Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

[metroid composite]

Ok, well, last of the three ground splash units is the reaver.

I think it's worse than the siege tank, so I guess what we're doing is messing around with a reaver for vulture trade, and seeing what that looks like.

Reaver vs Vulture

ZvT: It's tempting to say reaver here, just because Vultures aren't currently used much in this matchup.  Buuut I think reavers have a lot of the same problems in the matchup.  It's a ton of investment that gets shut down by mutas and scourge.  I do still think the answer is Reaver, though, just because they are a much needed counter to dark swarm; once defilers are out, probably make reavers.

ZvP: Probably vulture.  That old Corsair Vulture combo against zerg again.

TvT: Hmm...Vulture is a lot better early on.  In the midgame, when everyone is dropping stuff on top of tank lines...Reaver is just better than other things you can drop on tanks.  Depends on the phase of the game, not sure.

PvP: It...might be reavers actually.  Reaver goon beats pure goon.  Vultures...are nice for sure, mines make reaver drops a bad idea, help block DTs, not all that bad at fighting dragoons.  But I'm not sure how they win the army fight.

TvP: Vulture.  Don't even think protoss will use it all that much in the matchup--some early to get map control and map vision, but just taking it away from Terran is such a big deal for protoss.  Reavers will do some work in the matchup, but I don't think they'll counter zealots as well as vultures do.

Hmm...2-1-2, yeah, feels reasonable in the same tier as vulture.

(S tier)
Siege Tank

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

[SnowFire]

While I couldn't find the game from a few months ago, we have a SCOUT ALERT in Game 3 of the finals here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahnzlVnvdPE
(1 hour 14 minutes in or so for Game 3)

Total Arbiters built: 0
Total Scouts built: 2

EDIT: While on the low tier unit lookout, there was a recent-ish TvZ game where T went mech, Z couldn't punish, and Z built Queens hoping for some classic Spawn Broodling The Tanks action.  Didn't actually work though so less helpful for tiering since the mech army attacked before enough Queens could build energy - a nice thought for an ultra-long game but Z died before it could get there.

[metroid composite]

I have definitely seen queens work against tank heavy builds at pro level.  Not sure about specifically mech openers, though, since mech often comes with a timing attack and is very goliath heavy, usually this is when games go long, and terran has multiple factory production making tanks (often with bio support rather than full mech).  Queens counter that.

And yeah, the decline of arbiters is interesting, and I don't think it's necessarily because arbiters are bad units.  It's just because Carriers are a lot better now that a new micro trick got discovered, so they're the endgame tech of choice now.  Mini went carriers almost every game that series.

[metroid composite]

Alright, well, time to do more head to head comparisons.  Since I've been doing mostly ranged units, logical continuation would be ranged air units.

Mutalisk vs Siege Tank:

ZvZ: Mutalisk wins.

ZvT: Mutalisk wins (zerg can't defend against it).

TvT: Tank wins.

ZvP: Tank--don't need to go muta vs P, and even a few tanks supporting hydras would cause huge problems, make HTs way harder to use.

TvP: Tank.  Protoss has Corsairs.

3-2.  Maybe same tier, but siege tank could be higher.  Only wins basically come down to Muta good vs Z.

Mutalisk vs Dragoon

ZvZ: Muta wins

ZvT: Muta wins

ZvP: Muta wins

PvP: Hm, might be dragoons, but sounds like a complex matchup where one side could win by building more mutas than expected, or lose by overbuilding corsairs against a muta fakeout.

TvP: Hmm...I think Mutas?  The threat of a big muta opener largely stops terran from building only tanks and vultures.  Mutas would build out of stargate, so it's an easy transition to carriers from there.

Comfy 4-1 blowout.

Mutalisk vs Vulture

ZvZ: Muta wins.

ZvT: Muta wins.

ZvP: Vulture probably.  A unit that's excellent at countering protoss generally and zealots specifically?

TvT: Muta.  Terran's not great at handling them.

TvP: Vulture; lack of muta sucks.

Ok, so 3-2.  Still suggesting. Muta is a higher tier.

Muta vs Reaver

ZvZ: Muta wins

ZvP: Muta wins.

PvP: Huh, not sure.  Like...in a long enough game where everyone has all the tech, mutas will get shut down by corsairs.  But in a shorter game, if you get caught without a stargate against mutas, you die.  But if you build blind corsairs, and then a large gateway army shows up you probably also die.

PvT: Muta.  Terran has to build their opening tech completely different just to compensate for the muta threat, and techs well into carriers.

ZvP: Muta.  Zerg is kinda psyched to get reavers, which they can use to counter bio.  Until Vulture Tank shows up and kills them.

4-0 or 5-0.

Seems more comfortably in a similar bracket to siege tank.

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

[metroid composite]

Hmm...carriers...I don't feel totally confident rating, cause it is a bit of a mystery what changes in the meta to make them good or bad.  Like...why don't we see more carriers in PvP?  Is it mind control from dark archons?  Is it stasis allowing dragoons to position underneath?  Is it storm?  Is it just that PvP is extremely aggro and doesn't have time to get to higher tech?

At least with Zerg I know it's defilers that shut carriers down.

Anyway, they're used in one matchup right now, and the units like that are mostly B tier and C tier (Corsairs, Marines, Hydras). so let's try swapping for...Hydras?

Carrier vs Hydra

ZvP: Hydra wins.  Not because Protoss builds hydras, but because they build corsairs, and zerg loses all their overlords for the rest of the game, and can't really do anything about it (build tons of spores I guess?)

ZvT: Carriers, but it's a mild win.  I mean, treating carriers the same way as corsairs when given to zerg they would be vulnerable to irradiate, but one irradiate doesn't kill, so maybe they're still worth it.  Marines can't kill carriers (more armour than ultralisks) but they can kill all the interceptors.  Like...probably still carriers cause hydras don't do much in this matchup, but I think it's a pretty small win.

ZvZ: Neutral.  Carriers would require a greater spire, and a ton of time to build.  Maybe there's a build that hard turtles for them, they do beat mutas in a head to head fight.  But...I'm going to say tie here, cause I doubt it matters.

PvP: Probably lean hydra, but a mild lean--there's probably some timing attacks, where you hit before the opponent gets reavers, and hydras do have the rock-paper-scissors on dragoons.  But hydras require two upgrades or they are incredibly bad (slower than non-speed zealots, 4 range), and I think skipping those upgrades and not building hydras is pretty fair.

PvT: Carriers, by a lot.

So...2-2ish.

Hmm

Carrier vs Medic+Marine

TvP: Carrier wins.

TvZ: Marine wins.  Mech isn't terrible into zerg.  But carriers are pretty bad cause defilers.

TvT: Carrier wins.

TvP: Carrier wins.

PvP: Probably a mild win for marine, but very mild cause reavers still exist.

3-1 or 3-2, makes carrier look like it's pushing more into B-tier.

Carrier vs Scourge

ZvP: Huh, I am not sure.  Scourge are definitely relevant in the matchup, sniping shuttles and observers, but Carriers might actually be a strong endgame option; depends how good spells are against them really.

TvP: Carrier wins.  What air units does terran even have that protoss wants to hit?  Science Vessels?

PvP: Scourge win.  Anti-shuttle anti-observer tech.

ZvZ: Scourge win.

ZvT: Scourge--pretty sure if we let irradiate hit zerg carriers that SV's counter them.  Zerg needs counters to SVs and scourge is it.

3-1.

Carrier vs Goliath

TvT: Carrier here.

TvP: Carrier.

PvP: Minimal impact.  Don't think goliaths will be made much over goons; maybe one or two for the antiair range but that assumes the range upgrade is worth getting.

TvZ: Minimal impact.  Battlecruisers are probably better vs zerg anyway (exactly enough damage to one-shot scourge.  Plage screws up interceptor AI; they get stuck in the carrier till it wears off).

PvZ: Neither one is getting made.

2-3-0 carriers.

Yeah, carriers are hard to grade.  Ranging from tying a C-tier unit to beating a B-tier unit.  They seem to look a lot better when given to zerg than to terran.  Given that carriers just won an ASL built in every single winning game of the series, I'm going to lean towards the higher tier, though.

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Carrier

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

[metroid composite]

Other air units...

Battlecruisers are built sometimes lategame TvT, and sometimes as the newest ASL season showed, in lategame TvZ.

Vakyries are built sometimes lategame TvT, and sometimes as anti-muta tech.

Wraiths are built sometimes, just...sometimes.

All obnoxiously in the same race, but pretty sure these are the next three best air units.  I'm not going to compare any of these to hydras (hydras win, if it's not clear).

All of these are better than the scout.  Like...yeah, maybe built less in the most recent ASL finals, but that was purely because terran did a timing attack without the ability to build any antiair units, because terran didn't expect any.

The only one where a trade could be interesting is trading Valkyrie for Scout, but that's just because it's a net loss for both races (terran won't build a scout when they can build wraiths--faster, higher range, more DPS, but I guess less tanky.  Protoss won't build valkyries when they can build corsairs).

