). If it's there, I cap it.

[pip]

Imo, the outlying hydro spots could be better used on maps, for instance with places where 2 hydro are next to each other and can be great for adjacency with a factory or a shield to protect nearby mexes.

[ColonelSheppard]

Outlying hydros must be seen as an optiotional advantage, if you cant take one, you can use it for support airfactory with engys, or on blasted, when you got both, you might have enough energy to rush out a gun in one minute without losing much map

[Nombringer]

I think blasted is a map with a good example of outlying hydro's that are used effectively.

You can rush them, ignore them, use them for gun, T2, air, or just minimal power in a land spam.