CenturionZ_1:
True, there's plenty of other factors.
For example, units waiting tend to do better than units closing in, since they attack as soon as they sight the enemy.
Also it's true psychological factors are usually much more important. Having a hard to spot color helps covert attacks, good example. Blue on water, some others on land...
Benoit:
"I wonder how those "tests" of yours were done"
Same as most of my tests - 1v1 with a friend, racing to bronze (good practice), then building a predetermined amount of units and waiting for the other to be ready. We'd usually try it 4-5 times while we were there, with different units and numbers (10v10? 20v20? 30v30?). We'd also try everything the other way around, to make sure it wasn't just my sucky mouse. "that "advantage" if it exists is negligible"
Quite right, it's trivia as far as I'm concerned, right up there with what the villagers are saying exactly. I mentioned it because recently I saw someone asking which color is better. Technically it makes a difference, but a very small one - less than a good night's sleep, certainly.
"As for scythes vs. heles... hey maybe you tested with blue scythes vs. red heles?"
LoL, nope. I didn't test scythes vs heles at all, though I saw my heles getting massacred in zone play. The most obvious explanation is that it was in open terrain, which advantages the scythes. If they're separated by a wall, it's a whole other story. "How can hosting the game be a disadvantage?"
Technically yes, because his computer is the server for the game. He's running the show so to speak, which can be a real blow to the processor if there's 6 players with 200 units each... and it's even worse in an archer or siege fight, with all those projectiles flying around.
"Are you saying the host sees more lag than the other players?"
The game goes at the same speed for everyone, but the host is the one who can barely move his cursor. I know because my computer sucks, yet I usually host out of necessity. That's also why I play mostly low-pop games, my poor little computer can handle it better.