Guardian Vs Scout

So like...in that ASL game where they built scouts...guardians would be better there.  More ground damage.  Able to outrange missile turrets, so there's no way the terran could just stabilize by finishing their turrets.  But...there's a problem, and the problem is the timing.

Tech to fleet beacon in build times is gateway (38) + Cybernetics Core (38) + Stargate (44) + Fleet Beacon (38) = 160ish in game time.  120 before starting the scouts.

Tech to greater spire in build times is spawning pool (50) + Lair (63) + Queen's Nest (38) + Hive (75) + Greater Spire.  300 in game units of time before having the first muta cocoon into a guardian.

I don't know how to represent that in the protoss tech tree.  Like...maybe guardians require a really slow upgrade at the fleet beacon?

But either way, the push that mini stopped with scouts?  If guardians come into the game anywhere near their normal time, they aren't stopping that push, and in fact if we try to be really faithful to build times, your first carriers will already be out and accumulating interceptors before the guardian would be available to build in a game.

With that in mind, let's look at some matchups:

TvP: Scout--the whole point of that long preamble, is that yes scouts are better TvP, cause they are air to ground damage before carriers.  Although...while guardians don't show up till later, once the tech is available, they would build fast.  Maybe there's a world where you build guardians just to get an extra unit or two out against a big push.

ZvP: So...long before scouts showed up in an ASL final, they got built usually as a 1-of in PvZ, against a zerg who was teching to mutas or whatever and didn't make a single spore in any base.  Does protoss losing that matter more than zerg losing guardians?  Yeah, probably--guardians are basically only considered worth trying in ZvP if protoss doesn't make corsairs, which...protoss pretty much always makes corsairs.  But...guardians might also open up harassment options for protoss, so maybe they're not losing scout harassment options, they're gaining guardian harassment options?  I think scourge should be able to shut that down, and that'd have trouble getting across the map vs hydras.

PvP: Doesn't matter.

ZvZ: Um, hm, so scout isn't terrible at fighting mutas, and it's a lot more mineral heavy, so it's a mineral dump that could help get air dominance.  Ultimately I think the fact that it's slower would hold it back...it does have a 200/200 upgrade that makes it as fast as a muta, but affording that upgrade in ZvZ sounds tricky.  Still...seems like at least a mild scout win.

ZvT: Mild guardian win I guess, as guardians are occasionally made vs T, and...assuming T can irradiate scouts like all the other zerg air units, building scouts seems ill advised.

Eh...Technically 3-1, but a couple of the scout wins there's some potential for a guardian win.  Like...maybe vs Z, the corsairs can just escort guardians at zerg mineral lines, and protect them from scourge.  Might reliably shut down a base.  Think I'm ok putting these two on the same tier.

---

Devourers I want to put a tier below.  I actually can't remember the last time I saw one in a pro match; never in the modern era of ASL.  Technically they trade pretty well cause devourers paired with corsairs or valkyries are actually very good for the debuff, but zerg can only pair them with mutas or hydras, both of which don't get much out of the debuff.

OK, so adding all these in...

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

OK, so, the last of the ranged attacking units, firebat.

It's used sometimes TvZ.  Mostly as a counter to dark swarm as it's one of the only ways for terran to hit under a dark swarm (and it's still very bad at that).  And even still, terran has other options, it mostly comes out cause Terran might already have 2/2 or 3/3 for bio.

Firebat vs Scout-- not a very interesting trade.  Pretty sure there's zero situations where protoss builds a firebat, and zero situations where terran builds a scout.  So it's really what they'd lose by giving up the unit.  Scout matters in more matchups (PvZ and PvT).  But firebat matters considerably more in the one matchup where it is good.  Maybe a mild win to Firebat.

Firebat vs Guardian

TvZ: Firebat.  Pretty sure losing firebats hurts terran more than zerg losing guardians.

TvT: Maybe Guardian?  So...one very minor niche to guardian is that it is very supply efficient.  Like...twice the cost of a muta for the same supply.  And it can do things like bust through a turret line.  Still hard to justify building these over battlecruisers, but 6 supply of guardians does deal about twice the damage as 6 supply of Battlecruisers.  They're also considerably less durable than 6 supply of battlecruisers, can't hit air, and die to irradiate, but I think there might be a niche for them?

ZvZ: Maybe firebat actually.  Well...I don't know if they're worth the tech (they'd unlock from...the hydra den logically?)  But there's definitely some potential for interesting pre-muta play.  Firebats don't counter well-microed zerglings on their own, but if you position your own zerglings to prevent a surround on firebats, there's probably an interesting bust option there, or maybe an interesting strategy for turtling at the top of a ramp.

ZvP: Not really sold on either unit in this matchup.  Protoss against zerg will basically always have corsairs.  And Firebats lose to zealots.  Maybe you catch a protoss without corsairs, or maybe it's worth having a firebat mixed in with a hydra force to punish zealots running at you but...ehh...just going to call this a tie.

TvP: Maybe slight lean guardian.  If protoss has no stargates yet, and the map is built with guardians in mind (empty space behind a mineral line) maybe you can shut down mining at a base.  There's a lot of things that need to go right for this to happen, but seems more likely than firebats in this matchup.

So...roughly 2-2.

Eh, yeah, initial guess seems right.

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Remaining ranged attacking units...Archon.

Mmm...do I really want to evaluate this separately from high templar?  I guess in SC2 this would be reasonable, because people will just make two high templar to immediately merge them.

So...I guess I evaluate it that way, as, how good would this be if you just made high templar to merge them.

That's...not really a good plan in any matchup at the moment.  Zerg used to be the race to use archons against cause they do beat up zerglings, but now that zerg is all mass hydra, archons are pretty bad into that too.

Or maybe I evaluate this as "how much does protoss lose if they can't merge high templar after using storm?"

And...honestly it's...definitely something.

Trades aren't going to be a great way to evaluate this, TBH, but...telling a protoss they can't merge archons after using storm...that's probably going to hurt less than other races losing C-tier units (Lurker, Hydra, Marine+Medic).  But it sure hurts more than losing scouts for protss, or losing guardians for Zerg, so not E tier either.  Guess that settles them into D-tier for now.

In terms of how they'd look just trading the units...zerg might care about archons for ZvZ.  Terran would use them TvZ under dark swarm, as a better alternative to firebat, so yeah, that's an argument for them to be a tier above firebat.  Might just get used TvZ in general to beat up lings.  I don't think they're willing to give up medic+marine for archons though (archons wouldn't mesh as well with mech).  Probably for that matchup happy to give up any of wraith/valkyrie/battlecruiser for archon (though that would probably hurt them in TvT).

Sure, drop archon in D for now.

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

So I had some thoughts about how to make Defiler make sense with trading, and I think it goes like this:

If it goes to another race, they can decide whether dark swarm blocks ranged attacks or blocks melee attacks.  That way Terran can be like "dark swarm blocks melee attacks" and it would actually be useful for them, instead of being a spell they would only cast in TvT.

In terms of interesting units made...Firebats in TvP Light vs Mini (landed a barracks in a base that was walled off by pylons, started making firebats, which the probes needed to fight):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdA3TatEWRQ&t=12775s

Also an interesting game in group B, long macro TvZ where lurker tech was just never made--zerg just skipped straight to defilers and ultras at the same time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd-ASvJ400M&t=3600s

Another interesting development is that several people are talking about the "trend" in PvT being to build lots of high templar, maybe get two robos, and ferry them around in speed shuttles.  I'm...not hugely impressed by this trend in ASL, since most of the times I've seen it pulled out this season the Protoss loses.  (Carriers, on the other hand, have a great winrate this season).

[metroid composite]

So...looks like I had a system here, where I was doing all the ranged attack units first, and I missed a ranged attacking unit...(kinda).  Carrier.  Technically doesn't have an attack, just the interceptors do, probably why I missed it.

I'm looking at the  A-tier units, and thinking...no (trading with vulture just seems like too big of a win, and told they need to cut one of Dragoon, Reaver, or Carrier, pretty sure most protoss are cutting Carrier; dragoon and reaver too important).

So...B-tier comparisons.

Carrier vs Scourge

PvP: Scourge wins.  having an actually good tool against shuttles with reavers in them has to be a win.

PvT: Carriers Win.  Not really much of Terran's that Protoss would want to scourge.

PvZ: So Scourge are important and all that, they kill or chase Corsairs, they kill observers in lurker contains, they help fend off reaver drops.  But like...if it gets to lategame, I don't think protoss has a good answer to carriers.  There's dark archon mind control.  I guess they would be biological carriers, so dark archon Maelstrom would work.  Actually, yeah, you know what, Protoss would have game against biological carriers.  Should be a scourge win.

