Howdy Folks,
Replay: I don’t have one because the ML is useless and nobody makes it anymore.
Now why do I think it’s underpowered:
I think the role the ML fits with his relatively low hp and high dps is the role of a surprise glass cannon cheese weapon. You build it fast and hope it’s unscouted, use it’s stealth field to creep up and then kill acu, or a base or something critical.
ML strategies are most of the time all-in, because getting t3 acu, T3 Power (to be able to spend mass quick enough for the ml to matter) and then the mass for ML (before T3 MeX, because this is the time frame where the map isn’t littered with t3 units, bp concentrations that can spam pd or air build power that can make gunships, corsairs or even t1 bombers that can easily counter the ml and reduce it to a nice mass donation. If you give up t3 MeX or units or air in favor of a ML that’s so easily countered you are almost always behind, the ML just isn’t worth it, doesn’t really have a nieche anymore.
Now why do I think the ML has become worse?
The build power nerf totally killed it. Before you could make a ML with t3 acu only in a reasonable amount of time, which not only saved mass, but also made it harder to scout a ML in the making, because acu could make it underwater. Engi clusters are more easily scouted by radar, it’s just much harder to make a sneaky ml because of a combination of the need for more engis (mostly t1 engis because this is the bp you got in the relevant timing window of the ml) and the increased time it takes to make it.
Now I could go on how the game matured and cheese options are harder to get away with because people know how to deal with it better, scout more and know how to make hives that that straight up reclaim and approaching ML, but that’s Another discussion.
I would propose to reduce the build power required to make a ML back to the old levels, or maybe at least reduce it by 33% to see if it gives some strength back to the ML as a surprise mechanism that has an actual timing window on team game maps like Canis, setons, wonders etc.
The arguments for the experimental bt nerf were to make them less of a late game mass sink: I think people will not start spamming MLs now, because of their relative inefficiency in terms of hp per mass, and if they do: great, sounds like fun games.