Background:
I played sc:bw when it came out but I was extremely casual just playing the campaign and a couple for-fun LAN games with friends.
I now play SC2 and, probably due to the internet community, I have developed much more strategy to the extent that I think about things like efficient mining and micro-management during battles.
I went back to play sc:bw yesterday just for fun, after probably 10 years. I was ASTOUNDED how difficult it was. Choppy animations, annoyances everywhere, only selecting 8 units at a time, units running off in the wrong direction, not being able to select more than 1 building (for example to train many units at a time i had to individually click buildings and hit the hotkey, instead of selecting many buildings and hitting the hot key many times).
The most annoying thing was how workers mined. I noticed workers just clumping up at one mineral patch instead of mining, and i would have to tell them all to mine. I set my rally point on a mineral patch and apparently in sc:bw this does not tell them to mine automatically.
My question is: What is the best way to get workers to work in sc:bw? Do you have to select each worker as they are trained and tell them to mine? That just seems like mindless repetition. What does worker management generally look like for sc:bw?
Also, what are the optimal worker numbers per patch for sc:bw? How many per patch? How many per geyser?
Best Answer
Before SC2, you had to tell each worker to begin mining manually. Simply setting a rally point on a mineral patch did not get the job done. Basically, you get used to setting a rally point in an area right next to the town hall building where workers aren't constantly pathing back and forth. That way, when the worker is done, you can go select it quickly and have it start mining. There was no 'idle worker' button in SC1, unfortunately, so that shortcut won't work.
As for workers per patch, it's roughly the same as SC2: You get diminishing returns when you go from 2 workers per patch to 3 workers per patch, and using more than 3 workers per patch is not worth it.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a guide to BroodWar for SC2 players on Team Liquid's site for the differences between SC:BW and SC2. If you're going to be playing SC:BW a lot, check it out. It covers the worker and building selection items you mentioned as well as a few other points.