ZvZ: Probably Scourge still.  So...carriers are cost effective aginst mutas, AND they're more mineral heavy so if you survived long enough to get carriers out you'd be in good shape.  The idea of turtling to get out lategame tech that will also be slow-moving when it's done being effective in ZvZ just seems...unlikely.  If you really tutrtle with sunkens and spores, they expand and tech up to defilers, and maybe still win.  So...thinking Scourge still.

ZvT: Since the carriers would be biological, they won't be happy about irradiate.  Two irradiates kill a carrier, air unit so will damage surrounding carriers, and once you add in interceptor costs, they're about doube the net cost of an ultra, so...pretty vulnerable to irradiate.  But...other than landing two consecutive irradiates, carriers will be kind-of impossible to kill for bio.  And...carriers would give a real purpose to Devourers if there's enough air units.  Also a good way to hit down plagued Science Vessels.  Unsure.

3-1 scourge.

Carrier vs Goliath

TvT: So...obviously carriers good vs terran, plus they're very mineral heavy.  But lacking goliaths opens up some weaknesses early on.  Wraith rushes and drops become pretty hard to defend against.  But I think you can stabilize with turrets.  And if you can stall things out to a split map scenario, common enough in TvT.  This is messy, not sure?

TvP: Goliaths are gone, but terran mostly needed them vs carriers.  Carriers are gone for protoss, which is a significant loss.  And Terran carriers are...an option that I suspect protoss would struggle with.

TvZ: maybe small edge to goliaths, as they open up meching options.  Carrier's probably worse into zerg than battlecruisers, so not much gained there.

PvZ: Goliaths might do something vs zerg; bettter than dragoons against both lings and mutas.

PvP: Probably small edge goliath cause carriers aren't doing much of anything,  and shuttles are.

Seems more even.

Carrier vs Corsair: probably leans Corsair.  Each is good in one matchup, but Carrier isn't mandatory vs terran.

---

Okay, not many clear wins here, let's look at C tier I suppose.

Carrier vs Hydra

ZvZ: Not much movement.  I mean...more of a chance Carrier does something than hydra in this matchup, but probably not by much since there isn't breathing room to tech; relatively unchanged.

ZvP: Hydras win.  As discussed, Protoss could  handle a biological carrier (maelstrom).  Zerg without hydra loses a lot (protoss won't make them, though).

ZvT: Probably a mild carrier win?  Biological carriers don't sound great due to their vulnerability to irradiate, but hydras aren't doing a ton for zerg in this matchup.

PvT: Carriers win.  Don't see hydras as doing much for toss.

PvP: Hmmm...hydras, probably.  They're dangerous to stay on for long, cause they do die to reavers, but a bit better in the hydra vs goon matchup.

2-2ish.

Carrier vs Lurker

ZvZ: no significant movement probably.

ZvT: Lurker win.  Stabilize the midgame.  Biological carriers honestly weaker to irradiate.

ZvP: Hmm....maybe carriers?  Unlike a couple other options, losing lurkers doesn't make the midgame unplayable.  And while dark archons give protoss play against carriers (particularly biological carriers) that's a big investment when not behind economically.

PvT: Carrier.  Lurker isn't even good here.

PvP: Probably doesn't matter.  DTs are better cloak tech than Lurker.  Dragoon observer reaver is already the default comp and steps on lurkers.

Carrier vs Marine/Medic

PvZ: Marine/medic.  I mean, you can switch off the tech if they go for dark swarm, but should shred hydras, suddenly best gateway unit against mutas.

PvP: Maybe a tiny lean marines but...don't think it matters; early rushes will be better off building zealots.  Once dragoon range is out you don't want marines.  Once reaver is out you really don't want marines.

PvT: Carrier, obviously.

TvZ: Marine/Medic

TvT: Uh, Carrier I guess?  (As always the assumption is that you have some defence against all-in cheese if you trade away your first unit).

OK, these feel pretty balanced.  C tier on Carrier?

(S tier?)
Siege Tank
Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Right so...melee units.

Zergling gets compared straight to the S tier units of course.

Zergling vs Tank

ZvT: Okay, so...zerg turtles with spines, I guess?  And...actually, while establishing up new bases on the map would be a pain because of roaming armies, Terran can't easily break a base with spines and maybe lurkers and siege tanks.  But...remember anything traded to zerg becomes biological, so Science Vessels kinda fix everything; just irradiate the biological siege tanks.  Breaking Zerg who has siege tanks and lurkers would be a pain, but they'd have no real map control due to Terran having zerglings, and I think they would slowly bleed units due to having a way too immobile force to take more bases.  Slight Zergling lean I guess?

ZvZ: Zergling wins.  Lol siege tanks, cool unit that dies to mutas.

ZvP: So like...ignoring cheese (which we do when the tier 1 unit is traded away) everything changes.  Protoss doesn't need to wall; no forge and gateway in a wall to kill by hydra busts.  Protoss might be able to out-expand zerg as they do terran when playing against siege tanks.  Seems like...a weaker race than terran--Hydras are worse than vultures, slower, kill zealots slower, don't have mines, in exchange for being better vs dragoons.  But...other aspects might complicate this.  Hydras hit air, so shuttle drops on tanks would get naturally countered.  Protoss still needs to make a stargate and corsairs in case of mutas.  Going Carrier isn't really an option between scourge and defilers.  Hydras can easily get right up to the protoss base normally, and tossing a siege tank or two in there sounds really scary; could just shell the natural nexus.  But...siege tanks need siege mode researched, presumably Lair, hydras need researches.  Protoss would have more breathing room early--zealots could safely sit outside the zerg natural.  I don't know, this one is very complicated.

TvT: Probably tanks?  Zerglings would be a great tool in TvT; best unit to drop on tanks from dropships.  But...I think vultures just counter them hard enough the earlygame, and later than that you'll want tanks.

TvP: I feel like it's zergling, but this is not too clear.  Zergling+Vulture just beats every gateway army while being more mobile than gateway armies, and unlike roaming vulture armies, can just shred a base.  However...Reavers are a bit of a problem and tanks were the thing that kept Reavers under control, Carriers still exist.  So...I'm not 100% sure on this one.

Hmm...lots of unsures.  Zergling vs Tank seems close.

Zergling vs Muta

ZvZ: Maybe slight lean Muta?  So...what are we talking here, defend with sunkens not lings, and rush out mutas?  While the opponent tries to win with...zergling scourge?  Sounds like some actual ZvZs I've seen, but the Zergling Scourge strat seems a bit worse from the games I've seen.

ZvT: Zergling.  Mutas you build some at a specific point in the game, and they put you ahead.  But Zerglings are your army for the entire match; builds that skip mutas exist; they're bad, but they exist--someone using one of those builds in ASL isn't a total shock.

ZvZ: Mmm...kinda close maybe?  Zerglings have a moment where they give map control and force the protoss to turtle.  Mutas existing force protoss to go early stargate just in case.  Neither one seems super essential once you get to an established midgame.

OK, I came into this thinking Zerglings would just be on their own level, like S+ tier, but it seems more like they fit comfortably into S tier.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Zealot...doesn't seem like it would be S tier.  Zerglings are better

Doesn't seem like it would be B tier, Zealot is more important than Corsair to protoss.

Seems reasonable to fit it in the same tier as Dragoon--tell a protoss that they need to pick either not making dragoons or not making zealots, and that's kinda hard, maybe leans towards Dragoon.

So probably A tier.  Most of the A tier units are already protoss, but let's compare zealot to vulture.

Zealot vs Vulture

PvP: This is a vulture win.  Mines help against reaver drops.  Vultures fight ok against dragoons.  Vultures have map mobility and can probably kill some probes.  Zealots aren't too important in this matchup.

PvT: After some thought...Vulture.  This is tricky, cause protoss now has a big speed advantage (with Dragoon and Vulture), and vulture runbys will be brutal (trying to respond to vulture runbys when your most mobile unit is Zealot sounds rough).  However, the doom push with zealot tank sounds very hard to stop.  Zealots are higher HP meatshields that make it harder to get to tanks, and protoss doesn't have very many units happy to get on top of tanks (like...Vulture, or DT basically).  But on the third hand, if protoss manages to take that economic and map control advantage, and use it to tech switch into carriers, they're fine.  Unsure.  But I lean Protoss here, just because Carriers means that Terran needs to hit a timing window against a race that will have much better map control (faster units and mines).  Also...I forgot about Reavers.   Reavers probably push this further towards protoss (Vulture mines are good for defending against reavers, Zealots are very bad against reavers, so Terran gets a big downgrade in defending against reavers, and reavers were already good against them).

PvZ: This is a zealot win.  Vultures are okayish against Hydras, but not as good as zealots.  And there's production and timing concerns--Vultures would presumably build out of the robo.

TvT: Vultures are better early on as they counter zealots.  Whoever has vultures should gain an early advantage I think.  But as the game goes long, Zealots just grow in relevance.  Now the best unit terran has by far to drop out of a dropship on top of a tank.  Actually a unit that can run at a siege line productively in the matchup (without even being dropped).  I think this leans Zealot overall, but the Vulture player for sure gains an early economic lead, and maybe that lead is large enough so...I'm a little unsure.

TvZ: Almost certainly Zealot.  Vulture doesn't do much for them in this matchup.  A beefy unit to tank for stim marines is almost certainly good.  A unit that can fight under dark swarm is something Terran would love.

So...2-2, or maybe 3-2 Zealot with one pretty narrow win.

Is it possible I'm underselling Zealot?  Maybe I should compare it to some S-tier units.

Zealot vs Mutalisk

ZvZ: Muta beats up zerg.

ZvP: Muta beats up zerg.

ZvT: Unclear.  Zealots are overall more efficient than Ultras, but Ultras do have the +2 armor upgrade that makes them hard to kill by marines.  I think just "an Ultra replacement at hatchery tech that also costs only minerals" is probably pretty good.  But is it so good that it can make up for the massive economic lead mutas give zerg (killing several workers, some army, and forcing Terran to build 10+ missile turrets)?  Ehh...seems unlikely.

PvP: Muta really good against Reaver Shuttle, and honestly fine for picking off dragoons.

PvT: Muta.  Needing to worry about a muta opener from protoss as a meching Terran sounds like a nightmare.  To deal with mutas you need like mass goliaths, but if you go mass goliath and they show up with dragoons you lose the game.

OK, that wasn't close (4-1-0).  One more to be sure.

Zealot vs Siege Tank

PvP: Siege Tank.  Zealots not normally that great in this matchup.  Siege tank very good vs goon reaver balls.

PvT: Siege Tank.  Funnily enough, I'm not sure toss even uses the tanks--not sure how terran beats dragoon Reaver without tanks.  Don't want Zealots against that.  Don't want bio, don't want vultures.

PvZ: Unsure.  Zealots very good against zerg, but Siege Tank could fix some protoss problems against zerg (kinda destroy both hydras and lurkers).  Unlike terran, protoss needs a relatively small investment to protect against mutas (corsairs) so can support a siege tank opener.

TvT: Siege Tank.  I don't think Terran has the tools to just go full protoss and push through siege lines using zealots--neither Goliath nor Vulture can really replace Dragoon.

TvZ: Might be Zealot?  "Unit that can fight under dark swarm" is pretty compelling for terran.

So...3-1, with one unsure.

OK, yep, Zealot not S tier; A tier it is, in that case.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Alright, dark templar.

Lists I've seen have typically put this above Lurker, so let's start with that comparison just for sanity.

Lurker vs DT:

PvP: DT.  Lurkers aren't going to be part of a Reaver goon ball--just countered by all of those units.  And DTs are better at cheesing a win.

PvT: DT.  Can stealth walk up to tanks.  Lurkers cannot stealth walk up to tanks.

PvZ: I don't think protoss would do much with Lurkers--approaching uncloaked makes them bad at sneaking into bases.  But lurkers having range is somewhat important for zerg lurker contains.  On the other hand, DTs being able to move out of storm is a big deal, and protoss detection is very easy to snipe.  If a protoss army gets stuck out on the map, and detection gets sniped, it's probably worse with DTs.  Can't storm them, can't just back off.  Dunno, this one is interesting.

ZvZ: Doesn't matter

ZvT: Probably Lurker.  Another case where the range is important.  And Terran tends to naturally get tons of detection in this matchup (missile turrets as anti-muta.  Science Vessel).  That said, DT busts where you surprise your opponent and don't go muta would be better than Lurker busts.

So like...2-1 score.  DT winning as expected, but  not by tons.  Lurker was flagged as being on the low end of this group, so maybe DT does belong in C.

Let's try comparing a B-tier unit.

DT vs Scourge

PvP: Scourge.  You lose a cheese, but anti shuttle tech is big.

PvT: DT.  Pretty relevant in this matchup.  And Scourge doesn't have lots of targets.

PvZ: Scourge.  Corsairs without these become a problem.  Reaver drops without these become a problem.  Protoss is not that scared of what zerg can do with DT.

ZvZ: no.

ZvT: Scourge.  Needed for science vessels.

OK, 3-1 Scourge.

B-tier looking likely here.  Let's do another B-tier comparison.

DT vs Marine/Medic:

PvT: DT wins (mild win).  Protoss doesn't have much use for Marines, but Terran both wants to take DT away from Protoss, and maybe could do some damage with a DT.

PvP: DT wins (mild win).  Marines aren't useful here, but lacking DT isn't that bad.

PvZ: Maybe Marine/Medic?  Beats up on hydras.  DTs have uses here too, though.

TvT: DT wins.  Good for the same reasons Zealots are good in TvT--great unit to drop on tanks. 

TvZ: Marines.  Terran can survive without them by meching, but it's not like DT is a ton of compensation.  Terran is in the market for a unit that can fight under dark swarm, but mech terran fights usually don't go to dark swarm.

So...3-2 DT.  But some of the DT wins are mild, like "opens up a cheese", pretty close to tied.

Yeah, C-tier actually seems OK.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Okay, so transports.

Transports, like workers, get a kind of "essential service" tag, so even if you trade away your transport, you can still get some bad expensive slow moving transport to expand to island bases.  (like 100/100 cost, speed of a slow overlord, doesn't give supply like a slow overlord).

I suppose at the same time we need to talk about detectors, cause overlord has that going on too.  If you trade away your detector unit, you get a very weak detector (like observer that doesn't cloak and has no upgrades).

If Zerg trades away overlord...they don't lose the weakness of being vulnerable to corsairs.  Their overlords just have a move speed of 0 and don't detect, but still fly over their bases.

Oh, one last thing, if a race picks up overlord, then they start with an overlord  that can scout immediately (and their command center gives less supply to make up for that).

I...don't have an intutive sense of where these will end up.  I feel like trading away key matchup units is probably incorrect.  So...what's a unit that's not a key matchup unit, but is nice to have....?

Overlord vs DT

ZvZ: Overlord.  100% free scouting that would otherwise be hard to get.

ZvP: Overlord I think.  So...overlord would be what...a gateway unit, or a nexus unit?  Something low tech?  This is nice cause at some point you stop corsair production and don't have a use for that building.  On the other hand, protoss doesn't need the supply.  What protoss can use is the additional detection, and maybe the additional unit that can pick up and drop reavers.  Like...one question people ask is "against lurker contains why not build reavers?" and the reason is that observers get sniped, and observers get built out of the same building as reavers (and shuttles).  But being able to make overlords frees up the robo.  Scourging down overlords is also a lot less efficient than scourging down observers.  Also, lost scouting from the overlord on the zerg side.  Yeah, probably overlord.

ZvT: Overlord.  Unironically, if Zerg actually needs to tech to and spend resources on detection, Wraiths become a problem.  And there's lost scouting.  Don't think DTs do much here.

PvP: I mean, don't think it's too impactful; if overlords build out of gateways or nexuses, and you start with an overlord, you will not lose to DTs.  Probably slight lean Overlord.

PvT: Hmm...Oh wait, hold up, you don't need to get robo tech to clear mines?  Yeah, fine Overlord.

OK, that's a pretty clean 5-0.

Let's try a B-tier unit?

Overlord vs Goliath

TvT: Not sure.  So...your anti-air is hampered quite a bit by losing goliaths.  Need to make wraiths I guess to cover that weakness.  But...a dropship that costs no supply, fucking gives supply, and builds out of like...probably the barracks I guess?  Doesn't cost gas?  Detects too, for spider mines and ghosts and enemy wraiths.  Spots for tanks reasonably well.  Huh.  I don't know.  Lets your SCVs mine more cause it builds out of a building and they don't need to spend time making supply depots?  Like...wraiths are not a good replacement for Goliaths, but goddamn, that's...so much nice shit.

TvP: Golaiths by a lot.  Protoss sees your overlords, makes carriers, and you die.

TvZ: Overlord.  Terran gets free scouting on zerg, zerg doesn't get free scouting on terran.  Detecting and dropping not too important here. Goliaths not too important either.

ZvZ: Hmm...Goliaths could be nice in this matchup; better than hydras against both zerglings and mutas.  But...lack of scouting is a lot to give up for a unit that...is probably fine.  Not sure.

ZvP: Overlord--having them not move in the matchup with corsairs hurts a lot.  Golaiths don't do very much obvious in this matchup.

2-1 overlord, with a couple unsures.  But the one win for Goliath Goliath was absolutely mandatory.

OK, let's compare another B-tier unit.

Overlord vs Corsair

PvP: Overlord.  Free scouting.  Free detection.  Don't think you'll get the upgrades or build a lot of them, but still, nice advantage.

PvT: Overlord.  Scouting.  Detection without going robo.  Ability to use the robo on not observers.

PvZ: Corsair by a lot; die to mutas.

ZvZ: Corsair.  Beat mutas.  The lack of scouting hurts, but unlike goliaths, Corsair is a bit more unambiguous about air dominance.

ZvT: Probably overlord--just all the scouting, detection vs stuff like wraiths being a problem.  But Corsair not a total meme.  If you plague all of the SVs, Corsair's better than Muta to pick them off.  I don't even hate disruption web--when SVs retreat back to marines, disruption web the marines and kill SVs anyway.  Corsairs would be biological and die to irradiate, of course, but...they'd have some niches late in the game.  Don't think this makes up for the earlygame.

3-2 Overlord, although the Corsair wins were big wins (like...matchup becomes completely one-sided level).

Eh, Overlord seems like it can slide into B-tier.


(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

So, ok, next dropper

Overlord vs Shuttle

Overlord sounds like it should be better but...this doesn't seem totally straightforward actually.  Overlord, to be a good dropper, needs a 200/200 research to get drops, and a 150/150 research to get movement, and is slower than a non-upgraded shuttle even after these upgrades.  (Upgraded overlord speed of about 2.5 speed.  Unupgraded shuttle 3.3 speed.  Upgraded shuttle about 5.0 speed).  These are two upgrades that take 180 in game seconds too--probably on something like the Citadel of Anduin being a gateway unit.

PvP: Shuttle.  You do not have time to get overlords online as a dropper, and reavers with a dropper really fast are just too key in the matchup.

PvT: Not...sure.  Reaver drop openings just disappear, and those are a big part of PvT repertoire.  But...also, not needing to go robo and observatory every game just to handle mines is really nice.  Free scouting early on is nice.  I think you're ok with slower moving droppers--siege tanks are immobile, so zealot bombing should still work.  Essentially free (because they give supply) droppers and detectors maybe just lets you skip robo, and turbo out...either DTs without fear of not having detection, or Carriers.  On the other hand...fast shuttles are good, and can be used all game.

PvZ: This gets messy.  As with the trade of overlord to goliath, really need to get movement upgrades for overlords, and can't let them clump over bases, or corsairs just wreck.  But...will the game get that far?  The complicating factor is like...can Zerg take advantage of a much earlier transport...and I think they might be able to.  Like...if Zerg does a hydra allin and builds one shuttle, ok, it's a hydra allin, protoss needs to build like 6 cannons.  What happens if zerg has one shuttle and starts ferrying hydras into the main?  Does protoss just...die?  On the other hand, can they just rush DTs and use those to defend, since zerg doesn't get free detection?  Just...a mess.

ZvZ: Overlords.  Scouting information.  You're not dropping or detecting.

ZvT: Probably overlord just for the scouting and not being scared of wraiths due to detection.  I don't think zerg can do that much with an early shuttle; drop something I guess, but what?  Terran already builds turrets and keeps bio at home for muta.

This feels pretty messy and close-ish.  Maybe Shuttles are B?

Shuttle vs Goliath

PvP: Shuttle wins.  Needed for reavers.

PvT: Goliath wins (or rather terran being deprived of goliath).  Go directly to carriers.

PvZ: Probably shuttle.  Just...the option to go reavers if nothing else.  Don't think Goliaths are too valuable in this matchup

TvT: Golaith.  Shuttle's a slightly better dropship in lategame, but Goliath has no replacement.

TvZ: Not...too impactful either way.  Maybe Goliath though.  You don't normally make enough shuttles in this matchup to justify the speed upgrade.  Meching terran for sure makes goliaths.

Well...3-2 gol

But, these comparisons aren't too great cause of the redundancy (Terran doesn't need shuttle that badly cause they already have dropship).  Let's go back to looking at trades with zerg where adding a dropship might do something.  Both of these were narrow losses so let's look at a C tier unit.

Shuttle vs Hydra

PvP: Still shuttle I...think?  On the one hand, you really want Shuttle for PvP to use reavers.  On the other hand...hydras are cost-effective into dragoons (but worse against reaver shots).

PvT: Shuttle.  Do hydras do anything protoss cares about against mech?  Eh.  Not really.  They are medium so they take 75% damage from tanks, but being lower HP and clumping more I think they're still more vulnerable to splash.  Shuttles do lots of course.

PvZ: Hydra.  Removing this tool from Zerg makes them lost in the matchup.

ZvZ: doesn't matter.

ZvT: Maybe a small shuttle win.  Probably some surprise drops you can pull off that hit faster than mutas and catch a Terran off guard.  Does make BCs a bit more annoying to deal with super lategame, but often those are just handled through scourge anyway.

3-1 Shuttle.

Yeah, ok, Shuttle to B-tier.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (might be too low?)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Lurker (might be too high?)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Dropships...

So I think dropships are going to be less important than shuttles.  There's no reaver unit that basically doesn't work without dropships, so Terran won't hurt too bad if they trade them away.

Numerically they're fine, faster than Shuttles at first, slower than shuttles that get the upgrade, but...at least the way I've set out the rules for all the other units, internal race synergy is at least a little bit important.

Even trading with a shuttle is unlikely to go well (dropship is a starport unit, so presumably stargate on protoss, so protoss isn't too fond of that trade).

So...let's try C-tier?

Dropship vs Lurker

ZvZ: Doesn't matter

TvT: Dropship.  Lurker basically does nothing here.

ZvT: Lurker

TvP: Lurker.  Anti-zealot AoE is relevant enough.  Terran loses Vulture drops, but...eh, think that's minor.

ZvP: Mmmm...maybe Dropship?  The idea I had before, with doing a hydra bust, waiting for them to build 6 cannons, and then ferrying into the main base.  Except this time without losing anything that would put you substantially behind or vulnerable to DTs or whatever.

OK, that's 2-2.

Let's do another zerg comparison, since protoss gets almost nothing from receiving a traded dropship

Hydra vs Dropship

ZvZ: no change

ZvT: Dropship, probably.  But not super impactful.

ZvP: Hydra by a lot.

TvP: Hydra--Hydra+Vulture would be a scary midgame army for protoss.  Terran doesn't use a lot of dropship in this matchup anyway.

TvT: Dropship by a decent amount.

Another 2-2, but one of the dropship wins was pretty mild.

Yeah, looks like C-tier--maybe on the slightly lower end of C-tier with Lurker.


(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (maybe on the high end of tier)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Dropship, Lurker (maybe on the lower end of tier)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

As I've already gone a little bit into one detector (overlord) I think it makes sense to hop from there to observer.

Would protoss swap observer for Overlord?  Yes, unambiguously I'm pretty sure.  They lose some scouting where they sit an observer over a terran's factories to see what they're making, but they gain the scouting of sending the first overlord, and just generally have a better unit.

Trades with a lot of "used in one matchup" units will be weird, but let's just compare observer to some protoss units.

And again, if you give away observer, you get a replacement unit that...detects but not much else (basically an observer that doesn't cloak or have upgrades).

Is it better for Protoss to play with downgraded no-cloak observers but have access to DTs, or play with the cloakable upgradeable observers, but no DTs?  I think DTs for PvP.  Maybe observers for TvP.  And...PvZ...tough call, both are important; seems fairly even.

Is it better for Protoss to  play with downgraded no-cloak observers with access to carrioers, or access to their normal observers, but no carriers?  Observer for PvP and PvZ of course.  PvT...I think they're both very important.  Carriers in some way more important, but non-cloak observers will make them much more vulnerable to attack.

Let's trade Observers for a unit that's not really single matchup limited.

Observer vs Lurker

PvZ: Lurker wins.  Not that protoss will build it, but Zerg won't have it, and then protoss won't need observers.

PvT: Observer wins.

PvP: Observer wins (mostly cause lurkers won't be built, but...not a big win).

ZvZ: Probably no change.  Like...more likely Observer would find a use in this matchup for map vision I guess, but...probably just get more mutas or more scourge instead.

ZvT: Lurker wins.  Observer just doesn't really do very much against a terran  who fills their base with turrets and gets no cloak units.

Yeah, that was 2-2.  C tier seems about right.


(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (maybe on the high end of tier)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Observer, Dropship, Lurker (maybe on the lower end of tier)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

OK, so...now to finally start putting casters up there, cause the last detector is Science Vessel.

Hmm...not immediately sure, I  guess try trading techy unit for techy unit first.

Science Vessel vs Reaver

TvT: Reaver.  Good unit to drop.  Good unit to bust up some vultures.  Drops off a bit later, but I think whoever has Reaver early gets ahead.

TvP: Reaver.  Protoss actually can't defend against these things.

TvZ: Science Vessel.  The whole matchup just goes to shit without them.  First you die to mutas, Reavers don't help with that.  Then, if you don't die to mutas, you have to figure out detection for lurkers--you spending resources on just a pure detector unit?  Just...rough.  Reavers are good against zerg because of corsairs.

PvP: Reaver.  I did spend some time thinking if EMP could be big in the matchup, and it could, if you get there without being dead you probably win.  The AoE is huge.  The range isn't great but high enough to avoid goons.  But...it requires a ton of tech to get to SVs (science facility equivalent would be like...arbiter tribunal?) and then you need to research EMP
(200/200 research) and wait for 100 energy

PvZ: Science Vessel.  Vessels destroy zerg, but now would have corsair support, so like...can't actually be killed with scourge.  Irradiating a corsair and then using  it to eraser also sounds pretty good.

OK, well 3-2 Reaver, but predictably split on zerg/not zerg.  Maybe we need to do a comparison to anti-zerg units?

Science Vessel vs Zealot

TvT: Zealot wins.  Better thing to drop out of a dropship.

TvZ: Vessel wins.  Terran dies to mutas, then dies to lurkers.

TvP: Zealot wins.  Zealot siege tank will smash a pure goon army.  Vessels are used late to counter arbiter tech, but I don't think you go arbiter tech if you don't have zealots, you try hard to go carriers, and maybe you die getting there.

ZvP: Zealot wins I think.  Hydra allins get a lot better without zealots--dragoons are just worse against hydras.  And...vessels aren't great against hydras.  I believe even if you irradiate a hydra, it can cancel irradiate by morphing into a lurker egg.  Vessels are great vs lurkers, but lurkers and maybe if the game goes extra long, Vessels will matter more, but the earlygame seems bigger.

PvP: Small edge to Vessel maybe?  EMP good.

Hm, this kind of feels like a 3-1

Maybe A-tier is ambitious.  Let's try a B-tier unit.

Science Vessel vs Corsair

TvT: Corsair?  Moving shot chase down dropships.  Absolutely shred wraiths if they get built.  And disruption web probably gets used.

TvP: Science Vessel.  Corsair isn't being used for anything here, unless it gets used to kill vessels.  Vessels did have a big use (EMP, particularly on spellcasters like arbiters).  And...is a better detector for protoss, although more expensive.  Defence Matrix on zealot mine drags probably actually relevant too.  Also just...arbiters in general seem rough, not just for recall but also because Terran would be spending resources on weaker detection.

TvZ: Is...Corsair the right answer here actually?  Like...Vulture Tank with Corsair, what does zerg do about that?  Prey on the now weaker detection by using scourge and try to make something happen with Lurkers?  That doesn't sound great into tanks.  Try to snipe observers?  Corsairs can protect them.  You also get kind-of forced into building hydras just to not lose all your overlords, but Terran is pretty good against hydras.

PvP: Science Vessel for sure.  Grab EMP.

PvZ: Probably Corsair.  You do have your pick of dark archon or SV against muta, so you're unlikely to die, but Muta is very scary now.  And zerg isn't forced into a hydra defence.

3-2...Corsair?  Surely vessels are not below B tier.  Well...no obvious anti-zerg unit in C-tier, but let's swap for a unit anyway.  I'll grab a zerg unit cause I haven't done one of those yet.

Science Vessel vs Hydra

ZvZ: Science Vessel.  An actual answer to mutas.

ZvT: Science Vessel.  Hydras not built in matchup

ZvP: Hydra.  Die to Corsairs without them.

TvT: Probably Vessels.  There might be some early rush with hydra but I feel anywhere you are using hydra you could probably also use marine and it would be not a significantly different result.  Vessels certainly get made later on though, and I suspect hydras would not be.

TvP: Maybe Hydra.  Opens up some interesting 2 base pushes.  Mass hydra type stuff, but with Vulture backup so mass zealot isn't really an option like it is vs zerg.

Huh, ok, only 3-2, a win but..closer.  Let's try another C tier unit.

Science Vessel vs Carrier

PvP: Science Vessel.  EMP stuff.

PvT: Maybe Carrier.  I think Terran can probably just turtle with tanks into carriers.

PvZ: Science Vessel.  Once you get past the pure hydra phase, it smashes lurkers and is an endless defiler sniper.

TvT: Carrier?  Seems like terran struggles against them.

TvZ: Science Vessel by miles

Ok, another 3-2 win.  This could still be indicating that vessels are above C-tier, 3-2 is a win.

Science Vessel vs Dark Templar

PvP: Tough call, but I think Vessel.  PvP can stall out on Reaver Goon not able to engage each other well, and Vessel breaks that stalemate.

PvT: Vessel.  Terran only gets dark templar, not dark archons, so no getting maelstrom and using it on zealots.  Don't think DTs do too much especially with protoss having a less vulnerable detector than observer.

PvZ: Vessel.  Yeah, well it's zerg.

TvT: I'm...unsure.  Vessels certainly get used in this matchup, but DTs would be as well.  Great unit to drop on tanks.

TvZ: Vessel

Ok, there's the 4-0 or 4-1, so that's sounding like higher than C tier.

I guess...overlord's in B tier, so let's see if that one  is interesting at all.

Science Vessel vs Overlord

TvZ: Science Vessel.  Get dumpstered by mutas.  Cool you get free scouting and know they are coming.

ZvZ: Hmm...not immediately obvious to me.  Science Vessels give a tech exit to muta wars, but they're a big investment, they move slower than mutas and scourge, so they need to be protected from scouorge, they don't hatch with enough energy to irradiate, irradiate needs to be researched and it's 200/200 to research and another 150 gas for the science facility so like 600 gas behind at least when teching.  It's not like...super slam dunk free win, some turtling with spores and good scouting probably needed.  Comparatively, overlords give you free scouting.  If one side has overlord scouting, and the other doesn't just ling flood (or drone) appropriately.  That's a pretty big advantage ealry on.

ZvP: Overlord.  Just...really need to research overlord movement against corsairs.  Quite scared of DTs as well, when you need to build science vessels for mobile detection against them, and Corsairs shred vessels.

TvT: Maybe overlord.  Dropship things built out of barracks that cost no supply, give supply and are basically free, or cheaper than free cause unlike depots they don't tie up SCV build time.  Plenty of time to get all three researches.  Being a detector is pretty nice too.  Might still make some actual dropships for speed, but free is free.

TvP: Science Vessel.  EMPs against spellcasters gone.  I don't think the overlords do very much for terran in this matchup outside of some early scouting and early DT insurance, and if they're not doing a whole lot, you don't want to build too many--unironically you don't want to encourage protoss to go corsairs.

OK, that's more what I expected from B-tier, a 2-2 score with an unsure.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (maybe on the high end of tier)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Science Vessel, Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Observer, Dropship, Lurker (maybe on the lower end of tier)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Ah, it occurs to me that I forgot to rank a melee unit.

Ultralisk.

This is a unit used in one matchup (ZvT).  It's important...but probably less important than, say, Hydralisk ZvP.

I'm thinking D-tier for this.

Ultralisk vs Battlecruiser

ZvT: I think this is an Ultralisk win.  Terran having a unit that can fight under dark swarm (and one that does pretty well against lurkers) is a big deal.  Although...now I'm wondering if I should use a similar ruling on giving units to terran (they get bricked by dark swarm) as I do giving units to zerg (units sent to zerg get bricked by irradiate).  Cause like...if we do that, Ultra is fairly low value to terran (other than taking it away from zerg) and Battlecruiser is interesting to zerg--yamato outranges irradiate.  Battlecruisers fight fairly well against marines if you keep up in air carapace, could probably just replace ultras.

ZvZ: no change

TvT: Battlecruiser win.  Ultras, particularly ultras without ling support, are pretty bad against tanks.  I guess they would be a nice unit to put in dropships and drop on top of tanks but...actually maybe not even that.  Two goliaths deal nearly as much ground dps as one ultra, and cost less.  Whereas battlecruisers in TvT fill a role that can't really be filled by another unit.

ZvP: Maybe Battlecruiser?  Is there a world where Battlecruiser gets made ZvP?  And...I think there could be.  Zerg can commit hard enough into mutas in this matchup to justify air upgrades.  If that could later transition into battlecruisers, that would be pretty good.

TvP: Thinking no change.  Is there a world where ultralisks get made as a further meatshield in front of the vulture meatshield?  And let me just say, Vultures have more HP for the cost, and take the same damage from dragoons, but Ultras would take less damage from zealots (but also more damage than vultures do from tank shots that splash onto them).  Vultures also provide a lot more damage to everything but dragoon hulls (over twice as much damage against zealots and dragoon shields, about 60% damage to dragoon hulls).  I also gave it a try in a unit tester, and 2 ultras against 8 zealots was like...zealots crushed it, 5 zealots lived.  So...no I don't think so.

Other than the dark swarm interaction, that felt pretty convincing for Battlecruiser actually.  2-1 or 2-0 depending.

Wraith for Ultra

ZvZ: Wraith...win?  In a heads up fight wraiths lose, but...they do a couple things here.  They kill overlords about 3x as fast, so you could set one wraith on overlords while the muta flock goes and postures and deals with other stuff.  Wraiths have 5 range, so having some in the muta ball allows you to poke the other muta ball without actually getting in range.  Wraiths move as fast as mutas, so they wouldn't fall behind.  Cloaking is an actual threat--you don't want to leave overlords all over the map, since they are easy snipe targets (especially with a wraith) but how safe is it to engage against an army with wraiths if you don't have nearby overlords?

ZvP: Maybe Wraith win actually?  I was about to dismiss these as just worse mutas.  But...they cloak, and protoss observers can't keep up with corsairs and are pretty easy to snipe, so maybe they keep corsairs close to base.  They have about triple the air damage of a muta and more range if you're getting reaver dropped and want to kill a shuttle.  (Way worse at ground damage, but zerg cares about anti-air in this matchup).

ZvT: I assume Ultra win.  Very commonly built unit in the matchup.  It's unclear to me what wraiths would do for Zerg here--a bit more range and air damage than mutas to snipe science vessels, but the cloak doesn't help since vessels already detect.  Way worse against turrets, worse against marines.  Worse if they get irradiated (more expensive unit) just...don't see zerg as likely to make them.

TvT: Wraith win.  Wraiths are an opening in TvT, and a unit you can build throughout the match.  I think ultras would just be unused.

TvP: Wraith win.  If you scout or expect reaver drop, you make a wraith.

Um, ok, that's a 4-1 stomp.

Maybe ultras are E tier?  No, that just looks wrong.  Guardians are garbage.  Scouts are garbage.  Firebat--it's the terran melee unit that's worse than ultra.

Ultra vs Archon--I think in terms of a straight up unit comparsion, Ultra probably wins, but Archon is getting boosted a bit cause they're free to morph from low energy HTs.  Well, that leaves one other head to head.

Ultra vs Valkyrie

ZvZ: Valkyrie wins.

ZvT: Probably an ultra win.  Valkyrie can be built in this matchup, but Ultra is more consistently built.

ZvP: Not sure.  Would zerg build valkyries?  (I'm ignoring the devourer synergy here, just pretend devourer isn't a thing for this trade).  Valkyries do...alright against corsairs, about an even trade.  They punish Corsairs for running away, but they're also slow and can be chased down by corsairs if in a bad position.  The idea would be to really ram mutas through with surprise extra anti-air between valks and scourge to keep the corsair count down.  But moving slower than the rest of the air army...thinking that might not be worth building.

TvT: Eh, not sure.  Ultras are pretty minor in this matchup, slightly better unit to drop on tanks than goliaths or unsieged tanks.  But valkyries are also on the minor side.

TvP: I'd lean ultra here.  Valks aren't getting used at all.  Ultras are fast, so a roaming group of vultures and an ultra, the ultra could open up a pylon wall to a base and let the vultures in.

So...2-1 ultra.

OK, so...maybe I need to revisit Battlecruiser and/or Wraith--maybe they're being underrated by being in D-tier, but Ultra being in the same tier as archon and valkyrie seems fine.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (maybe on the high end of tier)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Science Vessel, Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier
Observer, Dropship, Lurker (maybe on the lower end of tier)

(gap)

(D tier?)
Wraith, Battlecruiser (maybe on high end of tier?)
Valkyrie, Archon, Ultralisk

(gap)

(E tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(F tier)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Side note, I notice that I ranked Carrier earlier, but a copy/paste error removed it from the list.  I coinflipped it into B last time, cause Mini had just won an ASL building carriers every game, and also I had probably underrated Goliath when I compared Carrier to Goliath that time.

[metroid composite]

OK, so...going back to the thoughts before, I'm wondering if there ought to be a tier between D and E, cause a couple units (like lurker) are looking to be on the low end of D, and a couple units (like wraith) are looking to be on the high end of E.

Lurker vs Wraith

ZvZ: Wraith wins.  As discussed above...worse in a heads up a-move fight, but...a bit more range if the air armies are poking but not engaging.  Better at clearing out overlords.  Cloak is a threat if you retreat all your overlords.

ZvT: Lurker wins.  Wraith doesn't do much for zerg here; the one air unit that might be worth sniping (science vessel) detects them.  And just...generally worse into terran stuff (a lot worse vs turrets, worse vs marines).

ZvP: Probably Lurker win.  Wraiths are ok, because cloaking is an option, and observers can't keep up with corsairs, and wraiths are not bad at sniping observers themselves.  Also better than a muta if one wraith catches a shuttle.  That said...I don't think it outweighs the power of lurker contains, or having a lurker or two up the ramp making it very hard to attack lategame.

PvT: Not sure.  Would lurkers do a lot in this matchup?  No.  Would they do something?  Probably yeah.  Punish zealots that get on top of tanks.  Force protoss ground armies to back off if the observer is sniped by goliaths.  But on the other hand, they're more gas expensive than a tank, die to every protoss gateway unit 1v1 if there's detection (need to splash or cloak), and terran self-splash like siege tank shots and mines hitting lurkers would be pretty bad.  But...still something else protoss would need to think about.  On the other hand, wraiths are not nothing in this matchup either--sniping reaver shuttles, and a small minority of pros like to go cloak wraiths against carriers and snipe the observer.  I don't know.

TvT: Wraith.  Wraith does quite a bit cause terran basically needs air against tanks, and it's also good against dropships.  I really don't think Lurker does anything here.

OK, that's roughly 2-2.

Battlecruiser vs Lurker

ZvZ: Don't think it matters, greater spire tech probably not happening.

ZvT: Lurker.  Splash always works under dark swarm, lurker's a lot like firebat, but...y'know, better.

ZvP: Leaning Lurker.  Maybe BCs do something here, but it's not immediately obvious to me what.

TvT: Battlecruiser.

TvP: Lurker probably does something.  BCs don't.

3-1.  Yeah, BCs don't move up.  They were not that far ahead of ultras anyhow.

OK, so new tier with Wraith, Lurker, and I guess I'm looking at Observer and Dropship.

Dropship vs Lurker I did recently, that was 2-2.

Observer vs Lurker I did recently, that was 2-2.

Wraith vs Observer

Would be the last comparison.

TvP: gets very complicated, maybe slight lean wraith.  Protoss doesn't just get to send an observer and sit it over the Terran production, so that's a lot worse.  Using observers to spot tank moveouts and hit them when they're unsieged would get worse without cloak.  But Wraiths are a big upgrade.  Think about the Scouts that Mini made in the previous ASL finals.  Now replace those with wraiths who deal the same ground damage, but are cheaper, less supply, build faster, move faster.  Pushes designed to punish carrier switches would be way weaker.  And...Reaver Drops would also be stronger and safer.  Guaranteed no wraith defence; ground units can still defend, but wraith defence is a blowout.  I...think maybe this leans Wraith?

TvT: I think wraith.  Just...missing it is a missing piece in the rock paper scissors.  Observer to see everything coming out of their production is very nice, but if the opponent knows you can't go wraiths, do they need to scout at all?

TvZ: Basically doesn't matter.  (If it leans anything...maybe wraith again.  There are some wraith rushes.  Don't see what observers would do when terran is already fine on detection).

PvP: Maybe Observer?  Would it be worth building a wraith just to snipe reaver shuttles?  Like...Corsairs exist, have pretty similar air to air damage against singletarget, build faster, and don't get built for this in PvP.  Maybe being down the equivalent of like...three dragoons once you add in the cost of the stargate is just not what you want to do in a mirror matchup?

PvZ: I think observer?  Wraith being an option would change the matchup--Scout rushes are most common PvZ, cause zerg sometimes has no antiair protecting their drones super early in the game.  Wraiths build faster, move faster, have more range to outrange spores, deal the same ground damge despite being way cheaper.  Zerg would need to respect the first unit out of a stargate being a wraith.  However...that's still just a cheese, and a cheese that can be beaten by making hydras.  In a typical macro game, probably no wraiths get made--just worse corsairs against mutas and scourge, and then observers cloaking, observer upgrades like vision range and movement--these things matter in the matchup.

OK, so 2-2, or maybe a slight 3-2 wraith.

Yeah, so that's a lot of 2-2 type scores, I think the tier split is justified.

Anything else that should slot into the new tier?

Hmm...what about Archons?

Observer vs Archon

would protoss rather not be allowed to merge archons after using storm, or have their observers not cloak, and not have any move upgrades or vision upgrades?  I think the observer loss hurts more there, probably in all three matchups.  So...no need to move Archons I think.

(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk

(gap)

(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver (maybe on the high end of tier)
Dragoon

(gap)

(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Science Vessel, Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)

(gap)

(C tier?)
Dark Templar, Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier

(gap)

(D tier?)
Observer, Dropship, Lurker, Wraith

(gap)

(E tier?)
Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon, Ultralisk

(gap)

(F tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat

(gap)

(G tier?)
Devourer

[metroid composite]

Some additional ultra testing.

Equal cost dragoons and ultras a-moved into each other with no micro, dragoons win.  (Like 20% of the dragoons left, a close fight).

Equal cost goliaths and ultras a-moved into each other, ultras win.

Equal cost DTs and ultras a-moved into each other (with detection), Ultras barely win.

Couldn't test siege tanks (the AI always sieged them up) but unsieged tanks if they stand still and fight with no micro should be about as good as an equivalent number of dragoons, while costing more.  So...ultras are cost-efficient against un-microed un-sieged tanks which just a-move towards them.

All this together means...I'm probably underselling ultras as drop fodder in TvT.  When they get dropped in melee range against immobile targets, they are going to be better than tanks and goliaths at standing in melee and hitting.  (Worse than dragoons for being dropped on top of tanks, but nonetheless worth building in the matchup).

Don't think this changes their tier, but maybe makes them a little more solidly in the tier.

[metroid composite]

Fairy Chess

Y'know, the game designer in me always kinda wanted to invent new chess peices, and got sad when nobody wanted to play with those pieces.  Turns out an awful lot of pieces have been invented (and many played in historical versions of chess).

There's actually a fuckton of these, but I'll go over the ones famous enough to have wikipedia pages.

The Amazon

Can move the same as a queen or a knight.  Piece is super busted. 

Estimated material value...11.5 to 14.

Empress (or Chancellor)

This one can move like a rook or a knight.

Estimated material value...8-9.  (Usually 0.5 to 1 below a queen).

Some interesting commentary, though, is that this piece's value goes up a lot as the board opens up.  In endgame situations, some people like to promote to a Empress/Chancellor over a queen.

Princess (or Archbishop)

Can move like a knight or a bishop.  Technically capable of checkmating a king with the help of no other pieces if the king moves to the corner square.  (Although for the most part, better early in the game rather than in endgames, doesn't really have a way to force the king into the corner)

Estimated material value...7.7-8.75

I'm actually super interested in the material value here, cause it's typically seen as almost as good as an Empress/Chancellor, and not even that far behind a Queen.  And considerably more than a Knight plus a Bishop.  The synergy between the diagonals and the knight moves is pretty big here.  Covering a ton of the 2x2 square around the piece, and enabling it to move between light squares and dark squares (one of the key things that makes bishops worse than rooks--only being able to reach half the squares on the board).

The other interesting thing is that the piece valuation of a weakened princess (The Leopard--same piece, but the bishop movement has a maximum movement of 2) was determined by computer simulation to be barely worse than a princess (computer simulation had 7.7 pawns for the princess, and 6.7 pawns for the leopard).

The Alfil  (or elephant)

Old historic piece that jumps two spaces diagonally and nothing else.

Estimated Value...1.5

Yeah, this piece is pretty bad, unable to ever reach 75% of the squares on the board.

Camel (or Long Knight)

Historic piece that jumped 3 up 1 left.

Estimated Value...2

Similar to a Knight except...it's a bit like a bishop in that it can't leave the dark squares and...that brings the value down.

Dabbaba

Another historic piece.  Jumped 2 spaces horizontally or vertically.

Estimated value...1.5

Just like the diagonal jumper...75% of the board is literally unreachable for this piece, worth about the same value.

Ferz

A historic piece that was later replaced by the queen (what an upgrade lol).  Could move one space diagonally only.

Estimated value...1.5

Moves really slowly and awkwardly, but at least it can reach...half the board.

Mann

Literally just moves like a king without actually being a king (can't castle, losing it does not lose the game).

Estimated value...3

Thought to be worth a little less than a Knight early in the game, because developing it is slow and awkward, but worth a little more than a Knight in endgames.

Nightrider (also sometimes called knightmare or unicorn)

So...this is a knight that can just keep moving in a straight line, as long as that straight line is made up of the same Knight move.

Estimated value...5

I find it very hard to look at a chess board and see how to move this piece to set up checkmates.  Like...taking a step that's 2 knight moves away, in order to block a square that's 3 knight moves away from the square you just moved to...I can count out the spaces, and confirm that the moves work, but...wow, my brain does not visualize that.  Maybe it would get easier with practice.

Wazir (or Vazir)

Can move one space horizontally or vertically

Estimated value...1-1.5

Despite being by far the slowest piece (slower than the Ferz) at least it can reach every square.  Worse than these other low value units early on since it develops so slow, but goes up in value as the game progresses.

Zebra

Historic piece going back as far as the 13th century.  Jumps one space horizontally and two spaces diagonally.

Estimated value...1.75

Despite the fact that it doesn't have the problem of the Camel where the Camel is restricted to one colour, nonetheless considered worse than a Camel, cause it actually just moves too far for an 8x8 board.  Some theorize it'd be worth about the same as a Knight on a 10x10 board.

As a component of other pieces (like the amalgam pieces such as princess) it's considered to add about as much value to the piece as a knight.

---

Modern versions of fairy pieces mostly seem to aim for pretty good pieces (like...typically somewhere between a rook and a queen in value).

A couple examples from one variant (musketeer chess)

https://musketeerchess.net/p/games/musketeer/rules/rules-short.php

Other than just some historic strong pieces (Princess, Empress, Amazon...which they chose to use the name of Archbishop, Chancellor, and Dragon)

A couple examples of pieces they have...

"unicorn" (Knight+Camel, so 1 to the side, and 2 or 3 in the other direction).

"elephant" (Jumps 1 or 2 horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)

"hawk" (Jumps 2 or 3 horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)

"Leopard" (toned down princess.  2 move bishop + knight)

"Spider" (2 move bishop + knight + Dabbaba a.k.a. can also jump 2 horizontally/vertically).

Plus a few other pieces that I like the design of less as they move asymmetrically.

Values of these new pieces (according to their own website) range from 5.5-8.15.  These...do appeal to me (in the way a lot of older pieces do not--not hugely excited about the old historical pieces that are worse than a king).  Although...I can't help but feel the number of pieces they're adding is a bit inflated just to sell product.

---

Anyway, Amazon, by most reports, is so powerful it's not actually fun to play with.

...But a few of these other medium-high pieces I would be interested in experimenting with.  The historical Princess and Empress look pretty neat.  The musketeer pieces that aren't historical...vary--I feel like they have more pieces than they need just to sell more product.  But at very least their "unicorn" and "hawk" designs are pretty neat.  Does capture the idea of an upgraded knight (while also each being different from each other).  And sure...I could see the logic behind mixing in one of the powerful 2 move pieces (between "Leopard"/"Elephant"/"Spider").

Actually, I'm kind of surprised they don't have a piece that's just "jump to any square that's 2 spaces away".  (In terms of combining old pieces, that would be Knight+Dabbaba+Alfil).  Just seems like an easier to explain version of a 2 moving power piece.  Seems like a bunch of these pieces control 16 squares, so that should fit right in the power band.

[metroid composite]

More fairy chess ideas

Hm, now I'm wondering how good a colourblind piece would need to be to be on the level of "in between Rook and Queen in power"

Like...start with Bishop, add on Camel (1-3 jumper).  How good is that?  As good as a rook yet?  What if we add the ability to jump two spaces to the side? (Bishop + camel + Dabbaba).

Or...maybe a simpler way to describe this combination would be "can jump to any square within 3 tiles as long as it's the same colour."

Number of squares covered is pretty high (4 squares for 1 away, 8 squares for 2 away, 12 squares for 3 away) so 24 squares covered--higher than the more typical 16 for the non-colourblind pieces.  Also substantially more than a bishop, even one in a really good spot (tends to cap out around 13 squares controlled).  But queen is also capable of controlling...actually over 24 squares (in the center of the board...up to 27; 24 squares within 3 of her, and 3 more that are 4 away).

Colourblindess in general seems to cut piece value by about 2/3.  Like...Camel is worth 2/3 of a knight.  Bishop is worth about 2/3 of a rook.  So...controlling a similar number of squares to the queen, but being colourblind...maybe puts this around a value of....6-7?  (As a guess, not backed up by engine analysis).  Compared to a queen, among the squares within 3 of the piece, it trades 8 possible rook moves for 8 possible camel moves.

Although...maybe there's too many jumpers at this point, and this should back off on the jumping and just be bishop + camel + dabbaba.  Probably a mild downgrade, but should still be hitting the right value target (slightly better than a rook).

[SnowFire]

Hmm, maybe I'm crazy, but I could have sworn that the "classic" elephant / alfill could move one or two spaces diagonally; jumping was optional.  That Wikipedia graph seems to show the jump as mandatory, but that makes me want to verify this.  (Weirdly enough, I was editing the Wikipedia article on chess pieces just a month ago...  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chess_piece&action=history if curious.  Mostly sticking the Metropolitan Museum's collection of Really Old Chess Pieces they have on display at the Cloisters up in there for the historical examples.)  Ah well, sounds like an excuse to go read one of those history of chess books I've been meaning to get to.  (EDIT: Hmm, checking the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_chess_piece list, that's apparently called "Elephant (modern)", which might explain it.)

I'm a little surprised that there isn't more support online for "classic chess" that uses elephants & ferz / viziers rather than bishops & queens for the 11th century chess experience.  Like, you can still play WarCraft II these days if you really want, even if it's more dated than StarCraft...  I'm kinda curious how it would go.

The Mann has some alternate names, and I can certainly see why, as Mann is quite possibly the most boring title possible for a chess piece.  Uh oh guys watch out, my undifferentiated man is coming for you. "Sage" is definitely way cooler.